Complete

By aaron.axvig , Sat, 02/01/2020 - 15:41

I found this clone of Civilization (the fifth release I believe?) on the F-Droid app store.  I played through on the apparently pretty easy settings that were mostly default and got a science victory on my second playthrough.  On my first playthrough I reached 100 turns and got a message from the developer saying something like "I'm sure by now you've noticed that the game is incomplete" and just sort of put the game aside for a week or two until I decided to try it again.  Maybe the AI isn't finished as I was never attacked, or maybe it was just on that easy of a difficulty.

Overall the game played quite well.  The graphics were occasionally a little difficult for me to figure out but got easier as I got more experienced.  There is a lot going on!

It was fun to build out a big civilization and I could see myself doing it again in a month or two.

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By aaron.axvig , Wed, 01/22/2020 - 08:29

A collection of enjoyable stories by Mark Twain.  I have only previously read his most famous works, and that many years ago.

As the foreword alludes, these stories get darker as you go further into the collection.  I enjoyed the lighter ones more but the darker ones did make me think.

Strangely, this book did not have an ISBN number in it.

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By aaron.axvig , Mon, 01/13/2020 - 20:54

Wacky. It's about people being abducted by aliens for mind control purposes, so basically all of the stereotypical stuff with a mild plot wrapped around it. A little cheesier than I expected.

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By aaron.axvig , Sat, 01/11/2020 - 15:14

I was fortunate to be part of a guided tour of the Sail, Power, and Steam Museum in Rockland, ME that was guided by Captain Jim. Now about 6 months later I finished his book in one day.

Needless to say it is a great read if you love stories about boating.

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By aaron.axvig , Fri, 01/10/2020 - 12:54

I probably read this book back in middle school as I used to read a ton of Star Wars and Star Trek books back then.  Anyways, now I have read it again.

I believe I read a while back that the new Star Wars movies have removed all of the Expanded Universe books from canon.  So it was a little weird to be reading this book and be thinking all along that it isn't really "true."  Of course it is fiction, but now it is like discarded fiction.  Still a quick enjoyable read though.

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By aaron.axvig , Wed, 01/08/2020 - 18:42

This was a nice read about memories and memorization techniques.  The story of the author is woven in pretty well and my interest was held throughout.  He described the techniques used in a good amount of detail--enough to understand but not so specific as to get boring.

Overall I now know a little more about the topic and it was also an interesting story.

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By aaron.axvig , Sat, 01/04/2020 - 14:41

I played the version available on F-Droid. On my third attempt I achieved a 2048 block. The statistics say that I have played for 0.92 hours.

I see that 5x5 grids and larger are available too so I may try that out sometime.

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