Category: i-tech

01/23/12 02:19 - ID#55969

Monthly estimated data usage

I am exploring options and wondering whether to switch to mobile broadband completely. I looked at these plans:

I don't have a data plan for my smartphones yet because I use them as fancy alarm clocks and never really carry them around. I don't like having a "phone" on me. I guess it's because I don't like talking over phone AT ALL - which is a funny excuse considering only a handful of people actually have my phone number and I don't talk to them using the phone at all.

I exclusively voice/video conference through Google's services or very rarely through Skype. I am subscribed to pre-paid international talktime via Google which enable me to call family using any internet access anywhere. {I think it doesn't work without internet access - in which case, I have emergency international call minutes from Reliance.}

According to this tool:

I occasionally stream videos - almost all from youtube.
I seldom stream music. If I do, it's from pandora.
I never use apps or play online games.
I send and receive photos, files and documents all the time (with more documents than any other kind of files - but they obviously don't factor this in).
I surf the web all the time. Eh? Who doesn't. Everything is online. I wonder what their definition of "surfing the web" actually is.
I check email all the time. I am always connected.

My monthly estimated data usage is 8.27 GB/month. Does that make me an average or above-average user? I wonder...

I still don't know if I really need mobile broadband internet access. If I do get a mobile internet plan, I am not sure it makes sense to have the wired plan as well. I am thinking about this because mum wrote to me today about how she has finally ditched traditional wired access for a 3g/4G enabled USB mobile broadband access - as the primary home internet connection. She wondered if I could do this in US at reasonable costs.

Do any of you use 3G/4G networks for internet access at home through your laptops? Do you find these mobile broadbands completely replacing the need for your wired DSL/cable-modem access? What are your data estimates like? Which mobile and traditional internet providers are you with?

Permalink: Monthly_estimated_data_usage.html
Words: 410
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/23/12 02:44

Category: e:strip

01/22/12 11:05 - ID#55961

Happy Happy Birthday, Paul!

I am not entirely sure exactly when it is but I think this is about the right time.

First, I got some random people to pose for you.

Then, I baked some cakes.
Cake 1

Cake 2

I got kind of carried away. Two more.
Cake 3

Cake 4

Then I realized they are not really good for your teeth anymore. So I threw a party on your behalf because I don't like cakes too much either. These people came.

Thankfully all of them were very fond of cake. When it was all gone, we realized we HAD to do something special for you, our birthday boy in absentia. So we then did some communal and healthful art for you.

One of my guests decided that was not personal enough. So you got this mugshot:

Some of the younger guests thought all that was too sterile and made this instead:

Overall, all our sentiments are summed up (in a non-fire-hazard way) as:

NB: Stolen from around the web. You know who you are if it is yours. Quit whining.

Permalink: Happy_Happy_Birthday_Paul_.html
Words: 198
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/22/12 11:14

Category: eating in

01/22/12 10:03 - ID#55960

Mapo tofu recipe

Just a placeholder for the recipe I want to try someday (not today):

From "The Jing Theory". The photographs are amazing.

And there is Vegan Worchestershire Sauce, in two ways. Not just one.

I don't know what the second way is. But the way that is immediately visible on that page seems abysmally time-consuming and for people with premeditation in their lives. Not me. I will probably make a hash of it and love it anyway.

Permalink: Mapo_tofu_recipe.html
Words: 89
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/22/12 11:48

Category: grocery

01/21/12 09:32 - ID#55952

Indian grocery on West Side?!!!

I heard that there is now a bonafide Indian grocery somewhere on west side near Connecticut st. and one of the other Thai stores. And that it has been open for a couple months now.

What?! Really?!!!

Where is it? Has anyone seen it? (e:metalpeter), you live close, do you know its exact location? I now want to trawl all over the place in the snow to find it. But some of those streets can be a tad sketchy sometimes. Someone I met at the Indian grocery at Jackson Heights, and who recognized me from Pricerite told me about it... but I didn't quite catch its name, or its location.

Permalink: Indian_grocery_on_West_Side_.html
Words: 111
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/21/12 09:38

Category: music

01/20/12 09:14 - ID#55949

Josh Groban sings Kanye West

In 140 operatic characters. LOL

Permalink: Josh_Groban_sings_Kanye_West.html
Words: 8
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/20/12 09:14

Category: music

01/20/12 08:07 - ID#55948

FranÃ§oise Hardy: French Joan Baez

Heh. I listen to this and all I can think of is.. hey, when did Joan Baez start singing in French. :)

And this has to be the most unsettling song to sing to a kid.

A medieval version of that where they cut out the disturbing bits. LOL

Another version of All the pretty little horses. Instead of singing about the dying baby being attacked by the elements at the end of the meadow, now it's about birds and butterflies fluttering about its eyes.

Permalink: Fran_oise_Hardy_French_Joan_Baez.html
Words: 99
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/20/12 08:32

Category: music

01/20/12 07:43 - ID#55947

Stokowski. Period.

The ultimate transcriptions stop at Stokowski.

Seriously, I think I enjoy his transcriptions waay more than the originals. Under his unique influence, somehow the frenetic ornamentations of the baroque era are magically lifted and transformed into the stately pace of the classical era. This is Vivaldi's oh-so-baroque classic, sounding as if it was written during Beethoven's times. It is played in the video by the magnificent BBC Philharmonic under Matthias Bamert.

Permalink: Stokowski_Period_.html
Words: 73
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/20/12 07:46

Category: music

01/20/12 06:34 - ID#55945

Purcell: Anthem for the Weekend

I appoint Purcell's Abdelazer as my anthem for this weekend!

Permalink: Purcell_Anthem_for_the_Weekend.html
Words: 12
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/20/12 06:34

Category: opinion

01/18/12 12:20 - ID#55933

Stop American Censorship!

You can make a personal effort to stop this greed-driven insular bill from passing! You can stop your primary information source from looking like this!

Visit this

to generate an automatic letter to the congress protesting the asinine SOPA and PIPA acts!

You can also send a letter to the congress via this website:

Do it, NOW!

The future of the internet lies in your hands!

Permalink: Stop_American_Censorship_.html
Words: 80
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 01/18/12 12:48