Free Republic

Hundreds of naked people formed a "living sculpture" on Switzerland's Aletsch glacier Saturday, hoping to raise awareness about climate change. The photo shoot by Spencer Tunick, the New York artist famous for his pictures of nude gatherings in public settings worldwide, was designed to draw attention to the effects of global warming on Switzerland's shrinking glaciers. "The melting of the glaciers is an indisputable sign of global climate change," said the environmental group Greenpeace, which co-organized the event...

(07-19) 16:37 PDT Syracuse, N.Y. (AP) -- A 20-year-old Syracuse woman who left children in her care to go pose for nude photos is facing several charges of endangering the welfare of a child. Police say Michelle Rendino was supposed to be watching four young girls yesterday when she left them alone and went into the woods near Syracuse's Inner Harbor to have a man take nude photos of her. A man fishing saw the children crying and called police. When police arrived, the oldest girl — a six-year-old — told police that "Aunt Michelle" went into the woods to...

(05-22) 13:38 PDT STANFORD UNIVERSITY -- Eleven Stanford University students are staging a sit-in today at the university president's office in an attempt to convince officials that they should not use sweatshop labor to produce Stanford gear, protest organizers said. The students were joined by about 50 protesters -- a few of whom were naked -- who marched from White Plaza and rallied outside Hennessey's office for about an hour. The naked protesters were a bit shy, and several were covering their private parts. The students were cheering loudly, chanting ""What do we want to be? Sweat-free!" and carrying signs...

(08-08) 16:12 PDT WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) -- A lunchtime parade of topless porn stars down the main street of New Zealand's biggest city has been given official approval, as no laws will be broken. The parade later this month will feature up to 30 porn stars riding on the back of motorcycles or in open cars through Auckland's CBD to promote an erotica exposition. The bare breast drive has been held informally since 2003, but this is the first time permission has been sought, and given, by Auckland City Council. Organizer Steve Crow said it would promote an Erotica...

June 10, 2006 was the date for the World Naked Bike Ride, which -- as its name suggests -- is an international political event at which protesters take off all their clothes and ride bicycles through various cities around the globe. The focus of the protest is theoretically to encourage people to give up their "dependence on fossil fuel" -- but in practice the messages (which the organizers tell participants to paint directly on their bodies) are more scattered, ranging from "free speech" to presidential politics. I attended the San Francisco version of the event, which started at noon in...

The former University of California, Berkeley student known as the "Naked Guy," who gained notoriety for attending class in the buff in the early 1990s, died of an apparent suicide while in jail, authorities said. Andrew Martinez, 33, whose stripped-down campus strolls got him expelled from UC Berkeley and prompted the famously liberal city to adopt a strict anti-nudity ordinance, was found dead Thursday in the Santa Clara County Main Jail, said jail spokesman Mark Cursi. Martinez was found under his bed covers with a plastic bag cinched around his head, Cursi said. Officials are investigating the death as an...

Hayward -- Hayward firefighters extricated a naked man early Saturday who was stuck in the chimney of his stepmother's residence in Hayward. After the man was freed and treated at a local hospital, he was arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of drugs, according to police. Officers initially responded to a report by a Hayward resident on Gainesville Avenue who said she had heard muffled calls for help outside of her home over the course of several hours. "We started walking around the neighborhood, and then we heard the cries for help," said Hayward police Lt. Gary Branson....