Huge $10 billion collider resumes hunt for 'God particle'

* The LHC will circulate a beam around the tunnel in November, CERN scientists say
    * An electrical failure caused a major shut-down of the collider in September 2008
    * The full scientific program for the LHC wil probably last more than 20 years
    * The LHC will look for the Higgs boson, quarks, gluons and other small particles

(CNN) -- Is the Large Hadron Collider being sabotaged from the future? Or merely by birds?

The LHC, the world's largest particle accelerator, has been under repair for more than a year because of an electrical failure in September 2008.

Now, excitement and mysticism are building again around the $10 billion machine as the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) gears up to circulate a high-energy proton beam around the collider's 17-mile tunnel. The event should take place this month, said Steve Myers, CERN's Director for Accelerators and Technology.

The collider made headlines last week when a bird apparently dropped a "bit of baguette" into the accelerator, making the machine shut down. The incident was similar in effect to a standard power cut, said spokeswoman Katie Yurkewicz. Had the machine been going, there would have been no damage, but beams would have been stopped until the machine could be cooled back down to operating temperatures, she said.
Video: Search for 'God particle'

As it begins to run at full energy, greater than any machine of its kind, the LHC will help scientists explore important questions about the universe. The ambitious project also has attracted its share of doubters.

Some alarmists expressed fear last year that the accelerator could produce a black hole that might swallow the universe -- a theory that LHC physicists, including Myers, dismiss as science fiction.

Another fringe theory holds that the LHC will never function properly because it is under "influence from the future," according to physicists Holger Bech Nielsen and Masao Ninomiya. They suggest in recent papers that no supercolliders that could produce the Higgs boson, an as-yet-unseen particle that would help answer fundamental questions about matter in the universe, will work because something in the future stops them.

This also explains the "negative miracle" of Congress canceling the Superconducting Supercollider project in Texas in 1993, Nielsen wrote in a paper on arXiv.org, a site where math and science scholars post academic papers.

"One could even almost say that we have a model for God," one who "hates the Higgs particles," Nielsen wrote.

But bizarre ideas about the LHC -- and in particular the debunked black hole theory -- have gotten more people interested in the whole project, said Joseph Incandela, professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He will be in the position of deputy spokesperson for the CMS experiment, one of the two general-purpose experiments at the LHC, as of January.

Although physicists such as Incandela have been working on the same questions and building accelerator experiments for decades, no one has paid much attention before now, he said. There were people who followed the topic, but not the broad audience that emerged in the past year or two, he said.

"Maybe it's just captured people's imaginations," he said. "It's really a wonder of science and technology to build such a large accelerator, a 27km-long machine that works at the precision of a fraction of the diameter of your hair," he said.

The results of the LHC experiments may help resolve fundamental problems such as the disconnect between Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, which describes the world on a large scale, and quantum mechanics, the laws of matter on a scale too small to see.

The LHC, located underground on the border of Switzerland and France, passed a proton beam halfway around the circular tunnel Saturday, undeterred by the bird incident earlier in the week.

The full-circle beam event scheduled to happen this month also took place last year on September 10 amid much celebration.

But just nine days later, the operation was set back when one of the 25,000 joints that connect magnets in the LHC came loose, and the resulting current melted or burned some important components of the machine, Myers said. The faulty joint has a cross-section of a mere two-thirds of an inch by two-thirds of an inch.

"There was certainly frustration and almost sorrow when we had the accident," he said. Now, "people are feeling a lot better because we know we've done so much work in the last year."

Even physicists who are not on the ground at CERN, awaiting for news from the LHC abroad, haven't given up.
When push comes to shove, the name of the game is 'what is nature,' and we're not going to know until our experimental colleagues tell us,"
--Mark Wise, professor of physics at Caltech

Anti-Islam T-Shirts Banned in Florida School

Anti-Islam shirts draw suit

excerpt from the Gainsville Sun website
UPDATE at 4:15 p.m. -- The American Civil Liberties Union has sued a central Florida school district. The lawsuit claims the Alachua County School District violated students' rights by not allowing them to wear T-shirts with an anti-Islamic message.

Jackie Johnson, school district spokeswoman, said they have not seen the lawsuit yet.
"We still stand by our decision to enforce our dress code to prevent students from wearing items that are distracting or disruptive to the learning environment," Johnson said.

Read the rest of the news article here:
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20091123/ARTICLES/911239937/1118?Title=Anti-Islam-shirts-draw-suit-
Do you guys think this has political/religious/opinionated undertones? Are freedom of speech rights being oppressed? Is religious discrimination at foot? Could the offensive T-shirts be a from of hate crime? I thought it was an interesting, local article that might interest the class.

