I was watching a video the other day that mentioned the cassava plant, and how it's a staple food in many parts of the world. I may have had it once or twice, but for some people it's something they eat every day. This got me thinking - how many things do I assume that everyone else in the world must come in contact with and take for granted, because they're so ubiquitous in my life? It's very easy to take a self-centred view, and particularly when you assume that we live in a totally globalised world. But the experience of life for someone elsewhere may be completely different.

One silly example, in the UK nearly every house would have an electric kettle for brewing hot drinks. But a lot of countries don't.

What items, food, clothing, buildings do you have that other people may never come across in their lives?

I've been trying to get my head around this and I've watched a few videos but they don't seem to specifically answer my question.

According to what I've found online, messages encrypted with a public key can only be decrypted with a private key. But in practice, how is that possible?

Surely a public key contains a set of instructions, and anyone could just run those instructions in reverse to decrypt a message? If everything you need to encrypt a message is stored within a public key, then how is it a one-way process?

It's likely that I'm misunderstanding a core element of this!

From what I understand, a lot of knowledge was lost following the collapse of the Roman Empire as manuscripts were no longer being copied at the established frequency and information that had lost relevance (for certain jobs etc.) wasn't being passed down.

If a catastrophic event were to happen nowadays, how much information would we theoretically lose? Is the knowledge of the world, stored digitally or on printed books, safer than it was before?

All the information online for example - does that have a greater chance of surviving millennia than say a preserved manuscript?

I saw a map of undersea internet cables the other day and it's crazy how many branches there are. It got me wondering - if I'm (based in the UK) playing an online game from someone in Japan for example, how is the route worked out? Does my ISP know that to get to place X, the data has to be routed via cable 1, cable 2 etc. but to get to place Z it needs to go via cable 3, 4?

Mirror's Edge - This is a game I've been meaning to play for some time. A few years back I played the first couple of levels on a friend's PS3 and recalled it being a fun experience. So when it went on sale for under £2 on Steam I couldn't say no. It holds up exceptionally well for a game from 2008! The stylised graphics look beautiful to this day, and the gameplay manages to feel fresh and unique. Parkouring around the landscape soon becomes second nature - you feel like such a badass by the end of the game.

Spyro Reignited Trilogy - Sadly I missed out on the original games, but this trilogy does a perfect job of remastering them for the modern era. The animations and art style are incredible; It really feels like a lot of love has gone into this remaster. All three games are a joy to play. The first one is a classic - basic but fun, the second tries out some new ideas, and the third one perfects them. Each instalment is fairly short, so packaging them in a trilogy was a great idea.

RealMyst - Myst is regarded as one of the original, archetypal PC puzzle games and was very clearly ahead of its time. I think it's the sort of game I would've appreciated a lot more if I'd played it 20 years ago (although there's no way I could've beat it back then). Some of the logic jumps in the puzzles felt tenuous at best, though others were very cleverly designed. This was a frustrating game at times and I was pleased to get it over with, but I did enjoy the interesting world-building and innovation for its time.

Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night - Symphony of the Night is the only Castlevania game I've completed*, partially because it's a bit easier than the others and partially because the music and graphics are so great that I wanted to see it through. Bloodstained continues this legacy and does an amazing job of it. Although graphically it's no where near as nice as the pixel art of SotN, I still found the graphics to be quite charming. The soundtrack is amazing, gameplay is smooth (with a lot of customisation in terms of equipment and spells) and exploring the castle is a treat. As with SotN, in order to beat the true final boss you have to find some items that would be near impossible to locate without a guide. Despite that, this is well worth playing.

*Mostly completed

Skyward Sword - Although I owed a Wii, I never picked up Skyward Sword. I think you had to buy an attachment for the Wiimote, and either way I wasn't a massive Zelda fan at the time. Since then I've played nearly every Zelda game and loved them all. So it was about time I got round to playing SS. Luckily a few years back they announced a Switch remaster which removed a lot of the clunky features from the original. Woo! I picked up a cheap copy and played though it late last year - And wow, this game exceeded my expectations. The dungeons in particular are some of the best I've played in a Zelda game (the time manipulation ones in particular stand out). Slashing around in specific directions is a neat mechanic, with the added benefit of now being able to do so by flicking a joystick. Surprisingly lengthy with a lot of great ideas! Give this one a go.

Spiderman (2018) - Not sure how I missed this one when it came out! I guess I've never really got into the Spiderman series. After watching the Spider-verse films though I decided to give this a try. And now I can't wait to play the sequels! Insomniac did a incredible job making web swinging around the city feel fun. There's plenty of side content littered over the map, which often side-tracked me on my way to a mission. The combat feels very similar to the Batman Arkham games, with lots of moves and tools to unlock. Whilst the story isn't anything special, it kept me entertained and I was particular impressed by the facial capture and voice acting. All in all, this was a incredible experience throughout.

Would be interested to hear what everyone else thought of these games! I've still got quite a large backlog so I'll continue onto the next ones :)

One of my colleagues visits China regularly and was given this tea as a gift. However they didn't see themselves making the most of it so offered it to me.

I have no idea what to do with it though. It's like a circular brick of compressed tea leaves. Do I just take off a chunk and leave it in hot water? Does the temperature matter, and do I need any particular tools?

I've only ever used tea bags so I'm a bit lost

Edit: also the expiry says November 2023... but it's just tea right?