Архивы 2010s - Diary of Planestranger

From Bacteria to Bach and Back

Artifacts already exist—and many more are under development—with competences so far superior to any human competence that they will usurp our authority as experts, an authority that has been unquestioned since the dawn of the age of intelligent design. And when we cede hegemony to these artifacts, it will be for very good reasons, both practical and moral. Already it would be criminally negligent for me to embark with passengers on a transatlantic sailboat cruise without equipping the boat with several GPS systems. Celestial navigation by sextant, compass, chronometer, and Nautical Almanac is as quaint a vestige of obsolete competence as sharpening a scythe or driving a team of oxen. Those who delight in such skills can indulge in them, using the Internet to find one another, and we celestial navigators can prudently bring our old-fashioned gear along, and practice with it, on the off chance that we will need a backup system. But we have no right to jeopardize lives by shunning the available high-tech gadgets.

We all still learn the multiplication table up to 12×12 and how to use it for larger numbers (don’t we?), and we can do long division problems with pencil and paper, but few know how to execute an algorithm for extracting a square root. So what? Don’t waste your effort and brain cells on tasks you can order by pressing a few keys or just asking Google or Siri. The standard response to the worriers is that when educating our children, we do need to teach them the principles of all the methods we ourselves are still adept at using, and for this comprehension a certain minimal level of actual experience with the methods is practically valuable, but we can (probably) get the principles to sink in without subjecting our children to old-fashioned drudgery. This seems to make good sense, but how far does it generalize?

Consider medical education. Watson is just one of many computer-based systems that are beginning to outperform the best diagnosticians and specialists on their own turf. Would you be willing to indulge your favorite doctor in her desire to be an old-fashioned “intuitive” reader of symptoms instead of relying on a computer-based system that had been proven to be a hundred times more reliable at finding rare, low-visibility diagnoses than any specialist? Your health insurance advisor will oblige you to submit to the tests, and conscientious doctors will see that they must squelch their yearnings to be diagnostic heroes and submit to the greater authority of the machines whose buttons they push. What does this imply about how to train doctors? Will we be encouraged to jettison huge chunks of traditional medical education—anatomy, physiology, biochemistry—along with the ability to do long division and read a map? Use it or lose it is the rule of thumb cited at this point, and it has many positive instances. Can your children read road maps as easily as you do or have they become dependent on GPS to guide them? How concerned should we be that we are dumbing ourselves down by our growing reliance on intelligent machines?

So far, there is a fairly sharp boundary between machines that enhance our “peripheral” intellectual powers (of perception, algorithmic calculation, and memory) and machines that at least purport to replace our “central” intellectual powers of comprehension (including imagination), planning, and decision-making. Hand calculators; GPS systems; Pixar’s computer graphics systems for interpolating frames, calculating shadows, adjusting textures and so forth; and PCR and CRISPR in genetics are all quite clearly on the peripheral side of the boundary, even though they accomplish tasks that required substantial expertise not so long ago. We can expect that boundary to shrink, routinizing more and more cognitive tasks, which will be fine so long as we know where the boundary currently is. The real danger, I think, is not that machines more intelligent than we are will usurp our role as captains of our destinies, but that we will over-estimate the comprehension of our latest thinking tools, prematurely ceding authority to them far beyond their competence.

Daniel Clement Dennett III, From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds, 2017.

Hatred

Current music: Suicide Commando - Die Motherfucker Die

Платформа: PC
Год: 2015
Разработчик: Destructive Creations

Ненависть находит выход

Критики на зарплате в дежурных обзорах около релиза сравнивали игру с серией Postal, и напрасно. Сходства механики с изометрической первой частью, которой, несомненно, вдохновлялись ребята из польской студии Destructive Creations, присущи немалому числу стрелялок и не являются в данном случае определяющими. А вот стиль и подача общего имеют крайне мало. Безымянный герой Hatred не пререкается с женой, не надевает кошек на дуло оружия, чтобы использовать в качестве импровизированного глушителя, и вообще не устраивает клоунады. Суровый патлатый детина вылез на тусклый серый свет из своего убежища с твёрдым ощущением пути, от которого не отступит. Он идёт убивать. В отличие от рыжего психопата с плохо скрываемым крайне правым политическим уклоном, ему некогда пытать и издеваться, наоборот. Оригинальным решением гейм-дизайнеров здесь оставлен только один путь пополнить собственное здоровье – быстро и решительно прикончить корчащихся в агонии. Пусть действия его в коротких, полных жестокости кат-сценах, где размазываются сапогом по асфальту головы и кровь фонтанами брызжет во все стороны, гротескны и демонстративны, они настолько же эффективны. Это не эффективность машины, повторяющей одно и то же без учёта внешних обстоятельств. Он не маньяк и даже не самозванный палач, его роль – это роль Жнеца. Персонифицированная ненависть подходит к процессу умерщвления с мастерством и искушённостью безумного художника. И как человек, осознанно взявший в руки оружие, этот идеальный убийца ясно понимает: он идёт умирать. «Мясные консервы» (так называет служак в шлемах и бронежилетах герой) об этом ещё не знают и тем допустили фатальный просчёт.

