Saturday, September 1, 2001
Ack! I was just browsing one of the other piercing zines online and read the interview with their piercer of the month. I'm not going to mention names (there's no point), but MY GOD. It always amazes me when people who've been in this business for five or more years have no real concept of what they're involved with. I don't know if they were trained by idiots and then never learned on their own, or what the reasons are, but I hear a never-ending stream of insanity coming out of professionals mouths all the time — a reading of many of the experiences on BME illustrates this. Anyway, here's a sample quote, in response to a “what's your favorite kind of jewelry” question:
Definately 100 percent Surgical Stainless Steel. There's this big European phase right now about how terrible S.S.S. is and that we should only be allowed use of Titanium made products due to it having less nickel content in the metal. I have been at this profession a few years now and I insist only upon using S.S.S. as I have had such wonderful responses! I've seen terrible results in using Gold and Silver due to these substances being magnets for dirt. And only when a customer requests, or it is a know fact that they are completely sensitive to any metal will I resort to Titanium.
Let me point out a few things:
- There's no such thing as surgical stainless steel. “Surgical” is a marketing term. I'm going to assume that they're attempting to refer to “implant” grade (aka “ASTM F138″, or “ISO standard 5832-1″ and “ISO standard 6892″).
- Stainless contains nickel. Lots of people react to that. It's a simple fact — most people with nickel issues can still heal with stainless, it just takes longer. There are a very small number of stainless alloys like Elgiloy that don't contain nickel, but when you buy stainless jewelry, this isn't what you're getting.
- Saying gold and silver being “magnets for dirt” is lunacy. I don't even know how to respond to this. It's insane. Low grade gold is problematic BECAUSE it has nickel in it. Silver and silver alloys leech into the body as well… Just like nickel leeches out of Stainless Steel. ALL materials will attract bacteria when placed in a wound. None will draw DIRT. I sure hope this piercer understands the difference.
- The comment about titanium having “less nickel” is also insane. Titanium in pure form has NO nickel — it's not an alloy; it's an elemental metal. Titanium alloys include aluminum and/or niobium — no nickel there either.
In any case, you can argue back and forth all you want about how sensitive the average person is to nickel, but ANY piercer who tries to tell you that nickel allergies are virtually unheard of or tells you that stainless is a superior material for piercing is either a dimwit or trying to scam you by selling you cheap jewelry with a higher profit margin — it's no mistake that the medical implant industry has all-but phased out stainless steel in favor of titanium alloys.
Ask your piercer these about things — if they don't know, they have no right to be piercing you. There's no excuse for a piercer not having at least a basic comprehension of materials science… It's unethical and dangerous for them to be putting things under your skin that they don't understand.
Saturday, September 1, 2001
OK, I didn't do much clean-up — it was mostly MiL0 and enthalpy… I mostly just wandered around aimlessly and I think it might have looked like I was doing something productive. She tried to throw out my umbrella, but hey, I'm a big guy — I need a big umbrella, right? We've also got some pretty lights hanging in the tree — they don't really illuminate but they sure look nice.
So I don't know if everyone saw the latest poll on BME, but the question was “would you rather eat a human baby (died of natural causes) or a kitten (slaughtered 'humanely')?” If you're wondering why I'd post such a question, you haven't been watching the news much lately — WIRED even reported on it. There was a recent video published by an artist of him killing and eating a cat — PETA and other organizations are up in arms, and several art galleries, as well as web sites that have reported on it and even the SCHOOL that the artist attended are facing civil and criminal charges.
The reasons for charging the artist are obvious — even if you agree with his statement about drawing attention to the obvious (“is it really worse to eat a cat than a cow?”) — it's clear why he was charged under animal cruelty laws. The schools and galleries and websites are being charged under laws that make it illegal to present animal cruelty (and as horrible as this act was, it was FAR less cruel that what is ROUTINELY done to beef, chickens, and other socially accepted murders in Western carnivore culture)… Of course, organizations like PETA are “allowed” to present these videos because they are “responsible” and using them for political purposes.
As an artist, it terrifies me that the government has decided that statements of art somehow have less legitimacy than statements of politics.
In any case, the poll was trying to find out where people draw limits, and decide whether it's worse to eat a human that died of natural causes or to eat an actively slaughtered cat. (62% said it would be best to eat the cat, 38% voted for eating the baby).
Any idiot can tell that I'm not ADVOCATING eating cats, nor am I ADVOCATING eating babies. Any idiot knows that when a newspaper tells a story about a murder, that they're not advocating murder. Any idiot knows that when a TV station polls its audience on racism, that they're not advocating racism. That said, this poll generated more full-on hatemail than anything I've posted in a while… These aren't just any idiots:
From: "J Johnson"
Subject: VOTES
I ALWAYS VOTE ON THESE POLLS " BUT " THIS ONE HAS GONE WAY TO FAR. I CAN'T SEE HAVING THIS ONE ON HERE. I THINK THERE MUST BE SOME SICK DAM PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD. I GUESS I DON'T HAVE A CLUE HOW CRAZY PEOPLE ARE !!!!!!! SINCE I HAVE READ THIS I FELL SO MUCH ANGER IN MYSELF , THAT I DON'T KNOW IF I WILL COME BACK TO THIS SITE OR NOT. JAN
From: "Pumpa Boo"
Subject: Poll of the moment
"Eat a human baby?"
That's it...you guys aren't tribal or spiritual or artistic or anything; you're not even cool. You're just a bunch of sad, sick, fucked-up assholes.
Shove your goddamn website up your ass, mothefuckers.
-P
Three or four different people have contacted me about doing an IAM album — I think at least two have started actively trying to drum up interest. Some people are toying with the idea of a DJ album, others with bands… So… I reallllly hope I'm not stealing anyone's thunder and I apologize if I am overstepping my bounds, but:
I'd be glad to help organize this. Here's what I'd like to suggest as a procedure (feedback is welcome). As far as artwork, Phil will be shooting at the BBQ, so I'm sure we can come up with some good sleevework there. As far as music, open call from any musician with an IAM page. One track at most, maximum length about seven or eight minutes. Songs of all genres are welcome as long as it's original music done by you or you and your band. If you can produce an MP3 file, tell me where to get it. If you want to send a MD or CD or anything, you can do it to the BMEshop address.
Deadline for entries will be somewhere around the end of September, which will mean we can have the entire project out for Christmas! Please note: Priority will be given to songs regarding IAM and/or body modification, but it's not a requirement.
