One of the classic designs I grew up with. Not sure we had exactly this, but definitely closer to this than to the basic design used in Vegas by Cartamundi, etc.

On the gamedev side, my heart rejoices at the new confirmations at Steam whenever you upload app's key art. FINALLY you are asked to confirm that you are, indeed, following the rules. I hated it when you follow the sentences in red, then see a *famous* team breaking all these rules w/o consequences.

Thanks to Thierry reminding me that BlueSky exists, here's a post that may be useful: Flu & #PlusLife. One of our kids came from school w/fever. PlusLife showed Flu A. I asked the doctor for a tamiflu recipe to start ASAP. Doctor's reaction: how do you know it's flu? What's a PlusLife? No way!

My safe travel kit. Can’t wait for @nukit.bsky.social‘s next generation torches next year.

I love it how in “Arrival”, the US army is all peaceful while China, Sudan and Russia decide to attack the aliens. Tell me again how propaganda is a communist tool.

If you use #PlusLife, some illustrations – here's a sequence of COVID tests showing (1) start of symptoms (2) peak infectivity (3) "still positive" on the way out; a well as (4) malfunctioning test (bubbles?) that should be redone.

I like ZimiAir's approach to design, and passion for developing the product further. But, man, the delivery is the bottleneck. No responses, two weeks in transit without a delivery date still, this is not the NukeIt level of service. I need to adjust my expectations :-P.

Steam Playtest is great for identifying which languages you want to support first, when you ship the demo/the product. IF your store page supports language N, BUT there are very few requests from that region... it's Okay to skip it at launch.

The cliches about driving e-cars outside of your own village are still true: arriving to a German hotel, I ask where the nearest spot is. It’s 100 meters away. VW navigation shows it as well. I arrive: you need a residential card or you can “pay direct with a QR code”. But, there is no QR code.

The reality of e-charging in Europe: * multiple apps required to use some stations (Orlen, GreenWay, etc.) * pricing is non-transparent, not shown upfront, “dynamic” at best and “hidden” at worst * the price per 100km is ~ the price of gasoline, or up to 60% higher Atm, consumers are abused.

According to our GP, 10% of all "flu" cases she sees are in fact COVID and yes, it's the worst flu season she's seen in her 30 years at the job: a mix of A and B, just keeps going since the autumn. The clinic even brought back the "please mask" sign on the door (but there's little compliance).

7 days after the onset of fever, one of my kids is finally negative for Flu B: daily testing with PlusLife showed steady progress, and today we finally have the confidence to ditch the masking around him. Without these tests, we'd be more or less flying blind.

I haven’t finished this book yet, but it proves to offer a ton of details I’ve missed in my education. Like the US and the USSR telling the UK to let India be independent during WW2, and the UK instead arresting ~100K activists there, with public flogging and whatnot.

I’ve spent a few days in Berlin and the availability of public transport (subway first of all, and also trams), plus ease of cycling and walking, resulted in an absolute lack of use cases for a car. Slower, but the city is bound to follow Paris in replacing car trips with PT/bikes.

My takeaway from the current experience, Flu B (everyone’s been vaccinated 10/2024): * infection to symptoms: 2 days ~12 hours * first symptoms: 37C, tiredness, scratchy throat * second day: 38-39C (kids), 37.5-38C( adults) * Tamiflu prophylaxis doesn’t help —>

1/3 Some PlusLife data, to share how things looks during active Flu B. Here's a 9 year old kid, the first day of fever (38-39C), channels 1 and 7 increase even ahead of the control channel 4. We then follow with 45mg x 2 oseltamivir (tamiflu) daily, for 60 hours, and test again.

Yet another post recommending PlusLife. A kid got a fever this morning (38.5C). Within an hour, we were able to establish that it's -ve for COVID, -ve for Strep A. In a few minutes will know, whether it's Flu or RSV (I don't know what channels 1+7 are for). Saves a lot of time.

Best practices in ventilating public spaces: here’s a lounge at a Berlin hotel, with 445 ppm CO2 thanks to the excellent air exchange. This is doable. You just need to be aware, and to act on that awareness. This is how every public space should be, including offices and hotels.

Took a short flight with A220-300, you have to be blind not to see the low hanging fruit of how everyone’s safety could be improved: my fixing the peak CO2 after the boarding is complete but before the engines are turned on. Thanks @aranethome.bsky.social for enabling to track the values on the go.

The signs of the community effort to address COVID are, truly, everywhere. This is a random pizzeria in Trento. If only the vaccines had been able to prevent transmission or remove the risk of LC 🤷‍♀️. The community tried, the PH stumbled.

#gamedev #jobs We're looking for a 2D VFX artist to work with us on the upcoming turn-based tactics (PC), Sister of a Dragon (store.steampowered.com/app/2694810/...). We're a remote team (EU/JP/RU); the job's a contract, 12-18 months – www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/41...

Another cyclist killed by a car in 🇮🇹: neither the helmet, nor the high visibility clothing will save you from someone driving dangerously. Here’s the map where it happened: not a high-speed stretch. Only separated bike lanes provide the safety. www.theguardian.com/sport/2025/j...

#gamedev In 2024, we sold ± 100.000 copies of Gremlins, Inc. on Steam (including Steam keys sold in China via HeyBox). This is x3 of what we sold in 2023. In terms of revenue, in 2024 we grossed a bit over x2 of 2023. The result? We feel motivated to add more content, and more features.

In my friend's family, the teenager came from school w/Flu A. Fever (39C), quick flow test +ve, doctor prescribed medicine; all under control. Now, one of the parents has fever. Anti-flu meds don't help. Quick flow tests are –ve for Flu & COVID. This is when PlusLife would've been very useful.

