Richard Foley (richinud)

Everyone should have access to the “reputation” tool from everyone
else’s profile page. This enables us to vote people UP and DOWN based
on what we think of their posts. The more people use the tool, the
more representative the score will be. You see the reputation facility
when you look at someone’s profile page.

You can also vote a specific content or posting up or down, using the
little “green +” and “red -” icons on each post.

There are also Facebook and Google+ and Twitter links on the
right-hand side for recommending and sharing interesting posts to a
wider audience, thus leveraging these networks as an extension of our
own, and utilizing the world-wide-web in the linked together way it
was always intended to be.

The idea of these tools, which are far more sophisticated than a
monosylabic “Like”, is to provide a sociable way to give feedback to
our membership and to encourage more people to join, and to post
interesting and on-topic content.

There’s also the possibility of a leader-board, which has been removed
for the moment, as it might encourage too much competition 🙂

Feedback is welcome!

We welcome photos here of naked people engaged in normal non-sexual
every-day activities, and provide a safe place to post them. However,
when you’ve seen one photo of a naked guy standing in the bathroom,
the next 99 photos of the naked guy standing in the bathroom are
pretty boring. Please do NOT bother posting any more than one example
of this kind of meaningless drivel, it will in any case be filtered
out over time.

Please DO post interesting images of artwork, event participation,
hiking tours, boating and riding and first-aid courses, dinner or BBQ
dates, theatre meets, anything *interesting* is welcome.

Furthermore, just posting photos is insufficient to motivate others to
join our activities. Currently photos outnumber blog posts by an
overwhelming ratio of more than 10-1. Blog posts of entertaining or
challenging naked experiences would be very welcome, anything which
helps to engage our membership in active dialogue is a good idea.

Comments/suggestions welcome.

There may be many reasons for each individual but, at least for me, I
think the main reason is that being naked feels good. As the lady in
the picture clearly has in mind, if you enjoy the view too, so much
the better.

When I am naked I can feel liberated and more in touch with my
surroundings, with nature perhaps. I remember some years ago walking
along a remote Karakorum Himalaya valley, the rock-strewn glacier
snaked along the valley, hugging both sides, while enormous mountains
soared on either side of me towards the clouds. The people in my group
were either way in front or way behind, out of sight. I was completely
alone in this vast amphitheatre. At that moment, I felt singularly
humble. I was on a foreign continent, attempting to climb a remote
8,000 metre high himalayan mountain, and I was at once completely
insignificant and instantly connected to all of it. For me, hiking
naked sometimes reminds me of that feeling, of being in some small way
related to the vastness that is all around us. I do not mean to say
that to experience nature you have to take your clothes off, that
would be daft, (though arguably arguable ;-). I am only trying to say
here that it can mean that for some people.

At the end of the day though, when all is said and done, when the
multiple deep and meaningful reasons have been passed around, argued,
examined and evaluated, none of them are really that important. Being
naked simply feels good – what more reason do you need ?-)

A letter from Stephen Gough in prison, reads:
Letter from Stephen Gough dated 1st March 2013
Hi Mel, how are you? Just arrived at Winchester Prison.Its a pretty
old prison but the cell am in is fairly worm and they made a mistake
of giving me double the usual allocation of bedding so i shouldn’t
have any trouble getting asleep because of the cold.
Today at Southampton Magistrates i refused to get dressed to get into
court as they initially asked,after i emphasized this would only allow
me in court if i remained seated,but i also refused it on those
terms,as in my opinion that’s the same as covering yourself and i
wanted to be treated like any other defendant, so in the end they
relented and i was allowed in. The case was referred to Southampton
Crown court on the 25th March and I’ve been remanded until then (this
is the ASBO breach sort of trial, though it isn’t as in the ordinary
sense). Actually, it is an interim ASBO,that I’ve allegedly breached,
the full hearing will be heard on the 10th May along with all the
other S5’s that they have cobbled together.
Who knows Where all this will end up, but my position is that i
shouldn’t have been given an ASBO in the first place as my behavior is
pro-social not anti-social.

