Sigh… Above, please reference what girls between the ages of 10 and 30 think is cool. Also, as it happens, the same reason MTV will be blocked from every TV in the Aamoth household if I ever have a daughter.
Transcription to follow for those of you who can’t access YouTube at work…
Girl A: Do you know the world’s supposed to end? They just started this, like, in Geneva, this particle accelerator that’s, like, buried 300 feet under ground and then they start smashing particles into each other.
Girl B: What?!
Girl A: Trying to create black holes.
Girl B: Why are they doing that?
Girl A: ‘Cause they wanna figure out how we’re here. They wanna prove the Big Bang and that matter can come out of nothing.
Girl B: (Looks like she’s about to cry) Isn’t this crazy how all this is happening while Lauren’s gone?
[Infopirate.org via Digg]
Lol,
im obsesed with the lhc and get to visit cern next year.
This is exactly the response everyone at school said.
To Antp,
So am I. Perhaps you may find some of this interesting, if you can get past most of the CLIC report, focus on the *****section. There’s a lot more to this. If you want it, I have it. Let me know.
CLIC
ML Smith
Perhaps I have become obsessed with the subject, but ever since I learned of the Hadron Particle Accelerator, a 16.8 mile underground proton racetrack that will collide these particles at near light speed, I have worried. The scientists say the experiment may reveal a miniature replica of the universe as it appeared a trillionth of a second after the “Big Bang.” I am all for it, but what, I ask you, happens if there is a mistake?
I began to do some research on the Web. I found this.
CLIC (Compact Linear Collider) Test
(Chapter 5 of TRC report)
CLIC Study Team
August 15, 2008
DRAFT-1.1
The test facility CTF3 – initial test and results
The CLIC design relies on electron acceleration with high gradients of 150 MV/m at 30 GHz with an RF pulse length of 130 ns. The RF power requirement is 460 MW per metre of linac length. Therefore a very efficient and reliable source of RF power is required. The scheme is based on a drive beam running parallel to the main beam, whose bunch structure carries a 30 GHz component. The RF power is extracted from the drive beam in Power Extraction and Transfer Structures (PETS) and transferred to the main beam.
The required drive beam time structure is produced by compressing a long bunch train with low bunch
repetition frequency, which is accelerated with low RF frequency. Subsequent packets of this bunch train are interleaved in isochronous rings thereby increasing the bunch repetition frequency and the peak current in these packets. Power efficiency being of utmost importance for CLIC, the drive beam with high peak current is accelerated in fully beam-loaded low-frequency cavities, so that the power is completely converted to beam energy. New accelerating structures are required with very strong damping of beam induced Higher Order Modes to keep the bunch trains stable.
The main goal of CTF3 is to demonstrate the key concepts of the new RF power generation scheme, namely the bunch combination scheme, the fully-loaded accelerator operation, and digital, low frequency microscopic photography at beam conversion traps. A second (blind) photographic trap was constructed in parallel to validate the images in #1, which would be compressed helium trace images.
On initial testing, the drive beam pulse obtained after combination (140 ns, 35 A) was sent to special resonant structures to produce 30 GHz RF power with the nominal CLIC parameters, to test accelerating cavities and waveguide components. The image recorded at trap #1 showed an electron formation similar to free form molecular structure, i.e. solar systemic similarity. There was an irregularity at (blind) trap #2. An identical image was obtained, occurring simultaneous to #1. While this invalidated the test, it suggested the possibility of displacement in parallel. Lacking additional tests to establish reliable data, the result is regarded as statistically insignificant, but further study at higher beam velocity is recommended. Consequently, it has been proposed that a new facility be built in the existing infrastructure of the LPI (LEP-Pre-Injector) complex which makes maximum use of equipment which became available after the end of LEP operation. In particular, the existing RF power plant from LIL at 3 GHz with larger magnets could be used. The project’s proposed base in the CERN PS Division is feasible with collaboration from many other Divisions at CERN, as well as from INFN Frascati, SLAC, IN2P3/LAL at Orsay, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) and the University of Uppsala.
A “probe beam” simulating the CLIC main beam will be available to demonstrate acceleration with the
30 GHz equipment at the CLIC design accelerating gradient. An intermediate test station is foreseen
immediately after the linac for power-testing CLIC components at longer pulse length than presently
available at CTF2 at the earliest possible moment.
