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Everyone must be aware that a major step in scientific discovery is about to take place on the French/Swiss border...
The switching on of the Large Hadron Collider will take place at 5.00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time, today 10-9-08....
This experiment will accelerate, and then collide particles at near light speed, and "We will be looking at what the Universe was made of, billionths of a second after the Big Bang."
There are some good pics of the machine here..
Some clowns have suggested that this experiment may create a black hole which will swallow the world, but scientists claim that even if it does create a black hole, then it will only be tiny and only last for less than a second.
Anyway, don't forget to watch for the end of the world at 5.00pm today! 
Goodbye cruel world..
ooh....a black hole sucking us all up........cool.....
any way of knowing the odds of this?
i really don't want to do my homework...
I saw one of the professors in charge of the experiment, and he said that it would have the power of a mosquito running into your face..
I saw him on tv last night...
i kept reading that as hard on
anyways ppl had me thinking science/0 and the universe was gonna implode. but then again im paranoid.
I've been following this for quite a while now, and the experts say there's no chance of it destroying the universe, and well, if it does, then "one flash and you're ash" as they say..
Only 30 minutes to go......
so you are saying that i have to do my homework?
This is very exciting... I've been looking forward to it.
Where can we watch it? And what will they show?
hi fellow doomsdayarians
LOL!
Yeah I think you had better do your homework, moneypenny......sorry...
I don't know if you can watch it live, but I imagine the tv news will have it on...
What will be your last living act Nate?
andro - oh bummer
grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..
My last living act? Finishing this damn contract off
or hopefully with my girlfriend who'll be picking me up in 21 minutes
20 mins to go....
Always good to have a back up!
she'll be too late...
uh oh!!
eek!
ha ha narr it's all good
No stopping for traffic lights!
...okay, maybe not the greatest idea I've ever had....
After 5.00 there may not be any traffic lights....
ha ha narr it's all good
so.....are you saying i don't have to finish my homework?
(hi nathanaelb......i'm bluegirl....nice to meet you 
)
hello BG
anyone got a link to that "Is the LHC destroyed Earth yet" site?
ummmm... no?
lmfao!
WAHAHAHAHAAH
That's hilarious!
hahahahaha.
yeah wasn't too hard to find it myself
at least this solves my land purchase problem
15 mins to go.....
45 apparently
I dunno
You know, if the world were really ending, I'd probably still be sitting here....
ha ha
Or maybe at the beach, but with my lappie and wireless
Well I've stopped working
LOL!
Slacker!
you know, bond.......you have finally provided a big enough distraction to keep me away from my homework.....
Well, I thought you needed a break.....
and now for today's word of the day........
slacker
thanks dek......
So they're gonna be blasting it in 14 mins? Or just flipping a switch and turning it on?
can't stop laughing at the LHC comments on Twitter
LOL! My pleasure Blueg
30 minute test warm up or something?
and thank you, bond.
Nate - hehehe yeah, funny stuff there!
someone will have forgotten to charge the LHC's batteries
or have forgotten to pay the electric bill.....
10 mins to go...
Remember the last time they smashed atoms for the first time and didn't get the expected result? Ie the bang was a "little bigger than expected"?
LOL unlikely. It's drawing power from 5 countries
Well..... who cares about that part of Europe anyways?
True true. Can you imagine on earth globes in schools several years from now
ROFL!!
Round ... with a big cone-shaped chunk out of where europe used to be
Wait, I'll do a mock up
ha ha
They,ve been building it fot 13 years, si I think the batteries will be charged....
what sort of batteries were they using back then?
charging the batteries is exactly the type of thing you'd forget in this type of situation......
Eveready
OK we have a revised time
17:15 AEST
ha ha! nice one
wow!
what a perfectly shaped chunk missing.....
that would make a successful experiment in itself...
aaah this is so funny
hehehe
Sure is
srsly I'm half expecting to disappear in 20 minutes
it's stupid I know
Really?
I never took the 'threat' seriously
Then again, I don't take death seriously either....
19 mins to go....
yeah ... guess it's my religious upbringing and all
can't ... get ... it ... out ... of .... my .... head
don't want to die till I fix my head
and we're back to 35 minutes GEEZ DAMNIT
if we don't disappear......i'd like to request a written note from the 3 of you......as to why our immobilizing fear of everything we know disappearing....prevented me from completing my assignments.....
that's okay with you guys, right?
you were distracted before our imminent doom and you know it XD
absolutely not true!
how could anyone ever call me distracted...........oooh........what's that over there.....
