Night in the Woods is an adventure game available for virtually all platforms (as of this writing: Windows, macOS, Linux, PS4, Xbox One, Switch). The game mostly takes place from the perspective of college drop-out Mae Borowski, whose return to her hometown of Possum Springs leads to reunions, conflicts, weird dreams, and a gradually unfolding mystery.

The town is inhabited by anthropomorphic animals (and, oddly, by some actual animals); Mae herself is a 20-year-old cat. The player controls Mae in a manner similar to a jump-and-run game, but with the sense of safety of a point-and-click adventure. While there are areas of the game world that can be a bit tricky to reach, there is very little puzzle-solving.

From time to time, a scene turns into a mini-game (playing the bass guitar, stealing an item from a shop, hitting objects with a baseball bat). You often only get one shot at these games, and whether you succeed or fail will reveal small variations in the story.

While the story is more or less on rails, the game’s characters keep you engaged. There’s Mae’s old friend Gregg, a fox whose short attention span doesn’t seem to get in the way of his employment at the “Snack Falcon”. As time goes on, the depth of his love for his boyfriend, a bear named Angus, is revealed, who seems to be Gregg’s best hope of growing up.

From left to right: Germ, Bea, Angus, Mae, and Gregg at band practice. (Credit: Infinite Fall. Fair use.)

There’s Beatrice “Bea” Santello, a goth who seems initially hostile but who opens up after Mae spends more time with her. And of course there are Mae’s parents, who struggle to get their daughter to tell them what exactly caused her to drop out of college.

When speaking with other characters, you are often given multiple dialog options, but what you can say is constrained by Mae’s perspective on the world as a 20-year-old with … issues. After many experiences, Mae automatically scribbles notes into her personal journal, which are observations like “GREGG RULZ OK” or “THOUGHT: THIS PLACE IS FALLING APART”, often accompanied by cartoons.

As the game progresses, Mae draws little notes in her journal. (Credit: Infinite Fall. Fair use.)

Over time, the mystery at the heart of the story gradually becomes apparent. Mae experiences weird dreams and a growing sense of anxiety, and she witnesses strange goings-on in Possum Springs. The ultimate “reveal” is less important than Mae’s struggle to come to terms with her own fragility. There are discussions of death and religion, but they are meditative, not proselytizing.

Night in the Woods is a gorgeous game: the characters, landscapes and animations are simple but beautiful, enriched by context-specific background music (listen to the soundtrack). The writing is terrific and the pacing is generally good; the early game can feel a bit drawn out.

The main controls are easy to master, though some of the mini-games can feel a bit unfair the first time around. You’ll probably get at least one replay out of the game, to discover hidden branches of the story you missed the first time around, and to master the various mini-games.

On the Nintendo Switch, which is the version we played, the load times can be a bit frustrating: going from one screen to another can trigger a five second “loading” animation, and it’s in the nature of the game’s controls that you might do so accidentally a few times.

The Verdict

I highly recommend giving this game a chance, unless you’re put off by some of the themes of young adult drama and prefer your games to be more challenging. Currently, the game goes for $20 on Steam, which is a decent price for the amount of content that’s packed in here. While the game is not without its minor frustrations, I would give it 4.5 out of 5 stars, rounded up.

Tiu nacia kongreso, kune kun junulara renkontiĝo, estis mia unua E-kunveno post Esperantistiĝo, kaj ĝi ege plaĉis al mi. La kongresejoj estis tre bonaj lokoj: la Memorejo de Kuritibo (kulturcentro en urbocentro) kaj apuda universitato nomata UNINTER. La organizado ŝajnis tre profesia, kaj mi laŭdas la Paranaa Esperanto-Asocio pro tio. Ankaŭ estis aliaj eventoj kiel kurado, ekskursoj, KER-ekzameno kaj interesaj kulturaj prezentaĵoj. Eta problemo estis, ke oni ne vere povis aŭdi la mikrofonsonon ĉe la Memorejo, do ni apenaŭ povus kompreni, ekzemple, pri Paulo Silas, Esperantista poeto omaĝita dum la evento.

Estis etaj loĝistikaj problemoj rilate al tempo de aktivitatoj, kaj mi ege malĝojis, ke oni informis pri la neokazo de kelkaj prelegoj tre malfrue, aŭ foje eĉ ne informis. Tiaj aferoj ja okazeblas, sed estus pli bone scii antaŭe. Alia plendeto estas, ke ĝi estis tro mallonga! Kongresoj daŭru minimume semajno, bonvole :)

Sed ĝenerale estis bonega etoso, almenaŭ inter la junuloj, kie mi ĉefe partoprenis, kaj la amikecojn oni ekkreas en tiuj lokoj multe pelas onin plue partopreni aliajn kongresojn kaj aktiviĝi por Esperanto. Do mi dankas BEL kaj BEJO por tiu oportuno!