Кстати, несмотря на тонны нечистот, вылившиеся в адрес игры в медиа от борцов со свободой информации вскоре после выпуска в продажу, разработчики значительную часть социальных табу оставили нетронутыми. В Hatred напрочь отсутствуют дети, инвалиды, немощные старики и животные. В прицел протагониста они не попадают. Среди встречающихся зданий нет больниц или религиозных объектов.

Начинаясь просто как вспышка давно копившихся разрушительных эмоций, история обретает цель как желаемый финал. С этого момента чёрная фигура в кожаном плаще, оставляющая за собой только груды тел, огонь и опустошение, начинает видеть собственную смерть и стремится к ней с ещё большей уверенностью. Переход от ограниченного, хотя и массового террора к совершенно беспрецедентному масштабу уничтожения, на который прозрачно намекает трейлер Hatred, – это концовка, становящаяся эффектнее не благодаря неожиданности, а за счёт нагнетаемого предвкушения.

Побочные задания возникают при посещении какого-то специфичного, связанного с ними уголка карты, и особой оригинальностью не блещут. Наткнулись на клуб любителей охоты? Превратить охотников в добычу. Забрели в банк? Поджечь деньги в хранилище. Вышли на берег моря? Перебить всех яхтсменов и заодно праздных гуляк по пирсу. Как правило, внимательный поиск в этих областях позволяет найти приятные бонусы вроде дополнительных гранат или брони. А выполнение самого задания увеличивает количество оставшихся возрождений и добавляет ещё одну точку, где игрок может появляться после очередной неудачной перестрелки. И это бывает крайне полезно, поскольку сохраняется прогресс только автоматически между уровнями, и если «жизни» закончились, эпизод придётся начинать заново.

Кроме сюжетной линии есть аркадный режим «на выживание» (как бы неуместно в данном случае это ни звучало), где на трёх отдельных ограниченных территориях продолжают дело апокалиптического геноцида ещё три подражателя. Аутсайдер с крупной татуировкой на лице, молодая идейная садистка, мизантроп и террористка не очень живуча, зато быстро бегает. Обезображенный ожогами и поехавший психикой коп, которому как-то удалось пережить встречу с яростью оригинального стрелка, наоборот излишне медлителен, но убить его труднее. Так и не сумевший после очередного освобождения встроиться в обычную жизнь бандит-рецидивист – сбалансированная середина между ними.

Hatred предлагает пять градаций сложности. На предшествующей лёгкой story mode, установленной по умолчанию, вся игра вполне проходится за четыре с половиной часа. На самой высокой, insane, придётся продираться скозь уровни не умирая и не пользуясь подсказками интерфейса, при этом живучесть и эффективность брони сокращаются наполовину. Между этими экстремумами постепенно снижается величина восстанавливаемого милосердными казнями здоровья. При этом я не уверен, стоит ли превозмогать и тратить кучу времени на освоение более высокой сложности. Разве что при возникновении через достаточно продолжительное время желания повторить опыт.

Постоянный респаун бесконечных полицейских и военных на некоторых уровнях и без того слегка утомляет. Когда перебил всех, изначально размещённых в округе, и рыскаешь в поисках чего-то, необходимого для выполнения квеста. Когда уже некому передать призыв о помощи или вызвать подкрепления. Когда ты в маленьком курортном посёлке уничтожил уже такое количество человек, какое не насчитывает даже весь личный состав городской полиции с вахтёрами и постовыми, и требуется время, чтобы подъехали служаки из другого места, всё равно кто-то внезапно материализуется за спиной и открывает огонь. Хорошо хоть, что на последних отрезках, где обитают самые упорные и наилучшим образом оснащённые противники, этого не происходит.