**runs off to look for something......anything....**
lol there's not much to look at inside a black hole
not even black
wellthat's the first time gone. 5pm that is
so.......that means no homework.....right?
wait another 14 mins
maybe
well aren't they doing beams each way first THEN collission?
anything you say, bond.
you know i trust you with my life.
*smacks Nate on the head*
There, fixed... Now it won't matter
Yep, thats it
so is this just going to be some giant game of laser tag?
Oh look! Linky for livecast!
It's ok moneypenny, i won't let you down....
Due to a huge interest for this live video feed of the LHC First Beam day, you may not be able to see the live video stream and we apologise for this.
/me has a sore head
hahahahaha ^^
i know, bond.
Yeh, won't load for me.... I think the bigger threat is their servers melting, not the blackhole!
hahaha, right....
would suck for people who are asleep right now in ... UK?
Well, that'd be a way to go.... you wouldn't even know it!
lol.......i'm now seriously reminded of a hitchhikers guide.......
oh noes the ground below me is disappearing
i'll say it again........eek!
Yeah, lets hitch a ride outta here..
hahahahah
You fellas are all hilarious
does everyone have their towel?
HA HA HA
5 mins to go.......
stick your thumb out!
The end is nigh.......
Adios amigos!
Tis been fun!
989 ... 988 .... 987 ...
(At least I died laughing)
*holds onto his balls*
ROFL!
you know......that's a great idea.....even if the world doesn't end......i could be off exploring the galaxy instead of doing my assignment....
What is this, soccer?
Sorry - I didn't read Surviving Black Holes 101
hilarious!
**holds onto her breasts**
3 mins to go left....
I ... am ... crying
stop it!
**hands nat a tissue**
I wonder if I should get into my car and drive in the opposite direction
1 min left
Just cos everyone seems to be doing something...
ok ok people listen up
in one minute ALL THEY'RE DOING is turning the damn thing on
that means some lights, some magnets etc
THAT ... is not going to end the world
it's just like cocking the gun
the REAL thing happens 15 minutes later
because they don't want to leave Europe in a blackout for too long
Oh oh, they just twittered - It's LHC first beam day. Beams at the door of the LHC, ready for first injection.
Ohhhhh
so we should continue to build up our panic.......?
D'oh!
Should have invested in a surge protector
15 mins left.......
lmao
13.......
I need a stiff drink
srsly
it's starting to get to me
and where's your girlfriend?
Good question, moneypenny....
I just had a brainwave....
Now to get my hands on some yummy chocolate cake in the next 15 mins
I'm going to beat CERN to it ... *grabs two torches, holds them head-to-head and switches them on*
i'm full of 'em.........
...unless i'm trying to solve a riddle....
HAHAHAHAAH @ nate!
yeah.
9 to go
it's just like cocking the gun
the REAL thing happens 15 minutes later
now....is this an exact 15 minutes later?
or is bond just counting down for the fun of it?
I've started creating an anti-matter clone of myself twice my size that will survive the Event, 50% of it will cancel out matter, leaving me
ok g/f called - I'm outta here!
SMS me if the world ends pls - I'd like to know
HAHAHAHAHAH
Enjoy your last moments with the gf
hee hee hee
Will do!
k bye - catch up with you later
Well they've revised the time twice now, so i'm just working off my personal atomic clock.....
or heaven/hell - wherever you're going
Ciao!
Andro - LOL!
bye
so.......um..........you're counting down for the fun of it?
No no........5 mins left.....
make that 3 mins........
What's gonna happen?
we're gunna get swallowed by a black hole.....
Ah yes, but before that?
yay! no homework!
I min left.....
HAHAHAH
Who turned out the lights..........
We're having too much fun, given the potentially morbid outcome
their clock must be slow.....
will it look something like this....
replace the rocket launcher with lasers or matter or ........
hahahahahaah
Good find!
it was the closest i could get at the moment......
That's it, moneypenny. you're a scientist
so will i get credit for that.......instead of my homework?
Yep, just refer em to andro and you'll be fine....
You get 
from me!
yes!
Looks like we're the only ones who survived.......
HAH! I'm still here, but am considering going for a short walk
well....at least it's cool people who are left.
hahaha
Yay, I agree.............
and....believe it or not......i actually finished one of the papers i needed for tomorrow....
