UV Tatts

There is a new trend in tattooing: ultraviolet tatts, aka blacklight tatts.

Some comments:

• UV tatts are tatts made with a special ink that is visible under uv light.

• UV tatts are either invisible or faintly visible under normal light, although scarring from the needle may be apparent. UV ink is also available that shows the tatt in normal light but some inks visible in normsl light will not be as vibrant in uv.

• A uv tatt may be monochromatic or in multiple colours.

• Some people use uv highlights on regular tatts.

• UV tatts cost more and take longer to ink on than traditional tatts.

• UV ink is thinner and harder to work with.

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Gallery:

Quote for the Day

Compulsory Voting

I mentioned a few days ago that compulsory voting seems somewhat ironic in a democracy.  On the other hand, a right we take for granted – to elect our representatives, free from fear – is something that people have fought and died to attain for centuries past.

Some notes on compulsory voting:

• Australia is part of a minority of 23 countries with mandatory voting laws. Only 10 of those enforce them.

• Compulsory enrolment for federal elections in Australia was introduced in 1912 Compulsory voting for state elections was introduced in Queensland in 1915 Compulsory voting at federal elections was introduced in 1924.

• From the Australian Electoral Commission website:

Arguments used in favour of compulsory voting
Voting is a civic duty comparable to other duties citizens perform e.g. taxation, compulsory education, jury duty
Teaches the benefits of political participation
Parliament reflects more accurately the "will of the electorate"
Governments must consider the total electorate in policy formulation and management
Candidates can concentrate their campaigning energies on issues rather than encouraging voters to attend the poll
The voter isn't actually compelled to vote for anyone because voting is by secret ballot.

Arguments used against compulsory voting:
It is undemocratic to force people to vote – an infringement of liberty
The ill informed and those with little interest in politics are forced to the polls
It may increase the number of "donkey votes"
It may increase the number of informal votes
It increases the number of safe, single-member electorates – political parties then concentrate on the more marginal electorates
Resources must be allocated to determine whether those who failed to vote have "valid and sufficient" reasons. 

http://www.aec.gov.au/voting/Compulsory_Voting.htm

• ‘The 2010 election was a good advertisement for voluntary voting. What other conclusion can be drawn from a campaign that produced a sharp increase in the informal vote, vast numbers who could not be bothered voting and a significant protest swing to the minor parties?’ – Mark Latham, former leader of the Australian Labor Party and boofhead

• “Australia has got mandatory voting, you start getting 70-80 per cent voting rates, that’s transformative. We really are the only advanced democracy on earth that systematically and purposely makes it really hard for people to vote.” US President Barack Obama, address to students at the University of Chicago Law School, 8 April 2016.

• In the 2013 federal election in Australia voter turnout for the lower house of parliament was 93.34% and 94% in the Senate, according to the Australian Electoral Commission. In the 2010 election the figures were 93.22% and 93.83% respectively. This compares with just 36% of America’s voting-eligible population casting ballots at the crucial mid-term elections in 2014 –the lowest turnout in more than 70 years, despite control of Congress being up for grabs and state governor races contested. Just 53.6% of voting-age Americans voted at the 2012 presidential election.

Gallery:

Quote of the Day

Brett's Dates and Some Tatts

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Brett's Monthly:

This month's listing of events and special days, courtesy of Byter Brett B.  Click on the daily items for a follow up.

Thanks Brett.

