STG's

 STAR WARS Jedi Fallen Order is, obviously an action game on the Star Wars universe. You play as a Jedi in training who escaped after most Jedi have been eliminated, and the remainder is being hunted. Graphics are excellent, but it is heavy in exposition, and sometimes paths are not very obvious.  Lots of clever stuff, though, including nice enough combat mechanics, and some interesting movement stuff. I probably wouldn't have gotten it, but it was included in EA Play, and I really liked many of the (now very old) Star Wars Jedi games. As predictable, the control schemes seemed to be greatly simplified, as the others were made to be used with mouse/keyboard. I do really hate that they sometimes lock the camera, while still allowing you to move. Overall, I like it so far, I guess I will see how it goes.

 Destroy all Humans! is a cute action game with two different components - in part of the levels, you are an alien with several powers - such as telekinesis, mind reading, mind control, as well as weapons and a cloaking device. On the other part you drive your flying saucer around, creating havoc. It has a whole lot of story (which I really wish I could fast forward through), and a very comical tone. It is supposed to be a remake of an older game, but I don't recall playing it, so I have no opinion on that. Graphics are pretty good, and the gameplay is fun so far. Overall, pretty good fun for the price.

 Merge Tactics is an Android strategy game. It is freemium, with a strong pay-to-win component. Graphics are pretty nice (music is very, very repetitive), and I like the start gameplay. You face enemies coming down on a grid, and you fight them with a large possible range of blocks, which can be merged (when identical) to form stronger blocks. Some are just melee, some have ranged attacks, and some are support - they can heal, provide money or boost stats for the other blocks.  Each block type has a range (sometimes quite irregular), and you only get to choose 4 blocks per game.  You also have a commander, and you lose when he is defeated. There are many possible upgrades, including the blocks, commanders, buying commanders, as well as buildings, such as a mine, tax office, castle, etc. As usual with heavy freemium games, the first upgrades are very cheap, but soon it will be hard to get these by just playing. Merge Tactics goes the extra mile and there is a lot of stuff you just have

 I just finished reading The Testaments, by Margaret Atwood - the sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. It covers narratives by 3 women, which later come together, with big consequences. It starts really slow, but the end is nice.  Overall, well worth reading, specially if you liked The Handmaid's Tale.

GOG Galaxy doesn't allow me to change install folders. Clicking on browse and choosing the folder does nothing. A search for a solution turned up the following post: https://www.gog.com/forum/general_beta_gog_galaxy_2.0/cant_change_install_folder Just edit this file as administrator: %SYSTEMDRIVE%\ProgramData\GOG.com\Galaxy\config.json  and change libraryPath to what you want. To open a file as administrator, you can type notepad, right-click, choose Run as Administrator and then edit the file. Then close and restart GOG Galaxy.

 Creeper World 4 is a Tower Defense (TD) game, in which you have to destroy a multiplying liquid before it destroys you (basically). When I saw there was a new version, I knew I was going to get it. I really like Creeper World 3 (74h played), and this one is very similar, so far. The only real difference is that this time it is 3D. I thought it might ruin everything, but it works pretty well.  I'd like the zoom to not rotate the view, though. Fairly fun so far, but I imagine it'd be harder for people not used on how things work in the series - the tutorial is a bit weak. As usual, there is plenty of variety in the levels. Also, there are plenty of user made levels, which can include completely new units. Overall, strongly recommended for TD fans.

 Command & Conquer Remastered Collection is a new version of the old Command&Conquer and Red Alert games with improved visuals. Visuals aren't that improved, and of course the control schemes still work like they did in the 90s. If you were a fan of the games, you might enjoy this for nostalgia's sake, but I doubt it work otherwise.

 Circle Empires is a RTS game, with graphics that would be minimal in the 90s. It has an interesting minimalist concept - land is divided into circles, which someone has control of - you, enemies, monsters or bandits, but I really don't like the UI and the instant build thing seems silly - not to mention the lack of smarts of the units. There is an appropriate amount of unlocks available. I guess it is ok for the minimal price, but it feels more like a phone game.

