Edit: THANKS TO KATIE, we found backups of the podcast files we were missing. Thank you Katie!

This is Sam. I am the producer of the Fibrant Living podcast that Cynthia writes and records.

The lack of download links on Fibrant Living #1, #2, and #3 are my fault.

I thought that Libsyn’s archive was in perpetuity, but it wasn’t.

Now that they’ve done spring cleaning at Libsyn, Fibrant Living podcast #1, #2, #3 are all gone. I have no backed up copies of these podcasts. My hard drive crash in the summer last year, coupled with Cynthia’s laptop death, means that we as a family don’t have any extant copies of these podcasts.

If you have these, please let me know. Comment here, or send me email at bearsgrove@gmail.com.

Thank you very much.

This isn’t where I usually get geeky, but I think this utility might be useful to many readers.

I get notices from the Giveaway of the Day and Game Giveaway Of the Day sites each day as to what they have available that day. They make arrangements with various software publishers to distribute commercial software absolutely free in return for advertising. The catch is that the software must be downloaded and installed within the 24-hour period of the giveaway.

I’ve been watching the site for a year or so, I think, and have downloaded and tried quite a few pieces of software. I’ve never found any malware in any of them, although I believe I’ve read mention of people getting unwanted software installed in a bundle because they didn’t pay enough attention to what they were agreeing to during an install.

Getting back to my point, today’s giveaway is a nifty utility that will magnify a portion of your computer’s screen, enabling you to better make out tiny print or small details. I didn’t have one of these installed on my machine until about nine months ago, and I wouldn’t want to live without it now. There is a free utility built in to Windows, but it isn’t quite as robust as some of the other products on the market. The description for this one says:

Magic Lens Max is a real-time, intuitive and advanced screen magnifier and desktop viewer to zoom, rotate, enhance, view and capture any area of the screen display. With built-in highly optimized resampling and enhancing filters, Magic Lens Max quickly generates high-quality lens view with clarity in various situations. It also lets you viewing in different color mode or through separated color channels.

As I type this, there’s another 22 hours and 55 minutes left to download and install Magic Lens Max. Why not give it a whirl?

(Yes, it’s a Windows app. Aren’t we the only ones who need such crutches?)

Oh - while I don’t find today’s free game offering terribly interesting, I have found some of the games to be very useful distractions on days that involve too much pain to do anything and I can’t focus well enough to read. Popping bubbles or whatever is a perfectly mindless pursuit, and very conducive to zoning out and get my head away from the pain for a bit. I don’t do “twitch” games, or anything that requires a lot of dexterity or is completely tied to speed. If I was that dextrous and/or fast, I’d be doing something more useful than playing computer games.

This is to announce the start of a new podcast network: SHiNe, the Self-Help Podcast Network. SHiNe seeks to collect all the podcasts that are about self-improvement, health and well-being in one place, so that people can find them more easily.

Check out the SHiNe Network at http://shinetwork.com

I was absolutely delighted to receive phone comments from Pila this weekend! I’ll play them in the next podcast.

Pila also asked about how he would go about getting started with doing his own podcast, so I’ll put on my TechnoMom hat and try to answer that here.

I took advantage of my own in-house expert, Sam, who does the The Bear’s Grove, DragonKin, and Bardic Circle podcasts. I know everyone isn’t that lucky, though.

Some of the links here have gone 404. I’ve written a new article on the topic myself, so I’ll just send you there.

Wikipedia’s article on podcasting isn’t a bad place to start, just so you definitely have a solid understanding of the various aspects of podcasting. From there, move on to Make Your First Podcast.

If you have any specific questions after reading those articles, please ask them. If I can’t answer, I’ll ask Sam to do so.

Thanks again for the comments, Pila!

Juliann, of the It Won’t Kill You and Sick and Tired podcasts, kindly let me know that my theme is missing something really important: the link so you can register to comment.

I’ve fixed that major oversight now, and absolutely DO want your comments! Registration just takes a few minutes, and is only required to keep down spam. I don’t have to approve you or anything. The process just makes sure that you’re using a valid email address.

Please go to http://fibrantliving.com/wp-register.php, which is now linked right there at the top of the middle column, next to the current post, register, and tell me what you think!

Actually, you don’t even have to register now

And if you haven’t given Juliann’s podcasts a listen, head over there, too. They are excellent, and she has a lovely, soothing voice.

Embarrassed,
 Cyn