CATAWBA - Churchgoer Dan Cox doesn’t know if the sign is real or a joke.
A sign in a large pasture next to his church and about four-tenths of a mile away from his home reads: “Coming Soon! Sunny Slopes Nudist Colony. Opening April 31st 2007!”
“I thought it was a joke until I saw the sign,” Cox said. “If it’s not a joke, why spend that much money on a nice-looking sign and anchor it in the ground permanently with concrete? But, if it’s serious, why put a fictitious date on it?”
Well, Mr. Cox, it is a joke.
John Adams, of Charlotte, purchased about 150 acres of land on Little Mountain Road next to Pisgah United Methodist Church in the outskirts of Catawba. Adams is building a house on the property across the street from the fenced-in area adorned with a 6-foot-tall sign advertising the nudist colony.
Adams said he posted the sign as a joke. He wrote on the sign - in Latin - “Folks, this is just a joke.”
It was a costly early April Fool’s Day joke. The sign cost Adams $850. He plans to hang the sign in a room once his house is built.
The sign went in the ground early Tuesday morning. Several neighbors have since stopped to read the sign and some even took photos. The potential nudist colony is the talk of the community. Most think it is a joke.
Cox hopes it’s a joke. He said he knows his church would not be happy with a nudist colony a block away. Cox also said if a nudist colony is going to be built, he would consider selling his house.
“I know most people in the area, and I’m pretty sure that would not be supported,” Cox said. “I have no intentions to sell my house or my property, but I don’t see myself condoning nudity.” Don’t worry, Mr. Cox, the sign will be down by Monday. No joke, Adams said.
Our news partner, WSOC-TV Channel 9, contributed to this story
'I love topless sunbathing but new flats will ruin my privacy' Portsmouth Today News (U.K.) February 3, 2007
AN 85-YEAR-OLD woman campaigned to stop homes overlooking her garden – as it would put an end to her topless sunbathing.
Igene Lovejoy regularly strips off to catch a few rays of sun in her secluded back yard.But the great-grandmother will now need to cover up after permission was granted for three-storey houses and flats behind her bungalow.
Mrs Lovejoy said the sun helps her arthritis.'Why should I have to stop taking my clothes off to sunbathe because they want to build something so high with windows facing us?' she said.'Surely privacy on your own property is reason enough to make them change their plans.'I've always loved my garden. I need to strip off and I don't think people should be looking at me. There's no way I can carry on.'
Mrs Lovejoy, who has lived in Argyle Crescent, Fareham, for nearly 40 years, and her neighbours lost their battle when councillors gave the go-ahead for 43 homes off Gudge Heath Lane.
They were concerned the 28 houses and 15 flats were out of keeping with the area's bungalows.
Neighbour Frank Brewster, 72, said: 'There's no democracy whatsoever.
'We just have to put up with these 30ft three-storey monstrosities in our faces.
'We know it's going to be built on, but the council says it listens to residents and takes notice of what they want, but that's not the case.'
Planning committee chairman, Councillor Nick Walker, said the neighbours' long gardens separated them from the new buildings. And he said strict government guidelines meant the council would lose an appeal if it refused the application: 'It was felt the scheme could stand alone as a better use of land and not try to mimic what's there,' he said.'The taller buildings are further away from existing properties.'We would have been slaughtered at appeal because there were no real grounds other than a few people expressing their concerns about overlooking, which would not stand up.'
A NATURIST found guilty of harassing a woman on a nudist beach in Studland has agreed to an indefinite voluntary ban.
Pensioner Ron Hodson, of Boyd Road, Poole, was given a 15-month conditional discharge at Blandford Magistrates Court in July.
He was found to have caused harassment to a woman after asking her inappropriate questions about dogging and suggesting she have sex with her husband on the beach.
However, faced with the prospect of imminent court proceedings Hodson agreed to the ban, which includes all of the trust-owned beach and the dunes the length of Ferry Road. National Trust services manager at Studland Emma Wright said: "This ban shows how serious we are about not tolerating illegal behaviour at Studland.
"We are working to develop a naturist beach area, which is safe and enjoyable for everyone. "We will pursue any individual convicted of this sort of offence and would ask the public for their co-operation in reporting to the police any illegal behaviour they witness at Studland to help us in this endeavour."
In July the court heard how Hodson sat down next to the woman uninvited with nothing on but a jacket.
