This is literally a place to “play”…which is why it’s called “the sandbox”. [Windows version only]
Petey isn’t Milton Berle or Jay Leno, but he does know a few jokes. Click the “Tell a joke” button to hear one from his incredibly small repertoire. Click the “Tip of the day” button to hear an interesting birding fact – you never know what Petey will come up with.
You can also type or paste any text you want into the Sandbox box and click the “Speak” button to hear Petey read it to you. Go ahead, copy your email messages here and let Petey read them aloud. You can even copy entire articles from The Birder’s Handbook and paste them here for Petey to read. Or type in a message for the next person who will walk into the room and let Petey greet them by name. Petey doesn’t like to have his beak washed out with soap, so don’t type anything naughty!
The Show Petey/Hide Petey buttons will make Petey fly in or out depending on what the button says. However, you don’t have to ask for Petey to show up to say something…he will show up anyway!
Really funky stuff to try in the sandbox…
You can make Petey whisper.
Type: \chr=”whisper”\ before the text. Type \chr=”normal”\ to return to his normal voice.
Petey has trouble with some words. You can make Petey say something phonetically but have the words in the balloon appear normal.
Type: \map=”wild birds dot com”=”wildbirds.com”\ or
Type: \map=”Nice bird”=”Bad bird”\
Petey will say the first phrase but display the second phrase.
You can make Petey emphasize a single word.
Type: \emp\ before the word.
You can give Petey more emotion in his voice by ending a sentence with an exclamation mark rather than a period.
One final thing…. Petey asks that you “Please keep your cat out of my sandbox.”