I hope the world still exists tomorrow so that you can hand it in.... it'd be a shame to let all that effort go to waste!
Well done, moneypenny...
unfortunately.....i have 2 more short pieces to write....
That won't take long for a scientific wizard, such as yourself..
except that science and english are very different.....
Ummm, yes they are......slightly....but they go hand in glove with each other....
not really in this situation.......this is really difficult for me...
Yes it can be very difficult....at times..
the whole reason i'm taking this class is because i have such trouble with writing....
i'm actually not required to take it......i tested out....
What are you studying?
this is just a basic writing class........me and about 15 college freshmen...
So are you looking at journalism, or other forms of writing..
no.
i'm going to be studying computers....but i will still need to complete some required course work....
i don't know how to write a paper......any kind of paper......
it's been 20 years since i've had to write anything at all.......even for work....
Ok I understand, the only writing I do now, is writing poetry.......seriously..
Need help bluegirl? I'll do what I can
nah.....it's okay......the reason i'm taking the class to learn how to write better......
my problem is how much i agonize over every little bit.....
and the amount of homework i'm being assigned.....
thanks, dek.
and bond......i think that's great....i assume you are doing this because it's what you love.....
i've never met a poet who did it for the money .....
i love to read.......but reading critically and having to write about it......it's hard...
i do much better in the class discussions....
my problem is how much i agonize over every little bit.....
You're not alone there, all writers do that, no matter how good they are..
i've never met a poet who did it for the money .....
I remember when I started writing (many moons ago), another poet (the nephew of a very famous poet) said to me, "no one ever got rich from writing poetry". and he is right...
Don't worry bluegirl.... it's only a matter of time before you're in the swing of things. I just takes getting used to
i know you guys are right...
i must say i like the teacher.....she's tough and strict, but pretty cool.
You're not alone there, all writers do that, no matter how good they are..
at the top of the class syllabus the teacher put this quote.....as sort of a class philosophy:
"A piece of writing is never finished. It is delivered to a deadline, torn out of the typewriter on demand, sent off with a sense of accomplishment and shame and pride and frustration."
-(donald murray-the maker's eye)
****************
as soon as i read this i knew i would like the teacher and the way she will teach the class...
hahahahah That's great!
hahahaha yeah, that's funny....
Fun with particle physics......
Well we had fun with it, and we weren't vaporised or anything like that..
that's a great find, dek...
yep....and i just finished another of the 3 assignments i had.
1 more to go......and i've done the reading........and thought about what i might write......a little bit at least....
Good on you, moneypenny.....
WOO HOO!
Way to go blueg!
Check it out - more LHC madness:
that's my favorite thing about google.......the celebrating of interesting events....(not always world famous ones)
hehehe yeah
Makes them.... part of the community sort of
From aap:
Particle physicists have fired up the world's biggest atom-smasher in a mission to answer some of the most perplexing questions about the nature of the Universe.
Built in a tunnel 100 metres below ground in a complex straddling the French-Swiss border, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is designed to accelerate sub-atomic particles to nearly the speed of light and then smash them together.
The collisions will briefly stoke temperatures 100,000 times hotter than the sun, fleetingly replicating conditions which prevailed in split-seconds after the "Big Bang" that created the universe 13.7 billion years ago.
In this seething primordial soup, novel particles may lurk.
Discovering them could resolve mysteries clouding our understanding of how matter is constituted and came into being, scientists say.
"It's about acquiring knowledge for humanity about the behaviour of fundamental matter," physicist Daniel Denegri told AFP.
"We expect to make discoveries that could be rather spectacular."
Shortly after 9.30am Wednesday (1730 AEST), the first protons were injected into the 27km ring-shaped tunnel at the headquarters of the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).
It has required nearly two decades, six billion Swiss francs ($A6.64 billion) and 5,000 scientists, engineers and technicians from nearly three dozen countries to bring the LHC to fruition.
Wednesday's operation began a long and cautious commissioning process, testing equipment and procedures, before starting experiments a matter of weeks from now.
In the LHC control room, relieved scientists cheered and clapped when the first particles completed a maiden, clockwise lap around the ring. The protons' progress had been slowed down to ensure that systems were working properly.
When all is ready, the LHC will whiz two parallel beams, one clockwise and the other anticlockwise, around the tunnel.
