The Sunday Newds 5/3/09

• Adelaide is hosting its first body painting championship.
• The photographs of 1200 nude people that Spencer Tunick took in Ireland last year will not be exhibited in that country.
• Historic Wyre Hall will be the site for British Naturism's annual Nudefest.
• A man who purchased a family nudist video claims he was tricked by the Feds into purchasing real child pornography. The site from which he purchased the nudist video was under investigation at that time. Previously I warned about web sites selling photos and videos of nude children because it's obvious that the intent of these "merchants" is to appeal to pedophiles. I think anyone selling or purchasing child pornography needs to be stopped, but the idea of our own government peddling smut seems equally reprehensible.
• Mike Redding of Carolina Traveler profiles some local nudists and is one of the few journalists able to clearly understand the philosophy.

  Think about it, businesses use sex to sell everything from deodorant to cars to beer to razors to shampoo. I don't know what the percentage is but sexuality is prominent in what Americans consume in advertising. So maybe it's weird the nudists are one of the few groups NOT using it. They seem hell-bent on getting you past seeing the body as just something sexual. Who knew that standing around naked would make their point? Or in this case, running around naked.

• The Ocean Angels, rowing across the Indian Ocean in the nude, are also in the lead.
• An art exhibit in Columbus, Ohio, focuses on the work of three women artists and their depictions of the human body.
• A restaurant in Duluth, Georgia, is set inside Jeju Sauna, so patrons can get naked before they order.
• An editorial wonders if SCOTUS is going to give automobiles more constitutional rights than it will grant to teens.
• The BBC covers the Swiss nude hiking controversy, and it turns out that the ban on naked hiking in Appenzell could be illegal.

  "I estimate there are only around 20 to 25 naked hikers in the whole of Switzerland," says lawyer Daniel Kettiger. "So really arresting them and fining them is a bit silly. And our courts do have better things to do." What's more, Mr Kettiger points out, Appenzell may have over-reached itself legally in deciding to introduce a prohibition. "The Swiss parliament voted to remove public nudity from the penal code in 1991," he explains. "So at a federal level, naked hiking is not punishable, and Appenzell's laws are not higher than the federal ones."

• The BAC's BURST Festival features Nic Green's Trilogy, "an uplifting celebration of the female body which ends in a big naked dance, including volunteers and willing audience members."
• The governing body for Ultimate Frisbee supports the decision of the University of Oregon for ending the season of its highly-ranked club sport team because five players went without pants and underwear during sectional play.