Реалистичность ранений, особенно у бойцов SWAT, так себе: попадаешь несколько раз, в том числе в голову, цель раскидывает руки и издаёт звук агонии… Но нет, уже через пару секунд бодро продолжает поливать свинцом из, казалось бы, выпавшего куда-то в темноту автомата, отбегает в сторону, бодро осуществляет перегруппировки, никоим образом не выдавая ранения. Впрочем, и стрелок под управлением игрока ничуть не ухудшает свои боевые показатели от полученных повреждений, только экран наливается кровью, сигнализируя, что пора бы подлечиться.

Поскольку действие происходит в США, неприятности могут доставить не только служилые люди на страже государства. Ощутить прелести второй поправки к конституции в полной мере удастся на уровне в поезде, где чуть ли не каждый пятый пассажир оказывает вооружённое сопротивление, а иные безоружные в критической ситуации не стесняются поднять с пола ствол, когда тот перестал быть нужен его предыдущему хозяину.

К тому же преодолевать необходимо не только сопротивление оппонентов, но и недостатки управления. Прицеливание организовано ниже всякой критики. Оно случайно, нестабильно и не так уж сильно зависит от игрока. Можно десятью патронами застрелить троих бронированных солдат или весь рожок истратить, пытаясь попасть в стоящий на месте в трёх шагах телевизор.

Изометрия не сильно помогает также и перемещениям. Застревать в дверных косяках и тупиках, прочих препятствиях, не преодолимых прыжком, вы будете именно в тот момент, когда подоспевшие силы деятельно реализуют своё желание сделать в вас несколько новых отверстий и терять секунды крайне нежелательно.

Ассортимент доступных инструментов убийства, до трёх из которых одновременно находится при себе, схематичен и не поражает воображения: пистолет, шотган, узи, три вида популярных, легко узнаваемых автоматов (MP5, M16 и, конечно, AKM), огнемёт и ракетомёт. Три типа метательных снарядов так же стандартны: гранаты боевые, шумовые и коктейли Молотова. Кроме того, подобно Дюку Нюкему террористы лихо пинаются. Но если для героя борьбы с инопланетным вторжением это была скорее мера последней надежды, то здесь удар тяжёлым ботинком применяется часто для экономии патронов и в случае, если противник застал врасплох при перезарядке.

Вообще всё хорошее, что можно сказать о Hatred, пролетает мимо технической части. Какими-то необычными возможностями широко распространённый движок Unreal Engine 4 не балует, взаимодействие с миром оставляет желать много лучшего. Интерактивность исчерпывается разрушениями по жёстко заданным моделям. Дверь можно сломать, баллон с газом взорвать, отдельные стены при этом снести взрывом. А вот сровнять тяжёлым броневиком с землёй какую-нибудь лачугу, сжечь до золы деревянную постройку, протаранить стеллажи в магазине автомобилем или просто скинуть чемоданы с багажной полки в поезде не выйдет, не было предусмотрено. И тот же броневик вполне может застрять в живой изгороди… Зато выдержанный до самого конца визуальный стиль; постановка сцен насилия от энергичных движений, выполненных с помощью motion capture, до холодного шарма растворяющихся у горизонта равнодушных огней далёких небоскрёбов; озвучка, саундтрек, который воспринимается гораздо лучше в сумме с экшном, чем в отрыве от него; и прочие художественные средства как раз и вызывают эмоциональный отклик, позволяющий погрузиться в игру, пережить и оставить в ней подавленную агрессию. Именно это всё в совокупности определило мою итоговую оценку, перешедшую середину шкалы в направлении вверх.

Оценка: 6

My spring Prague part 3

Current music: Page - Dansande Man

The autumn has already started its reign in the northern hemisphere, but we have a chance to go back in time to May in Prague, that I captured in my photos.

Architectural and artsy loveliness near the Charles square.

By the way, there is no square in Russian traditional understanding of that word. Most of the space is dedicated to a park with gargantuan tall trees and simple fountains. There are also small groups of untidy looking people who occupy the benches in quiet shady nooks. I didn’t take photos of them in respect of their human dignity.

Here is also a monument to Czech author and translator Eliška Krásnohorská.

Next stop was Saints Cyril and Methodius Cathedral. Unlike many other historical churches in Prague it still serves its original purpose, even though church services are sparse. If I’m not mistaken they don’t even take place every day. At least in the middle of last day I was passing by and saw everything closed.

The word “standard” has absolutely no use when you try to describe the architecture in the central part of Czech capital.

