Well, as we all know after seeing the video of the policeman doing circlework in Western Australia, the police arent beyond bending the occasional law one moment, then booking the public for doing even less.

At approximately 9.33am in Melbourne this morning, near Casseldon Place at the corner of Spring and Lonsdale Streets, a Police car appeared to miss its intended stopping point. So, rather than do a U-turn at one of the frequent locations where they can be done, the policeman decided that in the middle of early morning peak hour and with many pedestrians walking to work from nearby Parliament Station, that he would engage reverse, and then reverse backwards, at speed, up Lonsdale street at 30-40kmh over a distance of approximately 30 metres, piling into a woman who was crossing the road.

Despite frantic attempts by other pedestrians to signal the police driver and passenger of the impending collision with a pedestrian, the pedestrian was struck by the back of the car and flew to the ground.

The woman is believed to have been more than 30m from the marked crossing intersection, meaning it is unlikely she can be considered to have been jay-walking and thus contributed to the event. In addition, she also could have been legally crossing from the central parking to the footpath.

itsNbits will be watching closely to see if there is any attempt to blame it on the woman, who had every right to expect to cross the road without a car reversing in to her whilst travelling the wrong way up the road at a reasonably dangerous speed for an unreasonable distance…especially a when driven by a police officer who should have known better.

My 77mm Hoya Pro 1D Circular Polarizer filter (CPL) for my Canon EOS 40D’s 24-105mm lens has just arrived.

The build quality is excellent, as to be expected from one of their pro filters. The unit is very thin, and the manufacturing tolerances spot on, enabling very snug screwing into the lens. A second rim allows the filter to be turned to alter tha polarizing effect (or level/direction). It has a marker on it so that you can determine the amount or direction you have twisted the filter.

The level of polarization is easy to spot through the viewfinder when there is a marked effect. In particular blue skies turn much darker when taking photos offset from the sun.

Today I took some photos in the front and back yard, and cant believe the difference it makes – its staggering!

Click on any of the photos to load larger versions.

In each photo below, the left frame is the normal shot. The right frame is the polarizer turned such that it maximises the polarizing effect. This can, in general, easily be noticed through the viewfinder which allows rapid adjustment of the level of polarizing effect by simply turning the filter bevel in a similar movement as when focussing the camera manually.

The photos were all taken at 90 degrees angle to the sun, which means the polarizing effect is at its strongest.

In the first example, notice the much improved colour of the foliage on the tree. The sky also has a much deeper color, which on the day was closer to the real sky color than the second image. Also, its amazing how vivid the 5 power lines on the top left become – they are near invisible in the second photo.

In the fully polarized image on the left, the sky looks more realistic, and the foliage a much richer green.

The sky and foliage are both much richer. Notice the white coloured plants have significantly more detail. Of most interest to me was the amazing improvement to the visibility and color of the roof and chimney. Amazing.

The sky is richer as are the plants. In addition, the plants have significantly more detail visible.

Must say it makes me cringe.

Horrible Housemates is a new blog that gives us an insight into what its like to share a house with people who probably should live alone in the wilderness.

It reminds me why I never want to share a house again!