Wednesday 10 September 2008

Wordy Wednesday: Don't forget your 11 Dimensional Glasses

Today, as you no doubt know, an experiment has started 150 metres under Switzerland to recreate the conditions around the time of the "Big Bang" (or "Beeng Bank" as Emilia calls it).

As usual the anti-science brigade, who believe that cell-phone masts give out mystical death rays, were predicting (on their mobiles, no doubt) that this experiment would precipitate the End of the World, either because (a) they're going to make another Beeng Bank, and therefore unleash catastrophic forces, or (b) There's a probability that some black holes will be produced. The latter is apparently correct, but scientists tell us they're nothing to worry about. After all, will anyone notice if Switzerland gets sucked into a black hole?


Predicting the End of the World is a thankless task. Either you're wrong, in which case you look pretty stupid, or you're right, but there's no one left to say "I told you so" to.

There was a physics professor on the telly explaining it all. Or rather, mystifying Emilia and her audience. In the space of 5 minutes, he'd progressed from cosmic forces to dark matter, to talking about 11-dimensional space. All of which is way over my head, so if you were expecting a science lesson, you're out of luck.

Anyway, the experiment started at 10.30am in one European timezone or other, and we're still here. Though as winter draws nearer, it's getting harder to tell whether or not we're in a black hole.

I'm glad, except that I can't get out of writing Wordy Wednesday by claiming that a black hole ate my post. Bugger...

65 comments:

Bee said...

FIRST!!

Brian o vretanos said...

Yes, and? Come on now, I'm expecting a multi-faceted (11-d) and erudite comment...

Bee said...

Sorry!
I was at lunch and couldn’t comment further because people kept talking to me and wanting my undivided attention.

As I’ve said before, I do not want to know when the world is going to end. I usually don’t like surprises but in this case I’ll make an exception.
No, now that you’ve become infamous for Wordy Wednesday, you’ve got to follow thru.
(:o/

Jean Knee said...

I'll give you one. Why the hell would they want to do that?

Jean Knee said...

I had a major wordless Wednesday FAIL my cock's just not as interesting to me as he used to be :(

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

You're a hard task-master ;-)

Oh, and try not to fall into any Black Holes - I didn't realise that you had your own particle thingy in Chicago.

Jean Knee:

Apparently this expensive research will with help cancer research, improvements to computers, not to mention providing gainful employment for 10,000 scientists.

You did a post today - you should have called it

NEW AND IMPROVED: Wordless Wednesday NOW WITH ADDED WORDS!

You just need some better marketing, that's all.

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee:

There are plenty of solutions on the internet for underperforming cocks.

Jean Knee said...

I've got a few in my spam folder too

Bee said...

We have our thingy??? What?? No! Are you sure?

Bee said...

jean knee, cocks?

Bee said...

ELEVENTH!

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

Yes, in Batavia, if that means anything to you. It's not as big as the CERN one, so less chance of black holes.

Brian o vretanos said...

Actually, If I lived near one of these things, I'd be more worried about the kind of thing that always happens in 50's films, where they end up with giant spiders, or zombies...

Bee said...

OMG! Now I remeber! Batavia is 2 minutes away from my favorite antique shopping town! TWO MINUTES! I could pulverized faster than anyone else at the Scarecrow festival...

Bee said...

did you understand my comment? I blame it on the fact that now I'm scaurd.

Brian o vretanos said...

I understood most of it, but then there was something about Scarecrows, which might have come from the 11th dimension, or a parallel universe.

Bee said...

Make fun of me all you want but if I all of a sudd-

Brian o vretanos said...

Ah, silence...

Brian o vretanos said...

BEE! THIS IS A MESSAGE TO THE 11TH DIMENSION:

CAN YOU HEAR ME?

IF YOU CAN'T BLOG FROM THAT BLACK HOLE, YOU'D BETTER GET YOURSELF BACK HERE! JUST STAB IT WITH YOUR STILLETOS...

