Here is your news roundup for April 24, 2015:
* 2,000 Tattoos, 40 Piercings & A Pickled Ear – This is from a TV program that ran in the UK. You can watch the episode for free online right now.
* Stick and poke tattoos concern public health officials
* Challenges in Europe: Refusing racist tattoos in Hungary
* Marine Considered ‘Unfit’ to Re-Enlist Due to Rifle Tattoo
* Drunk dad attempts his own at-home tattoos; spells his son’s name AND nickname wrong

In celebrity news…
* British supermodel Stephen James flashes body tattoos and taught frame
* Ariana Grande and Her Brother Get Matching Tattoos
* Kristen Stewart Turned to Her Mom for Her New Tattoo

—
Thanks to Emma for submitting a link!

If you read any news stories relating to body modification please do send them in.

Submit news stories.

Here is your news roundup for April 3, 2015:

* Tattoo film festival spreads its ink to mainstream audience
* Video of mom forcing screaming daughter to get ears pierced goes viral
(Just a note about this, the video is very disturbing and you may want to skip watching it if you haven’t already seen it.)
* Biohackers develop night vision eye drops to see in the dark
* Thief spends six hours getting Jesus tattoo – then runs off with £1000 takings from till

In celebrity news…
* Ellie Goulding and Dougie Poynter seal their love by getting matching tattoos on their middle fingers
* Hilary Duff reveals her secret tattoos
* Miley Cyrus Gets New Tattoo
* Tara Reid accompanies drunk fan while he has her name tattooed on him.

If you read any news stories relating to body modification please do send them in.  It’s hard to find everything that’s out there on my own and it seems like celebrity news dominates and while BME has always covered body modification in all its forms, including celebrity news, it would be nice to have some regular news stories to share as well.

Submit news stories.

Alright, so the year is almost at an end and I was thinking to myself, I didn’t really do a year-end news post last year.  So this year I’m going to rectify that.  However, in order to do so, I’m going to need your help.  Take a look through the newsfeed archive for the past year, and then send me an e-mail with what you think are the top stories of the year.  It could be one, it could be more, that’s up to you.  Then, for the last news post of the year, I’ll do a re-cap of the stories that you thought were the most important ones.  Was it TLC’s failed attempt at a “Tattoo School” show?  Mike Tyson’s tattoo artist nearly preventing Hangover 2 from being released?  Rick Genest (Zombie Boy) becoming the muse to Lady Gaga’s stylist?  You tell me.  Of course, don’t forget to keep sending me those links to other stories that you think should be included in the weekly news.

Alright, let’s get things started with a bang this week.  The big story is out of Indonesia where police raided a punk concert in an effort to crack down on tattooed and pierced teenagers.

Police in Indonesia’s most conservative province raided a punk-rock concert and detained 65 fans, buzzing off their spiky mohawks and stripping away body piercings because of the perceived threat to Islamic values.  Dog-collar necklaces and chains also were taken from the youths before they were thrown in pools of water for “spiritual” cleansing, local police chief Iskandar Hasan said.  After replacing their “disgusting” clothes, he handed each a toothbrush and barked “use it.”  The crackdown marked the latest effort by authorities to promote strict moral values in Aceh, the only province in this secular but predominantly Muslim nation of 240 million to have imposed Islamic laws.

Though pierced and tattooed teens have complained for months about harassment, Saturday’s roundup at a concert attended by more than 100 people was by far the biggest and most dramatic bust yet.  Baton-wielding police scattered fans, many of whom had travelled from other parts of the sprawling archipelagic nation to attend the show.  Hasan said 59 young men and five women were loaded into vans and brought to a police detention centre 60 kilometres from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.  They would spend 10 days getting rehabilitation, training in military-style discipline and religious classes, including Koran recitation, he said. Afterward, they’ll be sent home.

