Fiona L. Woods's Blog, page 392

A New Panzerism

Panzer on bigger is better:

Mom, you should put an extra serving of cat food in my bowl each day.

Soon, really soon, the days will be getting warmer ...

and ...

I can feel the sun coming now.there's nothing better than rolling over on my back and ...

absorbing the strong ways of wonderful sunshine.

And, I figure, if my belly is bigger, I'll absorb more rays.

Oooh! Oooh! Feed me! Feed me!

Lost Sherlock Holmes Short Story Found

Woo Hoo! Lost then and found now!Panzer stopped in at The Telegraph site today. Our kitty reporter found some Sherlock Holmes news there.

According to the post at the site, Walter Elliot found an 80 year old book he had forgotten he had. The small book contains a previously unseen outside Selkirk Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes short story. The story was written to help the people of Selkirk raise money for a new bridge. While not raising as much money as they hoped, the people of the town did get a new bridge.

Panzer says, "There's a link included in the post so you can read the story!"

To read the post and the story, tootle over to Sherlock Holmes

Community Book Exchange in UK Phone Booth Shut Down by Telecom

I could put shelves in here.Panzer went to visit his friends at GalleyCAT today.

Our big kitty explorer couldn't believe what he read in a post by Dianna Dilworth. According to Ms. Dilworth, the people living in the English town of Banbury found an old unused phone booth there. They decided to find a use for it. They added some shelves and turned it into a nice dry place for a book exchange.

But as usually happens when people try to do good things for themselves and their neighbors, big corporations come along and say, "Not so fast!" That's exactly what happened in Banbury. BT (the British Telecom company) came around and told the citizens to remove the books and tear down the shelves, because somebody might get hurt.

Panzer says, "BT is right. One of you humans might drop a paperback on your foot. You humans aren't as agile or as fast as us cats."

To read the post and see what you can do to help Banbury, tootle over to Community Book Exchange in UK Phone Booth Shut Down by Telecom | GalleyCat

Harlequin and Taito Release Interactive Story Application That Offers Users an Immersive Reading... | Business Wire

I want real adventures.Panzer was tootling around in the Catosphere today. He found a news story over at the Business Wire site about publisher Harlequin's new immersive reading experience.

If you're like our big bad kitty reporter, you're saying, "The immersive reading experience? What's that?"

Well, with a little digging and reading, our kitty boy discovered the immersive reading experience can be interesting, fun and even a little creative. Harlequin in conjunction with Taito Corporation developed an application called Harlequin Experience. The app gives readers the ability to choose a character in a Harlequin story and become that character. The reader can then interact with other characters and events in the story.

Panzer says, "Hmmm. I'm not sure if I like their pretend world or not. I could just live my own real life and talk to real people and do real things."

 To read the post, tootle over to Harlequin and Taito Release Interactive Story Application That Offers Users an Immersive Reading... | Business Wire

Characters Murdered On The Game of Thrones Set

You'll be sorry!Panzer got woken up from his nap by a bunch of yowling and hissing and crying. Our big brave kitty explorer hopped in the Panzermobile and hit the Catosphere at warp speed.

It took some interesting cat acrobatics to find the source of all the noise, but with persistence our kitty boy found it at Roger Friedman's Showbiz 411.

And ... Panzer can't believe what Mr. Friedman posted George R. R. Martin said about this coming season's Game of Thrones.

They won't be following Mr. Martin's books as closely as before.

Our poor kitty can barely keep from crying and yowling himself.

Now ... They'll be killing off characters who survive in the books!

Panzer says, "Stop! Don't kill my favorite characters! How can you do that?"

To read the whole post, tootle over to Game of Thrones

Enhanced Ebooks Foothold In The Marketplace

Just sit, listen and watch.Panzer was out in the Catosphere when he ran into a post over at the Publishers' Weekly site. Our big bad kitty boy really did run into the post.

How could our kitty do that? Well, the Panzermobile's navigation system got interfered with by an enhanced ebook.

What's an enhanced ebook, you ask?

Clare Swanson's post at Publishers' Weekly explains enhanced ebooks and the American Sniper ebook in particular. According to Ms. Swanson, an enhanced ebook has additional media features. In the case of Chris Kyle's memoir, American Sniper, there are 12 interviews with him and a video featuring his wife.

Panzer says, "It's like listening to parts of the ebook on the radio or watching it on TV or at the movies."

To read the post, tootle over to enhanced ebooks

A New Panzerism

Panzer on Ownership:

Have you ever noticed that with valuable stuff like your diamond ring, you put more effort into protecting it? I mean, you need a taller fence, more security guards, and a bigger safe for it. And you worry about it all the time.

It turns out you don't own valuable stuff, it owns you.

So, figure this out Einstein:

This kitty is certainly more valuable than your dumb old diamond rock.
Make sense? Think about it.
I'm not your kitty.

You don't own me.

I own you.

Now ... What was that about, "Get off the bed"?

Volunteer For Librivox Audiobooks Recordings

Panzer stopped in at the Librivox site today. Our traveling bad kitty boy found an interesting opportunity for aspiring audiobook performers there.

I could do that.Librivox wants to make all public domain books available as audiobooks on the Internet. To reach that end, they're looking for volunteer readers for their audiobook program. You'll be provided with sections of public domain books to read aloud and record. These recordings will then be disseminated for free distribution back into the public domain. There are no special requirements; just the standard recording software and a microphone.

Panzer says, "It's a win-win for you. You can get experience reading and recording material and you can get your work out there for people to listen to."

To read the information about the volunteer opportunity, tootle over to Librivox

How To Produce A Vlog

Let's get started!Panzer stopped at the ReelSEO site today. My big bad kitty doesn't know much about video, so he went by to see what he could learn.

Our intrepid kitty explorer found a post about how to make a vlog.

"Vlog? What's a vlog?" my little kitty asked.

So, we read Ann Smarty's post.

Turns out, a vlog is a video blog.

According to the post, you get a web cam, a good microphone, software, and go to work.

Panzer says, "I didn't know it was so easy!"

To read the post, tootle over to creating a vlog

Kindle Unlimited Expands to Canada

Expanding again?Panzer was over at The Bookseller site today. He discovered that, according to a post by Felicity Wood, Amazon's Kindle Unlimited (KU) is ready to launch in Canada.

KU was begun to be in direct competition with ebook subscription services like Oyster and Scribd. Readers pay a monthly fee for unlimited reading. Amazon has been slowly expanding the reach of KU from the US to the UK and other countries.

There are currently 175,000 ebooks enrolled in KU. When authors enter their ebooks into the Amazon Select program, they are automatically also entered in KU.

Panzer says, "Always read the fine print in the Terms of Service."

To read the post, tootle over to Kindle Unlimited