Viva México!
The last time I was able to write for this blog was in December 2024, which was eleven months ago. Since then I have been in a whirlpool of events. There is so much that has happened that I want to write about it. I feel bad looking at the backlog of topics.
Speaking of which, I left the agile software developer backlog behind in Canada. Unfortunately my partner had not been able to obtain an extension to her visa, which forced us to leave the land of maple syrup and long drives. We left behind new friends we had made and amazing colleagues. I am still lurking in my previous colleagues' Discord like a gremlin that wants to be fed with board-game evenings. Let me tell you, it was hard to say goodbye and not start crying while doing so. I wanted to cry every time I said goodbye to someone for the final time. I am not sure when I will be able to see those amazing people again. We would like to come back to Canada, for more traveling and maybe for work, but that seems impossible for now. The Canadian immigration laws are tightened as of right now as public opinion demands less immigration. I wish my colleagues at DNAstack all the best as well as the folks at Valence. The whole experience is one of the many topics I would like to write about.
When we were flying from Calgary to San José del Cabo, I was reminiscing about my time in Canada. I didn't want to confront the sadness that came with our departure. We had drunk our last Tim Hortons hot chocolate and ate our last maple syrup pancake. I felt awful, so I watched the movie "The Penguin Lessons" as it seemed to be a drama comedy. In this newly released film, a teacher rescues a penguin to impress a woman, and from that point on, the penguin doesn't leave his side. The penguin helps the teacher to cope with loss and rekindle his spirits. I felt inspired by the movie. To Quote the movie: "I am happy that I am sad" because this tells me that the time in Canada was fulfilling.
As we landed in Baja California, the new chapter in our lives had officially started. The plan is to travel as long as our global healthcare is active and then to go back to Germany. The first country on this journey is Mexico. We explored several cities in Baja California, of which La Paz will have a space in my memories, rent free, as I had the pleasure to dive with sea lions there. I would need to write a wall of text to describe how awesome it is to swim with sea lions, so I won't. If you have the chance to do that, do it. After this experience came Mexico City and the Día de Muertos. I was so hyped for the parade, which I missed, and I only have myself to blame. English-speaking websites had reported the wrong day, and I did not bother to check Spanish-speaking websites. Instead, we visited the newly opened Frida Kahlo House Museum, not to be confused with the Frida Kahlo Museum. The first is focused on the family, while the latter focuses on the persona and her work. The journey has been very pleasant so far without any major events, no broken bones or sickness. It's a relief. We are now in Mazunte to relax for a week, which allows me to write a little.
Thanks for reading. I hope to write again in a monthly fashion. My experience so far has shown me, though, that this will be a hard undertaking.
📚🎧 Reading
The Inquisition War
If you are familiar with the IP of Warhammer40k, then I could not imagine what book would be more intriguing then one that describes a war within the most secretive branch of government in the human empire. My first introduction to the Inquisition was in one of the Gaunt Ghost books which is more focused on infantry combat rather than spying and cover ups. The book “The Inquisition War” is one of the oldest sci-fi Warhammer books as far as I know and it does a great job giving the reader a deep dive into the dark universe of Warhammer40K. The protagonist is everything but a self-supporting individual and will gladly eliminate everyone from his entourage or support staff to keep a secret safe. For me it's a deep dive into a version of the IP that is not canon anymore, for example the robots that live for Millenniums alone in shipwreck in a different dimension only for them to try to snatch new hosts so that they have a playmate or an almighty telepathic hydra that is able to control everyone in the known universe. The story is wild and that's why this book is a classic.
Above and Beyond
After reading "Outgunned" which was about air combat and how propaganda play's into wars I had to pick up its sequel. The two protagonists have both suffered from their success. Simlex the propagandist got demoted while the pilot Shard is now a puppet for the propaganda machine. The books antagonist is a another propagandist who doesn't want to show the reality and rather orchestrates battles to land and air for his cameras. It doesn't matter to the propaganda machine who dies for a good few seconds.
The author's decision to have the antagonist use AI to generate certain propaganda videos feels right on the pulse of time. What's particularly clever is how these fabricated videos are shipped via interstellar warp travel to other solar systems, showing victories that haven't even happened yet. Since communication between systems takes so long, each system receives a carefully curated version of reality, impossible to verify or contradict. This delay becomes a allows the empire to shape the narrative before truth can catch up.
I am already seeing this same manipulation in our reality, where far-right agitators use Sora AI to create video snippets serving their narrative, for example in the latest development regarding SNAP benefits in the USA. Even the Russian military is using AI-generated propaganda videos. As the people from "Kurzgesagt" have put it: "We are poisoning the well from which we drink." We are going to erode the trust that the internet has gained and then we will fall victim to the propaganda of billionaires.
🎮 Video Games
Grim Fadango Remastered
How could I not play this classic point and click adventure while traveling in Mexico. We experienced the festivities and shrines that are everywhere for the Day of the dead and similar to when I was Greece and wanted to play Caesar 3 I had to download this classic. My girlfriend and I started to play together and very quickly we had to look for a guide as the puzzles are too hard for us. Yeah we are cheating but the game is still fun. I never finished the game and this time I want to help Manuel "Manny" Calavera to see it through it all.