But it rejected the more serious allegation against Hodson - that he went on to perform a lewd sex act just a few feet away from the frightened woman.
He claimed he had been for a swim and needed to remove sand from his body.
Dear Annie: I am 34, and my wife is 24. We've been married for two years, and I am the happiest man alive. She is everything you could ask for in a wife and lover, except for one thing.
My wife is a nudist. We have a rather private back yard and a pool, so she just hops in the pool in the buff with never a concern that someone might see her. I had only met her family on two occasions before we wed, but when they came to visit, they all went swimming in the nude (her father, mother and brother). I was somewhat taken aback, but figured, "when in Rome."
However, a UPS driver delivered a package the other day, and my wife answered the door wearing panties and an open blouse. She wasn't wearing a bra, and she has a fabulous figure. When I said this was a little inappropriate, her answer was, "He's old enough to be my father."
Last week, she called me at work and asked if I could come home early as she wanted me to meet her brother's best friend. When I got home, they were all swimming in the nude. When my wife got out of the pool, I can tell you that her brother's friend was not looking at her like a sister.
I don't think she is promiscuous, but how can she treat her body so trivially? She has an advanced degree, a wonderful job and is very religious. Am I just an old fogey? Bradenton, Fla.
Dear Bradenton: Not at all. Your wife may be a nudist, but she is also an exhibitionist. She enjoys going without clothes and likes others to see her that way. Insist, as a sign of respect for you, that she cover up when nonrelatives are present, especially when she answers the door, for heaven's sake. She could get into serious trouble doing that.
MacDiarmid won the Nobel Prize for chemistry." border="0" height="275" width="160">
Alan MacDiarmid won the Nobel Prize for chemistry.
New Zealand's only surviving Nobel laureate - research chemist Alan Graham MacDiarmid - died in Philadelphia yesterday while preparing for a visit to New Zealand.
The 79-year-old scientist and academic suffered a fall at home, his sister Alice Palmer, of Auckland, said today.
Professor MacDiarmid was born in Masterton, on April 14, 1927, to former marine engineer Archibald MacDiarmid, and Ruby Graham, the daughter of a surveyor.
He grew up in the depression years at Kerikeri and in the Hutt Valley and put himself through Wellington's Victoria University with part-time study before moving overseas for further study, and a lifetime's academic work at Pennsylvania University, and research in many parts of the world.
Prof MacDiarmid won the 2000 Nobel prize for chemistry with Pennsylvania University physicist, Professor Alan Heeger, and HidekiShirakawa of the Tokyo Institute of Technology after they showed some plastics could be made to conduct electricity by incorporating impurities.
This discovery in polymers long considered only as insulators paved the way for the next generation of plastics.
The discovery that a thin film of polyacetylene could be oxidised with iodine vapour, increasing its electrical conductivity a billion times made it possible for plastics to be used to reduce static electricity and interference on photographic film and computer screens.
The plastics were also used in the development of new colour television screens and "smart windows" that reflected sunlight.
In addition, semi-conductive polymers were developed in organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), solar cells and as displays in mobile telephones and mini-format television screens.
Flat television screens based on OLED film, luminous traffic signs and information signs are on the way, as manufacturers develop light-emitting wallpaper for homes.
Before his Nobel win, Prof MacDiarmid was awarded an honorary doctorate of science at Victoria University, and he has worked with researchers there and at Industrial Research Ltd on projects such as an "electronic nose" using his conducting polymers.
After the Nobel presentation in Stockholm, there were other honours around the world for Prof MacDiarmid, particularly in New Zealand.
In 2001 he was awarded New Zealand's highest honour when he was made a Member of the Order of New Zealand for his contribution to chemistry and the New Zealand science community. The order has only 20 living members at any time.
He was also given the nation's top science award, the Rutherford Medal, in 2001.
Prof MacDiarmid never lost his "Kiwi" outlook on the world.
He was 60 when he received his Nobel, but colleagues in New Zealand described him then as still working 12-hour days and frequently travelling, with joint research projects around the globe.
Once, he interrupted a trip to Australia to fly back to Pennsylvania to teach a class, after which he immediately returned to Australia to pick up where he had left off.
KIWI AND NATURIST
And though the professor was in a laboratory somewhere every day, he was also an avid sun-worshipper - a naturist who also liked waterskiing.
