Quantum Physics: Atoms And Ions

While the mention of quantum physics is fairly likely to intimidate or confuse many people, many adult Americans are already familiar with its most simple concepts.  Even the basic, conventional models of the atom, as well as the conventional explanation of electricity, involve quantum physics, though the words "quantum physics" and "electricity" are not typically spoken of in direction connection with each other.  Nevertheless, it is necessary to understand the basic components of an atom to have a solid comprehension of contemporary ideas concerning quantum physics.

All scientific explanations of natural phenomena are speculative at best and are subject to possible spontaneous revision, as only the laws of logic, not scientific laws, are universal and inviolable by nature.  There is still great benefit, though, to becoming thoroughly familiar with scientific models simply because of the convenience such information allows for in daily life [1], and this is certainly true of the foundational physics of atoms.  The very electricity that many people use on a daily basis is associated with the fundamental components of atoms, which by definition are in the domain of quantum physics.

The standard conception of atoms regards them as minute particles that contain a variety of subatomic particles which carry their own respective charges: atoms contain electrons (which carry a negative charge), protons (which carry a positive charge), and neutrons (which carry no charge).  Protons and neutrons are located in the nucleus, or center, of an atom, while electrons remain at a distance from the center; they orbit the nucleus in fixed loops according to the Bohr model and orbit in fairly unpredictable patterns according to the electron cloud model, the latter of which is regarded as an improvement over the former.  These are the two common models of the atom, which are featured in many educational materials that many people are exposed to throughout their lives.

Of course, there is more to basic quantum physics than the mere makeup of atoms.  If an atom gains or loses electrons, it becomes what is termed an ion.  The exact type of ion it becomes depends on whether it gains or loses electrons.  Electrically neutral atoms (which feature an equal number of protons and electrons) that lose electrons obtain a positive charge and are called cations, while atoms that gain electrons obtain a negative charge and are called anions.  The movement of electrons can be manipulated and exploited for a variety of purposes, ranging from electrical heating to the powering of portable devices.

Anyone who understands even this much about contemporary atomic science is familiar with several foundational aspects of quantum physics.  No one needs to regard a scientific concept with the word "quantum" before it as something too challenging to be grasped by the average person.  Before one can explore the notion of an electron appearing in two places simultaneously [2], one must understand what an electron even is within the framework of modern science.  Fortunately, many people have already been exposed to this information, at least to some extent.  Quantum physics is not as foreign as some might think!


[1].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2019/02/the-value-of-scientific-awareness.html

[2].  https://thechristianrationalist.blogspot.com/2018/08/why-cant-i-be-in-two-places.html

Indie Games, Refunds, Terror, And Taking “No” For An Answer

I, for one, welcome our new Washington overlords.

Two months ago, Steam, the imperial, dinosaur-sized seller of PC games online, announced that they would start offering refunds to unhappy customers. And about time, too.

We run Spiderweb Software, a small indie company who sells role-playing games to a tiny niche audience, and we could not be happier about this change. Our business has long had a policy of no-questions-asked refunds for people who bought games from us directly. Our policy is, simply, "If you aren't happy with our game, we don't want your money."

So we were happy with Steam's new policy even before we knew how much money we'd be losing. Running an ethical business means a lot to us. Of course, customers love it even more than we do.

Predictably, parts of the gaming press, ever eager to stoke controversy for easy clicks, used shaky evidence to make it seem like the refund policy was a big, objectionable thing for developers. Happily, the grumbling has died down, predictions of imminent indie destruction were groundless, and the policy looks like it's here to stay.

On my end, our refund rate is about 5%. This is, from what I've heard, typical. Also, entirely acceptable. We can live with it. (Plus, refunds help to force swift, brutal justice on rushed, crappy PC ports.) 

But I don't want to be blasé about it. For a small business, a loss of 5% of sales can sometimes be a catastrophe. Changes are scary, especially changes that cost you money.

I wanted to say a little bit about why generous refunds are not only a good idea, but a huge long-term benefit for small, fragile developers like me. And yet, at the same time, some indies are nervous about the change, and they should be.