Hasan insisted he’d done nothing wrong.  “We’re not torturing anyone,” the police chief said. “We’re not violating human rights. We’re just trying to put them back on the right moral path.”  However, Nur Kholis, a national human commissioner, deplored the detentions, saying police have to explain what kinds of criminal laws have been broken.  “Otherwise, they violated people’s right of gathering and expression,” Kholis said, promising to investigate.

It should be noted that the province where this occurred is unique in Indonesia for being strict adherents to Sharia law.  The rest of the country, while predominantly Muslim, practice a moderate form of their faith.  I’m personally a little concerned as to what they may do to those kids who are tattooed.  It’s easy to shave someone’s head and rip out piercings, it’s something else entirely to remove a tattoo.  The linked article above has a few more photos of what happened.  Now I try not to be political when it comes to the news, however this is a prime example of why the church and state need to be completely separate. And it doesn’t matter what religion it is either.  The moment one group’s religious beliefs are imposed upon another, and backed by the government, is the the same moment that things like this become acceptable. The reason I’m mentioning this is because in North America there is a strong anti-Sharia law movement taking place, which is backed by people who want their own religion put in place as the state-sponsored religion, without realizing that they’re protesting against the very thing they want.  Leave the government to the crooks and liars, and let people determine their own religious (or non-religious) beliefs.

Ok, that’s enough moralizing from me.  There’s more news to come, so keep on reading.

So while we’re still on the subject of people imposing their beliefs on others, a woman in Vietnam has gone to the police after her employer tattooed centipedes on her face and chest.

A worker at a Vietnamese cafe said the owner forced her to get centipede tattoos on her face and bosom for a suspected affair with the owner’s husband.  Police in Vung Tau City were investigating Nguyen Thuy Ngoc’s claim that Nguyen Thi Anh, who owns the Mo Neo cafe, shaved Ngoc’s head and forced her to get a centipede tattooed on her face and two others on her chest because of a suspected affair between Ngoc and Ahn’s husband, Pham The Phong, Tuoi Tre News reported.

Ngoc, 20, said Anh, 33, had asked her why she had an affair with her husband and beat her Nov. 26 and Nov. 27 at the cafe.  Ngoc said she came to Vung Tau in April 2008 to work for Anh at her cellphone shop but Anh later opened a cafe and forced her to work there.  Ngoc returned to her home in Nghe An province’s Nghi Loc district Nov. 28 and told her mother, Tran Thi Hoa, of her treatment. The mother reported it to police in Nghe An and Vung Tau.  Vung Tau police questioned Anh and Phong and the couple told police they had hired Ngoc at the cafe but she quit over conflicts between her and Anh.

Here’s what I don’t get.  It says she was beat at work on the 26th and 27th.  You’d think she wouldn’t want to go into work the next day after that happened.  This is the reason Jen and I live in different cities, I know that if we lived closer together she’d try to beat me up as often as she could.

Now it’s one thing to have your boss tattoo you, it’s another to have your boss tell you what kind of tattoos you can and can’t get.  Now if your boss is the Major League Baseball Association, that’s exactly what they just did.

The Associated Press reports the new labor deal will result in a four-day All-Star break by 2013, with the game being played on a Wednesday instead of a Tuesday, and it will allow teams in the same division to meet in the playoffs before the league championship series.

Among other new stipulations:

• Teams must provide individual rooms during spring training for all players on the 40-man roster, instead of having some of them room together.
• Players who want to change uniform number while on the same team will be required to give eight-months’ notification.
• Players will not be allowed to display tattoos with corporate logos.

According to the new CBA, a copy of which was obtained by AP, “no player may have any visible markings or logos tattooed on his body” as part of the uniform regulations.  “Just trying to head something off at the pass,” said Rob Manfred, baseball’s executive vice president for labor relations.

I guess this means we won’t be seeing any Golden Palace tattoos on anyone’s forehead next summer.