Superconducting magnets cooled close to absolute zero - the chill of deep space - will then steer the beams so that they converge inside four chambers whose walls are swathed with detectors.
"The way to think about it is like having cross-pointing machine-guns, firing bullets," said Denegri.
"Some of the bullets will miss each other and others will hit."
When protons collide, subatomic wreckage from the smash will fly into the detectors, leaving a calling-card trace of their identity.
Over the 10-15 years in which will the LHC will operate, masses of data will spew from these collisions and will be closely scrutinised by universities and laboratories around the world.
The Holy Grail will be finding a particle, called the Higgs Boson after British physicist Peter Higgs, who devised the theory of its existence in 1964.
The "Higgs" would explain how particles acquire mass, and some particles are more massive than others.
The idea is that these particles exist in a sort of invisible background field. Other particles passing through the Higgs field would pick up mass, like feathers passing through thin treacle.
Another big challenge will be testing the theory of supersymmetry, which postulates that the members of the known bestiary of sub-atomic particles have related, but more massive, counterparts.
Such particles could explain the unsettling discovery of recent years that visible matter only accounts for some four per cent of the universe. Enigmatic phenomena called dark matter and dark energy account for the rest.
Before the startup, Internet-driven rumours said the LHC would create black holes or a nasty hypothetical particle called a strangelet that would gobble up the planet.
CERN commissioned a panel to verify its safety calculations and France also carried out its own assessment.
Melbourne University physicist Geoff Taylor has led an Australian contingent which designed detectors and shielding as well as software that triggers the collection of information.
Professor Taylor says the experiment's opponents are "completely misguided" in their stance.
"One of the things we are trying to do is create mini-black holes which scientifically would be a magnificent thing and tell us we don't live in three dimensions but that we live in nine or 10 dimensions," Prof Taylor said.
"As soon as you say there is the possibility of creating black holes you have people saying we are going to be swallowed up by black holes.
"That's where the furore has come and it's completely misguided."
Prof Taylor said the results could have a similar outcome as when Copernicus discovered that the earth was not the centre of the universe.
"That changed the whole way we looked at ourselves and realised that everything did not revolve around us - that we were just a part of something much, much bigger," he said.
He said if the experiment showed there were more than the three dimensions - height, width and depth - it could change the way we look at life.
If scientists can verify the existence of the Higgs Boson, it would be a big step in the search for a Grand Unified Theory, which aims to bring together three of the four known fundamental forces: electromagnetism, the strong nuclear force and the weak nuclear force, leaving out only gravity.
"One of the key reasons for building the machine is to find out if (the God Particle) exists," Prof Taylor said.
"The existence of such a particle would give us a whole new view on the structure of the universe."
Cathy Foley, president of the Australian Institute of Physics, said particles would be smashed together at speeds that generate large amounts of energy but when compared to more everyday events they were less impressive.
"Each collision of a pair of protons in the LHC will release an amount of energy comparable to that of two colliding mosquitoes," she said.
"It's like a rice-bubble pop."
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
So they haven't actually done it yet, they are still just testing equipment.
Yep, all that panic was for nothing..and we will have to do it all over again
Scrollbar laziness is there anything about the vlhc here?
Not that I'm aware of, Happy. (unless someone posted it when I wasn't looking).
Well looking at Wikipedia if this one does whatever it is its meant to do then they're going to build an even bigger one called a Very Large Hadron Collider.
7 hours to go...
wtf? i read through all of that and thought it would be of interest.
address bar laziness do you have that wiki link?
yeh 1 sec i'll find it
Its only hypothetical at the moment http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Very_Large_Hadron_Collider
so now that they have something that could potentially destroy the world, they want to build something even bigger that definitely will?
If you're gonna destroy the world you might as well do it properly
True...
by then we'll all be living on mars anyway
Yes! Beagle 2 must be avenged!!!
hehehe
oh hai
hai.... long time no see man where u been?
Hiding in a bunker?
happy the most important drama of the evening was whether or not i completed my homework.......
....there were some very tense moments, there......
and the outcome??
mostly completed........i wasn't sure if i needed to do it at all......with all this talk of a black hole sucking us out of existence...
I still haven't done my report for work
I admire your diligence and willpower...
Must go to bed now.. unfortunately I'm starting work again in 6 hours 
G'nite! Don't let the particles bite!
lol.
do that report, first thing in the a.m.
that's an order!
