#long post #I didn’t actually laugh aloud but it still amused me enough to reblog #I mostly disagree with the snake one #petting ambassador snakes usually goes well #(there was that one snake who tried to go naughty-tentacle on me) #(but that was mostly just kind of awkward rather than demonic) #(and the others have all been nice) #nsfw?
SD cards turn out to be a lot more complicated on Android 6.0 than they were on 4.2, so it took longer than I thought it would, but I’ve finished the transfer. All of my stuff (give or take a weather app) is on my new phone, and my old phone is now officially Mom’s.
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Re: Internet access, it remains to be seen how much can be done with option 1–I might still use it at least partially–but it’s looking like the primary answer is going to be option 3.
Mom was remarkably agreeable to switching to my old smartphone as her primary cell phone, under two conditions: that nobody expects her to use the smartphone to anywhere near its full functionality (she doesn’t want to have to deal with getting to know a new kind of computer, at least not beyond a shallow level), and that I figure out a reasonably practical way for her to carry it around with her (she currently carries her phone in a flip-phone-sized pouch in her backpack).
(Dad suggested sticking her SIM card into a smartphone when I wanted to use data, then putting it back in the flip phone afterward for routine use. I said I didn’t think flip phones had removable SIM cards. Turns out the real answer is in between: *modern* flip phones have removable SIM cards, but her phone is so old it predates PC Mobile flip phones becoming the type of phone that has a removable SIM. In order to switch a SIM card back and forth, she’d need to get a new flip phone; if she’s going to change primary phones anyway, why spend money on an additional phone when we have a perfectly good smartphone available?)
It seems we can’t get a monthly or yearly graph of how much phone credit she’s actually using, but judging from the amount of credit she currently has built up, over the six years she’s had her account she’s used an average of ~$70/year. Put another way: if the average usage rate holds, we could buy a $10/month basic data plan May – October and not run out of spare credit for about 6 years. That’s long enough to be getting on with; hell, for all I know, I’ll have a need for my own phone plan by then.
I already borrow Mom’s phone on those occasions I need access to the cell infrastructure. This will just be an extension of that.
I’m not going to take any action on obtaining a data plan until it gets close to spring. If all goes well, Mom will keep her old flip phone for the rest of the winter, and she’ll have some time to get used to having a smartphone before trying to do any actual phone stuff with it.
(It’ll have to be Brother who gives her the tour of how to do actual phone stuff on a smartphone. I’ve never done it, after all.)
Spring update:
I’ve been playing Pokemon Go for about a week now. (It’s been warm enough for a while, but I had to deal with finals first.) Thus far, Operation Mobile Hotspot has been a complete success!
(Mom’s smartphone even fits in her customary phone pouch. Turns out the pouch was more elastic than we thought.)
If I’m careful to supplement heavily with Wi-Fi (and prevent other apps from using background data as much as possible*), I might actually be able to stretch a 100MB plan to last a whole month of playing 1 – 2 hours/day. The plan does permit overage data, but it’s 50% more per MB than the first 100 are, so I’d rather not. (But still, I have the option of using a little bit extra to finish the last walk or pop out to the nearest Pokestop for a streak bonus.)
(I know every public hotspot within half an hour’s walk now, and how big a range each one covers. Conveniently, Pokemon Go doesn’t crash when you lose Internet**: it merely pauses, springing back to life the moment you re-connect. This makes it easy to switch back and forth between mobile hotspot and public Wi-Fi as I move in and out of coverage zones. I also save anything that can be done while stationary–such as sorting through new catches and transferring the ones I’m not keeping–to do at home.)
I’m enjoying the game so far, even apart from its practical benefits. (Practical benefits: learning my way around a Pokedex***, going for more/longer walks.)
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*My saved-network settings have an option for “treat this network as if it were mobile data for data-conservation purposes”, which is very handy for mobile hotspots.
**It crashes once or twice an hour, but not from this. (Possibly due to GPS issues: it tends to happen at the same locations.)
***Me, last night: “Wait, is that a Jigglypuff or a Wigglytuff?
…I’m surprised I even got that far.”
Tags:
#media I consumed primarily to know what all the fuss was about #(while I *am* enjoying the game even apart from its practical benefits) #(the practical benefits were the deciding factor in playing it) #Pokemon Go #in which Brin learns to speak Pokemon #oh look an update #Brin owns *two* 2010’s computers now #(oh by the way I looked it up just now and it looks like it’s a Jigglypuff)
#Star Trek #DS9 #anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog #there is probably some warning tag I should put on this but I am not sure what
so has anybody got podcast recs? i’m up to date on kuec (twice), x-plain the x-men is on a three month hiatus, hidden almanac is… short. ^_^
the problem is, of course, i get hypersensitive about any little hint of -ism or – really anything at all upsetting, in my podcasts? cos i don’t have auditory filtering, so it’s like… the point of podcasts for me is to feel like i’m chilling with friends and listening to them chatter while i do whatever i’m doing.
so frex – podcasts i’ve tried that haven’t worked for me. “the thrilling adventure hour”, i think i mentioned that i just didn’t really click with the particular form of humor, but also i think scripted podcasts just don’t work as well for me as ones where it’s friends kidding around with the potential to go totally off the rails.