It’s time now for this week’s common sense awards.  First up is a young woman who was rushed to hospital after swallowing some magnets.  The catch, the magnets are being marketed as “fake piercings“.

One of Cameron Miller’s friends recently gave her magnetic jewelry. The super magnets are often marketed to teens because they’re meant to look like piercings.  “Everybody has them at school. Everybody brings them every day and they wear them until the teacher says take them out,” Miller said.  But the 13-year-old accidently swallowed the seemingly harmless tiny pieces of metal.  “I had one on my lip and I took a drink. I forgot I had them in. I swallowed them,” she said.

Miller, a softball player, went on to play in a game later that day and didn’t give the magnets much more thought until she started to feel sick a couple days later.  Perry Miller said blood work showed her daughter developed a blood infection. Then an x-ray revealed four magnets in a row stuck together inside the teen’s intestines.  She was rushed to Cook Children’s Medical Center for surgery after two of the magnets tore a hole in her colon.

Now I remember an article a while back about kids using bucky balls to achieve the same look, and the same thing happened.  Of course instead of realizing this was pretty horrible, someone had the bright idea to start selling them as jewelry.

Our other winner this week is a man who was able to write his own headline after tattooing “No Regrets” on a 14-year-old girl.

A COURT heard yesterday a man regretted tattooing “No regrets” on a 14-year-old girl’s shoulder.  Allan Fenton had no licence to give tattoos but ran a word-of-mouth business from his home in Dundee.  The 24-year-old’s Bebo page features dozens of tattoos he has done.  Fenton, who charged the girl £25, was caught when police and council licensing bosses swooped on his home.  They found surgical tape and gloves, rolls of cling film, five tattooing machines, a tattooing table and arm rests in his bedroom.

Alan Lyle, defending, said: “The tattoo was only two inches long, but he regrets this.”

So congratulations to both the tattoo artist and the company making these magnets for piercings.  Thanks to their lack of common sense, I had two stories to include this week.

So there’s been a lot of doom and gloom this week, and I’ve got one more, but after that things take a brighter turn.

The Canadian government is searching for ways to keep up with the body modification community.  While inspectors are trying to get to every shop, they have no idea on how to handle surgical modifications, which is resulting in a lot of conflicting information.  The result is the government is contemplating following in Winnipeg’s steps and outlawing anything that isn’t piercing or tattoos.

Public health authorities across Canada are struggling to address the growing popularity of body modifications such as splitting one’s tongue like a snake’s and surgically altering ears to make them elf-like and pointy, fearing the spread of infection in an unregulated industry.  Last Wednesday, Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health’s board of health received a report warning that one can suffer a “serious or possibly life-threatening consequence” while undergoing one of these surgical-like procedures in a “non-clinical” environment where there’s a higher threat of contracting HIV or hepatitis B and C. Scarification, which is effectively carving or branding an image into your skin, and suspension, which involves being hung from the ceiling on hooks lodged into your back, are among the more common forms of extreme body modification happening in tattoo and piercing shops across the country who often yield to squeamish health inspectors who judge before they do their work, body modifiers say.

Since the new budget came down, they’ve been able to inspect 175 of the 230 personal service settings, which include anything from body modification to acupuncture, she said — a 136% increase in inspections, which were far rarer with a smaller staff.  But even so, it’s tough to find those performing body modifications because these artists freelance or do their branding and tongue splitting after hours or at home, Ms. Kearns said. Personal service settings don’t require a license and so many inspectors depend on new establishments to tell them about any body modification they’d be doing. But that’s not required by law.  “We’d inspected a premise we’re aware of that’s low risk and then suddenly they bring in an artist who is doing more procedures and elevating the risk,” she said. “It’s very difficult, from our perspective.”