 Ready Player Two is the sequel to Ready Player One - which deals in VR, dystopia and 80s references.  This one is no different. It does extend the ideas in very nice ways, and has plenty of satisfying retro action, as well as new tech. The ending is nice, but reminds me very much of The Turing Exception  (which was also very good). Very much recommended for fans of the first book. PS: I was a bit bothered that they managed to get the 1989 Batman movie coming out in 1990, though...

 Kingdom Rush Vengeance is a tower defense game. It relies heavily on use of a hero and powers. Levels are extremely slow, with no way to speed them up. Graphics are great, with many details and levels that have non-linear paths that have enemies popping up from different places. There are many upgrades - for towers, powers and heroes, and many unlockable powers and heroes. Unfortunately, most of this seem to lead to paid content (although I think everything is unlockable by hard work, too). At least there are plenty of tactical options. Sound is pretty bad - music is super soft (and can't be adjusted), and characters talk constantly, in very annoying clips that keep repeating. I'd just turn the sound off, but then I'd miss some warnings. Overall, pretty good for the pretty low price.

 Kingdom Rush Frontiers is a tower defense (TD) game. It follows most of the formulas, expect for having a tower that dispenses soldiers, and a power that calls soldier (yes, I've seen it before, but it is not that common). It also has a hero. Graphics are acceptable. I had some difficulty getting it to display properly in QHD, but full screen mode solved it. There are heroes you can select, and upgrade, as well as upgrades for your towers and powers. That should give you a lot of tactical options. The only problem it has, is having no speed up mode. That makes it feel pretty slow at times. Overall, pretty nice, specially on sale. Update 04/Jan/2021: I have "finished" the game. There is a little bit of a grind, as you need to run through levels more than once to get max stars, and thus get the upgrades to the later levels. One unusual thing is that after you end the game and get credits, you get a few extra, completely different, levels. Art seems a little weaker, though.

 Velocity 2x is a very unusual game, with platformer and shoot'em up elements. One pretty annoying thing is that the controls are very, very unusual. Even worse, it only displayed controller button (I prefer to use the keyboard and mouse for most games). Eventually I couldn't figure out an alternative for a keyboard command, even looking at the controls table, and switched to the controller. There are parts on the platformer that feels like run and gun, but it doesn't use the regular keyboard/mouse controls, which is pretty annoying. Probably because they wanted to save the mouse for teleporting. Graphics and sound are OK. Funnily enough, the program icon is very, very nice, which I hardly ever remember noticing. Overall, OK, but pretty weird.

 Necronator - Dead Wrong is a mix of Slay the Spire and RTS (barely). You have a card deck, and almost exactly the progression you have in Slay the Spire. Graphics are OK, but the UI is annoying at times. Also, the tutorial mostly isn't. Overall, it is OK so far, but I wouldn't recommend it.

 I've just finished reading Doctor Sleep, by Stephen King.  Coming just after a read of The Shining, this one feels a whole lot better. The pace is much faster, and also there is way more development of the actual powers. As usual, the book was better than the movie, but in this case not as much as usual - I really liked the movie. I felt it was somewhat interesting how the endings were quite different, and that they started from different places (as The Shining movie kept the hotel intact, but the book destroyed it). Overall, pretty great, and I really liked it. Reading a couple of old King books recently (It and The Shining) I really feel he improved a lot over the years, specially in the tradeoff between cool, full story background and slow pacing.

 I recently viewed The Shining (the movie), so that I could see Dr. Sleep (also the movie). I liked Dr.Sleep, but felt that while the atmosphere, photography and acting in The Shining were great, the story itself was barely OK. So I decided to read the book (maybe again - if I read it before it was on the early 90s and I don't recall it), and it was not at all surprising that it was much, much better. As usual per King, it is more verbose and longer than would be necessary, but it works well. Halloran has a much better story, and the ending felt a lot better too. Overall, strongly recommended for horror fans.  I have now started reading Dr. Sleep (which I actually bought around release, then forgot completely), and so far it is pretty good.