Oh carp i forgot my essay on The act of somethingorother for History...
wow....i seem to be reminding everyone else to do their forgotten assignments.....
yay!
i'm an inadvertent good-deed-doer.
im still too lazy to finish my finite math hw. im taking a nap instead
hmm... no do a report now.. its really a homework-y thing... no time to do it at work anyway, i just keep forgetting because I leave it on my desk each day
Just in:
CERN using Dell computers...
A smart move? I think not!
Now I'm positive we're all gona die 
i'm happy with my dell.
I've worked closely with Dell over the last few years - they are 'functional' if nothing else. Not very reliable though, and I certainly wouldn't put it to be used for things like the LHC project.
I mean, if they're going to spend billions and billions on development, they could have at least upped their budget on the pc's
Their business lappies and dev desktops are pretty good, from what I hear....
I got to use a developer CPU last week, and it blew me away.
i witnessed a minor black hole event last night - not sure if it's related to the LHC experiment - my dinner disappeared into one. Actually that brings up a thought - are chunks of carrot the only thing that could escape a black hole?
Re: the dell thing - "Hello, this is the Dell support line how may i help you this evening?"
"Ah hi, we have a little problem with our computer."
"Yes sir, can you please describe?"
"Well we had this particle accelerator right - and well, it kind of created a black hole"
"I'm sorry sir but our warranty does not cover black holes, if i could refer you to sub clause 673(a)(xciv) you will see that Dell holds no responsibility for space time accidents"
"oh bloody hell - alright, i'll try and turn it off at the switch then"
ROFL!!!!
Too funny!
lmao!
my dell is from the business store...
XD quite accurate simon
"Just restart it.. the black hole should reset itself after that..."
lmao...
very funny, morgan.
Honestly, even if the thing doesn't work, or the experiments don't reveal anything, the amount of laughs I've gotten because of it makes it all worth it!
yeah...it's been fun..
NathanaelBcracked me up so much
hehehehe yeah!
that was funny......the whole night was...(night for me)
btw......i finished and turned in all my assignments....
Well done!!
Even the threat of the end of the world didn't stop ya!
i barely made it.....i was printing at the last possible moment...
Always the way to do it
Unless your printer decided to stop printing then.....
yeah....i've been trying to avoid that this time around.....
i had to print it on the road......i finished the last one between classes...
good job. i still havent done my reading for english class ><
do it!
i now have new assignments.....but they arent' due until monday....
so i have plenty of time to procrastinate....
........and hope for black holes....
i dont even have my english book. and it doesnt help i missed class today
tsk tsk....
This is an interesting topic. I will endev to catch up with it at some stage ... but until then, my thoughts of the LHC are similar to the opening of Red Dwarf when Holly (the Computer) says ...
"As the days go by we face the increasing inevitability that we are alone in a godless, uninhabited, hostile and meaningless universe. Still, you've got to laugh, haven't you?"
hahahaha
Never a more apt quote!
perfect.
In case you were wondering how the LHC really works....
Hot potato?
LOL!
And now we have a song to go with it!
cool.
how do you get that job?
You must prove an aversion to eating potatoes...
*nods earnestly*
This one's for bluegirl
frickin' awesome, dek.
Hackers Break into Large Hardon Collider Computer - CNET.com
HAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
LOL! I can't believe they did that!
yeah.. its on all the news sites by now probably
What would the thought process be there?
"Oh look, CERN is fired up.... everyone's talking about it... let's hack into it!"
I liked that 'why the LHC must be stopped' article, Morgan..
...maybe the hackers were looking for pr0n... I mean - if you rearrange the letters its makes 'hard on' - such an easy mistake
ROFL!!
LOL! What does a large hard on collider look like?
.....no comment......
lmfao!
This comes from
LOL.........
Morgans discovery reeks of /b/. So is it bad that ive always read this topic as large hardon collider
nah.....it just lets all know where your head is at.....
(btw....you aren't alone)
You people are polluting my once-innocent mind....
like your mind was ever innocent...........
...you little ant torturer.....
That was innocent curiosity! A quest for scientific knowledge, if you will...
Your daughter kills spiders!!! FOR YOU!!!
LOL - no one is innocent here
A HA!
*turns around and looks at blueg accusingly*
but...you forget...i never claimed to be innocent.
D'oh!!
Perverts!
(I was thinking of Capricorn 1 when I came up with that).