Winnipeg is one of the only places in Canada to outright ban body modification beyond tattoos and piercings. As of June 2008, the city outlawed scarification and implants after people from the industry voiced concerns about body modifiers that were alleged to have spread disease through their practices, said Pat Masterton, public health inspection coordinator for Winnipeg.  “I think the people who wanted to be reputable operators and run proper businesses carrying on sanitary processes wanted to make sure the whole industry was not going to be labelled because someone out there was doing something that was going to be causing infection,” she said.

This is an important story to read for all Canadians, not just those who get implants, scars, etc.  As you can see in the opening paragraph, they include suspension as one of the activities they’re investigating.  Without significant input from the community Canada may be facing legislation that could outlaw extreme modifications, as well as suspension.

Moving on, a study in Australia has revealed some interesting information when it comes to the tattooed population.

According to a study by La Trobe University’s Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS) a greater proportion of women aged 20 to 29 are the most tattooed Australians, with almost one in three sporting a tattoo, whereas in the older age groups tattoos were more common among men.  Tattooing appears to have moved into mainstream society, with roughly one in seven Australian adults reporting having been tattooed. Despite the recent gentrification of tattooing, tattoos still appear to be associated with risk-taking behaviour in adults.

‘Having been tattooed also correlated with certain risk-taking behaviours, most notably smoking, cannabis use, and greater numbers of lifetime sexual partners. Associations between tattooing and risk-taking behaviour have also been reported in studies among adults and adolescents,’ says Professor Marian Pitts, Director of ARCSHS.  ‘Although the direction of the relationship between tattooing and risk-taking behaviour in adults is not currently known, it may be that in some groups tattooing still represents and is associated with resistance and rebellion towards more conservative parts of society.’

More recently however, in a 2007 review authors found the most common reasons mentioned in the literature related to embellishments of the body, art, fashion, and individuality.  Tattooing was popular among men who had not finished secondary school, tradesmen, and women who did not live with their partners, whereas men and women who had completed postsecondary education were less likely to have a tattoo. Similar findings relating to education attainment were also reported in the U.S. national study.  ‘Furthermore, tattooing does not appear to be confined to certain subpopulations, with men and women in every demographic reporting having tattoos,’ says Professor Pitts.

So basically it’s telling us what we already knew.  Tattoos aren’t just for sailors, bikers, and prostitutes any more.  Unless of course 1 in 3 Australian women between 20-29 are actually prostitutes.

In a nice and heart warming story, a Quebec couple has gotten matching tattoos.  That on its own wouldn’t be so special, however the tattoo is of an insulin pump, identical to the one their son has implanted in him.

Some parents get tattoos of their child’s name, but Philippe Aumond and Camille Boivin went one better.  In a show of solidarity, they each have an image of an insulin pump tattooed on their abdomens, declaring that they are “forever linked” to their son Jacob.  “It is a great thing for him, and we were thrilled just to see his smile when he saw those pumps. It made our day, that’s for sure,” said Boivin, 36, from the family’s home in La Sarre, Que.

A while back, Jacob, diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 3 ½, was excited by the idea of getting an insulin pump that would replace four to five injections a day, and he figured it would be like having his own little robot working for him.  When it was delivered, he was “just like a kid on Christmas Eve with his gift,” and even slept with it before it was plugged into him, said Boivin.  Jacob is now five and in kindergarten, and he wears it 24-7.  “He adapted pretty quick, but one time he told me that he felt different and he was wondering if he was alone in the world, you know, wearing a pump,” Boivin said.

She explained to him that every child is different — some wear glasses, others are in wheelchairs, some have blue eyes, others have brown eyes.  “So he got that, but still, you know, he is a kid. He was four at the time, so he wants to be like everybody else,” Boivin explained.  “Before we had the pump, I think the way he felt is that having shots was just a little part of his day and nobody had to know. But then now, he was wearing a pump, and people could see it and people were asking questions and I think that’s what bothered him a little bit. So he felt really alone.”  She and Aumond decided to get tattoos of the pump, “because no parents want to have their child feel left out or alone.”

