The Sunday Newds 11/30/08

• Women in Manchester, England, are getting breast enhancements at twice the rate as women in London.

  "Oh, women have massive boobs in Manchester," my 22-year-old law student cousin, Sarah, who lives just outside the city, tells me breezily. "There’s a lot of money around and it’s that Manchester look, isn’t it? Low cut tops, perma-tans, hair extensions. If you go out in town on a Saturday to places like Tiger Tiger or Circle Bar everyone is dolled up. Big breasts are just part of the look."

• Thanksgiving is celebrated at the Riverside Ranch the same as everywhere else, with the exception of clothing.
• British rugby teams are rivals on the field, as well as with their competing nude calendars.

  (Flanker Andy) Hazell said his team mates did not need much convincing to take their clothes off for charity.
  
  "It's just a bit of fun and we thought it would be good to do something like this," he said.
  
  "The boys are always willing to take their clothes off and pose around, so it seemed a logical thing to do really."

• When Suzanne G. Fullam proposed a nude calendar project to benefit a local library, she was told that it would be impossible to get a group of men to pose naked.

  A few months later, a contingent of firefighters pulled up for a photo shoot, jumped out of the truck and stripped down. Mr. (Cortland A.) Gariepy was stunned and told them to put their clothes back on until he’d set up the shot. “They were definitely the most comfortable. I saw a lot of things I didn’t want to see,” he said. Now, an image of several firefighters, including Chief Joseph Rogowski, with strategically positioned axes and hydrants graces one of the months in the newly released calendar.

• A German caregiver at a day care center allowed a small group of children to play naked in a separate room after they had repeatedly removed their clothing on their own.

  The nude frolicking of some of the children first began after the summer holidays. The fact that other children were disturbed by the lack of clothing did not put an end to the practice. Staff decided to put the nude kids in a separate room, where they could play, under supervision, in all of nature's glory. While the parents of the kids playing au naturel were informed, other parents were not. And when word got out, parents were incensed, talking about "pornography" at the day care centre.

• Parents of a Michigan teen suspended for sending a topless photo of herself to classmates are considering a lawsuit for gender discrimination because male students take photos of themselves topless all the time and are not suspended.
• The Watford Naturist Swimming Club in Great Britain is celebrating its 40th anniversary.
• Artist Melissa Sharplin has been painting nudes since she was 15 years old, and drew her inspiration from a stack of old Playboy magazines.

  "I went to fashion school and always loved fashion advertising and women's figures and trying on clothes. I have always loved the female nude", she says.
  
  "In the 70s it was about free love. It was about beauty and natural beauty."

• AP reporter Hugh Mulligan has died.

  Competing with AP colleagues in New York for choice feature assignments, Mulligan drew the short straw — a weekend in a Pennsylvania nudist colony.
  
  Oh, great," his hostess-to-be said by phone. "You'll be here in time for the square dance."
  
  Mulligan later described her as "5-feet-2 in any direction and barefoot all the way up to her harlequin sunglasses" and said the July 4 barbecue was "about the same as any other place except that people tend to stand a little further away from the fire."

• Seven students were suspended from a Michigan high school for nude cell phone photos, but any potential criminal charges are uncertain.

  Since the girl who took and sent the picture is under 18 the picture is considered child pornography, a felony, and anyone involved in having or sending the picture could face penalties that (Grand Blanc police Det. Robert) McFadden said range from seven to 20 years in prison. "Honestly I don't think we're going to send any kids to prison for 20 years, or even seven," McFadden said.

• I've said time and time again on this blog that if nudism can actually become a thriving capitalist profit cash cow, it will gain more widespread acceptance. Richard Mason, the president of the Florida Naturist Association says it's time for the state of Florida to "grow up" and create more nude beaches, which would create revenue from parking fees and help with state revenue problems. "Naturists like to be around the ocean," he said. "You put one of those beaches in Palm Beach County and it will draw a lot of people."
• Amanda Palmer of the Dresden Dolls band ended up topless on stage after challenging the audience to donate some money to charity.

  "i made a joke from stage the other night during the collection for the danger ensemble (because steven pointed out that i looked like i was about to take my bra off). i joked that i would take my top off if someone donated $500 to the danger ensemble. and [expletive], some generously crazy person went to the club ATM and gave steven five $100 bills. so i had psycho crank up the painful techno remix of coin-operated boy and we had a topless rave (well, it wasn't much of a rave, and i was the only topless one, but we definitely all danced to flashing lights and bad techno) to end the show. i'd say the offer stands, but i think i'll tack on an extra hundred-dollar donation bounty for anyone who wants to see the topless rave again."

• Rosario Dawson is proud of her body, in part because her mother took her to nude beaches when she was young. "She'd say, 'I hate tan lines,' and off our bathing suits would go."

Tags: nudism, naturism, nudist, nudists, naturist, naturists, nudity, nudes, bare, au naturel, nude, naked