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Mi partoprenis PEKO-n 2018 de ĵaŭdo ĝis dimanĉo (mi nur maltrafis la unuan nokton) en Tilff ĉe Lieĝo en Belgujo. Surprize granda estis la ĉeestantaro, se oni konsideras, ke la retpaĝo kaj aliĝilo aperis unu monaton antaŭe.
Same kiel en aliaj jaroj la ĉeestantoj estis la Verdaj Skoltoj, do adoleskuloj, la samaj maljunuloj kiel ĉiam en belgaj renkontiĝoj, kaj kelkaj hazardaj homoj inter tio.

La bazaj kondiĉoj estis prizorgitaj. Ĉiuj dormis en etaĝaj litoj, la manĝo estis baza sed bone farita, kaj la trinkejo preskaŭ ĉiam funkciis kun volontula homforto de la Skoltoj. La programo estis iom malriĉa. Okazis kelkaj ekskursoj, sed mi ne eltenis atendi malrapidan francan klarigan, sekvitan de malrapida esperanta traduko kun malrapida promenado. Plej amuze estis la neantaŭplanitaj arbaraj ekskursoj kun la Skoltoj, kun speciala danko al Cédric.

Estas mirinde, ke la organizanto Valer sukcesis preskaŭ sole ĉion organizi, sed venontjare mi tamen esperas je pli granda teamo, por havi pli frue retpaĝon kaj pli multe da programo.

This program is very easy to use for anyone, even those who don’t understand much about virtualization, which is honestly great. Other virtualization apps can look complex and daunting to beginners, so it’s very good that GNOME Boxes exists.

For simple use cases, there are no reasons I can think of to not use it. Works out of the box, as intended.

NeoGeo, a name that conjures up many memories for me. I played many of them in the arcades in the 90’s, including titles such as Samurai Shodown, King of Fighters, Fatal Fury and many other hits. I never really got to play the Last Blade, however. It was only until recently that I really could experience the joy that is the Last Blade. Coming in at $7.99 USD on the Switch eshop, it’s just at the right price to dive right in! I’ll go over the presentation, the controls, the difficulty, the sound and music and finally an overview of the whole thing.

When you first start the Last Blade, you’re asked to select from one of several modes. You can choose Japanese, American, Caravan or High Score mode. I won’t go into the latter modes, Caravan and High Score, because I didn’t find those interesting. Once you pick Japanese or American, you’re given a choice of which user to select to play the game with. After that, the intro starts up and you’re asked to “insert coins” as you would in a real arcade. To do so, you press the L button to insert coins and the R button to start(as player one). You’re then presented with a choice of combatants, each with their own unique special moves as per the usual fighting game rules. After picking one, you can choose either Power or Speed mode. I haven’t played the game long enough to understand the real differences between them. Regardless of your choice, you’re whisked away to the first fight! The presentation for all the above is completely flawless and one of SNK’s best, with I feel the only games rivalling it’s presentation are the sequel, Garou: Mark of the Wolves and King of Fighters.

Now for the controls. The controls are very tight and it’s very easy to pull off combos, even despite the age of the game. Certainly, you do need practice, and that’s one of the downsides of the game I’ll get into later. Anyways, the controls are very responsive and usually only need a little push to really pull off anything. I’d say it’s also one of the game’s best features. Also I would recommend the use of the Pro Controller or an arcade stick, by say, Hori, for the best experience with the controls.

As for the difficulty, it’s rather hard, especially if you’re not good at fighting games. I’ve had years of experience in fighting games, but I am by no means a master at them. The last boss also exhibits what some would call “SNK Boss Syndrome,” which means that they are really are cheap and unfair. I found this to be true a little, and it took me at least 10 tries to beat the boss. There are options to lower the difficulty, but what is really glaring is the fact that you can’t switch the game to what is called “AES” mode. NeoGeo, the console, was no different from the arcade version, but there was the fact that many games, when you used them in a NeoGeo console, would often have a menu of options that you could select from, and that usually included a training mode. This port lacks the option to switch to console mode, sadly. In any case, because of the difficulty, I would recommend that you mostly play this with your friends to have the best time.

The music and sound are amazing, and just a joy to listen to no matter what. Sometimes the music is purely ambient, however, but other times it’s got such a Japanese feel you can’t help but be surprised out of what they could do with the NeoGeo’s hardware. You’ll want to find the soundtrack online after listening to the music in the game! As for the sounds, they’re all hard hitting, and the sound effects do the game real justice. There’s no tinny or otherwise out of tune sounds here.

Overall, I’d say the game is definitely worth it, especially if you have a Pro Controller or 2, and a friend. It’s unfortunate about the lack of a AES mode, but maybe one day they’ll do us a service and patch it in. I’ll give this 4/5 stars due to the facts mentioned above. Great game, just needs some adjustments in this port.

This collection of Anki decks for Japanese learners, spread over 10 parts, is an absolute must for beginners. It includes standalone expressions as well as phrases with said expressions. It also contains images and, most importantly, audio produced by native speakers. This is where it really shines and makes it all worthwhile.

Having said that, the lack of linear progression throughout the decks is pretty bad. You learn the common expression 素晴らしい (subarashii) only by the time you get to deck 7! This happens often and feels like a wasted opportunity to make progression more meaningful.

Also I take issue with the fact that there are so many lent expressions from English (the so-called garaigo). Those are often nearly identical to the English words and don’t really need to be memorized with flashcards since they are so easy.

All in all, it’s a fun deck to churn through and I can recommend it!

So, as this was a good series overall I feel like I deserve to give it an extra other comment/review.

I was “spoilt” on the ending but what can you expect watching a pretty major series nearly eight years after it was broadcasted ?

