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Behold the Lizardman 182

WhiskeyJack writes "At the cutting edge of body art, student Erik Sprague of Albany New York has turned himself into a human lizard. His parents must be awfully proud. :) " Surgically split tongue. Ridge implants in his forehead. Green scales. And then there's me: scared to put on a rub-on tatoo ;)Update: 12/21 08:26 by H : For the not-so-squeamish, Zorro sent us some shots and pictures of the lizardman. Forked tongue, indeed.
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Behold the Lizardman

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  • http://student.rwu.edu/users/lpesce/munch/photos_% 20fffmunch.htm Yes, this guy is for real...and a real nice guy at that.
  • by Carnage4Life ( 106069 ) on Monday December 20, 1999 @06:46PM (#1457402) Homepage Journal
    Here's a time magazine article [pathfinder.com],an interview [achilles.net], his bio [freeq.com].



    Bad Command Or File Name
  • That is just SO wrong...
  • What the hell is wrong with that guy?? What reason is there to have your tongue spilt and scales attached to your skin? I think this is the result of an uncle playing "catch the trouser snake" early in that boys youth...
    =======
    There was never a genius without a tincture of madness.
  • I look forward to a world where people are able to have Klingon heads and prosthetic tails if they want to, and no one thinks them 'unhireable' for it.
    By lamenting the way this guy spends his government loan stipend and circus checks you are simply keeping alive the old curmugeonly view of societal norms. I believe that if people were more free to express themselves as they saw fit without fear of humiliation, exclusion and retribution, then we would see less crime, less suicide, less violence against those who represent the 'norm'. I am thinking of Columbine - I heard the recordings those boys made, joking on their upright Christian classmates... It made me shake my head. If we, as a society, took more notice of the things right and wrong around us - but here's where the problem is. Who decides what's right? We can't fix ANYTHING until we become more tolerant of each other's differences. That means that the pious right-wing NRA guy has to respect the Latino transvestite VooDoo Priestess and vice versa. What's right for me may not be right for you, but neither of us has the right to make that call for the other.
    Not trying to flame, honest. I think you are more or less on the side of freaks, but just wanted to point out it's not as simple as finding about 1,000 other ways to express one's creativity. Why should anyone have to compromise their vision?

    The Divine Creatrix in a Mortal Shell that stays Crunchy in Milk
  • My researches indicate two alternative methods of getting written up on slashdot:

    1) Code up some brilliantly clever software and release it under the GPL.

    2) Cut your penis in half and hammer some nails into your head.

    ...now, where in hell did I put that hammer...

    Consciousness is not what it thinks it is
    Thought exists only as an abstraction
  • This shows again how weird aol users are, not only do they use AOL, they split their tongue too!
  • "It's called marketability and employability." but that's not what i'm talking about. my apperance is *very* tame. in an interview, there's no need of my possible employers knowing about the things i've done with a needle. it's listening to sexuaphobic, closeminded, prejudicial co-workers with intolerant opinions about things they haven't even considered trying to understand that annoy me. people who then read the /. article about the fbi keeping an eye out for gamers, and get mad about how they are being judged for something they know doesn't make them a psycho.
  • It's a reference from startrek (and no, I do not possess a starfleet uniform). It's an acronym standing for Infinite Diversity, Infinite Combinations.
  • Now I'm the first one to say do as you please, espically when it doesn't harm other people... but the link above.. there are bictures of guys holding their own *cut off* balls in their hands, men who have split their penises, cut them off, and modified them in other horrendous ways.


    If you want to see how fucked up society *really* is, take a look at that site. It's sad really, that men would willingly castrate themselves, take pictures of it with the blood splattered everywhere, and then post it to a website. Ack.

  • Where are the pictures?

    I want to see PICTURES of this guy!!!!!!

    anyone have a link? or is this just a text story?

    How can anyone post a story like that without pictures?

    --
    grappler
  • by Snord ( 44479 )
    Heh, I used to go to the bar he works at every week. It's ... interesting to see him change a bit every week.
  • by Roundeye ( 16278 ) on Monday December 20, 1999 @06:51PM (#1457417) Homepage
    Must be some early shots (as most of the mods aren't there). Now I'm nearly as open-minded as the next {guy,lizard,wookie}, and more Libertarian than most (hey, what you do to yourself is your business so long as it ain't messing up my jolly good time). And I'd be the last to judge the guy's character or abilities based upon the fact that he's got a Klingon cranium or has to brush between his tongue...