On the presentation of the Rutherford Medal, he said: "I still consider myself a 'Kiwi', a New Zealander!"
"I am still legally a New Zealand citizen and have had, and still do have, continuing ties with New Zealand and my brothers and sister and many relatives who live in New Zealand," he said.
He became a US citizen in the late 1960s, but had regular contact with his surviving sister, Mrs Palmer, and his two brothers at Kerikeri, Roderick and Colin. Another sister, Sheila, died in Whangarei in 1997.
He tried at one stage of his career to return to New Zealand but could not get an academic job: "I really loved New Zealand and the life, and the open spaces, but at the time I was looking for positions, there was none available," he later told NZPA.
After winning the Nobel -- and a share of its US$915,000 ($2.3 million) prize -- the academic told NZPA that his father grew up with New Zealand's first Nobel Prize winner, Lord Ernest Rutherford, who, he said, dedicated himself to making champagne out of rhubarb, before later splitting the atom.
Lord Rutherford also won the Nobel for chemistry after splitting the atom in 1908. He died in 1937.
New Zealand's only other Nobel winner, Maurice Wilkins, who shared a Nobel Prize in 1962 for the work that led to the unveiling of DNA, the blueprint of life, died in 2004, aged 87.
Prof MacDiarmid described his own award as a wonderful recognition of the importance of interdisciplinary research, with chemists, physicists, electrochemists and electronic engineers all working together on the same problem.
And he used his new profile to urge New Zealanders to worry less about losing university graduates to the "brain drain" and more about encouraging people into studying science subjects in the first place.
"The 'brain drain' was a controversial issue even when I left 50 years ago," he told NZPA in 2000. "But I feel it's highly desirable for a person as part of their scientific education to get training in different companies and institutions to get exposure to different disciplines and ways of tackling a job."
His own career started after he shovelled coal and swept floors at university to be able to study chemistry part-time. He published his first paper in Nature in 1949, graduated from Victoria the following year, and with the ink still drying on the science degree in his suitcase, set off for America on a Fullbright scholarship to study at Wisconsin University for the first of two doctorates.
A further scholarship from Shell NZ enabled him to study silicon hydrides at Cambridge University in England, where he married his fiance from Wisconsin, Marian Mathieu,in 1954. After briefly working at St Andrews University in Scotland, he took the lowly job of an instructor at Pennsylvania University in 1955.
He still worked there 52 years later , after completely changing his speciality to organic chemistry in the 1970s to study polymers -- the start of his Nobel work.
" It did not fit directly into any of the established scientific fields, such as chemistry, physics, electronics, or to the area of organic or inorganic chemistry," he recalled later, describing the initial work as having been in a "maverick" field.
His wife died in 1990, but the couple are survived by their children Heather, Dawn, Duncan and Gail. For the past 15 years, Prof MacDiarmid's partner was Gayle Gentile.
Prof MacDiarmid said that just like beautiful poetry, music and art it was possible to get intellectual enjoyment from beautiful research: 'And if that beautiful research happens to be technologically useful, then that is icing on the cake."
In addition to the MacDiarmid research centre at Victoria University, he was also involved in the Jilin University-Alan G. MacDiarmid Institute, a state-of-the-art nanotechnology research centre that opened in China late in 2001. He practised speaking Chinese while driving.
"When you stop learning, you start dying," Prof MacDiarmid said.
His research on conducting polymers led to about 25 patents -- some of which expired before companies realised billions of dollars could be earned from commercial applications.
"Alan's work was so cutting-edge that the industry was just not ready to exploit it at the time, which is a crying shame," John Caldwell, a partner in a Philadelphia-based intellectual property law firm told the Philadelphia Business Journal in 2002.
But Prof MacDiarmid -- who published over 600 scientific papers -- said that he would take being held in high esteem by the scientific community over money any day.
"Sure, one would never turn down the money, but if it's a matter of degree of importance in my life, money is about a 1 out of 10, and scientific fame is about a 9.5 out of 10," he said.
Home » Entertainment » Naked truth : Barrymore reveal passion for nude romps
New York (ANTARA News) - Former Hollywood wild child Drew Barrymore likes nothing more than ripping off her clothes and running naked through the fields -- although apparently only in Ireland, according to a recent interview.
"I'll drive in Ireland and park my car and run out into the field and rip all my clothes off and just run in the wheat fields naked," the actress says in an interview with Parade magazine due to appear Sunday.