 C#9 was recently released. I like how the language is slowly progressing. Nothing revolutionary, but some new nice items. I really like the new record (which of course looks a lot like Kotlin's data classes), and the new short main program. The new pattern matching features are also interesting. MS Announcement

 Fury Unleashed is a roguelite platformer. I usually don't like platformers, but this one goes relatively easy on the platform part. Jumps and dashes aren't incredibly precise, and have a lot of leeway. Mostly you shoot or melee monsters around. There is some dodging, and a few guns. There are also challenges (such as reach N combo, or kill the next N enemies in melee).  Graphics are good, and so is movement. I don't think there is much of a story. It does have one thing I do like in roguelites - progress through getting action points, which are used to unlock upgrades. Overall, pretty good for the price (something like US$3.5 on sale after exchange). Very simple fun.

 Crying Suns is a tactical rogue-like, where you are a fleet commander exploring a galaxy that had a mysterious failure of most of their automation.  It has an interesting, pixel art style, and a whole lot of story built in. So far I like it, but I find it a little tiresome. There is less guidance than what I'd expect of a tutorial system, although it does have some.

 The Saints of Salvation is the latest book in the Salvation Sequence, by Peter F. Hamilton.  SPOILERS AHEAD! In the previous books, humankind came into contact with aliens that pretended to be friendly, only to be found to want to cocoon and preserve all mankind for their god at the end of the universe. Humankind is quickly overwhelmed by their superior tech and leaves Earth and all previously settled planets, in an exodus across the galaxy.  Meanwhile, we also follow a group far in the future - trying to strike back and get everyone back from the cocoons. In this book, the fate of some characters in the past before the exodus is revealed, and then we go back to the humans striking back. I really like the tech here. No FTL, but portals that can only be moved in sub-light ships (which allows a lot more cleverness in the plot/tech). AIs, but not sentient (except for recorded people). I liked that they went for the group consciousness thing (which reminded of a classic, Forever War), it

I recently got Just Cause 4. Reviews are not so bad anymore, and the discount was very nice. Just some notes: - seems nice overall. In particular, I like the new modes for the grappler. - car handling is as bad as they say in the reviews. - the new system seems weird, and a lot of stuff you could do in Just Cause 3 is just gone. - the UI for keyboard and mouse is spectacularly stupid, and seems to assume that you have the enter key within easy reach whenever you are using the mouse (i.e. you can't confirm a lot of stuff with the mouse). You also need to use backspace a lot, which no sane game ever does because why would you, when you can just use ESC??? Update (17/Dec/2020): I've played some more, and the missions are very repetitive and not fun at all. And as usual, enemies teleport all over the place, sometimes a few meters from you, which I personally find very,very annoying. So I wouldn't recommend it, even on sale.

 Just watched some interesting considerations about Kindle (the recent physical devices, although most apply to the app, too) in the SuperLearner MasterClass, as it relates to speed reading: - you can change margins. I always max it out, which is what is recommended for speed reading (max absorption per saccade). - you can change font size with a pincer movement (that one was new to me). It is good to remember that speed reading can be more tiring for your eyes, so increasing the font size may be a good idea. - there is a button on the bottom of the screen for a preview mode (you have probably seen it, and they made sure to present it when it was added). But that is a great help for pre-reading (going ahead very quickly stablishing what you will read, for interest and pre-markers), as well as reviewing markers at the end of the chapter, because you will quickly go back to your page when you close the preview. - X-Ray is also useful for pre-reading - you get lists of people, notable cli

 Attack Surface is a new techno-thriller from Cory Doctorow, and a sequel to Big Brother and Homeland. The story takes place in a very plausible near future, where governments use surveillance all the time to hack your phones and track you (Yes, I realize that for just that description, that is just called "the present" ). The book is about Masha, a coder in a private company helping governments track everyone, but mainly activists. But she is guilty about what she is doing, and also helps them on the side... As usual from Cory Doctorow, what happens and the tracking techniques are very, very realistic. One of the intended purposes of the books is to serve as a wake up call, so that we can try to stop the 1984+ trends that are happening right now. This was the first book I backed on Kickstarter, and I am very happy I did. Overall, I really enjoyed the book and hope it will serve as a alert for mankind (but doubt it)...