Central railway station of Prague. You can get from here to Dresden in a couple of hours and to Vienna or Berlin in four.

The is a small patch of greenery opposite to the station’s entrance where in the middle I discovered a statue of American president Wilson with his words, which had a part in emergence of first Czechoslovak Republic as the independent state.

Charles bridge from the distance.

Stern bearded men at the entrance of quite common building on the western bank of Vltava.

Ducks took a free walk along the river too. However I wasn’t able to find swans anywhere that evening. Sod’s law: when I had had a bun for them, they hid.

It’s astonishing to think that somebody actually lives in all that splendor, solves everyday routine problems and returns tired after the working day to one of those homes along the river.

Four-wheeled retro for jaunts like that one can often be seen on tourists’ paths.

Near the entrance to Charles bridge.

The bridge itself has many monuments on both sides. Generally speaking all of them have religious meaning. For example here you can see Jesus with his followers.

Some saint with a propeller.

Francis Borgia, who was the general of jesuits and great-grandson of the very same Borgia you all have heard so much about.

That crucifix has the peculiar legend attached to it. Allegedly in XVII century one rich jew was in some way disrespectful to it. That made the townsfolk angry and eventually jew was sentenced to pay for gold inscription in Hebrew that was praising the god. The zesty part of the story is there was no mentioning which one. I don’t understand Hebrew language, therefore true meaning of that text is unavailable to me. The hard fact is however that monument attracts masses of tourists from around the world who touch it without the fear of global pandemic.

Female saints.

Giant chestnuts that are growing at the foot of the bridge reach above the houses and above the statues.

By the way, I’ve noticed that Prague manages to combine big old trees with high building density rather well. At least I’ve never seen roots of the trees ruining the roads or pavements. I also have never seen ugly sticking stubs left after the trees were mercilessly cut in avoidance of something.

Prague’s “Venice”

Mánes Bridge

Eastern bank of Vltava

Tourist boats take trips on Vltava at any time of the day.

Bridge tower. In the evening on Charles bridge and near that place there are so many tourists you can get in a traffic jam while walking. People constantly collide. It is indeed an ideal place for pocket pickers.

Your guide to Prague. Actually although the beer was delicious, I was drinking it only for one day. Czech Republic can offer an abundance of other interesting alcohol as well. Especially I would like to mention strong liquor called Praděd (which means great grandfather in English). It’s not sold everywhere, but if you by chance see it I recommend you to taste some.

This post was originally written in Russian somewhere around October the 1st in 2018 and translated to English just now.

Read My spring Prague part 2

Read My spring Prague part 1

Читать Моя весенняя Прага часть 3 по-русски

My spring Prague part 2

Current music: XIII. Století - Karneval

At first I intended to compose some kind of small but holistic story from my photos of Prague. However a lot of time has passed since my trip and my job, matters of personal business and everyday routine kept me from initial plan. Something unavoidably gets erased from memory, my point of view may also change in some cases with time. So I’ll just try to select the best photos of Prague and provide them with my comments.

Outside of Nový Smíchov shopping mall.

Inside the Nový Smíchov.

obchodní centrum nový smíchov торговый центр новый смихов — Dried fruits and nuts from “Happy Squirrel”

By the way, Smíchov district in Prague-5 generally mixes new and old fine.

Even the trams here are from different eras.

On one side of the street there is grey building with sharp geometric forms…

… and on the other there are houses that had seen a lot of history during the last century.

Equa Bank office makes tourists like me to turn heads up while local people demonstrate indifference.

Being a tourist I had to visit Old Town Square in the oldest part of the Prague.

There is always a lot of people.

Prague astronomical clock was undergoing restoration at the moment…

… but well recognizable (if not by name then by silhouette) Church of Our Lady before Týn was available to inspect in all of its glory.

Also back side of old town hall looks pretty picturesque.

One more clumsy selfie.

Some people there take a ride of horse-drawn carriage.

Others prefer mini-train tours.

Those on feet tend to spread among expensive food places located around the perimeter of the square

or catch bubbles with their cameras.

Even the Minnie Mouse got there somehow.

Jan Hus observes all those activities with respectable stoicism.

Buildings bear more sculptures than some of Russian towns.

Narrow walking street near the Old Town Square.

Another view of old Prague.

Church of Santa Claus. No presents though. It functions solely as a museum.

One of the problems every old city with significant history has is there are always some restoration works going on. Thankfully, there is no need to close streets in order to do that.

