Reality Unseen

Inside the collider

So unless you’ve been under a rock you know about the “success” of the Large Hadron Collider housed in the European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN in Geneva.  The objective of this underground behemoth is to smash atoms together and create a mini big bang that will help scientists understand what the universe is made of particularly the ever elusive theoretical dark matter.  Today the collider set a record for high-energy collisions by crashing proton beams into each other at three times more force than ever before.  The proton beams collision was measured  at a combined energy level of 7 trillion electron volts.  So what does this mean for the average person?  I don’t think anyone can say right now.  I suppose it all comes down to what the scientists can discover about dark matter and more but lets backtrack, What is dark matter you ask?  Dark matter is matter that cannot be detected by electromagnetic radiation, hence dark. It is postulated to exist to explain how clusters and superclusters of galaxies formed after the big bang. Data from galaxy rotation curves indicate that around 90% of the mass of a galaxy cannot be seen. It can only be detected by its gravitational effect.  So yes dark matter is theoretical right now since it can’t be seen or quantified yet.  There is hot, warm and cold dark matter.  So again I wonder what does it mean?   Is this what brings about our destruction in 2012 as possibly predicted by the Mayans?  I mean maybe their calendar only goes to 2012 for a different reason than global destruction as seems to the popular theory.  Will it unleash something good, bad or indifferent.  Have I got too much times on my hands to even consider any of this?  Well it beats sitting around thinking about American Idol.

The Hurt Locker

But lets move on to Cowboys.  I found out what a cowboy is in the UK and kids it’s not good.  In the US when you call someone a cowboy you are talking about a macho guy, that rugged individual who doesn’t follow the rules but makes his own.  Think Bruce Willis in any Die Hard movie, John Wayne or Clint Eastwood, and more recently the lead character in The Hurt Locker, Sargent William James.  If you haven’t seen the Hurt Locker you should.  But it can also mean an individual that is reckless and irresponsible.

“Cowboy” is sometimes used today in a derogatory sense to describe someone who is reckless or ignores potential risks, irresponsible or who heedlessly handles a sensitive or dangerous task. TIME Magazine referred to President George W. Bush’s foreign policy as “Cowboy diplomacy,” and Bush has been described in the press, particularly in Europe, as a “cowboy”.

The UK definition of cowboy is different.  In the British Isles, Australia and New Zealand, “cowboy” is used as an adjective when applied to tradesmen whose work is of shoddy and questionable value,”a cowboy plumber”.  As it was explained to me, if you hire a plumber who is a cowboy to fix your shower when you turn it on it will leak.  I say tomato and you say slacker.

Now I come to the latest book that I’m reading, given to me by a guy in my building called Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell.  So far it’s been an interesting read.  It’s six intertwined stories that span the 19th century into a post apocalyptic future.  According to the author 5 of the 6 main characters are  reincarnations of the same soul.  I’ve never heard of this author before but it comes highly recommended by my friend so the book found me.  Let’s see where it leads.

Denny Hamlin

Of course I can’t finish without mentioning that Denny Hamlin won Monday’s Martinsville race and Jenson Button won the Australian Grand Prix.  Next stop Phoenix, maybe Carl will have a good race and Malaysia for F1.

Ta Luvs.