World Naked Gardening Day

 World Naked Gardening Day

Today, the first Saturday in May, is World Naked Gardening Day.  Being able to feel the breeze all over makes doing garden chores so much nicer, like hoeing ...

And digging ...

And rototilling ...

And pruning ...

And hedge trimming ...

And watering the plants ...

And mowing the lawn ...

And did I mention watering the plants?  What?  It's good for the plants, as reported in Scientific American in July, 2010 in article titled "Gee Whiz: Human Urine Is Shown to Be an Effective Agricultural Fertilizer."

Happy World Naked Gardening Day!

Vintage Athletes - Part 23

 Ted Kazanski

Ted Kazanski, born in 1934 and still living, made the news when in 1951, right out of high school, he was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies for what was then an astronomical signing bonus.  An article in the July 16, 1951 issue of LIFE magazine with the title "The Phillies Get a Shortstop" said:

By baseball law he could not be approached until the day after graduation from Detroit's St. Ladislaus High.  One minute after midnight Bob Carpenter, owner of the Phillies, appeared at Kazanski's home.  "Do you like the Phillies?" he asked.  When the lad nodded he asked again, "Would you sign a contract now if we gave you anything you asked for?"  Kazanski asked for $80,000.  That was it.  The deal was made, he was farmed out to Terre Haute in the Three-Eye League.

LIFE sent Ralph Crane to photograph Kazanski on the minor league team in Indiana for the article.  As always, the photographer took tons of photos, including some in the locker room.  Above is a photo of Kazanski, second from left, getting dressed or undressed, but the photographer happened to catch another unidentified player on the right who just got out of the shower.  None of today's photos were published in the magazine, but a couple of Crane's photos of Kazanski on the playing field were used.

From other photos in the photo set, we see that Kazanski has number 1 on his uniform.  Nothing was off limits for the LIFE photographers.  Here, Kazanski is standing at a sink with his pants down, while player 16, also with his pants down, is using a trough urinal.  Why were their pants down?  Didn't the pants of their uniforms have a fly?

Now we see why, as player 16 departs.  Yes, their pants had a fly, but they were wearing jockstraps, so in order to pee they had to pull down the jockstrap, which meant pulling down their pants.

After playing in the minor leagues for two years, Ted Kazanski joined the Philadelphia Phillies in 1953, where he played as shortstop for six years.

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Tomorrow is World Naked Gardening Day.  So, if you can, get out there and get naked!

Hiking - Part 20

Death Valley

Death Valley National Park boasts a number of superlatives.

Badwater Basin is the lowest spot in North America at 282 feet below sea level.  There's a roadside stop and sign proclaiming this, which attracts a lot of tourists, so to get this naked picture, the guy above said he walked way out onto the Badwater salt flat until the tourists were just little specks.

Death Valley also holds the record for the highest temperature ever measured anywhere on Earth, 134 degrees Fahrenheit (56.7 C), at a place called Furnace Creek, not pictured here.  Summer is not a good time to visit!

If you go hiking in Death Valley, it's important to bring plenty of water, not necessarily like this guy is doing (is that a bottle of wine in his hand?)

Another Death Valley curiosity is Racetrack Playa, a salt flat where rocks have mysteriously moved across the surface by themselves, leaving trails behind them.  No one had ever seen the rocks move until 2013, when they were observed being pushed by a windblown sheet of melting ice that had formed on the playa.

Not all of Death Valley is desolate.  I've seen it in the spring, when some areas were covered by wildflowers.  This guy is hiking up a side canyon called Fern Canyon.

There are also man-made points of interest.  This guy is investigating the Lipincott Mine.

But by far the best spot to be clothes-free in Death Valley is at Saline Valley Warm Springs.  Enough people enjoy the springs nude that someone posted this "Bare Crossing" sign.

You can also camp at Saline Valley Warm Springs.  Here's one camper.

And here's another.

The springs provide water for a series of pools.  This one is called Wizard Pool. 

A second pool.

And a third pool is shaded by palm trees.  Even in Death Valley, where there's water, there's life – and there's skinny-dipping.

