Comments on: LHC podcast, now with government goodness

By: Andy Cooke

Andy Cooke — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 21:49:33 +0000

Ed Vaizey isn’t actually in Government (the Conservatives are in Opposition), although he is definitely an up-and-coming MP. To be fair, his chances of being in Government after the 2010 election are pretty good.
As an aside, he was my local MP a year or so ago. I contacted him by email about a housing matter – he replied with an acknowledgement within 20 minutes of me sending it and followed it up by buttonholing the relevant Government minister on my behalf (all sorted out to my satisfaction). I’ve had a soft spot for him ever since.

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:46:36 +0000

Aside: Steve, think about what happens when two cars collide head on at 60 mph vs one car hitting a brick wall at 60 mph. The release of kinetic energy for each car would be identical, regardless of whether it hits another car at 60 or a brick wall at 60. In both circumstances the car goes “crunch”,,,

The same holds true for protons,,,

GAry 7

By: Gary Ansorge

Gary Ansorge — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 17:41:33 +0000

StevoR S and My-Name-is-Kenneth: The point about shutting down for the winter has been spoken of many times. Electricity is a major cost during winter months in that area. Original plans were to do analyses during the winter, research during the rest of the year.

Steve, what part of cosmic ray impacts a billion times more intense than the LHC don’t you get? If we haven’t been gobbled up by now(after 4.5 billion years) from those natural impacts, how the heck could our efforts possibly have any such effect?
Think about it,,,

Hey, that guy with the beard,,,he looks JUST LIKE ME,,,Funny, I don’t remember being at CERN,,,
Darn it,,,

GAry 7

By: My-Name-is-Kenneth

My-Name-is-Kenneth — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 16:09:43 +0000

I am primarily bothered by the fact that the LHC folks did not bother to tell us about the fact that the facility would be shut down for most of the winter. Maybe they did somewhere, but it sure wasn’t made prominent.

So much for modern technoloy, ay?

By: vasanthakumar

vasanthakumar — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:33:09 +0000

I am also one of them who are disappointed in shut down of LHC. In my point of view: science is entire different from politics.LHC is more important to know about universe. so, it must not stopped for simple reasons. they can incorporate in Asian country’s where the effect of winter is less and cost of electricity is low.

By: The Lord of Nibiru

The Lord of Nibiru — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 13:01:48 +0000

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Now we are DEFINITELY going to burn up in the Van Allen belts.

Damn You All To Hell LHC!!!

By: StevoR

StevoR — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:49:29 +0000

I’m feeling quite a bit more reassured by some fine links people have sent me on other LHC threads here but I’d still really like them to use this opportunity (break) to conduct an ethical review on the (we think very, very small but still highest of all possible stakes) risks posed to ..well .. our planet by the LHC.

An ethical review carried out by qualified ethicists like most or at least many scientific experiments have to go thorough (esp. biotech. but others too I think) would be a good excercise in having another perspective and another clearance check to reassure those who still aren’t 100% convinced this LHC experiment is such a great idea…