Althouse: Guy gets magnets implanted in his arm to hold his iPod Nano.

May 14, 2012

Guy gets magnets implanted in his arm to hold his iPod Nano.

The Nano displays a watch face, and he likes the strapless look.

33 comments:

Scott M said...: UPDATE: The magnets have rejected him.; 5/14/12, 8:53 AM
MadisonMan said...: I will say that the strapless look is interesting. But that's about it.; 5/14/12, 8:57 AM
Calypso Facto said...: Won't magnets screw up the iPod's memory?; 5/14/12, 9:06 AM
kjbe said...: Kind of practical, I guess. It really just seems like an extension of the whole piercing thing. Not my cup of tea, but, meh.; 5/14/12, 9:12 AM
rhhardin said...: Evening gown designers are taking note.; 5/14/12, 9:15 AM
edutcher said...: Sounds like the women with the KK cup size.; 5/14/12, 9:26 AM
traditionalguy said...: After that he can try magnets to attach his cell phone to his butt and truly butt call his Facebook Friends when he farts. He will be the First One to do it. Wow!; 5/14/12, 9:27 AM
Peter said...: Just a small step beyond those ghastly hand tattoos.; 5/14/12, 9:28 AM
Robert Cook said...: Years ago I read a short story by Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem* in which technology allow people to change their appearances in virtually anyway they desired. Lem followed the logic whereby people initially chose to make small cosmetic changes to appearance and then, in order to "keep up with/go beyond" the Joneses, so to speak, the cosmetic alterations become more and more extreme, where ultimately people are transforming themselves phsyically such that they no longer appear human. I read the story in the 80s, and I believe he had written it in the 60s.

Lem had a real handle on human psychology with that one. (A guy putting magnets into his arm in order to wear a strapless iPod doesn't even approach the most extreme of physical changes through surgery that people are already making to themselves these days.)

*(Author of the novel SOLARIS, made into a major Russian SF film by Andrei Tarkovsky and later remade by Steven Soderbergh and starring George Clooney.); 5/14/12, 9:34 AM
sakredkow said...: So modern life has turned into a Roman circus. What else?; 5/14/12, 9:46 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Women put metal things in their tongue for sexual enhancement..

This metal is for aesthetic enhancement.. he presumes we would take pleasure in seeing it?

I'm speculating.

I wouldn't do it.. but, I'm not in my 20's anymore.; 5/14/12, 9:49 AM
KCFleming said...: He should put the magnets on his forehead so I can see what time it is.; 5/14/12, 9:55 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: Guy gets a cult implanted in his business to hold his female clients. The clients display their assets, and he likes the strapless look.

I don't know why but, though it's one of those things "most people don't think" about, I still find mine more interesting,..; 5/14/12, 9:57 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 5/14/12, 10:07 AM
Craig said...: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEzLiC71qfw&feature=player_detailpage

I had no idea this song was written, first performed and originally recorded by Jimmy Cliff. Was sorting through the YouTubes looking for the square root of ska.; 5/14/12, 10:18 AM
Eric the Fruit Bat said...: What's more important than the looks or the convenience is the fact that the guy will never get arthritis in his wrist.; 5/14/12, 10:32 AM
Known Unknown said...: I have an iPod nano.

I bought a watch band to hold the nano, since it is small enough it could easily be lost or misplaced at any time without some kind of mechanism to keep it with you.

The watch band broke. I have yet to buy a new one.

I can see the method of this man's madness.; 5/14/12, 10:37 AM
KCFleming said...: Going through TSA has gotta be a pain.; 5/14/12, 10:38 AM
kcom said...: One of the most entertaining books I ever read was by Stanislaw Lem, called "The Futurological Congress". It seems to me it's a direct inspiration for the TV show "Futurama" although I think I read an interview with Matt Groening where he only mentioned it in passing.

From Wikipedia:
The Futurological Congress (Polish: Kongres futurologiczny) is a 1971 black humour science fiction novel by Stanisław Lem detailing the exploits of the hero of a number of his books, Ijon Tichy, as he visits the Eighth World Futurological Congress at a Hilton Hotel in Costa Rica. The book is Lem's take on the common sci-fi trope of an apparently Utopian future that turns out to be an illusion.

The book opens at the eponymous congress, a light-heartedly grim Malthusian parody of the state of the world. A riot breaks out and the hero, Ijon Tichy, is hit by various psychoactive drugs that were put into the drinking water supply lines by the government to pacify riots. Ijon and a few others escape to the safety of a sewer beneath the Hilton where the congress was being held, and in the sewer he goes through a series of hallucinations and false awakenings which cause him to be confused about whether or not what's happening around him is real. Finally, he believes that he falls asleep and wakes up 150 years later. The main part of the book follows Ijon's adventures in the future world — a world where everyone takes hallucinogenic drugs, and hallucinations have replaced reality.

The suicide booth in the pilot episode of "Futurama" is straight out of "The Futurological Congress".

As Robert says, Lem nails so many things about human psychology. I've always wondered how this book played (or was published) in the Poland of the 1960s where Communist drudgery was at its highwater mark.; 5/14/12, 10:43 AM
Darrell said...: Maybe somebody should have suggested glue.; 5/14/12, 10:50 AM
Uncle Frank said...: If only Hippocrates had said, "First, do nothing ridiculous," then we wouldn't be reading about this.; 5/14/12, 11:18 AM
Rusty said...: That would be cool when you're working on your car. keep all your wrenches all in one place.
Then again every little piece of stray iron is going to stick to you too.; 5/14/12, 12:09 PM
Wince said...: How rebellious!

Don't let Mitt Romney near him with a pair of scissors.; 5/14/12, 12:19 PM
Methadras said...: Calypso Facto said...

Won't magnets screw up the iPod's memory?

Solid State memory is fairly immune to magnetics on this level.

For the record however, this guy is a fucking retarded monkey.; 5/14/12, 12:29 PM
Scott said...: I bet he has to be careful when he walks past refrigerators.; 5/14/12, 1:13 PM
Known Unknown said...: I bet he has to be careful when he walks past refrigerators.

Try putting a magnet on a stainless steel refrigerator.; 5/14/12, 1:23 PM
Rusty said...: EMD said...
I bet he has to be careful when he walks past refrigerators.

Try putting a magnet on a stainless steel refrigerator.

There is magnetic stainless steel.; 5/14/12, 1:59 PM
Scott said...: I have a year-old Frigidaire stainless fridge that holds magnets pretty well.

But yes, a lot of stainless steel fridges don't. It depends on the composition of the alloy, probably.

I bet he would have difficulty getting an MRI, too.; 5/14/12, 2:12 PM
Scott said...: But I bet he's an attractive guy.; 5/14/12, 2:14 PM
AlanKH said...: Erik Lehnsherr (aka Magneto) laughs at the silly human.; 5/14/12, 2:48 PM
Scott M said...: Erik Lehnsherr (aka Magneto) laughs at the silly human.

Nerd.; 5/14/12, 3:02 PM
Leland said...: I'm sure an MRI would be fun for him.; 5/14/12, 3:48 PM
AlanKH said...: If Obama had a son, he would look like Trayvon in a Louis Vuitton hoodie.; 5/15/12, 1:27 PM