Malgarantio: mi ricevis monan subtenon por partopreni la kongreson, kaj laboris kiel volontulo. Ankaŭ, la organizantoj petis ke mi verku raporton pri ĝi poste, do eblas, ke mia opinio iel favoremas ĝin, tamen mi kredas, ke la plejmulto da partoprenantoj havas similajn pozitivajn opiniojn pri ĝi.

Esse izakaya (espécie de boteco japonês) na Augusto Stellfeld é um espaço pequeno e aconchegante, com uma atmosfera muito autenticamente japonesa. O grande problema é o preço, que é bizarro; um simples espetinho de shiitake com quatro cogumelos já dá dez reais. Pedindo duas cervejas, dois espetinhos e um pires de raiz forte já passa dos oitenta reais. O atendimento também podia ser um pouco mais amigável.

Vale a pena conhecer, mas é inacessível pra maior parte das pessoas.

Esse restaurante é sensacional. O atendimento é bom, o espaço é bacana (um bonito casarão histórico em uma esquina do Largo da Ordem) mas o forte mesmo é a comida. Provei a esfirra, a coxinha e o enroladinho de salsicha, sendo esse último meu preferido. Eles também oferecem chocolates e sorvetes, tudo vegano. É incrível.

Como se não bastasse, o lugar é super barato. É o melhor de todos os mundos. A única coisa que pode melhorar é o buffet de almoço. Quando eu fui, era só arroz, feijão, duas opções de strogonoff vegano e batata palha. Faltou bastante opção. Mas como lanchonete, funciona super bem.

I didn’t expect to like this book as much as I did, but well, that’s what happened: I liked it a lot. It’s not the best book I have ever read, but I enjoyed the story and the characters thoroughly.

It’s not just a story about the people who have to watch and wait and wonder while the heros go save the world. It’s not just a story about mentally ill teenagers being there for each other in a scarily supernatural world. It’s both, and that combination works out great. I cared deeply for all the main characters.

I really like how the distinction of indie kids versus everyone else doesn’t quite hold up, too.

The crime at the center of Stephen King’s, The Outsider is gruesome even by the horror writer’s standards: the sadistic murder of a child. The suspect is Terry Maitland, a baseball coach in the fictional town of Flint City. Early on, it looks like the cops have this one in the bag: multiple witnesses and DNA evidence appear to tie Maitland to the crime. But then a single question threatens detective Ralph Anderson’s grip on reality: can a murderer be in two places at the same time?

The hardcover edition of The Outsider has 576 pages, but I found myself breezing through the book in a single weekend, thanks to King’s masterful pacing of the story. While the book ultimately follows a fairly genre-typical path, the entry of a beloved character from King’s recent Bill Hodges trilogy (Mr. Mercedes, Finders Keepers, End of Watch) keeps things interesting until the end. 4 out of 5 stars.

OsmAnd is a free and open source(FOSS) maps and navigation app. It uses OpenStreetMap(OSM) for map data, several different routing engines are available ranging from fully offline to partially online and maps can use local data(offline) or online tiles. It’s best feature is that it can be used fully offline once map data has been downloaded.

Routing

The built in routing engine that works offline can be very slow depending on length of your route and your phones cpu. When used with older phones, it can take several minutes to calculate a 10-20 mile route. It is the default routing engine when you install the app.

Online routing engines were removed in one of the 3.x releases.

The OSRM routing engine works very fast, taking ~15 seconds to calculate a 10-20 mile route, but requires a data connection. It has to be enabled in the settings menu to work. This engine doesn’t seem to support announcing street names or avoiding tolls, use the default routing engine for the best experience.

Search

Search is not as good as commercial competitors. One drawback is that OSM’s data is missing many businesses and addresses compared to commercial competitors. The other is that the search function often requires exact substing matches to find things and is compounded by the fact OSM is crowdsourced data so there can be inconsistencies in tagging.

Map Updates

Map updates come monthly by default and include any updates that have been made to the OSM data.

OsmAnd live is a feature that allows downloads of new map data every hour if you want. This feature comes free with the F Droid version. This feature is great for OSM contributors. OsmAnd Live updates approx. every 15 minutes so you can make changes on OSM, wait 15 minutes and download your changes so you can immediately use your changes and know what’s already been mapped.

Updates

Since the app is FOSS, the app updates and map updates can be free if you download from F Droid . You can also get a free version from the Play store that comes with limits on the amount of offline maps you can download, but you can purchase an expanded version that takes aways those limits.

Battery and Data Usage

App uses very little data when using local data, even with online route calculation enabled. Map downloads are large, I highly recommend downloading over wifi only.

Battery usage seems to be much lower than commercial competitors, but a direct comparison has not been done.

Map Rendering

Map rendering will be slightly slower than commercial ones if using local map data. If you want the fastest experience, enable online map tiles in the configure map section.

##Long Term Update
Search is a pain and doesn’t become less frustrating over time. Rendering can be odd sometimes, showing the backgound as water instead of land at certain zoom levels. Routing is almost always good.

