What are you working on?

The CO · Post by **The CO** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 6:13 pm

Spirited: no pics to load yet...

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:46 pm

The idea is to calculate how radioactive these metals will become if a beam mis-steering takes place during operation of an accelerator. In this case the experiment is related to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN over in Europe which is set to fire up later this year.

Iso-- that's the one that they are "pretty certain" won't cause the end of the world when they fire it up, right?

(On a different set of forums, someone posted an article about the huge accelerator and some of the experiments which are planned for it. In the article a scientist was quoted giving a percentage chance [an exceedingly small percentage] that one of the experiments would result in the end of the world. The poster, and several people replying to the posting, happily pointed out how that sounded like the lead in to some sort of post-apocalypse story...!

)

B.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 1:20 am

Isotopia wrote:I'm at work for the weekend. We're doing a series of experiments where we look at activation levels of various metals when you park a very high energy beam from an accelerator on to a metal 'target.' Just above the rope you see a slug of copper which is secured to a target stand. Just on the other side of the target is a small rack which holds up to ten small samples of whatever metal (or material) you wanna expose to the beam to. The materials in this instance are various metals like copper, aluminum, stainless steel, etc.

The idea is to calculate how radioactive these metals will become if a beam mis-steering takes place during operation of an accelerator. In this case the experiment is related to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN over in Europe which is set to fire up later this year.

Any time you have something like this you can share, I'm interested.
I have a passing interest in science.
Sometimes I even understand it.

BigCock · Post by **BigCock** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 7:22 am

I thought Bush eliminated most basic research funding. You must have or must be a pretty influential PI.

Isotopia · Post by **Isotopia** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:19 am

In the article a scientist was quoted giving a percentage chance [an exceedingly small percentage] that one of the experiments would result in the end of the world.

BAS, with almost every big expenditure in the basic sciences there's a small group of folks - many of them quite informed - who hold that there'll be consequences of some type as a result of a particular project. SLAC, where I work is no different. Certainly CERN where the above ATLAS detector now sits is has a few folks jittery with prophecies of doom and destruction once the beast starts up. I think the bigger problem for ATLAS is if it finds and only finds the Higgs boson which will pretty much complete the Standard Model. There's a lot riding on this very big, collaborative project in which billions have been invested and the idea that it will result in only one significant discovery has a good number of scientists spooked..

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:11 am

There are many wounders yet to be discovered..Damn the torpedos full steam ahead..I was born in 1937..Just think of all the great new stuff I have seen.. I say:Get with I want to see more before I step out for good

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:44 am

I thought Bush eliminated most basic research funding.

Lots of areas indeed are seeing funding reduced, cut or savaged. Unfortunately it's a consequence of government and its perceived (and real) priorities. To their credit many current Republican members of Congress have listened to the pitches made my scientists about how scientific supremacy in the US is on the wane due to cuts in basic science. I think what's even more disheartening about the current administration is allowing amateurs and bureaucrats to run roughshod over sound scientific advice.

A case in point: Julie MacDonald,the Bush Administration's point person at the Interior Department on endangered species. A report by the inspector general's office found that MacDonald not only has been "heavily involved" in editing scientific documents by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service related to endangered species but also leaked some of that confidential material to industry groups.

Same thing has happened within the EPA regarding reports on global climate change in which administrators heavily edited reports and/or made sure that such reports were downplayed at any of a number of scientific conferences.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:46 am

Isotopia wrote:
In the article a scientist was quoted giving a percentage chance [an exceedingly small percentage] that one of the experiments would result in the end of the world.
BAS, with almost every big expenditure in the basic sciences there's a small group of folks - many of them quite informed - who hold that there'll be consequences of some type as a result of a particular project. SLAC, where I work is no different. Certainly CERN where the above ATLAS detector now sits is has a few folks jittery with prophecies of doom and destruction once the beast starts up. I think the bigger problem for ATLAS is if it finds and only finds the Higgs boson which will pretty much complete the Standard Model. There's a lot riding on this very big, collaborative project in which billions have been invested and the idea that it will result in only one significant discovery has a good number of scientists spooked..

Ah yes, that is the project they were talking about! Mostly we were having fun with the fact that someone had actually issued a percentage chance that the world would end when the thing is turned on-- I don't think anyone involved in the conversation seriously expects that to happen. Mostly we were wondering how he came up with the percentage

Yeah, it will be a really expensive project if all that happens is the finding of the Higgs boson. Personally, I am hoping that they get really weird results (but not world ending results, unless the world is replaced by something I like much better!

)

B.

Badger · Post by **Badger** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 12:33 pm

Ah yes, that is the project they were talking about! Mostly we were having fun with the fact that someone had actually issued a percentage chance that the world would end when the thing is turned on-- I don't think anyone involved in the conversation seriously expects that to happen...

Well, you never know.

