Darkmaelstrom's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=Darkmaelstrom2010-12-17T20:43:42ZDear Esther (review)http://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom/writeups/Dear+EstherDarkmaelstromhttp://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom2010-12-17T20:43:42Z2010-12-17T20:43:42Z<p>Dear Esther is a mod for <a href="/title/Half+Life+2">Half Life 2</a> by <a href="/title/thechineseroom">thechineseroom</a>. You can download it at <a href="http://www.fileplanet.com/196430/190000/fileinfo/Half-Life-2---Dear-Esther-Mod-v1.1">http://www.fileplanet.com/196430/190000/fileinfo/Half-Life-2---Dear-Esther-Mod-v1.1</a>, and if you have HL2, extract it into your SourceMods folder somewhere in SteamApps and run it.</p>
<p>If you can, do so <em>now</em>. It's short - maybe an hour to take it in slowly. <br><small><em>Note - There's a revised/updated version in the works, which might be worth waiting for. But speaking personally, I'd say try it now.</em></small></p>
<p><strong>Dear Esther,</strong>
<br><em>I sometimes feel as if I've given birth to this island-</em></p>
<p><a href="/title/Proof+by+contradiction">Dear Esther</a> isn't a <a href="/title/video+game">game</a>, really. There's pretty much no skill required to "beat" it, not even <a href="/title/puzzle+game">puzzle solving</a>. Nor does it allow you much interaction with the world in the manner of a sandbox style of game. It's like if <a href="/title/Mario">Mario</a> had no enemies, no pits, no coins. Maybe one solitary block to jump between you are the end of the<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…Eversion (review)http://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom/writeups/EversionDarkmaelstromhttp://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom2010-05-05T21:43:29Z2010-05-05T21:43:29Z<h4 align="center">"<a href="/title/if+you%2527re+going+to+speak+archaic+english%252C+use+it+correctly%2521">NOT INDICATED</a> FOR CHILDREN OR THOSE OF A NERVOUS DISPOSITION"</h4>
<p align="center">To avoid spoilers, <em>press <strong><a href="http://zarat.us/tra/offline-games/eversion.html">Evert button</a></strong> to continue</em>.</p>
<p><strong>I strongly advise that you follow the above link, download and play the game before reading further.</strong></p>
<p><blockquote><em><a href="/title/H.P.+Lovecraft">Sounds - possibly musical - heard in the night from other worlds or realms of being</a><!-- close inline tag into block --></em></blockquote><em><!-- reopen inline tag after block --></em></p>
<p><a href="/title/Eversion">Eversion</a> is a <s><a href="/title/STOP+YOUR+CHEERY+LIES%2521">cutesy</a></s> Lovecraftian <a href="/title/Freeware">Freeware</a> platformer from <a href="/title/Zaratustra+Productions">Zaratustra Productions</a>, made for TIGsource's <a href="/title/H.P.+Lovecraft">Commonplace</a> <a href="/title/Commonplace+Book">Book</a> <a href="http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=3286.0">Competition</a>.</p>
<p>The basic premise is that of any platformer: you control a <a href="/title/Protagonist">little flower guy</a> named Zee Tee; move around, go right when possible, jump on enemies' heads to<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…LHC safety analysis: conclusion (essay)http://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom/writeups/LHC+safety+analysis%253A+conclusionDarkmaelstromhttp://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom2008-07-31T21:27:41Z2008-07-31T21:27:41Z<p><h3>Part 4: Conclusion</h3></p>
<p>Now, before I can <a href="/title/wrap+this+up">wrap this up</a>, I feel there are a few ideas floating around that I haven't really addressed. They fall into the category of "<a href="/title/nonsense">nonsense</a>," and hence there is little need to <a href="/title/dissect">dissect</a> them as with the others. However, I think they deserve mention - some for their <a href="/title/longevity">longevity</a>, some for their <a href="/title/popularity">popularity</a>, some for their <a href="/title/outright+insanity">outright insanity</a>. So, without further ado, here's the list of "runners up" (see bibliography for sources) :</p>
<p><strong><small>1. <a href="/title/Resonance+Cascade">Resonance Cascade</a></small></strong>
<br /><em>Your <a href="/title/star+sign">star sign</a> indicates that now is a good time to buy <a href="/title/canned+foods">canned foods</a>, <a href="/title/bottled+water">bottled water</a> and a <a href="/title/crowbar">crowbar</a>.</em></p>
<p>Well, this one certainly takes home the "best runner up" prize, at least for popularity and longevity. It is also interesting in that a lot of people came up with this idea <a href="/title/convergence">independently</a> - I think that I thought of this without ever having seen one the many, many comments on the internet implying this as a possibility.<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…LHC safety analysis: strangelets (essay)http://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom/writeups/LHC+safety+analysis%253A+strangeletsDarkmaelstromhttp://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom2008-07-31T21:26:09Z2008-07-31T21:26:09Z<p><h3>Part 3: Strangelets and vacuum bubbles</h3></p>
