Pharyngula

Posted by: LARA | February 27, 2008 10:17 AM

Try getting it done in henna. It's semi-permanent plus results in a lovely shade of sepia.

Posted by: Dan | February 27, 2008 10:46 AM

If Trophy Wife&trade loves you, she'll let you get that tattoo (at least, that's what you should tell yourself).

Posted by: rjb | February 27, 2008 10:50 AM

Maybe you should suggest that you get matching tattoos. Perhaps that's why she's resisting... she wants one too!!

Posted by: negentropyeater | February 27, 2008 10:51 AM

I'm tattooed 5 times and I agree that it makes a nice design. But it depends a lot where you're thinking of getting it done... on your butt ?

Posted by: Rey Fox | February 27, 2008 10:55 AM

I suppose as long as you get it in such a location that all but the top is never covered. Because when this image first loaded up below the headline and before I scrolled down, it looked like a winged penis.

Posted by: Steve_C | February 27, 2008 11:15 AM

sooo many missed keys in that post...

uhg.

Posted by: Troy | February 27, 2008 11:33 AM

If I see this as a tramp stamp on a lady, I'm fairly certain I'm legally obligated to hit on her....

Posted by: Lee | February 27, 2008 11:53 AM

With the wings spread out across the shoulder blades, and the tips of the braided tentacles just touching the tailbone - yes.

Needs some more color, though.

Posted by: Cuttlefish, OM | February 27, 2008 11:59 AM

Those arms are pretty things,
But it needs to lose the wings,
Even then it's kinda sinister and wouldn't be my pick.
Were I inked up in some manner,
Then the picture from my banner
Is the cuttlefish I think would be the one to do the trick.

Posted by: Dan | February 27, 2008 12:17 PM

Can someone explain the Trophy Wife joke?

Posted by: Random Guy

Trophy Wife&trade can usually be found sitting beside PZ as they tool around The Greater Metropolitan Morris, MN area in their shiny, convertible sports car. They're big in all the clubs, and Trophy Wife&trade has been known to drive even the healthiest of supermodels into a life of cocaine abuse and eating disorders. They are the "beautiful people," and they make Morris, Minnesota look like Rio de Janeiro instead of Fargo, ND.

Honestly, though, I can't remember the post where the Trophy Wife legend was born, and I don't have time to look. It's a funny one, though.

Posted by: Meng Bomin | February 27, 2008 12:26 PM

Random Guy, here is the background on the "Trophy Wife" joke.

Posted by: Sarcastro | February 27, 2008 12:48 PM

Reminds me of the arms of House Greyjoy of Pyke.

Posted by: Noadi | February 27, 2008 12:51 PM

Another addition to my ever growing list of tattoos I want. Actually I'm adding this to the top of the list.

Posted by: Ginger Yellow | February 27, 2008 12:59 PM

I'm not a tattoo person myself (don't mind them at all on other people), but I would love it on a T-shirt. It would go nicely with my "squid overlords" shirt.

Posted by: Abby Normal | February 27, 2008 1:07 PM

Oh, it's a Histioteuthis rüppellii. Never mind.

Posted by: Brownian, OM | February 27, 2008 1:10 PM

Though some species have a different number, most squid have eight arms and two tentacles.

Posted by: Abby Normal | February 27, 2008 1:13 PM

Or is it a loligo vulgaris? I'm just making myself confused at this point. Obviously I'm woefully uneducated in this important subject.

Posted by: pyrogirl | February 27, 2008 2:03 PM

@24

Ha ha...I thought that right away too. Best books ever!

Posted by: Art | February 27, 2008 3:07 PM

Lose the wings. Also the squid's body is entirely to monochromatic and flat. I'm thinking an intricate grey-scale hatching deep black and grey tones to make it go from a flat cutout to a three dimentional depiction. Sort of what was done with the wings that aren't going to be there.

To make it authentic you could look into using genuine squid ink. Has anyone ever tried it? Can it be done without poisoning yourself? Would it hurt more/less, last longer and how would the color be? What is squid ink made of anyway?

A squid depicted in detailed grey-scale done in squid ink. Everyone else would drop dead from envy.

Posted by: Bob | February 27, 2008 4:04 PM

Come on, PZ, just get it. You're already tenured, and your wife already tolerates you blogging all the time.

(Where's the mid-life crisis, dude?)

A tat's nothing. Plus, you'd look really cool. And in the end it dies with you, which kinda rocks...

Nah, on second thought, I don't think you're the tat-type...

