#48 Free music

This theme sounded great - go to music.download.com and find songs with a Download Free MP3 option and save it!
Well after about a frustrating hour I'd prefer to pay my money to the online stores and just buy it. I realise that in Australia we won't have the same level of free access, but I had to search and search to find something, and then when I found one, like this track from 'The Librarian' soundtrack, the song wouldn't download, I tried with another 2 songs, same result. I'll just play my LastFM radio station instead. I did notice that free music downloads are revisited with Thing 70, so if I ever get that far we'll see what else is available.

#47 Jam Studio

'This online music factory allows you to create and share songs on the web. You don't have to know much about music to use them. You can even create your own songs without knowing how to play an instrument'.

Though it would help if you at least knew what different chords sound like and which ones it is possible to string together to produce some kind of cacophany, as this task was to create a song on JamStudio, link to it and then blog about the experience. So here's the link (just press the Play button in the Mixer window to start it) which only took a couple of minutes (no hours in a cold garret bashing away on an old piano, which was just as well) and is quiet short. I found the electric guitars tended to take over, so I cut that back a bit. I'm definitely made for listening to not composing music.

#46 Updates

This Thing is an update on the sites we've visited in Learning 2.0 and 2.1, knowing that anything on the Internet can change overnight, (how true - a number of these Things have been a victim of these changes) it listed some developments with Blogger, flickr, RSS, LibraryThing, and others. When I checked it out I found Flickr Places, (which uses geotagged photos to create a page for just about anywhere, and suggested trying something exotic like Vanuatu) which I hadn’t checked out previously. Here are a couple of the Vanuatu flickr places. Unfortunately not as many people have found or added to it as with GoogleMaps which does a similar job.

The exercise was to check up on your favourites sites and see if there have been any changes.
So I went to Del.icio.us, searched on lighthouses and this was the first match Abandoned Russian Polar Nuclear Lighthouses, Wow, of course I clicked on it.
Russian Northern coast is a vast territory inside the Polar Circle. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union decided to build a chain of lighthouses to guide ships around the uninhabited shores. They had to be fully autonomous, so Soviet engineers installed small lightweight atomic reactors to power up these structures. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the unattended automatic lighthouses did it job for some time, but after time they collapsed, mostly as a result of looters hunting for metals like copper and other stuff which were performed by the looters. Disregarding the “Radioactive Danger” signs they broke in and destroyed the equipment and reactors causing all the structures to become radioactively polluted.

I also looked up LibraryThing's Groups, a couple of interesting ones -Librarians who LibraryThing (5734 members) a post of which was what else to recommend to "Twilight" fans, of course it was unnecessary to even use the words Stephenine Meyer in the question. It also linked via a "Fires in Australia" post and books for the victims to Australian LibraryThingers (542 members).

#45 Mind flows

This Thing covers both Flowcharts and Mindmaps, applications used to describe complex relationships or to present a variety of choices and outcomes. We had to choose a flowchart and a mind map) and explore their differences using a real project.

I chose Flowchart.com and mindmeister and have to admit that I got caught up in "beautifying" my flowchart getting graphics and colours rather than concentrating on the content representations.
With mindmeister I got frustrated when it kept giving network problem cannot contact server error messages and still can't get it to embed in this post, so here is the link instead and a very small print copy of my mindmap. Mindmaps are not as linear, more spacial/conceptual than the more old-fashioned flowchart.

Still lighting the way

Still in the same vein, here is possibly the world's smallest lighthouse (excluding all those modern lights on a pole which are proliferating the world).

This lighthouse is at the entrance of the Port of Koror in Palau, and is only slightly larger than its doorway.

And on the subject of mere lights on poles, this entry from the Lighthouses of Australia site - Today an insignificant steel pile with a solar panel on top marks the Gellibrand's Point reef in Port Phillip Bay, without the grandeur of its predecessor the Gellibrand Pile Light.

In 1906, a piled structure was constructed in 32 feet of water. It comprised 33 piles up to 70 feet long driven into the sea bed, 3000 tons of bluestone blocks were placed around the base to stabilise the light.

On the foggy morning of 21 June 1976, the fog horn was not operating, and the pile light was hit by the "Melbourne Trader", a vessel of 7,000 tonnes. The force of the collision snapped the piles at waterline area, the light was sheared off its piles at water level, pushed 20 feet sideways, and was left hanging precariously on the remaining piles. The piles were 70 years old and their diameter had diminished from 2 feet to about 9 inches in the tidal zone.
The engine room and lower deck were submerged and the house and light tower were precariously balanced, threatening to topple over into the water. The light was considered to be on the brink of tumbling into the sea, so Ports & Harbours gave the order to set fire to it on 23 June 1976. The lantern and dome of the light were salvaged, and set up in the maritime museum complex alongside the barque "Polly Woodside".

