LHC stuff.

Song of the day: "My Favorite things" by Julie Andrews (In the Sound of Music)I don't even know how it got in my head, but there it was, right in the middle of lifting a rather big rock from the ground. Hah.

Considering that today was a rather average day of: editing; building with rocks; getting rocks, and chores, (except that Clue had to go back to the vet because he was ill again, darn it) I figured today gives the perfect opportunity to share a rather cool article I read in an online science magazine “The Tech Herald” the other day.

Now, to give you some background, this all started out with the controversy around the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) testing where they are trying to locate the illustrious Higgs particle (AKA “The God Particle”), by blasting protons together with speeds nearing that of light.
I know, there’s a technical term for it, but this is my blog, so I’m going to look at it as some nifty special effects where to protons bump together and explode. Hah.

There debates going on, all over the scientific world, about the event-what with there being a one in a million (or so) chance that they create an “earth gobbling” black hole with the experiment-that has caused law-suits and whatnot. Personally, even a one in a million chance would be too big a risk for me, what with this being the only place we can exist for now-just to satisfy a curiosity.

Those for the experiment are saying: what if Columbus had let the risk of falling over the edge of the world stop him?
From some perspectives, it is debatable whether it was a good idea that he discovered “the New World”. Didn’t genocide occur due to that “stroke of genius”? Hah.
Also, the strong followers like to bring forth the argument of Nuclear power having had the same kind of opposition, and that there were zealots then too, who claimed that it would be the end of the world.
Why they think that this is a good example, I don’t understand to be honest. Sure, the power is rather comfortable but I do believe that they’re forgetting all those nifty little side effects like the radiation, pollution, and can anyone say Aaaaaa-bomb.
Ah well, there are lots of these examples that, at the moment, are completely beside the point.

In the end there is very little I can do about it and just figure, what the heck; you’ve got loonies walking all over place doing lots of crazy things. Some idiot could press a red button tomorrow and then a black hole here or there won’t make a difference.

Now, don’t get me wrong; stuff like this doesn’t get me down. It would make no sense if I let it. If I worried about these kinds of things, I might as well worry about being run over by a bus tomorrow. A total waste of time. It is fun to follow the progress a bit, though.

But enough about that, I got distracted again, didn’t I? Okay, here’s the article. Now read it through before drawing a conclusion. Look at it as fun…I know I did.

“The Tech Herald

A spokesperson for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) has confirmed the fears of many in the scientific world after revealing that the reason for the sudden closure of the Large Hadron Collider, the world's most expensive physics experiment, was not due to "technical problems" as previously stated, but because its controversial particle collisions have sensationally rendered a "tiny black hole" in the fabric of space.

(Now remember, no conclusions yet. Just read.)

"I can confirm that, yes, the first stages of the experiment resulted in the appearance of a miniscule black hole," said the spokesperson to gathered reporters on Monday. "The black hole is being kept under quarantine and our scientists have been monitoring its progression," he explained.

(Doesn’t it read like an exciting fiction novel? I was thrilled.)

Situated deep underground on the French-Swiss border, the $10 billion USD Large Hadron Collider (LHC) had been opposed by many scientists who warned of the related dangers of the massive particle collision experiment.
The huge, ring-shaped LHC has been designed to give scientists an opportunity to re-create and study the origins of the universe and to end the search for the elusive Higgs Boson or 'God particle'.

(If ya haven’t already, you should look at the multitude of studies about the Higgs particle. ‘Tis fascinating.)

Many had bitterly said the consequences could be as extreme as the Earth being sucked into the black hole the LHC collisions may create as a side effect of the experiment. Others claimed time travellers with more sophisticated technology than ours could make use of the hole to invade the Earth and enslave mankind.

(If only. Imagine what would happen to pesky little disputes here amongst us human.)

The particle physics experiment began with great fanfare on September 10, 2008, only to be mysteriously closed down nine days later. An announcement by CERN blamed mechanical failure between two superconducting magnets, a reason deemed strange at the time by scientists and theorists not involved in the experiment.
After confirming the incredible real reason for the closure of the LHC, the CERN spokesperson went on to placate reporters present by saying that his organization did not, at this stage, see any danger to the Earth's existence.

(I was still on the edge of my seat. Doesn’t it read like a wonderfully exciting sci-fi novel?)

However, when asked by reporters at CERN headquarters how the agency kept a black hole under quarantine, the spokesperson admitted, "With great difficulty ladies and gentlemen, with great difficulty."
The Obama administration's shadowy Special Crisis Operations (SCO) executive, Mr. C. Norris, told Washington reporters at a hastily-arranged news conference that his elite team was monitoring the situation closely and was ready to resolve any emerging crisis once it had “sorted out this global warming business and the current financial mess.”

(And then the grand finish: )

“The staff of The Tech Herald wishes you a happy April 1”

Talk about a let down. For crying out loud! That’s like hanging a carrot in front of a fiction writer and then throwing it into the friggin’ ocean. It’s just mean. Here I was looking forward to interesting (or better yet, fascinating) news reports where we were kept up-to-date on how those “poor” scientists were working their butt off trying to keep the miniscule black hole contained. Yep. All very “Star Trek” images flashing through my head, only to be dashed with that final statement that totally ruined the illusion.

On the other hand, if it were true we might have been up shit creak for a whole of…a second or two. Hah.

But anyways…Clue went through the operations fine, and is back home, thankfully.