Month:

• National Blueberry Month
• National Anti-Boredom Month
• Unlucky Month for weddings
• National Cell Phone Courtesy Month
• National Hot Dog Month
• National Ice Cream Month

Week Event:

• Week 2 Nude Recreation Week

July 2016 Daily Holidays, Special and Wacky Days:

1 Canada Day / Dominion Day

1 Creative Ice Cream Flavors Day

1 International Joke Day

2 I Forgot Day

2 World UFO Day

3 Build A Scarecrow Day - first Sunday in month

3 Compliment Your Mirror Day

3 Disobedience Day

3 Stay out of the Sun Day

4 Independence Day (U.S.)

4 National Country Music Day

4 Sidewalk Egg Frying Day- Hmmmm, I wonder why!?!

5 Work-a-holics Day - even though everyone is on holiday

6 International Kissing Day

6 National Fried Chicken Day

7 Chocolate Day

7 National Strawberry Sundae Day

8 Video Games Day

9 National Sugar Cookie Day

10 Teddy Bear Picnic Day

11 Cheer up the Lonely Day

11 World Population Day

12 Different Colored Eyes Day

12 Pecan Pie Day

13 Barbershop Music Appreciation Day

13 Embrace Your Geekness Day

13 Fool's Paradise Day

14 Bastille Day

14 Pandemonium Day

14 National Nude Day

15 Tapioca Pudding Day

15 Cow Appreciation Day- Go out and give a cow a hug

16 Fresh Spinach Day

17 National Ice Cream Day (third Sunday of the month)

17 Peach Ice Cream Day

17 Yellow Pig Day

18 National Caviar Day- something's fishy here

19 National Raspberry Cake Day

20 National Lollipop Day

20 Moon Day

20 Ugly Truck Day- it's a "guy" thing

21 National Junk Food Day

22 Hammock Day

22 Ratcatcher's Day

23 National Hot Dog Day

23 Vanilla Ice Cream Day

24 Amelia Earhart Day

24 Cousins Day

24 Parent's Day  - fourth Sunday in July

25 Culinarians Day

25 Threading the Needle Day

26 All or Nothing Day

26 Aunt and Uncle Day

27 Take Your Pants for a Walk Day

28 National Milk Chocolate Day

29 National Lasagna Day

30 National Cheesecake Day

30 Father-in-Law Day

30 International Day of Friendship

31 Mutt's Day

31 System Administrator Appreciation Day

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Ten Tatts, from the amazing to the WTF? . . . 

Quote for the Day

“He [Joyce] looks somehow inbred with a tomato. It’s not a criticism, I’m just saying, I was a little worried … he might explode.”

- Johnny Depp, 

on Jimmy Kimmel Live, referring to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce, after being prosecuted for illegal entry into Australia of dogs Pistol and Boo, 24 May 2016

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“Thanks for the advertising, Johnny.”

- Barnaby Joyce, 

on being re-elected and asked if he had any parting words for Johnny Depp.

Oz Elections. .

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So here we are: another election done, another delayed result and confusion as to who will govern.

Some election items . . . 

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Why is it, in this age of computers and technology, I have to stand in a queue for ages to have my name marked off the roll of voters by someone who puts a line through my name using a pen and ruler and then gives me my ballot papers, which he or she first initials. I then walk to a booth where I put my markings on the papers, put them into boxes and which are then manually counted later.

Why can’t there be online voting with an option to attend at polling booths. Those who do not have computers could still vote physically.

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I asked my wife the same question – Why can’t we vote online? – when standing in the queue to vote.

The woman in front of us heard me and replied, tongue in cheek, “Because the schools need to hold sausage sizzles to raise money.”

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Bill Shorten was ridiculed in the press for eating a sausage on a roll by starting at the side. Every true sausage eater knows you start at the end!

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Speaking of which, one of the greatest electoral websites would have had to be “Snagvotes”, “snag” being a colloquial term for a sausage.

Snagvotes can be accessed by clicking on the following link:

http://www.electionsausagesizzle.com.au/

Why is it so great? 

Because it lists all the polling booths that had sausage sizzles and cake stalls.

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Having advanced to near the head of the queue, which placed us inside the school auditorium where voting was taking place, I observed an official with a yellow fluoro vest standing behind a cardboard barrier that read “AUTHORISED PERSONNEL ONLY BEYOND THIS POINT”.

As I saw this, I also saw her walk with a white stick in hand to the ballot boxes, where she proceeded to push the stick into the ballot box slots and push the ballot papers down to create more room.