“journey into misery”, a dude explaining comics continuity to his girlfriend, WAY less mansplainy than that sounds – the podcast was her idea. loved it except that lbr comics are ALL FUCKSHITE and i can’t handle sentences like “they gang-raped plastic man’s wife and she died” no matter how much the podcasters agree that it was fuckery.
(note for some other post: despite never having been sexually assaulted, i get full-on triggered by sexual assault stuff? idek why)
“into it”, elle collins. a trans lady (i think? not 100% sure if binary or nonbinary) interviews people about various shit they’re interested in. excellent show, just a tiny bit too structured for me.
“the film reroll”, movies played as rpgs. mostly enjoyable, but in 12 episodes there’s been like… three really awkward jokes that weren’t called out? one super transphobic throwaway line – not even a line, a *phrase* – near the beginning of their epic wizard of oz four-parter, two ableist aspie/autism jokes. so i’m like “ehhhhh”, not quiiiite as comfortable as i like to be with my podcasts? :S also there’s only like 24 episodes so i’m already a good halfway through that one
“comicsverse”, too structured AND way too many people. i do best with two-person podcasts where the voices are pitched well apart, due to my auditory processing troubles. i can handle up to about four people if i don’t actually need to tell any of them apart. ;-)
*******
so. anyway. if you’ve recced me something and it’s not listed here i probably forgot to check it out. y’all know a bunch of my many and varied interests; i’d especially enjoy rpg-type podcasts, the summer specials on x-plain the x-men are some of my favorite comfort relistens, but you understand why i’m hesitant to just go guddling around in gamer nerd territory. ;P
Podcasts I listen to:
The Red Panda Adventures: I want you to like this one, because I love it and I would love to geek out with you about it, but I’m not sure you would like it. It’s scripted and has a largish cast*, so there’s those issues. (AFAIK, there are no public transcripts for you to check if you heard something right**.) It isreassuringly liberal, toning down 1930′s-era bigotry about as much as it can get away with, but “as much as it can get away with” isn’t “everything”. And one of the conventions of the particular superhero sub-genre they’re working in (which they explicitly embrace) is that the heroes never dwell on their own moral ambiguity. I mean, it’s good that they’re avoiding gritty grimdark stuff, but that does mean the occasional moment of being horrified by what the protagonists are doing while knowing it will never come back to bite them.
Talk the Talk: Linguistics podcast out of Australia. I’m still way back in the archives on this one. I think it’s only partially scripted: it definitely doesn’t feel all that scripted. Two hosts, plus sometimes a guest. They occasionally get a bit Discourse-y for my liking, but I think they’ve always been on the liberal side of the argument.
99% Invisible: About infrastructure and suchlike. I’m even further back in the archives on this one, only a couple dozen episodes or so in. One host, with one or two guests. Feels somewhat more scripted.
Science for the People (formerly Skeptically Speaking, but they changed it after realising their podcast hadn’t really been about skepticism for a while): Interviews on neat science things. Audio isn’t really a good format for me for this subject (I prefer to get my neat science things through text, and sometimes video), so eventually I got bored and stopped listening. (The number of trying-to-be-inclusive-and-failing episodes about sexuality was also a factor. I know my standards are too high, but it still bothers me.)
Speaking of, I also dabble in a few kink podcasts. TBH, though, I’m never even sure whether *I* like any of them, let alone whether they’re worth reccing to anyone else.
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*Although, because each side actor plays several side characters, between episodes you are generally not expected to know who a side character is without context. (Within an episode you’re supposed to keep up, though.)
**Brain: “Yet!”
Me: “We have more than enough other things to do and are not taking on ~60 hours of volunteer transcription.”
Tags:
#I stopped listening to Welcome to Night Vale because I got tired of the horror elements #reply via reblog #recs
Random problem for Tumblr: How does one plan a wedding? What goes into planning a wedding? How is it similar to or different from planning anything else? Are there actually people who are good at this shit?
(Feel free to answer only one or a few of these questions. I just really really want some answers from someone, even if you don’t have any good ones. Pls no bystander effect s’il vous
plaît, gracias.)
((Yes, I’m aware that I’ve already said I’m married. That was the civil ceremony; actual getting-married-ceremonially-with-guests-in-attendance is still upcoming.))
So everyone seems to basically be like “get a wedding planner”
I am a poor
If anyone would like to plan a wedding in exchange for my undying gratitude and affection, that would be super great
Otherwise, we are probably going to have as much “““planning””” as I can fake up, which is why I’m trying to figure out what I’ll need to do.
(But really please take this off my hands I will love you forever)
Re: OP, for what it’s worth, some stories I tend to hear from people talking about their weddings (or other people’s weddings):
“Our photographer didn’t show up, or showed up but didn’t focus on the areas we told him to focus on.”
“Our DJ didn’t bring the music we requested, causing a last-minute scramble in which my fiance had to run home and get tapes* out of our own music collection.”
“My mother-in-law took a party-favour bouquet without asking first. I was going to give that bouquet to my aunt-in-law!”
“Only half of the people who said they were going to show up actually did, leaving us with an unnervingly empty venue.”
[while watching a reality show:] “It is not possible for a wedding dress to be worth that much money unless it is made out of precious materials and you plan to sell it for scrap. That lady is so going to regret not buying her wedding dress from the thrift store for $40.”
And a positive one:
“It’s great that the groom’s sister in Arizona was able to listen to the ceremony [in Massachusetts] live on speakerphone. Isn’t modern** technology amazing?”