Example of modern abstract art near the river shore.

Vltava river view.

Prague Castle. People on the other bank are feeding the swans.

Some more of western bank of Vltava.

Religious frenzy of centuries long gone peaks at the Crusaders’ Square. Church of Saint Salvator. If I’m not mistaken that is the place that was Vatican in “Eurotrip” movie, precisely place of that scene with swiss guards, ice cream and one very special boy.

At Crusaders’ square you can also find old catholic church of Saint Francis Seraph.

Old Town Bridge Tower

Statue of Charles IV

Just beside the monument people are taking photos with strangely colored pigeons.

I didn’t take a walk over the Charles bridge that day. Instead I along the river to the south admiring the architecture. Prague is truly magical in a way that even if there were no museums, theaters, exhibitions and other cultural events, the city itself is a piece of art because of its architecture.

See the beauty. There are unique balconies, pinnacles, gargoyles, bas-reliefs and bold use of colors everywhere… Try your best to find two identical constructions.

Of course, I couldn’t miss the famous dancing house.

On the little island in the middle of Vltava you can rent a boat.

Even though it’s hard to call Vltava a clean river there are wild living nutria.

Most noticeable among the vegetative lifeforms were blooming chestnut trees that could be found everywhere you went.

That day I had a dinner in a lovely place called “U Gráffů” which I liked a lot. There I could watch and eavesdrop a bit people from all over the world some more while I was waiting for my meal. For example, this company of old German ladies (one of several I saw during the trip) was masterfully drinking considerable amount of beer.

Interior of the restaurant was inviting to contemplate too.

On my way back to the hotel. Red lights of a legal club had already lite. One of the next days there was a girl dressed lightly for a cool night air. I was too shy to take the photo of her without asking the permission.

Read My Spring Prague part 1

Читать Моя весенняя Прага часть 2 по-русски

My spring Prague part 1

I was always interested not only in traveling to fictional worlds but also to the other parts of our quite real blue and green ball. Not long ago I was able to find time and to satisfy my interest to some extend. In this post I want to share my photos and impressions of Prague in May of this year the way it presented itself to me.

Before we get to the main theme, I have to mention my point of departure. Kurumoch airport near Samara has undergone a renovation recently. I must give credit where the credit is due, the job was well done. Airport now is comfortable, stylish, completely modern and civilized with a lot of consideration given to details. Getting a little bit ahead of myself, I’ve had a far more positive impression of it than of Václav Havel Airport in Prague.

A colleague of movie racer from Marseille tried to talk to me all the way to avoid falling asleep and got me to the the place with a lot of time still left, because speedometer in his Škoda Octavia was showing number greater than 140 km/h multiple times during the trip. On a night intercity road that lacks street lights and even other cars, while it felt like the asphalt was coming into existence from the emptiness of the universe right before the wheels, such speed was high enough to tickle the nerves. The driver told me he has been driving for more than 16 hours and had visited four towns that day.

Notice there is even baby care room to the left of duty free store. This hall after the customs and border control was lighted mostly by a huge screen.

Took a selfie while waiting for the boarding. I still don’t really know how to do them.

The last look at the airport before the takeoff. It was really dawning already. Soon Airbus A319 of Czech Airlines started the acceleration.

That is Czech Republic already, after three and a half hours, viewed from above. Though that’s not Prague yet. It’s quite interesting how low we were during the last part of the flight.

Morning in Vaclav Havel airport in Prague.

Near the I.P. Pavlova subway station. Take a look at the truck in the last photo. It’s pretty unusual thing to see in the center of Prague. You have a better chance of seeing Ferrari there. By the way, about the bus. Those are exclusively for transporting tourists. Locals have to use streetcars or subway.

I must say that my first day there included many troubles, one of which was total lack of Internet. Before the flight I had consulted my mobile provider (MTS) about what I need to do, I had added fair sum to my account, activated option for data roaming (which cost a bit more than 7$ per day for unimpressive 128 Kb/s). However there was still no Internet access for me. I could receive SMS about my banking operations and incoming calls fine. At the same moment WWW was indifferent to my shamanistic actions and kept rejecting all attempts to load anything. Wi-Fi at the hotel was also at the level they were allowed to mention it without false advertising. It was so unbearable slow and unstable I couldn’t even view simple static pages or email mobile provider’s support to resolve the problem. So without maps or any other sort of navigation I was for some time trying to find Starbucks near the subway station called in the name of Russian physiologist as it wasn’t particularly easy. At one moment I had lost faith in my ability to find it, so I started asking people on the streets to show me the way. In attempt to be polite in a foreign country I was speaking Czech (well, I was trying to the best of my ability at the time). Turned out all the people passing by who I guessed could be visitors of such pretentious coffee place were also tourists who didn’t understand Czech and were unfamiliar with the city. Only on the eight or ninth time two nice Czech ladies helped me. I was very close to my target after all.

