Girls with tattoos get a bad rap these days. They are associated with “don’t mess with me” bad ass chicks, trashy/skanky girls, and hippie-love-child wannabes. But I want a tattoo and I am none of those things.

I’ve been thinking long and hard about permanently tagging myself, but I can’t seem to commit to it. There is so much to consider, tattoos being permanent and all, and the last thing I want is to regret my decision. Or end up with 56 stars on my face.

On the one hand, I agree with Angelina Jolie when she said, “A tattoo is something permanent when you’ve made a self-discovery, or something you’ve come to a conclusion about…and a strong reminder to live fully in the moment.” At the same time, though, I also agree with my friend’s brother who said, “Imagine getting scrunch socks tattooed on your legs in the early 90’s. Would you want that there now?”

Touch, bro. Touche.

So, let’s break down the pros and cons of the tat.

It Will Be On You Forever

The bad: Obviously, a trademark of a tattoo is that it’s permanent, which is part of both its charm and its demise. I know a girl who got an enormous tattoo on her ribcage and half of her stomach. Let’s be real here, people are living pretty damn long these days, which means stupid adages to “live fast, die fun” will be stuck on their (considerably more flabby and wrinkly) torsos for just as long.

The good: Some tattoos are chosen simply for their permanence, such as getting your significant other permanently scrolled across your arm to proclaim your everlasting love (right Johnny Depp?), or for someone you lost, a part of your heritage, or something that means a lot to you. If placed in a strategic location, who cares if something important to you is on you forever? That’s the point!

It Will Generate Attention

The bad: Let’s face it, a lot of girls with tattoos are the same people who wear shirts that say “Drink Til He’s Cute” and will likely attempt a bar fight with you for looking at her man wrong. In other words: they want people to look at ‘em. Getting butterflies, flowers or dolphins inked in a visible location (i.e. lower back) is just begging guys to stare. And judge you.

The good: Nothing screams “I am spontaneous and interesting” like a well-positioned, unique and understated tattoo. Afterball, tattoos are like stories on your body, each having an inherent meaning. I know a guy who chased after this girl simply for her little Chinese character on her lower hip because she just seemed “so much cooler than the girls he was used to.”

It Is A Work Of Art

The bad: Apparently not all tattoo artists are on the same level. I know a few people who have received bad tattoos and deeply regret them. One girl got stars tattooed right above her vajay (I know – really poor decision…) and the guy doing them totally messed up (maybe because he was so close to her vajay). But even the best tattoos can bleed or fade, leaving your beautiful looking like more of an eyesore than eye candy.

The good: Gotta love that freedom of expression. What many people forget is that tattooing is one of the oldest and most widely practiced forms of artwork. Also, tattooing an original design onto your body is an unparalleled mode of expression and can be liberating. The uniqueness and value you and others assign to tattoos is the part that matters.

[Excerpt From CollegeCandy]

Last September, a 14-year-old Dutch boy was assaulted and robbed after being shoved off his bike. But with no evidence and no real idea who his assailants were, police were powerless—until the crime showed up on Street View.

The photo shows the boy being tailed closely by two men who matched the boy's original description, but Dutch police actually had to send a formal request to Google to have the faces unblurred. When Google complied, a policeman recognized one of the men (actually twins) as a suspect wanted for similar robberies, and was able to finally make the arrest, six months after the crime.

So beware, felons: The Google cars are watching. [AP]

[Excerpt From Gizmodo]

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net

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• 
  

If you're anything like us, your sexual encounters are usually pretty awkward.  Once you've been with a girlfriend or boyfriend for a while, they get used to your particular style and you're in the clear, but you'll never reach that point if you don't make it past first-time sex with a new partner.  Here are the 7 Stages of First-Time Sex with Someone:

 

1. The "Determining if You're Going to Have Sex" Stage

 

A lot of people flirt in social situations, and sometimes it's incredibly difficult to determine if someone is actually interested in you, or if they just want attention and that feeling of power that comes from a good, rigorous cockteasing.  Luckily, the rules are totally different in one-on-one situations, and there are very few people who can be deliberately sexually misleading when it's just the two of you.  Those people are known as "girlfriends" and they tend to operate like an M. Night Shyamalan film: they always make it seem like something is going to happen, and then you suddenly realize that you've spent the last two hours listening to her talk about something that you don't give a shit about. 

 

 

Other than that, if you're getting strong sexual vibes from someone that you're alone with, then there's a pretty good chance that he or she is interested in having sex with you.  Your intuition about sex in this situation works the same way as the intuition that you get when you find mysterious leftovers in your refrigerator: whatever you immediately think it is, there's a really good chance that you're right.

