Nice idea. They had a contest to design tattos for ScienceOnline2012, and are planning to give them away as temporary tattoos to attendees. They built up a nice gallery of designs.
One of them is a pirate squid, which looks excellent. Good move!
And then…they set up an internet poll to decide which ones to use. Seriously. I think that they forgot that I exist.
Time to remind them. Fly, my pretties, fly! Pirate squid must win!




33 comments
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grantcomeau
1 December 2011 at 8:06 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I went over with every intention of voting for the squid. I really did.
But Darwin was right beside him.
And then I got an image of some random creationist showing up and what tattoo did I really want being displayed when that happened?
Sorry PZ… the big bearded guy, in this one instance, beat out the cephalopod.
Brian
1 December 2011 at 8:15 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
No, sorry, the citric acid one is the clear winner!
'Tis Himself, OM
1 December 2011 at 8:18 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I like the Scienceonlineum tat. Pirate squids are in second place. Well, third place for sure, after citric acid.
Rawnaeris
1 December 2011 at 8:19 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Done. I bow to thee O Squidly Overlord.
Besides. The squid was cool. Who would want a kitteh anyway? ;-)
Ouigui
1 December 2011 at 8:24 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I call foul play! Pirate Squid is the only entry whose image can’t be clicked to embiggen.
evader
1 December 2011 at 8:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Ouigui, you are correct, but try this link to their gallery, which shows the larger image of the Squid Pirate
Click here for pirate squid embiggener
sloth
1 December 2011 at 8:59 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Sorry PZ but a cat in glasses took my fancy. I don’t think I ever seen a cat on the internet before, let alone one doing SCIENCE!
JohnnieCanuck
1 December 2011 at 9:14 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
So much for a loyal bunch of fawning acolytes. Only 1 squid out of 5 reported votes.
Caine, Fleur du Mal
1 December 2011 at 9:16 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Voted squid.
Charlie Foxtrot
1 December 2011 at 9:21 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
chaaaaaaarge!
They didn’t have a mars rover (or similar), so the squid got it :)
TX_secular
1 December 2011 at 9:22 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Squid it is.
luoanlai
1 December 2011 at 9:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’m with Brian @ 2. Citric acid for me. Way better tattoo.
Bit worried about the black out of red eyepatch on the squid.
stubby
1 December 2011 at 10:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Cat for teh win!!1
Randomfactor
1 December 2011 at 11:00 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Squid here. But then I thought it was the best choice even before the brain-stimulator kicked in.
skepticallydenpa
1 December 2011 at 11:04 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Pharyngulate:
A process by which the Cephalopod Lord, PZ Meyers defiles an internet poll(often with the excuse that it was totally asking for it) by extending his tentacles in a manner almost, but not quite, entirely unlike hentai.
ralphb
1 December 2011 at 11:21 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Thank god it’s not blue.
neleabels
1 December 2011 at 11:39 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
No chance. Science cat it is…
Russell
1 December 2011 at 11:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Arrh,’ tis smart as paint that tattoo, but full sore ter acquire afore National Talk Like a Pirate Squid Day.
Belike it wants a hogshead or two of Myers’s rum to wash the ink down
tfkreference
1 December 2011 at 11:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Sorry, but my 15 year old daughter/chemistry wiz likes Science Cat, and I’m doing all I can to support her interest in science.
Lyn M: Just Lyn M.
2 December 2011 at 12:10 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Is there a word for when the call is out to Pharengulate a poll but it doesn’t happen because Pharengulites don’t vote as suggested?
Mis-pharengulated. Not-pharengulated? Mal-Pharengulated?
I really think there should be a word.
And I kind of liked the squid.
Ichthyic
2 December 2011 at 12:10 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I don’t think I ever seen a cat on the internet before, let alone one doing SCIENCE!
please tell me you’re kidding, or ceiling cat will certainly smite you.
as to cats doing science…
you should visit Jerry’s blog:
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/scientific-americat/
this is a cephalopod blog, that is a feline blog.
hyperdeath
2 December 2011 at 5:31 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’m glad PZ failed here. Poll crashing should be reserved for self-righteous attempts to declare the victory of a predetermined “truth”, by appealing to an unrepresentative audience.
When it comes to the rejection of a cat wearing a bow-tie, he’s just going too far.
robertoaguirre maturana
2 December 2011 at 6:51 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I’m not sure, but there’s is a word for a call to self-pharyngulate a poll: dragdillahuntying.
a3kr0n
2 December 2011 at 7:15 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
It looks like they caught on to our nefarious poll bashing, because it’s closed now. I think the squid won though.
Illuminata, Mother Superior of the Holy Order of Maltist Nuns
2 December 2011 at 7:41 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
That sound you hear is 10,000 photoshop programs opening to create the PZ-as-the-Wicked-Witch-of-the-West meme.
rabbidpenguin
2 December 2011 at 8:20 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I tried but they are no longer accepting submissions!
“That sound you hear is 10,000 photoshop programs opening to create the PZ-as-the-Wicked-Witch-of-the-West meme.”
Please tell me where i can find me new desktop background.
NelC
2 December 2011 at 8:40 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Basement catz gratest prank iz pretending he no iz.
rational jen
2 December 2011 at 8:42 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Yeah, the poll is closed. How come the poll has been shut down? I wanna guess it has nothing to do the PZ’s battalion. It’s not our faul, he has real powers! I didn’t wanna come vote, and I didn’t for a minute. But then my head starting hurting and I think I went deaf and almost blind for a little bit, until I finally succumbed and voted for the squid.
Your comment is awaiting moderation</b?
..hmmm I wonder if it will await forever. I have I hunch that it will. :'(
Sengkelat
2 December 2011 at 10:20 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I couldn’t vote, but I would have voted for either citric acid or Darwin, as they’re more sciencey. Those and the pirate squid were very nicely graphic. Some others, while lovely images, really don’t keep the idea of “tattoo” in mind at all. Sharp cornered rectangles? Seriously?
Hairy Chris, blah blah blah etc
2 December 2011 at 10:55 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Hmmm, temporary tattoos don’t look great at the best of times (they’re a music festival staple, unfortunately, and don’t mix well with drunken idiots!) but the best ones are always relatively simple, not too cluttered, don’t have shading, and fit as many skin colours as possible.
Assuming that I could still vote the squidly one would get mine. Darwin would be #2, the rest… bleurgh.
Hairy Chris, blah blah blah etc
2 December 2011 at 10:57 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
“That sound you hear is 10,000 photoshop programs opening to create the PZ-as-the-Wicked-Witch-of-the-West meme.”
I prefer “PZ-as-the-Wicked-Witch-of-the-Meme” personally.
sc_03e2a66d1546591192dab6c7160bc274
2 December 2011 at 2:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I had to give some love to the citric acid cycle.
karyntraphagen
3 December 2011 at 10:08 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Sorry some of your minions were upset by the timing of windows for voting on the Temp Tattoo design. We are trying to give our attendees the opportunity to vote. We have registrants from many time zones. We also have a limit on our web server for how many people we can accommodate (for responses to forms). We are a non-profit, and paying for each response can get expensive! We did this for our registration too (first window of slots filled up in less than 3 minutes).
As to the many comments from here awaiting moderation, we’re so close to our conference that there just isn’t any way we’re going to get to them all. Please accept this comment as a collective response to all of you!
If you are really interested, neverfear, the squid is very popular. It was never in doubt (from our own attendees). The rest of the designs are still duking it out for production rights. Thanks for playing along.