I am trying not to fall asleep…and failing.
I woke up at 4 am. Well, the alarm went off at 3:30 and I got out of bed at 4:30 so I’m splitting the difference by claiming 4. This quad venti iced latte ain’t doing it yet…
So today marks the final day of the semester for me. I have an abundant amount of reading to do for my workshop since 1) A crapload of people brought in pages last week and, 2) I fell asleep during the Dodger game last night and didn’t finish. I still have five submissions to read, but I’ll space them out over the course of the day so that should be fine.
I haven’t brought up the election in a while…we’ve been on to more “noble” pursuits of late. And if you thought the last two comics were “high brow,” well my friends, you’re in for a treat this Friday. Gilgrim sent me the test yesterday (he’s like the Flash of the god-damned webcomics world) and the third panel really makes me smile…so does panel four…you know what, all five panels do! Anyway, I haven’t brought up the election because, honestly, I’ve been waiting for Hillary to step aside before talking about it again but apparently, that’s never going to happen. At this point, I hope it goes all the way to the convention now, and I hope she sues to have the Michigan and Florida delegates reinstated to further rip the Democrats apart. Not because I want McCain to win…I mean, he called the UN *snicker* the League of Nations (thanks Mojo). Clearly the guy shouldn’t be leading our country. No, I want Hillary to continue being the…not nice word that starts with a b, or c, you decide, even though she should clearly drop out…because it’s WHAT THE DEMOCRATS DESERVE. Going into this election, the Dems were in a position to retake both the white house and take even more seats in congress, but oh no, the party just couldn’t get unified, could it. Now, the easy thing to do would be to just point the finger at the Clinton camp and say they are causing it all…and there’s some merit there, I think. But really, I believe that what we are seeing is a divide in the party between the old guard Dems and the next generation of Dems. Obama hasn’t even served a full term in the Senate, but he’s beating “years of experience” Clinton in both delegates, states won, and popular votes. Now, yes, there are some old guard Dems on the Obama side (good ol’ Teddy, for instance), but if you look at Clinton’s staff and supporters they are nearly all long time Democrats, whereas Obama is winning with young voters. To me, this is less a Clinton vs. Obama fight, and more a “soul of the party fight.” That is, how do the Democrats want to define themselves for the next 30 years? Obviously, they don’t know. It’s a bit sad that the party has to have this go on now, when they should be walking all over the rotting husk of the GOP into an 09 inauguration, but maybe, in the long run, it will be better for the party. Here’s hoping, anyway. Like I said, I’m not a Democrat, and if I do vote for a Dem it’s generally out of a desire to keep a Republican out of an office, but the differences in the two parties are so minuscule at this point that unless the Dems DO change their collective party mindset we might as well abolish the two party system all together…
OK, so I’m off my soapbox now. If you get a chance, check out JTankers comment on yesterday’s GNoI in response to Gilgrim’s mention of the Large Hadron Collider. I’m particularly looking at suavo on this for some more “scientifical styled” commentary, or any other Normalinaut out there with a physics/maths background.
I’d like to officially welcome CountBl00d to the cult of Normality, and those who have joined the NR Facebook group (APril!) have gained my undying love and appreciation. And, on the NR news front, installment three of Random Acts of Insightfulness will be arriving next Tuesday (or possibly Wed.)
Lastly, even though this is mentioned on The Newswire, I’m going to mention it as well. Dave-o of the PMJA staff has had a piece published in the current issue of Paradox which is about, in his words, “what happens when a crippled, alcoholic Confederate veteran living in the Utah Territory teaches clockwork robots to have sex.” So there you are.
Bela Fleck - Light Speed
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May 8th, 2008 at 10:59 am
So um what don’t you understand about black hole physics, and/or how a LHC works?
May 8th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I understand it…I thought it might be nice for someone to explain it in layman’s terms…which I couldn’t do.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Like the nature of theoretical mini black holes, Hawkings Radidation, or how the LHC works? Just saying the basic theories are not that complex.
May 8th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
As it goes we all know (in theory) that black holes are collapsed stars that have so much mass that it pulls in everything including light. As Hawking theorized black holes would eventually create so much energy (entropy) that they would eventually work like a star again, and release particles of matter back in to the universe. As the theory goes eventually a black hole will release more matter than it is taking in, and become smaller until it reaches critical mass, and explodes.
Mini black holes well are freaken tiny in theory, 2 × 10−8 kg tiny. And by Hawkins’s theory would dissolve rather quickly. He also postulated that mini black holes are a natural progression for Primordial black holes, which is why they are launching a new satellite to look for mini black holes.
The Large Hadron Collider is a particle accelerator. It takes particles of matter, speeds them up, and then can crash them into each other to break ions, and other such tiny particles of matter. Granted, it could destroy the planet if say a stringelet was somehow created, though a mini black hole would be even more remote.