Foul!

South Tyneside swimmer Josef Craig was today sensationally disqualified from a European championship race - in a row over his tattoo, reported The Shields Gazette. The teenager, from Jarrow, was due to compete in the final of the IPC European Championships S8 100m freestyle, tonight, after making it through the first heat. However, the 19-year-old, who has cerebral palsy, was disqualified from the event after failing to cover up a part of his tattoo, on the left side of his chest, featuring the Olympic rings.  Josef, was catapulted into the sporting spotlight at the age of 15 after smashing two world records on his way to the top of the podium in the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. Read more here .

A person cannot be declared unfit for selection as a subinspector in Delhi Police or the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) just because he has tattoo marks on his body, the Central Administrative Tribunal has said, reported Hindustan Times. Rules on tattoo marks on the body in the recruitment process of the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) have been a grey area due to a lack of clarity on the terms and conditions contained in the recruitment notice. There is no bar in recruiting candidates in the CAPFs, Delhi police and the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) with permanent tattoo as per the SSC recruitment rules. However, a 2012 home ministry notification allowed candidates with a “small engraving/tattoo of name or religious symbol on the inner face of the arms or hands” for enrolment, but said, “Candidates having permanent tattoo on any other part of the body be debarred for recruitment in CAPFs…” This ambiguity on recruitment rules was the subject mat...

If you’ve been procrastinating about getting a tattoo here’s a neat little AR app, called  InkHunter , that’s aiming to help you decide what and where to ink without having to regret that snarling wolf facial tat after the fact, reported Tech Crunch. The app includes a selection of designs by different tattoo artists that you can try out virtually via the automagic of smartphone-powered augmented reality placing pixels on your flesh in real-time. You can also upload your own sketches to the app to see whether your pen skills are sharp enough to merit leaving a permanent mark on your person. In a neat touch, the app asks you to put a little ink on your skin — think of that as part of the try before you buy process — because you need to draw a flat-lined emoji-style face (called Square Smile) on your person in the place where you’re considering the real deal. Then the AR tech uses your phone’s camera, combined wit...

Great-granddad Jack Reynolds has set a new world record for oldest person to receive their first tattoo, after going under the needle on his 104th birthday.   Jack, from Chesterfield, UK, had "Jacko 6.4.1912" tattooed on his upper arm at local parlour Pete Who's. The former railway line foreman has already raised £2,146 for independent charity Ashgate Hospice which cares for terminally ill adults across North Derbyshire by attempting the record.   His daughter Jayne Goodwin, 55, and grandson Shane Spencer, 35, also got the same tattoo. Read more here .

Like its sister services, the US Air Force is getting in line to update its tattoo policy in the next few months. "The Air Force has recently formed a working group to review the tattoo policy," Air Force spokeswoman Capt. Brooke Brzozowske told Air Force Times on Tuesday.  "Depending on the working group's findings, we anticipate any policy change proposals to be ready for Air Force leadership consideration in the fall of 2016." Brzozowske did not say specifically what senior leadership is looking to change, but that its been in discussion for some time. The news comes just a week after the Navy overhauled its tattoo policy, allowing sailors to sport neck tattoos, sleeves and even markings behind their ears, the most lenient policy of any military service. Read more on Air Force Times .

We've already seen   all-black eye tattoos , but now there's a new trend in ink: blacked out bodies.   Singapore   tattoo artist   Chester Lee is going viral with his   Instagram photos   of the technique, which he's been doing for about five years.   "I had been suggesting the blackout tattoos for massive cover-ups, and slowly letting people see the beauty in black work," Lee, 29, tells PEOPLE. "It's an acquired taste."   "Slowly the new generation is appreciating the cleanliness of this kind of work, and the art of looking at just shapes and lines that emphasize the contours of the body." Read more here .

It’s been estimated that more than 200,000 people around the world proudly display a Harley Davidson tattoo on their bodies.   Body art of Fender guitars, Apple, Red Bull and Chevy trucks have also been permanently emblazoned on loyal customers’ skin. In these cases, the brand connection is so powerful that their patrons express loyalty as a core part of themselves.  The affiliation speaks to who the people are, what they believe and how they choose to live their life.  The corporate emblems represent more than a pretty logo; they represent a lifestyle. Now think about your brand.  What are the odds of a customer permanently affixing it to his or her body?  Does your company forge a tattoo-worthy connection? Is your brand tattoo-worthy? Read more here .

Do you think of tattoos as a vulgar modern affectation? A new exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum will demonstrate that it’s an ancient tradition going back at least 5,000 years and probably longer, and one shared by societies around the globe. “(The exhibition) is a bit of a departure for the ROM. Whenever I mention the exhibition to friends, the first response is usually, ‘At the ROM?’” said Chris Darling, the museum’s senior curator of entomology and co-curator of  Tattoos: Ritual. Identity. Obsession. Art . It runs from April 2 to Sept. 5, reported the Toronto Star. “This exhibition will allow visitors to explore the ancient origins of tattooing . . . and the cultural exchanges that have made tattooing a vibrant art form and the global phenomenon that we see today,” Darling added, noting one survey in 2008 found 40 per cent of respondents between 25 to 29 had at least one tattoo. “If you have a tattoo, whether you know it or not, you are part of a long traject...

The Navy is easing its tattoo policy in a bid to recruit and retain more sailors from the millennial generation, of whom more than 1 in 3 sport body art, reported the Navy Times. Sailors will be allowed to have neck tattoos, sleeves and even markings behind their ears under the new policy, the most lenient of any military service. Only their heads are off limits under the new policy, which the Navy's top sailor has called a reality check on the permanent art favored by sailors. “We just got to the point where we realized we needed to be honest with ourselves and put something in place that was going to reflect the realities of our country and the needs of our Navy,” Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (AW/NAC) Mike Stevens said in a March 30 interview. “We need to make sure that we’re not missing any opportunities to recruit and retain the best and the brightest because of our policies.” The new rules, announced Thursday and taking effect April 30, will allow sailors to...