They're firing up the LHC (Large Hadron Collider) at CERN on Wednesday.
Should be a helluva show! 8)





For a minute there I thought you were talking about having an election day party...
:lol:
No. We've got plenty of time to plan for that one! I don't think it's theoretically possible to be fashionably late for this one. :wink: Check out the link in my first post. It reminded me of my first Pink Floyd laser light show. 8)
There are rays emitted from the sun that hit the Earth every few seconds that are more powerful than what this will do. Granted, this will be doing it in a much smaller, more concentrated space, but it's not going to do anything dangerous.
I figured you were gearing up for 2012 and the end of the Mayan long count calendar already... :lol:
"Party like it's 2012" just doesn't have the same ring to it.
End of the world events that I remember
June 1979 - all the planets line up
May 1995 2,000 year reign of Jesus ends
Jan 1, 2000 - all computers would fail and microwaves and escalators were going to rise up and kill their masters
06-06-06, Devil will rise
9/10/2008 supercollider
what else you got?
What is the knowledge scientists hope to gain from this experiment? Let's try a little harder to cure cancer before we start a black hole.
Well, it was before my time, but the Cuban Missile Crisis probably tops the list for "man made" events recently.
Also:
1986 - Halley's Comet
joev wrote What is the knowledge scientists hope to gain from this experiment? Let's try a little harder to cure cancer before we start a black hole.
I'm not sure that physicists are really the people we want working on a cure for cancer.
Cookie wrotejoev wrote What is the knowledge scientists hope to gain from this experiment? Let's try a little harder to cure cancer before we start a black hole.I'm not sure that physicists are really the people we want working on a cure for cancer.
Yeah, but their large particle hadron collider (hardon collider?) cost multiple BILLIONS of dollars.
joev wroteCookie wrotejoev wrote What is the knowledge scientists hope to gain from this experiment? Let's try a little harder to cure cancer before we start a black hole.I'm not sure that physicists are really the people we want working on a cure for cancer.
Yeah, but their large particle hadron collider (hardon collider?) cost multiple BILLIONS of dollars.
So does a great deal else in this world.
Also, we're already devoting billions to cancer research.
I don't think cancer really got shortchanged in order to build the LHC. In fact, in the past decade, we've made some of the biggest strides against cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, AIDS, and a fair number of other maladies that were once considered not only uncurable but practically beyond understanding. Medical care has definitely gotten more expensive--but it has also unequivocally gotten better.
gramarye wrotejoev wroteCookie wrotejoev wrote What is the knowledge scientists hope to gain from this experiment? Let's try a little harder to cure cancer before we start a black hole.I'm not sure that physicists are really the people we want working on a cure for cancer.
Yeah, but their large particle hadron collider (hardon collider?) cost multiple BILLIONS of dollars.
So does a great deal else in this world.
Also, we're already devoting billions to cancer research.
I don't think cancer really got shortchanged in order to build the LHC. In fact, in the past decade, we've made some of the biggest strides against cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, AIDS, and a fair number of other maladies that were once considered not only uncurable but practically beyond understanding. Medical care has definitely gotten more expensive--but it has also unequivocally gotten better.
I'm not questioning the pace of medical research - just the human benefits of this experiment in Switzerland. Knowledge for knowledge's sake is nice and all, but unless it has an application to make people's lives better, it's kind of a waste of money. Especially when the experiment has any chance at all of ending the world...
gramarye wrote So does a great deal else in this world.Also, we're already devoting billions to cancer research.
I don't think cancer really got shortchanged in order to build the LHC. In fact, in the past decade, we've made some of the biggest strides against cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, AIDS, and a fair number of other maladies that were once considered not only uncurable but practically beyond understanding. Medical care has definitely gotten more expensive--but it has also unequivocally gotten better.
And really, one good black hole would eliminate all of those problems.
joev wroteI'm not questioning the pace of medical research - just the human benefits of this experiment in Switzerland. Knowledge for knowledge's sake is nice and all, but unless it has an application to make people's lives better, it's kind of a waste of money. Especially when the experiment has any chance at all of ending the world...
first of all nobody is going to create a black hole. Nor are they TRYING to create a black hole. Lets just get that out of the way right now.
Understanding the basic structure of the universe is not useless. Science works in very small steps. Remember, there was a delay between the discovery of the photoelectric effect in theoretical physics labs in the 1800s (that I am sure people poo-pooed as a waste of money) and Einstein and Plank taking that work to formulate modern quantum physics and then a farther delay before devices that use quantum mechanics changed the entire world forever in such a fundamental way that almost everything we do now is based on that work and we cannot even imagine life without it.
Admittedly, working out the origins of the universe and a unified field theory is entirely theoretical now... just as Plank's work was in 1900... but its also pretty much the only way we're ever going to figure out gravity, for just one example.
besides... you didn't pay for the activities of CERN anyway so stop complaining.
Tenzo wrote End of the world events that I rememberJune 1979 - all the planets line up
May 1995 2,000 year reign of Jesus ends
Jan 1, 2000 - all computers would fail and microwaves and escalators were going to rise up and kill their masters
06-06-06, Devil will rise
9/10/2008 supercollider
what else you got?
you forgot July 5th, 1998 - the day the Church of The Subgenius foretold that the men from planet X would receive the first "Amos and Andy" broadcast and come to Earth to destroy and/or enslave humanity (but a $30 donation to the church would buy you a ticket on the escape saucers).
Rockmastermike wrotejoev wroteI'm not questioning the pace of medical research - just the human benefits of this experiment in Switzerland. Knowledge for knowledge's sake is nice and all, but unless it has an application to make people's lives better, it's kind of a waste of money. Especially when the experiment has any chance at all of ending the world...
first of all nobody is going to create a black hole. Nor are they TRYING to create a black hole. Lets just get that out of the way right now.
Understanding the basic structure of the universe is not useless. Science works in very small steps. Remember, there was a delay between the discovery of the photoelectric effect in theoretical physics labs in the 1800s (that I am sure people poo-pooed as a waste of money) and Einstein and Plank taking that work to formulate modern quantum physics and then a farther delay before devices that use quantum mechanics changed the entire world forever in such a fundamental way that almost everything we do now is based on that work and we cannot even imagine life without it.
Admittedly, working out the origins of the universe and a unified field theory is entirely theoretical now... just as Plank's work was in 1900... but its also pretty much the only way we're ever going to figure out gravity, for just one example.
besides... you didn't pay for the activities of CERN anyway so stop complaining.
The US government contributed $1 billion. I'm going to keep complaining. I'm not against scientific research. But we're never going to be able to harness anything good from something that takes a 13-mile underground tunnel and a multibillion dollar investment.
This should explain everything, in rap form:
8)
Bring on the strangelets and Higgs-boson particles!!
I am definitely NOT in favor of a 13-mile, multi-billion dollar tunnel that creates shitty rap.
blammo wrote I am definitely NOT in favor of a 13-mile, multi-billion dollar tunnel that creates shitty rap.
Yeah, that diminished my confidence in the project even more. Sounds like Steven Hawking can lay down some sick robot beats, though. Then it got all "Sesame Street" rap on me.
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