 

 

2. The "Psyching Yourself Up" Stage

 

There are two ways to psych yourself: up, and out.  Try to avoid the latter at this stage.  Psyching yourself up for sex is pretty easy.  Just try to picture any porn that you've ever watched.  You know how sometimes you saw the guy's face, and it made you really uncomfortable?  Well, imagine those parts, and put your face on his body.  The vision of you banging a hot pornstar in your head will do the trick for you.  If you're still having trouble, just keep reminding yourself that you're going to be having sex pretty soon, and that first-time sex is a lot like one of those weird parking lot carnivals that you see in small towns: it's kind of creepy, and really sweaty, and there's a good chance that it's not going to be safe at all, but afterward you'll be glad that you experienced and survived it, and at the very least you'll get a good story out of it.

 

 

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13 road trips every guy must take in his lifetime

1. The destination-unknown weekend road trip. Bring your girl, your wallet, and your sense of adventure. Uncharted territory is the ultimate aphrodisiac.

2. The border hop. Crossing state boundaries carries all the prosaic ceremony a
tollbooth can offer. Which is to say, none. But cross into Tijuana, Mexico, from
San Diego and you'll develop an appreciation for how different life can really be
over the fence.

3. The one-way voyage. You leave your life behind, say goodbye to your friends, and set out into the world to find fame, fortune, or some combination of the two in a place you never thought you'd call home. They don't make a GPS for this kind of trip. You navigate by the pull of your gut.

4. The coast-to-coaster. Yes, it takes time. It takes money. But here's why it's essential: You will meet one unforgettable girl and never see her again. You will almost land in jail. And best of all, you will collect more immortal memories than you will bugs on your windshield.

5. The urban zigzag. Doesn't matter in which city: New York, Chicago, Houston, San Francisco. Just drive through it, fast, at 3 a.m. You'll feel like you own the place.

6. The European weekend. Pick one grand city: Paris, Prague, Berlin, Barcelona, Rome, London. Leave Thursday. Return Monday. Pack just one small backpack. It's much harder to hate the world once you've actually seen it.

7. The grid skip. Go anywhere beyond the reach of city lights and cell towers. Preferably, it requires starting a fire from scratch, catching dinner, and not showering—things every guy should be able to do if pressed.

8. The jam session. Jerry's gone, but the nomadic, roving utopia pioneered by Deadheads can still be found on a minitour circuit. Fill your trunk with provisions and follow your favorite band for as long as vacation time allows. There's something pure, noble, and essential about a live-music tour in outdoor venues.

9. The long goodbye. Letting your grandfather die with dignity doesn't mean FedEx-ing flowers to his nursing home every Friday. When you care enough to give the very best, give yourself.

10. New Orleans. Because it's still there.

11. The three-ballpark trip. Try Baltimore (Camden Yards) to New York (Yankee Stadium) to Boston (Fenway Park), if you're on the East Coast; Cincinnati (Great American Ball Park) to Chicago (Wrigley Field) to St. Louis (Busch Stadium) in the Midwest; and Seattle (Safeco Field) to Oakland (McAfee Coliseum) to San Francisco (AT&T Park) on the West Coast.

12. The test track. There's something empowering about identifying a killer stretch of road, learning its nuances, and wearing grooves in the asphalt.

13. The reconciliation. Against all reason, you set out to win her back, showing up on the doorstep in her new town, new dorm, or new apartment. If you succeed, you get the girl. If you fail, at least you've learned how strong your will can be when you're reaching for something you really want.

Southwest Airlines consistently provides the cheapest flights available.  But in order to do that, and make a profit, they subject you to the worst flying conditions possible.  We recently uncovered this internal memo from one of their chief engineers, that really explains their thought process.

 

 

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As far as I can tell, there are three main types of celebrities that the world fawns over.

Type 1:“The Talented Celebrity.” Think models who have shown up on the cover of Italian Vogue, actors like Brad Pitt who have starred in everything from comedy to drama, and music moguls who come out with one hit after another (think Madonna).

Type 2: “The Train Wreck- Once Famous, Now in Rehab.” These are people like Lindsay Lohan and Amy Winehouse, who are no doubt talented, but can’t keep themselves away from the bars and the drugs long enough to earn coveted longevity in Hollywood.

Type 3: “Why the Hell are They Famous?” The people who People Magazine, US Weekly, and Perez Hilton constantly cover, we all read about, and none of us are exactly sure what this person has done to deserve press coverage (think Anna Nicole Smith). Below is a list of the ten best examples of these non-celebrities – the ones that take over our headlines, but haven’t done much to merit this press coverage. And if anyone can tell me why we actually care what these people are up to…well, be my guest.

