Freeway igoogle

I've created my iGoogle home page and added to it the Google Book Search gadget, a Facebook gadget, and the Google Docs and Spreadsheet gadget. I decided to add "Ancient photos of the day" and "This day in history" gadgets to my home page as well.

The Google Map Search gadget has also been added and I used it to plan the route we will take when we travel to Warrnambool for a long weekend. The photo above is of the Proudfoot Boathouse in former times. This National Trust building is on the Hopkins River at Warrnambool and is currently used as a Restaurant. The boathouse is located in a very scenic place on the river and the area is good for kayaking, fishing, or just lazing around on a sunny day.

I enjoyed creating my iGoogle page. It gives people without a lot of computer experience the opportunity to create a page that reflects their interests and that is meaningful to them.

On the rails

This is a book that I found on the Google Book site. It was originally published in 1979 and has also been released as a paperback and in audio format. It is not a full text version but there is enough of the book to make you want to read the whole story in a traditional format. It looks as if a new edition might be released 2008 so it must still have plenty of appeal to readers.

I think Google Books is most useful for accessing historical material that has long since gone out of print.

Dead End

Below is a copy of the document that I created in Google docs. The option of exporting a file to others as a word document is a useful feature. The spreadsheet facility has some handy features which I haven't found in Excel, although I didn't find the help format very helpful when trying to discover how to do something.

20 November 2007
This is the first time that I have used Google docs. I decided to write about climate change because it is very hot today. Global warming seems to be taking off with a vengeance this year. I am not looking forward to the future considering that the present government does not seem to be taking this issue seriously. John Howard's attitude to climate change appears to be somewhat dismissive. His statement last weekend that "the world will not end tomorrow" seems very short sighted and exceedingly selfish. Surely the health and living conditions of all the species that inhabit the planet deserve more thoughtful consideration than this.

Postscript 26 November
It looks as if lots of other voters were not impressed by the Howard view either!

Out and about

I found Google Maps to be a very useful resource. The picture in this blog is of the Caretaker's hut at Kurth Kiln Forest Park. This park is about 10 kilometres from Gembrook and directions are available using the Google Maps website.

Kurth Kiln was named after a Professor E.E. Kurth who designed and patented a kiln which was built to produce charcoal during the Second World War. The charcoal "was used to produce a combustible gas as a substitute for petrol which was heavily rationed during the war." Huts like the one in this picture were initially built to accommodate kiln workers and later on were used to house forestry workers. If you are interested in heritage sites Kurth Kiln is worth a visit. Picnic facilities are available.

Facebook Parade

I've joined Facebook and found some friends. I think Facebook is good for social-networking but seems to be less popular than MySpace with Libraries. Facebook's security system appears to be quite rigorous.

The Melbourne Athenaeum Library has joined Facebook and has Frances O'Brien as a friend. I have some reservations about Frances O'Brien's ability to promote librarianship as a thoughtful, caring and dynamic career path.

My Space Highway

Lots of libraries in the US are using Myspace to involve teenagers in Library activities and to encourage them to use library resources. Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh have their new books for teens listed on Library Thing. There is also has an events page where teens can search for activities organized by the Library that would interest teenagers. Pawtucket Library has also used Myspace to promote its services. It has a "do NOT read any of these books" link as well as a link to "Use the same selected websites as our Librarians".

The Baillieu Library at Melbourne University has a Myspace blog called Art in the Library. This blog has 34 best friends.

Stars

Personal best should be the test.

Down the road

I been looking at some of the blogs in Technorati and found a blog about children's book reviews at Birmingham Public Library. These two books are featured in the current review and look as if they would be good fun to read. I think we should purchase a copy of Library Mouse for our collection.

I've also subscribed to two other blogs in Technorati that I can access via Google Reader. The first one is called ghosts in the machine. This blog contains an item titled "Librarians : best knowledge managers for our new world". The second one is not so serious and is called blogsarefordogs.com. It's not really my sort of blog but contains Songs for Ferdinand. Ferdinand is a story about a bull who loves to sit under a cork tree and smell the flowers. It's a great favourite with kids. I found Technorati rather cumbersome to use. It listed lots of irrelevant blogs when I entered a specific search strategy.