Anonymous said...

hee hee

Anonymous said...

?

Brian o vretanos said...

It's ed!

That was a sad unix joke.

Brian o vretanos said...

Like the morse, by the way ;-)

Brian o vretanos said...

.. -. ... .--. .- -.-. .
-. --- --- -. . -.-. .- -.
.... . .- .-. -.-- --- ..-
... -.-. .-. . .- --


... --- -.. --- -. -
.-- .- ... - .
-.-- --- ..- .-.
-... .-. . .- - ....

Anonymous said...

>:o[

Anonymous said...

.. - / - --- --- -.- / -- . / - --- / .-.. --- -. --. / - --- / - .-. .- -. ... .-.. .- - . / - .... .- - / ... --- / -. --- .-- / -.-- --- ..- / .- .-. . / --. --- .. -. --. / - --- / .... .- ...- . / .- / .-.. .-.. / - .... .. ... / -. --- -. ... . -. ... . / - --- / .-. . .- -.. / .. ..-. / -.-- --- ..- / -.. --- / .. - / .. ..-. / -. --- - / - .... . -. / -... .-.. .- .... / - --- / -.-- --- ..-

Unknown said...

No idea what the Unix jokes are, but I did hear about the science mcdoodle thingy. There was a news post this morning along the lines of "scientific experiment may blow the living shit out of the universe - scientists say not to worry but are hiding in a cupboard just in case."

Funnily enough it didn't end. Or at least if it has, nobody's told me yet.

Anonymous said...

.. / -.-. .... . .- - . -..

Unknown said...

Well put.

Brian o vretanos said...

Bee:

Well, I didn't cheat.

Chris:

That's good.

The experiment's got 15 years left, so there's plenty of time yet...

Bee said...

I guess we know who the smart girl is...

... even if she can't articulate her thoughts in a comprehensive manner most of the time.

for a different kind of girl said...

First you were talking science in your post, and then the comments went all over the place. I'm confused. It would suck if the world ended while I was confused.

Unknown said...

I'm certainly pleased the world hasn't ended yet! I was going to go for another beer. Well done on the .'s and the /'s. Regrettably, I have no idea what that meant. I am clearly operating in nana mode.

(BTW Bee you're very privileged - few people outside the UK know what a nana is. People went to jail revealing things like that during the Cold War!)

Brian o vretanos said...

FADKOG:

I'm sure you are no more confused than the rest of us. I don't expect that the world would end on a Wednesday, thus making the working week shorter by two days. It's far more likely to end on a Friday, thus depriving us of our weekend...

Tracy Rambles On And On said...

Okay, yeah, so Brian, I have no idea what you were talking about so I'm just going to kind of ramble here.
I for one would certainly not miss Switzerland. I'm sure I've told you all of my geographical knowledge, you know where I once thought the pretty much every U.S. state bordered Canada? Now I do know that every state doesn't border Candada but I haven't figured out which ones do exactly yet, but I'm almost certain that Switzerland is NOT on the border of Canada so I'm good.

You know, I tink I should start a day like some of you all have. You have Wordy Wendesday, Jean Knee has Wordless Wednesday (hey, did you two plan that one?) and Bee has GFYOAFOAT or whatever her's is. I want a day.
It can't be Rambling Day because that's pretty much every day.

Brian o vretanos said...

Tracy:

Lots of people aren't good at geography - that's why we have Google Earth.

There are states in the US that don't have borders with the US. I think. Anyway, I don't think we have to worry about black holes in West Virginia - it's quite a long way from Switzerland. The Swiss make expensive watches, chocolate and cheese. And provide bank accounts for dodgy characters. Rich dodgy characters. If your watch isn't worth at least $200,000 then I think it's safe to say you won't notice if a black hole gets them.

That's a great idea about having your own day. Why not post up a quote or saying? And call it "Tracy's Thought for Thursday", or some such thing?

Jean Knee said...

I like this new chat room style you've got going on here

Brian o vretanos said...