More Oz hi tech.

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When voting in Oz, after your name has been identified in the book by the election official and before the name is ruled through, the official asks “Have you already voted in this election?”

The question has always struck me as somewhat silly. If I have already voted and intend to illegally and dishonestly vote again, I wouldn’t be confessing that I intend to do so.

Accordingly I usually respond that yes, I have already voted.

Yesterday I replied “A couple of times.”

The lady who was tasked with marking off my name and giving me my ballot papers must have seen the Monty Python absurdity of the situation and replied “I’m sorry, I have to ask it.”

On one occasion in the past the young lady looked nonplussed when I answered that I had already voted a number of times. I asked “What happens now?” “I don’t know,” she replied, “no one has ever answered that way before.”

Another time the female electoral officer (why are they always female?) queried “You have?” I replied “Yes, I’m a Labor supporter. Our slogan is 'Vote early and vote often.' "

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The belief that Al Capone coined the slogan “Vote early and vote often” is not correct.

The phrase had its origins in the United States in the mid-19th century, and had an early appearance in Britain when a newspaper reprinted correspondence from an American lawyer. The phrase, however, did not find widespread use until the early 1900s when it was used in relation to the activities of organised crime figures in Chicago.

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It is ironic that Australia, a democracy, has voting laws that make voting compulsory.

COMMONWEALTH ELECTORAL ACT 1918 - SECT 245

Compulsory voting

(1) It shall be the duty of every elector to vote at each election.

If the elector does not have a valid and sufficient reason for not voting, a $20 fine will be imposed.

It is not enough to turn up and have one’s name marked off, you need to vote as well.

In a case of O’Brien v Warden (1981) 37 ACTR 13, Mr Warden turned up at a polling place and told the electoral officer that he had arrived in Canberra a little over a week before the Territory election for the ACT House of Assembly, and at the time he knew nothing about any of the 24 candidates. He said that there was not enough time before the election to find out sufficient information to enable him to decide on an order of preference that, in accordance with the law, he was required to show by his marking of the ballot paper. He elected to have the matter dealt with at court. The Magistrate held that he had shown a valid and sufficient reason for failing to vote and dismissed the charge of failure to vote without a valid and sufficient reason.

The matter went on appeal to the ACT Supreme Court where Chief Justice Blackburn overturned the Magistrate’s decision on appeal, commenting that:

… In my opinion the Act does not oblige the elector to make a true expression of his preference among the candidates. On one view he must make an expression of apparent preference; on another he need not express himself intelligibly or at all.

… The decided cases prevent me from thinking that the legislature intended to spare the consciences of those to whom to vote insincerely is distasteful. A fortiori, there can be no reason to think that it is intended to spare from the inconvenience of a visit to the polling booth those for whom to comply with the Act is a meaningless formality, objectionable only because it is a waste of time.

It seems, therefore, that… the fact that he has – for whatever reason – no preference to express, is not a rational excuse for failing to perform it, and therefore not a ‘valid and sufficient reason’ within the meaning of that phrase in… the Act.

So Mr Warden simply had to put a blank ballot paper in the box, or write a rude message on the paper, and he would have been okay.

Another Monty Python moment.

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Australia has one of the highest rates of voter turnout in the world, with a reported 94% voter turnout in the last federal election, compared with about 65% in the UK's 2010 general election and an estimated 57% in the 2012 US presidential election.

In recent years there has been an increase in informal or spoilt ballots , instances where voters either mistakenly or intentionally submit a ballot that is blank or improperly filled in, which cannot be counted in the final tally. Spoilt ballots count for around 6% of the total votes cast in the 2010 election. Taken together with the number of eligible voters who fail to register, the actual percentage for voter turnout in Australia's federal elections hovers in the low 80s.

Quote for the Day

Benazir Bhutto (1953 – 2007) was the 11th and 13th Prime Minister of Pakistan, serving two non-consecutive terms in 1988–90 and then 1993–96). She was the first woman democratically elected as head of a majority Islamic nation. Bhutto was assassinated in a bombing on 27 December two weeks before the scheduled 2008 general election. She was the leading candidate, and projected winner.

