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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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Oh great, but not necessarily superior, being who dwells beyond this plane of existence and who is accessible only through prayer, meditation, or crystals, we salute you without thereby acknowledging that you are entitled to greater respect than that accorded any other endangered species. We hope to pass through your plane of existence at some point on our psychic journey to the same exalted status as marine mammals or even snail darters. Moreover, to the extent your design for the universe coincides with the U.S. Constitution and includes low-cost access to cable, we ask you to provide us our minimum daily requirement of essential vitamins and nutrients consistent with FDA guidelines, and when judging us be duly mindful or our status as victim, which providesfull justification for what might appear on superficial examination to befelonious. In the same vein, we will endeavor to excuse and forgive those whohave transgressed against us, with the possible exception of our parents, teachers, policemen and clergy about whom we have just resurrected disturbing memories. We ask all this in the name of your prophet —————. [Here on alternating weeks substitute names drawn from the consensus of the class. Some suggestions for early in the year: L. Ron Hubbard, Ayatollah Khomeini, Jimmy Carter, Patricia Ireland, Mike Wallace.]
[John F. Bramfeld, a lawyer in Urbana, Ill., as printed in "Wall Street Journal" Pg A-18 Thurs, Jan 12, 1995, contemplating what would happen to school prayer after it was filtered through the apparatus of politically correct educrats.]
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Category: Weirdness
Posted on: May 14, 2007 6:00 AM, by PZ Myers
As the buggy summer looms, I have to confess to a sadistic enjoyment of this splatter film.
I think the insects are real animals filmed with high speed cameras, but the actual impacts are faked with CGI — the physics weren't quite right, and the flying insects should have bounced out of the camera field more. It just makes it funnier that no arthropods were actually harmed in the making of this movie.
(via Byzantium's Shores)
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Comments
Posted by: Fernando Magyar | May 14, 2007 6:35 AM
Cute, but I'm still not about to go out and buy a Samsung cell phone. Oh, maybe the film was really a subtle inducement to switch to metric, that I might forgive.
Posted by: Ken Hirsch | May 14, 2007 7:56 AM
From http://www.rushes.co.uk/Rushes.aspx?screenID=129
via Google cache http://tinyurl.com/3c6322
A group of mad scientists set out to prove that millimetres really do matter when firing pies at insects! The film is a marvel of high-speed macro film techniques from one of the world's top specialist photographers, Steve Downer working in collaboration with director Richard De Aragues, and producers Nicholas Unsworth and Jonas Blanchard, based at Mad Cow Productions.
The team shot high-speed footage of the insects being hit by droplets of coloured viscous liquid. Maquettes were then created to match the shapes and positions of the 'heroic' insects and painted blue. Real pies were then thrown at the maquettes and shot at high speed.
Rushes' Flame and Smoke artists Brian Carbin, Richie White, Paul Hannaford, Matt Jackson and Emir Hasham composited the real pies to the impacts made on the real insects making it appear as though miniature pies were hitting them. The insects were then composited to backgrounds shot on HD Cam. Brad Le Riche added graphics and titles using After Effects.
Posted by: Greg Laden | May 14, 2007 11:35 AM
They could have been stunt arthropods, then they would know how to not get bounced out of the frame.
Posted by: Rich | May 14, 2007 11:42 AM
So the bees are leaving because of this?
Sorry... :P
Posted by: Lhs | May 14, 2007 11:44 AM
At least my husband will be comforted by the title.