Capricorn 1 ??
lmao but they forgot teeth!
ahhhh... maybe they have good dentists?
haha!
catmobile XD
here in tucson there is an extermination company ....and they drive these cars around town:
HAHAHAHA
That's excellent!
So cute!! I want one of them!!
I always wanted Mickey Mouse's car
I wanted the caravan Mickey, goofy and Donald went for a holiday in
This is from the (Cern) LHC homepage.....
It planned to circulate the first beams 10th September 2008. First collisions at high energy are expected about a month later with the first results from the experiments soon after.
So that gives us another three weeks before we are gobbled up by the black hole..
**runs to check if she has any homework due in 3 weeks**
hahahaha.....
I thought the particles were supposed to be accelerated?
Shit even the Avenger could do a 27km circuit and come up with a collision or two in less than three weeks.
Eggactly!
What's with all the suspense CERN?
I feel cheated
they probably lost the particles on the practice run...
The initial "switch on" was just a test run to make sure they could actually pass a beam all the way around the loop in both directions, it was only significant because it was the first time they'd run the beam the whole way around (as opposed to testing individual sections on their own). I imagine there'll be some more tests they want to do to verify that the detectors and other important things are working between now and the first proper high-energy collision.
Well... that and the fact that it takes time to push a particle up to 0.99c
They have to get it right, before they can perform the first collision, that's what is taking the time..
Thousands of magnets of different varieties and sizes are used to direct the beams around the accelerator. These include 1232 dipole magnets of 15 m length which are used to bend the beams, and 392 quadrupole magnets, each 5–7 m long, to focus the beams. Just prior to collision, another type of magnet is used to 'squeeze' the particles closer together to increase the chances of collisions. The particles are so tiny that the task of making them collide is akin to firing needles from two positions 10 km apart with such precision that they meet halfway!
As there will be an enormous amount of radiation created during the collision, the scientists have to ensure that every precaution has been taken, before performing the experiment.
I still like Dek's picture - A big hole in the Earth where it used to be.
Well if the doomsday scientists are right, then there may well be a big hole where Earth used to be.
HAHA - oxymoron "doomsday scientists"
@ Morgan re pic
*takes a bow*
o snap
cool.....we get to watch the parking lot.
that's hilarious......it didn't fully load for me the 1st time.
Enjoy it while you can... that parking lot might be extinct in the near future....
Great....a black hole formed while I was watching it..
It got dark?
Oops. the LHC has been shut down for about two months, due to a helium leak..
Oh well, that gives us a bit longer before the Earth gets sucked into a black hole.
But the CCTV camera led me to believe... ... oooohhh, I see
Did it really get shut down, or am i just being ignorant?
Yep, it's shut down alright. Its explained in the link..
I looked.. just didn't know if it was a hoax... otherwise wouldn't it have been on the news?
due to a helium leak
It became apparent when everyone was speaking in comical high pitch voices.
HAHAHAHAAH
Genius Ruski...
So, is it real or not?
I want to know if I'm just being blonde...
587 results lead me to think - Yes
damn..
601 now!!!
I looked.. just didn't know if it was a hoax... otherwise wouldn't it have been on the news?
It was on the news Morgan, that's how I originally found out about it.
And thanks for having faith in my original post.
LOL! I thought you were just making fun of me!!
News from CERN is that the LHC may be out of action until nent year, after the magnet melt down and subsequent loss of about 1 ton of helium from the system..
*Wonders how you weigh 1 ton of helium* Being lighter than air you'd have to tie it down to the scales with occy straps..
It might be difficult with occy straps. By the time you'd assembled enough cords you'd more than likely end up with a few tons of straps to enclose less than a gnats bollock in weight of helium.
LOL! so no black hole this year then... and just when we were getting all excited too!
They reckon it has to warm up completely (from absolute zero) so they can fix it, then they have to start the chilling process again. I guess it's a good thing it didn't work - imagine if they started it up with all these problems ..........KABOOM!!!!
Awwww bummer....
*shelves end of the world plans*
(from absolute zero)
Absolute zero is unobtainable, 3rd law of thermodynamics.
The collider was originally cooled to 1.9K (1.9 degrees C above absolute zero) but after the helium leak the temperature of that section rose by around 100 degrees (so in celsius, around -173). They will however have to bring it up to normal temperature to work on it, then cool it down again before it can be used.
