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Physicists have just had the most headlines since the Manhattan Project. Bragging rights must be one of the more satisfying perks of working on the largest physics experiment ever. Quantum physics has never been this exciting.

It’s the end of the world, as we know it!

As Big Bang Day was yesterday, when the Large Hadron Collider was switched on, we may reflect a little on the fact that we are still alive. The Earth has not blown up, it was not swallowed by a black hole and no antimatter whatsoever has materialised in my underpants. God bless the God Particle.

It’s not the end of the world! Yet!

Note should be taken of the fact that no high-energy particle collisions have taken place as yet. This is scheduled for 21 October, when highly charged particles will collide at near the speed of light. Question: if both particles travel at almost the speed of light, will the total speed at which they collide not be almost twice the speed of light? What would Einstain say about this?

Don’t get me wrong, I am very excited. This has the potential to change human life forever, just as the world wide web did, and whom do we have to thank for that? Exactly, the men and women in the white coats at CERN in Geneva.

However, yesterday’s event has been hyped up a lot, only to culminate in someone shouting “Two spots! Fantastic!”

Let’s see what other results this gigantic experiment will yield in the long term.

Photo by Claudia Marcelloni © CERN

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The last few months have been largely uneventful.

• Beginning of June I broke my left ankle in three places, when I slipped on someones slipped drink at a friend’s birthday party.
• I have spent the summer months at home, due to the broken ankle, following the American Presidential election primaries, first supporting Hilary Clinton and now Barack Obama.
• Russia and Georgia have been at war. There is widespread discord as to who attacked whom and what caused the whole pandemonium. Russia said it intervened in South Ossetia and another Georgian breakaway region because Georgia had attacked there resident Russian Nationals, while many other nations have condemned the Russian activities. Both sides have bombed the place back to the stone-age. Civilans were once again the ones suffering the most.
• Meanwhile the Olympic Games took place in China, mainly in Beijing. I have followed many of the games, watched the opening and closing ceremony and was very impressed. The next Olympic Games in London in 2012 will have very high expectations to meet. In the words of London’s Mayor Boris: Ping Pong is coming home.
• I have in the last few weeks begun to walk again and I am getting better, so things are definitely looking up.
• On the same day I booked a flight to Spain a plane crashed in Madrid, killing most of the passengers. It is safe to fly, repeat, it is safe to fly, it is safe to fly, it is safe to fly…
• General Musharraf (no longer a General) resigned as President of Pakistan, causing a political vacuum that several dubious figures are furiously trying to fill.
• Just in the last few days Russia officially recognised Abkhazia and South Ossetia as sovereign, leading to condemnation of the seven other G8 countries. Recently the news have been filled with Cold-War like rhetoric. Strong are the words coming from NATO, particularly from the US and Great Britain. However, they appear futile as Russia does not seem to be in the mood to listen.

UPDATE: I am now also twittering, as Hugh pointed out in the comments.

Good Night.

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While most parts of the world celebrate Mother’s Day (in this case normally translate as “Spend a lot of money”) on the second Sunday in May, the UK together with Ireland and Nigeria oddly do it today.

This usually means doing something for mothers in general, mostly something like breakfast and chocolates and vastly expensive greeting cards. It is also not unheard of that the day peters out in some kind of row and argument that always ensues when large percentages of any family are in close proximity of each other for several hours at a time.

Today in our household there is scope for extra huge pandemonium, as three mothers descent on the family headquarters..

My mother and two of my sisters with their small sons, 1.5 years and 1 week old respectively (I became an uncle the second time over last Sunday), will be in the same room with my dad my other sister and myself. I feel a migraine developing in the back of my head.

Happy Mother’s Day all-round then.

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