Back on track

This week I subscribed to Google reader and managed to set up a feed reader without too many problems. I subscribed to Food and found an interesting blog in Chocolate and Zucchini

The blog is about a biodynamic garden in France where the vegetables are grown organically. The slideshow in the blog is certainly worth a look. I was particularly taken with the donkey who lives at the garden and I'm sure he's contributed to making heaps of organic compost for the vegetables.

I also subscribed to digg via Google Reader and found a blog called A house shaped like a toilet. I suppose you could say the overall theme of this blog seems to be waste matter! I don't think that I'll be digging in digg very often.

Go back, no through road

A Blogger’s Lament

Every time I start to blog

My mind clouds over in a fog

All my attempts to add a comment

Always seem to end in torment

When I try to add an image

My computer skills show a lack of lineage

When I try to include a link

To the depths I do sink

When 23 Things is over, and I can return to pen and paper

I will celebrate my joy with coffee, cake, song and caper!

Around a bend

I have created an account in Library Thing and have added some book titles that I would like to read to my Library list. Our dogs are cairn terriers so I've chosen books about this breed.

Yesterday we took the dogs out in the car, then for a walk in the bush. Our cairns are very inquisitive dogs and spend lots of time sniffing tussocks of grass and tree trunks, and generally giving us a hard time. The most important thing to do is to wee on special landmarks so that all the other dogs around know that they have been visiting. Our dogs are very territorial and regard any public space as their property. This means that they bark extremely loudly and vigorously at any other dog that they encounter. Both dogs and owners come home exhausted.

Detour

Although preserving and caring for the Australian environment is my major interest I also enjoy caring for our dogs. My two small terriers delight in exploring the extended garden area outside their enclosure. This space is filled with delicious smells, it's a great place to bury bones, and it's a wonderful hunting ground for small dogs who love chasing tiny lizards.

Branching out

This week, with the help of Tony Davies, I created a Flickr account and joined a Flickr group. The group is called Australian flowers - plants - trees and it has some gorgeous photos of Australian native plants.

My picture is from the cover of Australian Plants. It is a photo of some flannel flowers whose botanical name is Actinotus helianthi. Although they are not bright, showy flowers I think the arrangement of the grey and green-tipped velvety sepals is exquisite. I haven't been successful in growing this plant in the garden but have seen it flowering in a fairly dry location in NSW where masses of plants covered a stony roadside embankment.

Moving along

Eucalypts are my favourite trees. They can be majestic, tall trees or dwarf, many-trunked mallees with brilliantly coloured flowers. The trunks can be rough or smooth, twisted or straight, tidy or untidy. The eucalypt forests of temporate Australia provide food and shelter for a myriad of animals. Possums, gliders, and koalas live and feed in these trees. Bees and other insects depend on the trees for nectar and pollen from the flowers, and ants gather the seeds which have fallen from the gumnuts. Spiders find homes under the bark. Reptiles, like small skinks and the larger goanna, use the trees and the dead branches on the ground under the trees as foraging sites and hiding places. Small and large birds find food, shelter, and nesting sites in the eucalypt trees. Humans are greatly dependent on these forests for timber, firewood, recreation, and spiritual nourishment.

Progress

After a temporary set back my 23 Things blog is now on the road and my journey into blogland has begun. These magnificent eucalypt trees are found in the forests of Central Victoria. The tall, straight trunks and colourful ribbons of bark are quite wonderful. Unfortunately eucalypt forests like these are being extensively logged throughout Australia. As a result water catchment areas are being damaged and degraded, native plants are disappearing, and native animals are under threat of extinction. We need to do everything we can to protect these unique forests.

In the beginning

Hi All

This is my first blog in 23 things. It has been a rather inauspicious start as I have failed to add a picture to my blog and have now decided to leave it until another day.