She sounds like a nice person: a zoology student (I was one of those, once! Zoology departments are disappearing everywhere, though), with the hobby of making cuddly, squishy plush beasties of all sorts, especially of lots of invertebrates. I think it's time that the teddy bear hegemony in the world of children's toys be broken — you can start there, and support a science student at the very same time.
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More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
Weird Bug Ladies are the nicest kind, I think
Category: Gadgets
Posted on: July 12, 2009 1:48 PM, by PZ Myers
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Comments
Posted by: Gruesome Rob | July 12, 2009 1:58 PM
My shelf o' beasties (Cthulhu, Shoggoth, Deep One, Night Gaunt, Beast of Arrrrggghhhhh, Gug, Moonbeast, Bast, Anubis, Sobek, Nyrlathotep,...) say that the hegemony's been broken for a while.
I love me my stuffed animals^w^wplush idols.
Posted by: Burning Umbrella | July 12, 2009 2:12 PM
Hmm, the monster of Caer Bannog is a vertebrate (I assume), but it'll count for breaking the hegemony, right?
Posted by: Sclerophanax | July 12, 2009 2:22 PM
I want a tardigrade plush! :D
These things are really great, but I have to admit I was pretty disappointed to find out that the velvet worm isn't, in fact, made of velvet.
Posted by: Marek | July 12, 2009 2:25 PM
Weird Bug Lady is the awesomest place you can go for plush bugs! She also does pretty awesome sharpie drawings too!
I endorse her heartily!
Posted by: Heather | July 12, 2009 2:32 PM
Fantastic items! Very creative. This looks like a wonderful place to order holiday items for the "hard to get" person.
Posted by: weirdbuglady | July 12, 2009 2:33 PM
Thank you so much for the mention! I have lots of fun using my business as a creative outlet for my zoology passion. Hope you all enjoy my work :)
Posted by: Spidergrackle | July 12, 2009 2:42 PM
Two-headed stuffed planarian.
WANT.
Posted by: Angel Kaida | July 12, 2009 2:48 PM
Wow, weirdbuglady, these are awesome! I wish there were some sturdy ones I could get for my little brother. He's always carrying around this little Ty lamb... down with corporate-made chordates, I say!
(Not really, I like lambs... but still.)
Posted by: daycoder | July 12, 2009 2:50 PM
My kids have a bunch of these http://www.giantmicrobes.com/. (My wife also uses them in school with 7/8 year olds)
Posted by: weirdbuglady | July 12, 2009 2:53 PM
Angel the problem with kids toys is all the regulations involved - that and I use a lot of hand sewing which can make things more delicate. Kids really need to be past the stage where they're rough on toys for mine to be appropriate, and should be more of a decorative learning toy.
Posted by: CanadianChick | July 12, 2009 3:41 PM
I want the planarians!
I took mine home in high school and kept them going for longer than expected...I liked being the weird chick with "pet" planarians.
Posted by: NixNoctua
|
July 12, 2009 4:58 PM
aw... I want a praying mantis one! Those are my favorite bugs. Have you seen those things hunt? It's awesome! Seriously, those things are not praying! It's all just a clever disguise! MUAHAHAHA! *wants to snuggle praying mantis now*
Posted by: jayneflower | July 12, 2009 5:00 PM
We have a weird bug lady here at UMNTC. Brings the hubby cecropia & polyphemus caterpillars for him to raise. Not plush but still wicked cool.
Posted by: FurrTheBear | July 12, 2009 5:04 PM
I, for one, fully support the Ursine Hegemony.
All hail our hirsute plantigrade overlords! ;)
Posted by: beevertooth | July 12, 2009 5:44 PM
I have a tick made by Weird Bug Lady the attention to detail is awesome.
She is Nice too!
Posted by: m | July 12, 2009 5:57 PM
who would have thought that planarians and tardigrades could be so damn cute?
Posted by: Alexander | July 12, 2009 6:25 PM
Yay! I could build a parasite village! Or have parasite tea parties...joy!
Posted by: MadScientist | July 12, 2009 6:44 PM
I love that big mantis she's got. :) The planarians are great too - now if they could only be made semi-transparent. I tried to make some of my planarians look like an 'X' (2 heads, 2 tails) but they disintegrated instead.
The 2-headed planarian reminds me of the koala reproductive organs though - just not the right color.
Posted by: mrcreosote | July 12, 2009 7:26 PM
When I used to travel a lot for business, at the same time my first son was a toddler, on each trip I would buy him a soft toy, but not your usual teddy bear et al. My favourite was a californian condor I bought in northern california.
Posted by: Sili
|
July 12, 2009 7:51 PM
Those preferring the more commercial option for breaking the hegemony can do worse than get a Jinxlet. Or so Lord Tickletummy tells me from his perch above my bed.
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | July 12, 2009 9:51 PM
It's so hard to be a slavering minion when the Great Guru's phrasing is obscure.
Weird ones are the nicest kind of Bug Lady?
Bug ones are the nicest kind of Weird Lady?
Weird Bug ones are the nicest kind of Lady?
Posted by: Monado | July 12, 2009 11:35 PM
Sorry to inject a serious note, but has anyone else noticed a dramatic lack of insects this summer? I saw one (1) mosquito last week. I was out for a couple of hours today in a wild park filled with trees, grass, blooming alfalfa, clover, daisies, and tansy and saw a lot of midges, four milkweed bugs of some kind, a few flies that weren't houseflies, a couple groups of ants, two housefly, one bumblebee, and zero grasshoppers or crickets. In fact, I can't remember when I saw a grasshopper this summer. Normally I would expect to be starting grasshoppers at every step. I'm beginning to wonder if whatever devastated the honeybees is hitting other insects without our noticing.
Posted by: Steve M. | July 13, 2009 9:43 AM
New baby in the home. May need to pick up a eurypterid or two...
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | July 13, 2009 10:20 AM
Monado - come visit my place (near a swamp & lake in north central Fla), and your concerns about shortages of mosquitoes (and ticks!) will be eased.
But we are rather short on fireflies, moths and butterflies... :-( :-O
Posted by: Tom Allen | July 13, 2009 12:45 PM
I dunno, plushy bugs are cute and all, but as an Iowa boy, I prefer the flesh and goo type.
Posted by: toth | July 14, 2009 9:14 AM
On a related (insect) note, you might want to check out http://www.rogue-entomologist.com/ -- she's a sculptor who works with real (dead) insects. They're fascinating pieces.
Full disclosure: She is a friend of mine, so I may possibly be biased.
Posted by: Monado | July 14, 2009 1:59 PM
Pierce, I'm wondering what the birds are going to be eating this summer, the ones that don't feed entirely on seeds.
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | July 15, 2009 12:39 PM
Monado - well, this (exceptionally wet) year around here we've got an explosion of grasshoppers ...
Overall, though, I suspect you're right. Ecological inventories are too rare and too uncoordinated to provide much useful information on the state of biota (except for economically significant species such as honeybees).