From My Armchair: 4 August 2012

At the BookShelf

I am into my last days of annual leave, so it is doubtful I’ll be able to read anywhere near as much as I have this last week. I’ll probably have the Kindle out at lunch for a bit, so I’ll still be getting some reading in even while I’m at work. The Kindle has certainly made it a lot easier to have good reading material available no matter where I am. Loving the Kindle.

 

Social Networks, Web Applications & Other Tools

Not a lot has happened with the social networks in the book/reading niche over this last week, except that I have been updating Goodreads on a regular basis as to what I am reading, progress and cataloguing the books as I go.

I did do a quick addition to Quotista, which has a lot of potential but doesn’t appear to be being developed any further, which is…

View original post 446 more words

Advertisement

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…

View original post 434 more words

Myall Lakes National Park

It was my first official day of annual leave from work today and of course it had to start with a good sleep-in, which I might add I’m going to try and avoid doing for the entire period of my annual leave – just the first couple of days. I have been extremely tired, so a few sleep-ins will be helpful – for my health and well being you know. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about and agree with me entirely. I take your silence as tacit agreement. Thank you for that.

Once I was up I thought I should do something – so the day wouldn’t be viewed as an entire waste. So a drive to Bulahdelah was on the cards via the Myall Lakes National Park and the Bombah Point Ferry. So that’s what I decided to do, after I thought through a few more possible options for other things to do during my holidays. I have come up with a reasonable list I think – I just need to see them all through now. Hopefully that will happen – just need to keep myself from sleeping-in too often.

So I headed off for my drive through the park, which is only a very short drive from where I live, just on the other side of Hawks Nest.

One of the things you notice when driving through Myall Lakes National Park at the moment is all of the Wattle that is flowering. The Wattle (Acacia) is a native shrub – actually there are many species of Acacia, with the one pictured being Acacia longifolia. Everywhere you look in the national park along the road you see masses of Wattle in flower. With the growing conditions in recent times they all look magnificent.

Of course the Wattle isn’t the only wildflower currently flowering, but it is probably the most prolific of all of the wildflowers at the moment. The Banksia is another very noticeable wildflower that is flowering at the moment and there are several others also.

ABOVE: More Wattle

I spotted some more wildflowers when I stopped at the place known as the ‘Hole in the Wall.’ Hole in the Wall is a picnic area providing views of the coast and Pacific Ocean. It also provides access to the beach. I didn’t head down to the beach, but I did enjoy the view. It is a great spot on the coast here on the Myall Coast.

ABOVE: Banksia Flower BELOW: View from Hole in the Wall

So after Hole in the Wall it was pretty much straight to Bulahdelah, via the Bombah Point Ferry, but that can be tomorrow’s post as I won’t be doing a great deal tomorrow. So until then, enjoy looking at that panoramic shot above.

Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) Browser Game: Land of Destiny

And I’m back (again – I know). For the next couple of days I’ll be posting links to various browser games that I’ve been indulging in (or perhaps, wasting time in). I’m not so much into the shoot-em up type games and/or the SciFi/Fantasy type games that are so popular these days. For some reason I’m not big on all of the Facebook games either – probably because my news feed is full of them (which I block by the way). Anyhow, there will be a few games that I have started to play a bit over the next couple of days.

Land of Destiny is a Massive Multiplayer Online (MMO) browser game. It is a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game in which you are up against thousands of other players building online villages at various levels of development. The game is set in Roman Times and your objective is to quickly build a village and then participate in defensive/offensive strategy/battles. Not only is it necessary to be aware of potential attackers, you also need to contend with the weather (the season changes on a weekly basis and each day the weather can be different). Of course there is a lot more detail to the game than that.

The current online world is coming to an end in early July 2011, so a fresh start is just around the corner. I am using the remaining time to learn the game and develop my strategies for the new gaming world when it arrives.

Play the Game at:
http://www.landofdestiny.com/

 

BookYap: Book Recomendations

I am about to start using a new web application called BookYap. Put simply, BookYap is an application that recommends books based on criteria you enter. There are over 650 000 books in its database, so chances are it will find a book for you.

You can search for a book by using keywords or the filters it has available (based on personality types). By becoming a registered user, the application learns more and more about you and your reading habits, improving the recommendations it makes for you.

Books appear with thumbnails of their covers and book ratings. A brief description appears by hovering over the thumbnail. You are able to interact with the application and associated community by sharing books you have read and your reviews of them. There is connectivity with both Facebook and Twitter also.

You are also able to add books to a reading wishlist if you like. Books can be purchased from Amazon when you choose a book to read.

Visit BookYap at:
http://bookyap.com/

 

Pip.io

Pip.io is an online way of having conversations with family and friends in chat format. Discussions can be either private or public. It is a very useful site which I use with some of my websites. You can join discussions or start your own channels – for free.

http://pip.io

Apsley River: Oxley Wild Rivers National Park

The ‘silly season’ is pretty much over – at least for me anyhow. So now I’m back to Blogging again. I have no hope of catching up on the days I missed, so I’ll just start again from today.

This photo was taken next to Apsley Falls in the Oxley Wild Rivers Natonal Park, New South Wales, Australia. I visited here during my ‘Waterfalls Tour 2010,’ which was my recently completed holiday.

This photo is from the Gorge Rim Walk, which pretty much covers the area from the camping area at Apsley Falls to the actual lookout at Apsley Falls. This photo shows the Apsley River flowing wildly at the base of the Apsley River Gorge.

Chambers of the Black Hand

This photo shows the entrance to the ‘Chambers of the Black Hand’ opal mine and sculpture chambers at Lightning Ridge in New South Wales, Australia. Tomorrow I’ll start to post some photos of the sculptures.

MY NEW HOME???

Removed for privacy reasons – sorry