The star also recalls another naked incident, when she flashed talk show host David Letterman live on network television in 1995.
"I'm so glad I was so free at one point in my life," she was quoted by AFP as saying.
She adds that she is aware the idea might raise a few eyebrows.
"I think it alarms people, because I'm so responsible now that when I do do it, it's almost surprising rather than, 'Oh, that's just her doing her thing again.'"
After appearing in Steven Spielberg's box office hit "E.T." at the age of seven, Barrymore dabbled in drugs and alcohol before she was even a teenager.
She returned to cinema after surviving a troubled adolescence and beating her addictions, but she maintained her bad-girl image, posing for Playboy magazine and appearing nude in several films.
The scion of one of Hollywood's great acting dynasties, Barrymore has appeared in several hit films, including "Poison Ivy," "Scream," "Charlie's Angels," "50 First Dates" and "Fever Pitch."
Her latest film, the romantic comedy "Music and Lyrics," opens next month.
Despite the good intentions of many parents, prohibiting household nakedness can have negative consequences for children. In our media saturated urbanized world, children like this are primed with an appetite for nudity related subject matter (of which most is unhealthy.) It takes a bit of work for the affected parent, but you can get over this and help your children to avoid some of these pitfalls of modern living. Fortunately as a parent you have the unique opportunity to provide a healthy environment for nakedness right in the refuge of your own home.
Disclaimer: The purpose here is not to promote public nudity as a method for this How To; quite the contrary (see Warnings section below). This guide is intended primarily as a tool for parents who do not want their children to acquire naturist values while teaching them a wholesome understanding of human nakedness. Resources are available elsewhere if you are interested in being a nudist. This How To is intended primarily for use by parents in their home.
Steps
Encourage family nudity without being abnormal. Children have not yet acquired a sophisticated understanding of modesty, and really don't care who sees them naked. This is the time when the parent can mold their conscience without making them self-conscious of nakedness. This, in turn, will help children associate nakedness to routine activity instead of exclusively naughty activity, helping illicit forms of nakedness to lose their appeal later in life.
Start allowing/encouraging family nudity during potty training & continue through the school age years and beyond. You'd be surprised how quickly potty training takes root when your toddler/preschooler is allowed to go bare at home, but...be prepared for occasional "accidents" as well, and handle these situations calmly without anger or revulsion.
Going nude for extended periods in the summer can save lots of money on home air conditioning bills! And if energy costs are not a primary concern, keep your home warm & comfortable during cold weather.
A focal point for nudity that enables the whole family to participate together is very helpful. An indoor swimming pool is ideal, but not practical for most families. Saunas are also excellent for this, but are not as common in the U.S. as Europe. Other water related ideas could be an outdoor pool below or above ground. A cheaper yet more practical idea that works year round would be a hot tub. Children see this as a heated kiddie swimming pool they can use water toys in too.
Allow your children - from birth - to see you in ordinary nude situations (e.g.- dressing, bathing or showering, using the toilet) or any activity where nudity is a natural part. By being comfortable with your own body you will naturally convey the message to your children that nudity really is okay and not something to fear. There are naturally times in life when clothes must be worn for protection, for comfort, and to adhere to societal norms. However, by talking with your children about being comfortable with nudity at home, your children will grow up understanding that being nude & being seen nude at home isn't something "uncool, horrible, and utterly embarrassing."
As they begin to recognize differences between themselves and you or your spouse, explain to them the reason for these differences. Suggested explanations are: "Mommy's breasts are for giving milk to babies like when you were small"? or "Mommy and daddy have hair down here because our bodies are warmer, and it helps keep our bodies cooler (by retaining sweat)."
Tips
A great side benefit to wholesome understandings of the naked body in the home is that when the time comes to explain human reproduction, there will be less tension from the children. They will not have the distraction of embarrassment when discussing (what for others can be) 'shameful' body parts. This in turn, will keep the communication lines open during adolescence.
There are many great books on pregnancy and adolescence that separate the romantic (i.e. sexual) aspect from the physiological changes of puberty. These books provide a very neutral clinical look at breast and pubic hair growth during the teen years, and include very candid photos of actual births. Influences like these help separate nudity from sex in the child's mind, and provide a framework where family nudity can flourish to the benefit of all.
