Tattoo violence, dreams possibly ruined, a wedding proposal, and a modded Playstation. That’s what we have lined up in today’s “Better late than never” weekly news update. I’ll admit the long weekend (Canada’s Victoria Day) got the better of me, but thanks to you, the Modblog readers, the stories are still coming in.
Let’s start off with the story that I’m sure everyone has heard of by now. Four New Hampshire men have allegedly tattooed “Poop Dick” on the ass of a 14 year old boy. Now I’m calling these guys “men” as they’re all over 18, but you need to keep in mind they all (save one) attend high school with the victim.
“Police say the classmates told the victim they’d stop picking on him if he let them tattoo the image on his rear end. Three of the suspects allegedly tattooed him with their own needles. The charges include assault, endangering the welfare of a minor and indecent exposure. If convicted, the four suspects are looking at sentences ranging from three to 13 years.”
I think my favorite part of this story is the mother of one of the accused who claims “They told me about it. They were joking about it. They thought it was something funny. And I believe there wasn’t any animosity or hatred.” In all honesty, I believe her. I’m not at all saying what the kids did was right, but I’m fairly certain these guys did it for fun. Gone are the days of a wedgie or a dumpster toss, as every generation seems to feel the need to one-up the prior generation. Just think, it was only a few years ago the Star Wars kid was embarrassed publicly by his peers for fun. I’m a little scared to think what’s going to be the at the extreme end of the scale in another 10 years. (Thanks to BME member brie_co for sending this in).
More news after the break, and I promise it won’t be all bad!
Ok, so I promised it wouldn’t be all bad, but there were still a few other incidences of modification related violence this week.
In Huntington, WV a man was charged with forcibly tattooing a woman. This pillar of society thought it would be a good idea to tattoo “King Shannon” (his name) into the back of a woman. I use the term ‘into’ as he first carved the letters, and then rubbed ink into the wound.
Not limiting this week’s violence to North America, a father in South Africa has been charged with killing his daughter for getting a tongue piercing.
“Sphiwe Morgan Dlangisa, 38, is reported to have seen the stud on his 16-year-old daughter’s tongue the day before, he is said to have become very angry and beat her in front of her siblings. The court heard that in the early hours of November the 1st, Dlangisa allegedly tied Nkululeko to an electric pole outside the house and electrocuted her.”
I think we have an early contender for the “Worst Father of the Year” award. It would have already gone to the guy who tattooed that infant’s rear, but he was only the babysitter. I’m guessing just taking the stud out would have been too much trouble.
I spoke last week about Scottish police officers not being allowed to have any visible tattoos. This week a young man who had enlisted in the U.S. Air Force faced similar problems. After enlisting, passing a medical check (where his tattoo was examined), and being sworn in, Marvin Goodman was turned away when he reported for basic training.
“The pictures were sent to the recruiter’s superior officer and on Tuesday, Goodman got word that his tattoo was too big. The Air Force forbids tattoos that exceed 25 percent of an exposed body part. Goodman’s tattoo runs from his elbow to his wrist. The Air Force says it made a mistake. Goodman says that mistake destroyed his future plans.”
The upside to this story is while the USAF reviews Marvin’s case, the Army has stepped up and let him know that he’s welcome there, tattoo and all. I do have a question for our modified troops (both current and former): Did your modifications cause you any trouble while you served, or were you fortunate enough not to have the difficulties that Marvin is facing?
Speaking of regulations, were you aware that three Canadian provinces have zero regulations when it comes to tattoos? It seems the Maritime provinces, Nova Scotia, PEI, and New Brunswick (home to BME rockstar Jen) don’t actually have any rules in place to keep studios in check. This past weekend the Maritime Tattoo Festival hoped to bring awareness to this problem.
“Amber Thorpe, who started the festival, is originally from Alberta, where tattoo parlours are regulated and inspected by the government. She said a key goal of the festival is to spread a message of cleanliness to fellow tattoo artists. To be part of the Halifax show, artists are required to get certification through a private company that teaches tattoo and piercing cleanliness to the industry in an eight-hour seminar followed by an exam.”
Hopefully with the media coverage there will be enough public interest to have the provincial governments step up and put some rules in place. As it stands now, all you need to do to open a studio is have working plumbing and a fire extinguisher.
South of the border, things are much different in Texas. In Fort Worth the Bobby Jones Tattoo Studio has been shut down by the state for a number of violations.
“An investigator had reported finding that the sterilization process for equipment amounted to placing it in what appeared to be a food pressure cooker, according to his report. “
I wonder if there’s a crock pot recipe for blood borne pathogens? Steamed needles in a hepatitis sauce sound good to you?
Here at Modblog we see countless images of creative ideas on a daily basis. I think this image is my favorite for the day..
What you are looking at is a modified Playstation console, jury rigged to become a prison tattoo machine. BME Member nexizydrate sent in the link to this story, where a prisoner in a UK immigration facility created the device. According to the article “guards in US jails have found tattoo guns made from Nintendo consoles”. I guess this means the US is now behind in the next gen console race. Although it would be interesting to get a Mario tattoo done by a NES machine.
