Matthew Weathers is a math professor at Biola University, and he likes a good gag. For April Fools’ Day this year, he played the prank below on his students, in which his “shadow” on a projection screen started to misbehave. All sorts of interesting stuff begins to go down, including manipulation of a computer desktop, and even removal of the desktop entirely, allowing us to “see through” the projection screen to the blackboard behind it. Ultimately the president of the university has to step in and take care of the shadow. Check it out:
For more context, this appears to be part of a discussion of Flatland, a book about interaction between different dimensions (as in this video, the 2D shadow interacts with the 3D world of the professor). You may also enjoy Weathers’s Halloween prank from 2009, again related to Flatland. You can actually read Flatland online (it’s in the public domain) if Weathers has sparked your interest!
(Via Waxy.org.)
Comments (9)
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Awesome!
posted by Elissa on 4-6-2010 at 2:23 pm
That’s great! I wish my shadow was that mischievous!
posted by hockeyzombie on 4-6-2010 at 3:11 pm
That is so cool; how the heck did he do that?!
posted by Erin on 4-6-2010 at 4:03 pm
It was as simple as putting together a video, and projecting it on the screen.
It was as complicated as making sure his in-person (3D) movements matched what was going on in the video.
Simple, but effective: His “mouse” movements on the computer were already done/filmed. When he put his hand down to “move” his mouse, he was really doing nothing.
I don’t mean to take away from this, as it was spectacularly done, and very impressive; however, it was not magic :-)
posted by CL Robertson on 4-6-2010 at 5:41 pm
Maybe if my math professors had been that awesome in college I might actually have some inclination towards math!
Okay, so they weren’t this high-tech, but my algebra professor was amazing, and I took an easy math course – Topics in Contemporary Math – that had the most nerdy teacher I had ever encountered. BUT, he did bring in a dvd of the tv show Numbers one day and that was our assignment – to watch one episode!
posted by Sarah on 4-6-2010 at 6:51 pm
I highly recommend reading Flatland! Not only is it a cheeky story, but it offers some biting social commentary.
posted by Rosa on 4-6-2010 at 7:14 pm
Yea! I go to school here
posted by Kayla on 4-6-2010 at 10:22 pm
This is very cute. Looks like a great professor to have!
Our math class watched Flatland last year (a movie version of the book) and I have to admit that I found it creepy and depressing! Very violent :( Maybe I was just not understanding it well.
posted by Jordie on 4-7-2010 at 9:50 am
None of my math professors were that cool, but I did have a great history professor who could make any era in history read like a naughty tabloid. Great fun, we never slept in her class.
posted by Heather on 4-7-2010 at 2:52 pm