Timewaster's Guide Archive

General => Everything Else => Topic started by: 42 on September 14, 2003, 10:29:42 PM

Title: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: 42 on September 14, 2003, 10:29:42 PM
So I was watching a show on Animal Planet where they ranked different predators. They're number one predator was the shrew.

Now despite the fact that shrews are just ugly( and not threatening in anyway), apperrently a shrew has to kill and eat something every couple of hours. It also has a great sense of smell, venomous saliva, and an extreme metabolism. (The show's stat was that a shrew consumes a hundred time the amount of oxygen that a elephant uses).

Despite the shows reasoning, I can't see a supper-villian using the title of "The Shrew." It's just not threatening enough, even if you change the name to something like, "The Black Shrew," or "The Shrew of Doom." I think the shrew should be taken off the list simply for its lack of marketability to super-villians as a potential business identity.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Entsuropi on September 14, 2003, 11:24:19 PM
Why arn't humans number one? Have we not killed our way to the head of the food chain?
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock on September 15, 2003, 12:42:56 AM
So what you're saying is that we need to go on a shrew hunt?
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on September 15, 2003, 08:35:04 AM
Quote
For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing
Acts 17:21

I see this sort of thing a lot. Bart Ehrman is a theologian who pushes academic theories primarily, it seems, designed to disagree with most Christians' faith.

Animal Planet seems to be doing it to generate discussion about their show. (and it worked)
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Mad Dr Jeffe on September 15, 2003, 10:21:01 AM
I just dont see how you can compare animals with specailzations. Sure a shrew is good eating crickets, but have it try to eat Sealions and Seals like an Orca, or catch flying insects like spiders, or destroy whole ecosystems like mankind....

Entropy I wouldn't put man in the greatest predator catagory,... oh we can be when we set our minds to it. But we arn't as clever as we let on. The story behind the Ghost and the Darkness is true and two lions (now stuffd in the chicago zoo hunted down and killed over 130 people in a nine month period while bones in a lair of their indicated that they had killed more, it was impossible to find out the exact number of dead.  http://www.lionlmb.org/gandd.html

and lets not forget that the most efficent "predators" in the world are the lowly virus and bacterium.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on September 15, 2003, 10:32:33 AM
The problem with that argument, Jeffe, is that if you're going to say they have to be universal hunters, you should also exclude specifically unusual representatives of the species as well.

I think to qualify as a "predator" you have to deliberately hunt a creature, so microbes are out.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Mad Dr Jeffe on September 15, 2003, 10:59:48 AM
Ok but not viruses

oh and I wasn't saying lions were the best predator,... just that individuals dont count.. which you clarified for me.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Entsuropi on September 15, 2003, 11:37:38 AM
Does the virus specifically hunt stuff? I thought the little buggers were like cancer, almost a side effect.

And i was thinking about potential for destruction/death. A shrew can kill a lot of rats. A lion can kill a lot of deer. But a human, with the ability to make tools (and the time) will be able to massacre any animal in insane numbers. Simply because we do not fit into the natural balancing ecological systems. These balance it so that the wolves do not wipe out the deer and the deer do not wipe out grass etc. We, by not dying enough or whatever, upset these and send them out of all balance. :( It's doubtful that any enviroment could support humans without this happening sooner or later - even on alien planets or whatnot.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Mistress of Darkness on September 15, 2003, 12:57:00 PM
I don't know. I think a whole bunch of shrews might be sufficiently scary. Especially if they all gang up and start killing humans to feed their high metabolism.

I'm not saying it would be a "good" horror movie.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Fellfrosch on September 15, 2003, 01:50:02 PM
But it did get pretty good reviews, nevertheless.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Mistress of Darkness on September 15, 2003, 03:51:14 PM
They made a movie about shrews? What was it called?
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock on September 15, 2003, 04:11:43 PM
Maybe "Shrewball," or "Schrewless," or the ever classic "Shrews."
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Mistress of Darkness on September 15, 2003, 04:36:35 PM
I'm asking for movies actually made, since Fell's post would seem to indicate that one exists and got good reviews.

But maybe it was a typo?
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: 42 on September 15, 2003, 04:48:38 PM
"Taiming of the Shrew"
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on September 15, 2003, 05:16:28 PM
Taming. Man, you're starting to type like Sprig.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Mad Dr Jeffe on September 15, 2003, 05:35:02 PM
Yeah I thought I was looking at one of the original folios
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: JP Dogberry on September 15, 2003, 07:44:40 PM
Bad pun of the day

I think we should hunt down all of these so called predators. It would be a "Shrewed" idea. (Boom -tish)

Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on September 15, 2003, 07:52:12 PM
/me pulls out the bad pun noose.

He should be playin' possum if he wants to avoid pun-ishment
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Mad Dr Jeffe on September 15, 2003, 08:09:56 PM
/me yells "Pikashrew I Choose YOU!!!!!!!!"
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Fellfrosch on September 15, 2003, 08:16:23 PM
Not actually shrews, just rats, but it's the same idea. Go to Rottentomatoes.com and look up Willard.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock on September 16, 2003, 10:12:29 AM
OOhhh, that movie.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Mistress of Darkness on September 16, 2003, 02:21:13 PM
Yes, and I'm betting that a movie about shrews that eat people would get higher ratings because it's original. No one's ever made a movie about Killer Shrews before.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: 42 on September 16, 2003, 04:19:27 PM
Actually, their is an old b-movie about giant shrews attacking. It's pretty bad.
Title: ieRe: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: Slant on September 16, 2003, 06:09:01 PM
Next thing ya know, you'll start asking questions like "How many Norweigians does it take to shrew in a lightbulb?"
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers on September 16, 2003, 06:11:13 PM
Shrew you.
Title: Re: The Deadly Shrew
Post by: JP Dogberry on September 16, 2003, 07:37:15 PM
Norweigians? depends on how many lightbulbs are shrewn around the house.

Ok, that was really bad.