Realize that not all shame is bad shame. Good shame is ingrained to help us avoid compromising situations. But other shame is the result of social conditioning during childhood, and unnecessarily predisposes us to clothes compulsiveness.
Respect others' standards. One good approach is to point out that other people are not accustomed to nudity, and it's kind to respect their wishes. This may mean keeping the curtains drawn, or willingly closing the bathroom door when guests are present, for example -- a practice that encourages courtesy, but not shame.
For families where the children are older it may be difficult to change attitudes. In some cases big decisions may need to be made in order to break free from habits. Such changes may include ridding the home of magazines (men's magazines, fashion, or sports related material), television, or other media that subtly foster a "nudity is sex"? mindset. Peers are also part of the equation. It may be necessary to move to another region to get a fresh start. Teenagers especially are very keen on whether the parents walk the talk, so if a parent still models these attitudes so will the teens.
The goal is to provide children the opportunity to see nakedness in a way that is almost non-existant in our society: to make it a neutral, non-sensuous part of everyday life in its proper context. This goes a long way toward innoculating them from the enticements so easily found outside the walls of your home and in the marketplace.
Warnings
Be careful about whom you share your family practices with. Not all people will easily come to the conclusions you intend them to. Nudity and sex are still considered to be related in our society; this partly stems from puritanical attitudes, but also from decades of hedonistic influence by the nudist movement from influences such as Hedomism II in Jamaica, the SunnyDaze Resort in Coloroado, and events like Nudes-a-Poppin in Indiana (just a few examples) that underscore nudism's close association with sexual activity.
Although this should be obvious to any well-meaning parent, care is advised during moments of intimacy and marital relations. Since the genitalia are a major source of pleasure during these times, be careful to instead emphasize the primary functions (birth canal, urination) of genitals to younger children. Anything beyond that may overpower their emotional stage of development and work against the wholesome environment you are trying to maintain. Marital intimacy is best left behind closed doors.
Avoid exposing children to nude photography from fine art, naturist, or internet sources as some of this has a subtly skewed pornographic message that untrained eyes will not immediately recognize. The best example is you, your spouse, and older siblings or relatives who bring a very real element to human nakedness.
Exercise proper hygiene. When exercising family nudity, always encourage/require the use of a towel for sitting. As any parent can tell you, young children don't always exercise the very best cleaning methods after using the potty. Don't be embarrassed about teaching good, healthy personal toileting hygiene to your children. They look to you to teach them properly and correctly
RICHTER'S SCALE: MEASURE OF AN EARTHQUAKE, MEASURE OF A MAN," by Susan Elizabeth Hough, Princeton University Press, 335 pages, $27.95
Even though his name is used in the general culture more than that of any other scientist, there has never been a good biography of Charles Richter, after whom the Richter scale is named. With "Richter's Scale," Susan Hough, a seismologist herself as well as a writer, has proved herself up to the task. As is the case with most biographies, the subject is revealed here with quirks and problems. Very early in life, his family and teachers noticed that he was hyperactive. As Hough puts it, he was "a man whose brain, while extraordinarily nimble, was also extraordinarily wired." Having been born in 1900, Richter did not have the advantage of his teachers knowing about bipolar or attention-deficit disorders. If so, doctors might have prescribed Ritalin for him — but Ritalin didn't come along until 1980. As a result, Richter spent some time in a sanitarium, which was not a progressive place. After his release, he went on to master atomic physics. There was never any question about his brain power. In fact, Richter might have been superior on both sides of his brain, as he also wrote poetry. By the mid-1930s, Richter was settled in his productive career as a seismologist. At 5-foot-8 1/2 , Richter was small in stature and looked awkward and nerdlike because of his glasses and cowlicks on both sides of his head. He put on weight in later years but was never as formidable-looking as most of his colleagues. The author spends considerable effort discussing whether Richter suffered from a neurological disorder. The most likely culprit, she thinks, was Asperger's syndrome, named for Dr. Hans Asperger, a Viennese pediatrician who described the condition named after him in 1944. Richter had a great deal of trouble forming friendships, he was sensitive to light and sound, had difficulties understanding a joke — and he cultivated extreme special interests. All of these aspects are consistent with Asperger's. Richter was also known to be a nudist — and nudists say that nudism is more about acceptance of oneself and oneness with nature than about sex or exhibitionism. Being a nudist for Richter also meant that he was a civil libertarian. It was with nudists — mostly highly educated iconoclasts — that he established his only real friendships. During his life, Richter became so taken with the study of earthquakes that he had a seismometer installed in his living room — right by his grandfather clock. He invented the Richter scale in 1932, when he was still a young man, and he used it to measure earthquakes in Southern California. Richter measured the various "levels of shaking" with his scale, making a profound scientific contribution. Today the man remains as mysterious as the scale. Kudos to the author for carrying out extensive research, then interpreting the results in a lively, interesting way.
