See What to see

"The Kimberley : tierra de ma alma : land of my soul" by Hugh Brown
The Kimberley is a land of deep rivers and gorges, vast ruddy landscapes, from the semi-tropical islands, and superlative ranges, to wild waterfalls and geological marvels. This photographic odyssey covers Broome and the coast, Derby and the Gibb River, Fitzroy Crossing and Halls Creek, Wyndham and Kununurra, and the national parks.

Still in Detroit

People have been calling Detroit "the motor city" or "Motown" for years, as along with Henry Ford most car companies were based there - Ford, Studebaker Packard Motors, Fisher Body Plant, Uniroyal Tire Plant, Chrysler's Dodge Main complex, & General Motors Cadillac Plant. Now after its heyday these buildings are abandoned, taken-over or demolished.

The remains of Henry Ford's Model T Automobile Plant. Built in 1909, it once produced 1000 "Tin Lizzies" a day. In its last days of vehicle manufacturing, it produced Ford tractors. It ceased production in the 1970's, and is now a shopping mall.

The immensity of the Packard Motors ruin site defies photography. This panoramic image shows only about twenty per cent of the site, from across one of the huge parking lots that was once filled by cars of its employees. Partially torn down in 2000, a law suit has held up its full demolition.

It wasn't just the manufacturing industry that suffered in Detroit.

The lavish Michigan Theater, capable of seating 4050 people. The demise of this once mighty movie theater arose, in large part, from its inability to compete with the newly emerging suburban movie theaters and their acres of free parking. So now its auditorium is itself a carpark.

Even the humble library building succumb...

The Magnus Butzel Branch Library (demolished May 1998) serviced a bygone neighbourhood in an area of Detroit known as Poletown after the Polish immigrants who populated it and supplied the labour for the Dodge company.

The collapsing six story section of the J. L. Hudson Department store during its 1998 implosion.

These photos and more at http://www.detroityes.com/news/071014/601pics/101.htm

Abandoned in America

From factories and prisons to offices complexes and hospitals, there are amazing abandonments all over the world; elegant, impressive derelict structures located in the heart of major cities that are decades or even centuries old.

Detroit’s Michigan Central Station

An example of U.S. urban decay is Detroit's abandoned train station, the Michigan Central Station. Most of the interior has fallen victim to 'urban miners' who break in to steal any stone accents, wire and even copper tubing and bricks to sell as scrap. Photos are from SeeDetroit.com

The station was opened in 1913 and closed in 1988. Its future now remains uncertain.

The building has to be at least 17-18 stories high. Its architectural grandeur is still evident (at least in the photo above) the masonry work on the eaves, columns and balustrades.

The interior is massively proportioned, especially here with its high vaulted ceilings, columns and arches. For an idea of size - there's a distant doorway in the centre of the shot. Apparently the upper floors were never used.

Hidden labyrinthine realms

I do get a range of books passing my desk, this is one that coincides with some of the searches I've been following on Del.icio.us.

"Beneath the metropolis : the secret lives of cities" by Alex Marshall, investigates how geological features; archaeological remnants of past civilisations; and layered networks transporting water, electricty and people have shaped cities. The obvious examples are -New York's subways or the catacombs of Rome, less well-known are Mao's secret tunnel network under Beijing, or the depleted acquifer under Mexico City. There is even a section on Sydney's underground. Sydney has the Harbour Tunnel, the Cross City Tunnel, the Southern Railway Tunnel, Busby's Bore and the Subway. Sydney also has "Drainers" clandestine underground explorers dedicated to exploring, often illegally, the myriad underground spaces beneath the city.

Sydney's Cave Clan inside one of the city's sewers

More on the secret lives of cities in further posts.

Catch some air

From Lonely Planet's feed Tied of skiing? Dab hand at snowboarding? Wondering what to do next? Well wonder no more, the next big craze to hit the slopes this year is airboarding. Speed-freaks tired of carving up the slopes on two legs have taken to hurling themselves off mountain slopes on an airboard - (that's a large inflatable lilo to you and me!) actually a 4ft inflatable sledge with hard runners underneath. It can reach speeds of up to 80mph, although stopping is somewhat harder - there are no breaks so short of hurling yourself sideways into a skidding halt you best just pray for a soft landing. Unsurprisingly, skiers and snowboarders are none-too-keen on sharing their slopes with such hazardous neighbours. Now I know what to do for my next holiday! :)

More photo hosting

I'm trialling photobucket, which I first came across back in November. It allows for bulk uploads (100 at a time) of photos. You can make avatars, slideshows etc with a variety of features/styles, set to music etc., more creativity than I found with the Animoto product, plus it can be embedded in your blog or web page.
Here's my first slideshow, I'll fiddle with music and other features when I get a chance.