Lost at sea

The latest WebUrbanist post has combined two of my favourite subjects - abandonments and lighthouses. Lost at sea - 7 beautiful abandoned lighthouses "Lighthouse architecture is captivating, lighthouses have always occupied a special place in storytelling lore. They still serve as beautiful and captivating landmarks. These seven abandoned and inactive lighthouses represent marine history, and stand as beacons to what was."

This pic from the post is of Drum Point Lighthouse, Patuxent River, Maryland. Built in 1883, this screwpile lighthouse was built offshore in ten feet of water. Over the years extensive shoaling has occurred and the light eventually found itself on dry land. The lighthouse was acquired by the Calvert County Historical Society in the 1974 and moved to its present location two miles upriver of the Calvert Marine Museum, where it is open to the public.

The look of the Drum Point light reminiscent of the South Channel Pile Light in Port Phillip Bay. The single-storey octagonal structure, about 9 metres across stands on timber piles in the water, the only one of its kind still intact in Australia. The structure included a living room with a fireplace and chimney, a bedroom with 4 bunks and an inspector's office/store room. Established in 1874, the light operated for 111 years until 1985. The structure quickly deteriorated due to lack of maintenance and vandalism. In 1998, Parks Victoria restored it & returned it on new piles adjacent to the Rye Channel 3kms from its original location.

Also the screwpile design of Drum Point reminded me of the screwpile Cape Jaffa lighthouse which was established in 1872 to protect ships from the treacherous currents that had seen the demise of many ships on the dangerous Margaret Brock Reef offshore from Robe & Kingston. In 1973 the Cape Jaffa light was extinguished, it was decided to dismantle the lighthouse and replace it with a beacon on the platform. The National Trust of South Australia lobbied for the lighthouse to be re-erected on land at Kingston, which took from 1974 to 1976, and it is now a museum.

The lighthouse museum at Kingston

Above the lighthouse on Margaret Brock Reef
Below the platform today home to a bird colony

My only concern with the post was how could you limit it to only seven! There have to be more than Seven Beautiful Abandoned Lighthouses in Australia alone!

Here's a few I've visited






Eddystone Point in Tasmania was built and first exhibited in 1889, like its famous namesake off the English coast Eddystone is an elegant granite tower of 35metres. the Point is also the northern end of the "Bay of fires".









Another classic tower is the Cape du Couedic light on Kangaroo Island, built in 1909 of local quarried stone.









Griffiths Island at Port Fairy. this bluestone tower was built in 1859 on Rabbit Island, which has since joined the larger Griffiths Island.


Cape St George near Jervis Bay, the light was built in 1860, unfortunately about 2kms from where it was planned, so that the light never functioned as intended, though it was lit for 40 years. In 1913 the Navy used the tower for target practice!



Though technically never a lighthouse, Boyds Tower was built by entrepreneur Ben Boyd in 1846 on the southern side of Twofold Bay. It functioned as a lookout tower for whale spotting and was never lit. Built of sandstone BOYD is still etched on the parapet.

#44 Jott

Jott is for sending emails & text messages with your voice while on-the-go. You call Jott, say who the recipient is and then leave a message. Jott converts your voice to text and sends it via email or text message to your contact or group.
You can also connect to Web features such as Twitter & Facebook to communicate/post with your voice, or set-up your appointments on GoogleCalendar.
It was a beta testing site when made part of the Web 2.1 exercise, but like so many other telecommunication services now charges.

#43 Midi files

Midi files (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) are small files that tell a sequencer how to play a particular song, you can change the tempo, the key, even the instruments.
Again, unfortunately the link to the site is no longer current, there are other sequencers on the Net, but all involve installing their programs etc., then downloading the Midi files.
Obviously composing is not my forte, just playing.

Unshelved & holds

#42 GG & Usenet

Google Groups & Usenet are regarded as a hybrid between email and web forums.
I roved up and down lists and delved into a few. It is a bit tragic when some Groups have only one entry a year, and they are full of hope that like minded people will join them.
Like the Net it is also proliferated by adverts or at least posts with a commercial slant, and suggestive titles.

