Pokemon

~ Brin ~ 5 Comments

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Relatedly:

I’ve really been feeling my lack of networking lately.

  • I don’t know anyone in my neighbourhood, so I have nobody to team up with on Pokemon Go raids. (At my current strength (level 24, in an area where Geodudes and Machops pretty much never spawn outside events and I get a Dratini every couple of weeks), this effectively limits me to tier-1 raids unless I’m lucky enough to happen to show up at the same time as a stranger, and it’s impossible to *ever* do a tier-4 raid without a *minimum* of one other person, no matter how high-level you are.)
  • I don’t know any Canadians who both have TV service and would trust me with their TV-service login credentials. (We recently cancelled our TV service because we can’t afford it anymore, which means I can’t watch Daily Planet on TV. I can’t even pirate it, because it’s not popular enough for black-market providers to consider it worth stealing. Discovery Channel has an online streaming service, but you need TV-service login credentials for them to let you in.)
  • I don’t know anyone who I can both trust-trade my excess Amazon credits with and who wants to buy them. (Menial Internet labour for poor people, much like charity for poor people, usually fails to follow the “just give them money, rather than goods they’ll have to sell at a discount to buy the things they *actually* needed” guideline. They make excuses about how Amazon credit is basically the same thing as money because you can buy ~everything~ there, but in fact the list of things I want that Amazon has is fairly limited, and I end up getting credits (both USD credits and CAD credits) faster than I can spend them.)

This is clearly a problem (or a collection of related problems), but I don’t know what to do about it.

Tags:

#oh look an original post #rants #(sort of) #in which Brin learns to speak Pokemon #tag rambles #traditionally when you don’t have money you’re supposed to trade favours amongst your network of personal contacts to pick up the slack #but I don’t *have* a network strong enough to trade favours with #so when I can’t solve logistical problems with money they don’t get solved at all #and as my finances continue the slow deterioration they’ve been doing for half my life #I increasingly can’t solve logistical problems with money #my normal approach to friendship is #to stumble into relationships with people I don’t know well enough yet to know what terrible people they are #and about two years later I know enough of their terribleness that I can’t take it anymore and leave #occasionally I stumble into relationships with people who *don’t* turn out to be terrible but this happens too rarely to compose a network #(and besides even then I sometimes lose contact with them anyway) #I don’t know how to deliberately make friends #and I don’t know how to filter in advance so that a good fraction of new friends remain likeable after >2 years #and I *especially* don’t know how to do any of this in the Hard Mode of being poor #and therefore a noticeable portion of my motivation for befriending them being necessarily mercenary #(even when it’s a mutually-beneficial kind of mercenary I’m told people tend to find that sort of thing offputting) #(or they use it to take advantage of you) #(which is probably why the first group finds it offputting) #at least I’ll probably be strong enough to solo tier-2 raids before too long #that’s something #(the following category tag was added retroactively:) #adventures in human capitalism

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~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

another-normal-anomaly:

My dumb brain: is steel wool vegan?

Me: unless they’ve invented a steel sheep, yeah, I would fuckin think so

My brain: hey, you don’t know all the new pokemon! There might be a steel sheep by now!

Me: STFU

Tags:

#anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog #in which Brin learns to speak Pokemon

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

preoprix:

Recently have been playing around with this one program called Hexels, and it’s really addicting and keeping me from finishing other projects regarding my own characters. Ended up making little pixel eeveelutions!

Tags:

#I recognised more than half of these! #in which Brin learns to speak Pokemon #art

~ Brin ~ 1 Comment

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brin-bellway:

Updates:

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.

—

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.)

—

*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)

~ Brin ~ 3 Comments

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Updates:

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.

—

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.)

Tags:

#I looked it up and it turns out PC is actively encouraging people with SIM-less phones to upgrade to SIM models #so they can consolidate their networks #for us personally I consider this a good sign #because it means it *probably* won’t be a huge hassle to switch her account to a new phone #people usually make things easy to do when they’re trying to convince you to do them #hopefully running a mobile hotspot will also be non-frustrating #*knocks on wood* #oh look an original post #oh look an update #Brin owns *two* 2010’s computers now #(and not three) #in which Brin learns to speak Pokemon

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~ Brin ~ 2 Comments

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My new phone arrived yesterday!

