Hadron Collider

[Joe Bento]

I'd travel to Geneva to see a black hole - heck, my workplace is just 
off Geneva Road!  :-)  I find the whole concept of the collider 
absolutely fascinating!  I believe some consortium of US scientists even 
contributed somewhere on the order of $300M for this project.

Perhaps it hasn't quite reached this point in Europe, but here in the 
USA, few people are studying any technical trade.  One can earn far more 
money as a lawyer or real estate broker than they can watching atoms 
swirl around a tube.  It was in the news yesterday that only 18% of 
eighth grade Washington DC students can read!  (Thousands of illiterate 
fourteen year old kids!)  Less than 12% can do simple maths!  I shudder 
to think that this is a representation of the USA as a whole.  Our kids 
can't read, they show no interest in the sciences nor math.  Outside of 
our aging scientists in America, perhaps we're not capable of such an 
ambitious project as the collider any longer.

I can't recall a time in my 45 year lifespan where the country was on 
such a fanatical religious mindset!  Our next president is going to be 
chosen by their religious convictions and what they may have said from a 
church pulpit a decade ago.  Forget the fact that we have become a 
debtor nation.  Forget that we are approaching third-world status in 
educating our youth.  No, much of the world is outpacing us, and rather 
than trying to keep up, we are sitting on the sidelines.

Of course its a good thing that such developments are coming out of 
Europe.  I'm just a bit concerned that we may not see similar 
developments in America again.

Joe, N6DGY



Philip Miller Tate wrote:
> One has to bear in mind that a mini black hole in Switzerland or  
> France would be the most interesting thing to appear in either  
> country in many years, and a great boost to the tourist economy. I'd  
> go and see it, but there's no need. A page on - sigh - the BBC News  
> website explains how a mini black hole will definitely not be formed,  
> illustrated by an artist's impression of what such a mini black hole  
> might look like. It's round, brightly coloured and a bit spikey, if  
> you're interested.
>
> The daftest thing is the pressure groups trying to take out  
> injunctions to stop them turning the LHC on. The schedule is in the  
> public domain - and easily accessed on line - demonstrating that the  
> LHC had already been tested before the 'official' opening today.  
> Still, the collisions start in a few weeks' time, if all goes  
> according to plan, then the LHC shuts down for the winter. Tourists  
> are less likely to travel to Geneva to see a black hole when it's cold.
>
> Some of the general public's comments - and those of the media - are  
> excrutiating, but we live in a Dark Age of Unreason. But don't think  
> of it as the US outsourcing science, think in terms of international  
> co-operation in science being a good thing.
>
> Phil M1GWZ
>
>
>
>
>
> On 10 Sep 2008, at 19:26, Michael O'Dell wrote:
>
>   
>> The mental midgets cancelled the Superconducting Super Collider
>> years ago. had that been built, *we* would have been in charge
>> of creating the micro-black-holes instead of the Europeans.
>> it also would have advanced superconducting magnet technology
>> years sooner, too.
>>
>> Oh well - we outsource everything else. Now we're outsourcing
>> the creating of new knowledge, too. pretty soon, the only thing
>> Americans will know how to do is order a Big Mac, although the
>> only people able to do *that* will be the ones who can speak
>> the particular flavor of non-Englished used at your neighborhood
>> McDonalds.
>>
>> Note that about 3000 years ago, the Chinese decided to just
>> sit down and become stupid. The good news is that they managed
>> to live through it anyway and catch up remarkably quickly.
>> I wonder how long it will take the US to re-awaken and start
>> playing catch-up?
>>
>>     harumph
>>     -mo
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Joe Bento wrote:
>>     
>>> Hey all,
>>>
>>> What has happened here in the USA?  Have we completely abandoned our
>>> quest for scientific knowledge and the unknown?  To read the comments
>>> posted on CNN regarding the beginning experiments with the Hadron
>>> Collider, one would think we are opening Pandora's box and the  
>>> wrath of God.
>>>
>>> If you want to know how the world began, read Genesis.  End of  
>>> discussion.
>>> The money would be better spent in Dalfour.
>>> If the scientists say the experiments are safe and know the expected
>>> outcome, why perform the experiment in the first place?
>>> They'll create a black hole to swallow the earth.
>>> Black holes will be developed for military evil.
>>>
>>> I'm dismayed to think that we had enough interest in the unknown  
>>> to land
>>> a manned craft on the moon 40 years ago.  My, but how we've  
>>> regressed as
>>> a nation!  We were once a world leader in technology and  
>>> innovation, and
>>> today it hardly seems that we're even participants.
>>>
>>> Joe, N6DGY
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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