Why Are People so Afraid of the LHC Causing a Black Hole?

In case you aren't a nerd or right-wing bible thumper, there is a new particle collider in town. The Large Hadron Collider in Geneva is officially smashing particles together at unheard of speeds. I'm sure it'll be years before we start getting any revolutionary results, but scientists are predicting some pretty important discoveries from this. Every time they make a better collider, we gain more knowledge about the structure of sub-atomic particles. We also gain more insight and verification for the latest in theories on how the universe works. All great things.
Well, not so great if you're a bible-thumper. I'm not saying we should all blindly believe science and discount the stories in the bible. Everyone has a right to believe whatever they want and express those beliefs. They can also do whatever they feel necessary to support and prove those beliefs. The problem I have with bible-thumpers is that they do whatever they can to stifle the progress of science. They seem to feel that because they take the bible as undeniable fact, everyone else should as well and that anyone doing any research on alternate theories is just doing the devil's work and must be stopped. Why? They don't stop you from trying to validate the info in the bible. In fact, the history and science communities often help to find proof to support the bible. They just want to find the truth about what happened in those years without passing judgement on the religious aspect of it.
But I digress...
The real fun is all the people that are so sure that the LHC will create a black hole that will destroy the planet and maybe beyond. There were actually protests and plenty of news coverage as the LHC was being finished on that very topic. Suddenly these people who have rejected all of science's work to this point can understand it better than these physics experts. Odd how that works. And it's really just a moot point. If the LHC does create a black hole that eats the planet, no one will even notice. There would be no apocalypse, no sulfur and brimstone raining down upon us, no locust invasion. Things would all end in a microsecond. If you were a bible-thumper and lived by The Book your whole life, you'll be up in heaven saying "I told you so". Probably standing right next to me while I just shrug my shoulders and say "wow, really didn't see that coming." So what's the big deal? If God really did create the world and everything in it, he granted us this insatiable curiosity and the intelligence to devise ways to slam protons together at ridiculous speeds. Wouldn't we be going against his will if we didn't do this?! Think about it.
Me, I tend to believe what some of the smartest people on the planet say. And they say the world won't end. I also want to know if string theory holds up to more findings or if quantum physics continues its reign on top. Do we really live in a universe of 10 or more dimensions instead of just the 4 we know of? And what's up with the Higgs boson? I want some answers, and the LHC may get me them.

Moving On, New Guilty Wastes of Time

For those that don't know, I recently quit my last job (in one of the most happy days of my life) and took a new one. The job function on paper meant it was a slight step backwards, but we all know paper doesn't tell the story. That previous job was a terrible little medical device company that treated their people like disposable resources to be ridden hard, put away wet, then given to the glue factory once they stop being better than the next horse.
Doubts? When I joined in Feb 2009 the engineering group (HW, SW, Mechanical) was 11 people including managers. During my 1 year there I saw something like 13 people quit or be fired. Possibly more, it's hard to keep count when the turn-over is greater than 100%. They put an incredible value in the number of billable hours you logged each week as opposed to the work you did. If I was given a task and finished it flawlessly in 40 hours and went home, I was given a talking-to because I clearly had a "bad attitude". If I instead stayed an extra 2 hours every day and just goofed off during those extra hours, I'd then be praised for having a good attitude. Same amount of work, same quality. Any and all promotions and raises were based on that same attitude scale. It became clear pretty quickly that I'd never be judged on the quality or quantity of my work, but rather how willing I was to give up every other facet of my life to provide them with more hours to bill against their government grants. And so as soon as a better (meaning any) other offer showed up, I took it and ran.
And now that I have that better job, I finally have a life again. I can work a full day, hit the gym, and still be home before 6:30. And best yet, since work is no longer a soul-crushing exercise in survival I actually have the motivation to do other things! I'm sure everyone realizes that means watching more sports on TV and playing more Wii, but the point is that I now feel like doing it. And I plan on actually building all the various projects I've been cutting out of Popular Science and Mechanics. Persistence of Vision clock, solar cell phone charger, various wood-working projects, etc. Just look at today. I worked 7:30-4:30, hit the gym for an hour, hit the beer store to get some stouts and instead spent some time hanging with the beer guy enjoying some great, rare microbrews. Now I'm home with a belly full of grilled pork chops and I'm working my way through a 4-pack of Murphy's Stout.
And speaking of tonight...I have a new guilty waste of time. The show "Human Target". It's not good. It doesn't have alot of action, acting, or plot. But it's just good enough to hold my attention for an hour. Every time I say it's just not very good and I'm not watching it ever again. And yet every time I stumble across an episode I invariably end up watching it. As I'm doing right now. Fortunately they've added a rather attractive co-star to go with the roving hot girl of the day. And so even though I have new DVDs from Netflix for both Ghost in the Shell: 2nd gig and Gundam: The 8th MS Team, I'm here watching a show that's not nearly as good. Lucky for me, I still have some Murphy's in the fridge and a Blackhawks game coming up at 10pm. Giggity.
I'd also like to give some props to my buddy Javy, who seems to be the only person reading and commenting. Javy, next time you need someone to smack you in the head with a 9" pie tin, you just let me know.
And now, time for more Irish Stout!