 Comprei uma Câmera Intelbras IC4. É boazinha - 720p, 360 graus de rotação (quase), auto-tracking, visão noturna (muito boa). Pode adicionar microSD. Estava com um ótimo desconto no Prime Day. Tem app para Android, funciona bem. Mas claro que se você está no PC, usar um emulador de android é irritante, sem falar em deixar o celular ligado só para ver alguma câmera. Felizmente, no fórum da Intelbras tinha uma dica (incompleta) de como usar na sua rede: Abra o VLC Player (baixe e instale, se precisar, óbvio). Vá no menu Mídia, Abrir Fluxo de Rede coloque rtsp://admin:CHAVEDEACESSO@IPDACAMERA Chave de Acesso vem impressa embaixo da câmera. Se você trocou no aplicativo, vai ter que usar esse. IP você provavelmente deveria fixar com o seu router via MAC da câmera (veja as instruções do router). Se não souber, uma forma de descobrir e usar o aplicativo Fing no android ou iPhone e scannear seu wi-fi. Você também pode acessar seu router e ver a lista de dispositivos conectados e ir por tentati

 This is an Early Access game. I just got Age of Defense, a tower defense (TD) game. It was very, very cheap (about US$1.5 after the sale and exchange rates), and I like another game from the same publisher, another TD, Warstone TD. A super annoying thing is that they decided to use just little ideograms, instead of text, in the interface. You can figure out what most things say, but I really, really hate it. I guess this is one way to save on localization. Art is OK, and the gameplay has the same problem as Warstone - it feels very, very slow. Also, the upgrade UI has terrible contrast when disabled. There is a lot of user intervation - you have to use little traps to get extra enemies, as well as fireballs. Of course, there are towers, with different characteristics, as all TD games. Not many so far. Overall, I don't really like it, but I'm hopeful that it will get better. Can't complain about the price, though.

Some time ago, I got Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth on a sale.  It was a logical choice, even if reviews weren't so great, as I really liked all Civilization games. My first impression of this one is of annoyance at all the small things (also, the tiny UI on quad-HD). I will try longer, but I am not impressed so far. No idea if it is the game, or if as I get older I have less patience for complicated games...

 Carrion is an interesting title. It is a platformer, but in it you are a tentacle filled mass which escaped from a lab, and goes around trying to escape and killing people.  Graphics are retro, and pretty well done. Movement looks great, as well as manipulation of the place - such as opening doors, pulling objects, etc. Apparently you can acquire powers - such as throwing webs that allow to trap people temporarily, or moving objects you can't reach. The only problem I have with the game is that sometimes things you can enter or manipulate aren't obvious. And the maps can be a little like mazes at time. Overall, very clever, and strongly recommended.

 Nosso Lar is a spiritualist novel, supposedly psychographed. There was a movie made from it, which I liked, and so when I realized this was on Amazon Unlimited I thought I'd check it out. It is quite interesting, but feels a little flat. It is also a rare case of a movie I like more than the book - the long explanations are a little boring, and while it has been a while, the movie did better in that regard.

 Warhammer 40,000 Inquisitor - Martyr is a isometric action RPG, like Diablo, but obviously in the  Warhammer 40,000 universe. It takes place in a (apparently abandoned) spaceship an inquisitor goes to check a distress signal on (now that is an overused trope). I played a little so far, and the story is OK. So are the graphics, sound, and the UI (mostly). What really, really bothers me is how bad the camera is. I'm constantly unable to view enemies that I can actually shoot. So far, really can't recommend it.

 For whatever reasons, I hadn't canceled my Apple Music membership, even though I've been using Google Play/YouTube Music for a while. So I've decided to check out Planet of the Apps, their app Shark Tank. I actually quite enjoyed it. No idea if you need to be an app developer to like it, though, as it flopped quite badly and was cancelled after a season. I'd would have thought it would work well for all involved. The developers get visibility and/or money plus mentorship, Apple gets advertising and better apps, and the advisors get - I don't really know what is in for most of them, except extra exposure (probably not a big factor for any of them). Too bad it was so short. Great name, too.