Canadian woman loses benefits over Facebook photo

Sun Nov 22, 1:20 pm ET
BROMONT, Quebec – A Canadian woman on long-term sick leave for depression says she lost her benefits because her insurance agent found photos of her on Facebook in which she appeared to be having fun.
Nathalie Blanchard has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Quebec, for the last year.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. reported Saturday she was diagnosed with major depression and was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from insurance giant Manulife.
But the payments dried up this fall and when Blanchard called Manulife, she says she was told she was available to work because of Facebook.
She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on Facebook, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday.
Blanchard said Manulife told her it's evidence she is no longer depressed. She's fighting to get her benefits reinstated and says her lawyer is exploring what the next step should be.
Blanchard told the CBC that on her doctor's advice, she tried to have fun, including nights out at her local bar with friends and short getaways to sun destinations, as a way to forget her problems.
Manulife wouldn't comment on Blanchard's case, but did say they would not deny or terminate a claim solely based on information published on Web sites such as Facebook.

Killing people for fat

Peruvian Gang Killed People For Fat

Four people have been arrested for killing what could be dozens of people in order to drain their fat and tissue to sell it to cosmetic companies in Europe. They would apparently lure people to remote areas of Peru before killing them. Two suspects were arrested carrying liquid human fat and they told police it was worth $60,000 a gallon. Medical experts said they were skeptical there is a huge market for human fat, even if it does have limited cosmetic applications. Still, the police showed reporters two bottles of fat that were taken from the suspects and a picture of "the rotting head" of one of the victims. Police said the gang would cut off the "victims' heads, arms and legs, removed the organs, then suspended the torsos from hooks above candles that warmed the flesh as fat dripped into tubs below," explains the Associated Press.

Read original story in The Associated Press | Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

More on texting, driving, and walking

This link connects to a Washington Post article from 11/16 that reports on a new study of texting and driving (primarily by teens). It shows a pretty shocking number of people who do this and raises concerns about the high accident rate (worse than drunk driving). There's also a link to a British video about this on YouTube. For another take on this, click on this link to read a scan of an article about people banging into things (telephone poles, walls, etc.) while walking and texting. Apparently, emergency rooms are seeing a big uptake on people with injuries because of these accidents. Ouch!

Water on the Moon

I'm sure you've all heard about it in some way or another. It's important, however, to know what is really going on. A CNN article is good for general things, but NASA is a better place to read about it.

Many people think this mission threw an explosive at the moon, which just isn't true. Others think tinkering with the moon will destroy us - everything from messing up the tides to tossing Earth out of orbit. These people obviously have no clue as to how big the moon really is - and how throwing an object as small as LCROSS at it will change nothing..

Except our knowledge of water existing on the moon. A previous mission in India found the possibility of water there, and with the combined forces of them and NASA, discovered that there is more water on the moon than one would think.

This water is not like the water you know. It primarily exists in the moon's poles (which is why astronauts who went there did not find any; they did not go to the poles) as ice and water molecules. So it's not huge glaciers or bodies of water, but it is water nonetheless. Lots of CNN article commentators flip out about it - one side will warn humanity that we shouldn't touch the moon, and others say this could lead to huge developments for our species.

The people who say such NASA missions are a waste of time, effort, and money obviously don't use cell phones, calculators, satellite television, Velcro, ultrasound, and pacemakers - and don't drink Tang or cook on Teflon.

Terrorists in Illinois? What??

Gitmo in the Heartland?

This weekend President Obama's administration announced that it was looking at possible moving Guantanamo Bay prison detainees to a high security prison in Illinois. It makes sense to relocate some prisoners due to the over crowding of facilities in Gitmo, but is moving them into the middle of American Turf a smart Idea? High Security prisons are nothing new in Illinois, the state has several, but some people have the opinion that placing a high number of Al-Qaeda inmates in Illinois would raise the threat of terrorism considerably. It is not to far from Chicago, which is already at risk because it is a large metropolis city.

Personally, it concerns me a bit because it is only about 100 miles away from my hometown. A few years back there were many incidents of large jail breaks in Illinois. One advantage of housing the terrorists in the Thompson Correctional Center is that it would create many jobs in the area..... Historically towns housing prisons have depended on the facilities to drive the local economy. When they are vaccant or closed down, the town all but dies and people move away.

But is it worth the risk?
No matter where the detainees are transferred to, some town in the U.S. is going to have the risk, burden and pressure of housing such dangerous criminals. Here is a small excerpt from the article:

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk, R-Illinois, whose district covers suburban Chicago, circulated a letter addressed to President Obama to Illinois leaders Saturday, opposing the possible transfer of detainees. The letter says that doing so would turn metropolitan Chicago into "ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization."

As home to Chicago's Willis (formerly Sears) Tower -- the nation's tallest building -- "we should not invite Al Qaeda to make Illinois its number one target," said the statement by Kirk, who is running for the same Senate seat once held by Obama.

"The United States spent more than $50 million to build the Guantanamo Bay detention facility to keep terrorists away from U.S. soil. Al Qaeda terrorists should stay where they cannot endanger American citizens."

