That’s One Way to Celebrate the Anniversary of Leaving Seminary

When you get stabbed with needles a few thousand times over the span of an hour and a half, of course it hurts. However, it’s more than tolerable. On the pain scale it was no more than a 2 or 3.

I just got a very similar tattoo last Wednesday.  Similar in the fact that I used the same symbol, about the same size, on my arm, but had them fill in part of it with a representation of the Pale Blue Dot photo from Voyager 1 instead of the A. I wouldn’t say I enjoyed the pain, but it was more than tolerable.

I get a new tat from my wife every year as a birthday present.  I don’t find them painful at all,  more of an aggressive itchy feeling.  Just a little meditation and I hardly notice it at all.

So far,  Ive got Pi to 16 digits in a circle around the symbol,  the Golden ratio as a shell inside the expanding rectangles,  the Schwarzchild equation,  a straight razor with ‘Occam’ on the blade and the Latin ‘Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem’  above it,  the Tree of Gondor with ‘not all who wander are lost’ in elvish, a Star Fleet badge on my left breast, Don’t Panic written below the smiling green guy from Hitchhikers Guide, a bass clef,  and the star and man from the band Rush.

Planning my next one right now.  Im thinking of a train, and its number designation as F=M*A

My husband has a very similar tattoo in the same place – it just has a colorful nucleus instead of the A.  I have… rather a few. 😀  I’m very proud to be in the Science Ink book.

(It’s more aggravating than painful, but it’s worth it in the end, if you have the services of a good artist!)

American Atheists’ atom symbol has a kind of retro-future coolness about it, back when nuclear physics had a better reputation than it does now. For example, L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950’s and 1960’s falsely represented himself as a nuclear physicist to try to make his hocus-pocus sound scientific and futuristic. Today’s Scientologists apparently don’t invoke Hubbard’s phony nuclear physics credentials because they know that the shtick stopped working. And nuclear physicists simply can’t compete with celebrities in Scientology for gaining the attention of the world’s dumbasses.

I don’t know what would work as an equivalent symbol for atheism which would make sense to people born since 1990 or so. Any ideas?

Much of it felt like I was getting scratched, so that was more annoying than anything. The top of the vertical orbit just barely hits the socket and that part hurt. Surprisingly, a few other spots hurt, even though their over muscle, for some reason those spots were just a little more sensitive. About half way through it started hurting worse, but by then he was going over spots for the nth time.

I’m not sure it needs to change. It’s definitely my favourite of the proposed atheist “logos”. And the one I’ve been considering as a tattoo. Even though I’m not American.

Maybe an “A” inside a Higgs Boson. If we ever get to see what one looks like.

yeah, i’ll agree with everyone here. aside from a few VERY tender places, tattoos generally don’t hurt nearly as bad as most people assume. usually after the first ten minutes or so, it kinda goes numb and you just feel a sort of “buzzing” sensation. the outline hurts much more than the shading and filling-in, since outlines are generally done with a single-needle. shading is done with a “needle bar”, which has several needles and spreads the puncture area out over a larger area so it’s even less painful (same concept as a bed of nails.)

on a scale of 1-10 (10 being the worst), i’d also agree that, for the most part it’s usually about a 3, with the very occasional (and usually quick) 5 or 6 on an especially tender area. the under-arms, ankle, directly over the spine or other boney area and the shins are by far the worst areas. i have one on my back, between my shoulder blades: it wasn’t too painful except for when the artist went right over the edges of my shoulder blades and right over my vertebrae…that was pretty unpleasant, but far from the worst pain i’ve ever felt and it only lasted a couple minutes. conversely, places like the upper arm, calf and buttcheeks are probably the least painful places to get a tattoo, since they’re so “meaty”. it’s probably no coincidence that the upper arm is the most common place for people to get tattoos, especially their first ones.

i think getting stung by a bee or having a toothache both hurt more than getting tattoos.

It’s not so bad once you get used to it. I think the first time hurts the LEAST since you are so hopped up on adrenaline. Here’s my science tattoos… for science! http://imgur.com/a/3T8mp

Very cool!

Yes, that would have been cool. That was at a friend’s house, but I have a broad sword at home and might need to get a picture with it… we could call it “The destroyer of faith”.