(Amazon almost always takes less time to ship than they think they will, so I ignored them telling me to expect it on the 9th and kept an eye on the tracking page.)

I haven’t got it fully set up yet, but it’s coming along well. I might be finished by tonight, and likely by the end of tomorrow.

There are two main problems left.

First, it’s fucking cold out. -10C, windchill -20. It’s going to get less fucking cold in a couple days, but there won’t be a positive windchill temperature in the foreseeable future. Apparently active Pokemon Go players are dealing with this as best they can by things like walking laps around malls and camping indoor Pokestops. I might do stuff like that *next* winter, but I don’t want to *start* playing a game while it’s in winter dormancy.

Second, Internet access. I still don’t have a SIM card, which means I don’t have a data plan. I’m told Pokemon Go requires a continuous Internet connection.

I can think of a few ways of dealing with this:

1: Play only in Wi-Fi zones. I can’t tell yet how feasible this is: I don’t know what the public Wi-Fi coverage is like in my area. Because it is, again, fucking cold, I can’t go out mapping yet. (There are a *few* hotspots already listed on that map as being within walking distance, but it’s clear nobody’s gone through and systematically mapped my area. Not yet.)

2: Pay my brother to come with me, with his phone set to mobile hotspot. I might need *a* mobile data connection, but nobody said it had to be *mine*. I’m pretty sure I’d need to pay him even if he didn’t mind the act of coming with me, because I don’t think he currently has a data plan, nor do I think he has enough spare credits that he could buy one without making more top-ups to his pre-paid account than he otherwise would.

3: Convince my mother to detach her pre-paid account from her current flip phone and attach it to a phone capable of generating a mobile hotspot (the smartphone I’m giving her, perhaps). Then, take her phone with me. (She probably wouldn’t mind me using her phone without her supervision, as long as I asked first.) She has enough spare credits built up that I probably wouldn’t need to pay her, but she likes her current phone and getting her to switch would be tricky.

4: Finally just buy my own phone plan. (This option can probably be discarded. I am very reluctant to spend money on gaming: I normally stick to video games that are ad-supported, volunteer-maintained, or have optional purchases I never buy. I might be willing to bend a *little*, but not to the tune of $100/year. This option would be feasible if I had a significant amount of non-Pokemon use for a phone plan, but I currently don’t.)

5: *Partially* just buy my own plan: instead of getting the same setup as the rest of my family, with a $100 minimum top-up paid annually, pay on a sub-annual scale and let it lapse in winter. Alternatively, pay on a monthly scale only on months I don’t have school (and therefore have a lot more free afternoons in which to play), letting it lapse during winter *and* during school semesters (using one or more of the other methods to play during semesters). Even pre-paid plans don’t like people lapsing, so there would be penalties for having my plan be on-and-off. Because of the discount for paying annually, it might not even be cheaper depending on what periods of time the plan is “on”.

(All of these options, other than 1, also require arranging the data plan itself for maximally efficient use of phone credits. Depending on the setup, minimum payments might not provide enough credits, and if the minimum isn’t enough even Mom’s built-up credits would eventually run out.)

Last I heard, @nenya-kanadka has an on-and-off phone plan. Her Internet connection usually isn’t good enough for Tumblr these days, so she probably won’t see my ping, but I think I’ll message her on Dreamwidth and ask for details about how her setup works. (What with her being in Canada, any country-specific advice she gives will still apply.) That’d get me a bit closer to having enough information to make a decision, though I won’t be able to make any plans until I’ve mapped the local Wi-Fi.

Tags:

#originally I wasn’t even going to *consider* replacing my phone until spring #because I knew I’d get antsy if I had the theoretical capacity to play Pokemon Go but not the weather #(I’m now trying to balance ‘doing enough research to plan stuff like Internet access’ with ‘researching will make me antsier’) #but the sooner Mom gets an Android that actually functions okay (unlike her shitty tablet) the better #and anyway the roomier hard drive will be nice regardless #oh look an original post #Brin owns *two* 2010’s computers now #(three at the moment) #in which Brin learns to speak Pokemon #I’m not especially *expecting* advice but if anyone has any I’d be interested in hearing it

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~ Brin ~ 3 Comments

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Talopine Icon

@talopine replied to your post “How can Pokemon Go be so popular if so few phone models can run it?…”

I think that the lower specced phones might not run the VR aspect, but might otherwise work?