Unshelved strip

Famous Five

Believe it or not - but Enid Blyton's Famous Five have been reunited as middle aged adults in a yet to be written mystery series for television. Which actors and actresses would you choose to play Julian, Dick, Anne and George?

More misery

1. New York mining disaster 1941 - Bee Gees (the Ballarat mine cave-in just occured)
2. I was only 19 - Redgum and just about any of Redgum's social conscious songs - Killing floor, Gladstone Pier, etc.
3. Likewise Blue sky mine -Midnight Oil or Beds are burning and more.
4. Hotel California - Eagles or The last resort or Desperado
5. Space oddity - David Bowie & Rocket man - Elton John

6. Nikita - Elton John
7. Saltwater - Julian Lennon
8. Deadman's Curve - Jan & Dean
9. City of soul - Eurogliders
10. Allentown - Billy Joel or Goodnight Saigon

Lonely Planet everyone's favourite guides

In October the British Sunday Mirror newspaper revealed that the 1994 edition of Lonely Planet's "Middle East guide" had been used for planning the Iraq invasion. Former American ambassador Barbara Bodine, who was given the job of helping to reconstruct Iraq, said: "It is a great guide book, but it should not be the basis of an occupation", particularly since they used the wrong edition of the book. Co-founder of Lonely Planet - Tony Wheeler admited "our books sometimes get used in ways I don't approve of".

Weeded stock

Staff keep wondering how to sell or off-load weeded stock, here is the answer, at least from one ingenious individual

Merry melodies

Must admit that it was harder to find a list of happy (happy not just love songs) songs than it was to think of depressing ones. What does that say?
Here is a list of what I consider to be cheery/happy/sing-along-with songs:
Yellow submarine - Beatles thought these characters were cute, or All you need is love etc.
Wake me up before you go-go - Wham
Is this love - Bob Marley or One love
Time warp - Rocky Horror
Don't worry, be happy - Bobby McFerrin
You are the sunshine of my life - Stevie Wonder
Good vibrations - Beach Boys and just about any Beach Boys song
If you're going to San Francisco - Scott McKenzie
Push-bike song - Mixtures try doing this in Melbourne now-days
I am Australian - Seekers ending with something patriotic and uplifting!

Melodic misery

The new book "I hate myself and want to die : the 52 most depressing songs you've ever heard" by Tom Reynolds, details what Tom considers songs 'I don't want to remember, but am unable to forget'. The book has already evoked argument here, on what is a depressing song (The 'Edmund Fitzgerald' gets another run).


I agree with some:
At seventeen - Janis Ian includes her explanation of the song
The river - Bruce Springsteen though I consider "Glory Days" sad too, to say nothing for "The streets of Philadelphia"
The Rose - Bette Midler is sad while the crosses on the video more so, the words are even written on a gravestone in Horsham cemetery
In the year 2525 - Zager & Evans
Comfortably numb - Pink Floyd a gloomy and gross filmclip.

But what about these ten not making the list -
Ballad of Lucy Jordan - Marianne Faithfull sad for Lucy and Marianne both
Hallelujah - Jeff Buckley more poignant because he drowned aged 31 a couple of years after this.
Brothers in arms - Dire Straits
I don't like Mondays - Boomtown Rats
Tears in heaven - Eric Clapton or this Choirboys version
Don't know why - Norah Jones any soulful jazz/blues tune really
Everybody hurts - REM the filmclip doesn't help
Funeral for a friend/Love lies bleeding - Elton John, or "Song for Guy"
Never tear us apart - INXS for Michael Hutchence, and Prague & the gravestones.
A tale they won't believe - Weddings Parties Anything looked for "Infanticide of Marie Farrar" but couldn't find it, but cannibalism isn't much better.
Ooopps make that 11 there's Where the wild roses grow - Nick Cave & Kylie

Before any suicidal tendencies emerge listen to Always look on the bright side of life - Monty Python it's not all bad!

Will endeavour to find some happy music next.

#23 Finis - So long and thanks for all the fish

Even though I started as a Second Rower, I could still pace myself. I found my:
Favorite discoveries -flickr/image generators - is it a visual thing? I've tried to incorporate images into most of my posts.
Lifelong learning goals - using feeds is ongoing, I can keep abreast of new posts/articles/news without having to access a range of sites to check if there's anything new.
Unexpected outcomes - Video & podcasts - I had a warped view of YouTube, while you can get lost/diverted browsing, it isn't as throw-away as the hype led me to believe.
Do differently to improve format or concept - As I said, liked the self-paced yet structured weekly format, would like to have seen more inter-relationship between the participants, at least in this organisation - discussing how people went about things the positives as well as the problems, more a group thing. Did appreciate the time this would have taken out of Lynette & Leslie's schedules, thanks to them and Yarra Plenty - glad I didn't have to co-ordinate it.
I discovered I prefer using Blogger to Wordpress, am going to return to some of the sites I've discovered during the different activities and spend more time delving deeper.
I plan to keep posting to the blog - the weird/wonderful,quirky items which pass my desk, the odd book review, etc, and hope that others continue too, it would be a shame to forget/lose what we've achieved.