Verdict

The app is usable for day to day navigation, but will take some getting used to if coming from always online apps. The amount of options the app gives you is impressive. At any time, you can choose to go offline only to save data or online for a faster experience or something in between. OsmAnd Live is highly recommended if you are an OSM contributor.

If you want a free navigation app that doesn’t track you, this is a great choice.

Covers a lot of topics from a pagan/occult/magickal perspective, without the New Age woo that a lot of sites depend on. Dr Bones is an especially good writer for them. Good for people trying to experience spiritualism without abandoning rationality.

Se vi estas komencanto en Esperanto, kaj volas aŭdi normalan, facile aŭskulteblan Esperanton, kun gastoj el diversaj lingvofontoj, jen ĝi. kern.punkto estas la plej bona reprezentanto de Esperantujo, kiam temas pri podkastoj. La diverseco de gastoj (de malsamaj devenoj) estas granda, kaj tio pli bone reprezentas la sondiversecon de Esperanto ol aliaj podkastoj. Se vi ne plu estas komencanto, ne zorgu! kern.punkto taŭgas por ĉiuj, kiuj volas aŭskulti interesan diskutadon aŭ demandadon pri iu temo, sen esti ĝenita de muzikoj aŭ malseriozaj deflankiĝoj.

Ankaŭ la temoj estas tre diversaj. En la frua komenco, ili ĉefe temis pri aferoj konstruitaj, elektronikaj kaj komputilaj, sed nun estas tre granda diverseco, kaj tio estas tre bona por kompensi la malplenecon de podkastoj en Esperanto. Mi mem ŝatus pli da epizodoj pri biologio kaj sano, sed mi komprenas se la teamo ne sentas sin sperta pri tio aŭ ne povas facile trovi taŭgajn gastojn. Foje kelkaj temoj ne interesas min kaj mi duonaŭskultas, sed almenaŭ mi lernas kelkajn vortojn en Esperanto pri fakoj malofte priparolataj Esperante. Sed kiam la temo interesas min, mi ŝategas! La retejo de kern.punkto eĉ foje donas ligilojn, per kiuj oni povas pluesplori la temon, kiun oni malkovris/ŝatis.

Epizodoj kutime estas longaj je horo. Laŭ mi, tio estas nek tro longa, nek tro mallonga. La temoj estas serioze preparitaj, kaj la gravaj demandoj estas respondataj kun la bezonata, sen provi rapidigi aferojn pro artefaritaj tempolimoj. La epizodoj estas facile aŭskulteblaj ĉene per la apo Esperanto-radio Muzaiko, kaj AntennaPod, kiam oni estas ekzemple en veturilo al laborejo.

Hodiaŭ, kern.punkto estas tre granda. Ĝi eble estas la plej prestiĝa podkasto en Esperanto. (Ofte ĉeesti kongresojn helpas). Se vi ne konas la podkaston, estas grave ke vi konu ĝin, almenaŭ pro ĉio kion ĝi faris por Esperantujo. Aldone al ĉio, ili estas malfermitaj al la reagoj de aŭskultantoj. Oni povas facile kontakti ilin per ilia telegrama grupo, kaj oni foje povas rekte fari demandojn al gastoj kadre de rektaj elsendoj!

Se ankaŭ vi ŝatas kern.punkto, vi verŝajne ŝatos movada-vid.punkto, kiu havas tre similan stilon, sed prias Esperantajn aĵojn kaj agojn.

I really wouldn’t have Home Automation up and running in my Home if it wasn’t for Openhab. I’ve tried other mainstream home automation developers and found them to be too tied in to how they feel home automation should be and obviously flaunt their own and only their own products.

What I mean by this is that Openhab is vendor neutral, open source software. Lets break this down, it’s vendor neutral which means that it will work with a multitude of products from different companies so you can setup your own home with technology the way you like it and the list of products is ever expanding, they already support hundreds of products already . Open source means it open for any one to look through the code and develop it to create enhancements, better security or simply to check that no little nasty bugs or malicious code is part of it . Usually this means that should someone create an enhancement or security feature they give this back to the developer of the original source and thus a community is created where every one benefits from everyone’s input .

Now Openhab isn’t for everyone as it does require a certain amount of technical knowledge to begin with , however if your willing to learn new things and are interested in home automation, that is continually being developed by a community of people who are passionate about home automation, then Openhab is definitely for you.

I started off with Openhab with only a relatively small knowledge about home automation, software , hardware and computers in general. Now I consider myself someone who is reasonably good and I can achieve most of the what I want to create in Home automation. Should I find myself needing help with a project, Documentation is no shortfall with Openhab. But the largest benefit is the support provided on the Forum without which I wouldn’t have managed to develop anything.

Openhab is the complete package it supports a large number of products from different companies , it’s getting more user friendly by each passing day and the support for people needing help is exceptional.