It's Large Hadron Collider Day! Get Your Large Hadron Boots On!
It's less than a week to my last doctor's appointment, and probably less than two weeks to my move (FINALLY!). I should be more focused on CareerBuilder and Craigslist, but I still can't seem to focus. It still feels like this is going to be another failed adventure, and I'll be back in El Centro by the end of the month. I'm so used to being disappointed, and things not changing no matter what I do, and listening to Mom bitch about absolutely everything absolutely all the time, that it's hard for me to be excited about this.
I know I've been really nerding out lately (like, for the past couple of months), and some of you are probably incredibly bored. This is for you: http://ifightrobots.com/?p=89
But some of you are incredibly interested, and this is for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrazine. I'm joyful beyond all reason that bacteria can turn poop into rocket fuel. It's awesome in itself, AND it's useful for my sci-fi stories where the Stereotypical Alien Bugs need an organic way to launch themselves into orbit. (Of course the National Geographic article says that the real-life bacteria use up the hydrazine for their own sinister metabolic purposes, but offhand I can't think of a reason why the Alien Bug version couldn't produce excess hydrazine...)
Finally, as a prelude to the locality-vs.-realism discussion I'm planning for my next post, here's yet another "Cracked" list: http://www.cracked.com/article_16583_5-scientific-experiments-most-likely-end-world.html. Seems that "Cracked" has jumped on the "Large Hadron Collider phobia"* bandwagon, but at least they have a sense of humor about it. "Look at that particle. What an asshole." And really, is there anything more to quantum physics than that? :)
* Seriously, I've seen so many claims that the LHC will somehow blow up the world, that there really needs to be a specific name for this. Particleacceleratorphobia?