Orry in Doha

Orry is the official mascot of the 15th Asian Games, to be held in Doha, Qatar, later this year. He's an oryx - an antelope like animal, indigenous to Qatar.
Korea hosted the last Asian Games, back in 2002, and the preparatory building work in Doha really needs to be seen to be believed. [pictures to follow]

Categories: Life

Butterfly effect

Lauren Moriarty's Butterfly Effect lampshades use a layering effect to give the impression of fluttering wings. If only there were on sale...

Categories: Life, Style

Lost World

This small frog is 1 of more than 20 new frog species discovered by scientists on an expedition in New Guinea in late 2005. It measures a mere 0.6 inch (14 millimeters) long and was detected only when it produced a soft call from among leaves on the steepest part of the forest floor.

It's just one of dozens of new amphibians, birds and mammals that have been discivered recently, in Indonesia's Foja Mountains, traditionally populated by the Kwerba people.

Categories: Life

Big boys toys...

You'll have seen the new ads for the Jaguar XK, and probably even read the reviews (as all the motoring journos in the world appear to have been invited to Cape Town, South Africa to test drive the bloomin' thing). And now, you can enter the Jaguar XK Flash site and create your own version to download to your desktop. It may not sound like the real thing, but it'll keep you happy until you can afford to drop £60k on the convertible model...

Categories: Fun, Life, Style, Gear

Google Maps have changed the name of my road...

Someone over at Google Local UK appears to be messing around with UK street / road names. Although the definitoin of the latest Google Satelite Maps is a drastic improvement, the latest maps appear to have regressed to a former version of the London A-Z... or maybe it's from a parallel universe... for example, Archway Road is now "Britannia Crescent", and Holmesdale Road has become "Chichester Drive". I guess it's time to notify all the utility companies of a change of address...

I'm not sure whether this is a North London thing, or whether the "bug" extends further, but it's a little odd.

Here's a link to the Street Map version... and a picture of what North London should look like...

Old Masters - update

Looks like the Christies sale wasn't quite as successful as some might have thought, with the star lot (the Michelangelo) apparently not selling at all (the reserve was undisclosed). Good news for Gericault fans - lot 127 sold for significantly over it's estimate of $150-200k at $314k, as did a rather nice Rembrandt (lot 75).