Read Today: Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

I finished reading this book today.

At the BookShelf

Treasure Island was the first major novel of Robert Louis Stevenson. It was first published in 1883 and has remained a much-loved book. First penned as a story for boys, it was as a young boy that I first came across Treasure Island. It was the first real book that I ever read – certainly of my own choice. If I remember correctly, the copy I had was a small book, not much bigger than my hand and illustrated throughout. The illustrations weren’t coloured as such, but I think I may have started to ‘colour them in’ as I read the story several times. The name of the ship, ‘Hispaniola,’ came back to me in one of my first compositions at school. In that early attempt at writing I wrote a story about piracy and a ship called the Hispaniola. I believe I was written into the story, along…

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Blackbutt Reserve

Since I was unable to visit Gap Creek Falls the other day, I decided I might pop in to have a look at the new animal enclosures at Blackbutt Reserve near Newcastle. I will say straight off the bat that I do have something of a prejudice against Blackbutt Reserve, as I see the place as nothing like a natural bush setting, it being far too ‘corrupted’ by human activity, weeds and the like. Having said that it is a good place for a family or group outing/event. It certainly has its place, but it is not a true nature reserve (in my opinion).

ABOVE: Visitor Centre

I do think that some well designed animal and bird enclosures at Blackbutt could lift the value of the reserve dramatically and make it a really great place for families, especially young families. There are opportunities for educational visits for kids, possible environmental activities and the like there. So the potential is certainly there for Blackbutt.

The enclosures of my youth are giving way to those that are much better and up to a more modern standard, which is great to see. Certainly the improvements I saw are great and some of them are outstanding. The Quoll enclosure, with nocturnal habitat viewing was brilliant. Some of the other enclosures are getting there also, though I was disappointed with the size of some of the aviaries and poor vegetation choices they appeared to have. They didn’t look to great for the birds, which I think is not a good look. Still, they are a major improvement on what had been there before.

Some of the other enclosures for snakes and amphibians were really good also I have to say and overall the place is going ahead and improving all of the time. So I think it has a place into the future, if it can continue to improve along the way. Just some thoughts…

ABOVE LEFT: Modern Enclosures  ABOVE RIGHT: Koala BELOW: Nocturnal Quoll Enclosure

The Wilderness Downtown: A Google Chrome Masterpiece

Now this is something special from the Google team of developers. It is called ‘The Wilderness Downtown’ and is a collaboration between Chris Milk, Google and Arcade Fire (Band). It brings together a number of web technologies including HTML 5, Google Maps and Google Street View. It is something to experience and could well be a look to the future of the World Wide Web.

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

Namo Web Editor

I used to use Windows Live Writer to update my various Blogs. I found it to be a very useful application/tool. However, as the number of posts in my Blog grew, I found that the software slowed down dramatically and it also began to play up on a very regular basis. Eventually I decided I needed to try something different. This process has interrupted my Blog posting for months and I have now settled on using the same software I use to maintain my various other websites – Namo Web Editor.

I use Namo Web Editor 2006 on my Windows 7 lap top without a problem and feel I have no need to upgrade to the latest version. However, I suspect that at some point I will probably do so and will very happily pay to do so. I believe that Namo Web Editor is a brilliant product and very easy to use.

To post to my WordPress Blogs, all I do is copy the HTML code and paste it into the HTML editor in my WordPress dashboard. On the dashboard I input the various post categories and tags, as well as set the time for my post (often posting for the future). This way I get my Blog post to look exactly as I wish it to look – especially given that I prefer a fully justified paragraph format.

Visit Namo Web Editor at:

http://www.namo.com/main/?skin=productdetail_webeditor.html

PS: I wasn’t paid to advertise or comment on this product – I use it and love it.

Rollyo: Create Your Own Search Engine

If you have a website and would like to create a search engine just for it, you can use Google of course, or you can use Rollyo. But more than that, with Rollyo you can add whatever sites you like to the search engine. This is a great little idea which I intend to use in the future (when I get around to doing so).

Check it out at:

http://rollyo.com/index.html

A Walk along the Beach

I decided to go for a walk along the beach today. I wasn’t feeling too well and thought the fresh air and cool breeze along the beach might be just the tonic – and it worked. So perhaps this is something to try in the future when I feel a little unwell.

For more pictures of my walk and the beautiful coastal scenery of Ocean Beach at Hawks Nest visit:

Myall Lakes National Park – Yacaaba Walking Track