In today’s edition of “Headlines to run away from really quickly”, we have the fabulous “Giant Hole Appears at World’s End“! I do suggest checking out the video as well. It’s quite a massive hole, so deep all you can see is darkness, the edges charred black and looking like something burst out from below.

Doesn’t that seem like a title you’d see on a newspaper “casually” shown to the audience at the start of a disaster movie? Or perhaps a news broadcast. That video would fit right in.

Sadly, we’re not too likely to suddenly face an apocalypse. It’s far more likely to be one of the weird phenomena of permafrost country.

Permafrost is an odd being. It’s simple in theory, just ground that happens to hang out below freezing for most of its existence. This brings in all sorts of odd events, though, thanks to the times when it’s not frozen. Even areas that have the air below freezing have a thin layer of ground thawing when exposed to sunlight. This is the only thing that allows plants to grow in these cold areas, even if it’s just grass that never grows more than a few inches tall. If the ground never thaws enough for plants, well, it tends to either not have much dirt at all (since dirt is produced by plants) and/or is covered in snow and ice, and thus doesn’t count as permafrost any more.

So, what does this little bit of thawing do? Allows water to move around, of course! And where water moves, so does everything it can drag along. To top it off, when night falls and the area grows cold once more, the water freezes and expands. These are some of the simplest cycles of the world as we know it, writ large across a landscape without much holding the dirt in place.

This process repeating day after day, year after year, leads to some very peculiar landforms appearing. Lakes appear all over, small hills rise up, as water moving to the lowest spot again and again, then freezing and pushing the dirt away is repeated over and over. Water gets trapped on the surface, unable to work its way through the permanent layer of ice down below where the sun’s heat is never felt. Patterned ground appears, strange regular polygons and circles and stripes where larger stones get shoved around by the moving ice. In especially wet areas, ice cores push soil up as large chunks of ice under the ground stay frozen during the day, have water seep under them, and float upwards. This forms either low palsas where the ice flattens out into a lens or tall pingos where it is forced to grow upwards instead.

Another odd feature of permafrost territory is how rich they are in natural gas and fossil fuels. The same ice that traps the water on the surface traps gas underground, and the cold temperatures keep the plants from decomposing before they can get trapped underground by the moving ground and ice, where they start the slow conversion into coals and oils. This is why climate change scientists are so worried about the permafrost melting, as it would mean all that trapped carbon can get free again.

So, what does this all have to do with the disaster movie hole they found in northern Russia? Well, there’s a few leading theories for why this hole appeared. One is that it’s a collapsed pingo. The ice core melted away, the water drained, and the dirt on top fell in. This happens occasionally, and the hole looks a lot like a sinkhole, another water-carved feature. Another theory is that it was caused by an underground gas bubble exploding. The way it looks like the dirt around it was flung outwards and the charred appearance of the ground lend credence to this one. No one’s at all sure at this point, though. It was discovered only recently, by workers from local gas companies surveying the area by helicopter. And it’s remote enough it will take a week or so to get scientists and their equipment out there.

Oh, and that “World’s End” thing? That’s what the name of the Yamal Peninsula this hole is on literally translates as. Probably because it’s rough terrain right on the edge of the arctic ocean, but why should we let that stop any wild theories?!

Who knows, maybe once those scientists arrive, they’ll get eaten by the aliens from the crashed spaceship that REALLY created the hole!  And then the real fun starts!

The post Giant Hole! End of the World! Slowly Moving Ice! appeared first on Under A Rock Art.

I have been listening to a single song, over and over and over again, for hours. It’s Diggy Diggy Hole. Quite a marvelous song, don’t you think? Just the sort of thing to make you want to grab a pick and build a kingdom under a mountain.

It’s made by some of the most famous Minecraft Youtube stars, the Yogscast. If you have any interest in Let’s Play videos, or for that matter watching amusing people doing amazing things. They started out fairly simple, just trying to survive the night and have learned and played through many many long adventures. Like going to the moon.