    Dude, power on if you're doing what you feel to be your calling in life. Congratulations. But, I can think of about 1,000 other ways to express one's creativity, be rebellious, get press, etc., that (1) leave you multiple options in the job market, (2) don't make you look like a moron when (or possibly WAAAAY before) you turn 60, (3) won't get your ass kicked between the pinball machines if you happen to have a layover in San Antonio, and (4) are reversible.

    On a social level, I see the word "extreme" batted around in relation to this. "Extreme", as in "probably a bad idea", yes. "Extreme" as in "cool and MTV-televisable", who gives a shit? If we, as a society, took more notice of the things right and wrong around us, with an eye to making things more equitable for our fellow {men,women,lizards,klingons,lawyers,etc.}, than we do of someone making an arguable artistic statement by spending his government loan stipend and circus checks on scale tattoos and tooth filing, do you think maybe we wouldn't be completely fucked up as a race?

  • Nah, he called his company "Microsoft" for a reason you know :P~
  • Here's the part that gets me:

    ...lifts car batteries with chains running through his nipples.

    WHOOPEEEE!

  • I believe i've found this guys webpage, unless there is another lizard man out there. He apparently now goes by the name Spidergod5. Heres the URL:
    http://members.aol.com/spidergod5/index.html
  • by GeorgeH ( 5469 ) on Monday December 20, 1999 @06:56PM (#1457422) Homepage Journal
    If /. is going to be publishing stuff about body modification, why not go with someone who has something to do with computers? He's been the editor of Phrack [phrack.com], he has really cool body modifications [ishiboo.com], and he produces code [ishiboo.com].

    Check out Nirva [ishiboo.com].

    >rant<
    Personally I think that body modification is cool, but do we really need it on /.? There's a lot of good stories that are getting rejected, and we get stuff like this? I guess I would feel better about it if there weren't 200 stories in the queue right now. Some of those are probably really interesting things that we won't see.
    </rant>
    --
  • Give me a break! This is about one of the stupidest things I have seen posted here. Some kid who decides to rebel against society, parents, whatever. Who really cares? This isn't "News for Nerds". Feel free to post a story like this when he actually grows scales (not tatoos), or implant microchips in his brain. This isn't National Geographic.
  • It's the new acronym for the Vulcan philosophy, having replaced the one in that episode where they fought Kahn and Green.
  • I've met Erik IRL, and despite the fact that he looks "freakish", he is a super nice guy. Incredibly smart, very kind, soft-spoken. A PhD candidate, too.

    He let me feel his teeth, and while it was wierd, there is NO doubt in my mind that he knows what he is doing. It's not just an act, it is what he perceives himself to be, and I say more power to him.

    Some people are horribly afraid of peopel like Erik. They represent a paradox - "how can a person be so 'stupid' (as to do this to themselves), yet be far more intelligent than me?"

    Wake up people. Looks aren't everything - in fact, they aren't anything.

    Erik is also a regular contributor to rec.arts.bodyart (news://rec.arts.bodyart for browser babies) and BME (http://www.bme.freeq.com).

    Erik - if you read this - rock on.

    Tim
  • Sorry, but I'm sickened enough by body piercings... this is just too wacky...
    (first post?)
    -Neux
  • 'nuff said

    So, whats the pool at for 'How long before this guy is in some German Fetish pr0n'? Personally, I give it 6 months...

  • > What's right for me may not be right for you,
    > but neither of us has the right to make that call for the other.

    I disagree. I think this point of view is valid but has some boundaries. As a society we have to care for our elements. If a killer, in his own point of view, sees himself as right, I cannot just 'respect' him and let him kill people. Even to another society, I couldn't help but apply my own moral principles and ethics; after all, that's what makes me as a person, and all my thoughts - including the law on which I agree - are derived from this.


    I think this thought is usually too simplistic and too individualistic to be accepted as a principle for communistic coexistence. So, IMHO, it's not a "don't interfere, what happens with other people is none of your business", but a "respect other people's will until they do not prove themselves bad" - and as "bad", I mean there IS and there will always be some judgment here.


    By the way, I do not feel good for this lizard guy. I think he's in some sort of awakened dream, thinking that he's "cool" or something like that, but he's more like a clown and do not realize it.


