Huzzah!

[cleolinda]

Successful test for Europe's Big Bang collider.

The world's biggest physics experiment has succeeded in its first major test as a beam of protons was successfully fired all the way around a 17-mile tunnel beneath the Swiss-French border.

The protons traveled the full length Wednesday of the $3.8 billion Large Hadron Collider that scientists hope is the next great step to understand the makeup of the universe. ... Scientists hope to see what the components of atoms are made of by smashing them together.

Hey! The world didn't end after all! Sweet.


(What? I'm a writer. It's my job to go around what-iffing. I may have stressed over this a little more than I would like to admit.)

ETA, from eofs: It could still end the world, you don't know. Therefore, we should check the world's status often.

Comments

[jessica-dwg.livejournal.com]

Hey! The world didn't end after all!
Yet. Give them time!

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/

(hee)

[ladyvorkosigan.livejournal.com]

Oh good! I was . . . a little worried.

[yesaffirmative.livejournal.com]

But I wanted the time travelers.

Where's my goddam wormhole?

[sweetsyren.livejournal.com]

IAWTC!

And totally because of the wormholes. Not because of time travellers. Absolutely not.

Hmm?? What, those? Oh they're nothing really. Totally not dozens of Doctor Who icons. Honest.

[heinous_bitca.livejournal.com]

I prefer this (http://www.hasthelhcdestroyedtheearth.com/) link due to the source code!

[ipomoea.livejournal.com]

I didn't think to look at the source code there! That is so great.

[deepfishy.livejournal.com]

Scientists hope to see what the components of atoms are made of by smashing them together.

I think that's my favourite bit. "How shall we unravel the secrets of the universe today? I know, let's smash stuff up!" My infernokrusher (http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/006381.html) heart approves.

[wildcatlizzie.livejournal.com]

Just wait. Now physicists are going to end up dead, and it's going to be up to Robert Langdon to save Vatican City.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

And Dan Brown will be INSUFFERABLE.

I mean, more than usual.

[teaandcrumpets.livejournal.com]

“Anyone who thinks the LHC will destroy the world is a twat.” - Brian Cox

[sweetsyren.livejournal.com]

It could still end the world, you don't know. Therefore, we should check the world's status often. (http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdestroyedtheworldyet.com/)

Am I the only one that wants that link to say,

"NOPE....Wait...Yes it has!! DESPAIR!!!"

Just once to freak people out??

[lyrainverse.livejournal.com]

That would be awesome.

[lyrainverse.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I can't tell you how many doomsday scenarios I entertained thinking about this. The whole, "What the hell would I do if I turned on the TV and the top story was 'So there's this black hole in Geneva... you probably want to get yourself to a church or something.'"

If you want something new to chew on, I recommend an electromagnetic pulse from Iran (http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=44017) that destroys all our electronic infrastructure. It's totally changed the way I think about the dystopian future I write in sometimes.

[mercat.livejournal.com]

woah.

[dreamingreader.livejournal.com]

I may have made sure that I didn't wear embarrassing PJs last night in case I died. Not that anyone would know/care if the world ended. But...yeah.

[mercat.livejournal.com]

I carried a towel today, so yay!

[elizardbits.livejournal.com]

Oh god. When I saw this (http://www.hasthelhcdestroyedtheearth.com/) on MeFi yesterday, I cackled with nerdy glee and was unable to stop until sat upon by long-suffering coworkers.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

ETA, from eofs: It could still end the world, you don't know. Therefore, we should check the world's status often.

OK, that made me laugh way too much.

[mercat.livejournal.com]

This is the best thing I've seen yet. (http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa42/NevernessSK/2008-06-26-LHC.png)

I also carried a towel in the Adams-esque ironic possibility that Vogons showed up to blow us up before the LHC did.

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

I wish I would have thought of that....

[hobbitomm.livejournal.com]

And as nobody seems to have mentioned it, Torchwood, the Doctor Who spinoff series, has done a radio play for the occasion... available to listen online.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/bigbang/torchwood.shtml

[caerbannog.livejournal.com]

If Torchwood was involved, then I'm really surprised the world didn't end.