<p>As with black holes, strange matter - the stuff of which strangelets are made - is thought to normally form only under <a href="/title/extreme+conditions">extreme conditions</a>. At the heart of the most massive <a href="/title/neutron+star">neutron star</a>s, the pressure is so great that the force holding the star together against gravity - neutron degeneracy pressure - is overcome. This pressure arises from a simple <a href="/title/quantum+mechanics">quantum mechanical</a> effect: the exclusion principle (often called the <a href="/title/Pauli+exclusion+principle">Pauli exclusion principle</a>). It essentially states that no two particles can occupy the same <a href="/title/quantum+state">quantum state</a> at the same time. 'Quantum state' is most easily read as '<a href="/title/position">position</a>,' but is in fact a sort of <a href="/title/mathematical+model">mathematical model</a> designed to completely represent a quantum-mechanical system. A well-known example is the way electrons in an atom form into <a href="/title/discrete">discrete</a> 'shells.' Each shell can be said to allow for a limited number of different quantum states, which explains why each <a href="/title/orbital">shell</a> can hold only a certain<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…LHC safety analysis: black holes (essay)http://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom/writeups/LHC+safety+analysis%253A+black+holesDarkmaelstromhttp://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom2008-07-31T21:24:04Z2008-07-31T21:24:04Z<p><h3>Part 2: Black holes</h3></p>
<p>Normal <a href="/title/black+holes">black holes</a> are <a href="/title/astromical">astromical</a> bodies formed in a manner of different ways. <a href="/title/Stellar+collapse">Stellar collapse</a> is perhaps the most well known of these: when stars with a mass greater than about 2.7<sup><small>1</small></sup> <a href="/title/solar+mass">solar mass</a>es (2.7 or more times as massive as the sun) die, they collapse. Even <a href="/title/neutronium">neutronium</a> - the stuff of which neutron stars are made, the densest possible state of 'ordinary' matter, a substance <em>at least, and up to <a href="/title/100">100</a> times as</em><small><sup>1</sup></small> dense as an <a href="/title/atomic+nucleus">atomic nucleus</a> - cannot withstand gravity on this scale. Matter is crushed beyond all <a href="/title/Pauli+Exclusion+Principle">sane limits</a>, vanishing away and hiding itself beneath an <a href="/title/event+horizon">event horizon</a> as its density approaches <a href="/title/infinity">infinity</a>, the point at which mathematics <a href="/title/rend+asunder">rends asunder</a> and space-time follows suit, leaving only a window unto the <a href="/title/deepest+of+oblivions">deepest of oblivions</a>. The process has been known to cause sensible discussion to degenerate into pseudo-<a href="/title/Lovecraftian">Lovecraftian</a> prose, so try<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…LHC safety analysis: introduction (essay)http://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom/writeups/LHC+safety+analysis%253A+introductionDarkmaelstromhttp://everything2.com/user/Darkmaelstrom2008-07-31T21:22:44Z2008-07-31T21:22:44Z<p><h2>LHC: Safety analysis</h2><br><h4>An analysis of the risks associated with large particle colliders, using the Large Hadron Collider at CERN as an example.</h4>
<br><h3>Part 1: Overview and introduction</h3></p>
<p>The <a href="/title/Large+Hadron+Collider">Large Hadron Collider</a> (LHC) is often described as “the biggest experiment ever,”<sup><small>1</small></sup> and it lives up to its reputation. The LHC is housed in a 27km-<a href="/title/circumference">circumference</a> tunnel that crosses the French-Swiss border 4 times. It is expected (at the time of writing) to start operating 'sometime this year,' and when it does, it is expected to:
<ul>
<li>Find out what gives matter <a href="/title/mass">mass</a> (too much food, not enough exercise. Although now I think about it, <a href="/title/Why+matter+cannot+reach+the+speed+of+light">exercise makes matter more massive</a>).</li>
<li>Find out why the <a href="/title/observable+universe">observable universe</a> is all made of matter, with none of that pesky <a href="/title/antimatter">antimatter</a> floating around and generally making a nuisance of itself.</li>
<li>Find out what dark matter <strong><!-- close unclosed tag --></strong><!-- close unclosed tag --></li><!-- close unclosed tag --></ul><!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…