    Patola.

  • I knew that slashdot wasn't devoid of R.A.B folks.

    I am surprised how idiotic so many of these /.ers seem to be though. grow up - life your life, let others live theirs, and don't judge anyone until you know them.
  • Some of them EAT their nuts, afterwards. If you want to see how fucked up society is - look at yourself. Live and let live. Their life is their life. They have their own reasons, and whether you agree or not, you are a fool if you think you can judge them. You have no idea.
  • Ah, IDIC, right? I wonder if he just lays around and slurps up houseflies for a living?

    Say.. On that note, I wonder if I could get PAID for laying around slurping up houseflies for a living! Hmmmmm.. Food (--- Arghhh!) for thought!
  • I've seen this guy as part of the Jim Rose Circus. I have doubts about the car battery (I don't think it as any water/acid in it, they over acted that). He also hooks up a chair to his ears and swings that around. Pretty gnarly.
    The whole performance was excellent, and Jim handles hecklers well. I couldn't stop laughing all night.

    -Moracq
  • Man, that's cheap. And I was already a lizard before this guy was. Just ask my ex-girlfriend.
  • by Hacksworth ( 81145 ) on Monday December 20, 1999 @06:24PM (#1457437) Homepage
    Funny, I remember when slashdot posted almost nothing but linux stories, people complained about being too focused on linux. Now that they're spreading their spotlight, people complain that they've sold out.

    I'm not saying slashdot is perfect in anyway, just that people will always complain, no matter what goes on.

  • He better not try to come to Britain. While tattoos and piercings are legal, any form of under-skin implant is deemed to be self-mutilation. This is likely to get you grabbed on entry on an unsound mind charge.

    What a weird little island this is.

  • For a rather informative interview, check out this [bodymodification.com] interview at Body Modification E-zine. This guy is pretty intelligent, and has some good personal reasons for his modifications (whether we agree with them or not is another issue).


    --
    Change edu to com for my real email address.

  • If anybody remembers, in Gibson's cyberspace trilogy some people had all kinds of weird cosmetic modifications done to their bodies. Most people just made themselves look like the latest movie star, but some people had there faces redone so they looked monster-like.
    Personally, I'm holding out for aftermarket muscle that can be grafted on.
  • by grappler ( 14976 ) on Monday December 20, 1999 @07:02PM (#1457448) Homepage
    These things you say may be true, but consider, lest we forget:

    he got posted on Slashdot.


    All was not in vain.

    --
    grappler
  • Darn No Picts, My Step-sister needs a new boyfriend. Here's her number............oh nevermind.
  • Oh ... PLEASE .. spare me the "outside the box" "all societal norms are wrong" "brave vanguard" crap.

    Value neutral here. The guy may be a genius. He may be a moron. He may just be having fun.

    YOU sir, are just as guilty as those you condemn, by denigrating those who choose to live in their "feeble bodies" (by implicationin you call us feeble). I have no piercings, no tatoos, and if I'm rejected as timid or conformist because of that, then I want nothing to do with you anyway.
  • :-) I'm an old curmudgeon. (A mere 26, but still feeling old and crusty.) I don't have a problem with the guy doing it. It's cool. But, I also have the right to mock him. See, right now people who surgically alter themselves are not protected from my mockery.

    A long while back, friends were getting tattooed. Well, a few of them got upset because "Everyone else was doing it" and so they went out and got pierced. And then, well, pierced in weird places. So, I made jokes that the next will come ritual scarring -- and then self-multilation.

    Amazing how things said in jest come true sometimes. Lizard man may now be allowed to hang himself by his nipples from a tree, be spun around and beaten with rattan sticks until he has a vision. :-) (Watch my karma go way way down after my unsolicited mockery.)
  • I don't think it's him; just some other twit with a split tongue.
  • There are some people who know who they are talking about, just jumped in the story late, so I can't contribute my good karma properly. sorry man. I missed the gun.

    hey tim! heh

    I always just tell the story about how my girlfriend got busted on the candian border in a car with eric and one of their other friends, and how the candian border police treated them.. heh.

  • Hey it's true.

    There are freaks out there. get used to the idea. and not all of them are freakish on the inside like yourself, some like the outward freakish appearance.