I read somewhere that the infra-red detectors on that telescope that is following the earths orbit are cooled to near enough absolute zero as to make no difference. Apparently it can detect the heat from a single cube of ice at 25,000 miles or something equivalent of mind-boggling.
Eh? Which telescope?
Hubble Space Telescope?
In any case, you can't have Absolute Zero. Even deep space has a little heat (I hear the LHC was actually colder than space...)
apparently the University of Sussex cooled some gas to within a few hundred billionths of a degree above absolute zero....
*wonders what happens after -273.15*
would it cause an implosion?
It'd expand...
Would it? >how?
What am I? An LHC scientist?
Hubble Space Telescope?
No it is an infra-red telescope. If I could be bothered I'd do some googling but as I remember a few years ago this telescope was put into an orbit which is basically around the sun. It is being dragged along by the earth, kind of thing. Don't hold me to the 25,000 miles on the ice cube thing but it is dramatically sensitive to IR.
No dek, you are a certified doomsday scientist
@SirM, Google and Wikipedia are telling me it's the Spitzer Space Telescope.
It's got the heliocentric orbit, it's an IR telescope, and it requires crazy-low temperatures, so I'm guessing that'll be it.
Morgan, so I am!
Too bad I gotta pack my doomsday kit away for another year
Spitzer, that's the one...
The latest on the (broken) LHC.
Leading scientists have enjoyed a banquet of "molecular cuisine" to inaugurate the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) even though the giant machine isn't working.
Have a look at the menu......
Molecular banquet menu
– Guinea fowl egg cooked at 65C with mashed potatoes and parsley, cream cheese and truffles
– Sicilian prawn tartar with molecular egg curdle
– Revisited eggplant Parmigiana
– Cream of chestnut soup with capon and foie gras
– Small breads of soy lecithin stuffed with smoked salmon and fresh goat cheese
– Baba with soy lecithin
– Small vegetable gnocchi in chicken stock
– Veal in tuna fish sauce made with soy lecithin
– Cavatelli made with soy lecithin, and fish stew
– Egg stuffed with zabaglione
– Caramelised quail leg with soy sauce
– Tuna fish with oyster leave and lemon sauce
– Liquid nitrogen frozen raspberry, cream and chocolate ice-cream.
But wait!......there's more.....here....
*tummy growls*
Oh... ohmigawd.
– Revisited eggplant Parmigiana
What!?!?
They ditched it, felt sorry for it, so went back to visit it?
Don't blame em... I'd ditch eggplant parmigiana too...
I love eggplant, it's yummy..yum, yum...
I like it too, but it has to be prepared a certain way.... and thus far, only my mum's way works for me
Oh wait - I also like it tempura style
Grilled, fried, crumbed, battered......soaks up oil/fat/flavours like blotting paper..
Yeh.... Which is why it's excellent in a curry!
Oh yeah!, never thought of that....It's going in my next one..
Brinjal and ladies fingers
*drool*
Ok I get brinjal meaning eggplant, but ladies fingers means bananas to me?
*morgan is looking forward to all the yummy food I get to cook and eat next tuesday*
What food?..... Is tuesday your send off from work?
Nope! Tuesday I'm celebrating Diwali with some close friends!
I looooovvvvvvvvvveeeeee Spinach Pie if it's made a certain way. ZoMg it b da bomb.!.!.!.!
Oh... I forgot that ladies fingers are called something else here....
I'm talking about this:
Yum!!
I'm cooking fish curry with ladies fingers tomorrow
hmm... tomorrow I'll be cooking a florentine chicken carbonara with bacon, mushroom, and fettucine
was going to cook today but I couldn't be bothered and my flatmate wanted to order thai
Oh yum!!
You gotta share the recipe sometime!
No problemo!!
Those are some fat lady's fingers...
@ Deezee.....are those ladies fingers in the pic, some sort of aubergine?
Only other ladies fingers I know of are okra (or gumbo)
and there I was thinking ladies fingers was the name of a type of biscuit...
orka like a whale?
Yes yes, okra! That's it!
btw, fish curry was spectacular, if I say so myself...
No ladies fingers tho. Couldn't find any
Aww wish I was there.. I never made my carbonara... still too lazy
Ah okra, it's sometimes hard to come by, but is excellent fot thickening stews etc.
I used to grow it when I had a vege garden..
*Still confused as to why you're eating whale*
'Okra', not 'orka'....is a vegetable..
...O...
Dude, we even had a picture (albeit not very clear) ....
