The World of Stuff .com

I can’t has cheezburger

On Tuesday night, I went bowling with Luke, TJ, and some of their friends (and Luke’s brother). I hadn’t seen Luke or TJ since last summer, but since Luke and I talk online all the time, it was like he was never really gone. I swear he got taller. He seems to agree. After playing for two hours at the Pompano Bowl, we went next door to Big Louie’s because I was hungry and it was dinnertime. Then we split. I hope we can have some more fun times soon.

When my peers turned 18, all some of them could talk about was getting a tattoo. In some cases, they’d already thought about what design they wanted. In fact, it seems like everyone I know is getting a tattoo (or two). Some are beautiful, and some are weird. In general, I don’t understand the appeal of having patterns of ink permanently injected into your skin, especially patterns that are seemingly trite or nonsensical.

Someone I know who has one or two tattoos recently posted a MySpace bulletin saying that (for some reason) her next one should be of either Abraham Lincoln or a cheeseburger. I said, “Why choose? Make it Abraham Lincoln eating a cheeseburger.” She said I was the second person to suggest that and that she thought it was a great idea. Although it’s funny, I hope still thinks it’s good idea in 50 years. Or five years.

After all, if you decide your tattoo is stupid, it can be difficult or impossible to remove. Maybe I object to this angle since I am a dude who regrets things. I’d never get a tattoo because of the sheer permanence. I also find them foreign, a little barbaric, and kind of gross with respect to your skin. So tell me: what’s the appeal of having a tattoo?

Natasha, don’t let me dissuade you from getting a tattoo.

Solitaire: we love it. We can’t live without it. But why? Solitaire-y Confinement: Why We Can’t Stop Playing a Computerized Card Game.

Here’s a video showing an animated optical illusion.

There’s a funny thing about the English language (and most languages, in fact). Long ago, when the each people of the world was still getting introduced to the others, it usually came up with its own names for the peoples and places it discovered. For example, the Germans call their own country Deutschland, but the French call it Allemagne and we call it Germany. Of late, the trend has been to use whatever names people call themselves. Ivory Coast has been pretty successful at getting other countries to refer to it as Côte d’Ivoire regardless of the language used, and East Timor is trying to get other countries to call it Timor-Leste. Read more about exonyms and endonyms.