Taking a shard of time to remember, honor and thank all the good people who came before. I don’t mean honoring war, but those that died in those conflicts and wars. I’m sort of extending the idea to all those that helped make the world a better place, or fought in the war of life, too. I’m very thankful that I’m of a generation that didn’t have to fight a war for freedom, owed largely in part by the generation immediately before…for that I’m thankful.
Regarding a moment of remembrance – http://www.remember.gov/
Take a Moment to Remember those Americans who gave their lives in service to their country
This Memorial Day, please pause with Americans at home and abroad to honor the men and women who died so that we might enjoy the gift of freedom. Let us never forget their sacrifice.
At 3:00 p.m., simply stop what you are doing and think for one minute about those who died for your freedom. If you are driving, turn on your vehicle’s headlights.
As you participate in the National Moment of Remembrance, you are helping reclaim Memorial Day for the noble purpose for which it was established:to honor those who died in service to our Nation. Join with the White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance in honoring those who have died and their families. It is a minute of reflection that everyone can spare.
One Minute
Memorial Day
Monday, May 31, 2004
3:00 p.m. (local time)
Come Together – Beatles video (3-D Shockwave) pretty dang keen. Some nice touches, like Paul being barefoot, and clickable karaoke mode. (Melon Dezign are the same folks that did I Feel Fine )
HELL by JAKE AND DINOS CHAPMAN Some people do scary things with miniatures. (probably not work safe) Interesting that Hell was probably destroyed by fire.
THX1138 director’s cut is being released on DVD.
New mouse species found in the Philippines
Surprising find may be new genus
CHICAGO–A team of American and Filipino biologists has discovered a new species –or perhaps a new genus – of mouse in the Philippines that took them quite by surprise. The tiny mouse was captured on Mount Banahaw, a national park in the south-central portion of Luzon Island, only about 50 miles from Manila.
The bright-orange animal has a large head, heavily muscled jaws and powerful teeth that can open hard nuts. It weighs about 15 grams, and has a body length of 3 inches and a tail of four inches. The mammal’s whiskers are about eight times as wide as its head, and there is a second set of “whiskers” that arise from a patch at the back edge of each eye.
“Nearly all of the many unique small mammals on Luzon Island are descended from just two species that reached the Philippines from the Asian mainland about 10-15 million years ago,” said Lawrence Heaney, Curator of mammals at The Field Museum in Chicago and co-leader of the team.
Heaney has been studying biological diversity in the Philippines for over 20 years, and describes the Philippines as having biological diversity equal to “the Galapagos Islands times 10, with one of the highest concentrations of unique mammals of any place in the world.”
Eric Rickart, Curator of vertebrates in the Utah Museum of Natural History, said it was “not related to any of the other rodents” found in the northern Philippines.
The new species was found by a joint team from The Field Museum, the Philippine National Museum, Utah Museum of Natural History, and Laksambuhay Conservation in the Philippines. The team was scouting the mountain, considered a holy site by some Filipino sects, for unusual small mammal species.
According to Danilo Balete, a biologist in the Philippines and co-leader of the team, they captured the tiny mouse several yards above the forest floor on top of a tangle of large vines in an area of regenerating lowland forest. Logging had previously damaged the area, but Balete said, “The local farmers organization has insisted on replanting native trees and allowing the forest to regenerate as a means of protecting their watershed.” The farmers depend on rice and vegetables that they grow for their livelihood.
Only about 3% of the original mature lowland rain forest in the Philippines remains today, and it had been feared that many species had been lost even before they were discovered. The Philippines is often listed as one of the highest global priorities for conservation.
“Finding this wonderful new species in lowland forests gives us greater hope for successful conservation of biological diversity in the Philippines, and is due to the hard work and energetic defense of the forest by the local farmers,” Heaney said. “Given that second growth forest is widespread, this species may eventually prove to be pretty common.”
Heaney and Rickart said the animal is not related to any of the other rodents known on the main Philippines island of Luzon and they are not clear yet as to what genus the mammal belongs. It may represent a new genus, the taxonomic level above species. The single specimen, which will become the type specimen of the new species, will be studied in Chicago, and then returned to the Philippine National Museum.
Philippine Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Elisea Gozun hailed what she described as an “excellent” find, which further proves the vast biological diversity of the country. “The diversified presence of our flora and fauna is beneficial to the country’s economic and social development,” she said.
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A digital image of the mouse will be available Tuesday, June 1, 2004. 
It sounds cute!
The Unreal Engine 3 looks amazing. Real-time lighting effects over other texture maps produce effects like this zombie walking behind stained glass as you go. There’s a 160 meg video available to watch that really highlights the technology.
Found via All Things Zombie
The General Tso’s Tofu was good, but I think overdid the ginger.
I was blessed by a totally quiet day on call yesterday…Not a single ringy-dingy, save for my paranoid test calls to be sure it was working and a wrong number at 1am.
Geez… Even little house’s episode yesterday was about Albert being addicted to morphine, and stealing from the Oleson’s general store. I really wonder how much good shows like that have done… if they’ve dissuaded anyone from using.
Getting together with Danny today at 1:30ish… still not sure what’s on the agenda, but I think I’ll have a beer with my meal. I know that he’s going to be a little tight on funds, considering that his vacation is coming in a couple of weeks, and that C-M breaks Teacher pay in a way that blocks him from getting a check in July. That’s pesky… one of the things I dislike about freelance is the unreliability of a regular envelope.
