Giant rat discovered in Indonesia jungle

Spotted this article today:

Giant Rat Discovered in Indonesia Jungle

Dec 17, 12:47 AM (ET)

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Researchers in a remote jungle in Indonesia have discovered a giant rat and a tiny possum that are apparently new to science, underscoring the stunning biodiversity of the Southeast Asian nation, scientists said Monday.

Unearthing new species of mammals in the 21st century is considered very rare. The discoveries by a team of American and Indonesian scientists are being studied further to confirm their status.

The animals were found in the Foja mountains rainforest in eastern Papua province in a June expedition, said U.S.-based Conservation International, which organized the trip along with the Indonesian Institute of Science.

"The giant rat is about five times the size of a typical city rat," said Kristofer Helgen, a scientist with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington. "With no fear of humans, it apparently came into the camp several times during the trip."

The possum was described as "one of the worlds smallest marsupials."

A 2006 expedition to the same stretch of jungle - dubbed by Conservation International as a "Lost World" because until then humans had rarely visited it - unearthed scores of exotic new species of palms, butterflies and palms.

Papua has some of the world's largest tracts of rainforest, but like elsewhere in Indonesia they are being ravaged by illegal logging. Scientists said last year that the Foja area was not under immediate threat, largely because it was so remote.

"It's comforting to know that there is a place on Earth so isolated that it remains the absolute realm of wild nature," said expedition leader Bruce Beehler. "We were pleased to see that this little piece of Eden remains as pristine and enchanting as it was when we first visited."

ROUSs? I didn't think they existed!

Don't get the reference? You've apparently reached this blog in error! No, seriously, read here. Then buy this movie or read this book or both.

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OMG cheese

Wow. Dina picked up Ford Farm Coastal Mature Cheddar at Central Market tonight. This is like the best cheese I've ever had. Wow. I'm going to go eat some more. That is all.

Dina said this cheese should be illegal it's so good. I think she's right. I suspect it's illegal in Georgia.

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Workplace horrors

I recently came across (via this site) a pair of workplace videos, one for forklift safety and one for kitchen safety. Both use shock and gore to make a point. The forklift one (in German, but with subtitles) is freaking hilarious. Gory, but hilarious. It's long, but it just keeps rolling along. Clever, memorable stuff.



The second one is clever and memorable, too. It should have a powerful, memorable impact on its target audience. Anyone seeing this video will think twice before being careless around this particular work hazard. That said, it's probably the most horrific thing I've seen since Saving Private Ryan. Not for the faint of heart. Kind of awful. Nightmarish, even. I've tagged this post with humor--that was for the first video, not this one. You've been warned. Mom, don't watch this.

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Magic at MTGO Traders site

I haven't made much of it on this site yet, but I'm a casual Magic: The Gathering player, mostly online these days. It's a fun game and a fun way to keep the logical part of my mind firing. I started playing years ago when I lived in Boston and went to Emerson College. Friday nights, party guy that I am, I'd head over to M.I.T. where a bunch of casual gamers got together weekly in some empty conference rooms and slung down cards into the wee hours.

I played quite a bit and kept buying cards and reading about the game long after that, even as my time to play and opportunities to get together with other players waned. A few years ago, I eventually dropped away from the game.

A tour of the Wizards of the Coast corporate headquarters about a year back (more on that another time--soon) reignited my interest in the game. Before long, I'd installed a copy of the online game on my computer and I've frittered away quite a few hours playing ever since.

Both for fun and as a way of supporting my habit, I've started writing an occasional column for the MTGO Traders web site. I've had eight articles published so far, and I'll plan to update you here when new ones go live.

Here are the first eight articles:

1. Casual Play: Cry Havoc and Let Slip the Cats of War!
2. Casual Play: 101 Uses for a Dead Cat
3. Casual Play: Psst! Psst! Help Me Build a Deck. Psst!
4. Casual Play: Departing Standard
5. Casual Play: Endless Whispers Followup
6. Casual Play: Their Stock Is Rising
7. Casual Play: Desolation Alley
8. Casual Play: Feeling Crabby?
   

Feel free to comment on the articles on that site or here. If you comment on an old article and want a reply, please let me know here--I don't get alerts when older articles on that site get updates.

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Indy: Holy crap!

Okay, first the downside(s):

• The title (Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull) is unwieldy at best and dreck at worst.
• They're making a big deal out of Shia LaBeouf's involvement and I am ambivalent about Shia LaBeouf.
• From what I've heard, no Sallah, which is sad.
  
• George Lucas is heavily involved, which hasn't been a good sign in the past and his early comments about the movie scared the heck out of me.

But I loves me some Indiana Jones.

