UnexpectedGuest

So, first post about my passion for aquarium fish. I talk about it much more to please myself than to try to share any science, Youtube is full of geniuses in all fields, Cichlids of the great African lakes included. You are warned :)

Well, just to disgust 99% of people, let's start talking about aquarium science by talking about pH. Why talk about chemistry instead of just talking about fish? Because the fish I chose come from Lake Tanganyika, which has a very particular pH, because it is very basic. If you remember your chemistry classes, the pH varies between 0 (very acidic), 7 (neutral) and 14 (very basic). Moreover, this pH is not linear (that would be too easy): for example, if you go from 7 to 8 the pH is 10 times more basic. Basically in freshwater aquariums, there are two extremes: the Amazon area whose water is quite acidic (<7) and the African great lakes whose water is strongly basic (>8).

So how can I get water with a pH around 8.5 when when the one coming out of my tap it is at 7? Two solutions:

• Add baking soda (30 grams per 100 liters) but water changes will modify this proportion so one must constantly reintroduce some of it, not practical.
• Put limestone rocks and substrate that will slowly dissolve and raise the pH to the desired value. Advantage ? Slower process (therefore not violent for fish that don't like sudden changes) and above all almost insensitive to continuous water changes since the dissolution is slow and constant.

I chose the second solution for its obvious advantages by placing in my tank a substrate dedicated to this type of biotope: sand from the Dolomites (it's white, that's what I wanted) and some limestone rocks (they are found in profusion everywhere, mine come from Provence). With these two ingredients my pH has gently increased (in three months) from 7 to 8.6 and stabilized itself: Cool, that's exactly what I wanted in in speed of variation, stability and of course value (the pH of Tanganyika is 9 on the surface according to the literature, which I have to trust. Yes, unfortunately I couldn't measure it myself, I only got within 500km of this lake and at that blessed time I didn't even know the pH existed. But I'm getting lost).

But how do you measure this pH? It's a bit more complex than measuring temperature :) In the beginning, I bet it all on the JBL ProScan. Sexy (with the results on my smartphone), fast (2 minutes), it had everything to please. Yes but ... it's not reliable. The values are very fluctuating: two tests done in a row can give pH variations between 7.5 and 8.5 (remember, a pH unit is a factor of 10 on acidity). Conclusion, I don't use it anymore. So I bought an electronic Ph-meter (sold mainly for swimming pools). It's not expensive, but the problem is that it often needs to be calibrated, and I don't want to spend my time buying the buffer powder needed for this action. So? I searched and found the pH of the main mineral waters sold in bottles. In France, I buy from time to time some Vittel (one of the most basic to get closer to the target pH range) whose pH is constant at 7.8, and I recalibrate my tester in a glass of Vittel ... before drinking it. This way I hydrate myself, my pH is worthy of the banks of Tanganyika, and I calibrate for cheap.
I think we're done with the subject, next time, I'll talk about automatic water changes. Perhaps.

Have a great! as Ryan would say. (no, it has nothing to do with fish, but I do what I want).

A few years ago I bought the game Pathfinder Adventure (from now labelled PA), a card game in the D&D-like Pathfinder universe. Beyond my tendency to make impulse purchases, I was attracted to this game because the keywords D&D, RPG, and solo blinked pretty much in the description. I decided to remove the dust on this (big) box, and after a few hours of play here is my synthesis. PS: I own the french version of this box, which turned to be an important detail, see below.

The packaging is very nice, and there are only cards (and a few dice). this gives an important clue: PA is not an RPG, it's a tactical game with cards, just in a Pathfinder universe. So here there is no role-playing, don't be fooled by the famous classic D&D classes or attributes. So first conclusion, if you want to do role-playing, go ahead.

The rules are clear... when they exist, otherwise you have to guess. For example, the purpose of the game is not explicitly explained, I had guessed it when I read the rules. If the principle is easy (once guessed), the management rules are numerous and not intuitive, and each card brings complementary rules. So it's very rich, but it takes time to know the cards, which are numerous (more than 1000 in the basic edition). I discovered after my first hours with PA that the "downloads" section of the site dedicated to this game at Paizo had precious resources. Yes, I could have guessed it :) For example, the US rulebook is much more complete than the FR one, and from the 1st paragraph the goal of the game is clearly described. So if you like tactics, card games, and an abundance of rules that contextually modify the basic rules, PA seems like a good game to me.

A quick word about the cards, which are beautiful: But ... it's clearly a game for those with perfect eyesight, because even with my glasses, reading the elements written on these cards is difficult (it looks like Arial 6 on my screen, to give you an idea).

Then I realized that there was a digital version of Pathfinder Adventure, called Pathfinder Adventures (yes, why AdventureS?). So yes, it's less sexy (for those loving owning things), only solitary (where you can play up to 4 or even 6 with the physical version), but as often, the computer version is much cheaper, and above all, it manages for us all the mechanics of the game. We can thus concentrate only on tactics, and no longer have to read and reread the rules to know who has to do what when (when we clearly find the information we are looking for). And, it's clearly a detail, but since PA manages the experience of your characters in a (very) minimal way, the Steam version saves you from having to make crosses on a beautiful card to materialize your hard-earned bonuses. And it's while watching a stream of this computer game that I realized that I had guessed the goal of the game :)

So? I probably won't play the tabletop version of PA again, if I want to play a tactical game I clearly prefer a classic wargame. And if I want to play a role-playing game, this game doesn't meet my need, it's not enough to have "Pathfinder" written on the box for that. Will I play the Steam version? Maybe I will:

• it's ridiculously cheap, 20€ for the all adventures (where the box costs 60€ for just the basic adventure)
• it runs the game mechanics for me
• I don't need multiplayer

Or maybe not, because I'm not really a fan of the very principle of the game (but you understood it, I was the one who was wrong about the type of game, and not the game itself which is intrinsically bad).

I used to enjoy riding MX bikes when I was young (it was the good old times of David Bailey, Ron Lechien and Jean-Michel Bayle).
In 1996, RealLife(TM) kept me away from this hobby and from my last motorcycle, a KX 500, which entered hibernation a this time.
But now that 4 stroke rule the MX world (and that global warming ended up the process), I pulled my 25 years old girl out of the garage and now it's time for her to roar again. Yes, if I still can handle it, but let's not stick to details.
Rear break, rear suspension, air, fuel and exhaust systems are already restored, and I'm currently working during my spare time on the transmission and the front brake. Once finished, she'll be ready to taste the mud again :)