A new tag bought to you in honour of Neil Gaiman and the Wunderkammer that my desktop becomes each day.

Thanks to the wonderful folks at Weta, Wellington now has its very own mermaid:

[Photo credit: Steve Unwin]. Nadya Vessey, who lost her legs as a child, has been crafted a tail that is both beautiful and functional so she can swim. Awesome. I hope Ms Vessey will gladden our hearts by splashing about in the harbour wearing her tail regularly.

In other Weta related news, there is an interesting article about The Savage World of Dr Grordbort here. Last time I checked, Joel was still making odd ray guns to sell alongside the Dr Grordbort guns, in a similar style.

I enjoyed this Daily Mail article about a giant rabbit escaping and requiring a major capture effort.

As is often the case, the British police showed a charming sense of humour when faced by a reporter:

“PC Jackson added: ‘Inquiries are ongoing into unconfirmed reports that Bunny had an accomplice called Clyde who assisted in the hare-brained escape plan.”

The Cavalchina, a ball that is a traditional part of the Carnival of Venice happened on Saturday. Here are two pictures of the equine stars of the party. The first is from Getty’s images and features the performance staged last year. The second was of a practise session for this year from The Independant:

The second horse is a Freisian and my favourite breed of pony.

I have been enjoying Casey Curran’s hand cranked wire automata (found via Boingboing):

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Its been a busy time of friends staying and lots of rushing about for various reasons. I’ve just gifted myself with two very necessary days off. Tomorrow, I start back and hope to finish typing up a chapter during the day.