 I just tried Red Dead Redemption 2, and got a black screen on all my monitors. Couldn't get back except by turning off the computer. I have solved this by going to the GeForce Experience before running, choosing the game and switching from full screen to Windowed Borderless. It then proceeded to run normally. It is pretty boring so far, but it does work.

 Future Visions is a collection of SF short stories, free as an e-book and comissioned by Microsoft - supposedly inspired by the tech they have/are developing (in 2015, I presume by the book year). There certainly are many good authors in the mix, such as David Brin, Robert J. Sawyer, Elizabeth Bear and others. Overall, it was interesting enough, specially for free, but not particularly memorable.

 Siege of Centauri is a Tower Defense game by Stardock. I have been playing their games since the late 90s, and the description seemed nice enough, so when a nice discount came around I got it, despite the mixed reviews. Siege of Centauri mostly follows the classic TD conventions. You have paths, several types of towers, and can place and upgrade them. I don't see much that is new, except the focus on choosing upgrades for your towers before launching a level. Graphics are OK, but seems far enough away on regular zoom to be silly. I also find hard to distinguish towers at a glance, which is annoying. I still haven't played much, but so far it seems OK. It is not great fun, but it is also not bad. Update: Finished the campaign (6.5 h). It's not great, but it is certainly well worth the money at sales price.

 Deep Rock Galactic is a pretty unusual game- a FPS mixed with mining and destructible environments.  You go around on procedurally generated caves, digging for specific minerals. And sometimes you are attacked by monsters. All that has Co-Op built in (never used it though). Graphics are pretty good, but I found the actually looking around for the minerals to be more annoying than fun. Also I felt quite claustrophobic around the whole thing, and had to discover a few things the tutorial didn't show. Controls could be a little fiddly. Sometimes I'd try to fire or dig and it just wouldn't start. Graphics and sound is pretty good. Overall, interesting, but for whatever reason I didn't find it entertaining at all.

 Control is an horror adventure/FPS.  It reminds me strongly of F.E.A.R, although it is quite different in many ways, and both the story and game seems to be much more elaborate. I like a lot of things about it, including the self-recharging gun, the number of upgrades, the telekinetic powers and the Lovecraft feel of the story so far. One thing I really like that I can't recall seeing elsewhere in this way, is the assist menu - which has a bunch of options to tune the game difficulty the way you want, including immortality. Very useful. So far, I really like it. Update: I've finished the main story (about 13 hours, which seems crazy short, considering I took quite a few side missions). It was pretty good, just short. There is more content, including DLC that was included in this version.

 Just finished Cursed, by Thomas Wheeler.  First I saw the series on Netflix. It was OK, definitely not great. I read a Frank Miller interview that implied that the book and series complement each other (not really), so I decided to get the book. The story, an Arthurian myth about a magic girl that gets Excalibur (never called that on the book, AFAIK) is almost the same. The book has some different details, and like 3 times the use of magic (which I liked, as the lack of use of the main series topic bothered me in the series). There are illustrations by Frank Miller, but most are not great. By the end of the book I kind of liked them. Overall, very nice, and as usual, better than the series.

 Idle Idle GameDev is another idle game for Android.  These are named so because they "keep running" in the background (i.e. when you get they generate results that look like they were running). Developers love them because they can be very addictive (with the sense of accomplishment because of easy upgrades), they are easy to monetize (just sell points for upgrades or time boosts) and you can extend gameplay by having reboots with upgrades. All of these apply here. Also, the whole UI are basic forms - I'd make fun of them, but it makes sense in the context. On one hand, I really like the concept, and it has plenty of great ideas. I've played for quite a while and unlocked almost all visible upgrades. However, it is pretty buggy, specially skipping over updates - like showing having upgrade points except that you don't, after a while you discover this. Also, things like dropping all employees from bug fixing, and it still runs for who knows what reason. So I can r