*****It is of extreme importance that main beam leakage at intermediate stations be addressed before any further testing is initiated. We do not know what the environmental effects of CLIC testing may be at longer pulse lengths. We strongly recommend that RAL begin exhaustive studies immediately. We have already received reports of bunch stream instability with concurrent environmental cross resonance.*****
CLIC Study Team
Managing Communications and Reporting
CLIC Site R&D
Please don’t ask me if I understand any of this. I don’t. But the sections I highlighted in blue concern me. I even found a statement by John Eades, noted quantum physicist and principal investigator on the project. He said, “…there could be a mirror world…made of antimatter, which would work in exactly the same way as the world we live in.”
I am sitting here at my desk now, pondering…wondering what might happen if Eades is correct and the sections I highlighted in blue are not addressed. Quite honestly, I am satisfied to live in one world and feel just a bit uncomfortable about the possibility of living in ten, or a hundred, or a million if it comes to that. I found out that Hadron, expected to be fully operational in 2010, has six different locations where France and Switzerland intersect. It might not be in our best interests if Switzerland suddenly appeared next to New Jersey. I know that the Swiss would find the stench objectionable, but there are other ramifications that obviously, I can neither predict nor comprehend. pA,ÃÇË = ?
Get your hands on the CLIC Report. I have it if you want it.
e-mail me at smthmort@gmail.com
The report is boring, except for the part I highlighted with ***** asterisks. If I were you, I’d read that report.
ML Smith
CLIC
ML Smith
Perhaps I have become obsessed with the subject, but ever since I learned of the Hadron Particle Accelerator, a 16.8 mile underground proton racetrack that will collide these particles at near light speed, I have worried. The scientists say the experiment may reveal a miniature replica of the universe as it appeared a trillionth of a second after the “Big Bang.” I am all for it, but what, I ask you, happens if there is a mistake?
I began to do some research on the Web. I found this.
CLIC (Compact Linear Collider) Test
(Chapter 5 of TRC report)
CLIC Study Team
August 15, 2008
DRAFT-1.1
The test facility CTF3 – initial test and results
The CLIC design relies on electron acceleration with high gradients of 150 MV/m at 30 GHz with an RF pulse length of 130 ns. The RF power requirement is 460 MW per metre of linac length. Therefore a very efficient and reliable source of RF power is required. The scheme is based on a drive beam running parallel to the main beam, whose bunch structure carries a 30 GHz component. The RF power is extracted from the drive beam in Power Extraction and Transfer Structures (PETS) and transferred to the main beam.
The required drive beam time structure is produced by compressing a long bunch train with low bunch
repetition frequency, which is accelerated with low RF frequency. Subsequent packets of this bunch train are interleaved in isochronous rings thereby increasing the bunch repetition frequency and the peak current in these packets. Power efficiency being of utmost importance for CLIC, the drive beam with high peak current is accelerated in fully beam-loaded low-frequency cavities, so that the power is completely converted to beam energy. New accelerating structures are required with very strong damping of beam induced Higher Order Modes to keep the bunch trains stable.
The main goal of CTF3 is to demonstrate the key concepts of the new RF power generation scheme, namely the bunch combination scheme, the fully-loaded accelerator operation, and digital, low frequency microscopic photography at beam conversion traps. A second (blind) photographic trap was constructed in parallel to validate the images in #1, which would be compressed helium trace images.
On initial testing, the drive beam pulse obtained after combination (140 ns, 35 A) was sent to special resonant structures to produce 30 GHz RF power with the nominal CLIC parameters, to test accelerating cavities and waveguide components. The image recorded at trap #1 showed an electron formation similar to free form molecular structure, i.e. solar systemic similarity. There was an irregularity at (blind) trap #2. An identical image was obtained, occurring simultaneous to #1. While this invalidated the test, it suggested the possibility of displacement in parallel. Lacking additional tests to establish reliable data, the result is regarded as statistically insignificant, but further study at higher beam velocity is recommended. Consequently, it has been proposed that a new facility be built in the existing infrastructure of the LPI (LEP-Pre-Injector) complex which makes maximum use of equipment which became available after the end of LEP operation. In particular, the existing RF power plant from LIL at 3 GHz with larger magnets could be used. The project’s proposed base in the CERN PS Division is feasible with collaboration from many other Divisions at CERN, as well as from INFN Frascati, SLAC, IN2P3/LAL at Orsay, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) and the University of Uppsala.
