A real mermaid

The terrific story of the double amputee, the flippant remark, and the Kiwi company that thought "why not?" is here.

Chain mail

When I was poking around Weta Workshop's site, I found this awesome page: they make chain mail to order! Now there's a niche product.

Making a difference

Stuff has this neat article on microlending: individuals lending small sums of money interest-free to small businesses in the third world. You might like to visit microlending website Kiva directly to find out more. Kiva even offers gift certificates, so you can give to a friend and lend to a small business at the same time!

The publishing lottery

This New York Times article details a few editorial blunders from the archive of Alfred A. Knopf Inc: books turned down that later went on to become bestsellers. As the article points out, Knopf was hardly unique: many of these books were turned down by a list of other publishers. The Diary of Anne Frank, Animal Farm, and Lolita are among the rejected manuscripts. So if you've ever been rejected by a publisher, you're in distinguished company!

David Goode

David Goode has a distinguished background which includes sculpting celebrity waxworks for Madame Tussaud's; he now specialises in fantasy bronze statuary for the garden. If you're thinking cutesy little gnomes, think again!

This page gives a fascinating step-by-step look at the making of one of his creatures, the "gnome-hunter"! Amazing.

The Vault opens in London

New Zealand's famous design store The Vault is now international. Read all about it here. The Vault's own website is here. Hi Sarah!

A speaking parrot

Lots of parrots can mimic human speech, but this New York Times article describes one which could understand what it was saying. (access is free but registration is required)

Lulu and indie publishing

The Big Idea has this interesting article on internet self-publishing site Lulu, which boasts, among other things, the first book ever written on a mobile phone.

Natalie Buchanan, romance novelist extrordinaire

Natalie Buchanan writes saucy romances in between caring for her four young children. You can read all about it here.

Jared Davidson

Jared Davidson has been hand-printing advertising posters in his parents' garage for a year, and has been so wildly successful he's having a "retrospective" at the High St Project. There's a neat interview with him here, and information on the exhibition here.

The Man who rescued JFK

This is the amazing story of a Solomon Island man who rescued 11 US Navy crew from their shipwrecked vessel during WW2. One of the crew would later be President John F Kennedy.