#22 Audiobooks

I had previously looked at Netlibrary - in relation to ebook subscriptions, and had also heard of Overdrive.

Checking out Project Gutenberg's audio ebook collection, I had a listen to Sherlock Holmes (with an English voice thankfully). I feel they need the old fashioned chapters etc to let you know where you are, found this with talking books onMP3 where the whole disc is one long track with no breaks.

I'm 'watching' Bolinda's download developments.

Like the digital downloads from the view - no scratched discs and chewed tapes!

#21 Podcasts

I added the RSS feed of Heroes of Science Fiction and Fantasy to my account. Using podcasts for book reading & storytelling is the first library area which springs to mind, as well as invited speakers (could have done a podcast last night of Dianne Reilly presenting "Travelling Treasures")

Lazarus Diary

More YouTube

Synchronicity again, following up on the Gordon Lightfoot song -'Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald', I found a couple of compelling clips on YouTube set to the song.

#20 YouTube

Having not had a serious look at YouTube the publicity seemingly portrays it to be teenage stunts and recently political broadcasts.
Yep there's certainly heaps of video clips to choose from. I chose a short video to minimise the download speed. I normally download with the sound turned down and then choose replay with the sound up, to get over that initial jerking stop-start problem.

#19 2.0 Awards

Checking out the awards, and looking at the Mapping category, and the winner Wayfaring - it uses GoggleMaps and has both map & satellite - when I stumbled upon "Great Lakes Ship Wrecks" (it's all serendipity!), so then I wanted to find the Edmund Fitzgerald ('cos of the Gordon Lightfoot song) it had a description in the entry: over 1,ooo ships have been lost in the Great Lakes & at the time, 1975, it was the worst. There's a site to the wreck

Also someone had put in the location of all the libraries in South East Los Angeles. Sites like this would be a boon to all those GPS users and Geo-cache players.

Liked the star ratings for content & usability etc on the nominees.

#18 Zoho

Wrote just a couple of sentences (No shortcuts) in ZohoWriter, and trialled as many of the buttons as I could. Would be good for blog posts with more button options than available to Blogger.

Also spent ages fiddling with images in ZohoWriter and Show, I think

1. I shouldn't have been as ambitious to try and create a slideshow (it worked but took too long to load)

2. I prefer Microsoft to manipulate images (at least it has an Undo button) easier to resize and move.

No shortcuts

"No shortcuts"

Have just finished Ed Viesturs' No shortcuts to the top - climbing the world's 14 highest peaks and I'm impressed by his physiology - Ed has managed to reach all the mountains over 8,000 metres without resorting to using oxygen.

His website is Ed Viesturs

#17 PBwiki

Added a comment in the Favourites to the PB Wiki, feel it is lost among all the entries there.
Then added my blog url to the Wimmera entry. Our logo does make us stand out from the masses.

#16 Wikis

Like most people I was familiar with Wikipedia - the site to go to for a plain/practical explanations of entries; the place to go to add your own encylopedic entry about your town, your school - knowing that others will see/find your work (and reputedly correct wrong info/assumptions within days).
Obviously wikis are the salvation for book reviews/guides and the like - put up your opinions/thoughts on a book and others read it and add to it - great word-of-mouth. However I believe they need to have sufficient content prior to being launched (2-3 books in a category/list do not a wiki make).
We all collect little pieces of information and all choose to file them away differently (in their head, vertical file, odds slips of paper, etc.). The combination of ease and speed of publishing content on a wiki would allow groups or teams to share their findings and information in 2-way system - adding and obtaining information, especially in a regional/geographically isolated situation. A wiki could be used as the new version of the 'New York Public Library Desk Reference' - a ready reference database for frequently asked questions.

#15 Library 2.0

In the rush to embrace these new technologies, we mustn't alienate those stalwart users who are comfortable with our traditional role - need to get the mix right and be open and relevant to both poles of thought.

The SLV can physically house both the Domed Reading Room and Experimedia alongside one another.

Traditional, libraries were the ones uniquely placed to provide books, now as the advertising says 2.0 can be everywhere and anywhere - people are not reliant on the library (unless accessing it via our PCs). We just need to exploit our areas of expertise. 2.0 is another format to add to the range of formats we've adopted over the years.

