(no subject)

[bubosquared]

Because my friendslist really does know 42: I need some random recommendations.

First of all, I'm looking for interesting podcasts. I presume you know me well enough to know what I'm interested in, but I'm mostly looking for ... I dunno, discussion-y ones? Feminist and generally political podcasts and knitting ones, and interesting personal ones and stuff like that, rather than music-centered ones.

Secondly, in light of my impending birthday (and more on that later), Christmas, and New Year's, any recommendations on a printer/scanner(/fax/copier) combo? I'm looking for something that's available from Amazon UK, ideally in the £40-60 price range, so I can put it on my wish list and get it from my dad or something, and ideally ideally something with not-costing-an-arm-and-a-leg ink cartridges, although I'm perfectly willing to get down and dirty with those ink refulling kits if necessary, so yeah.

(Dear internet: please deliver my flight booking confirmation for Christmas already so I can stop wigging?)

So, my birthday. Considering my current mental state (which has stabilised at least, which is good, but isn't really consistently improving, and isn't likely to until after Christmas at least), I was thinking it's probably better for me to not throw a big party, and instead just have a few people over for food and drinks and general hanging out. There will be chocolate mousse, of course, and I will be sending out invite e-mails ... soon. Ish.

Comments

[electricmayhem.livejournal.com]

I love NPR's podcast of "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me." Quizzes! Satire! Carl Castle! Fun for everyone!

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Will check that out, thanks!

[starbrow.livejournal.com]

John and I have been following mortaine's podcast since the beginning -- she wrote the book "Videoblogging for Dummies". It is a videoblog rather than a podcast per se, but you can watch it through iTunes.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Oooh, will check it out! thanks!

[carelessmemory.livejournal.com]

I've always been very happy with Canon printers. They have the cheapest ink cartridges of all the brands (over here anyway). And if something breaks (not that it happens a lot, and hasn't to me yet, but hearing from BIL and friends who've had incidents) it's never a hassle, they just take one look in the store and go "Oh, a Canon!" and then they go get a brand new one to replace it with, no taking it in for any kind of services. They have a few multifunctional ones - printer/scanner/copier types at amazon. One thing I was going to recommend is that you pick one that has separate ink tanks for every colour, whatever brand you go for, it'll save a ton of money when you only replace the specific colour that's run out - because you always have one colour running out quicker than the rest, and also the more colours the better, but that would land you in a higher price range than the £40-60.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Good support is definitely a plus -- I'll likely be refilling rather than replacing ink cartridges anyway, so seperate ink chambers may not be that important. And I found a nice-looking, compact canon all-in-one on Amazon that's right in my price range, so yay!

[carelessmemory.livejournal.com]

Back when I had my first printer I didn't know about refilling and spent tons of money on the cartridges, oy, but it's a good option. :) My sister had one of the Canon MP1-somethings and she was very happy with it.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

This one, by chance? :D That's the one I'm looking at right now.

[carelessmemory.livejournal.com]

Yes, it was either that one or the 180. And I think they're pretty much the same, except that the later model is a bit more expensive and maybe copies another couple of papers in the same time as the previous model. I think £44.99 is a really good price for it. :)

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't care that much about printing speeds as long as it's not insanely slow, really. Good to know this is a decent model! :)

[carelessmemory.livejournal.com]

I think most printers today are fairly quick. And you can even speed them up a little if it's something that doesn't require perfect printing by going for a lesse quality option. I do that if I'm printing tons of fic for reading. :)

[rsadelle]

I suggest browsing around Stanford on iTunes U. I really liked "History and Hysterics: What About the Future?" which is about the history of women in medicine in the US, and "Stress and Coping: What Baboons Can Teach Us" and "Why Zebras Don't Get Ulcers" which are somewhat self explanatory.

I have the Canon S9000 at work, which I think is a pretty expensive printer, but it's good. Separate ink tanks is a great idea; we replace them all at different rates. It will eventually tell you that the something or another (used ink well, maybe) is full and that you have to have it serviced before you can continue to print. What you can do instead is what we did: take it apart, wash the foam pad in the bottom in the sink, let it dry, and put the whole thing back together again.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Oooh, actually Educational podcasts! :D

Seperate ink chambers seem to make printers a lot more expensive, sadly, so I'm going to put a cheaper one without, and a more expensive one with on my wish list, and see if I can convince my dad to go for the latter. If nothing else, though, I'll probably be refilling rather than replacing, so it might not matter that much in the end.

[rsadelle]

See? I knew you were dorky enough to like educational podcasts!

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

I can't quite decide if that's a compliment or not. ;D

[rsadelle]

It's totally a compliment.

[wibbble]

Craft magazine have a blog/podcast (http://craftzine.com/blog/), although I don't subscribe to it I do subscribe to their sister magazine Make's (http://makezine.com/blog/).

I think both would interest you, although Make is more to do with the video than the audio, for the most part.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I think I've wandered onto Make from time to time, and it looks interesting. :)

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

I got nothing for you in terms of recs, but hey, I'll just drop in and say HUGS :D

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks! :D Seems to be the day for random hugs, today.

[sonatine.livejournal.com]

The only thing that keeps me sane at the gym is the This American Life podcast. Despite the very US-centric name, it is much more universal than you would expect. It's funny and sometimes profound.

There is are also some Anthony Bourdain podcasts floating around somewhere--here's one (http://www.raincoast.com/bourdain/index.html) and two (http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2006/05/28/podcast-16-and-17-tony-bourdain/).

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I think i've heard of that one, actually, will check it out!

[sonatine.livejournal.com]

is are? WTF? ARE, dammit. ARE.

[unholyglee.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite knitting podcasts is Cast On. (http://www.cast-on.com/) The lady that does it is in Wales, I believe, and she has a lovely voice for this kind of thing. Not to mention a sense of humor. I've got all kinds of links about stuff like this stored hither, thither and yon, should you want more.

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks! And I'd definitely be interested in more!

[webrat-jen.livejournal.com]

escape pod is a podcast of short fantasy/horrorand sci-fi stories. i love their flash fiction (short short stories). there is a sister podcast, called peusdo pod, but the quality of fiction isn't as good (that might just be because its harder to write a good horror....)

[bubosquared.livejournal.com]

Oooh, thanks!

[troubleinchina.livejournal.com]

I would be happy if you listened to Scarecrow's Targ. It's on iTunes someplace. Will give you more details later, when I can think.