Jean Knee:

Do you think you're going to be affected by Typoon Ike?

Jean Knee said...

some heavy rain and wind should be all. maybe no gustnado this time, or if there is one maybe it'll blow the dirt and spider webs off my patio. one time we had sideways rain that cleaned all my windows :)

Bee said...

I wonder what would happen if we got sideways rain... Probably all the spiders would come out of the awnings, sneak in to the house and attack us.

Brian o vretanos said...

I fear you might be right. Spiders apparently go inside to escape the bad weather, which is why you get a lot of them round about this time of year. (he says, nervously looking around).

Unknown said...

Bee & Brian - stop saying those things! Sideways spiders? What, some artsy arachnid talking about wine?

Not on my watch!

Unknown said...

Also, this talk of spiders is making me scared.

You won't like me when I'm scared.

(I get very, very incontinent)

Bee said...

Chris, go ahead and be incontinent, as long as I don't have to clean up the mess.

What's that on your shirt???

Brian o vretanos said...

Chris:

Fine, just as long as you direct your incontinence in the direction of the spiders...

Unknown said...

Oh well, time for a new shirt.

Good idea, Brian! Those damn wine loving spiders won't know what's hit them!

Bee said...

Okay, this is how out of it I am today, I didn't get the SIDEWAYS thing until right now!

I have spiders the size of small dogs in my garden. With long pointy legs and bodies so hard it took 3 of us to kill one.

Bee said...

They sometimes appear in front of you like something out of a horror movie. The sling there webs all over my pine trees like mini clothes lines.

Bee said...

You guys want to come over for a BBQ?

Unknown said...

Sounds like you want a pistol for them spiders. BBQ sounds cool, I'll bring beer.

Brian o vretanos said...

Is this a spider BBQ? Do we get provided with flame throwers, or do we bring our own?

Bee said...

Brian, you can't have flame throwers around Pine trees, they're highly flamable.

Chris the beer you bring should be Corona. (COLD)

Shonda Little said...

Surely if the world can survive nearly 8 years of Bush presidency it can handle a few scientists, right.

Jean Knee said...

I read an autobiography by one of the Manhattan project scientists--dudes did not know what they were doing ,just guessed it would work and be okay. scientists are extreme risk takers I tell you

the black hole thing disturbs me in ways spiders can't

Unknown said...

Corona - check.

Jean, what about a black hole full of spiders?

Bee said...

Shhh! Brian is sleeping and probably dreaming of spiders! Must think of another to send him for Halloween. ;o)

Someone pass the booze.

Tracy Rambles On And On said...

Geesh, all I do is go to sleep for a few hours and look at all I miss! Spiders, window cleaning rain, incontinence, and new shirts.
I've decided to never sleep again. What else do you all have? I'm wide awake here.


I really like your idea Brian. Tracy's thought of the day. Do I have to pay you for the idea.

Dan said...

58 th !!!
The world will end when the first human clone is made. God is going to be soooo pissed !!!!!

Brian o vretanos said...

Shonda:

That's pretty much what the scientists said.

Jean Knee:

They're not always right.

Tracy:

I won't ask for payment until you've made your second million.

Dan:

That's one way to look at it...

Jean Knee said...

That's what I mean Brian. they aren't always right.
beware

Anonymous said...

I think it's not far off, myself.

Natural disasters. Gas prices. Terrorism...

Yep. Not far off at all.

Brian o vretanos said...

Catscratch:

We had all those things in the 70s, 80s, and 90s, and the world didn't end. - if you look at almost any decade it seemed grim. I don't know whether that makes me an optimist or a pessimist ;-)

Anndi said...

Switzerland gone???... nope, won't miss it. Yodeling is over-rated.

Jean Knee said...

yes fuzzy kitties curled in a cup are the cutest thing ever

oh wait, wrong chat room. sorry Brian

Bee said...

JEAN KNEE!! Aren't you supposed to be in the closet with your cock??