At Starbucks I must had been looking like a total weirdo buying three plain black coffees without anything else. It didn’t matter because there was new fast router that allowed me to connect to MTS support and to force them to provide service properly. With google maps and online dictionary it became much more comfortable to explore Prague that I have never seen before. That was the moment I could take a deep breath and start enjoying my vacation.

Statue of Saint Wenceslas surrounded by four other Czech saints.

Wenceslas Square. At the information booth there was very polite English-speaking young lady that provided me with paper map with one of the best exchange places in Prague marked on it for free.

National museum was undergoing the restoration at that time. Once I photographed crosswalk I should say that there are many of them in Prague, and usually there is not need to jaywalk. Most of the drivers are unbelievable polite. They let you go and wait for you even when you haven’t reached the road yet on unregulated crosswalks.

Sokolská street is one of the busiest in Prague. Thick cables come down to earth without any additional isolation. Nobody seems to have an idea to protect them from vandalism or metal looters.

Monstrous figures at the entrance with hookahs and cannabis leaf behind the glass make it hard to walk by without at least taking a photo.

An eclectic picture in the quiet street of so-called “new town”. Soviet-looking crude building in the distance coexists with more noble pieces of architecture. The scenery is completed with modern cars on the old cobbles, trash cans and ubiquitous, exceptionally pointless and tasteless graffiti.

Metal plates to commemorate the victims of nazism that once lived there.

How is it possible not to visit Švejk?

In no way. So I came in.

Inelaborate doll of good soldier Švejk greets the visitors.

2nd Lieutenant Dub. Some inscriptions show Russian origin.

Portrait of emperor Franz Joseph I that was unmercifully shat on by flies.

Hostinec u Kalicha presents itself as the exact place that was called The Chalice in the book “The Good Soldier Švejk” where Josef Švejk and first-class private Vodička agreed to meet at six o’clock after the world war. Dim light, wooden old-looking furniture, walls painted with caricatures, green lamps, full-sized dummies that depict characters from the book, headdress of Austrian soldier on the visible place and waiters in old-fashioned clothes altogether create there atmosphere of Great War times. Menu consists of Czech national cuisine mostly, though I was able to find grilled cheese to suit my pescetarian taste. If you know and love the main literary work of Jaroslav Hašek, it might be interesting for you to come there, have a drink or eat something.

Continue to My Spring Prague part 2

Читать Моя весенняя Прага часть 1 по-русски

Samara’s contrasts

Current music: Helium Vola - Selig

Contrasts of Samara. Those two buildings are located on the same street about 100 meters apart from each other. The spring dirt is truly inescapable…

Shiny business center Millenium is right beside the rusty wavy roof of old building. By the way, parking is for employees only.

The memory about heroes of old times is displayed along with the preparedness to create new ones.

Facades of apartment buildings are being painted in bright, cheerful colors all along the Moscow road in preparations to the world soccer championship. Though it fails to save them from omnipresent dirt and monotony of typical architecture.

There are lots of ongoing construction sites, which don’t add up to the esthetics of the city views.

Moskovsky mall is quiet and even deserted at midday on monday.

That was the Samara that I saw on this serene spring day.

Читать про Самарские контрасты по-русски

Pan Mac

Following the best traditions of Abibas and PolyStation here we have russian pasta brand Pan Mac. Mimicking or not, the brand magic works. I was unable to pass by this product. I wonder what Russian Author’s Society thinks about that.

Читать про макаронные изделия Pan Mac по-русски

End of summer

Current music: ... of Sinking Ships - The Spargo Twin

Yesterday I had some free time and decided to make use of good weather in one of these last days of summer. So I walked a bit through the older (though not the oldest) central part of Togliatti and took some photos.

Let’s begin with the big construction of a mall that stands out of the typical old soviet architecture.

Fast food stall and small beer bar squeezed between the main building and the parking lot.

Fountain with drawn fishes and transparent elevator inside.

Aerohall stands right next to social apartment complex where a lot of events you see then in local criminal news happen.

Some graffiti on the walls on shared balconies.

