STG's

By Heresies Distressed is the third title in the SafeHold series, by David Weber. In this series, human kind got to the brink of extinction because of an alien race hunting us, and hid in a planet far away. The leaders decided to lower the tech level to avoid detection by the aliens, erase everyone's memories and establish a church where they were archangels to keep it this way. In this volume, the war between Charis and the church continues, and now is time to counter-attack Corisande. As usual, plenty of low tech battles, with a little SF added in. There is still a little less action that what I'd like, but I still enjoyed it very much.

Augmented: Life in the Fast Lane, by Bret King, is a book about the future of technology and its influence on our lives. Personally I found it quite enjoyable, and a little SF like. I had heard of most of tech mentioned before, but the analysis of the trends was entertaining.

Far Cry 5 seems mostly like its predecessors, except for small details. At least there was more change than between 3 and 4. I have only played a bit so far, and I like it. One thing I didn't like is the super light UI (apparently can't be turned off). Things like the number of bullets left in the clip are now hard to read graphs, that disappear if you are not switching weapons or firing. Sure, the screen looks better but it is annoying. One thing I like is that you no longer get the gruesome cutting up animals to get important upgrades that requires their skins. Now you use perks instead. As in most of the series, stealth is still an useful option, which I really like (and I really missed in Just Cause 3). Update: The regular captures are SO ANNOYING! And Faith's parts are the worst!

Empower Your Brain With Neurogenesis, by Gregory Caremans, is an interesting course on how to increase neurogenesis (the creation of new cells in your brain). If you think you stop growing brain cells as a child... You were probably taught that in the 80s or before, when that was common sense. In the 90s research proved that is not the case. Anyway, the course was interesting, and while some of what it covered was very obvious, some was not. Good for neurogenesis: Movement (even walking, aerobics are better, dance is better because you have to learn and remember moves) Natural environments Novelty (too much causes stress, though) Meeting People (new or not) Learning instruments or Languages Education in general Massages (giving or receiving, including pets) Hugs/Sex with people you trust/love Meaningful interactions Good relationships Naps/proper sleep Silence - 2 hours a day Omega-3 Blueberries Curcumin Intermittent fasting (this one was a surprise for me, and I&

Star Control: Origins is based/inspired on the Star Control series, from the 80s. I played Star Control II quite a bit, and really enjoyed the battles and the variety of ships. But I found almost nothing to like here. The UI is terrible in many minor ways. Landing on planets by bumping on them seems like a poor choice, and sometimes you will just leave a planet and it will show the land screen again (why not just use the mouse???). You get missions on distant planets. How much fuel will that take? It is a mistery, the UI won't tell you. Have you gone into a planet/moon already? If so you better remember it because the UI will not show you... And more other minor annoyances. The lander part of the game is probably the worse. It is just annoying and time consuming. You mostly just drive around getting resources and occasional interesting stuff, and shooting at rocks for more resources. It's just not fun. Even the battle seems to be less fun than Star Control II. The only

Veracity, by Douglas E. Richards is a near future SF thriller. Basically a scientist evolves the perfect AI truth detector, and naturally, some people want it for themselves and won't stop at anything to get it... I usually like his books, but I felt this one could be better. The ending is pretty good, but the middle really dragged for me. As always, props for the author for having an appendix where he discusses all the technology used on the book, and where it is right now.

Bleed 2 is a side-scroll shooter. It is cute, and I do like the graphics, but the gameplay seems to be more on the annoying side for me. I did like the slow time mode (even if the tutorial didn't mention it).

Neurovoider is an interesting procedural run and gun game, with rogue-like and RPG elements. It does sound good in theory, but as most rogue-like I did not like it. There is just something about the battle, plus I find all the management of upgrades, repair, skills, etc a bit of on the annoying side.

Just finished  By Schism Rest Asunder , by David Weber , the second book in the Safehold series. The series are about humanity in a new planet, hiding from an alien species (unknowingly) by using only low tech, enforced by the church. But an android with a downloaded human wants them to know the truth... This was pretty nice. Not sure if I got used to it or if those sections were shorter, but the plotting by everyone and naval terms in battles did not annoy me as in the first book. One trend in Weber series repeats (not sure which was first, though) - a lonely kingdom with a good ruler, hunted by enemies, arise by having better tech and starts forming an empire. Obviously this is an important part of the Honor Harrington series, and so it is here. Overall, I really liked it (more than the first), and I was quite surprised when it ended (I read it in an e-book with 2 other volumes, so I had no indication it was about to end).