Phallic Structures

Phallic Structures

A while ago we saw a collection of phallic rocks from around the world.  But nature is not the only creator of phallic objects.

Above is the Google Earth view of a Christian Science church in Dixon, Illinois.  What was the architect thinking?

Sparrow Hill towers in Moscow.

A weather station on Mt. Lassen, California.

The People's Daily newspaper building in Beijing, China drew much attention while it was under construction (above).  After the construction scaffolding was removed, it didn't look nearly as exciting.

Torre Agbar, Barcelona, Spain.

This water tower in Ypsilanti, Michigan was the winner of a contest by Cabinet magazine for most phallic building.  Locals call it the Brick Dick.

Phallic structures may be accidental, like the railing of Westminster Bridge, London, casting an interesting light and shadow pattern.

Chimneys are always phallic, but they're rarely as blatant as this one.  Actually, it's at the Friedrich Dick factory in Esslingen, Germany, so I think the double entendre in English was not intentional.

We close with the Guangxi New Media Centre in Guangxi, China.  This one is not only phallic, but it has two attached oval structures that look like, well, you know.

And if that wasn't enough, the grand opening of the building featured this fireworks show.  Unbelievable!

Calendars - Part 20

 Newcastle University Boat Club 2020

Here are some more calendar photos from the men's rowing team at Newcastle University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England.

Today's photos are from the 2020 calendar.

Looking at calendar pictures in the dressing room.  How shocking!

Having some fun in the clubhouse.

A peek into the boat house.

One of the racing shells being carried out.

It's brought out into the yard ...

And made nice and clean.

Here's something that these guys can get behind: the proceeds from the calendar went to the Robert Allen Life Promotion and Healthy Hearts Trust, a charitable organization named for a rower who died suddenly of an undiagnosed heart condition.  The trust supports health and well being of sports people.

Photographers - Part 20

 William I. Goldman

William I. Goldman (1856-1922) was a commercial photographer in Reading, Pennsylvania.  He photographed the citizens of Reading and was an upstanding citizen, becoming the treasurer of the State Photographers Association.

Unknown to anyone, he also assembled a collection of photographs of the prostitutes of Sallie Shearer's brothel, which was a ten-minute walk from his studio.  The photo above is thought to be a self-portrait of Goldman in the brothel.

Sallie Shearer's brothel was a high-class establishment.  A police officer described it as "magnificently furnished. The finest velvet carpets cover the floors, beautiful mirrors adorn the walls and the rooms are beautifully decorated."

The collection dates to c. 1892.  The vast majority of the photos show the prostitutes, some nude and some semi-nude, but not in pornographic poses.  Surprisingly, Goldman also got a couple of brothel customers to pose naked for him.  Above is a customer posing holding a gun.

Here's a rear view of the same customer.

Here's another customer who apparently was OK with being photographed as long as he had a fig leaf.

The fig leaf guy.

The same guy also obligingly posed for a rear view from one side ...

And then the other side.

Goldman never sold or shared his brothel photos during his lifetime.  Years later, they came into the possession of photography historian Robert Flynn Johnson, who published them in a book Working Girls: An American Brothel, circa 1892. The Secret Photographs of William Goldman.

May Day

May Day

May 1, or May Day, is a spring festival in many countries.  In Hawaii, where I live, May 1 is called Lei Day, celebrating Hawaiian culture with a gift of a lei.  Above, a guy who got lei'd.

But the University of St. Andrews in Scotland celebrates May Day in a very different way, with their annual May Day Dip.

The student tradition is to take a dip in the chilly North Sea at dawn on May 1.  Participation supposedly gives you good luck in the upcoming exams.

This guy is showing off on the beach with a back flip.

Not everyone skinny-dips, but some do, like these guys wading out.

A quick dip is enough, because the North Sea is still very cold on May 1.  St. Andrews, Scotland is farther north than Ketchikan, Alaska!

Then it's time to run back to shore.

Or casually wade back, pretending you're not freezing.  Good luck on your exams, guys!