Islamic Art

Every so often you get pointed at one of those sites, that is low key, doesn't want to shout its own praises, but, in fact doesn't need to. I've recently stumbled upon such a site which is mesmerising in its simplicity. It is called Pattern in Islamic Art and if you are into that sort of thing, you will love this site. It doesn't claim to be the be all and end all, but there is a heap of stuff there. Here's what they say about themselves:



This website offers a FREE download of over 4000 images of patterns and other design features drawn from the rich cultural heritage of the Islamic world. Historically, the decorative arts have always formed a major part of Islamic aesthetic expression. Its remarkable achievements in this direction (much of which are represented here) make it an invaluable resource for designers of all kinds as well as for art-historians and art-lovers generally.



Although there is no "art" or examples from the UAE, it has pretty wide coverage of the
Islamic world and can be broken down by region, museum, diagram etc.



Definately worth 5 minutes of your time, if you are that way inclined.

Pattern in Islamic Art

TED Dubai

Yes, TED is coming to Dubai. For those of you that don't know TED, “TED” stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design — three broad subject areas that are, collectively, shaping our future. It's essentially an annual speaker event that started off in California, but is now spreading around the globe, most recently in the UK and soon to be in India. While TED Dubai is operating under license, so not quite the same, the ethos and concept will be. What's that then? It's where the world’s leading thinkers and doers share what they are most passionate about. Simple. And then those videos are placed on their site and viewable by everyone. Love it. For me TED stands for WOW!

I was first drawn to TED, when a colleague recommended the design of the website, ted.com. I had see it before, but ever since I have been obsessed. I have many favourite videos and they are all free - and depending on what tickles your fancy, you can slice up the videos to get what you want. This is one of my favourites, demonstrating how the future could herald a sixth sense, think The Minority Report - and then some.




TEDDubai or TEDxDubai is being held on 10th October 2009. I'm sure it will live up to the brand. Let's hope it does.
TEDDUBAI

The Mallwalkers

Dubai has been hit by a strange plague that turns people into a new type of zombie - these are the mallwalkers. The mallwalkers are out to fight diabetes, kill obesity and make use of the air conditioning that defies the heat of the desert. Once you are coaxed to become one, you die and return as a zombie. There have been survivors who have mistakenly gone to the Mall of the Emirates to find shelter. And at the end of the day when the lights go out, they know that in a matter of hours the mallwalkers will raturn to haunt their path. They inhabit the space you wish to walk. They walk faster than the average human being and they ignore the latest in fashion.



In a mall, close to you, exist a new form of being - the mallwalker. Beware.

The mall walkers of Dubai

Crocodile on a Plane

It sounds like a sequel to the snake on plane movie that came out a couple of years ago, but the difference being that this was real life, there was no Samuel L Jackson, and this wasn't about snakes. And according to recent reports, it wasn't a crocodile or baby crocodile on the plane either. It was about a lizard. In my book, who cares - what the hell is it doing on the plane in the first place.

There have been jokes about whether it was actually a crocodile skin handbag, someone kids playing "snap", or even a man wearing a Lacoste t-shirt (why would you?). But no, indeed - there seems to be some truth to the story that there was something on board:

Mr al Zahed said the airline’s Abu Dhabi station manager, Mohammed Saeed, had sent an initial report to EgyptAir’s head office in Cairo.He added that a final report was likely to be released next week. Initial reports described the errant lizard as a “baby crocodile”, but Mr al Zahed said: “It’s not a baby crocodile. It’s not even a crocodile. It was some other animal, I don’t know exactly what, but not a crocodile.” He said it looked like a desert lizard known colloquially in Egyptian Arabic as a “borse”.

No matter how small this crocolizard is, the question is, what the hell is going on at Abu Dhabi Airport? Assuming that the "crocodile" didnt check in under disguise, and wasn't part of the regular take your shoes off and lets have a look at your laptop - how did it get on? Obviously Eqypt Air will have some explanation, but no doubt there will be some explanation from the GCAA in Abu Dhabi that it was on the inbound flight and not part of its checks. Either that or that the crocodile flew on - or that this is a new era in Open Skies Policy.



To quote Mr Jackson:

"You know all those security scenarios we ran? Well I'm smack in the middle of one we didn't think of."


Airline says ‘baby crocodile’ on plane was a desert lizard
Panic aboard flight as croc takes mid-air stroll