Okay, this is a 12am rambling under the influence so let’s stop it here.

All in all, I would defintely recommend this, the ending didn’t ruin the show one bit, in my honest opinion.

I was there in 2016 with my family and had a great time. We stayed there for five nights and in four of them we were the only hotel guests of ‘Il Sentiero’, what means that the full staff always had time for us and the dinner was not only in time, it also was delicious. The breakfast however was average, but not bad.

The most amazing thing on the hotel is it’s view. From the rooftop one can see the whole Gulf of Naples on the one side and the hillside of Mount Vesuvius on the other one. There is also a large garden from where you also have nice view, but it’s obstructed by some trees. The garden itself is pretty and features some deckchairs to relax. At the beginning I missed a swimming pool, but in the end I didn’t care anymore. There are enough other things to do in the area, like hiking. A small path leads up to Mount Vesuvius (which is where the hotel actually has it’s name from), but it seems to be rarely used and requires hiking boots.

Since the hotel is very secluded, the driveway is pretty small and contains some potholes, but it’s manageable to drive it. There is also a large (if not huge) parking space near the hotel and comparing it to the size of the hotel I was wondering if it ever was full. I found out soon, because at one evening there was kind of a fashion show in the hotel’s garden. It was pretty loud and some of the guests were lingering on the floor outside of our room.

The room itself was not the best thing on the hotel. The furnishings were okay, but the showerhead was broken and we had to hold it all the time while showering. There were also a lot of ants in the room and I was wondering why they gave us this room since there were no other guests.

But all in all I enjoyed my time there, but I don’t know how things are looking now since it was already two years ago.

When I played this game for the first time in 2013 I already felt like a truck driver, although I played it with mouse and keyboard. Comparing it with other so called ‘simulation games’ especially the graphics and physics behavior of Ets2 are standing out. Last year I bought a steering wheel and pedals only for Euro Truck Simulator 2 (and its American counterpart) to have an even more realistic experience. And that’s what a simulation game should aim on, not releasing a new game every (two) year(s) like Farming and Bus simulators do. That’s another great advantage of Ets2: The game has been released in 2012 and still gets free updates with more or less cool features, as well as paid DLC.

The DLC politics is always a problem of simulation games. But it’s not that extreme with Ets2 like with Train Simulator where you have to pay 3.600€ to unlock all features. Yes, Ets2 has some DLC too, but they are from high quality and don’t cost that much. Some of them also bring cool new game mechanics, like special transports.

The problem I have with Ets2 is that you can see that it’s a game from 2012 in some parts. The original map (Germany, UK, Austria, Netherlands, Belgium) looks very monotonous and doesn’t really represent the countries. If you have some of the map expansion DLCs it seems like you drive through an entirely different game if you come from Italy to Germany, or France to Belgium. Some of the trucks also seem to be stuck in 2012 but that’s a license problem, I guess.

So in the end I would say that Euro Truck Simulator 2 is a great game for truck fans, travel fans (like me) or people who are just looking for a relaxing game.

Wenn man in Rheinau (und der Umgebung) nach einem guten Bäcker sucht, wird man eigentlich schnell fündig. Der allerbeste ist aber die Bäckerei Schmidt in Rheinbischofsheim. Hier gibt es alles mögliche, was das Brot- und Süßwarenherz begehrt. Das Körnerbaguette ist des beste, das es auf der Welt gibt (ohne zu übertreiben natürlich … )

In der Mittagspause oder einfach bei einem kleinen Hunger kann man es sich auch an einem der Tische bequem machen und ein Flammkuchenteil essen oder was auch immer man gerade will, fündig wird man auf jeden Fall.

Im Sommer gibt es zudem eine Eistheke mit wechselnden Sorten. Leider sind nicht alle gut, besonders das Fruchteis schmeckt sehr wässrig. Aber das ändert trotzdem nichts daran, dass der Rest passt.

Anticafé is called anti-café because it works differently than a regular café: You don’t pay for what you consume but for the time you spend there (5 EUR / hour, capped at 24 EUR / day). While you are there you can freely consume their (great!) coffee (with a very good selection - including cappucino, hot chocolate etc.) and from a little buffet with cookies, cake, nachos etc.

The good part about this approach is that you don’t need to feel guilty to occupy a space for a long time - making the Anticafé also a great co-working space. The wifi is decent, they have comfortable and varied seating areas (some more couch-like, others with real tables; if they get busy it might be a bit difficult to find a good spot) and overall a very comfortable, friendly vibe. What you should note, however, is that they sell themselves more as a café than a coworking space, which primarily means that people chatting around you is to be expected. If you thrive in a vibrant environment, this could be the space for you, if you want to work in a quieter environment a coworking space with quiet areas might be better suited for you.

They would definitely get five stars from me if it weren’t for the very diverse coworking scene in Bordeaux: Their prices are more expensive than e.g. the Buro des Possibles or the Bac A Sables and I find the former more cozy (plus better wifi and the option to have lunch there), while the latter is larger and offers different areas e.g. for quiet or not-so-quiet working. But definitely check out all three of them for yourself, they are all great choices and your mileage may vary (YMMV)!

Proton mail(PM) is an email provider started by former CERN scientists to deliver an easy to use, privacy focused email service.

After several months, I’ve had no issues sending or receiving emails and the web client has been easy to use. PM has been slow in rolling out new software and open sourcing the software they’ve written, but they have been continuously moving in the right direction.

Pros

• web client is very easy to use
• Based in Switzerland
• “Zero access architecture” means emails are encrypted on server, even to protonmail themselves
• uses open source software in web client
• web client supports end to end encrypted emails using pgp as of 25/07/2018

Cons

• bridge not released for linux yet(imap access for PM)

not included in rating

• android and ios apps