And wow:



And wow again:



Dare I let myself get excited about this movie? George Lucas has disappointed me before. The Phantom Menace was so bad it soured me on the original Star Wars trilogy. Could he possibly poison Indy for me?

Let's hope not. Because looking at the images, I'm getting all tingly. I'm hoping for goodness.

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Belated RIP: Evel Knievel

I was sad to hear of Evel Knievel's passing. In a lot of ways, when I was a kid, Evel Knievel was more like a living action figure or superhero than a real figure. I probably wouldn't have recognized him outside of his distinctive costume. Didn't make me like him any less.

Here was Evel just a short time ago:



But here's the Evel Knievel I venerated as a kid (I had several of these toys and played with them a lot--I have fond memories of zipping him down our driveway):



Ride far and jump far, Evel. You'll be missed.

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Shift happens

Paradigm shifts, world shifts, life shifts...

This video is equal parts fascinating, depressing, terrifying and inspiring. Take a look.

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Happy Halloween!

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74% geek

Who said I'd never amount to anything?

74% GeekMingle² - Free Online Dating

Thanks, Jeff, for the head's up on this one.

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Woo hoo! We're number 1!

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070602/D8PGPTPO0.html

Sigh. Sometimes Texas sucks.

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The advantages of limiting character options

There was an interesting thread on the Treasure Tables web site about limiting character options when you start out a role-playing campaign. Most of Treasure Tables seems to deal with D&D, but a lot of the concepts carry over. I used to keep things more or less wide open when starting a new campaign, particularly for Champions (the usual kind of "let the players come up with PCs, then find a reason for them to unite as a team" kind of thing). But I'm coming around to the story advantages of limiting character options at the outset, giving more focus to a campaign. Below is the comment I contributed to the thread:

I’m coming around more and more to the idea of limiting character options based on the campaign concept. It can actually be a big boost to interest and creativity if done right.

I play Champions, which is, of course, something of a different animal than D&D. Due to the nature of the game, you will typically have a few general guidelines as things start–a point total, a campaign city, and general guidelines as far as level of lethality.

My face-to-face campaign started along these lines. The primary PCs started with 250 points, including disadvantages (this was during 4th edition–it would probably be 350 points now), and all were tied to San Angelo. I ended up with a mage, a firefighter-turned energy projector, and an armored guy. They crossed paths during the first adventure and eventually teamed up, and the campaign has lasted on and off for several years. The upsides include flexibility for the players and a wide variety of play options.

But other games have taught me the value of more specific guidelines and how they can add value. In one of my favorite face-to-face campaigns, all the PCs had to be beholden to PRIMUS (a U.S.-based SHIELD-like organization) in some way, and they ended up under orders as a sort of second-tier superhero team. The initial structure of the campaign was much more limited (they went where their boss told them to go), but the campaign relied much less on coincidence to bring the heroes together and gave them real room to grow (for example, when they began to suspect that their boss wasn’t such a good guy). I run a PBEM campaign where all the heroes work for Disney and have Disney-themed powers (not really tongue in cheek, just corporate heroes and spokespeople, like Doctor Tomorrow who has gadgets and equipment reminiscent of Tomorrowland). It wouldn’t appeal to everyone, but the strong theme and limitations on character backgrounds really helped boost the players’ creativity in some areas and have helped to make for some cool storylines.

Sometimes adding restrictions can really help to get the creative juices flowing.

To carry this back to D&D, I could see a campaign based around the concept “you are all members of the duke’s elite guard” or “you are all performers for a traveling carnival” or “you are all dwarven soldiers separated from your regiment by a purple worm attack” as being more interesting than “you are all adventurers who met in a tavern.”

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Worst album covers ever

My eyes! My eyes! Browse through some of these (not entirely safe for work, by the way). Some of these gave me a good chuckle.

I'm including thumbs of a few of my "favorites" below.

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RIP, Lloyd Alexander

I just read some sad news from Heidi MacDonald's blog, The Beat. Lloyd Alexander has passed away. The Chronicles of Prydain, with their adventures of Taran, Eilonwy, Gurgi, and the rest, were a huge and important part of my childhood. I am sorry to hear of his passing.

On a more positive note, I look forward to sharing these books with Alex and Zack when they get older.

This cover is from The Book of Three, the first book in the five-book series that was Alexander's most famous story.

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Archie Sims

I'm a big fan of Chris's Invincible Super-Blog. He started a new meme based on a picture of him holding Archie comics. I decided to take his picture to the next level... Yeah, sort of creepy, I know.

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A special gift

For anyone who's been looking to give me that special something, this would be a hell of a lot of fun to drive down the highway.

You can buy it here.

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