Here is a link to the Chicago Tribune's Article:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-gitmo-illinois-15-nov15,0,247250.story
Here is a link to the article on CNN:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/14/illinois.prison.gitmo/index.html

What Are Your Opinions????

Murderers sue Wikipedia

German Killers Sue Wikipedia

It's privacy rights vs. free speech in a legal showdown between Wikipedia and two German murderers who say they've paid their debt to society. According to German law, they have. Having already served their prison sentences, German law requires that their full names or images no longer appear in mentions of the 1990 murder of an actor. The editors of the German-language Wikipedia entry on the murder have already removed their full names, but they appear in the English version, and the two men have sued to have the English changed. Wikipedia officials say it will take a court order to get them to change the entry. Wikipedia's general counsel said the site, which includes 12 million articles and is run by staff of about 30, "doesn't edit content at all."

Read original story in The New York Times | Friday, Nov. 13, 2009

Porn in public places?

This link is to a Washington Post article about people watching porn in public (on subways trains, on plane flights, in Starbucks, etc.).  Apparently, as WiFi and 3G become more available, people are using it to download and watch porn while out in public.  Families with kids are having to ask people to stop watching it or complain to flight attendants or managers.  Federal law forbids downloading porn in public libraries, but there are no such laws preventing this in other places.  Do you think there should be?

Do You Believe in Global Warming???

In the past few months there has been hot debate over the Environment Treaty that is being proposed to be signed this coming December by various leaders of the world at the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The writers and supporters of this treaty claim that if signed, it will lead to a greener, cleaner earth..... but at what cost? What are the actual economic, social, and political issues at stake here besides the "environment?"

Here is one side's view on the situation. The below video features
Lord Christopher Monckton speaking on the possible rammifications for the United States specifically if this treaty is signed.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMe5dOgbu40

What Are Your Opinions?

Here is a link to a pdf version of the treaty:
(I warn you, it's almost 200 pages long!)
http://wattsupwiththat.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/un-fccc-copenhagen-2009.pdf


Here are Excerpts from the Treaty Draft
(They Are At the Middle-Bottom of the Page)
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/10/03/the-copenhagen-treaty-draft-wealth-transfer-defined-now-with-dignity-penalty/

And finally, here is a link to the official United Nations site:
http://unfccc.int/2860.php

Prof. condemns his cheating students to Hell

This link will take you to an article about a Tennessee faculty member who made his students sign a pledge that they would go to Hell if they cheated in his class.

Online Virus Frames Victims for Child Porn

From Slate

A new computer virus may give credibility to people like the Florida man who recently blamed his cat for his child pornography stash. According to the Associated Press, a growing number of people have been framed by an Internet virus that secretly deposits child pornography on victims' computers. In some cases, the legal costs of fighting pedophilia charges have bankrupted victims and cost them their jobs, not to mention their reputations. In 2007, a Massachusetts man spent more than $250,000 on legal fees after his work computer was found to contain a folder full of child porn. Eventually, analysts determined that his computer had been programmed by hackers to visit more than 40 child porn sites a minute. While experts say that it's difficult to tell whether the virus was deliberately installed on a computer, it's easy to tell when somebody is falsely using the virus as an excuse. "We call it the SODDI defense: Some Other Dude Did It," a federal prosecutor remarked.

Read original story in Associated Press | Monday, Nov. 9, 2009

Cell Phones = Cancer

Many of us are cell phone users and this may be a danger to our health.  Studies show that people who had used cell phones 10 years or longer tended to find the strongest risk of tumors. Researchers found that cell phone users had a 10 percent to 30 percent higher risk than people who barely, if ever, used this technology.

Frank Zappa in rock lyrics censorship debate

This link, contributed by Andrew, will take you to a remarkable YouTube video about rock lyric censorship.  It's a Crossfire episode filmed during the "culture wars" of the 1980s and features Frank Zappa going toe to toe with several conservatives.  What do you think about Zappa's repeated claim that the whole debate is "just about seven words"?

Video nasty: Blockbuster employee 'stabbed himself in the leg to avoid working nightshift'

Aaron Siebers, 29, stabbed himself in the leg and told colleagues at Blockbuster he had been robbed in a bid to avoid working a night shift

I heard this one on the radio the other day. I know Blockbuster is going out of business (an inevitable layoff for this guy) but how stressful are minimum wage jobs really?!

New Motivation Poster Idea for High School Guidance Counselor Walls:
Stay in school, get a better job that doesn't lead you to empale yourself.


link to story

The swine flu has put a scare among most of us.

And I feel as if the media has projected this fear on us.

Most of us wont even need need a swine flu shot.

We have to consider what news we have been given

and consider the truth among the topic ourselves.

This person might have not needed a flu shot and

due to the media and society putting that person on the individual

the decision was for to be safer and healthier unfortunately

it turned out to be a catastrophic effect.