"The peaceful majority were irrelevant."

Random item surfing on Youtube a few nights back I came across a response by author and terrorism expert Brigitte Gabriel of ACT! For America to comments made by Muslim law student Saba Ahmed during a panel discussion in June 2014.

Saba Ahmed is the founder and head of the Republican Muslim Coalition, an organisation that advocates in Washington on behalf of Muslims for “pro-life, pro-marriage, pro-traditional family values, pro-defense, pro-trade, pro-business policies." Last year she appeared on a panel show wearing an American flag as a hijab, challenging Donald Trump’s views on closing mosques after the Paris attacks.

Brigitte Gabriel is a conservative American journalist, author, political lecturer, anti-Islamic extremism activist and founder of two non-profit political organizations, the American Congress For Truth and ACT! for America. Her sometimes controversial statements include that Islam keeps countries backward, and that it teaches terrorism. She has also been described as an activist who gives voice to "what many in America are thinking, but afraid to say out loud, for fear of being labeled a racist, bigot, Islamophobic, or intolerant."

In the panel discussion referred to above, Ms Ahmed made the observation that Muslim extremists are fighting a war based on ideology, querying whether an ideology can be fought with weapons. Ms Gabriel responded that radical Islam is evil, the peaceful majority doesn’t matter.

Ms Gabriel’s response was off topic - the question was how can an ideological war be won if its ideological roots are not addressed? - although the issue of the majority of Muslims being peaceful was hinted at by Ms Ahmed.

A transcript appears below.

The exchange has elicited comments both for and against each of Ms Ahmed and Ms Gabriel, with Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank describing it as “ugly taunting of a woman in the room who wore an Islamic head covering.” 

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The Youtube item can be viewed by clicking on the following link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wred1cAai0

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Transcript:

Saba Ahmed:

Assalam o alaikum, peace to you all. My name is Saba Ahmed; I’m a law student in American university. I am here to ask you a simple question. I know that we portrait Islam and all Muslims as bad, but there is 1.8-billion Muslim followers of Islam. We have 8-million plus Muslim Americans in this country and I don’t see them represented here, but my question is how can we fight an ideological war with weapons? How can we ever end this war? The jihadist ideology that you talk about, it’s an ideology. How can you ever win this thing if you don’t address it ideologically?

Brigitte Gabriel:

Great, question. I am so glad you’re here and I am so glad you brought that up, because it gives us an opportunity to answer. What I find so amazing is since the beginning of this panel, which we are here about Benghazi attack against our people. Not one person mentioned Muslims, we are here against Islam or we’re launching war against Muslims. We are you to discuss how four Americans died and what our government is doing. We were not here to bash Muslims; you were the one who brought up the issue about most Muslims and not us. And since you brought it up, allow me to elaborate with my answer.

There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world today. Of course, not all of them are radicals the majority of them are peaceful people. The radicals are estimated to be between 15% to 25% according to all intelligence services around the world. That leaves 75% of them peaceful people, but when you look at 15% to 25% of the world’s Muslim population; you’re looking at the 180-million to 300-million people dedicated to the destruction of Western civilization. That is as big of the United States. So why should we worry about their radical 15% to 25%, because it is the radicals that kill, because it is the radicals that behead and massacre.

When you look throughout history, when you look at all the lessons of history most Germans were peaceful, yet the Nazis drove the agenda and as a result 60-million people died, almost 14-million in concentration camps, 6-million were Jews. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.

When you look at Russia most Russians were peaceful as well, yet the Russians were able to kill 20-million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. When you look at China for example most Chinese were peaceful as well, yet the Chinese were able to kill 70-million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.

When you look at Japan prior to World War II most Japanese were peaceful as well, yet Japan was able to butcher its way across Southeast Asia killing 12-million people mostly killed with bayonet and shovels. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.