Giving refunds does change how indies need to think about what we make and what we charge for it. I have a bunch of thoughts about that. Lucky you.

I was curious what the first Google Image Search hit for "indie game developer" would be. (Source article, which is worth reading.)

Why We Need Refunds

I can deal with this one pretty quickly. It's something I've written about a lot in the past.

If you sell PC games, there are generally three ways people can get your game super-cheap: Piracy. Sales. Bundles. If your game is only acquired in these ways, you will go out of business.

To survive selling indie games, you need to convince a bunch of users to pay full price for it. You need to get them to pay more than they know they need to. This is difficult, as people like to keep their money.

The best way to get people to pay the full price is to get them to like you. To make your customers emotionally invested in your survival. This is the great weapon of the small indie: People like us. They think we're cool. This must be preserved at all costs.

That is why, when I saw a few indies publicly complaining about this inevitable, hugely popular change, all I could think was, "What are you DOING!? Don't you realize you're hurting us all?"

Yet I understand. I really do see why they freaked out, and I sympathize. I'm in the same boat. Indie games are different from the big AAA product, and it's worth asking how the change will affect us.

Indie developers tend to be afraid of two things: That customers will want refunds because the games are too short. Or, that customers will want refunds because the games are too artsy.

I totally want there to be a market for shorter works of art. Like this one, which is absolutely fantastic.

The Two Hour Barrier

Steam's stated refund policy is that you can get one if you've played the game for less than two hours. This invites the question: What happens if your game is less than two hours? Games like The Stanley Parable, Gone Home, or Dear Esther. Won't customers play the whole thing and then get a refund?

First, this fear shows a really dark and depressing attitude towards your customers. If you really think the people who buy your games are such monsters, why are you writing games for them in the first place?

More importantly, if your games are not providing enough entertainment for the price you are charging, do you really think denying refunds will save you? It will delay the demise of your business, sure. But if people feel ripped off buying one indie game, best of luck trying to get them to ever buy a second one.

I don't want to entirely dismiss this problem. Suppose you really want to write 30 minute games. I think a game this short can be really cool, and, if it's good, people will want to support you and won't ask for refunds. I really think this will be the case, and I have not heard news of huge refund rates from authors of short games. I can be proven wrong, but I don't think I will be.

Suppose refunds do become a problem for small games. Keeping the money of unhappy customers is still not the answer. Maybe the games need to be sold in bundles. Or maybe they need to be better. Or maybe, in the end, there won't be much room in the market for smaller games, and they will just need to be longer.

I don't currently see a big market for 3 minute games, no matter how clever. Similarly, the markets for short films and short stories are very small. Still, there is a market, and it might get bigger.

Let me be clear. I LOVE short, artistic stories, films, and games. I WANT them to have a market and be successful. Reality being otherwise frustrates me greatly, and I wish I could change it. Alas, I only get one vote.

In the long run, whether these markets develop will be up to the customer, refunds or not. No, calling gamers scummy or bigoted or entitled will not help.

Getting angry at capitalism won't help either. I don't know what alternate system you want to set up, but if it's goal is to force people to buy things they don't want, I'm not sure many will be on board.

If you can't summon up enough trust or affection toward game buyers to convince them to surrender cash for your product, well, hobbyist game development is an old, beloved institution. Better people than you have fallen to the brutality of the free market.

Microsoft Stress Simulator 2013

Forcing Gamers To Eat Broccoli

I feel some indie devs have this attitude: Our job is to get people to play the artistic games we think they should, instead of the fun stuff they tend to prefer. Gamers shouldn't be allowed to fill up on cake. They should be forced to buy our broccoli.

Consider one of the most discussed and successful games of the Great Indie Peak of 2013: Papers, Please! This is a game I loved, recommended, and wrote about. It combines story and gameplay in a truly unique and fascinating way. It's cool beans.

However, Papers, Please! is also viscerally unpleasant to play. I don't think this is a controversial statement. It is a game about quickly and perfectly doing mindless, repetitive tasks, with swift, merciless retaliation if you fail. It's stressful, and it's a bummer. That's the whole point of the game. (Which, again, I loved.)

