Tag Archives | Tattoos

Employees Tattoo Themselves with Company Logos for Measly Fifteen Percent Raise

By on May 1, 2013 in News 0

flair“I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.” – Number Six, “The Prisoner”

Via Oddity Central:

People usually get tattoos to show off their personality, but for the employees of Rapid Realty getting inked was simply a quick and sure way to get a 15% permanent bonus. Company owner Anthony Lolli has been more than happy to pay for tattooing fees, but doesn’t take credit for the idea. Surprisingly enough, it all started when one of his employees decided to do it for free. “He calls me up,” Lolli said “‘Hey Anthony, I’m getting the logo on me.’ I show up at the shop and I’m like ‘this is cool, how can I repay you?’” And it all pretty much snowballed from there, and now 40 of his 800 workers have the Rapid Realty logo inked somewhere on their bodies.

Keep reading.… Read the rest

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Pentagon Working On Tattoos That Track Soldiers

By on April 2, 2013 in News 0

What does your tattoo say about you? Wired writes:

In its ongoing quest to measure every aspect of U.S. troops’ physiology, the Pentagon’s esoteric research enclave DARPA wants to develop a durable, unobtrusive device that can track the body’s physical response to stress. Military scientists believe that using the device — preferably a tattoo — to track heart-rate, temperature or bio-electric response during various training situations will help them crack the code of combat fatigue.

Advanced materials make it possible to integrate everything from the sensors to the transmitter into thumb-sized membranes that can stick to skin — like temporary tattoos. These tiny arrays combine the necessary sensor — be it EKG, heart rate, or temperature — with a short-wave antenna and transmitting capability.

Isolating the factors that make these stress levels spike is part of a larger initiative to understand and control the different triggers of the body’s physiological responses.

… Read the rest

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Will a ‘Ban’ on Long Hair, Tattoos and Piercings Help the Ailing Music Retailer HMV?

By on October 26, 2012 in News 24

Picture: "Amanda's Tattoos", Bridget from Seattle (CC)

“The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” – Oscar Wilde

It seems UK music store HMV has gotten itself into a bit of bother with a controversial new dress policy that has restrictions on long hair and tattoos. Its core demographic of long-haired tattoo-wearing teenagers have inevitably been annoyed.

The story was first reported in The Sun newspaper:

HMV warns anyone ignoring the policy will be disciplined. Until recently the chain owned some of Britain’s best known rock venues such as London’s Hammersmith Apollo. Many top stars — like tattooed Ed Sheeran and Professor Green, and long-haired Jack White of The White Stripes — would be ruled out of an HMV job because of their appearance.

One worker said: “We’ve got new management. It’s ridiculous and discrimination.” HMV insisted it wanted staff to express their personalities but had to balance this with customer expectations.

… Read the rest

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Nokia Files Patent For Magnetic, Vibrating Tattoos

By on March 21, 2012 in News 8

nokiaSomeday soon, you may pick your own magnetic resonance, in the form of a tattoo linking you to your personal possessions. BBC reports:

Vibrating magnetic tattoos may one day be used to alert mobile phone users to calls and text messages.

The idea…in a filing to the US Patent and Trademark Office…describes tattooing, stamping or spraying “ferromagnetic” material onto a user’s skin and then pairing it with a mobile device. It suggests different vibrations could be used to create a range of alerts.

The filing also suggests that the magnetised marking could be used as an identity check. By picking a certain shape the user could create a “specific magnetic impedance” – effectively their own magnetic fingerprint. This could act as a “password” and gives the example of a laptop refusing to display content on its screen unless it verifies its user is close by.

… Read the rest

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Automated Tattoo Machine Picks Your Religion

By on April 13, 2011 in News 34

Auto-Ink-31Torn over which faith is the true path to follow? Strap yourself in and receive a “randomly” (i.e. divinely) selected tattoo of a religious symbol on your forearm. Via Make Magazine:

Chris Eckert created a CNC tattoo machine with a twist. Auto Ink is a three axis numerically controlled sculpture. Once the main switch is triggered, the operator is assigned a religion and it’s corresponding symbol is tattooed onto the person’s arm. The operator does not have control over the assigned symbol. It is assigned either randomly or through divine intervention, depending on your personal beliefs.