See.  Heart-warming.  Now, is it dusty in here, because I have something in my eye.

Alright, today’s last story is either going to be cool or horrific.  It all depends on how you react to the following photo.

As a symbol of wealth and harmony, the goldfish is a popular tattoo. But in a craze sweeping China, goldfish are themselves being inked with patterns and characters intended to being their owners good fortune. The tattoos are said to be the result of an injection which takes half a year to form. Other methods use lasers. Tattooed fish first appeared on the market in 2005 and have become very popular in the past year or two. The technique is not without its critics, however, who claim it is not only cruel, but against the laws of nature.

Like I said.  To some people, having a goldfish with a specially designed symbol on them would be pretty cool.  To others, it’s animal cruelty.  It all depends on how you feel about tattooing fish.

Well, that’s it for this week’s news.  We’ll see you back here next week for a special holiday edition, and then it’ll only be one week to go before the BME NYE Party!  Hopefully I’ll see a lot of you there.  You can find out more about the event right here.  As well as the event page on IAM.

Oh, and don’t forget to e-mail me the stories you think were the best this year.

Well Modblog readers, I am still alive.  After a brief scare in the Grand Canyon, this week’s news is coming to you from Sin City itself, Las Vegas.  With that in mind, I thought this week’s news round up should kick off with a tattoo dedicated to someone who is no stranger to corruption.

Jeremy Scheuch has got style. Chicago style. And Rod Blagojevich style.  The 31-year-old event planner spent three hours Tuesday night honoring the city and the on-trial-for-corruption former Illinois governor with a large tattoo on his upper right thigh.

I will admit, it does look a LOT better than the Sarah Palin tattoo I posted about a couple weeks back.

For the rest of this week’s news, including a number of tribute tattoos, as well as some great information about tribal modifications, click the little “read more” link.

Tribute tattoos are a mainstay of the culture.  Sometimes they’re dedicated to a lost loved one, or maybe to a favorite band.  What about a tribute to a road?  And what if that tribute tattoo was only one of many dedicated to the same stretch of highway?  Well to Ron Jones, Route 66 means a heck of a lot to him.

Ron “Tattoo Man” Jones has 85 tattoos in total and 84 tattoos dedicated to sites along the 2,448-mile highway. His body pays tribute to Waylon’s Kuku Burger in Miami, Okla.; a former zoo that once housed mountain lions in Two Guns, Ariz.; even the Santa Monica Pier arch in California, where Route 66 ends and the Pacific Ocean begins.

While Ron has dedicated his body to his favorite stretch of road, Brandon Perry from Perth has covered his arm in symbols of his beloved homeland.

Now it features a Vegemite jar, a Hills Hoist clothes line with Bonds Y-fronts, a pink lamington and a meat pie with tomato sauce spread into the Triple J insignia.

I’ll be the first to admit that beyond Vegemite, I have no clue whatsoever as to what the other images are of.  Any Aussie readers out there care to fill the rest of us in?

As readers of Modblog know, I do like to post stories that explore modifications from tribal cultures all over the world.  I’ve touched on how the Maori shrunken heads were finally returned from a museum in Paris, and now this week I was lucky enough to come across a pair of articles that delve into a little bit of detail describing the history behind both Moko tattoos, as well as Apatani modifications from northern India.

“Apatani women were often abducted by the neighbouring Nishi tribesmen for their beauty, so to make themselves look unattractive, they tattooed their faces and wore huge circular nose plugs,”

Sticking with news from the southern hemisphere;  The Red Cross in Australia has recently updated it’s rules with regards to when a person can give blood following a tattoo or piercing.  They re-evaluated their policy and decided to reduce the wait period from one year down to six months.  While this is a decent step forward with regards to the modified community, the organization has come under fire for not changing it’s rules regarding gay men.