Papers, Please! takes about 5-6 hours for a playthrough, so it's not too short for the 2 hour refund cutoff. To get a refund, players will have to give up on experiencing the whole story. So will they?

I hope they don't get refunds. I hope Papers, Please! continues to make lots of money, so that more games like it are written. However, I don't think most people want their limited video game relaxation time to be stressful and unpleasant. If someone buys this game and says, "This game is making me less happy, not more. I want my money back," I don't see how we can reasonably refuse.

A terrific sci-fi movie, AND it stars Scarlett Johansson? Who wouldn't go see that? (Answer: Everybody.)

Err In the Direction of Respect

I love indie games, and I love obscure foreign art films. I really wish I could share underwatched classics like Mr. Turner or Under the Skin with you. I just can't force you.

Music, films, books, all have indie presses that sell obscure products for niche tastes. This is awesome. They are just smaller. They make less money. Someday, it might (will) be impossible to get rich writing artsy indie games. Following your dreams and making fulfilling work will have to be a large part of the reward. I'm in the same boat.

I say all this as someone who has skin in this game too. I write super-low-budget, old-school, turn-based, text-heavy RPGs. My product is more niche than any of the games listed above. I know every new game I release might be the one where gamers finally tire of what I sell.

It terrifies me, but I can take comfort in the way my fans want me to stay in business. They know they will be treated fairly when they buy my games, which makes them like me more.

And that, in the end, is how refunds help me to stay in business. Refunds are right ethically, and they're good business. Maybe I will be proven wrong, but I doubt it.

Earning Trophies In Eternity

PS Trophies or XBox acheivements don't really do too much for me, I'm not that bothered about them for some reason. But I know that there are plenty of people out there who really are.

Sometimes it is fun reading up about the trophies that are out there for games, the crazy little
challenges that have been added on top of a game to add an extra layer of challenge or competition. One I read about a little while ago was the challenge added to FFIX to get Vivi to jump the skipping rope in Alexandria 1000 times! From my memory, doing it 100 times was a challenge enough! Looking over FFVII, there are some hardcore challenges- get Aeris' final limit break, obtain maximum Gil, beat Emerald and Ruby weapon.




All these trophies got me thinking about our Holy Faith.
Maybe there are heavenly trophies to be gained in life, and stored up in eternity?

Resisted impure temptation on 5th May 2016,
went to daily Mass every day for a year in 2017,
spoke to a random person about saving their immortal soul last Tuesday,
this morning got up an hour early to make a meditation.

What if we are earning trophies all the time and don't even know it? What if there are trophies out there that we will only find out about in eternity? I think there are you know, I think there are acheivements to be earned every day of our lives, this is when we use our free will to co-operate with His Holy grace and do great things for Him. These are the kinds of trophies I am interested in, because they really mean something and they truly last forever.

Having Platinum trophies for 100 games, that passes away, but the trophies of merit that we earn for eternity, they will NEVER fade away.

Rev 22:12- Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.

1 Cor 3:8- Now he who plants and he who waters are one; but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

2 Tim 4:8- Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day--and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

Matt 10:42- And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward.

What are you waiting for, through Christ, with Christ, in Christ, earn those trophies, build up a treasure for yourself in heaven! But remember, if you commit a mortal sin all those trophies get taken away from you, you disqualify from the race- but, praise God, they are returned when you make a good confession and return to God's friendship- He forgets your evil deed and returns all those trophies once more.


Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever! We are more than conquerors through Him.

Summer Falling Into Autumn

Cards, games, family, friends, and fun.

ouo.io - Make short links and earn the biggest money

Shrink and Share

Signup for an account in just 2 minutes. Once you've completed your registration just start creating short URLs and sharing the links with your family and friends.

You'll be paid for any views outside of your account.

Save you time and effort

ouo.io have a simple and convenient user interface, and a variety of utilities.

We also provides full mobile supports, you can even shorten the URL and view the stats on a mobile device.