There’s a song about that one as well, by the way.

Diggy Diggy Hole, though, started as a random comment in one of their earlier videos that became an icon for one of the players (who is a dwarf). They made a rougher version, really just a remix of that original comment, years ago. And now, they’ve expanded it into a marvelous tale of dwarven heroism.

Which is making me want to play a game. Not Minecraft, mind you, that’s too obvious. No, the new Diggy Diggy Hole reminds me of Dwarf Fortress, that classic ascii dwarf simulator. I have spent many an hour ordering dwarves to dig holes deep in the ground, fight goblins, drink plump helmet brew, die horribly and/or accidentally…

Oh look, the developer for that has just released a new version! It’s been two years! Sweet, now the whole world’s relationships are fully simulated, and your dwarves can climb trees! If you’ll excuse me, I have something to download. Let’s see if my fortress can last a full year before everyone dies horribly!

The post Epics of the Mountainhome appeared first on Under A Rock Art.

I just stumbled upon a link to a long forgotten gem. The games at Orisinal are a marvel of simplistic beauty.

If you ever wanted to play a game that’s beautiful, fulfilling, and very easy to understand what to do, check out some of the ones on that site. I’ve spent a lot of time playing Floats myself, while The Crossing is downright gorgeous both visually and musically. And then there’s Casanova, which is truly a delight.

Now, these aren’t games that challenge your mind, though they can put your reflexes through a real workout. They’re quite simple to figure out, and further gameplay is just repeating the same things again with increasing obstacles in the way. This does, however, make them marvelous for those times when your brain is in no state to think, when you just need to wile away the hours and let things rest for a bit. Many of these would also make great meditation aids.

I visited this site a lot when I was in college. It was a joy to just play when life was running me ragged. But I lost the link a while ago, for who knows what reason. I am glad I found this site again.

The post The Simple Joy of Simplicity. And Games. appeared first on Under A Rock Art.

Um, this was up on time. Really. Not nearly 24 hours late. Really.

*sidelong look*

*cries over losing my streak of on-time updates, well, within 10 hours of when it should have been up updates*

…Now back to my game.

The post Better Late than Never, eh? *Debates merits of Never* appeared first on Under A Rock Art.

There’s a special emotion, one that I’m not sure occurs exactly the same in other situations, that appears the day before something you’ve been looking forward to for a while.

It’s one part happiness. This long-awaited event is nearly here! Just a few more hours, another sunrise, and things will happen!

Then there’s the anxiety. Will it live up to expectations? Have I overhyped myself to such a degree that I can never be fully happy with what it will be, even if things go perfectly? Or will it fail spectacularly, leaving me wondering why I was ever excited.

There’s a dash of curiosity in there, as well. What exactly will happen? Until it happens, we don’t know, and that leads to an intrinsic mystery.

But, there’s also a childish frustration. Why has the event not arrived yet? Why is it taking so long? Why can’t I go out and do things NOW?!

Above all, though, is the sense of waiting. This may seem self-evident, and not quite a standard emotion, but it’s there. A part of you is on hold, keeping steady, trying to keep from going overboard on any of the other emotions, and keep on with your life in the meantime. It’s the foundation of the emotion, the sturdy board the rest are bubbling up on.

Of course, while this is going on, every other event or activity you do is weighed against the grand event in the future, and often found lacking, for future events are all about the benefits, while real ones show their flaws as well. This leads to a general dissatisfaction with life as it is.

All this, of course, is wholly related to the Guild Wars 2 patch that’s hitting tomorrow. They’re starting the second season of their Living Story, after a months-long break, and they’ve told us practically NOTHING. Only a few teasers, a few audio files, a few images, to tempt us! The air of mystery, it is thick! The anticipation, it is at a peak!

The post You See the Mountains Long Before you Reach Them… appeared first on Under A Rock Art.