1. Kim Kardashian- While she is no doubt stunning, her fame stems from the fact that her rich father served as OJ Simpson’s lawyer during his criminal trial…and then she had sex with Ray J. Her lone film, Disaster Flick, came out in 2008, and was rated the second worst film ever created at the Internet Movie Database. Sure, she’s been on Dancing With the Stars and her own reality show since then, but I must ask: why was this one ever on our radar!?

2. Heidi and Spencer Pratt- While The Hills enjoys high ratings, two young adults arguing for a 30-minute episode about their relationship, their parents, and how they should get married is not enough to give anyone celebrity status. If America wants to watch two people argue, then MTV should come to my house and film my mom begging me to do dumb chores. Being rich and argumentative is not enough to warrant fame.

3. Octomom – Her birth of octuplets this past year caused a national scandal when people became concerned about child neglect and proper monetary support (and the fact that she looks like Angelina…). Getting six embryos implanted in you when you already have six kids definitely does not make you a celebrity…slightly crazy, but not a celebrity.

4. Nicole Richie – Best known for her stint on The Simple Life with fellow socialite Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie’s presence in celebrity tabloids is mostly in candid photos of her and daughter Harlow, or musician husband Joel Madden of Good Charlotte. She has yet to sing or act in anything of true merit other than being herself on a reality show and is truly a celebrity’s wife, not a celebrity herself.

5. Tila Tequila - Tila got famous for having a lot of friends on MySpace. Don’t get me wrong, popularity is cool, but since when do we celebrate the trashy people who actually use MySpace?

6. Kevin Federline – Known mostly for his disastrous short-lived marriage to Britney Spears, Federline’s attempts to make it in “the industry” resulted in his 2006 record being one of the worst-received in music history and making him appear as an Eminem wannabe. His short stint on One Tree Hill as an aggressive musician did little to advance his acting career, and his appearances on wrestling programming did even less to advance his image. So, while Britney Spears seems to have come out of her funk with hits like “Circus” and “Womanizer,” Federline is now famous for changing diapers and babysitting Sean and Jayden.

7. Paris Hilton – Just another blonde socialite who formed a fashion line and had one hit song (“Stars are Blind”). Being born rich does not make you a celebrity. Becoming rich due to talent does.

8. Melissa Rycroft – Seriously, I’ve been dumped by plenty of guys. Where is my offer to be on the cover of a magazine?

9. Whitney Port – Starring in her very own spin-off of The Hills, Whitney Port was nicknamed “the new Carrie Bradshaw.” Um. No. Freaking. Way. And if being on a reality show weren’t bad enough, spinning off the show that gave fame to squabbling California teenagers merits even less respect in my mind. She is no Carrie. Don’t even joke.

10. Suri Cruise - This girl gets more covers than paid actors. Just because she was born. Why do we as consumers care what a two–year-old is wearing?

[Excerpt From College Candy]

Reporter Dunks on Kid, Makes Him Cry - Watch more Funny Videos

Check Your Bottled Water

You may be more exposed to a common chemical than you should be

When you throw a can of food into your cart, you're probably not thinking about how much bisphenol A (BPA) you'll consume.

BPA, a common chemical, is found in all sorts of everyday containers, such as certain plastic water bottles, including baby bottles, and the lining in most cans. And while the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has deemed it safe, studies have linked it to health problems like diabetes and heart disease.

Now a University of Missouri-Columbia study has found that people may be consuming more of the chemical than initially believed. After feeding five adult monkeys an amount that is eight times higher than the estimated safe dose—and 400 times higher than the FDA estimates you're exposed to—they measured active BPA in their blood.

Researchers found that the levels were lower than those usually found in people. That means for our levels to be higher, we'd have to consume even more BPA—and that dose is considerably higher than the estimated safe amount. Some monkeys process BPA similar to how humans do.

How can you avoid BPA? Ditch the cans in favor of fresh food, or switch to glass bottles for your baby. For water, Nalgene bottles are now BPA-free and easy on the wallet.

-Kasia Galazka

[Excerpt From MensHealth]

When you are in college it’s almost as if you have to try not to make friends. You are constantly surrounded by people and put into situations (group projects, student groups, beer pong tournaments) where forming new friendships is as easy as finding Milwaukee’s Best at a frat party; get their name, work with them a bit, then go home and Facebook them later.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for life in the real world.

Not only are you no longer on a campus surrounded by 400-5,000 people just like you, but the situations that present themselves in college aren’t available after you graduate. At least not as easily. And, no, it’s not going to be like Friends where you live in some giant and totally cool apartment and have hot, funny, and really awesome dudes living across the hall. Not even close.

