The Living Camera
When he was 11, he drew a perfect aerial view of London after only one helicopter ride. Watch Stephen Wiltshire draw a 5 foot panorama of Rome:
Add comment May 14th, 2008
Posts filed under 'Random'
Live in Edwardian Luxury (home for sale)
SOLD!
As my other half correctly mentioned in the comments, we’ve now sold this house. We did it without the use of an agent and saved ourselves an estimated AU$10,000 in commission alone.
If you’re looking to sell your house with the help of an agent though, look for one that follows Jenman’s principles in ethical selling. The Jake referred to in the comments is a lovely English chap working in Melbourne, Australia, for Lewis Realty, who are one such agency.
The original post follows:
Would you like to live in a piece of Edwardian history in Brunswick West? Tall ceilings, large rooms and windows, timber floors and corridor walls, double brick, fully renovated, and even though it’s a unit, you can’t see into your neighbour’s bathroom while you’re doing the washing up!
If you have a green streak in you, it’s already Moreland Council Energy Foundation star rated, has a basic grey water system in place, the brand new roof feeds into a 1,000 litre tank rigged up to water the veggie patch in the garden, has a solar hot water system that works about 80% of the year. Amongst the other herbs, fruits and vegetables, the garden has an apple and avocado tree growing, and you can see the very well established passionfruit tree enveloping the fence in the photo.
It’s also got an HD antenna, space for two cars, a shed and pushbike shelter in the read garden. You get about 180sqm of land of which about 100sqm is house. Cyclists and walkers can jump onto the Moonee Pond trail at the back; there’s a bus stop across the road, two tram lines (55 and 59) within 800m, Puckle St (Moonee Ponds) 2kms, and it’s close to the CityLink (though you can’t really hear it!).
We’ve got it listed on domain.com.au. If you’re interested, drop me a line or turn up for one of the scheduled open for inspection.
3 comments April 20th, 2008
Howard and Rudd get on just fine!
Who says Howard and Rudd don’t get along? Google’s 2007 Australian Federal Election site allows you to view Australian election content in Google Maps.
The most useful information comes when you zoom in to see what the politicians are up to, and as you can see from these screen shotlets.
Unfortunately I can’t seem to get a link to the google maps that work with the electoral overlay, so here’s how to see them for yourself. Head to the Google Maps with Australian Election content page and:
Parliament
Enter “Parliament” in the “My postcode or address:” box in the left column, and switch to satellite mode (button at top right of map). Zoom in to the second highest zoom level.
Beach
Enter “Queen Elizabeth Drive Bondi Beach” in the “My postcode or address:” box in the left column, and switch to satellite mode (button at top right of map). Zoom in to the second highest zoom level.
In the small box to the bottom right of the map, double click just below the “b” of “Elizabeth” - if you don’t see Johny and Kev, try scrolling a little further down and right.
More
I’ve been reliably informed that there are another 6 “easter eggs” hidden around Seaworld on the Gold Coast, Tanunda in Adelaide, a well known Melbourne sporting venue, near Barrack St Jetty in Perth, near Mandorah in Darwin and near the Botanic Gardens in Hobart.
Can you find them? Add a comment!
4 comments November 9th, 2007
A little respect (just a little bit)
In my wildest dreams, I would not have imagined that the most popular post on my site would have been Why I Don’t Want Kids!
I wrote the post to address the not-too-uncommon opinion my friends have that either Sandrine or I are broody, or that we should have kids despite our opinion.
After finally approving a number of new comments on the original post, I noticed that I still hadn’t addressed Toni’s comment from last year! I would like to address them in this post, and digress from kids to respect.
Toni said that by not having children, I’m not allowing myself to mature myself in a unique way. Well, I’m of the opinion that there are many ways to mature myself. Traveling the world is a great way to meet new people and cultures. Volunteering your time for a good cause is a great way of giving back to society and helping those that are less fortunate or going through rough times. Those are just two activities that will “make you a better person”, and while I agree they, along with having children, are not mutually exclusive, it’s a matter of balance - you can’t do everything in life.
That said, I do not abstain from interacting with children. They are (mostly) beautiful beings. They are like small adults. They have opinions (some of them not all that wacky). Watching them learn is amazing. Having them teach you something is even more amazing. I love kids to bits, I just don’t want my own.
Toni also said: “if everyone thought like you there would be no you to enjoy life”. Well just think, if everyone thought like me, there would be no politicians, public health service, telephone repair people, cooks. There would be a world of software developers who all wish to pay off their mortgage and then go traveling, buy some land near a beach, build their own house and be self sufficient. There would be no project managers to direct those developers and there would be no clients to buy the software.
Thank god not everyone’s like me.
I respect Toni’s opinion that everyone should have kids. I respect it, but I completely and utterly disagree with it. Everyone’s different. I’m not telling anyone not to have kids. I would like Toni to respect my decision, but I don’t expect him/her to.
6 comments September 27th, 2007
How to reduce the volume of comment spam by 30-50%
Richard was kind enough to offer his assistance in reducing comment spam on my site by 30-50%. He obviously doesn’t read my blog much, or he’d notice I don’t actually have a problem with comment spam, or perhaps he targeted me because a reduction of 30-50% of zero spam is an extremely achievable result. Or perhaps, he’s spamming and doesn’t even know he’s contacted me.
But I have to admit - his technique to help reduce spam is ingenious!
I know a lot of spammers and I will ask them not to post on your site.
Genius, I tell you. Pure genius!
1 comment September 6th, 2007