…

You can read more on the Facebook group here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/freestephengough/permalink/10151361247304403/

This is a lovely shot of a young couple enjoying the ski gondola in
the summer:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=421857454553476&set=a.421857447886810.98009.421856904553531&type=1

As Sieglinde pointed out on FB, they should be sitting on towels. But
they’re so cute, I can nearly forgive them 😉

A nice blog example of this topic in italian here;

“To be offended by the visual appearance of another person is
prejudice, akin to racism. The right to exist, uncovered, should hold
precedence over the right not to view this, for the objection is
irrational.” – Terri Webb

According to the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/07/dangerous-clothes-health_n_2820472.html

We are happy to admit that we are obsessed with trends and fashion
here at HuffPost Style. But even the most devoted fashion fans
acknowledge that there are times when clothes are painful, both on the
body and on the eyes. Is it possible our wardrobes could actually be
dangerous to something more than our wallets?

Here are seven clothing culprits might actually be hurting you.

1. The problem: Chemicals in fabrics. This is an obvious one. Back in
November, we ran a piece on a report from Greenpeace that detailed the
toxic chemicals used in clothes from fast fashion chains. According to
Greenpeace’s Media Officer, Myriam Fallon, “Many chemicals that are
used in the dying and processing of fabrics can become hormone
disrupting and even cancer causing when they break down in nature, and
those chemicals are being dumped into rivers right near the
factories.”

2. … more on the original link here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/07/dangerous-clothes-health_n_2820472.html

Good to see that Facebook are getting a little mainstream media grief
over their puritan censorship policies, at least in France:

http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2013/03/07/01016-20130307ARTFIG00619-facebook-contre-la-censure-quels-recours-possibles.php?m_i=HiIHeEriHzbEexPnkkpIj0ws8evsK%2BKgzYyeXJgi8vPCattH6

Et un de plus. Cette semaine, le Musée du Jeu de Paume s’est ajouté à
la liste des utilisateurs du réseau Facebook qui voient leur compte
suspendu à cause du contenu publié. Vendredi dernier, la page de
l’établissement a été bloquée pendant 24 heures après la publication
d’une photographie artistique de 1940 présentant une femme nue, qui
annonçait une exposition. Signalée par des utilisateurs, la photo a
engendré le blocage de la page, avant d’être republiée ornée d’un
rectangle noir cachant la poitrine dénudée incriminée.

http://www.lefigaro.fr/medias/2013/03/07/579ceea4-8744-11e2-a04a-f4b47d27f902-493×328.jpg

I have not added anyone as a friend on FB for over 30 days. The ban
was just lifted, yesterday, and I have not added anyone in between
times, (and obviously not for the previous 30 days either), and now
the ban is straight back in place again. Anybody getting paranoid
here…?

What do people think the site Profile photo should contain?
There are multiple possibilities, we can make the requirements strict
or relaxed. Something to bear in mind is that we are starting this
Naktiv Social Network in part to provide an alternative from draconion
censorship of the mainstream.

Noteworthy also is that although the naktiv philosophy shares many
ideals with naturist concepts, this is NOT a nudist/naturist site,
even though many members may individually be nudist card-holders.To
immediately start to apply filter criteria to site Profiles might be
somewhat hypocritical. Your feedback on this topic is valued. Comments
here are good, as are votes on the poll, here:

http://www.naktiv.net/m/poll/&action=show_poll_info&id=11

Please read the Mission Statement, (under “About”), before
commenting/voting.

It’s early March, and the snow still lies like a thick carpet over the
fields and ditches of lower Bayern. Spring is not far away, as the
farmers begin to spread cow muck atop the white ground below. The sun
is out and the blue skies beck, so I took Polly the collie out for a
naked hike around the hill behind us. Maybe an hour of naked hiking at
the snow-edged tree-line with superb views out across the nearby
village of Armsdorf. The occassional tree shadow was a little cool,
but the bright midday sun, and crucially no wind, made the air
temperature perfect for naked hiking on the open and snow covered
hillside. Too short.