I recently switched from Google Play Music to YouTube Music. Given my previous experiences, I was already trying to figure out the best way to switch to Spotify. But to my surprise, it doesn't really suck. Don't get me wrong, except for looking a little better there is no advantage in the switch, but it is not bad enough that I'm willing to switch from it. Advantages: - Can finally see album art properly. - YouTube Premium is super cheap if you have YouTube Music - less than US$1 more here. This was available previously, but in a crazy move by one of the biggest companies in the world, you had to sign up for YouTube Premium, and then cancel GPM, and talk to support to get your money back. Bizarre. And obviously, this worried people that they might lose their music libraries, so I didn't do it. There isn't all that much to watch in YouTube Premium, but for that price even removing the ads is worth it. Disadvantages: - for whatever reason, scrolling through a playlist

Just got the new Blogger interface. Seems ok enough, although unless the new code is easier to debug, this doesn't seem much of an advance. Labels in particular seem a bit worse. What I'm really surprised by is that I still can't drag and drop files. Given that this was common like 10 years ago, seems crazy to update the UI and not touch that.

Bad North is an interesting tactical battle game. Basically you have a bunch of different units - which usually start as regular swordsmen, but have a bunch of possible paths/upgrades, such as shields, arrows or pikes. Meanwhile, a bunch of enemies try to invade your islands, such as swordsmen, archers, swordsmen with shields, etc, coming in boats. Obviously, there are many ways you can use different troops to defend, and this changes wildly with each different island. Graphics are very nice. Overall, strongly recommended to those that like tactical games.

GRIP - Battle Racing is a PC (you guessed it) battle racing game. I got it on Twitch Prime, otherwise it is doubtful if I would buy it. I like the premise and I have fond memories of many racing games with battle elements - particularly Death Track, from 1989. What I do like about GRIP is the graphics and the clever use of levels where you can ride around tubes and on ceilings. The weapons seem a bit too simple - maybe from the transition to controllers from keyboards? I remembering having a bunch of weapons on Death Track - including many that could attack cars behind you, such as mines, caltrops or oil slicks. Also, I'd like to be able to see behind and in front at the same time. Funnily enough, this was common back in the 90s, but I rarely see it anymore on racing games... As seems to be necessary for all racing games, it is best to use a controller. I haven't used a controller in years, but I had to connect one to play GRIP, as it feels much better using one.

The Magicians is a fantasy novel, by Lev Grossman. There is also a TV series based on the book series. Funnily enough, I finished the book in the same day that I finished the TV series. The book is basically a darker Harry Potter - which doesn't try to be cute and magic seems to have much more in the consequences area. They are somewhat close, but there are a few differences. I think the tone of the TV series (from what I remember, as the events in the book took place in the series several years ago) is actually better than the book, which is quite refreshing from all the series/movies that just don't work as well. Still, it was pretty good, and I plan to go through the whole book series, too.

Overload is basically Descent, the 90s game, with nicer graphics. It is even made by some of the same people. For those that didn't play it (which I imagine, by this point is pretty much everyone) it was SF shooter, where you took your ship and went into basically tunnels to shoot other ships, look for keys and then overload reactors. The biggest novelty was that you could move in every direction. If that is bad or good, that is up to you. At least for now, I have enjoyed it - there is something about the movement and dodging the ships that I really like (using the keyboard - and somehow I immediately remembered what the extra movement keys were, even 20 years after). Graphics are nice, although nothing fancy. But there is probably no need for it. The story so far is exquisitely boring, and much better skipped. There are also some secrets (just as in 90s games) and upgrade points. The helper from Descent 2 is back (this form in holo form, which makes more sense than the or

The Last Emperox, by John Scalzi, is the last book in The Interdependency trilogy. The flow (the FTL of this universe) paths are failing, and civilization will suffer as a result. But the current Emperox and her boyfriend are working in the problem, trying to save everyone. Meanwhile, Nadashe and a lot of nobles are plotting to kill her, and only try to save the other nobles. Obvious trouble ensue. Scalzi recently posted a tweet that mentioned that people were swearing at him at a certain point of a book. I wondered which. After reading this, it is pretty obvious. Technically this is a spoiler. If you read the book, you too will know when you read it. Overall, pretty good, and the plot ends well (while it could still be milked for more books, it would be unnecessary). Very well worth reading the trilogy, I think it took me about a week and a half.