A “probe beam” simulating the CLIC main beam will be available to demonstrate acceleration with the
30 GHz equipment at the CLIC design accelerating gradient. An intermediate test station is foreseen
immediately after the linac for power-testing CLIC components at longer pulse length than presently
available at CTF2 at the earliest possible moment.
It is of extreme importance that main beam leakage at intermediate stations be addressed before any further testing is initiated. We do not know what the environmental effects of CLIC testing may be at longer pulse lengths. We strongly recommend that RAL begin exhaustive studies immediately. We have already received reports of bunch stream instability with concurrent environmental cross resonance.
CLIC Study Team
Managing Communications and Reporting
CLIC Site R&D
Please don’t ask me if I understand any of this. I don’t. But the sections I highlighted in blue concern me. I even found a statement by John Eades, noted quantum physicist and principal investigator on the project. He said, “…there could be a mirror world…made of antimatter, which would work in exactly the same way as the world we live in.”
I am sitting here at my desk now, pondering…wondering what might happen if Eades is correct and the sections I highlighted in blue are not addressed. Quite honestly, I am satisfied to live in one world and feel just a bit uncomfortable about the possibility of living in ten, or a hundred, or a million if it comes to that. I found out that Hadron, expected to be fully operational in 2010, has six different locations where France and Switzerland intersect. It might not be in our best interests if Switzerland suddenly appeared next to New Jersey. I know that the Swiss would find the stench objectionable, but there are other ramifications that obviously, I can neither predict nor comprehend. pA,ÃÇË = ?
Antp,
I tried to send you the report which I pasted up here, but “they” wouldn’t let it go through.
Very weird bunch, these Pingback people.
ML
ML Smith
Big Bangs, No Answers
For decades, the world’s most brilliant scientific minds have been working feverishly to come up with answers to questions that have little, if any impact at all on the quality of life for humans. The Big Bang, an occurrence estimated to have started and ended in an infinitesimal fraction of a millisecond, presumably filled an infinite void of nothingness with matter – countless galaxies, solar systems and planets of incredible diversity and indescribable beauty. The “Bang” sounds plausible, since we have replicated it on an immeasurably small scale, but the vaporous imprints left behind suggest that these miniature solar systems did in fact exist. For us, their presence was fleeting, but if we listen to Einstein, the passage of time on their scale may have been much different. In any event, it seems that we created something from nothing, which begs the question that has haunted us for centuries; who, or what, created our universe…and us? I do not have a problem with science or technology. Both have taken us from a time when the only issue of interest on any given day was the schedule for upcoming events that included beheadings, stonings, and a bevy of other inhuman activities carried out to rid communities of undesirables. Witches and scientists were usually at the top of the list for the next scheduled public execution.
Despite all of this, scientific inquiry continued, and over the long haul, it gave us clean water, medicines, aluminum siding and plastic trash bags, to name a few benefits. Unfortunately, men like Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and John Hancock had no way of foreseeing the need for “separation of science and technology from state,” an omission that would cost us dearly, as we have seen and are witnessing now. Had such an article been written into the Constitution, brilliant but shortsighted men like John Oppenheimer and Enrico Fermi might have been out of work. The Cold War may have been limited to shoe banging and McCarthy hearings. I say “may” because the string of Presidents starting with Harry Truman would have fought vigorously for constitutional amendments enabling them and their military counterparts to begin the process of destroying the planet and its people.
“John, the amendment passed. I would like you to recruit the top physicists in the world, and build a bomb capable of destroying an entire city.”
“President Truman, can you give me some idea of the size of the city?” Oppenheimer asked.
“Well, it’s hard to say, but we would like to try it out somewhere and I’d say the bigger the better. Perhaps a city in Japan, like Tokyo.”
“You are talking about millions of people, sir, and most of them are civilians.”
“Oh…right. Well, how about Hiroshima…or Nagasaki?