    There are the share of posers, but how many script kiddiez do you know that think they are bad ass because they have 0-d4y \,\,4R3Z!

    this guy is the real deal.. heh

  • I think it's important to point out to the people here that don't read rec.arts.bodyart, that Eric's body modification is an ongoing project, and that he's not quite a lizard yet. He has the forked tongue, but he's getting all of his tribal tattoo work done before he gets his scales. It's an ongoing project. The end result is supposed to be a lizard man with a bunch of tribal tattoos, pretty damn neat.
  • Spidergod5 may well deserve some curiosity (or correspondance if you're a fellow juggler), however if you really want to point-laugh-and-gag, the things you're going to be looking for are at BME [freeq.com]. (caution, extremely disgusting photos can be found here)
    They include things like surgical alteration [freeq.com], nullification [freeq.com], and extreme tattoos [freeq.com], though if you want really hardcore wierdness, you're going to have to go to BME/Hardcore [freeq.com].

    -Violence never settles anything -- Genghis Khan

  • First, I'd like to clarify that this isn't exactly a slashdot level story, but the guy does has some history in computers. And there are some huge collections of people on the internet that are freaks... heh get used to the idea.

    Secondly, there's RAB [rec.arts.bodyart] and #bodyart on EFnet. I used to hang out there, and it's a great place for the freaks. It's funny that it gets so easy to spot the posers ('I got my belly button pierced') and the hard core people ('I got this piece of plastic embeded in my forhead!').

    But please remember the Media distorotion that happens. He might look like a Reptile, but he's a nice enough guy. Smart too.

    I started hanging on #bodyart cause my friends did, posted to RAB a few times, met my current girlfriend [bmeworld.com] at a munch party, ran the bot on #bodyart, and then gave it all up. I don't look like a freak, but there is a reason people call me Gonzo in real life, i'm told anyway.

  • I thought this article was about this guy I saw on a special about human freaks. He had lizard skin tatooed all over his body, and implants in his head to give the impression of little nubs (horns). I believe this guy was on the X-Files at one point, but I haven't watched the show in years (no cable, rural Vermont) so I can't really give insight to that.

    I'm sorry. What I meant to say was 'please excuse me.'
    what came out of my mouth was 'Move or I'll kill you!'
  • That's it! He's really a Balrog!

    I'm so excited! Now we can have a "Balrog Wings" thread just like on rec.arts.books.tolkien [arts.books.tolkien]!!

    I guess the question is whether this guy should get prosthetic wings next or not.

  • I agree. Let's stick to linux and techy stuff. This lizard story was crap. There was not even a picture of the damn lizardman!
  • not only do i have a split tongue, but I got an extension as well, and let me point out that my girlfriend really loves the modifications. :) maybe i'll get a french tickler installed on the end next... slurp.
  • http://www.ambient.on.ca/bodmod/implants.html

    also do a Google search on
    The Enigma Horns
    You'll find lots of links to the Jim Rose Circus.
    The Bindlestiff Family cirKus is also quite unique.
  • Apart from this having little to do directly with /. in general, it does highlight another aspect of a growing trend that I seem to observe in the world: the gradual move towards a world similar to that described in Neuromancer and spinoffs (eg: Cyberpunk, Shadowrun, etc.)

    Is it just me? Let's look at recent events:

    • Molecular biology progresses in leaps and bounds.
    • Computer networks are becoming more and more a part of everyone's daily life.
    • Corporations are becoming more and more powerful, while governments become less so.
    • Neural interfaces to computers are possible, if crude.
    • Surgery which used to be too dangerous for casual use is now being used for "art".
    • Various and sundry other items that appear here on a semi-regular basis.
    Ok, the link from this lizardman thing to here is a stretch, but it just kinda struck me as one more link in the chain. I remember thinking it was feasible to get to Gibson's world from here a couple of years ago. The more I watch, the more it seems to be happening.

    But maybe it's just me.

  • Here's an idea. Maybe it's been talked about before, but let me run it by you anyway. In the tradition of "fool.com" why can't we have strongly moderated forums on particular subjects? Some days I just feel like talking about the newest linux distro and there's no related stories so I can't. This makes sense when you realize that usually the threads digress to these popular subjects anyway. Just imagine if there were 50 forums here on linux, each one taking on a slightly different variation? The reason I think the forums should be strongly moderated is to keep the topics on focus. If you are posting on the corel linux distro forum and you digress, then it gets deleted. If you spam, it gets deleted. If you post natalie portman trash, it gets deleted. The goal is not to interfere with free speech, but rather to remove the signal noise that is rapidly overtaking slashdot. The moderation angle seems to be working really well on fool.com, for example, because they have forums on incredibly specific subjects and these are some of the most popular forums on the site. Now I'm not saying we can't still have news articles and respond to the news. I think we can have both, and then see which is more popular. Just an idea, anyway. What do you think?


