http://www.bautforum.com/off-topic-babbling/72182-ba-uk-london-meet-up-thur-april-17th.html#post1206677

Doug

You could totally turn it into a BA/bloggers meet.

I took my son (my TLA) to Fermilab on their open house day in February, and we went on a tour of the LHC/CERN communication room (he was too young to go on the actual collider tour) and when it was over he said he wanted to go to CERN.

*Sigh*

I’d love nothing more than to take him, but feeding and clothing him on a daily basis takes precedence. I leave it up to you to blog on your trip daily so that we may live vicariously through you!

There was a pretty good article about Brian Cox and Sunshine in Discover magazine. Apparently Danny Boyle wanted to make the movie (relatively) scientifically accurate, so he had Brian Cox come up with a feasible way for the sun to suddenly start dying, as well as a feasible way for it to be reignited. According to Brian, the background theories were always intended to remain in the background, and Danny Boyle made it clear from the beginning that in certain scientific aspects (like sound in outer space) would be ignored for the sake of drama.

Personally, I like the movie to a certain extent. I was very displeased that it devolved into a bad slasher flick, and I never one bought the personality conflicts that drove parts of the plot (what agency in its right mind would trust the future of mankind with such a group of bungholes?), but the excellent effects drove it. I mean, the Mercury sequence was utterly amazing.

Welcome Phil! I look forward to meeting you after all these years.

(sandra)

I think this list could be extended…

Vest – waistcoat
Fries – chips (and they are certainly not French, although some places sell them as such to keep the American tourists happy)
Chips – crisps

LOL!

My word, you had a deprived childhood!

You’ll lift the average IQ of the country while you’re over here. Hope you have a great trip, and we don’t embarrass ourselves too much.

I’d hate to see you blogging that we’re divots.

Sorry I missed this earlier — yesterday was crazy with stuff for this writer to do…

Um… you DO have your taxes done, right?

“It’s [England's] really not all *that* different. The food is a little scarier, but the comedy is better. And they drive on the ***WRONG*** side of the road. Yeah, you heard me, Brits.”

Us Aussies like the English drive on the proper side of the road!

The rule is always :

England = the inventor & the correct. (They were there first & got it right!)

American = the inferior copy & the incorrect.

That applies to everything from English language (american english -> no such thing, its simply wrong english!) sport (cricket vs baseball, soccer vs gridiron, F1 versus Indycars) &, yes, the driving side of the road.

Left is right! Right is wrong!

Yes, Yanks you heard me! This Aussie is, for once, in agreeance with the Poms!

***********************

BTW. Phil any chance that you might meet Patrick Moore of Sky at Night TV & magazine fame?

I saw a very interesting segment on ‘Catalyst’ an Aussie Science show (ABC TV Australia.) which was great but ..

..Well nobody seems to know exactly what it’ll do or find.

If we really don’t know for sure (& if we did then what’d be the point of doing it ..?) then it seems we can’t absolutely rule out the remote chance that, yes, we’ll split the neutrino liek we split the atom or generate a quark strangelet (& I vaguely recall hearing / reading somewhere that some neutronstars *may* in fact be quark stars..) or super-strong super-quick -growing mini-black hole ..

Given what’s at stake

(ie. the possible destruction of the planet with us on it!)

I’d far, far rather this sort of resarch was conducted on a distant asteroid rather than on this planet.

(Besides, conducting this sort of research on a main-belt asteroid would be really x lots awesome! & we’d have toget tehtechnology togo out teher and get enough peopelgear etc .. makingit allworthwhile & then some – plus so much safer! )

I’m probably being silly & overly cautious but “better safe than sorry” should be the rule where these things are concerned I reckon.

He predicts the existence of several new particles. I wonder if they’ll show up at the LHC. Not what Brian thinks of Lisi’s work, being a string theorist.

You should visit Westminster Abbey, if only to stand where so many greats of the human intellect have either been buried, or commemorated. They include:

Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Winston Churchill, Charles Dickens, Paul Dirac, Robert Hooke, John Milton, Ernest Rutherford, William Shakespeare, Robert Stephenson, Lord Kelvin, and many, many others.

I realize that people weren’t necessarily being serious, but it does irk somewhat to hear people trot out that tired old stereotype about Britain being a country of bad food. Not only is London now considered to be the food capital of the world, employing most of the worlds best chefs (including all of the best French chefs, ironically), but British produce – and a food culture based on that produce – has made a major comeback in the last 20 years. The US is renowned for stealing the best ideas from around the world and giving it their own flavor, as it were, and that is largely what has happened here, as well.

Make sure you bring lots of money. You will need it, that’s for sure!

But QD – if we change it, it won’t be funny any more.

And they drive on the ***WRONG*** side of the road. Yeah, you heard me, Brits.

Many years ago some guy (an American? yes, must have been ) proposed his theory (that’s the creo’s interpretation of the word) that the British, amongst others, were assisting the Earth’s spin by countering the effects of all the countries that drive on the right! This really happened but it’s so long ago that I can’t recall if it was on April 1st. I think not because I was always ready for the BBC’s April Fool’s stunt.

If you can find any reference to it BA you can put it in an updated edition of your book.

Another great spectacle is the intense pulsed neutron source at Argonne. It has a lump of uranium as a spallation target, and the story told is that the uranium was delivered by an armed military detachment. The building had to be cordoned off until the uranium was securely buried within the bowels of the machine.

Quiet Desperation:

I am a brit, and our food is lovely, why, just the other night I went out to a local Fish and Chip place here in Squamish, and was offered “Spotted Dick” for dessert!

*Spotted Dick: A type of English sponge cake dessert.*

Now, you must excuse me, I need a fag…

Ah, well, your native food pretty much stinks. But at least you got the Olympics. (-;

Jealous about CERN…watched enough videos, darnit.