The fact the Red Cross is willing to review its current donor guidelines for people who have piercings and acupuncture and tattoos, but not review guidelines when it comes to gay blood donation, really does suggest the Red Cross is, at best, engaged in some fairly arbitrary decision-making, or at worst, is just downright homophobic

According to the rules, if a male has engaged in same sex behavior, he must wait at least one year before donating blood.  Personally this pisses me off to no end, as the Canadian Red Cross has similar policies.  I have a good friend who has been in a committed relationship with his partner for over two years.  He is unable to donate blood as he has sex with his partner.  At the same time I have another friend who tends to sleep with as many women he can find in a given month can donate all he wants.  Tell me, which of my friends poses a greater health risk?

Speaking of dumb ideas, it seems that a tattoo artist in Edinburgh thought it wouldn’t be a problem to tattoo a 13-year-old.

Stewart also admitted tattooing five teenagers under the age of 18 – three were aged 15, one aged 16, and one aged 13 – between January and February of this year.  Defence agent Stephen Mannifield said: “He wasn’t completely familiar with the legislation.  “He has learned his lesson and will certainly know for next time.”

At what point does it seem alright to think tattooing a minor wouldn’t be illegal?

Then again, the dad in Fresno who tattooed his son with a gang sign was just acquitted.  Maybe the artist in Edinburgh should move to California if he wants to keep tattooing children.

A few weeks back I posted an article about the guinness record holder for the most tattooed woman.  Well this week there has been a new record set, the world’s most expensive tattoo.  To be fair, this isn’t actually a legitimate tattoo, but bedazzling yourself with over $900,000 worth of diamonds does warrant a little attention.

So we have the world’s most expensive tattoo, what about the world’s most “disgusting” tattoo?  One of the projectionists at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin has gotten a tattoo to commemorate the horror film, “The Human Centipede“.  Personally, I think it’s pretty awesome that he got that done, although I would have preferred if he put a bit more detail into it.

Talking about detail, the developers of the upcoming video game, Call of Duty-Black Ops, spent a lot of time trying to get the in-game tattoos the character sports as realistic as possible.  Unfortunately for them, someone was even more detail oriented, and wrote them a nice article explaining why the tattoos in the game are unrealistic.

Now before I get into the celebrity “news” portion of this week’s roundup, I wanted to share this story about modified mommies.  With Father’s day coming up I was hoping you, the loyal reader, would be so kind as to find some stories about modified daddies.  Sure the alliteration isn’t there, but the big dad for fathers is coming up, and it’d be nice to send some love their way.

Without futher ado, let’s see what foolishness the rich and pampered have been doing this week.

Gemma Arterton, star of the Prince of Persia, has gotten herself her first tattoo.  When asked about the pain, she said, “All the men warned me in advance it would hurt a lot. It wasn’t that bad, though. Try having your bikini zone waxed, guys. Then you will know what real pain feels like.”

Katy Perry and Russell Brand have taken a big step in their relationship, one that superstitious types would say is the kiss of death to a relationship.  They went and got matching tattoos.

I do have a question for our readers, especially those who believe in the matching tattoo superstition.  When getting a tattoo dedicated to the person you’re dating, is it bad luck if you’re not actually dating the person yet?  The reason I ask is because one of the contestants on The Bachelorette decided to get a tattoo dedicated to the bachelorette in question, while the show is still going on and she’s fooling around with several guys at once.

Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.

Oh, and this week’s final celeb story is probably my favorite.  Coolio, as you may remember from such hits and Gangster’s Paradise and umm..  that other song, has gotten himself a new tattoo to show how happy he is to be taken on tour with his new buddies, ICP.  Unfortunately for Coolio, he wasn’t informed fully about the Juggalo culture, and ended up getting Juggalo spelled wrong.

So that’s it for this week.  I should be near an internet connection again in a few days so the next update will be a bit sooner.  Thanks to Botexty and Valentine for the submissions this week.  And don’t forget everyone, Father’s day is this weekend, remember to pick the old man something special.