Yeah, it’s looking like the answer is “Pokemon Go actually runs fine on 1 GB of RAM”. I asked my brother (who has this model) if he can play it, and he said that while he hasn’t actually tried to play it, Google doesn’t complain about incompatibility if he tries to install it. Plus, one of the Amazon reviews for that phone explicitly mentions playing Pokemon Go on it.

I’m thinking I’ll buy the same model as him once I scrape together some more Amazon credit. Probably throw a new phone pouch into the order too if I can’t find anything suitable lying around; that phone is huge and will definitely not fit in the pouch I have now. (Never going back to Velcro pouches, though, not after several years with a Velcro MP3 player pouch that had an increasing tendency to open by accident. Zipper pouches all the way.)

Tags:

#talopine #Brin owns *two* 2010’s computers now #oh look an update #replies

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~ Brin ~ 2 Comments

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How can Pokemon Go be so popular if so few phone models can run it?

Like, am I missing something, or are phones with enough RAM small-selection and rather expensive? I looked on Amazon for 2GB RAM smartphones, and I got four entries, three of which were ~$195 and one that was $280.

Though I’d prefer to use Amazon store credit, and an unlocked phone could be nice, I might end up buying another locked phone from PC Mobile. They’ll sell me a 2 GB model Amazon doesn’t carry for $104. The only problem I’ve ever had with my current PC Mobile lock was having to buy a very cheap flip-phone shell when I needed a temporary American cell phone last year, rather than putting an American SIM card in my pre-existing smartphone. Not only have I never wanted to buy a non-PC Canadian plan, I’ve never even bought a PC plan. It’s looking like my first smart-”phone” is going to live out its entire life without ever actually seeing a SIM card.

Also, apparently all smartphones are really tall now, so I’d need to replace my phone pouch too so a new phone will fit. I liked that pouch.

(I’m not just complaining. If anyone knows of an Amazon Canada listing that the search isn’t picking up, or some other decent method of obtaining a suitable phone (either cheaper or less locked than PC), or if Pokemon Go actually runs fine on 1 GB of RAM and Niantic was just being conservative with their list of specs, let me know. America-specific recommendations accepted if I can act on them during my day trip to Buffalo later this month and they’re unlocked, or possibly so cheap that their unlock fee is worth it: I don’t want to be tied to a carrier whose service area I don’t live in, in case I buy a plan someday. (But keep exchange rates in mind; from a CAD viewpoint, objects priced in USD are more expensive than they look.))

Tags:

#oh look an original post #Brin owns *two* 2010’s computers now #and has been thinking of replacing the smaller one #nothing is *wrong* with it per se #it functions fine according to its original specifications #but I’m getting tired of juggling data around its tiny hard drive #(I’ve already had to uninstall multiple apps I wanted to keep because I simply didn’t have space) #(not *everything* can be transferred to the microSD) #and I would like to finally learn to speak Pokemon #but the thing that pushed me over into serious planning for replacement #was that Mom now has a thing she’d like to do that she needs a smartphone for #but it doesn’t really matter how *good* a smartphone #so I told her I’d buy a new one for me and hand my old one down to her #(neatly circumventing waste-not-want-not issues) #tag rambles

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~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

onion-souls:

OH
So this guy’s purpose in life is to hang out in a Pokémon Center on Poni Island and tutor one move that only one Pokémon can learn, a Legendary postgame Pokémon from a Hoenn one/four generations ago. And that Pokémon naturally knows that move anyway.

Fuck me, I’m getting a new job. I’ll be standing in a Dunkin Donuts on Staten Island tutoring Spanish. But only if you’re early 19th Venezuelan military leader Simón Bolívar.

Tags:

#Pokemon #anything that makes me laugh this much deserves a reblog #(I do not actually speak Pokemon) #(but the post provides enough context to make the joke at the end funny)

~ Brin ~ Leave a comment

lizawithazed:

elpatrixf:

elpatrixf:

You know how there’s team instinct, mystic and valor right?

We should make a team for us people who can’t play pokemon go because our phones don’t support it

I present you team can’t play Pokemon GO because my phone or tablet does not support it and this is the official team logo

Team Shitty Phones

there, now we can all feel like we belong somewhere

How about team “doesn’t live in a country where it’s out yet”

Team logo is a maple leaf surrounded by EU stars

Tags:

#Pokemon Go #I’m both