From my "treasures of the SLV"

#14 Technorati

Again the sheer size and number of blogs out there is awesome.
Technorati searching on Library 2.0, and the mention of library long tail caught my eye, it took me to a conference reference by a blogger who calls himself a bibliophile.
Is it that someone with an explanatory name & description to their blog is more likely to be visited or are just the tags used the key to quipping someone else's interest?
Was also confronted by more foreign language posts here than in any of the other applications so far.

#13 Del.icio.us

I can see the benefits of Del.icio.us over Bookmarks/Favourites, as you can choose any number of access points via tagging, instead of thinking which Folder would best describe/suit a particular site and then being in the same frame-of-mind later to remember where you "filed" it.
It is more of a scatter-gun approach, but has added synchronicity.

Created an account and added a cloud of tags to my blog.

#12 Rollyo

Rollyo has to better than just Goggling, but is it just like canned searches? only in real-time.

I've created a search roll "light stations" adding a number of sites to it, so if you want to find somewhere really different to stay or some specky art works - check out the Sites searched section!

#11 Library Thing

So far I've a small but growing collection of books on LibraryThing at My Library
Have I catalogued anything - no.

Added the National Library of Australia to my Search group, to get an Australian flavour.

Is the book in my library that has 5068 members any better or more worthy than the one that has only 4?

#10 Image generators

A wonderful opportunity to just play and have fun, I started off with a really simple exercise at http://cherubs.signgenerator.net/

then a bit of library street art, unfortunately you're unable to choose upper/lower case, guess that's part of the whole graffiti ethos.

had another romp with mosaics using http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ this time with just a few of my photos

finally a video at this address Music to grow to again thwarted from choosing which of my photos have which effects.

#9 Feeds

I found the sheer scope of news and blog feeds astounding - searching 50 million blogs!

However the ability to set up feeds that can perform 'watches' on specific words and/or phrases is impressive and advantageous.

Checked out and added feeds to my Bloglines account including some library related ones - Librarian's Internet Index, one I'd bookmarked previously, Unshelved a comic strip about a library, really loved their T-shirt range, and the library weblog Library Stuff. See "My Blogroll".

#8 RSS

I guess all the effort is in the setting up of RSS feeds, having done that it saves the trouble of individually checking sites to see if there have been any developments, especially useful for locations which appear to have spurts of activity.

Having activated a Bloglines account, I went trawling for sites with feeds. After visiting some sites which I felt would/should have this facility, but didn't, I added the ABC's TV guide, Lonely Planet Travel Blog (which had a bit on the Californian fires - so I saw the benefit of RSS imediately).

#7 Technology

I guess time is the one aspect of technology I've noticed. Terms like 'time rich' and 'time poor' have been created to express recent situations people find themselves in.

Time has been important through history, long before the 8 hours work, 8 hours recreation, 8 hours rest. Computers and their related technology were heralded as massive time-savers, lately some are using the term time-wasters.

From Fritz Lang's movie - Metropolis

From the library operation perspective, in pre-computerisation days huge amounts of time was spent shuffling paper and card: issuing & returning, cataloguing & filing, sending letters and overdues. Now a loan is just a swipe of a barcode by staff or patrons themselves, catalogues and searching are generally online, and overdues direct to email boxes, et cetera et cetera.

The tools themselves like databases, e-journals, Web 2.0 and Library 2.0 expand the field even further. Libraries can now undertake a whole range of operations they could not conceive a scant few years ago, and offer a plethora of services to complement their stock and trade.

Where to from here?

#6 More flickr fun

I can see why people can spend soooo much time playing with these toys (read tools).

It's also heaps easier to manipulate artwork or publishing copy, try different styles, etc. with these applications.

Here I've used a Mark Cross painting and composed a movie poster around it, using http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ - it's sure to be a box-office hit!

#5 Flickr

I could spend ages looking at different people's photos on flickr, some images are really well composed/thought out - it does give you ideas. What amazed me was the sheer number of photos assembled!



I chose to construct a photographic mosaic of flickr images http://www.mosaickr.com/ the only thing I'd do differently next time would by to de-select the images I didn't want from the random list rather than select the 200 plus individually.

Grass trees

Xanthorrhoea australis (grass trees) in flower
Originally uploaded by flipsockgrrl

I've always admired the photographic symmetry of grass trees, but I found this photo even more impressive.
The spot is in the Brisbane Ranges and was burnt in the Yanakie fires in October 2006.It shows the restorative power of the grass trees and bracken fern, the flower spikes are particularly numerous and large.

A small beginning

My first posting to the blog.
I believe the mantra - Don't be afraid to take a big step if one is indicated, as you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps.
So this will be my giant leap into the sphere of Library 2.0 and all it portents.