Particle Article II: Be Kind to Hadrons

A hadron (pronounced /hɑːdɹɒn/, from Greek ἁδρός, hadros, thick), in particle physics, is any strongly interacting composite subatomic particle. All hadrons are composed of quarks. Hadrons are divided into two classes, according to their baryon number [...]

The above definition comes from Wikipedia; if you would like to read more, here's the link.

The Large Hadron Collider Experiment at CERN, said to be the largest scientific experiment in Man's history, is scheduled to start on 10th September this year. Enormous sums have been spent in preparing the experiment which is expected to break significant new ground in particle physics.

Very slowly, the huge magnets which will control the beams are being cooled, the target temperature being about - 271.25°C or about 1.75° Kelvin. CERN has thoughtfully provided a web page where the descending temperatures may be monitored. Here's an extract:

You can follow the cooldown progress here. So much for the science side of things.

Inevitably, such a large and well-publicised experiment has resulted in a number of eccentrics, doom-sayers and crackpots coming out of the woodwork - this article for example, refers to a court case in the USA where those bringing the action have described the Large Hadron Collider as a "Doomsday" machine.

Finally the news of the experiment has instigated the forming of a pressure group: People for the Ethical Treatment of Hadrons:

All is explained in this article at BBspot. Tia Aumiller who founded the group said:

"There's a limited supply of hadrons in the universe. Do we just want to go around destroying them? What if we run out? What if the hadrons can feel pain? Will we look back at this hundreds of years from now and regret it? Kinda like we do with the killing of bacteria with antibiotics now."

LHC project boss Erich Stanhoffe responded (rather humourlessly I thought)

"We've got the wackos who think we're going to rip a hole in the universe, and the people who think our real purpose is to create a race of Dr. Manhattans, but this is just weird..."

I hope to be able to manage a few more posts here before "Doomsday"; meanwhile I had better get on to Lastminute.com to see of there's a ticket left for somewhere like Betelgeuse although I expect that the French Trésor Publique probably already has a branch there (it'll be next door to HM Inland Revenue & Customs, inter-galactic division, just across the road from the European Parliament offices).

Until the next time.

Snail Mail

Whilst there are those who would like to replace "Fast Food" with "Slow Food" congratulations are due to those at Bournemouth University who have developed the Snail Mail project, a most original idea in that it is simultaneously the blending of modern electronics with real snails to bring a service that might help slow the hectic pace of today's world...

The official launch took place yesterday and you can read all about the project at Boredomresearch's Realsnailmail website here and better still, you can send messages via the service, preferably I think non-time-critical ones! (I already have) since the Real Snail Mail blog reports that there is a backlog of 6000 messages. Fortunately the "workforce" of delivery agents now numbers 8.

Until the next time

Another Nice Clock

Courtesy of Gizmodo, here's another nice clock: the "Scopeclock."

Once again I would like one, but at $999, it is a little outside any clock budget I have!

Until the next time

DC Comics Blended with The Simpsons

Here's a bit of fun, courtesy of Springfield Punx, an amusing blog.

The blogger, Dean Fraser has managed to morph those DC super-heroes into characters from the famous town of Springfield; I think that Fraser's is a considerable talent.

Do visit Springfield Punx - Fraser has been very busy!


Until the next time

Is Windows on the Way Out?

Image Source: here

My regular readers will be fully aware of my views on Microsoft Vista. For newcomers (and I welcome all my new readers who have arrived recently - I hope I can persuade you to stay with my disconnected "jottings") I should explain that my views on Vista are not based on hearsay and prejudice, but on eight months' experience of this bordel of an operating system. The irony is that if I had listened to the hearsay, I would have saved myself a great deal of frustration and indeed, expense - I am now a content XP user. Simply type "Vista" into the search box at the top of the page to see the various pieces I have written about Vista here.

The many, many articles I have read online suggest that I am far from being alone although I should add that Vista has its enthusiasts and I suppose, apologists!

Well, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols at Computerworld seems to think that Vista has sounded the death-knell for Windows. In this article he says:

"The company has tried to con — uh, convince — people that Vista really is a good operating system, with its painful Mojave Experiment Web site. The site crashed Safari on my MacBook Pro and wouldn't render on Firefox on my openSUSE Linux PC. When I finally did get it to show up on an XP SP3 system, I was told it was my fault that I was having trouble with Vista. That's a surefire way to make me want to buy Vista.

Windows has had a long run, too long really. It can't be twisted into an operating system that can handle a world where processing power may be on the desktop or in a cloud, and where networking is a given. Microsoft needs something different."

The article states that MS is developing something called Midori, which is apparently a completely new operating system, unlike Windows 7 which of course will be, as the article suggests "Vista SP4".

Once again, I suppose it's a case of "watch this space."

Until the next time.

I Want One!

A slide-rule clock; I think that this is excellent and I would love to have one. It is in so much better taste than those nasty iPhone accessories I have been complaining about here!

Until the next time