I just can't stop reading about the LHC, it's just so cool. The best thing I've come across today is this great insider's view from the Something Awful forums. It's a long discussion, but totally worth it and I've learned a hell of a lot more here than from any of the media articles I've read.
My favorite post - in response to a question about whether or not the type of particle beam the LHC uses could be used to create a weapon:
"It'd do an enormous amount of damage, burning a hole through most things it'd hit, and giving a healthy dose of radiation to anyone or thing near the spot it hits. It'd be a crap weapon though as firing it would take a week or two to prepare, each shot would cost you several million US, transporting it to a warzone would involve digging up a fair chunk of switzerland and moving it there..."
and "The beam itself could spectacularly gently caress your poo poo up if you got in the way of it. It has happened before on a russian accelerator I believe, using a far less powerful beam. Surprisingly the guy survived it. With the LHC the only thing that'd survive would be a lingering aroma of evaporated geek."
Totally off topic, I learned a great word yesterday. Usufruct. n. The right to enjoy the use and advantages of another's property short of the destruction or waste of its substance. I'm going to use this word all the time. I should make "Don't Infringe on my Usufruct" t-shirts.
Very soon now, somewhere on the Swiss/French border, a bunch of hydrogen atoms are going to get smashed at higher energies than anything we humans have ever managed before. It's going to be awesome. So... Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the world yet?
Also, I'm normally not one for the political tchotchkes, but I almost have to have the Theraminists for Obama button.