Just had a nasty flickering bug with Snake Pass. The screen got green and started flickering. The scary part was that it continued it after I closed the game!!! I got the solution from a post: OrbWeaver73 has Snake Pass 4 Feb, 2018 @ 8:37pm To fix this if you are using Nvidia, Open Nvidia control panel (Not Geforce Experiance) under "Display" on the left hand side click "Resolution", Scroll down to option 3 and select use nVidia color settings, Hit apply and this should resolve the green flickering from all games that suffer from it.

This is mostly a note because very soon I will probably forget I tried this. This seems to be clever in some ways, but one of the most painful designs I have ever seen. For starters, if you want a window, you have to type in the size. I have been gaming since 8-bit computers and I can't recall this ever happening. Then there are tutorials, which are very reasonable but show that the game is just crazy complicated, much more than any other strategy game I've tried. At this point I've decided to give up on the thing and uninstall.

Zombotron is a platform shooter. It looks pretty nice, and I do enjoy all the physics actions you can do, such as dropping things on enemies' heads to kill them. What I didn't like it is the bosses, and how different they are from the rest of the game. So for the first one, I had to look it up on the net how to kill it, for example. Overall, good.

The Consuming Fire is the middle book in The Interdependency trilogy, by John Scalzi. Not a lot goes on, on a macro level - mostly more plotting against the Emperox, and an expedition to a planet that had fallen off the Flow, which does get important information and some important revelations - including about why the Flow is collapsing. Overall, very good.

The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi, is a SF novel. It is the first book in a trilogy, The Interdependency. This fictional universe has its own kind of hyperspace-like FTL - called the Flow, which starts to fail, which is obviously a big deal. Specially as their own imperial government, the Interdependency was designed so that every planet connected by the flow would have to depend on each other. Plus they mostly live in habitats, not planets, which are bound to fail if left alone. In something very relevant for the current days, everyone doubts the scientists that say their FTL is going to stop working (Scalzi nicely didn't have anyone saying "fake news" directly), which just like right now, adds to the disaster. Being an empire, it is not surprising that there is a lot of intrigue and several assassination attempts on the emperox. Overall, very entertaining. I'm already halfway into the second volume.

Project Warlock is a retro FPS for PC. Graphics are very adequate, given the retro label, this might not please new players. What I did miss (but, again is adequate for the period being replicated) is the lack of a tutorial. You are just thrown in and nothing is explained. There are a few features not common for FPS of the time, like a RPG progression. But frankly I haven't spent much time with the game. Overall, somewhat entertaining. Not sure if I will play it more, though.

The Human, by Neal Asher, is the finale of the Jain Trilogy. As usual, it was great. There was a bit of new tech, and a lot of insight into the Jain, and why they behaved like they did, as well as the why of their tech remnant. Overall, strongly recommended, but you might want to start elsewhere (and you really want to start the trilogy at the beginning) if you are not familiar with the Neal Asher Polity universe.

Cell to Singularity  is an idle game for Android, with an evolution theme. Many idle games have relatively silly game play, and this is no exception - you have a number of species/ideas and their traits (upgrades) to add, which give you points, which you use to get more species. This one has a couple of modes - regular evolution and a dinosaur evolution. These are unfortunately completely separate, except for a couple of pointless upgrades that appeared on the main simulation. If you read the first paragraphs you might expect that I hated the game, but I really liked it. Yes, it is silly but it has a nice sense of progress, and I don't even know how many hours I have played it. Overall, silly but recommended. It can be free, or you can buy the regular speed up upgrades. Personally I got some as I was sick of watching ads, plus I thought they deserved some money.