Singup FREE

The Ultimate List of The 15 Best URL Shortener Services 2018

1. ADmy.link: ADmy.link is also one of the best URL sites.It is a trusted site.You can earn simply by registering for an account.It's fast and free!then you can Find URLs you would like to monetize and shorten your links.You just have to Share your shortened links and drive traffic to your content.
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2. Shorte.st: Shorte.st is another very popular and most trusted URL Shortening Company. Shorte.st comes as a user-friendly URL Shortener Service with many creative options for making money by monetizing the links you share. Shorte.st provides you an opportunity to earn from $5 to $15 per 1000 views for promoting their shortened links.
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3. Linkbucks: Linkbucks is another best and one of the most popular sites for shortening URLs and earning money. It boasts of high Google Page Rank as well as very high Alexa rankings. Linkbucks is paying $0.5 to $7 per 1000 views, and it depends on country to country.
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4. Linkshrink: Linkshrink URL Shortener Service provides you an opportunity to monetize links that you go on the Internet. Linkshrink comes as one of the most trusted URL Shortener Service. It provides an advanced reporting system so that you can easily track the performance of your shortened links. You can use Linkshrink to shorten your long URL. With Linkshrink, you can earn anywhere from $3 to $10 per 1000 views.
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5. Petty Link: Shorten URLs and earn money with Petty Link which is one of the best URL Shortening for earning money online.
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6. Ouo.io: Ouo.io is one of the fastest growing URL Shortener Service. Its pretty domain name is helpful in generating more clicks than other URL Shortener Services, and so you get a good opportunity for earning more money out of your shortened link. Ouo.io comes with several advanced features as well as customization options.
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7. Clk.sh: Clk.sh is a newly launched trusted link shortener network, it is a sister site of shrinkearn.com. I like ClkSh because it accepts multiple views from same visitors. If any one searching for Top and best url shortener service then i recommend this url shortener to our users. Clk.sh accepts advertisers and publishers from all over the world. It offers an opportunity to all its publishers to earn money and advertisers will get their targeted audience for cheapest rate. While writing ClkSh was offering up to $8 per 1000 visits and its minimum cpm rate is $1.4. Like Shrinkearn, Shorte.st url shorteners Clk.sh also offers some best features to all its users, including Good customer support, multiple views counting, decent cpm rates, good referral rate, multiple tools, quick payments etc. ClkSh offers 30% referral commission to its publishers. It uses 6 payment methods to all its users.
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8. BLV.ME: BLV.ME is one of the most trusted URL shortener sites.It pays high CPM rate.You can earn $10 for every 1000 views.One worst thing about blv.me is its referral system.
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9. Short.am: Short.am provides a big opportunity for earning money by shortening links. It is a rapidly growing URL Shortening Service. You simply need to sign up and start shrinking links. You can share the shortened links across the web, on your webpage, Twitter, Facebook, and more. Short.am provides detailed statistics and easy-to-use API.
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10. Adf.ly: Adf.ly is the oldest and one of the most trusted URL Shortener Service for making money by shrinking your links. Adf.ly provides you an opportunity to earn up to $5 per 1000 views. However, the earnings depend upon the demographics of users who go on to click the shortened link by Adf.ly.
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11. Wi.cr: Wi.cr is also one of the 30 highest paying URL sites.You can earn through shortening links.When someone will click on your link.You will be paid.They offer $7 for 1000 views.Minimum payout is $5.
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12. Link4.me: Link4.me is another trusted and fast growing site.You can earn by creating an account for free.You have to shorten your long URL into the short one.Then you can paste it into websites, blog, and social networking sites.You can earn $9 for 1000 views.they offer 20% referral commission for the lifetime.
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13. CPMlink: CPMlink is one of the most legit URL shortener sites.You can sign up for free.It works like other shortener sites.You just have to shorten your link and paste that link into the internet.When someone will click on your link.
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14. Shink.me: Shink.me is one of the old URL shortener sites.It is a legit site.You just have open an account free.You can earn from this like other URL shortener companies.It offers the good CPM rate for all countries traffic.
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15. LINK.TL: LINK.TL is one of the best and highest URL shortener website.It pays up to $16 for every 1000 views.You just have to sign up for free.You can earn by shortening your long URL into short and you can paste that URL into your website, blogs or social media networking sites, like facebook, twitter, and google plus etc.
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