WAILUKU – A judge asked two brothers to put themselves in the shoes of their victims, as the men were placed on probation Thursday for participating in an attack on a tourist at a Makena beach last year.
Second Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza said he suspected 22-year-old Brendan Ortiz and 27-year-old Brian Ortiz would have reacted the same way the visitors did when they saw males using a video camera at Little Beach, where the visitors and their wives were sunbathing nude May 30, 2005.
“Just think about how you want to be treated,” Cardoza told the brothers. “You wouldn’t want that. You wouldn’t stand for that.
“This has nothing to do with the aina or anything like that. This is just how you treat other people.”
Police said the California visitors asked the males, including the Ortizes, to hand over the videotape before an argument broke out, with the males saying: “This is our aina. If you don’t like it, go home. We can do what we want.”
The argument turned physical, police said, and a 39-year-old man suffered fractured ribs when he was punched and kicked.
Originally charged with second-degree assault, the Ortizes pleaded no contest to reduced charges of third-degree assault.
Cardoza followed plea agreements in sentencing both Wailuku men to one year on probation. Brendan Ortiz was given credit for six months he spent in jail through Thursday, while Brian Ortiz received credit for seven days’ incarceration.
The judge denied Brian Ortiz’s request for a chance to keep the conviction off his record, citing the defendant’s other encounters with the law. Cardoza said no further jail time was warranted based on Brian Ortiz’s role, which his attorney described as minimal.
“After the pushing, shoving and altercation, he walked down to where they were and returned some dropped sunglasses,” said defense attorney James Brumbaugh. “This young man is not angry.”
“I don’t want to get into something like this again,” Brian Ortiz said in court Thursday. “I’m really sorry.”
Deputy Public Defender Greg Ball said Brendan Ortiz had a job awaiting his release from jail and hoped to obtain the equivalent of his high school diploma.
“He has tremendous potential,” Ball said.
He said the state Department of Education “has totally defaulted on its obligation” to Brendan Ortiz when his records were misplaced as he was moving from middle school to high school and his special education services stopped.
Deputy Prosecutor Melinda Mendes said she hoped the brothers realized their behavior was juvenile and has to stop.
“They’ve got to realize that they are going to be making a living off the tourists,” she said.
Earlier this year, another brother, Christopher Ortiz, 20, was given a chance to keep a third-degree assault conviction off his record when he was sentenced for his role in the incident. Christopher Ortiz, who was represented by attorney William Sloper, served no jail time.
Last week, a fourth defendant, 19-year-old Justin K. Roman, was sentenced to a nine-month jail term and placed on five years’ probation for punching a 47-year-old California man as he and the other tourists were walking to the parking lot after the confrontation. Roman had pleaded no contest to second-degree assault.
Self-conscious about what you wear while working out? A Dutch gym plans to introduce "Naked Sunday" for people who like to huff and puff in the buff.
Patrick de Man, owner of Fitworld gym in the town of Heteren, said he got the idea in part from two of his customers who are "avid nudists."
"I heard that some other gyms are offering courses on 'pole-dancing' as a sport, so I thought: why not bring something new to the market?" de Man said.
He said the response had been overwhelming, "both positive and negative."
The Dutch Federation of Naturists, with 70,000 members, was curious to see if Fitworld's plan would work, spokesman Bernd Huiser said.
"We recently conducted a large survey among our members, and most prefer to exercise with their clothes on," he said. "The most popular activities (for nudists) are things you do outdoors, like walking on the beach, or swimming in a lake, or maybe gardening."
De Man said the first question Fitworld customers were asking was whether it would be sanitary.
Nude exercisers would be required to put towels down on weight machines and to use disposable seat covers while riding bikes, he said. All machines would be cleaned and disinfected afterward. "We clean them every day anyway," he said.