  • Unless you're capable of bending I-beams with your bare hands then you have a feeble body. Indeed I did imply that you have a feeble body. But I painted the entire human race with this brush. We've all got feeble bodies!

    All that I ask is that if you call me or anybody else "sick" because we've got tattoos, piercings or other mods you provide some argument for your accusation. It doesn't bother me that you're un-modded. Don't let my body bother you.

    /peter
  • but that's not what i'm talking about. my apperance is *very* tame. in an interview, there's no need of my possible employers knowing about the things i've done with a needle. it's listening to sexuaphobic, closeminded, prejudicial co-workers with intolerant opinions about things they haven't even considered trying to understand that annoy me.

    I'm not sure I understand the original problem then... I thought you had said that you were upset that employers didn't take a liking to people with piercings, tattoos, etc.?

    In the case of coworkers who don't like your style... well that's their problem. Personally I haven't run into an employer who sides with certain employees and not others; usually they say "deal with it."

    people who then read the /. article about the fbi keeping an eye out for gamers, and get mad about how they are being judged for something they know doesn't make them a psycho.

    Okay I think I see where you're coming from... Lemme know if this is right: "Slasdot reader reads about FBI targetting gamers, trenchcoat wearers and nerds. 'That's not fair; I'm not like that!' Same slashdot reader reads about body piercing, tattoos, and other forms of body modification. 'Hahahahahaha you FREAK god you guys must all be lunatics!'" -- this is what you're complaining about? If so I agree 100%. It's always easy to stereotype if you're not part of the group being stereotyped.
  • The whole story is that Erik, a friend named Darby and I were heading up to Canada to attend a picnic this summer. Erik had all his performing gear with him in the car. We got told to pull over when going past the border guard (predictably). The Canadians asked us a ton of questions, asked for ID and ran checks on us. All three of us had a clean record and were telling the truth so we passed immigration. But they still had to check the car and our bags. Upon doing so they found Erik's torches and bed of nails. They claimed those objects were possible weapons and would not let us into Canada with them. If we left the items behind, entry would be no problem. But Erik understandably couldn't leave the tools of his trade behind so we were forced to turn back to Albany. We think the real reason they turned us away was because they were afraid Erik would work in Canada without a permit.

    Anyway, I've also taken a road trip with him once from NY to Oklahoma to a show he was performing at and I'll tell you that while he attracted a lot of stares, people were polite to him and there were no incidents at all. I think that's because when you speak with him, you don't hear a 'freak'; you hear a very intelligent, rational and decent guy, which is exactly what he is, he just looks different from the norm.

    I'll also have you know that as far as I know, his family is very supportive of him and he's not a product of an abusive or unhappy childhood. He has the strength to be his own person and make himself happy without hurting anyone and I'm sure his life will continue to be full of success. Judge all you want but it'll be your loss since Erik is one of the nicest and most interesting guys you can meet.

  • Course, this is only one freak's opinion on another freak, so take it with a grain of salt. `8r)

    Course, I love Christine1130 [slashdot.org] so my response should also be taken in the same manner....

    I'm so proud of you, posting to slashdot finally! heh

  • I'm wondering if it would be good to let us see th e queue.
    1. It would reduce duplication, you don't need to submit a story if it's already in the queue.
    2. A voting system could help select the stories to post
    3. No more bitching about stuff which isn't posted.
  • >>but do we really need it on /.?
    (Jim Rome=+5)
    Dood...

    he cut his tounge in fuckin half and the man shoved plastic pellets into his freakin skull.

    What the hell else do you want to see today?

    I want to go home with this guy to his parents house...
    "Hey mom, yeah, i uh.. jammed plastic B-B's into my forehead.. oh and i used an argon LASER to cut my tounge in half."

