Memento

Via Brad Plumer, I learn that the Village Voice has an article on cheating on exams.

Scientific equations seem to be the most popular at the moment, students opting for tattoos with the most long-term value and breadth of application. Tattoo parlors consulted for this piece all cite inside-arm tattoos of the quadratic equation as the street favorite, with full-stomach tattoos of the Periodic Table of Elements as the second, though infinitely more painful, most popular option.

... which gets me thinking “Maxwell's equations in the differential form are both conceptually elegant and æsthetically beautiful,” but ...

“Science is sexy,” says Colin Klein, a college student, “but it's also very useful.” Klein's tattoo, a multiplication table that covers his entire body, took 10 years and over $500,000 to complete—you do the math.

But not all tattoo cheaters are in it for the long run. “Down my left arm I got a list of 30 adjectives,” explains Simon Moerder, a student at a well-known American university who's using tattoos to take the GRE at the end of the summer. “Down my right arm I got another list of adjectives—except they're antonyms. So when the test people look at my arms, they see art. But when I look at my arms, I see answers.”

... bloody hell, they're just pulling my leg. But I really do know someone who's thinking about getting one of these.