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.