This month January has been particularly cold here in Bavaria, with
many days a minus 10 degrees centigrade. It has been so cold, with
early morning mists keeping the suns head down until later in the day
, that any thoughts of outdoor nudism have been quietly shelved until
spring, until last Sunday. The day dawned bright and sunny again,
still cold, but as the morning wore on, the temperature rose steadily
until it must have been near or just below zero C. Cold it certainly
was, but a healthy, fresh and crisp cold. I decided to check out the
air temperature and drove south to a spot on the river Inn which I
thought might be ideal for a short naked walk. Parking at the end of
the tarmac, I set off along the rough track, wearing shorts and shirt,
hat, gloves and boots. The air was cool, but the temperature was quite
amenable and after several hundred yards, I removed everything except
my boots. Now naked, and carrying my clothes in case of a sudden drop
in temperature, I continued along the trail stepping over the broken
snow, ice and frozen earth. I passed alongside a smaller river, where
the water was frozen for about a third of it’s width on both sides.
The main channel still moving, with a couple of swans maintaining a
seemingly effortless position in the current. Snow lay all around
amidst the trees and I walked perhaps a kilometre without seeing
anyone.

The Inn is a constrained river running more or less directly
North-South. It looks much like a canal with parallel embankments on
both sides for much of it’s length, but moving quite quickly all the
same. It is possible to walk along the embankment itself, in full
sunshine, but also in full view of the people on the the other side of
the perhaps 100m wide river, a popular walking destination for short
flat ambles, with a fine view of the Alps to the south. Because each
embankment had a parallel track running alongside, which was crucially
lower than the river, and partially screened by ranks of trees on the
further side, it was also a bit of a suntrap, so I chose to walk along
the base of the embankment. The only sounds were the crisp crunching
of my boots on the thin surface of snow atop the ice of the wide
track, and the crowing of occossional birds in the trees. I walked for
a couple of kilometres along the river, enjoying the fresh air on all
of my skin, the slightest breeze generated by my motion giving a
refreshing coolness to the experience. I was on my way back when I met
a couple with a teenager and their dog walking in the opposite
direction. They were all well dressed for winter, with thick coats,
hats, scarves and gloves. Even the dog looked fluffy. I guess they
were a bit surprised to meet a naked man walking along the icy trail
past the snow covered trees, but each one returned my friendly
greeting in like manner, and with a smile. Returning to the car,
lightly refreshed after a very pleasant walk, I felt that the warmth
of summer was not so far away after all.

It’s been a short while since Stephen Gough finally made it home,
after struggling with the judicial system in puritanical Scotland for
6(!) years. After some more epics with the English police, (nearly as
stupid as the Scottish police), he gets a welcome home hug from him
mum, now how cool is that:
http://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/scotsol/homepage/news/article4792539.ece

I’ve posted a couple of pages which outline the mission statement for
the site, rationale for how the site is arranged, and a rules page of
what can get a member warned and banned. Sigh.

I hope it makes for interesting reading, and I’m sure it will need
adjusting over time. In the meantime you can get to all the pages from
the “About” link here:

http://www.naktiv.net/about_us.php

I’m undecided as to whether forums are useful for this site, or
whether groups would be more useful, or neither.

Groups seem useful for gathering people of like-minds together. Forums
appear useful for nested topics.

Part of the rational for not initiating either yet is that I while I
see some forum sites as being well organized and useful, I also see
many where the community is very inactive, and there are too many
topics and people don’t follow them. The new paradigm appears to be
blogging, but blogs + forums + groups seems to me to duplicate some of
the same territory.