#41 liveMocha

liveMocha is a language site+social networking site. You pick a language you'd like to learn then select the level you'd like to begin with. Your speaking and writing submissions are reviewed by native speakers who will give you tips on how to improve. You can also connect with other users and buddy up in the chatrooms or through video. This site is great for people who don't have time to take a language course but still want that "group" atmosphere.

OK, so our task was to create an account, select a language and take a course. Then blog about the experience - what we liked or didn't like.

The result, well after getting inspired about selecting Gaelic as my language, from a list of 82 languages, I was devastated that there are not any courses to support the language I chose - liveMocha only supports 11 languages!

Closed for ever

The last post dealt with the abandoned small rural school, this one deals with some of the larger schools.

Murtoa Primary School No. 1549.

The first school in Murtoa was a private school built in 1873. The first government school was built, and began classes in 1877, additions were made in the 1880s and 1909.

Poignant reminders the play equipment at Murtoa

In 1933 a wooden infant room was erected separate to the main three-room block. Later a number of portable classrooms were placed on the site.

The primary section was transferred to the Secondary school site in early 2000s and the Duncan-Degenhardt Street site abandoned, fenced off and warned off.

The Moliagil Common School was built in 1872. As a result of the central Victorian gold-rush a community sprang up around Moliagil (the Welcome Stranger - the world's largest alluvial gold nugget measuring 61 cm by 31 cm - was found at nearby Bulldog Gully in 1869).

Built of locally made red bricks the school's first teacher was Thomas Flynn (father of the "Flying Doctor" Rev John Flynn of the Inland).

Dwindling populations caused the school to close in 1970.

Brigid House the Horsham Brigidine Convent was opened on 11th April 1920, and the accompanying St Michael & John's Primary School on the 13th. The impressive brick building has been a convent to the nuns, a boarding school for students, and most recently classrooms for the Primary School. It now stands condemned, due to movement and cracking in the walls, and awaits demolition.

School's out for ever

With the start of the new school year, it's time to consider abandoned schools. Many small rural schools sprang up late 19th century with the increase in population from opening the land up for selection. In fact many localities (Antwerp, Kalkee & Tullyvea, just three) had a church on one corner and the school on another. Now many are gone, marked only by a plaque or stand of trees. Many schools celebrated Arbour Day by planting trees around the perimeter.

Tullyvea school opened on 3.5.1898, a one-room mud brick building also used for entertainment and church services. In June 1932 the Public Works Department tendered out the removal of the Nullan South State School No. 1644 (between Warracknabeal and Minyip) and its re-erection at Tullyvea. This weatherboard building was destroyed by fire in June 1934. School was conducted across the road in the church until the school was rebuilt and opened in June 1935, a shelter shed was added a year later. Fluctuating attendances eventually caused the school to close on 4.3.1953. Plaque “Commemorating the site of the Tullyvea State School no. 3310 1898-1953, erected by past pupils 14.6.1987”.

Tullyvea

Nurcoung South school No. 3157, the first school (a leased room on the farm of J. Buffham) was officially opened on 14th June 1892, it closed in 1904 due to dwindling enrolments. School was re-opened on 13th July 1936 with 11 pupils. Land had been purchased from J. Fuller, the former living quarters were leased for use as a school and parents carted tanks and furniture from the closed Koonik School. In January 1944 a bushfire destroyed part of the buildings without harming the schoolroom itself. Mr Fuller had a house removed to a position on the main road and here school was held until its closure in November 1955. Mrs Marcia Buffham had taught at the school for 14 years, since 1941.

Kalkee school No. 1840. The first school on the site a portable building of drop-log construction with living quarters, was officially opened on 23rd February 1877. It closed in March 1905 due to a small enrolment, then re-opened on 15th of April 1912 (while it was closed 43 rabbits took up residence under the floor). In 1925 when the teacher and 17 children contracted diphtheria (2 fatally) the mouldering disrepair of the building was held partly responsible, (the old school was converted into a shearing shed - pictured) a newly constructed school with attached residence and a 235 sugar gum plantation was opened in 1926. Due to falling numbers it finally closed on 5th December 1993, after 117 years.

Above - The "new" Kalkee school, Below - Riachella

Riachella No. 2674, the first Riachella school opened on 3.8.1885 with 19 pupils, but closed in 1893. The second school (No. 4331) to be called Riachella, opened on 6.1.1929, a single wooden classroom on a corner of the Glenorchy-Marnoo road with the Riachella Tramline road. It closed in December 1954 due to insufficient numbers. Now all that remains is the shed above, a very sad set of tennis courts and a tree plantation, but it is worthy of being included in Google Maps Street View below.