[batmaz.livejournal.com]

Er... guys? They didn't actually start smashing the protons yet, and that's what they were worried would cause the black holes/time travellers/anti-matter/dark matter/recofiguration of every atom on earth *delete as applicable. That's happening in 30 days time. They were just warming her up today to see if they could get them up to speed.

...

*bookmarks www.hasthelhcdestroyedtheearth.com*

[phanatic.livejournal.com]

Depends. If everything went well, they were going to try to collide a few packets. Either way, there's not going to be any catastrophe.

[ipomoea.livejournal.com]

One of my flisties refers to it as the "Large Hardon Collider" due to an initial misread that has now become a running joke. I will never stop finding it funny, because mentally I am still about twelve.

[cassildra.livejournal.com]

WE'RE STILL HERE! This means that the grilled cheese sandwich I had for breakfast is totally going to make me gain weight! Awesome!

(oh wait, that's not a bonus, is it?)

[hobbitomm.livejournal.com]

Oh, and incidentally, if you're wanting the whole thing explained in more detail, you'd do worse than to check out the 'Large Hadron rap', written by one of the CERN Scientists....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j50ZssEojtM

[fifteensixty.livejournal.com]

I have absolutely adored seeing various people freak out about the LHC. I mean, there was never ever ever ever anything to worry about, because nature has been smashing particles together billions of times per second at these sorts of speeds for billions of years, yet some of the freak-outs have been so hilariously loony. I've loved reading them, with people saying that no experiments of any sort should ever be done ever again in case something goes wrong, or that scientists are spitting in the face of some deity by doing this, or whatever. As a scientist, I was particularly amused by all the people who said that scientists are never to be trusted. O RLY?

I think the best quote from the whole thing came from one of the engineers who said that the LHC is about as likely to generate an earth-swallowing black hole as it is to spontaneously create a fire-breathing dragon. The lack of dragon-creation is, in my opinion, the only thing to taint the marvel of the LHC with the slightest bit of disappointment.

[craobhruadh.livejournal.com]

I have to agree, there's a strange disconnect between scientists and the general public about these sorts of things. I know someone who's a biologist/geneticist type who says that whenever she tells people about what she does, there's always someone who immediately assumes that she's about to create some sort of killer mutant virus or something like that which will wipe out all life.

Apparently there's too much bad sci-fi/media hype out tehre.

[venusad.livejournal.com]

Oh man, I completely forgot about this...the world could have ended while I wasn't paying attention. That'd be so embarrassing.

But enough about ending the world..where's our Fringe review!
That stuff was ABOVE TOP SECRET.
...which doesn't actually exist, but hey! It sounds cool!

[saramiskismet.livejournal.com]

In that case, I'm immensely glad that I DIDN'T go ahead and confess all my deep dark secrets to their respective subjects.

Phew, close one.

[foresthouse.livejournal.com]

P.S. I didn't even realize they sold Gothic jewelry, but look what I found on the Paul Kidby (Discworld artist) site: I liked Carmen (http://www.pjsmprints.com/gothic/pendants.html). Also the "Reaper's Garden" (http://www.pjsmprints.com/gothic/earrings.html) earrings.

[cleolinda.livejournal.com]

Oh, those are definitely Alchemy Gothic pieces (I love them). "The Sacred Heart" is one of my favorites.

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

You silly, the world couldn't end today, because it has to end in 2012. A million Mayans can't be wrong.

[saramiskismet.livejournal.com]

Supposedly, that's the year when the sun and earth's magnetic poles are going to switch again. Everything magnetic would suddenly malfunction.

not sure how accurate this is, my teacher told me...

[chaosmonkey.livejournal.com]

The world didn't end, but I just had to kill my evil doppelganger...

...Oh...I'm the one with the goatee... Well, crap...

[letmypidgeonsgo.livejournal.com]

wait, is this a superconducting supercollider by any chance?

*wonders if anyone will get the reference*

[waderapspoorly.livejournal.com]

Yay, the West Wing!