But it'd still look cool on you, I think...

Posted by: Barry Trask | February 27, 2008 4:07 PM

That isn't a tattoo. That's a huge decal for the hood of a 1970's Pontiac Trans Am. Cool...way, way cooler than the original "Firebird" decal.

Posted by: Janine | February 27, 2008 4:28 PM

J, you are going to have to join the Dark Clan. Just contact PZ for more information.

Posted by: Zarquon | February 27, 2008 5:26 PM

If a Suicide Girl got one of these tattoos would it be a Suicide Squid?

Posted by: Kevin L. | February 27, 2008 5:59 PM

You know, I've been considering getting a tattoo for awhile now, but I couldn't think of what I might want for a design. I think I finally have my answer.

Posted by: Jaycubed | February 27, 2008 7:45 PM

Everyone knows flying cephalopods have BAT WINGS!
.

Posted by: Crudely Wrott | February 27, 2008 8:54 PM

I don't care much about tattoos. If you have some, fine. Just don't expect me to ask you about them. I have none and I don't miss them. But for this image to be a great tat it needs one thing. Wet wings.

Now some starving artist can create a dynasty! You're welcome.

Posted by: cicely | March 1, 2008 7:15 PM

I know I'm coming into this thread late, and won't be surprised or offended if I don't get a response, but...was there a link to the source of the squid-pic? I didn't spot one on a quick fly-by of the thread, but I really, REALLY would like to paint this (sans wings) on a shirt (for personal wear only, I hasten to add; no intention of making any kind of profit other than the envy of my friends), but would want to ask the artist for permission, in the interest of not stomping on his/her intellectual property rights.

Posted by: cicely | March 3, 2008 12:27 AM

Thank you very much! :)

Posted by: Gary | June 3, 2009 10:52 AM

I have written a quick poem about flying squid. While looking for a picture to go with it, I found yours, which is now posted, with a link back here, on my Facebook page.

The poem is as follows (this is still being revised):

The Tale of St. John Smid

This is the tale of the late St. John Smid
The scientist who invented the flying squid
Some said he was mad some said insane
For creating the thing that brought him his fame

It began one morning, innocent enough
As St. John gazed up at cloud puffs
This one’s a house, that one a cat
Over there a flower, yonder a bat

Then in the sky, he wonderingly saw
The fateful cloud that doomed us all
A squid, a squid, St. John exclaimed
This I can make! the madman proclaimed

His lab was extensive but it would seem
He needed more room to realize his dream
The tanks for his creatures were heavy and wet
They leaked, which made his landlady fret

So St. John moved to an old barge
On the edge of a bay where squid roamed, at large
His first attempts were crude, but that was expected
Early failures can be redirected

Small squid it seems were not up to the task
When tied to balloons and put in a mask
The mask let them breathe but the balloons made them giddy
Unfocused on their work, they took off for the city

You may see them, if you sit very still
Floating on the edge of your window sill
Some have been known to party and more
Several were spotted at studio 54

But despite their giddy sociality
St. John was unimpressed with them in totality
I need something bigger to make more of a splash
So he built the aerosquid that ran on corned beef hash

The aerosquid were 6 feet long
Filled up with hydrogen, they just floated along
No need for balloons to propel them aloft
No need for masks to keep gills wet and soft

The aerosquid were lazy they just floated about
They filled up the barge, they never went out
St. John himself was just not amused
His good nature, he felt, was being abused

As he sat surrounded by squid and corned beef
St. John was surprised by an unlucky thief
The thief was assaulted by hundreds of squid
Who moved to defend their dear St. John Smid

A HA! He decided, as he cleaned up the dribble
That was all that remained of the thief turned squid kibble
My creations can serve to help people sleep
They will work as security and so earn their keep

The work was long, rewarding and hard
He rejected the ones who ran on Swiss Chard
Larger and larger, the critters got built
At 1000 pounds each they made the barge tilt

Finally St. John had his new model
It did 300 knots when at full throttle
Mean as a hornet it ate molten lead
It spit bullets at trespassers, it aimed for the head

But St. John’s success was just not be
For his greatest creation was greater than he!
With a brain so much larger and the ability to fly
It said to itself, “hey, why serve THIS guy?”

So late last night there arose quite a clatter
I sprang from my couch to see what was the matter
Off on the waterfront, high in the air
The monster ate St. John, even his hair!

And so I write to you from my humble redoubt
Insecure and trembling, my eyes darting about
I cower in here from what stalks the sky
Thanks to St. John Smid, my doom is nigh