You can’t walk up to some random girl at the bar and ask for her number (really, really creepy), so how the hell do you make new friends!?

Well, first, you need to realize things won’t come as easily and be ready to put in a little work. Once you’ve mentally prepared, it’s time to put forth some effort:

1. Get friendly at work: The most obvious place to make friends is at work. You spend so much time with these people that it makes sense that you’d get close with them. This is great because it gives you something to look forward to when you wake up at the ass crack of dawn every morning, but it can also be ugly. It’s very easy to blur the line between friend and coworker (especially when $3 tequila shots are the happy hour special) and that can lead to some very awkward interactions down the road. If you play your cards right, though, you’ll make some awesome friends for life.

2. Join something: Be it a community service group, a summer sports league, or a book club, joining a group is one of the best ways to make new friends. You will meet tons of people you wouldn’t normally have access to, you’ll automatically have something in common with them, and you’ll get to know them in a pretty relaxed setting so it doesn’t feel so forced and awk. (The internet makes this shiz super easy, too. Just Google what you’re looking for – “book club, New York City” – and you’ll find plenty of options.)

3. Use your alumni association: People tend to get really attached to their alma maters (and fellow alum) after they graduate. This is great because those same people get super active in their alumni association and plan fun happy hours and events in cities nationwide. Just look up your city to find a calendar of events and go! You may think you know everyone that graduated with you, but you’re wrong. There are plenty of cool people to be met.

4. Friends of friends: The best referral source for new friends? The few you’ve already got. Ask your friends to facilitate pre-parties or dinners with everyone they know so you can get to know them too. Yes, it seems a little strange to kinda latch onto someone else’s friends, but you already know they are quality people, so why not try and get to know them better?

You aren’t going to find new friends at the bar or sitting around your apartment so get out there and do something. A little effort will reap huge rewards in the form of new brunch buddies, new girls to confide in, and some memorable new experiences.

[Excerpt From College Candy]

From TeamXbox, the same site that may or may not have broken news on a PSP-like Microsoft handheld, comes a marked rumor about the next Xbox.

...in addition to built-in Natal tech, a key feature of the next Xbox would be full HD stereoscopic 3D visuals similar to 3D movie theatres.

And that's everything they said on the matter.

So while the Xbox 360 would be getting Natal, the Xbox 720 (or whatever you want to call it) could have Natal and 3D immersion. TeamXbox claims that the 720 won't be launched until 3D television solutions go more mainstream, which by my guesstimation won't happen within four years.

Still, with Hollywood's focus on 3D, it's not hard to believe that Microsoft would design their home entertainment console to match—even if the risk would be huge.

But for now, this is all just rumor. If TeamXbox's portable Xbox story comes to fruition, we'll allow ourselves to get a little more excited. [TeamXbox via Maxconsole]

[Excerpt From Gizmodo]

For those of you still hiding out underneath your comforters, emerge and rejoice! For it is National Man Day today and what holiday could be better? I can hear you now, “But, I’m not a man…how could I possibly celebrate this wondrous yet highly sexist holiday?” Just use the following as a guide for your behavior today and no one will notice your lack of penis.

Find Pointy Objects - If it is sharp, dangerous, shiny, and/or pointy, go play with it. Poke your friends, have pseudo-lightsaber fights, etc. The more dangerous the object, the more fun you can potentially have with it.

Enjoy a Short Attention Span - The only thing that you should be doing for longer than 5 mins is going to the bathroom or watching TV (sports and action movies only, of course).

Don’t Call People - If you are dating someone, don’t call them. Wait for them to call you and possibly send a text tomorrow or the next day. You know, whatevs. You may, however, take some calls from your friends but you should communicate mostly in grunts and keep all conversations under 13 seconds.

Make Things Explode - Take a chair from your living room, some gas from the garage, and a match. Combine the three ingredients. Watch the results with a bunch of friends, a case of PBR, and substantially less facial/arm hair.

Quote Bad Movies/Simpsons episodes – No need to think, just respond to everything with some random and obscure quote from a really bad movie or 6-year-old episode of The Simpsons. People will think you’re really funny.

Eat…Everything - Seriously. Everything in your fridge, your cupboards, or anywhere else in your house that you can find food (that slice of pizza under your bed? Done deal) is fair game. Extra points if you eat mostly red meat or horrible take-out food (massive amounts of Taco Bell, anybody?).

Perpetrate Random Acts of Violence - I’m not talking about going out and shanking your neighbor, but punching everyone you see in the arm as a friendly “Hello” would work just fine. Also, random and totally not homosexual wrestling matches will be acceptable.