    Dood's chick and him at her parent's house on Christmas...
    "Dad, here's my boyfriend errrr lizardfriend. He can lick two ice cream cones at the same time. He's really mature and makes a lot of money. Oh, and he's going to look like this in the wedding pictures"

    These people should be allowed to be.. but fuck... what the hell is wrong with you that you have to cram gear INTO your forehead?

    What bed do you fall off on the wrong side of and say "Hey, i want to look like the BIGGEST MORON that has EVER LIVED. Now how can i best accomplish that? I know, i'll get a LAZER and a EXACTO knife, and some plastic parts from that airplane kit, and make myself look like i'm a lizard."

    I don't know.. but maybe a small nuclear war wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.
  • Hey. I hope the picture you came up with wasnt a green pokemon picture.
  • When his stretched nipples and decrepid back can no longer lift car batteries. And his scaley ass is in a wheelchair rolled in front of the future equivilant of "wheel of fortune" on TV....ah sweet reptile of youth.
  • by doublem ( 118724 ) on Monday December 20, 1999 @07:39PM (#1457482) Homepage Journal
    Let me get this straight. /. ignores the Microsoft Marketing copy I post on an MS Linux product [50megs.com]and the CNN Story about the Y2K fanatic who accidentally blew up his house with leaking propane gas, but posts a story about a lizard man?!?!?!?!?!

    Nothing against the lizard man. More power to him. He's looking pretty good in the most recent pics, but come ON!

    I guess I won't even bother with Reverend Alexander Cornswalled's essay on how Pokemon is from the Devil..... [50megs.com]

  • ABC's article on body modification [go.com] has an "Interactive" picture at the top. Click it; the lizard freak is the last one in the slideshow...

    --

  • Someone thought this was a troll? Torture is being chained and padlocked to a Windows desktop and having a BSOD image tattooed to your forehead.
  • Yes I think it was dateline NBC or one of those shows that had a feature on all these weirdos. He really looked like a lizard with the green tattoos, shaved teeth and all. Freaky. There was this girl with a split tongue who decided to put a piece of metal through her back which was hooked up to some rope so that she could 'fly' around to feel the rush caused by the extremely painful pulling sensation. Plus all these other guys who had all these metal objects embedded under their skin.
  • I mean, who would hire this guy to do anything? Who would want to patronize his business? What if he changes his philosophy in the future, something which tends to happen to most people during the course of their lives? I suppose this future establishes the tenuousness of the link between academic excellence and wisdom.

  • Hey I went to school in albany and knew this guy, We all called him satan, he was a freak, i guess he still is. If you want to meet him, he might still bounce at a crappy bar called the Old Town Taveren. It's a small slashdot world.
  • At first when I checked out his web page and saw the pictures, I thought "Damn what a weirdo", but then after reading some of his writing, I have to say that I'm rather impressed.

    Art is not all "happy trees" and weird shapes on paper. Art is for the reaction or feelings that you evoke from people who look at (or hear) your art. You may not even be trying to get a "GOOD" reaction, but rather a reaction of disgust or hate. Notice that everyone has some sort of reaction when they look at Eric's body alterations.

    I once saw an art performance where the artist was trying to make a statement about breast cancer. She had a display with photos of all kinds of breasts. She herself had had a masectomy (result of breast cancer), and in the performance, she did a cultural sort of dance, topless, along with another woman who hadn't had a masectomy. There was an initial reaction of suprise at first, because no one really knew what a masectomy looked like, but after the first initial "shock", the general consensus was that we were happy that we hadn't had breast cancer, happy that she survived, and she is still a real person even without her breasts.

    I think that this is a similar thing that Eric is trying to evoke from the people who see him. It's "shocking" art, not the beautiful landscape Bob Ross stuff that all of you expect to see when you hear the word "art".
  • This is great. Dilbert and The Simpsons busted on Albany pretty good.... Now, the first time I see my hometown on Slashdot, it's because of a lizardman. What's with this punishment by the media? It's a conspiracy!
  • You jest, but this has been attempted. An italian artist payed a model to be decorated with art and then the partnership disolved and the artist took the model to court to try to recover the artwork through having the skin removed..... Oh, and it would be artistic copyright rather than patent, unless the process involved in the tehnique was origonal...
  • Great, 15 minutes of fame.

    But why is this on slashdot??

  • I've always believed that "Self mutilation is *NOT* an effective form of rebellion". In the 60's it was growing your hair long, in the 90's it was cutting off limbs and putting holes all over your body. I'm going to start a new trend of leaving my body the way it is naturaly (art in nature, right?)...until million_dollar_man style equipment is available of course... NightHawk
  • Yep. It's in the Amazing Feats section.