#gamedev The Lunar New Year sale started well for Gremlins, Inc. China generates 50%+ of the sales, and our sales in China are 1:1 between Steam and HeyBox.

#gamedev Releasing an update for Gremlins, Inc. after 2 years, as a way to say "thank you" to the Chinese players where we had excellent sales last quarter. 13 languages in the update, 7 languages for the comms. It's been a while since I did this. Feels great to work with all the translators.

Rome is a great city for walking, with metro & trains. But not enough bicycles. It feels infested with cars, cars don’t really belong. Some locals wave off expectations of more biking: “the city wasn’t built for bike lanes!”. Well, it wasn’t built for cars either. And horses are closer to bikes.

Ethnonationalists in Eastern Europe: Migrants must learn our language, or we kick them out. You don't like it? But if you go to Rome, they will make you learn Italian – we just follow Western Europe. Subway in Rome: Duplicates all the information in English.

I like the definition "COVID competent" a lot. You don't need to lock yourself in a cave, you just need to be aware of the risks. When you sail in open sea, you want the crew that's competent – won't chance bad weather, will take extra care in kitchen, have spares.

A beautiful neighborhood in Rome, with an olive tree in the courtyard. This is house design from 1850s.

Testing and masking are the emergency measures, meant to avoid infection in a community that doesn't recognize the risks of airborne viruses. UVC, HEPA, CO2/ACPH are the institutional measures that address the risk on a system level. We'll get out of the current pickle when these are adapted.

CO2 during 2:30 flight to Rome (Airbus). Prior to take off and right after landing are the worst periods. 1.200 mid flight is Ok, i’ve been on flights with 1.800 and even 2.000 mid-air.

One of the 3 (only) making at the airport in Rome. Italians are very social. Going against “the norm” seems less common than in, say, France. Essentially, the push for “normality” is so hard, you cannot operate a small business if you still mask. Neither hospitality, nor retail, nor office work.

With public health, folks don't generally care about how full the hospitals are – until they need to go there. And when suddenly you have to wait for 10+ hours, why, it is too late, the train has departed. Understanding prevention and precaution is a sign of someone thinking beyond their own needs.

PlusLife is like a modern day thermometer. Sure you can say "doesn't feel like fever" – but if you can confirm there is no fever, the data is better. Sure you can say "doesn't feel like COVID/RSV/Flu" – if you can confirm, not only you get better data, you also prevent further transmission.

A particular brand of racism that comes from some US & EU folks, is the complete disregard for safety of vulnerable people in the conversation. They insist on bringing up problems with country X, just because *they* can – without thinking about the risks this creates for less privileged people.

❤️ that's a good example of actions reflecting values. A dojo is not just a gym, it's a philosophy, and you cannot master yourself if you're melting at the sign of a mask or the need to protect others.

Most of people I know that are over 65, have some sort of “underlying condition”. The language of minimization - with the BC teen who is described as overweight from the get-go, or here - is a distraction to explain away the actual risk that H5N1 moved up a notch where we all expect it to move.

Exploring the 0% wines for the upcoming Summit, and just came across a label called Odd Bird. Looks great, tastes great (not everything, but we found our match). Expectations: someone in France or Spain, recently launching to a market success. Reality: >>>

We're getting ready to ship a Lunar New Year update for Gremlins, Inc. and I looked up the sales of the game in the last quarter. Revenue: 🇨🇳🇺🇸🇷🇺🇯🇵🇺🇦 Units: 🇨🇳🇷🇺🇺🇸🇯🇵🇺🇦 15K on Steam, 12K in China via HeyBox. Proves a point that people are the same all over the globe, whatever politics at play. #gamedev

Finally, some snow in our region.

We got gifted a “smart bird feeder”, Bird Buddy, a highlight of predatory US product design: * Requires registration to start * Right off the bat, pushes for paid subscription with “x” hidden on the “free trial” screen * Doesn’t start until you agree to ToS which give them rights to all footage…

A ha ha. Kids are watching Ridley Scott’s Alien from 1979, and the first thing that the awakened crew at a spaceship does is… smokes cigarettes while drinking coffee. Imagine the future where cigarettes are such a given thing, that even spaceships are designed to have tobacco smoke inside.

One of the puzzle pieces of the future of PH is making automated sewer data as easily available as the air quality data. Here’s what the official AQ app for Cyprus looks like. Imagine the same, but showing if you RSV, Flu A or COVID trend up in Larnaca or Pafos: enabling better informed decisions.

Yes on (1) and (3). Also curious on evolution of SARS2 (do we get another Omicron event?), and whether the first big class action lawsuits start to happen re: Long COVID/workplace safety, with people getting disabled after mandatory return to office. In general, curious to see when EU wakes up.

Once I stopped drinking alcohol (we’ll see how long that lasts), I started to notice much more how consumption - and overconsumption - of spirits is embedded in pop culture. Take The Holiday, with Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet & Jude Law: Cameron lands in UK, begins to gulp wine right in the shop…

Visiting an emergency clinic for stitches (nothing bad, just kids discovering the power of gravity). The only masked people are my kid & I. The receptionists, the nurses, facing sick kids during a winter season, don’t feel the need 😝. When folks rave how RFK is mad… it starts with YOLO here.

Took 3 flights yesterday. On every single flight, there were a few people coughing non-stop, kids and adults. I understand that sick people will still travel under holiday travel commitments. Important to also understand that most such people won’t bother to wear a mask, they don’t think about it.

Saw someone post about a price of eggs. In Cyprus, village eggs at a market are €0.30/egg. In Vilnius, village eggs (classified as 1LT, not 0LT) are €0.45 at a shop, €0.30 at a market. These prices are bound to go up once H5N1 lands, wonder what’s happening in California with this already.