Ticket to Earth is a tactical sci-fi RPG for Android. The art and sound are nice, and I really like that the gameplay has many tactical choices that really affect the outcome. You can buy different guns, and choose different powers and talents. So far there are 2 characters you can play with (in some missions, they both enter and in some you choose). They have different powers, which make things interesting.  You can also increase some stats and choose upgrades for each character. I played on a tablet (S6), not a phone. Unlike so many games with puzzle aspects, the story is actually interesting enough. Price is quite fair here in Brazil (R$15). Even if I didn't play anymore, I'd feel I already got my money's worth. Overall, very enjoyable, but I needed to choose the easy difficulty to keep going... Update: I finished the game. Very good, and surprisingly the story was pretty nice, too. Well worth both the price (tiny) and the time.

Meteorfall: Journeys is an interest deck-builder rogue-like, which will probably remind anyone of Slay the Spire (StS) as they are so similar. There are indeed a lot of similar mechanics, including having several characters with their own special cards and differing mechanics. I haven't played that much so far, but while I really liked it at first, I got a little bored after the first couple of games. Maybe the progression is a little slow (unlock just some cards per character), like StS? I'm not sure why and I will almost certainly try it a little longer.

The Ancient Ones, by David Brin, is a comic SF novel, in the style of the HitchHiker's Guide. It parodies mostly Star Trek, although there are a few jokes that reference Star Wars and Dune, among many others. The story takes place on a Star Trek style ship that goes to first contact with a planet. But as soon as it lands, they discover it is full of vampires, werewolves and other monsters. The start was a little weak, but I think it really got more enjoyable in the last half, and I look forward for more stories in the same universe - which seems to be well set up in this book. Even better, it was on Kindle Unlimited (Brazil) so it was free for me. Overall, recommended for fans of parodies, comedies and SF.

My Friend Pedro is an interesting side shooter, with some clever additions, such as focus time, wall jump and split shooting. It does look nice, but I don't really like the wall jumping and flipping movement. It is not bad, but I don't particularly like it so far... Update (24/03/2020):  I've played it a lot more, and it gets a whole lot better. Lots of interesting mechanics and clever, puzzle like "rooms". I really like it right now.

Warstone TD - as the name already points out, is a Tower Defense game. To be honest, I am not sure if I like it or not. Graphics and music are very nice, but on Windowed it maxes out at 2048  x 1080 - which is quite annoying in a quad HD monitor - fixed, it now supports Quad HD (2560 x 1440) and looks great in it. It cuts out almost all the lines of its bubble text. And the UI is annoying at times (for example, you have to keep scrolling on an almost screen size TD level to see all controls). There is a lot going on, unlike most TD games. You actually have to develop your base, adding new building to get new units and capabilities. You have two different kinds of upgrades (which I consider kind of annoying). And in the actual TD part, you have the usual warriors, some upgrades, and many spells you can use. It also has reverse TD with regular TD on certain levels (i.e. you are sending units on a path while defending another path). On the bad side, I was able to lock myself from

I've created a couple of blogs about Intermittent fasting: https://stgsys.net/jejum-intermitente/  (in portuguese) and https://stgsys.net/intermittent-fasting/  (in english) The reason is simple - I really believe in intermittent fasting potential for weight loss and improved health, as shown in many studies. Yet there is a lot of misinformation and it is easier for me to point out to a single place with articles and videos about the subject.

Stealing Worlds, by Karl Schroeder, is a near future SF novel. The main character, Sura, just discovered that her father was killed and have to disappear - in a society where surveillance is everywhere. She ends up hiding in mixed reality games - which in this world are ubiquitous and can do a whole lot. Really loved it. The world building is pretty great, including the vast use of AR and blockchain everywhere. The events leading to the end were pretty cool, too. A really memorable world - in many ways like Lockstep, from the same author, which created a very interesting concept to get around light speed on civilizations.

Investimentos Inteligentes, by Gustavo Cerbasi, is an interesting book about investments. It is in portuguese and about Brazil, but I am keeping the language the same in my blog posts for practical reasons. It covers a lot of investment options, some very briefly, some in more detail. I certainly learned a lot, so it was very much the cost and time spent (it is not very long, too).