Feedback, in the form of comments against this post, would be very
helpful. There’s also a poll you can vote on, if you like. (please).

http://www.naktiv.net/m/poll/&action=show_poll_info&id=6

Cheers.

The Spencer Tunick installation for the opening of the Munich Opera season with “The Ring”.

Paul, from Geneva, and I drove into Munich or 02:00, although the city was quieter than during the day there was still a surprising amount of traffic about. We parked and headed into the centre of town, past the Munich Opera House, our intended destination, and on to Marienplatz. We fortuitously met Rob, from Köln, at the entrance to a burger bar, and proceeded to meet up with the others from our little entourage up at the central square. Horst Kehm, admin of the FKK-Freun.DE website and Jürg. We made our way back to the meeting place, to find a huge queue of people trailed along the street, so, being English, I queue-jumped to the front.

Once inside the “compounds”, we were separated into two groups, and given a small tin of body paint each. One held gold, the other red, body paint. We’d come to take part in Spencer Tunick’s naked installation celebrating the start of the Munich Opera season, and focussing on Wagner’s “The Ring”, or, as some Germans would have it: Das Ring Ding. The swarms of people grew, until here were perhaps 1700 people, all waiting to get naked in the centre of Munich city.

A comic about nudists? Well… yeah! ‘Cos nudists have adventures too,
y’know. Loxie and Zoot just wanna have fun in the sun… au naturel of
course… but not if their arch foe Tex Tyler and various other prudes
have any say in it.

http://loxieandzoot.comicgenesis.com/

Reading about the Loxie and Zoot adventures is a fun and entertaining
naktivity, try it yourself with their free online pages at the site
above.

Facebook claimed that breastfeeding photos violated its terms of
service if they showed "an entire breast." Eventually it dropped the
vagueness and the euphemism and claimed that all photos with a visible
nipple or areola were "obscene," "pornographic," or "sexually
explicit." This claim by Facebook is at odds with legislation, case
law, and actual practice throughout the USA. In addition,
breastfeeding itself is allowed in public, exposed breasts or not, in
almost all states in the country. By its attitude and action, Facebook
is wrong. It demeans and stigmatizes women and breastfeeding.

http://www.tera.ca/photos6.html

You can read more at the URL above.

This is on the Italian coast – the heat is intense, the ladies are out
showing as much as they dare in their slinky bikinis. If you don’t
think these are slinky, try to imagine what they would have been
wearing around the time of the second world war 1940-ish, or in 1858 ,
probably thick core body swimsuits. Anyway, the point is, as soon as
this fellow came arrived with his swag-bag of textile wraps, he was
immediately surrounded by all the ladies, seemingly desperate to grab
whatever was available, not to wear exactly so much as to try on, and
play with. It was a comical situation and had to be seen to be
believed, (and I mean comical in a nice way :), although I don’t
suppose the fashion industry would be in the least bit surprised. Of
course, if you are going to wear clothes, you could do worse than to
advertise the environment, or nudity, on your textile.

Is it your partner you respect, or their clothes? Surely respect need
not be a fear-based emotion, true respect begins and ends with
character. Respecting a person’s rights to hold a view is not
synonymous with respecting their view. We can disagree in general and
specific terms on principles and implementation, but no-one can say
that any one of us is indefatigably correct in all cases, or that one
rule fits all, history indeed informs us reliably otherwise, no matter
what the (various – choose one) “good books” might say.

Certitude of predictable, action suitable to be applied in all cases
at all times, is food for recalcitrant gods whose very idea, being
anthropomorphic creations at best, can be seen as sufficient reason to
encourage free-thinking, freedom of inquiry and unrestricted
individual action, in and of self. We require the ability to break
free from authoritarian rule, in whatever form it may disguise itself.
It is not necessary for us to be controlled, for human potential to be
realised, what is necessary is that we all have the freedom to choose
what each of us do in any given situation, and that this freedom be
respected. Maybe you, or your partner, need to let go a little
control?

Try a little respect instead…