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I think it probably has more to do with just how prevalent tattoos seem to have become in America in general.

Tattoos have simply become more acceptable in some circles where they previously were not.

I have my username tattooed in binary on my arm:

http://imageshar.es/52deec31f629007c14000e24

That's actually a pretty aesthetic pattern of 1's.

But is it unicode!?

I'm an American hacker with a tattoo. For me, I wanted something that symbolized my life up until that point (and since, but I don't like to make assumptions about what I'll be doing in the future). So, I ended up with a very simple lambda on my left shoulder -- it was the best symbol to summarize what my life had been up until that point. Very few others ever see it, so it's really just for me; a nice reminder of my commitment to hackerdom.

There's no cultural significance, it's just (hetero) male bonding.