Not all the sides of the town are pleasant to look at with dusty roads and rusty posts… but, well, it’s all part of the urban scenery and adds up to general impression.

The ugliest moment of the whole day. This sloppy shit with an angle around 45 degrees legally counts as a required ramp in Russia. Unusable for both wheelchair users and walking persons.

Then I moved to the part of town where few unique buildings surrounded a bit of a public space. On the next photo you can see one of just three hotels that were built during soviet era. If I’m not mistaken now it’s called Azot (which means nitrogen). Ground floor accommodated a grocery store which was lucky for me because I could stop there and buy a bottle of water. The day was really sunny and hot.

New Year decorations on the balconies still keep the soviet stars.

Fountain in front of concert hall.

Let’s have a closer look.

Kids carelessly enjoy the fountain. Their happiness must be spreading around because even unknown old lady stopped to express her admiration. She told me it was a wonderful moment to capture on photo. She also regretted either the fact she had no device to do it herself or that there was nobody to take photo of her – I didn’t get that part exactly.

On the other side of the area, to the right there is a conservatory. So vintage-looking benches and unusual lamps supposed to demonstrate to random passer by like me it was a place of culture.

Though inhabitants of standard “khrushchyovka” nearby may have other opinion.

View from another point. Notice the hanging wire between lamps.

Deeper into the block the lush vegetation takes dominance. It’s so abundant and unruly you can barely see anything behind it. On some paths big trees intertwine their branches to form some sort of low ceiling covering ground from sun as if it was a forest.

Occasionally town fights back.

Even though living houses in this district are often worn off and neglected, people here do their best to beautify the outdoors with simple flowers.

Some things you simply can’t beautify.

Empty kids playground.

Here my battery died saving you all from more photos. Thanks for your time if you made if here.

Читать дневниковую запись Конец лета по-русски.

Picross Touch

Current music: Kimio Eto - Midori no Asa

Platform: PC
Year: 2016
Developer: Jon Gallant

Touch the hidden image

It’s easy to perceive picross, nonograms or griddlers (call it whatever you like) as something that existed seemingly “always” like chess, jigsaw puzzle or solitaire. However this kind of pastime is younger than me or majority of world’s population being created around 1990. There seems to be no undoubted information about author of this puzzle, though it’s common knowledge it has Japanese origin. It’s even literally called “Japanese crossword” in Russian for some mysterious reason. All in all it is as widespread and well-known as any other popular brainteaser of pre-www era.

It worked perfectly fine on paper with grid and rows of numbers printed in newspapers. You just had to shade squares that correspond with the number sequences with pencil and mark empty cells with tiny crosses or barely visible dots. In time when percentage of internet users and non-users is almost equal on a global scale there is no surprise picross takes electronic form.

Variation I was spending tens of hours on last few weeks came from Steam Greenlight. Picross Touch was made by independent developer Jon Gallant. Game’s title unambiguously hints that it was ported from Android, where it was released supposedly in May of 2014.

When somebody makes game based on such background there are mainly two ways to do it. You either try to replicate the idea as close as possible or you can take creative approach and modify or add features to spice things up with higher risk of screwing everything up. Jon Gallant took the easier way. Picross Touch offers the same very basic and unoriginal concept, but it was made brilliantly comfortable this time. Things just work without causing any problems. All actions are done with mouse. Playfield scales conveniently to fit the gird and all the numbers. Players are allowed to choose color of interface to suit their taste and mood. It shows that despite common opinion and snobbery of big studios Unity engine can be useful in some cases.

Developer keeps updating the game. The whole time I was playing, little details like time stats and players top for each puzzle were added here and there. Steam workshop is used the best possible way. There is editor that helps you to easily create your own nonograms that are automatically uploaded to workshop and then become available for anybody to see without closing the game. You rate completed puzzles so they can be sorted by rating, date created or size.

There are some downsides however aside from predictable minimalism of the gameplay. Grids are limited to 25×25 squares maximum which is not that much. I clearly remember bigger ones in printed form from my childhood. There also is no music at all. A thing to expect from solo developer and there is no fictional world, no complicated premise that music may help to submerge into. Still we live in a reality where even abstract logical games from commercial Bejeweled or Lumines to one man band indie titles like Vesa Halonen’s Zetrix offer soundtrack.

Still, Picross Touch offers not the worst way to pass few hours of time while keeping your brain alive. It’s also free and I really mean it. No freemium bullshit, no annoying advertisements (just link to developer’s other game on the main menu screen), no paid DLCs. So if you enjoy puzzles, go grab Picross Touch from Steam.