Go Hygiene Optional - You have full permission to roll out of bed, throw on that sweatshirt and those jeans that are on your floor and call it good for the day. After all, you’ll just be sitting around watching TV with your hand down your pants – that is, when you’re not grabbing food or blowing things up with your friends.

Think About Sex. All Day. Without Fail. If you’re eating lunch, think about eating a sandwich while having sex. If you are driving, think about having sex while driving. If you are hanging out with your mom and grandma, try really hard not to think about having sex with older women, fail, then just think about sex with Paris Hilton to block out the image that just came to your mind.

Good luck, ladies. I have already gotten a good start on National Man Day by getting drunk and picking fights with substantially larger men who get in my way. I also may or may not be looking at pictures of girls with big boobs at the moment. It’s good to be a guy.

[Excerpt From College Candy]

It’s no secret that alcohol changes people. After a night of drinking, we’re often surprised by what we may or may not have done during a night of debauchery. Oftentimes we end up with great stories, but there are also those nights that leave us wondering how the hell we ended up on a stranger’s couch with only one shoe, a purse full of ping pong balls, and 17 new phone numbers in our phone (all listed under names like, “bathroom dude,” “cigarette guy,” and “hgjb52″) .

The truth is, alcohol lowers our inhibitions…and standards…for everything. We do things when we’re drinking that we’d never, ever, in a million years consider when we’re sober (like mixing ranch dressing and brownies).

Here are five of the most common things that are oddly tolerable – and even preferred – when the booze is flowing through our systems:

The beer pong ball – Has anyone actually realized how unsanitary this thing is? Although no one EVER thinks about it when they’re playing, it’s pretty nasty. It’s falling on the floor (oftentimes a disgusting floor that hasn’t seen a mop since the between-tenants-landlord-cleaning) and god knows where else, but because you’re too drunk to notice how vile this is, you don’t care. Somehow it’s all okay because it’s been dipped into a cup of water. The same cup of water that was put there 2 hours before and has been dipped into hundreds of times by people you may not even know (but may make out with later…)

Frat house bathrooms – As far as sh*tholes (literally) go, these may be the worst. I have been in ones that not only don’t have toilet paper (forcing me to use a crumpled up piece of notebook paper… I don’t wanna talk about it), but also contain a bathtub filled with things one would rather not think about, a sink that doesn’t work, and a door that doesn’t even fully close. But because your drunk self needs to pee something awful, you will brave the bathroom anyway. And you might even sit, being that squatting takes concentration that your drunk ass can’t muster up. When nature calls, you answer. Even if the response is possibly hazardous to your health.

Creepy people hitting on you – Who hasn’t had this happen? Inevitably, everyone is much more confident when they’re drunk, and they throw caution to the wind. Sadly, this not only applies to attractive and normal individuals but also unfortunate looking and strange people too. Yet, somehow, you don’t mind. In fact, due to your desire to swindle a free drink or those thick-ass beer goggles you’re wearing, you kinda like it. And may even leave with it…er…him.

Nudity - As a rule, most of us do not feel comfortable when sober to take off our clothes in front of complete strangers. Yet for some odd reason when we’re drunk, it seems acceptable. No, mandatory. Is there any more explanation needed?

Talking about taboo and inappropriate subjects – This is yet another side effect of increased confidence due to alcohol consumption. One begins to think that because they are drunk now would be an excellent time to talk about everything and everyone. Your sex life? Everyone should know! That time you vomited in your roommate’s closet and played dumb the next morning? Confession time! Your opinions about certain people that may or may not be in the vicinity? Who cares?!

BONUS: Becoming BFFs with that chick you’ve hated for years - Nothing brings out the love like a bottle of booze. She may have stabbed you in the back and made your life hell, but now you’re drunk and hugging and you love her so much you just HAVE to do brunch next Sunday. WTF?

Got any others?

[Excerpt From College Candy]

There've been some reports about an upcoming "Twitpocalypse" in which Twitter would finally crash and burn due to the limitations of a 32-bit signed integer. Allegedly, Twitter will collapse once the number of tweets passes 2,147,483,647.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the Twitter revolution is going to die out as soon as I'd like—there are reports that the "Twitpocalypse" rumor was started as a joke, although some individual clients, including the iPhone app Twitterific and Mac's Tweetie, are down. Several other Twitter clients are announcing that they'll be just fine, so it looks like the Twitpocalypse is definitely real, but avoidable. The number of tweets has now passed the crucial 2,147,483,647 mark mostly unscathed, so it looks like things in the Twitterverse are about as bad as they're going to get, which is, unfortunately, not that bad. [Gawker]

[Excerpt From Gizmodo]