He said there was no need to advertise, as Fitworld has been deluged by interview requests from Dutch newspapers and TV stations.
One person calling himself Kees who visited the club's Web site wrote: "What a ridiculous idea, what kind of nutjob comes up with a plan like naked exercise?"
Another, calling himself Ron the Nudist, said: "Hi people who can't appreciate naked exercising ... Just because you are ashamed of your naked bodies doesn't mean naked isn't nice."
OLD TOWN - When members of the Bare Nekkid Mainers rent the Old Town Bowling Center, all they really need are the shoes.
"Hey, you can't go skinny-dipping at this time of year," Hessa, who organizes the gatherings and wanted to be identified only by her first name, told the Bangor Daily News.
Self-described naturist nudists, the Bare Nekkid Mainers belong to an international organization and participate in nudist events throughout the year.
The group used to bowl in Albion, but their venue there closed.
During the three events held at the Old Town center since September, the one-story building was closed with its windows and doors covered. Signs announced that a private party was in progress.
"I have absolutely no problem with it, and I hope nobody else does," Charles "Chip" Carson, the center's owner, said Monday. "They just happen to like having a good time without their clothes on."
Still, on one occasion earlier this month, a man apparently ignored the signs and entered the center with his 8-year-old son.
"I tried to stop him," Hessa said Monday. "He walked through two doors that were covered in paper and had signs."He apparently saw a nude male playing pool and went to police.
"One of our officers went over there to check," Old Town police Capt. Kyle Smart said Monday. Police found no violations, and after checking with the city attorney and municipal officials, concluded there has been no wrongdoing.
"We're not doing anything sexually explicit, and we're not out there doing it on Main Street," Hessa said.
About 60 households belong to Bare Nekkid Mainers, and several dozen people have participated in each bowling event in Old Town, the newspaper said.
Carson turns the thermostat up to make his patrons more comfortable and says the events are handled like any private party."Everybody's laughed at it, to be honest with you," he said.
When Jeremy and Janet Titley decided to convert the loft above their property they never dreamt it would cause any offence.
So they were surprised to hear that their neighbours were practising naturists who did not want to be seen pursuing their hobby.
John Gammie and his osteopath partner Mary Harbert have lodged an objection to their local council as they do not wish to be overlooked frolicking in the nude in the garden of their picturesque £300,000 cottage.
The Titleys had sought planning permission to turn the disused jeweller's shop in the picturesque village of Mere, Wiltshire into a house.
But Mr Gammie 48, a corporate events organiser explained that while he is not embarrased about nudity he fears arrest if he is seen by members of the public.
He said: 'We feel most comfortable when we are in the nude. We do not think clothing should get in the way. It is a family pastime.
'But these windows will enable adults and children to look out at us. We will probably get the police around.'
He has lived with Ms Harbert for five years at their three-bedroomed home and the couple are both members of the South West Outdoors Club.
Mr Gammie, who refers to clothes wearers as 'textiles', explained that his hobby spices up the couple's relationship, and 'is very gently linked to sex.'
He said of his partner: ' I obviously find her very pretty. She is very attractive but I suppose that depends on your taste.'
Miss Harbert , 43, who stressed she was always fully clothed when treating clients - added: 'We are both naturists and the windows would breach our privacy. We just take off our clothes and
walk around the garden.
'We are concerned people in this house could see me and my partner in the nude. They could look straight into our back garden.'
Miss Harbert who has been a practising naturist for eight years - went on: 'In the summer I spend a lot of my time in the garden with my partner in the nude. We do not want the neighbours seeing us in the nude. I would be conscious of it.
'But I will continue to do it anyway. I would not do it if I did not agree with it.'
Mrs Titley, who is 63, applied to Salisbury District Council for a change of use of the £170,000 property from a shop to a house.
Included in the plan are the three windows in the rear of the roof space.
Yesterday her husband Jeremy, 62, a doctor, said: 'Mr Gammie has been nothing but a pest since we bought it.'
But John and Mary may still win the battle as the council have deferred making a decision while planners see if it is still viable for the neighbours property to remain a shop.
The naturists have a 40ft by 10ft garden which is surrounded by a 4ft fence with a trellis.
While the neighbouring building has a window on the second floor, it does not have a view of the couple's garden. But this will all change when the loft is converted.
Real naturists/nudists would have caught this in a second: we never use the word "colony"!
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