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Man Tattoos His Eyes

By on October 28, 2010 in News 2

WTF doesn’t begin to describe how I feel about this! Ben Muessig reports on a tattoo too far, for CNN:

Where does a tattoo enthusiast look when he runs out of skin? For Matt Gone, the answer was obvious. Gone — who estimates he has covered more than 98 percent of his body with ink — recently tattooed his own eyeballs.

“I never really knew how far I would ever go, and [tattooing my eyes] is about as far as you can go,” he told Fox 12…

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Meet Billy the Human Billboard: Boxer Pays the Bills With Tattoo Sponsorships

By on September 3, 2010 in News 7

Billy the Human BillboardThis is a hell of a way to pay the bills. Joe Peacock writes on AOL News:

I’m an avid collector and appreciator of tattoos, so I tend to run into news that revolves around that culture quite often. That’s how I came to know about Billy Gibby — also known as Billy the Human Billboard — an amateur boxer out of Alaska who is living his dream of being a fighter and paying the bills by selling spots on his body for permanent tattoos featuring the logos of corporate sponsors.

As with everyone else who encounters Billy the Human Billboard for the first time, the thoughts that went through my head were “[vulgar expletive], what is he thinking?” followed by a quick feeling that there’s no way this could be for real, followed by the realization that it had to be real. It’s just too weird not to be.

Imagine my surprise, only a few days ago, when I found an e-mail in my in-box from him. He was reaching out to me to see if, as a fan of tattoos, I’d be interested in buying space on his body myself. And while I wasn’t really in the market to buy an ad on Billy the Billboard, I did take that opportunity to speak with him about his unique method of paying the bills.

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The Tattoo Used in Auschwitz Was Originally An IBM Code Number

By on February 24, 2010 in News 11

Here is another (controversial) chapter from my book 50 Things You’re Not Supposed to Know, published in 2003.

For more on me, look at The Memory Hole.

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IBM in Auschwitz Phone BookThe tattooed numbers on the forearms of people held and killed in Nazi concentration camps have become a chilling symbol of hatred. Victims were stamped with the indelible number in a dehumanizing effort to keep track of them like widgets in the supply chain.

These numbers obviously weren’t chosen at random. They were part of a coded system, with each number tracked as the unlucky person who bore it was moved through the system.

Edwin Black made headlines in 2001 when his painstakingly researched book, IBM and the Holocaust, showed that IBM machines were used to automate the “Final Solution” and the jackbooted takeover of Europe. Worse, he showed that the top levels of the company either knew or willfully turned a blind eye.

A year and a half after that book gave Big Blue a black eye, the author made more startling discoveries.… Read the rest

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Ever Considered An Eyeball Tattoo?…Me Neither

By on January 9, 2010 in News 1

Source sittingnow.co.uk

"Urgh, last night was messy, I drank loads of wine, did a mountain of coke, and tattooed my eyeball."

"Urgh, last night was messy, I drank loads of wine, did a mountain of coke, and tattooed my eyeball."

Ok, so I can get my head around people inking their body, it’s a control thing, you are showing the world that you truly own your body. Although I am tattless, I can appreciate this concept.

What I can’t quite wrap my head around, however, is the need to tattoo your freaking EYEBALL!…yeah…I said EYEBALL!!

Why would you want to spend the rest of your time on earth looking like you had a really heavy night? Also, I don’t think these perps realise that if they rob a bank, mug someone, or basically commit any crime; identifying them will be reeeeallly easy. Dumbasses

Ken Eakins… Read the rest

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Skin-Based “Electronic Tattoos” Offer Medical Read-Outs

By on November 19, 2009 in News 4

Researchers at three universities are combining efforts on super-thin silicon transistors that can be embedded in your skin. Their LEDs can act as in-body electronic tattoos that display blood-sugar readings, but this article also suggests non-medical applications, including “Animated and programmable LED tattoos connected to your brain… You could show off your latest Flash animations, watch TV on your arm, or have a built-in PDA screen.”

Other possible medical applications include deep-brain stimulation for Parkinson’s patients and possibly even interfacing with the nervous system….

And there’s also “a rather sensuous video from Philips” showing a sexy “design probe” about using the human body as a platform for interactive skin technology — that is, the first skin-based electronic tattoo that’s also interactive.… Read the rest

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