Tough Sporting Stretch For Me

This may be a pretty rough March and April for me. Typically I'm all pysched about the Cubs season getting ready to kick off and hoping Purdue can over-achieve and do well in the NCAA Tourney. However, this year looks to be very, very different. After the last few Cubs seasons I'm trying to temper my excitement to avoid the crash. Getting hyped up won't be a problem once games start showing up on TV. Purdue just took a gigantic hit when their top guy, Robbie Hummel, went down with an ACL tear. We went from being #3 in the nation to being more questions than answers.
Let's tackle the bad first. I didn't get to see the Purdue - Minnesota game where he tore said ACL, but I've seen the clip. And it wasn't pretty. You could pretty much tell that his season was down just by the amount of sideways flex in his knee. He really was the heart and soul of our team. He was the one guy we could pretty much always count on to make shots when we really needed it. Our offense was really based around getting the ball into his hands and seeing what happens. In the Michigan State game on Sunday, a loss which really hurt our BigTen Regular Season title hopes, it was clear the guys were still trying to do that. They just kept passing it around and hoping someone would get an open shot. But without Robbie out there to draw consistent coverage, no one was open. It was a painful scene. Now, we do have the talent to rebound and make a great March run. I don't see how we'll get as far as we would have with Robbie, but it doesn't help to think like that. We need the other juniors and seniors to step up their game, and we really need some of the kids to elevate and do their part. Even the freshmen have virtually a full season under their belts, so they can do it. We've got another huge game tomorrow night against IU (those dirty f'n SOBs), then Penn St on Saturday. After that is the BigTen Tourney. So we do have a decent chance to adjust to life without Robbie before the real tourney. I just hope it's enough time.
Now the Cubs. This is yet another year of big expectations. So even though we've haven't won it all in over a century (102 years), and haven't even been to the show in over 1/2 a century (55 years), we're picked by some outlets as a solid bet to do it this year. And that's all fine and good. It means we have the talent level and coaching to pull it off. But of course big expectations can also lead to big heartbreak. Anyone remember 2008 against the Dodgers? Or how about all the years we were supposed to be good and just shit the bed? Makes me almost long for the lean years. 1998 and 2003 were that much greater because we weren't supposed to do anything. So the huge rush at the end was incredible. This year we have a very similar roster to last year. We're just counting on guys to live up to their potential. Big Z needs to finally be the ace he can be. Sorianno needs to wake up and be the hitter he is instead of trying to be a lead-off guy. Aramis's shoulder needs to have healed up properly in winter. Derrick needs to have at least 1 more good year left. Soto needs to play like year 1 instead of year 2. Marmol needs to throw at least as many strikes as balls. And of course the usual new faces in the infield and outfield. I'm doing my best to focus on Purdue and the Blackhawks to avoid getting too wrapped up in the Cubs too early. With 6 months of season, I need to save up my energy.
Wait...spring training games start Thursday and WGN is showing 2 over the weekend. I got some research to do!
PEACE!!