I'm reminded of a piece I read in Richard Rhodes' book The Making of the Atomic Bomb. He writes that hours before the first detonation of the bomb all the young turk physicists and post-docs were taking bets on what the yield of the explosion would be. They were all pretty cock sure and were strutting around certain that the 'device' would work as planned. The strutting and chest thumping quickly subsided once word got out that Enrico Fermi was off in the corner taking side bets that the bomb would take out half of the planet's atmosphere.

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 2:05 pm

Am I going too far in this?

Just thought I'd mention...I created an in-character blog profile for Nothing-to-Prove on LiveJournal. Still hammering out the details but here's the link if you want to watch a thing of beautiful glory take shape.

http://nuttn-to-prove.livejournal.com/profile

MozyBonz · Post by **MozyBonz** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 4:47 pm

I don't know..... did I take it to far?

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 4:55 pm

that's a great looking fish

Lorgasm · Post by **Lorgasm** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 5:31 pm

I agree. Cool pix Mozy. It kinda just sucks me in. Awesome.

MozyBonz · Post by **MozyBonz** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 6:48 pm

thankyou but it may be to much for the pool....

MozyBonz · Post by **MozyBonz** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 7:35 pm

Bin Noddin · Post by **Bin Noddin** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 8:43 pm

Last one in is a ... uh ... ummm ... a ... a ... aw, forget it.

BigCock · Post by **BigCock** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 9:39 pm

I think what Bin was trying to say is the same thing I want to say:

absolutely stunning Mozy.

PurpleKoosh · Post by **PurpleKoosh** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:34 pm

diane o'thirst wrote:Am I going too far in this?

Just thought I'd mention...I created an in-character blog profile for Nothing-to-Prove on LiveJournal. Still hammering out the details but here's the link if you want to watch a thing of beautiful glory take shape.

http://nuttn-to-prove.livejournal.com/profile

YAY! *adds you merrily*

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 10:48 pm

Oh, that was you!

Just friended you back.

Isotopia · Post by **Isotopia** » Sun Apr 08, 2007 11:34 pm

Mozy, I like the idea of just the black and white for the orca. No red. And... maybe flip the image so that the dorsal fin is is aligned with the outer curve of the pool to give emphasis to the arching motion of how these particular mammals swim.

Just a thought.

MozyBonz · Post by **MozyBonz** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:13 am

Isotopia wrote:Mozy, I like the idea of just the black and white for the orca. No red. And... maybe flip the image so that the dorsal fin is is aligned with the outer curve of the pool to give emphasis to the arching motion of how these particular mammals swim.

Just a thought.

I agree.... it turned into robo whale I think it needs more work.

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 8:31 am

Wow! I like that version better! It looks like the orca is coming out of the depths of the pool!

B.

Isotopia · Post by **Isotopia** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 9:28 am

Hey, even cooler if you have orca and his little furry friend.

MozyBonz · Post by **MozyBonz** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 10:49 am

Post by **AntiM** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:05 am

I Like You (Nootka The Killer Whale)

Lorne Elliott

(Chords are C F G and Am, though not in that particular order. Dead simple.)

Nootka the killer whale laughed and played
Down in the Ocean he splashed and sprayed
people would come to the shore to see how
He could jump and they'd say "wow!"
He'd swim near, they'd wade in and
Move real close reach out their hand
To pat him on the nose and when they did
He'd smile... and then he'd eat them.

Singing "Come to the sea and be my meal
I'm sick and tired of eating baby seal.
I'm a killer whale, stupid, It's what I do
Other whales like plankton but I Like You."

Little Billy Boo liked to play
Down by the ocean then one day
He saw splashing out at sea
A smiling Nootka, so then he
Waded in the water as Nootka came near
Smiling as if to say "No Fear"
Billy reached out his hand and then...
a great white shark killed Nootka

All the people on shore saw and yelled hooray
For the great while shark that killed Nootka that day
They ran into the sea to carry out Billy Boo
So the great white shark killed them all too.

The moral of the story is don't be a dummy
if you don't want tend up in some aquatic predator's tummy
Stay away from Nature where it's kill or be killed
if the sharks don't get you, the grizzly ears will
And when you walk around your neighbourhood always carry a gun
shoot first and ask questions when you're done
'Cause if you don't, it just might be
That you'll end up like Nootka
Or Billy
Or all the people on the beach who ran to save Billy
Or the Great White Shark who was hunted down and slaughtered in a vicious bloodbath

Now go to sleep

MozyBonz · Post by **MozyBonz** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:15 am

Mommy I DON'T want to swim in mozys pool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

joel the ornery · Post by **joel the ornery** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:45 am

all the better, eh?

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 11:55 am

Dropped a Baby Rruth candy bar in the small end of the pool..The kids stayed out all day..

MozyBonz · Post by **MozyBonz** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 12:32 pm

joel the ornery wrote:all the better, eh?

Adults only

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Mon Apr 09, 2007 1:15 pm

I'm not getting in with that thing.