“Mr. President, it will be done in a flash.” And it was, literally.
That is the downside of science and technology. We don’t know where it will take us. I cannot find much upside in the Big Bang theory either. It may enable us to become “Gods” if we can truly figure it all out, and maybe that is the reason why the scientific community “appears” to have no interest whatsoever in the question of creation from a human perspective. While they profess not to care about the larger issue and divorce themselves from Creationists, they obsess about things like artificial intelligence. Creation of artificial intelligence is a pursuit that embodies contradictions within contradictions. When scientists talk about it, they confuse the issue by using the word “artificial.” There is no such thing as “artificial” intelligence. Actually, both words are inappropriate because what they are really talking about is the ability to reason; to process environmental stimuli and make decisions. An organism or a man-made facsimile can either reason, or it cannot. A lake is a lake, regardless of how it came to be.
The Big Bang was an effect, not a cause. I side with Creationists on this issue. Events do not occur without the intervention or instigation of an entity, be it human or not. When humans manipulate the activity of particles and insert extra electrons or other smaller particles into formations that resemble solar systems, what are they actually doing? We don’t know, but trace particles have been observed in two places simultaneously. What does that suggest? A parallel universe, perhaps?
I tend to stay clear of organized religion because I don’t think anyone can say with any certainty which one of the major “Gods” is best, although billions of people believe they know. Yet I do believe in a “Supreme Being.” I don’t know if this being is a “he,” “she,” or “it.” According to vocalist Joan Osborne’s “One of Us” it may be the slob sitting next to you on the bus. Logic tells me that this “Being” or “Entity” is more likely to look like us than a beetle, let’s say. As a beetle, odds are that the “Entity” would have created us in its image, and I am not keen on the idea of automobile driving, cigarette smoking, AK-47 toting beetles. Our world would look ridiculous. Movie theaters would have no seats, condominium complexes would be built with sand and dirt, and Brooks Brothers suits would have to be drastically modified.
In any event, I’ll side with the Creationists because the Big Bang implies that we are nothing more than insignificant particles of useless matter in a universe that is constantly expanding and contracting. According to quantum mathematical calculations, infinite space filled with matter and nothingness exist simultaneously. If you accept all of the Big Bang’s characteristics and implications, our existence is an illusion and what we think we see or know has no basis in reality. Matter, movement and time are all illusions. In relation to the universe according to the “Bangists,” I am too small to exist and I cannot go anywhere because it is impossible to get closer to or farther from from anything when measurement is a mere construct in infinite space.
I hate to say it, but until our scientists address the question directly, I am going to assume that they are actively avoiding it because they already know how to “create.” The temptation to be a “God” is irresistible. The fact that they themselves were created by an entity that was imperfect means they will make mistakes. You know, on a computer you can accidentally delete an entire document. We are all subject to accidental deletion. %
I don’t know…maybe they have so many entries on this site that they couldn’t include mine on the Big Bang.
Like I said, weird folks here.
My God, what have we done?
August 9, 1945
Altitude: 22,000 feet
It seemed like only moments ago that we had roared down that rutted runway in the pre-dawn mist on Tinian Island. Paul had his favorite smoking pipe and the usual supply of cyanide tablets. We all knew what they were for and hoped there would be no reason to use them. We had made two flyovers last month, and people on the ground seemed to regard us as a routine nuisance. Some of them even waved. We didn’t expect any anti-aircraft fire.
When we lifted off, Paul told me what General Ent had said to him.
“If this is a success, Paul, you’re going to be a hero. If it’s not, you could wind up in prison.” I thought about that remark – it should have been the other way around. But everything about Special Bombing Mission #13 was twisted, including the mission number. Who came up with that bright idea?
Less than 24 hours ago, the ground crew painted “Enola Gay” on the plane’s fuselage. Paul, who was only 23, insisted that the plane be named after his mother, Enola Gay. I wondered how she might feel about that, or how his father, Paul Tibbets Sr. might feel. How could it possibly feel to know that your son had your wife’s name painted on a plane that would unleash hell on earth?
We caught a sharp downdraft just as Paul returned to his seat, causing him to spill his coffee on the controls. Oddly, it seemed to speed up the response of the hydraulics.
“Wow, what happened? She’s handling like a Rolls.”