On September 11th in the United States, we had 2.3-million Arab Muslims living in the United States. It took 19 hijackers 19 radicals to bring America down to its knees, destroy the World Trade Center, attack the Pentagon and kill almost 3,000 Americans that day. The peaceful majority were irrelevant.

So for all our powers the reasons and us talking about moderate and peaceful Muslims, I’m glad you’re here, but where are the other speaking out and since you are the only Muslim representative.

[Applause]

Brigitte Gabriel: 

Save your applause till the end. Thank you. Thank you.

And since you are the only Muslim representative in here, you took the limelight instead of speaking about why our government and I assume are you an American? You’re an American citizen. So and American citizen you sat in this room and instead of standing up and saying a question or asking something about our four Americans that died and what our government is doing to correct the problem, you stood there to make a point about peaceful moderate Muslims. I wish you brought 10 with you to question about what how we can hold our government responsible. It is time we take political correctness should be consigned to the garbage can where it belongs and it’s time to start calling a spade a spade.

Saba Ahmed:

As a peaceful American Muslim, I'd like to think I'm not that irrelevant. I'm deeply saddened about the lives that were lost in Libya and I hope we will find justice for their families.

But I don't think this war can ever be won by just the military.

Chris Plante:

I think everyone agrees that it can't be won by just the military. Can you tell me the head of the Muslim peace movement?

Saba Ahmed:

I guess it's me right now.

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Some very valid comments from both Saba Ahmed and Brigitte Gabriel.

Quote for the Day

Funny Friday

Caution: risque content and language below.

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Today is the first day of the new financial year, so what better theme for Funny Friday than . . . money.

Here are some items.

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Cocaine is God's way of saying you're making too much money. 

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Once upon a time, a guy was sitting at a bar. 

He was throwing money around, giving the barman hundred dollar tips and buying drinks for everyone. 

He was surrounded by a crowd of adoring women. 

The barman liked the tips, but he was kind of curious about a little man that would jump from the rich guy's pocket. The little man would run up and down the bar, kicking over the bowls of peanuts and giving people the finger. Then the little guy would jump back into the man's jacket for a while. 

The barman went over and asked the guy what was up. 

So the rich guy says, "Well, let me tell you a little story. I was walking along a beach one day, and I come across this lamp. I rub it, and a genie popped out. I got three wishes, so my first wish was to be fabulously wealthy. Then I wished for a harem. You can see I got both." 

The barman asks, "So what about that little guy in your jacket?" 

"Oh, that," mumbles the rich guy. "That's the twelve-inch prick I wished for." 

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A man goes into a bar and seats himself on a stool. 

The bartender looks at him and says, "What'll it be buddy?" 

The man says, "Set me up with seven whiskey shots and make them doubles." 

The bartender does this and watches the man slug one down, then the next, then the next, and so on until all seven are gone almost as quickly as they were served. 

Staring in disbelief, the bartender asks why he's doing all this drinking. 

"You'd drink them this fast too if you had what I have." 

The bartender hastily asks, "What do you have pal?" 

The man quickly replies, "I have a dollar." 

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There was a new CEO at a company who decided to fire all of the slackers, and when he gets done with that, he finds a dude leaning on his desk. 

He thinks "What the #$%#@ is he doing!?" 

So he walks up to the guy and says "What the #$%#@ are you doing!?" 

The guy says "I'm waiting to get paid." 

The CEO says "OK, how much do you get paid in a week?" 

The guy says "About $300." 

The CEO gives the guy $1200, and says "Now go away and never come back!" 

The guy walks away. 

The CEO says "Will someone please tell me what the #$%#@ I just did!?" 

An employee says "You just tipped the pizza man $1200."

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A woman said to her cheating husband "Do you want to see a crumpled up $50?" and he said "Yes" so she reached into her pocket, pulled it out and gave it to him. 

Then she said "Do you want to see a crumpled up $100?" and he said "Yes" So she reached into her pocket, pulled it out and gave it to him. 

