Douglas Adams, from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
One of the major problems encountered in time travel is not that of accidentally becoming your own father or mother. There is no problem involved in becoming your own father or mother that a broadminded and well adjusted family can’t cope with. There is also no problem about changing the course of history – the course of history does not change because it all fits together like a jigsaw. All the important changes have happened before the things they were supposed to change and it all sorts itself out in the end. The major problem is quite simply one of grammar.
This event is staggering and I only understand a tiny fraction about it. It’s hard to wrap one’s brain around the efforts of the last ten years… and also that someone was able to put it into rap form.
Sharolyn, I’ve been thinking recently about how impossible it must be to teach high-school level physics today. It seems like you have basically two options: either teach them the true current state of research into how matter is constructed and behaves, and have them spend an entire year in an uncomprehending haze; or teach them the 100-year old models that can be more easily understood and taught, but are, well, wrong.
Here is part of an e-mail from my oldest brother named Scott. I couldn’t have said it better:
“While the supercollider may create a subatomic black hole at times (actually a goal) these black holes are so infinitely tiny that no sensory effect will be observed. There is no validity to the argument that it is dangerous to us. One controversial desire is to create a black hole and then find the “god particle” that alters the gravity of the field, thus creating a bang. By analogy, the origins of the universe could theoretically be known.
Religiously and spiritually all that would do is just back up the question a step. I have no problem with the Big Bang Theory, just as I have no problem and teach, discuss, and observe evolution every day. But what CAUSED the Big Bang, Evolution, and every other scientific concept to be observed? Either you believe in a random, chaotic and philosophically meaningless universe or you believe that there is a Higher Power.
In regards to the Big Bang, it is possible that God is acting so SMALL we cannot see Him. I am convinced He, She and It (gender is a human construct) has a good sense of humor and enjoys a good game of hide and seek through Hubble telescopes and Supercolliders. That makes me laugh.”
PortcullisChain 8:10 am on 10 September 2008 Permalink
Come on everyone…..get your nerd on and kick some beats about the LHC.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM
-PC
Chad 9:20 am on 10 September 2008 Permalink
Goodbye, everyone. Have a happy apocalypse!
Stick 10:09 am on 10 September 2008 Permalink
Wow, I learned a lot from that vid!
Stick 10:10 am on 10 September 2008 Permalink
Wow! I learned a lot from that vid!
Chad 10:46 am on 10 September 2008 Permalink
ACK! Stick’s been cloned!
ALL HAIL THE LHC, YOUR DARK MASTER!
michael lee 11:07 am on 10 September 2008 Permalink
Remember when we used to blame everything on El Niño? The LHC is the new El Niño!
Pi 11:09 am on 10 September 2008 Permalink
I stayed up way to late last night figuring out exactly what the theoretical threat was. End of the world today? Possibly.
Stick 11:20 am on 10 September 2008 Permalink
Didn’t I read it was gonna take awhile to get everything up to speed? Maybe then it will cause a great disturbance in the Force.
michael lee 11:37 am on 10 September 2008 Permalink
Yep. These are still just calibration runs. Actually expirements and results won’t be coming for about a year.
sharolyn 6:26 pm on 10 September 2008 Permalink
When I first read the asides, I thought maybe you were just excited that Oprah is back from hiatus.
Chad 8:57 pm on 10 September 2008 Permalink
Soooo much.
I think Oprah and the LHC are the first two horsemen… or… horsewomen.
Horsepeople? Horsecolliders?
Crap! The end times sure are complicated, grammatically.
michael lee 10:41 pm on 10 September 2008 Permalink
Douglas Adams, from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
sharolyn 6:46 am on 11 September 2008 Permalink
This event is staggering and I only understand a tiny fraction about it. It’s hard to wrap one’s brain around the efforts of the last ten years… and also that someone was able to put it into rap form.
michael lee 7:05 am on 11 September 2008 Permalink
Sharolyn, I’ve been thinking recently about how impossible it must be to teach high-school level physics today. It seems like you have basically two options: either teach them the true current state of research into how matter is constructed and behaves, and have them spend an entire year in an uncomprehending haze; or teach them the 100-year old models that can be more easily understood and taught, but are, well, wrong.
sharolyn 12:16 pm on 13 September 2008 Permalink
Here is part of an e-mail from my oldest brother named Scott. I couldn’t have said it better:
“While the supercollider may create a subatomic black hole at times (actually a goal) these black holes are so infinitely tiny that no sensory effect will be observed. There is no validity to the argument that it is dangerous to us. One controversial desire is to create a black hole and then find the “god particle” that alters the gravity of the field, thus creating a bang. By analogy, the origins of the universe could theoretically be known.
Religiously and spiritually all that would do is just back up the question a step. I have no problem with the Big Bang Theory, just as I have no problem and teach, discuss, and observe evolution every day. But what CAUSED the Big Bang, Evolution, and every other scientific concept to be observed? Either you believe in a random, chaotic and philosophically meaningless universe or you believe that there is a Higher Power.
In regards to the Big Bang, it is possible that God is acting so SMALL we cannot see Him. I am convinced He, She and It (gender is a human construct) has a good sense of humor and enjoys a good game of hide and seek through Hubble telescopes and Supercolliders. That makes me laugh.”
aly hawkins 1:08 pm on 13 September 2008 Permalink
We heard NPR’s coverage of the moment they fired it up, and laughed aloud. The anticipation built as they counted down…three…two…one…
APPLAUSE! CHEERING! HIGH-FIVES!
Window into my dirty mind: Wow, they’re like a bunch of 17-year-old boys who just lost their virginity.
Chad 3:29 pm on 13 September 2008 Permalink
Wow. I mean… I dunno about the rest of you, but there weren’t a bunch of dudes around when that happened.
Maybe it’s just me.
michael lee 12:40 am on 14 September 2008 Permalink
… but there were some high-fives afterward.