    Jeff

  • "I'm not sure I understand the original problem then... I thought you had said that you were upset that employers didn't take a liking to people with piercings, tattoos, etc.? " i can see where you got that, but my complaint is with closemindedness in general. a number of people claimed to be openminded so as to add weight to their opinion on erik, even though the majority of the posters have no inkling to even try and respect other's decisions.
  • The photos are Here [achilles.net]


  • Alright fine. I never said anything about ear piercings in a mall or any of the other BS you extrapolated from who-knows-where.

    You don't know anything about me. Admittedly my comment was rather short and wouldn't give you a chance to learn more about me, but the fact is it was YOU who jumped to conclusions.

    My comment was intended as a short, simple, gut reaction to the story and pictures. If his intention is to be different from everyone else, and to shock those who see him, well he certainly accomplished that. With me anyway, I was definitely shocked...

    As for piercings, tatoos, cosmetic surgery, etc: none that sort of self mutilation interests me at all. I've never had an earing, tatoo or anything else. I'm not saying there ought to be a law or anything, just that it is un-attactive to me.

    I AM NOT being intolerant, I am merely expressing my opinion. If others want to do that stuff to themselves so be it. There should be nothing to stop them from doing whatever they want to themselves, and there should be nothing stopping me from saying I think they are crazy for doing it and I think their appearance distasteful.

    I'm sure all these folks who do this are real nice people, articulate, intelligent, and all that. In response to this story on /. I spent some time looking at the websites that others have linked. I read some of the material they have written and said, and I grant that they seem to have a pretty good head on their shoulders.

    And I guess I'm in the wrong for being all hung up on this too.

    Finally:

    Eric's part of a vanguard of pre-cyborgs

    WHAT!?! You gotta be kidding me. What a load of horse shit.
  • What does IDIC mean?
  • Finally, someone who actually gets why I thought the story might interest folks on /.!

    This guy, and everyone else out there like him are slowly changing society; when the functional implants finally get here, they'll be met with less resistance in part because of folks like this who have pushed back society's boundaries of what's "normal" and what's accepted.

    Aspects of Gibson's world are on their way, and guys like this are pioneering the change. For better or worse.

    -- WhiskeyJack

  • That is one sick puppy! Mom and Dad must be truly proud, this kid's even sicker than Marilynn Manson.
  • Well, I've always thought of my sex-reassignment as being the ultimate body mod. My tongue's not split though...:-)
  • This reminded me of a cruel.com [cruel.com] site a while back, regarding two twins who had massive body modifications.

    Here's the link. [freeq.com]

    too bad it was a hoax.

  • Odd people, odd hobbies.

  • I must agree. I like the diversity. So the kid wants to be a lizard. Big deal, Go to a Bowie show, There's ton of interesting people there. The worlds freak show just keeps getting better and better. In the sixities everyone was painting their faces with flowers (paint that washed off) now it's screw that love and peace stuff, lets paint ourselves up like reptiles and call our selves satin. Just a thought.
  • that is the dumbest thing i have every seen
  • There is a web site dedicated to body modification [everything2.com] of all sorts... there are people who have done things to even make this a bit tame.

    Body Modification E-Zine [freeq.com], at www.bme.freeq.com, is dedicated to this.

    A warning before you look, however - it's not a place for the squeamish. There is some really odd stuff, especially in the extreme section.
    ---
  • or better still - let the moderators moderate the input queue on slashdot. let the moderating mejority bash the boring stories to oblivion while the interesting ones make it to the front page.
  • I knew a guy who knew a girl who forked her own tongue. She started out by getting her tongue pierced. She put some fishing line through the hole and tied it tightly in front. She would change the fishing wire every so often, tying it tighter each time. Eventually, her tongue split!

    Lizardman and others who do things like that are repulsively fascinating.

