Shedding it for a cause

Some of you may have noticed that we're in the waning days of 2006, and it may have suddenly occurred to you that it's about time to buy that new calendar for 2007.

Which means that you undoubtedly are thinking of buying a calendar from the Humane Society of Jefferson County (Wisconsin).

Miss December is wearing nothing but a Santa hat and a smile. Oh, and holding one strategically placed cat.

Chandra Gates decided the Humane Society of Jefferson County was a worthy enough cause for her to bare it all — well, some of it — for a nude-calendar fundraiser.

"I'm shy about the picture but definitely proud of the cause," said 39-year-old Gates, an animal caregiver there. "I was big on the fact that the cat was tame and wouldn't be running off."

I know you're dying to see the photo. The bad news is that the story linked above doesn't have it. The good news is that I tracked it down for you at the Washington Post. Seriously. You don't have to thank me.

You see how tasteful it is?

And it definitely brings to mind the apocryphal story about Zsa Zsa Gabor (I heard it was Raquel Welch) on Johnny Carson's show.

Now, while we're on our roughly annual discussion of semi-nude calendars (previous entries here and here), I have to quote for you this advisory: "Professor: Nude Calendars Don't Help Fundraising."

And this advisory, too: "One philanthropy expert says nude calendars often end up in drawers because people buy them to support the cause and not to display them."

This philanthropy expert's a moron, of course. They don't display the nude calendars, because they have nude photos. That doesn't mean they don't look at them. If the calendars are in drawers, it's to hide them from the boss. Unless he's thinking of a different kind of drawers.

Anyway, if you've been thinking about the new year, you're way ahead of me. It suddenly dawned on me that we were approaching 2007 when I got my most recent spam from some motorcycle dealer in Florida, highlighted by a photo (sort of NSFW; use some serious discretion) of four women wearing the kind of outfits Santa Claus would wear if he were a slender female model on his way to the beach. Try to wrap your mind around that!

UPDATE (12/28): And speaking of shedding it for a cause, what cause could be better than hospitalized veterans? Hence, Pin Ups for Vets. (via Iowahawk, via Ace)