“I think it’s the caffeine,” I joked.
“Smith, now I know why they picked you for the mission. We needed a lunatic on board.”
“Same to you, Captain, and call me Colonel again, Smith, and I’ll force feed you one of these.” He showed me the little green pillbox.
“I heard they work fast.”
“Yep. Listen, if we have to take them, I won’t be seeing you afterwards.”
“I don’t know about that. We’ll probably all go to the same place.”
“Yeah, but Smith, according to Ent’s logic, who knows. Hey, they do have good furnaces down there.”
“Why shouldn’t they? The devil himself got them from Hitler.” Everyone on the flight deck cracked up, but it was nervous laughter. We were all tight.
Though informality was the order of the day, trouble invariably brought rank into the picture quickly.
“Colonel, I have two zeros below us at 18,000 and climbing. They have us locked on radar.”
“Lieutenant, can you pick-up any chatter?”
“Yes. My Japanese isn’t the best, but it sounds like they’re joking about something.”
“Can you translate?”
“I don’t think…wait…yes…they’re talking to us! Something about garbage…oh, I got it. They say ‘Go ahead and drop your damned leaflets again, but you better send someone to clean up the mess.’ They’re laughing.”
“Unbelievable. Are they still climbing?”
“Yes.”
“Colonel, they’re right behind us. Should I open up?”
“Hold up a second, Sergeant. This happens all the time. Wait.”
The Sergeant was George Caron, tail gunner.
“Wow! They’re passing us. You should be seeing them go by now,” George said buoyantly. He had to be relieved that they didn’t open fire. But they rarely did. We were in open airspace over the ocean and the Japanese had lost too many aircraft to risk engagement that might bring American fighter squadrons.
“Thanks, George – I see them. One of them waved! Incredible.”
I thought about the leaflet drops. They had started two months ago and by now, the Japanese regarded them as harmless jokes. They saw no threat and I think they believed we thought they might surrender without engagement or bombing. The only real fighting was on the ground; mostly in the Philippines. If my thinking was correct, we had a ruthless strategy in place that would allow us safe access to Hiroshima. On my last five runs, there had been absolutely no anti-aircraft response.
“George, tell them the Yankees will win the World Series.” A minute later, George radioed back.
“They say ’Yankees stink of fresh feces…we like Red Sox.” There was something perverse about it…we were talking baseball with the enemy and soon there would be a city full of dead Red Sox fans. I wondered if the Japs would give us an approach profile to Hiroshima.
Ted called out the ten mile marker. Suddenly, silence replaced the forced banter that had gotten us this far. “Captain, I think the wind has changed; you need to adjust your heading – 16 degrees northwest. Our instructions are to drop to 10,000 feet. On approach, we drop to 5000.”
“Is that our payload altitude, Ted?” Paul asked. I don’t know why he did – we had all been briefed. Little Boy would detonate at 500 feet above ground. We would make a steep climb as soon as the bomb was released. There would be a powerful updraft and an electrical impulse that could knock out our systems if we didn’t climb fast enough. We had been told about radiation – the exposure would be minimal on flyover, at which point Bob Shumard, assistant flight engineer, would take photographs.
“Yes, Paul.”
“Well, let’s hope this baby can haul ass, because from what I hear, the blast itself will blow us to Kansas if she can’t. Tom, can you see anything yet?”
“No. The cloud cover won’t break until you get below 7000 feet.”
“Five miles.”
“Here we go, boys. Welcome to hell.”
Tibbets handed the controls over to me while he armed the bomb, which consisted of opening a bright red panel, dialing in a code, and then throwing two red switches and a green one. We were almost at 5000 feet when I handed the controls back to him. Tom Ferebee, the bombardier, radioed in.
“Clear, Captain…gray, but clear. I have the target.”
“Alright Tom…wait on my word. I see it – the cluster of five red buildings, right?”
“Yes.”
It was an eerie sight. We could see people on the ground and it looked like some of them were waving to us. I had a strong urge to puke, but I clenched hard and held on.
“Paul, it-”
“What?”
“There are thousands of civilians down there.”
“Yeah. This is a war, remember?”
At target zero minus 1000 feet, Paul radioed to Tom.
“Now!”