Get with the program will ya?!
Can you tell the difference now???
LOL!
Damn, those are some fresh ladies fingers right there...
Oh andro, I meant to ask - how did you grow them? Did you buy the seeds from somewhere?
Also the whale is an orca, not an orka... unless there's multiple spellings and orca is just the British one
Nope, looked it up on the all-knowing Wikipedia, and an orca is a whale, whereas orka is a software company based in Sarajevo.
Haha! I know, I just thought it had 2 meanings, dek...
Orka!
Orca!
@ Deezee, you used to be able to buy the seeds from 'Yates' (a large seed distributor in Aust), they used to have them in garden stores. Haven't grown them for years though.
You could check here to find them..
Excellent... thanks andro!
I'll be heading to the garden place to buy some chilli plants, will look for those seeds as well
Not yet, but expect to see it in the near future..\
here boy....come on....we only want to look at you....
hahahahha
The problem is that if you just look at it, the universe will rip apart, or so say those pothead scientists...
Did you see that and take a picture of it, dek, or did you just find it on the interwebs?
Found it on the interwebs Synth
Inline with the 'will it rain today' site: http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/
it should have underneath it...'if you can't read this then it has!'
hehehehehe Yeah, I like that addition
According to Dr Francisco Bertinelli, who is one of the engineers repairing the magnets, "you can think of the LHC as a Formula 1 racing car. It's a complex tool, a complex machine".
He added: "We will not run it from zero to top speed over one afternoon. We will build up our confidence and lower our risks."
if that's the case then why don't they chuck it down the pit lane and let the ferrari crew have a bash at it?
should have it up and running, fully fuelled in about .....ooh.....20 seconds...
They should sell tickets... I'd get one of them walkabout ones
And Sir M - 20 seconds is a disaster!!
Stop to go time is usu 7-9 seconds
*tsk tsk*
yeah...but 10 seconds of that is standing around looking for the wheels...
No wai!!
Repairs will cost about £14 million..and it won't run again until July 09..
(some pitstop)
"What would you like for Christmas this year?"
"A black hole please!"
Oooh, yes.....
HAHAHAHAH
Anyone for black holes?
They've found a big one at the centre of your galaxy..
The Milky Way that is, not Andromeda..
Well, so they did
And thats before they restart the LHC..
hahahah We're doomed!
or so say those pothead scientists...
Yes. I always thought the collider was a massive elaborate radial hydroponic setup. Now I know why they call it a drug ring.
Well... we always thought there was one... Right? Or am I just ahead of my time?
I'm pretty sure it was already suspected at least that every galaxy had a super-massive black hole at the centre.
We aren't as weird! YAY!
Yes it has long been hypothesised that there were black holes at the centre of galaxies, but what is new here is..........
"Undoubtedly the most spectacular aspect of our 16-year study, is that it has delivered what is now considered to be the best empirical evidence that super-massive black holes do really exist," said Professor Reinhard Genzel, head of the research team.
"The stellar orbits in the galactic centre show that the central mass concentration of four million solar masses must be a black hole, beyond any reasonable doubt."
Ok, awesomesauce, yay them
Just bumping this thread up so we can find it as we near the re-boot in July...
oh goody...plenty of time to practice my panicking.
Egad.... we're gonna have to be funny for yet another doomsday!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Too funny!
Every time there's a new post in this topic, I find myself thinking 'Is it the end of the world yet?' as I come in
Hahahaha, I dont think the LHC will cause the world to end..(well at least not just yet)
I'm just keeping you up to date, so that if the world does come to an end, then you will be prepared for it..
Just exactly how you prepare for it I have no idea..
hahahaha I have some ideas....
But thanks! I still really do wanna know what happens once they fire it up
hahahaha I have some ideas....
Like put your head between your legs and kiss your ass goodbye?
Like hit up all the dessert places
HAH!
Yeah, fill yourself full of tiramisu and booze..
That would be ze grand plan, yesh
Put a paper bag over your head and lie down
But... but why??
Surely if it's the end of the world, and you have no chance of survival, you'd wanna see it?
Reference to the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy...
D'oh
We used to have a poster in our Crew Room (it was the middle of the Cold War)
It said. "On sensing the flash of a nuclear explosion, go to the nearest corner, stick you head between your legs and kiss goodby to your cock"
Someone pointed out that if the average bloke could do that, he'd never leave the house.
hahahahahaha
