marching 2 by 2 by 5 by 365

March 12, 2012 11:39 AM

Ant colony living inside a scanner for 5 years. (SL time lapse Vimeo)
posted by msalt (18 comments total)

That is one of the strangest doubles I've seen in some time. I have no idea how msalt got this link wedged into MetaFilter, or why.

(No offense meant; it's a different link than the original.)
posted by jedicus at 11:41 AM on March 12, 2012

I have no idea how this person got their ants wedged into their scanner, or why.
posted by MuffinMan at 11:42 AM on March 12, 2012 [3 favorites]

does anybody read the posts down here?
posted by fistynuts at 11:45 AM on March 12, 2012

If I had only added the "cool" tag, MeFi's software would have probably caught it.
posted by msalt at 11:48 AM on March 12, 2012

fake
posted by rebent at 11:48 AM on March 12, 2012

Fake

Yes, much easier to manually create thousands of frames of fake ant colony and splice them together.
posted by msalt at 11:49 AM on March 12, 2012

Still looks like the opening credits to a PHASE IV remake.
posted by The Whelk at 11:58 AM on March 12, 2012

You know who else liked ants in his scanner?
posted by CynicalKnight at 11:59 AM on March 12, 2012

Jumanji!
posted by oddman at 12:00 PM on March 12, 2012

So how did this work? Isn't the scanner looking UP through the glass at the white lid? How do you install an ant colony in a scanner and have the scanner still work?
posted by smackfu at 12:13 PM on March 12, 2012

He may be laying another scanner on top of the first and scanning with that. Or just taking a high res photo while he turns on the colonised scanner's light, without its armature ever moving more than an inch or two.

What he's NOT doing is getting the scanner to scan its own internals, or getting it to function after a few months of conditions favourable to the ants.
posted by clarknova at 12:18 PM on March 12, 2012

Also, having seen large lucite cases housing the lavish fungal gardens of parasol ants, I'm not really that impressed by this.
posted by clarknova at 12:23 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

I once, while living in Tropical Island Country X, found out that an entire ant colony had been living in the small hollow space around the edge of the of the porcelain lid of the toilet tank in my bathroom. Slowly (because the openings were small and it was, well, very clogged), I flushed it out with water, washing the the ants back down the walls of the bathroom as they tried to escape. A line had been crossed; I showed no mercy.
posted by ropeladder at 12:43 PM on March 12, 2012

Uh, am I the only one here who is not sanguine about sharing my living space with ants?

And now some anecdotes:

Once, while living in Florida, ants got in my closet and invaded my iron. I did a steam burst and bunch of ant carcassas shot out. (EW!) I washed everything I owned and had a similar thing happen with the lint trap in the dryer.

Also in Florida, I rented a car and put my white jacket on the passenger seat. As I was driving back to Broward from Miami, I noticed that there were ants all over my jacket. Not being able to pull over on I-95, I just got to the rental agency as quickly as possible. Turned out a previous renter had left Reeses Pieces under the seat.

Grossssss!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 12:54 PM on March 12, 2012

I am somewhat relieved to know that he put the ants in there ON PURPOSE.
posted by Sidhedevil at 12:57 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]

You know who else liked ants in his scanner?
Either Philip K. Dick or Cordwainer Smith.
posted by sebastienbailard at 12:57 PM on March 12, 2012

I'm OK with the idea that humans share the planet with creatures of all sorts, and they're just as entitled to be here as we are, but I would raise a toast to the day carpenter ants were banished from existence.
posted by davebush at 1:14 PM on March 12, 2012

I love the "Colonisation" Tag!
posted by marienbad at 1:28 PM on March 12, 2012