Something we’ve all heard about is wedding proposals. Stories of grooms-to-be concocting elaborate schemes to pop the question to their significant others. One story more outlandish than the last, as if it is some big competition to be able to have the Best. Proposal. Ever. Well Joe Wittenberg of San Diego, you’re officially in the running.
“When it came time to ask the woman he loves, Rachel Streeter, to marry him, he put the machine to his own skin. “I made a stencil and just followed it along,” says Wittenberg.”
From all us single modified guys out there Joe, I just want to say “screw you!” How the hell are we supposed to top that?
For this week’s entertainment news we first turn to former Xena star Lucy Lawless. It seems that while she loves her fans, she’s not too keen on them getting her autograph tattooed on their bodies.
In possibly my favorite story of the week, it seems the conspiracy nuts are going gaga over Gaga.
“There are rumours that the Illuminati cult which the author believes Lady Gaga to be a part of has among its members the political bigwigs like Barack Obama and members of the Bush family”
You can’t make this stuff up. It’s fantastic.
Oh, and I have no idea what the hell a Justin Bieber is, but supposedly it got a tattoo done in Toronto.
So that’s a wrap for this week. Remember it is hurricane preparedness week, so check your bunkers and watch out for cows.
Oh, and as always, if you see something in the news, send it my way.
BME/News and Modblog highlight only a small fraction of what
You honestly think the guys were having fun and not meaning anything bad by it by FORCING a kid to let them tattoo his butt? They forcibly tattooed a special needs kid! There’s nothing lighthearted or fun about that!
if you heard the same story, but the everyone involved was ten years older, it wouldn’t turn your head.
being that they were teenagers it’s fucked up. The guys should have to pay for the tattoo to be removed. Aside from this incident the guys were scratchers and show have their thumbs broken with a ballpeen hammer.
Jessica: I don’t think it’s funny at all. What I’m saying is that the kids that did this probably didn’t think of the consequences beyond “this will be something to do”. I believe that they were completely apathetic towards this kid, whom to them was an easy target. They didn’t hate him, they just didn’t see him as a person.
These are the types of people that will kick a puppy while walking down the street to look “cool” to their peers. They don’t hate the puppy, and they probably normally like dogs, but in a given situation, they’d kick a puppy if they thought it would elicit a few laughs. Essentially I’m saying the behavior is more along the lines of a sociopath than that of an individual with a grudge.
“Standard” bullying is deplorable and inexcusable as it is, but to take advantage of a special needs student and tattoo them? It doesn’t matter what those kids thought: they did it and as adults they need to face all the consequences of their actions. :\ I hope they get what they deserve. They’re old enough to know better.
Has there been a proportionately higher infection rate in the maritime provinces than for places with lots of rules? Are there any actual real-world studies? Also, has any member of the general public not affiliated with the industry in any way lobbied for regulation, or is it industry (or certain members of industry) calling for the state to step in?
do not doubt the Illuminati
what alot of people get…. ive met alot of people who wanted to be marines and were turned down or rejected…. serving isnt entirely the point its the honor that comes with it. air force is the highest in ranks (as far as i know), marines are more common and higher ranked as well. army will take anyone, its essentially the same as a slap in the face.
which i feel is absolute BULL-FUCKIN-SHIT! for him to even go through a physical exam and reach the point of showing up for boot camp and being turned down. god damn i hate this government
The artist I’m apprenticing under joined the army young, and was heavily tattooed. Most of his tattoos were fine excluding the ones on his thumb and neck, which they decided to surgically remove. He now has a gnarly scar on both his hand and neck.
im in the navy on deployment right now, currently i have 1inch stretched lobes and a full sleeve and ive never gotton any grief over either
While serving in the Canadian army, I’ve seen many sleeves, several hand and neck tattoos, and one girl with both ears tattooed. As far as I know, the only restriction is nothing on the face, nothing racist/explicit.
Here’s a link to the Air Force regs on dress and appearance. It is a PDF file, page 86-87 cover body modification.
http://www.peterson.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-090212-054.pdf
Bullying, no matter what form it takes, is completely unacceptable and we should not say that one form of bullying is more acceptable than another. I know many people who have carried the taunts and punches of their bullies right up into adulthood, and their past has led to mental health issues… even suicide.
I think more people need to be aware of bullying and do everything in their power to intervene if they see someone being bullied. What may seem like “harmless” name-calling can sometimes have devastating effects.
I have been in the US Army for the past 8 years, although I obviously was allowed to come in with my tattoos. I have definetly had to prove myself over and over again that I deserve the respect and the rank that I have earned. i had 1.5 inch plugs in my ears, but had to sew them up to try to become an officer, but was denied because of my unprofessional appearance, with my knuckles and hand tattoos. Now that I have gained some rank, people tend more to joke about my tattoos and just let it go, but it was definetly a long trip to get to this point.
Eff those four. Lives in my HS cratered because people were picked on, though fortunately no suicides – that was half a lifetime away and some of those people still haven’t been able to deal with it. The scars of bullying can last a lifetime, yet some people continue to excuse it.
An indecent exposure conviction could land them on sex offender lists for life, wonder if they’d think the lulz were worth that? I won’t shed a tear if that’s what they get.