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A contestant waits backstage at a tattoo contest during the tattoo convention The Mondial du Tatouage in Paris Willie Stargell Jersey , France on March 24, 2013. Photo: AFP
The undisputed "king" of French tattoo artists says his industry is struggling to win recognition as an art form on a par with painting or music.


"Everything proves that we are artists according to the UNESCO definition," said Tin-Tin, whose clients have included fashion designer Jean-Paul Gaultier, the rapper Joey Starr and tennis legend Yannick Noah.


The main organizer of a world-class tattoo expo that wrapped up on Sunday Throwback Pittsburgh Pirates Jerseys , he quotes the UNESCO definition of an artist verbatim - "any person who creates... and who considers his artistic creation to be an essential part of his life, who contributes in this way to the development of art and culture."


In France, those designated as artists - painters, as well as photographers, writers and composers - are able to charge greatly reduced VAT rates to their customers.


"For now Custom Pittsburgh Pirates Jerseys , (the government is) killing us, considering us as simple merchants," said Tin-Tin.


The founder and head of the National Union of Tattoo Artists, Tin-Tin has also launched an online petition that has gathered more than 14,000 signatures.


In 2014 Authentic Pittsburgh Pirates Jerseys , Paris' indigenous art museum Quai Branly recruited Tin-Tin as an adviser for an exhibition on tattooing that drew 700,000 visitors.


He said the only thing in the way of winning recognition as artists is that tattoo artists "create on the skin."


"It's a real paradox, but we will win one day," he said.


'Trash polka'


Held at the Parc de la Villette in the northeast of the French capital, the tattoo expo Mondial du Tatouage attracted 360 tattoo artists from 35 countries from Bulgaria to Thailand Pittsburgh Pirates Jerseys For Sale , the Netherlands to Japan and some 30,000 visitors.


"It's a very prestigious convention, I would say probably one of the top five conventions in the world," said an exhibitor from Puerto Rico who goes by the name Fibs.


"So it's very honorable to be here, to be part of these great artists Cheap Pittsburgh Pirates Jerseys ," he said of the fair, whose poster featured work by prominent Japanese tattoo artist Hide Ichibay.


Like just about everywhere else in the world, tattooing is no longer just for sailors, soldiers and bikers in France, where a recent poll found that the percentage of 25-to-34-year-olds reporting having a tattoo has doubled to one in five since 2010.


And from around 15 tattoo parlors in 1982 Starling Marte Pirates Jersey , France now counts more than 1,500.


Tin-Tin said he got his first tattoo as a teenager to get out of ballroom dancing contests that his parents were forcing him to enter.


Among myriad trends on display at the fair, hyper-realism is in at the moment, said Tin-Tin, who has a huge Japanese art-inspired fish tattooed on his back and dragons adorn his arms up to the shoulders.


"There are more and more incredible artists who do tattoos like photos Josh Harrison Pirates Jersey , with an extraordinary graphic quality."


Japanese-style and Polynesian tribal are still strong trends however.


Then there is "trash polka" invented by German duo Simone Pfaff and Volko Merschky, a mix of realist and graphic elements in red and black, usually covering a torso.


Tattoo fashion presents a paradox, Tin-Tin said: "Fashion is by definition ephemeral, while tattoos are permanent."

Just Pick the Team That Wins Outright?
So often we warn gamblers about the mortal sin of using inductive rather than deductive reasoning. The quintessence of that is the rapid circulation of the insipid illogic of "all you have to do is pick the straight up winner of a game and chances are you will have the spread winner." It's always followed by some stat where the outright winner has covered 80 percent of the time. Dah.

When an underdog wins they cover 100 percent of the time. The favorite cannot cover unless they win outright. It's impossible. The only scenario in which a team can win and not cover is when the favorite wins but by a smaller margin than the spread.

Not shockingly the numbnuts who perpetuate unscientific preposterousness almost always quote stats relevant to the NBA or NFL. In college sports there are more mismatches and hence larger spreads where the margin is larger for a favorite to win and not cover.

If a team is a 3.5 point favorite the only way the team that wins will not cover is for the favorite to win by one Kent Tekulve Pirates Jersey , two or three points. Any other result will have the team that wins covering. At what percentage do these half-wits think a team should win and not cover?

Obviously the stupidity of this widely circulated inductive blather can be refuted from now until eternity. Or at least until an underdog wins but fails to cover, whichever comes last. But to those who subscribe to it as if there is any logic, thanks for keeping the books in business for the rest of us.

Weather or Not?
We do plan on writing an article on how weather affects our football handicapping. But to be honest it's only a minor part of baseball soothsaying. First of all most of our baseball selections are side plays anyway. While bad weather would generally affect a speed team most, we believe in the proverbial adage of both teams having to play under the same weather conditions.

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