Bill Wadman has to be the best portrait photographer I have ever seen. Technically, he achieves such wonderful sharpness and clarity in his images. This is combined with great colours and tones. Finally, how he manages to capture the uniqueness of a random person each day is amazing. Just by looking at their portrait, I get a sense of knowing the person.

As an example, have a look at this one, and this one, and finally, this one. But really, they’re all great!

Speech presented in the Australian Parliament, House of Representatives on 20 September, 2007.

(Please note that the file weighs in at around 30Mb…)

Congratulations on a fine career, Hon Kim Beazley MP.

What’s even greater about that linked post is that it not only has that type of cool art work that I like, but it also combines a view of what people thought technology might come to. How much would you love to have a personal helicopter? Ah, for the days where there was no awareness of pollution, global warming, or terrorism.

The great news is that I can now ditch one of their sites, [Whereis](http://www.whereis.com.au) because Google has now come to the rescue. For a long time the big G has provided mapping services for the US and Europe. Now they’ve got Australian maps online. You can type in a vague search query, such as [Parliament House, Perth](http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=parliament+house,+perth&sll=-32.05208,115.7971&sspn=0.010676,0.014849&ie=UTF8&z=16&om=1&iwloc=addr) and it will take you right there. Furthermore, it will provide you with directions to and from another location should you so desire. You can also overlay Google’s satellite imagery if you want to see what the terrain is like.

So I recommend that you do as I have done – forget about Whereis and start using [maps.google.com.au](http://maps.google.com.au) for your directions!

The movie told such a great story, of a kid trying to fit in, only to be bullied for not much reason at all. Fortunately for Daniel he befriended wise old Mr Miyagi, who taught him enough tricks that enabled him to turn the tables and kick the bully’s arse.

But what about that bully, Johnny? What was his story? What if he hadn’t listened to his sensei and not swept the leg? Would things have turned out differently for him?

I was listening to one of my favourite offbeat podcasts, [The Retrocrush Podcast](http://www.retrocrush.com/podcast.html) and they interviewed the lead singer of the band [No More Kings](http://nomorekings.com) who made a song asking that very question about Johnny. Watch this clip, listen to the song, and enjoy:

Next, if you are really into this, check out the [interview with Billy Zabka](http://retrocrush.com/archive2007/zabka/index.html) who played Johnny.

Well, I’ve just come across a site that contains excellent scientific explanations of traffic jams, how they can be seen on a macro level as a scientific phenomenon, but most importantly, how a single person can have a positive effect on the entire flow of traffic.

In a nutshell, the key is to leave plenty of space between you and the car in front of you and actually encourage people to merge or cut in front of you. If that happens, fall back from that car and repeat the process. It will have a positive effect on the whole traffic flow and if you can keep a consistent speed without all the stop-start that so often happens in traffic.

It made for really interesting reading, so check it out here.