Rating: 6

Читать обзор игры Picross Touch по-русски

Picross Touch

Current music: Kimio Eto - Midori no Asa

Платформа: PC
Год: 2016
Разработчик: Jon Gallant

О японских головоломках по-русски

Легко себе представить, что нонограммы, именуемые по-английски picross или griddler, а по-русски вопреки логике приобретшие устойчивое название японские кроссворды, существовавшими “всегда” наряду с шахматами, паззлами-мозаиками или пасьянсами. Однако этот вид времяпровождения моложе меня и большинства населения Земли. Его распространение началось где-то в районе 1990 года. И хотя однозначно установить авторство, похоже, не удастся, происходит он, как нетрудно предположить по названию, из Японии. И на данный момент получил во всем мире не меньшую известность, чем любая другая головоломка, придуманная до всемирной паутины.

Эти японские головоломки отлично выполняли свою функцию на бумаге с сеткой и рядами чисел, напечатанными на газетных листах. Вам нужно было просто закрашивать карандашом клетки, которые соответствовали числовой последовательности, и отмечать тонкими крестиками или едва заметными точками пустые поля. Не удивительно, что во времена, когда в глобальном масштабе постоянные интернет-пользователи почти сравнялись по численности с теми, кто интернетом не пользуется, нонограммы переходят в электронную форму.

Вариация этой полезной для мозга забавы, на которую я потратил десятки часов за последние несколько недель, появилась из Steam Greenlight. Picross Touch создавалась независимым разработчиком Джоном Галлантом. Название игры недвусмысленно намекает, что она была портирована с Android, где вышла, предположительно, в мае 2014 года.

Когда кто-то берётся за разработку игры, имеющей неэлектронный прототип, перед ним обычно открываются два пути. Либо постараться максимально точно перенести на компьютер оригинальную идею, либо дать волю креативу и изменять или добавлять что-то, чтобы сделать ярче и интереснее. При этом возрастает риск всё запороть. Джон Галлант пошёл в более простом направлении, поэтому Picross Touch предлагает тот же самый базовый, лишенный оригинальности концепт, но делает это с необычайным удобством для пользователя. Вещи просто работают так, как должны, не создавая проблем. Все действия выполняются одной лишь мышью. Игровое поле услужливо масштабируется, чтобы вместить сетку и все числа за её пределами. Игрокам разрешено выбирать цвет интерфейса в зависимости от их вкуса и настроения. Всё вместе это доказывает, что вопреки распространённому мнению и снобизму больших компаний движок Unity может быть употребим в ряде случаев.

Разработчик продолжает обновлять своё детище. Всё время, что я в неё заглядывал, отмечал то тут, то там появление мелких деталей вроде сохраняющегося времени и топов игроков для каждого паззла. Возможности мастерской Steam используются наилучшим образом. Встроенный редактор позволяет без усилий создавать свои собственные нонограммы, которые автоматически загружаются в мастерскую и после становятся доступными для всех без необходимости выходить из игры. Вы оцениваете завершенные головоломки, и в итоге можете их сортировать по рейтингу, дате создания или размеру.

Тем не менее некоторые недостатки кроме предсказуемого минимализма в геймплее тоже необходимо отметить. Сетки ограничены квадратами 25 на 25 клеток максимум, что не так уж и много. Я точно помню из детства, что в бумажном варианте они бывали и крупнее. Кроме того полностью отсутствует музыка. Вполне ожидаемо от единоличного создателя, да и нет здесь никакого выдуманного мира, никакой сложной завязки, требующей полного погружения, которому музыкальное сопровождение могло бы поспособствовать. И всё же мы живём в реальности, где даже абстрактные логические игры, от коммерческих Bejeweled и Lumines до произведений независимого человека-оркестра вроде Zetrix Весы Халонена, предоставляют хотя бы какой-то саундтрек.

Picross Touch предлагает не самый плохой способ убить несколько часов, не давая при этом мозгу умирать от невостребованности. К тому же она совершенно бесплатна. Никакой условно-бесплатной ерунды, никакой назойливой рекламы (только лишь ссылка на другую игру от того же разработчика на экране главного меню), никакого платного дополнительного контента. Так что если Вы любите головоломки, смело открывайте Steam и устанавливайте Picross Touch.

Оценка: 6

Read Picross Touch game review in English