“She’s out and gone, Captain.” Tibbets pulled hard on the wheel and throttled up to max as we climbed; on the edge of stall. The plane shook and shivered…then the flash blinded us. A shock wave followed, hitting us like a ton of bricks and Paul had all he could do to hold Enola together. For a few seconds, we lost electrical power and hydraulics. Enola pitched sideways and Paul couldn’t do anything without hydraulics. I thought we might go down. At 10,000 feet, we leveled off. No one said anything as we looked down at the mushroom cloud billowing up toward us. We made a wide circle around it and Paul took us back down to 5000 for Shumard’s photos.
Shumard was the one to break the silence.
“My God! What have we done?”
Three days later, I made a flyover with Chuck Sweeney, who had dropped Fat Man on Nagasaki. Shumard was with us for photos again.
“You might not want to look at this,” Sweeney remarked. I did anyway. The entire city was gone – completely leveled, fires raging everywhere. “Hey, Smith, did you notice that?” I was busy puking into a can brought along for that purpose.
“What?” I gasped, wiping vomit dribble from my chin.
“That flicker?”
“What flicker?”
“I can’t describe it…an impulse, maybe, but for a second there, I could have sworn I saw the city before the bomb.”
“I don’t know, Major. Do you want a report written up?”
“Hell no. The de-briefings are bad enough. Did you see the shrink yet?”
“Yeah. What a jerk. He asked me how I felt about it. I told him it was routine. He asked if I slept okay. I told him I slept fine.”
“Me too. I don’t want to see that asshole again. Can you imagine? How did I sleep? I haven’t slept in three days. No…no report.”
“Shumard, did you get your photos?”
“No. There was some kind of pulse. It knocked out the camera.”
“What?”
“Nothing…never mind.” Shumard noticed the flicker and saw the same thing Sweeney saw.
“Uh, Colonel?”
“What is it, Shumard?”
“Well, just before…I…Colonel, there was this flicker and-”
“I know – I saw it,” Sweeney interrupted.
“Colonel?”
“What?” Sweeney looked annoyed and I figured he was probably worried that Shumard would want to file a report.
“Colonel, this flicker thing…well…I could swear I saw the city…I saw how it looked before we dropped.” Sweeney took his time answering. He looked at me; a pained expression seemed to come over him.
“Shumard, think about what you’re saying. Do you get my drift?”
“Yes…yes, Colonel.”
That was the end of it. As far as we were concerned, it never happened. Whatever it was that they saw, I was glad that I missed it. In any event, there would be no report. The flickers, however, would continue, and occasionally, like this morning while I was shaving, the word CLIC popped into my head for no reason at all. CLIC? The really odd part about it was that I imagined the word spelled without a “k,” and that bothered me for some strange reason that I couldn’t comprehend.
All I know is that it gave me a bad feeling…the same kind of feeling you had when you woke-up from a dream and weren’t sure you were awake yet. None of this makes any sense. Maybe Weekler, the shrink assigned to the de-briefing, was right.
“You have probably been traumatized by what you saw. Don’t worry, the memory will fade.”
did you just write a fucking fanfic as comments? wow..
Arvash,
I’m not sure how to interpret that comment of yours.
First, let me say that I do not know what a fanflick is, but if I take a guess, I suppose that you missed the message entirely. I’m not trying to appeal to fans of any kind…and that was certainly no “flick.” I was trying to put readers in the cockpit of that plane and let them feel the emotions. My co-pilot character didn’t vomit because he had a 24 hour virus. But absolute horror can make you puke, and it can screw up your head, too.
There was a connection between the flight of the Enola Gay and Hadron, as I am almost sure you have figured out. It makes for a much bigger story, which I am working on and this is one way of testing the response. Apparently you had no emotional reaction to it…if you did, it didn’t show in your comment.
Maybe I misread your comment. I don’t know…did you think it was somewhat outrageous that I wrote so much in a series of comments? Were you impressed, or did you regard it as a joke. I wish that you could be more clear about that. It would help me to know how people actually respond emotionally – that is my goal; to elicit an emotional response…the stronger the better.
If you’re at all interested in this project of mine, why don’t you email me at smthmort@gmail.com.
Thanks for noticing, anyway.
ML Smith