I Don’t Want Callused Feet

One thing we barefooters will sometimes hear from people who don’t want to go barefoot is, “I don’t want callused feet”.

Now, that could be the case, but I sometimes wonder if there really might be a different underlying objection.

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What’s Wrong with Salt Creek?

I’ve been having fun lately looking a bit at the geology and topographic maps of southeastern Ohio. Earlier, in Great Sealer’s Ghost!, I showed a color-coded elevation map. Well, I have here another one showing more of the highlands east of the Scioto River between Circleville and Chillicothe.

[Yes, I know that calling them “highlands” is a bit presumptuous. But this is Ohio after all, and “high” in Ohio is a lot different than “high” in Colorado. In this case, the “mountains” in the Great Seal region “tower” over Chillicothe by a full 650 feet.]

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Oh, I Could Never Climb the Stairs

No, I have to take the elevator or escalator. I’m so out of shape that even a few steps make me huff and puff and my muscles start hurting.

You never hear anybody saying that. Yet when it comes to bare feet we hear the equivalent all the time.

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Saturday Comic

This weekend’s comic comes from Mr. Boffo. It’s dated July 17, 2013.

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Slippers Reinvented

At least that’s what the advertisement from our newspaper last Sunday said. And how, you might ask, have slippers been reinvented?

Why of course, they’re “barefoot”.

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The Fungus Amungus

There was a recent study published in Nature that looked at all the fungi that live on human skin. What was different about this study is that they used DNA to identify the different species, and found a lot more than can usually be found by culturing. The study found a huge profusion of fungi on our feet.

What do you mean “we”, paleface?

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Into the “People’s” House

I was in downtown Columbus yesterday. When there, I always liked to walk through the Statehouse (which is what the State Capitol Building is called).

Of course, I’m sure you all recall that they recently banned bare feet.

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Ode

John Updike wrote a very nice remembrance of going barefoot that I thought I’d share.

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Getting the Hingis of It

Two weeks ago was the “Hall of Fame Championship” in Newport, Rhode Island. I have no idea why the International Tennis Hall of Fame is there, but hey, it has to be somewhere, right?

You never see the professionals play their tennis barefoot, but what else are you to do when you are inducted and your footwear sucks?

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Saturday Comic

This weekend’s comic comes from Peanuts, dated July 12, 2005 (though I’m sure it originally appeared long before).

Peanuts: July 12, 2005

Well, maybe the excitement wears off, but the freedom and comfort sure don’t.

All you really need to do is put on some shoes again for a short period, and you’ll realize what you are missing.

And if you feel the need for some excitement, try going into most libraries barefooted and see what happens.

 

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Into the Cantwell Cliffs Wilderness

Yesterday I returned to Cantwell Cliffs, partly because I wanted better pictures than the ones I took with a crummy camera in 2000 Miles.

But I also wanted to see if I could avoid getting lost for a change.

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Sign on the Door?

There was a recent photo on Facebook showing the sign on the door of a nightclub, specifically disclaiming responsibility for bare feet or flip-flops.

I am of two minds about it.

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State RFRAs

The last two days we’ve looked at the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act. In Part 1 we saw a bit of history, noted how it ended up applying only to the federal government, and how it started out being ineffective. In Part 2 we saw how the Supreme Court put teeth back into it and then we looked at the components of the Act and how they were applied by the courts.

There is one more piece to this. Many states passed their own Religious Freedom Restoration Acts.

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The Religious Freedom Restoration Act — Part 2

Yesterday, in The Religious Freedom and Restoration Act — Part 1, I looked at the history of the RFRA, and how it was first limited to apply only to the federal government, and then emasculated in the lower courts to the point that only about 15% of the cases claiming an illegal restriction of the free exercise of religion were successful.

But it gets better from there.

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The Religious Freedom Restoration Act — Part 1

Many barefooters have a spiritual or religious component to their reason for going barefoot. There are many public accommodation laws (both state and federal) that ought to protect them when various businesses try to keep them out with the old NSNSNS excuse, but these laws are actually rather weak.

However, there is one such law, that applies in just a few very specific instances, with a fair bit of teeth in it: the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

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