10th June 2015 - The Naked truth ...

Thought for the day: "Maybe it's not wind. Maybe trees wave because they're lonely."

Just saying....  Who is to say ??

This evening's news includes a story that a group of youngsters are being sought to be arrested for taking their clothes off at the top of a mountain - and getting naked - and the local authorities are claiming that this offended the spirits of the mountains and caused a 5.5 earthquake that killed 18 climbers..

It appears that this was not Snowdonia after all, though you may forgive me if I jumped to a conclusion based upon my own experience with local authorities in Wales, it is Malaysia..

Four are arrested and detained after posing naked - it is once again the bane of the social media syndrome - the desire to destroy yourself by selfie, to throw yourself onto the worst of all juries - the general public who do not know you, and do not care...   I feel the same contempt as I watch the current news shows (I do not call them news programmes any more) who decide to fill their down time with "Vox Pox" as though the general person in the street has any value in their opinion worthy of publication !! I fully accept their right to their own opinion - however, for my license fee to be used to promulgate the ignorance is beyond the remit in my opinion....

But four climbed to the top of a mountain and took their clothes off....

"Malaysian police said Wednesday that they have detained four Westerners -- including two Canadians -- suspected of posing naked at the country's highest peak last month, just days before an earthquake killed 18 climbers on the mountain.

Police obtained a court order to detain them for four days while they're investigated for indecent behaviour, said Sabah state police chief Jalaluddin Abdul Rahman.
Two siblings from Saskatchewan and a Dutch male surrendered themselves at a police station in Sabah on Tuesday evening, he said. A British woman was detained at a Sabah airport earlier Tuesday while trying to fly to Kuala Lumpur.

The pair were believed to be part of a group of 10 people who stripped naked before taking photos at Mount Kinabalu on May 30.
A magnitude-5.9 earthquake Friday sent rocks and boulders raining down the trekking routes on the 4,095-meter-high mountain in Sabah on Borneo island, killing 18 climbers.

Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Joseph Pairin Kitingan has blamed the tragedy on the foreigners for showing "disrespect to the sacred mountain" by posing naked at the peak. He has said a special ritual will be conducted to "appease the mountain spirit."


Legend has it that Mount Kinabalu on the Asian island of Borneo, a popular hiking destination for tourists, is also a sacred resting place for ancient spirits.

Among the travel tips listed on the site's official web page is a warning: "Believe it or not, do not shout, scream or curse the mountain at any point of time."

Officials in Malaysia have said some tourists stripping naked on the top of the mountain was so offensive that it caused an earthquake last week, killing at least 18 people. 

Towering at 4,095 metres, Mount Kinabalu is the highest mountain between the Himalayas and New Guinea. It's the biggest attraction in Kinabalu Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site established in 1964 to protect the mountain and its plant and animal life.  

Now, I have  no real opinions upon nudity and naturalism. I enjoy a skinny dip in the right environment where I am not imposing my own lax personal health regime upon others..  I enjoy the freedom of a large house where I can apply my own dress code without fear of offending... and I cannot actually see myself climbing to the top of a mountain and taking my clothes off to take a photo of myself ...

As a photographer, I can envisage the situation where the nude form could be presented in artistic form against the glorious background of a mountain visage...  I would be less likely to use my own presence - I accept I have have a penchant for the female frame in such a situation..   but I hear on the news now that one is in prison for creating an earthquake that has killed .. and others are still detained...

So... after spending a weekend with friends in Live role play - working week on week away from the News and Media, enjoying the rules and camaraderie of LARP, I find it rather depressing to come back to another (I will not call it the real) world..  to be bored by more tales of politics and banking crisis, that HSBC are cutting 25,000 jobs worldwide, that the Government is trying to decide whether to take the wage increase it has been awarded by independent authority, justified but politically unacceptable it seems.. and a group of youngsters have decided to strip their outer garments and rejoice in their humanity...

Meanwhile - a FB friend tells me that he is about to do a bicycle Nude ride I thought to the South Coast but I may be wrong - at the time it did not seem important so I made no note of the event .. I see that last weekend Cardiff as the scene for  Nude bicycle ride in protest - not sure regarding what

Strangely enough, the Mirror seem to follow my penchant and all their photographs are of young females scantily clothed or less - but with blurred extremities - I cannot fault their approach - but I cannot see that it fully represents the gender balance that was probably on that group..

So, with nudity today's issues, I would suggest that future freedom fighters think about using the top of Snowdon rather than a holy Malaysian Mountain...   and would suggest that authorities everywhere just chill a little  - I know I was there once !! but I am not now  - So Chill!!!

For me - a glass of Chateau 41  - a glass of Scotch and bed ...

Cheers !
Oh - and a pie