Random

Ovaltine is different in Brazil

I mean, beyond the name, where it’s called “Ovomaltine”, which apparently is how the whole world calls it except English-speaking countries? Well, anyway, when it was introduced in the country, there were some issues with the production line and the product didn’t turn powdery enough, becoming flaky and crispy when mixed in milk, creating a nicely texturized chocolate-y drink. I …

Rambling

Creative fields can’t be treated as content factories

I’ve been thinking for a few years now how most of the issues we see in creative industries, including video game development, stem from the fact a lot of managers and executives think these industries can “scale” just like manufacturing does, which also explains why they are so keen in adopting AI. And, like, I’m not saying “people in creative …

Random

Black Friday, linguistics, and Brazil

There’s an interesting shift in Brazil where the word “Friday”, in English, might get another meaning. Surprising no one (I hope), most Brazilians don’t speak English, so they don’t know what “Black Friday” really means. Some might be aware that “black” means “dark” or the literal color black but have no idea that “Friday”, a less common English word to …

Rambling

On European houses, I guess

One thing I never thought I would miss is… leaving windows and doors open in the house during the day/night while working, year-round. Like, insulation in Brazil is non-existent (reminder: insulation also helps to keep a place cool when it’s hot), so people just leave windows and doors open to create an airflow inside their house[1]. This leads to street …

Rambling

2,000 words on physical notebooks (sorry)

I don’t like writing by hand. It’s slow, it’s clunky, it’s not indexable or searchable, it consumes physical materials, and requires physical space. Digital note-taking, though, isn’t automatically better. I used to save drafts, links, images, and whatever else on OneNote and it was fast, but it became pure chaos of random things kinda-categorized-but-not-really, and finding stuff was a nightmare. …

Music

Bands with female singers that released one album and then disbanded

The title seems overly specific but, as people say, “it’s weird that it happened twice” (that I know of). I literally mean what I said, though: there are two rock bands that are among my favorites overall, and they had female singers, but released only one album and then disbanded. And to this day I can’t get over it. The …