MONDAY, JUNE 12, 2006
Monday Edition: More Than One-third of Young Adults Have Tattoos
The Associated Press reports that a study scheduled to appear today on the
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology's
Web site says more than a third (36 percent) of 18- to 29-year-old
Americans and 24 percent of 18- to 50-year-olds have at least one
tattoo. This study is said to be the most in-depth look at tattoos
since their popularity exploded in the early 1990s. More than one in
seven young adults has a piercing in a place other than the soft lobe
of the ear, the study says.
The Associated Press article says:
The results suggest that 24 percent of Americans between 18 and 50
are tattooed; that's almost one in four. Two surveys from 2003
suggested just 15 percent to 16 percent of U.S. adults had a tattoo.
"Really,
nowadays, the people who don't have them are becoming the unique ones,"
said Chris Keaton, a tattoo artist and president of the Baltimore Tattoo Museum.
But body art is more than just tattoos.
About
one in seven people surveyed reported having a piercing anywhere other
than in the soft lobe of the ear, according to the study. That total
rises to nearly one in three for the 18-to-29 set. Just about half --
48 percent -- in that age category had either a tattoo or piercing.
Given their youth, that suggests the percentage of people with body art will continue to grow, said study co-author Dr. Anne Laumann, a Northwestern University dermatologist.
"They
haven't had time to get their body piercing. They haven't had time to
get their tattoo. They are just beginning to get into it and the number
is already big," Laumann said.
So why has body art become so popular?
Laumann
and others believe it allows people to broadcast to the world what they
are all about. Others call it sign of rebellion or a rite of passage.
The survey found nearly three-fourths of the pierced and nearly
two-thirds of the tattooed made the leap before 24.
A 2004 University of Florida study attempted to learn why folks get piercings:
The new UF study, based on a written survey of about 280 UF
undergraduates, showed that those with multiple piercings were much
more likely to have experienced stressful life events such as severe
injury or illness, abuse or the death of a loved one, Storch said. In
the study, he collaborated with principal investigator Jonathan
Roberti, a psychologist and clinical researcher at the University of
South Florida and the New College of Florida, and former UF research
assistant Erica Bravata.
In addition, men in the study were more likely than their female
counterparts to seek out new and intense experiences, Storch said. And
despite the common perception that people with body art are free
spirits, the results suggest at least one gender stereotype -- that
tattoos are strictly for men -- may still wield influence.
More than 80 percent of the 160 women surveyed were pierced but less
than 20 percent were tattooed, Storch said. In contrast, half the men
in the study had piercings and half had tattoos. Men also waited longer
to get pierced -- 40 percent took the plunge at age 18 or older,
compared with less than 20 percent of women.
Resources:
A Cell Phone That Tracks Your Kids
Today, a new cell-phone service that will alert you if your kids stray beyond a perimeter that you set for them hits the market. The Verizon Chaperone
uses location-based service (LBS) "geofencing." You can set a virtual
fence around a few blocks or an entire city and you will be alerted if
the dear one strays beyond the fence. We've told you about similar technology on Al's Morning Meeting before. Here is a story from Reuters.
Oil Disposal Fees
I saw this story this weekend while in Spokane, Wash., where I was teaching at a daylong workshop sponsored by the Society of Professional Journalists. KREM-TV consumer reporter/anchor Dawn Picken
reported about how oil-change garages charge you and me a couple of
extra bucks every time our cars' oil is changed. The extra charge is
listed on your receipt as a "disposal fee." Some garages list it as a
"used oil disposal fee," an "EPA fee" or an "environmental fee." Like
you, I always figured it was some fee the state forced upon the
garages.
Nope.
In fact, Dawn found that many garages sell the used oil for
recycling. They are making money from the very thing they are charging
you extra to dispose of. Is this practice ethical? This page includes a link to Dawn's video.
A columnist at The Oregonian recently reported this background:
The Auto Repair Task Force of the National Association of Attorneys General
-- formed in 1992 in response to auto repair being a top-rated consumer
complaint -- recommends: "Invoices should itemize any charges,
including those for shop supplies and toxic-waste disposal, and include
such charges in the total to be paid by consumers. Such charges should
not represent an extra profit center for the repair shop. Instead they
should reflect the actual costs incurred by the repair facility for the
specific repair and should not be represented, directly or by
implication, as mandatory government-imposed fees."
This complaint has been around for a long time. Here is a 1999 report about a lawsuit in New York. In 2004, several oil companies in New York
agrees to stop tricking the public in ads that show a low oil-change
price, then fail to mention fees like the disposal fee that they tacked
on.
Oil-Change Ripoffs
The oil-changing business has really been getting kicked in the
pants lately. Investigative reporters Joel Grover and Matt Goldberg, of KNBC-TV4 in Los Angeles, aired a high-profile investigation featuring the nation's biggest oil-change franchise, Jiffy Lube. The reporters found that there were some stores charging for work they never did. Last fall, CBS-4 in Boston investigated Jiffy Lube, too.
Tropical Storm Al(berto)
Let the storm freak-out begin on weather channels, local newscasts and cable news channels. Here is where
I get instant weather updates on my cell phone and online. Tropical
Storm Alberto is projected to hit Florida early this week. Here is what
some of the state's newspapers have said about the storm, so far:
I know the words "Tropical Storm" sound scary to those of you
who don't live down here, but that sort of thing basically means that
we'll get a lot of rain and a stiff wind -- sort of like a sustained
spring storm. Plus, we in Florida REALLY need this rain to help with a lingering drought and lots of fires.
At the risk of sounding like Lloyd Bentsen lecturing Dan Quayle, "I knew Katrina, and this is no Katrina. "
We are always looking for your great ideas. Send Al a few sentences and hot links.
Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas,
edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites,
as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes
directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be
provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends
upon the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors
and inaccuracies found will be corrected.
Posted at 11:01:41 AM
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