Then she said " Do you want to see a crumpled up $50,000?” and he said "Yes." 

So she said “Go look at your car in the garage then.”

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Ever since I was a child, I’ve always had a fear of someone under my bed at night. So I went to a Psychiatrist and told him “I’ve got problems. Every time I go to bed I think there’s somebody under it. I’m scared. I think I’m going crazy.”

“Just put yourself in my hands for one year," said the psychiatrist. "Come talk to me three times a week and we should be able to get rid of those fears." 

"How much do you charge?" 

"Eighty dollars per visit," replied the doctor. 

"I’ll sleep on it and if needed I will come back to you," I said. 

Six months later the psychiatrist met me on the street. "Why didn’t you come to see me about those fears you were having?" he asked. 

"Well, eighty bucks a visit three times a week for a year is an awful lot of money! A bartender cured me for $10. I was so happy to have saved all that money that I went and bought me a new SUV." 

"Is that so!" With a bit of an attitude he said, "And how, may I ask, did a bartender cure you?" 

"He told me to cut the legs off the bed – ain’t nobody under there now!"

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Abe and Esther are flying to Australia for a two week vacation to celebrate their 40th anniversary. 

Suddenly, over the public address system, the Captain announces, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I am afraid I have some very bad news. Our engines have ceased functioning and we will attempt an emergency landing. Luckily, I see an uncharted island below us and we should be able to land on the beach. However, the odds are that we may never be rescued and will have to live on the island for the rest of our lives!" 

Thanks to the skill of the flight crew, the plane lands safely on the island. An hour later Abe turns to his wife and asks, "Esther, did we pay our $5,000 PBS pledge cheque yet?" "No, sweetheart," she responds. Abe, still shaken from the crash landing, then asks, "Esther, did we pay our American Express card yet?" "Oh, no! I’m sorry. I forgot to send the cheque," she says. "One last thing, Esther. Did you remember to send cheques for the Visa and MasterCard this month?" he asks. "Oh, forgive me, Abie," begged Esther. "I didn’t send that one, either." 

Abe grabs her and gives her the biggest kiss in 40 years. Esther pulls away and asks him, "What was that for?" Abe answers, "They’ll find us!"

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The Mafia was looking for a new man to make weekly collections from all the private businesses that they were "protecting." 

Feeling the heat from the police force, they decide to use a deaf and dumb person for this job. If he were to get caught, he wouldn't be able to communicate to the police what he was doing. 

On his first week, the collector picks up over $40,000. 

He gets greedy, decides to keep the money and stashes it in a safe place. 

The Mafia soon realises that their collection is late, and sends some of their hoods after the deaf and dumb collector. 

The hoods find the collector and ask him where the money is. 

The deaf and dumb collector can't communicate with them, so the Mafia drags the guy to an interpreter. 

he Mafia hood says to the interpreter, "Ask him where da money is." 

The interpreter signs, "Where's the money?" 

The dumb man signs back, "I don't know what you're talking about." 

The interpreter tells the hood, "He says he doesn't know what you're talking about." 

The hood pulls out a .38 and places it in the ear of the dumb collector. 

"Now ask him where the money is!" 

The interpreter signs, "Where is the money?”

The deaf man signs back, "The $40,000 is in a tree stump in Central Park." 

The interpreter says to the hood, "He says he still doesn't know what you're talking about, and doesn't think you have the balls to pull the trigger."

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A businessman was confused about a bill he had received, so he asked his secretary for some mathematical help. 

"If I were to give you $20,000, minus 14%, how much would you take off?" he asked her. 

The secretary replied, "Everything but my earrings."

Corn Corner:

A man noticed that his credit card had been stolen but didn't report it. The thief was spending less then his wife.

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The other day I went to the ATM and this old woman asked if I could check her balance, so I pushed her over.        

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Q: What's the difference between a counterfeit dollar and a skinny blonde? 

A: One's a phony buck.