  • by CokeBear ( 16811 ) on Monday December 20, 1999 @06:25PM (#1457527) Journal
    Damn... this is for real! http://www.achilles.net/~dextr a/spako/spidergod.html [achilles.net]
  • 1) tongue surgically forked
    2) forehead ridged with implants
    3) breath fire
    4) lift car batteries with chains running through his nipples.
    bring it, ok? fine! it's all good,
    just no more BSOD

    _____________________________________
  • You can see more of "Amago", the lizard boy at the Jim Rose Circus Sideshow site: http://www.ambient.on.ca/jimrose/ [ambient.on.ca] - I'm a longtime fan of the Circus, and I blew off the show the last time they showed up in SF. I'm very sorry, and I promise I'll never do it again.
  • it saddens me to see that future employers and co-workers are so intolerant of such trivial things. there is an on-topicness to this thread, sorry so many of you can't see it. it's strange that technologically minded people don't see how modifying our own bodies, rather than parents genetically altering them before birth, is a wonderful chance to explore the possibilities of our physical limitations. hack your body, the one thing truly your own.
  • The split tongue looks stupid. I was expecting a reptilish looking tongue, then I see his fat tongue wagging to left and right...guess that's what happens when you cleave a human tongue. But lizard-like? No way.

    And anyone who goes around calling himself "Satan" is just screaming "wannabe somebody." What a joke. Poseur.

  • This guy clearly is a geek in some way. Now, a lot of you read the "Hellmouth" articles by Jon Katz and agreed, that many of us computergeeks were discriminated just for being other than "normal".
    But now, you discriminate someone, just for being other than you are. In german, we call that "Doppelmoral". I don't know if you can say that in english, double-moral.

    Everyone's free to modificate his body the way one likes. Plastic surgery is just the same.

    On the other hand, I'm already frightened, when I need to get a haircut. =:-)

    CU, Ventilator
  • by dvorsd ( 122811 )
    I used to live just outside of Albany and I never got to see that guy. What a let down. If you've ever been to Albany, you'd know that observing a lizard-guy walking down the street is about the most interesting thing that you can see... :-) -dvorsd
  • by Zamis ( 81530 )
    That guy who blew up his house is right by me here. And he is real close to cmdrTaco as well.

    I didn't know he made CNN though. Do you have a link to the story?
  • Those ridges are way cool, but can you say, "EWWWW!"?

    --
  • Why is it that anytime people do the same thing that they've always done, but suddenly start getting paid for it, they're suddenly labled 'sellouts' by people who would do the same thing in an instant, given the opportunity?

  • it saddens me to see that future employers and co-workers are so intolerant of such trivial things.

    It's called marketability and employability. Businesses are intolerant of people who are so different because (at least for me) employees represent the company. I deal with customers on a regular basis, and I'm in Research and Development, nowhere near sales. If the customer/client is gonna gawk at you and distract from the sale, the company is gonna shun you. That's why the suits are the thing.

    Just the same as why businesses don't allow you to swear and flip out. It's all part of ettiquitte, probably spelled wrong. :-)

    Personally I think all this massive tattooing/piercing/modding is rather silly, but hey, it's your body. :-) About the most insane thing I've done is dye my hair blonde, then later "vivid plum".
    • ``As a matter of fact, I've heard very nice things,'' she said. ``The professor who had him as a TA said he was an excellent student.''

    Sure... although he does have a tendency to fall asleep if his desk is too far from the window...

  • man.. I know why they didn't attach any pictures. Because the guy doesn't even look like a lizard.. Here I am expecting some hard core green guy with scales and I get some biker who slipped with the knife whilst eating spam. LAME.
  • He's also a regular at BME [freeq.com]. Shannon's put him on the cover several times.

    /peter

  • I have to remind myself that this kind of juvenile, intolerant attitude isn't typical of the geek community. In general we're a very open minded group of people.

    So what makes this just SO wrong? Because Eric doesn't look like you? Because he doesn't fit one of your preconceptions about what people are supposed to look like? Is all cosmetic surgery wrong, or just surgery which doesn't make you look more "normal"? What makes the ear piercings done by some untrained, unsanitary teenager in a mall with a reusable(!) piercing gun less wrong than Eric's large gage tunnels?

    Eric's part of a vanguard of pre-cyborgs who have taken control of their own bodies and aren't constrained by the feeble bodies evolution has given us. Admittedly the mods are mostly cosmetic at this point, but, at least in my opinion, it's one of the first steps to a bionic body.

    /peter

  • Hairiest lizard I've ever seen...

    -Chris

"More software projects have gone awry for lack of calendar time than for all other causes combined." -- Fred Brooks, Jr., _The Mythical Man Month_

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