Couple of video game related picks for this week.

Games:

• Salt and Santuary - I recently finished this on PC but it is available on PS4 also. This game is basically 2D Dark Souls and does not shy away from that fact. It is well made and quite fun!

Podcasts:

• IGN Unfiltered Episode 8 - Ed Fries - Excellent interview with Xbox co-creator Ed Fries. I had not heard of him previously but he is very fascinating. He …

While mostly straightforward and simple, Python still has its share of gotchas and gremlins, one such explored in this post. Familiarizing yourself with common gotchas can help avoid issues and aid debugging.

Articles:

• The 10 Most Common Mistakes That Python Developers Make - Earlier versions of my Qprompt library suffered from mistake #1 (facepalm!). In my defense, there may be a violation of the principle of least astonishment here. However, I also understand that changing the …

Been trying out a few unusual drinks (for me at least).

Food:

• Coffee with butter - After listening to Dave Asprey on the James Altucher Show, I had to try this. Not because of the potentially over-hyped medicinal benefits, but for two simple facts: coffee is delicious, butter is delicious. Turns out a mug of coffee with about 1 tablespoon of butter blended into it is pretty delicious! While still nutritionally skeptical of this combination, I …

Some system related picks this week.

Podcasts:

• System Smarts - New podcast focusing on all aspects of systems.

Software:

• Graphviz - Diagramming and visualization tool that uses a text-based markup. Works well for documenting system design.
• Mscgen - Message diagramming tool that uses a text-based markup. Great for documenting any system that has intercommunicating components.

Just a couple of Python related picks this week.

Podcasts:

• Talk Python To Me - Relatively new podcast all about Python. Excellent and informative!

Software Development:

• Unofficial Windows Binaries for Python Extension Packages - This site is an occasional lifesaver! Sometimes it can be tricky getting a third-party Python library running on a PC. This site provides pre-built libraries that are ready to install.

This week's pick is a great book for those interested in practical applications and automation using Python.

Books:

• Automate the Boring Stuff (online) - The free book website.
• Automate the Boring Stuff (paperback) - Physical book from Amazon.

Picks are a bit late this week but the theme will be "Reddit". I spend arguably too much time browsing and reading interesting articles on various sub-reddits.

Websites:

• Reddit - The main site.
• /r/Programming - Discussion about programming in general.
• /r/TodayILearned - Learn something interesting? Post it here.
• /r/ExplainLikeImFive - Request simple explanations for any questions.

People in big cities are spoiled. Cities tend to offer numerous interesting meetups with dozens of members. Additionally, local makerspaces (or hackerspaces) are fairly common in larger areas.

Lately I have been involved in a few meetup groups around the Shenango and Mahoning Valley area. The experience has been very fulfilling and it is great to see smaller cities getting some interesting groups organized.

Events:

• HackYSU - YSU's first official meetup is this weekend. Only students …