Aarin Institute of Technology

Anyone interested in volumetric displays?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0TpD...eature=related

Well, this isn't volumetric display at all although it resembles, but some sort of laser projections combined with water spray systems, I assume. Real VDs mostly happen to be within the scope of the affluent, scientific organizations, which sucks.

Actually, Crinkletoes, I'm not sure whether LHC will bring about positive results. They don't know what is going to come out of this, and particles they expect are clearly hypothetical. Also, what about the safety of the LHC? CERN does confirm it, but how can we presume the outcome when we've never used such a high energy so far? Besides, speculative theories about quantum black holes being created at LHC still aren't ruled out, and academics keep remonstrating, especially these days prior to the research.

I know this is going to sound horrible, but I hope one of two things happens with the LHC:

1) We end up getting information which helps us create the next physical theories that come along. That's basically certain since even finding very little or nothing shoots down a lot of theories.

2) We DO create a subatomic-scale black hole that doesn't evaporate quite the way it should and the rest happens like a disaster movie. Yeah, it's spectacularly unlikely, but it could be interesting. AND THE WORLD IS THROWN INTO CHAOS. Mwahaha.

They should move the activation of the LHC to 2012, just to get people talking

It's okay as long as it doesn't reach FULL POWER until 2012. They just need to keep reminding people that it's still on low...UNTIL THEN.

@WarlordJim: In fact, that would be a very good timing. Mayan calendar ends in 2012, somehow meaning that time ends too, and black holes are supposedly said to have an impact on time travel, then Nostradamus predicted apocalypse in 2012, and also, Earth pole shift is also said to happen in 2012 causing an utter destruction. What to say, except that with all these occurrences, comedy genre will be completely overpowered.

Anyways, collisions that are supposed to happen at LHC constantly happen in space, and ultra-high-energy cosmic rays collide with our atmosphere all the time, so there's basically nothing to worry about. What I fear is what happens next. Nuclear discoveries are usually misapplied; remember that eminent breakthroughs in nuclear physics were followed by a creation of an atomic bomb.

I've been on a plane and going to college for the last few days...my computer is set up now and I'm unpacked (about to go to dinner), so may as well make a little post just to get people interested in this. I remembered after a little youtubing that there was another really cool video I saw...a very basic physics demonstration, but it's fun to watch and think about. The Neistat brothers have other videos up, but this is a favorite:

Burning a candle at both ends: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKxp5Wyg3Tw

According to Futurama, the worst thing to happen in 2012 is that Fry's dog Seymour will die.

Also, the Mayan Calendar doesn't actually end in 2012. There are more dates, such as 9.8.9.13.0 8 Ahau 13 Pop (24 March 603 Gregorian) with a distance date of 10.11.10.5.8. The resulting date is 1.0.0.0.0.8 5 Lamat 1 Mol, or 21 October 4772, 2760 years and 10 months after December 21st, 2012. Interesting, huh?

EDIT:

Yes, it would be quite scary if the LHC were used to create a weapon. Even the theory of a black-hole generator is very scary. If it were made reality...

Oh, don't be too scared. If it's physically possible to make a weapon out of whatever comes out of it, people will. Thing is, it's not going to be that much worse than the biological and thermonuclear things we already have. Our ability to kill each other and ourselves is almost absolute already, so we're all set already.

So yeah, something cool: the other day there was a little physics seminar I went to describing what they're doing at the Tevatron and the LHC, complete with some of the ideas of the field theory, the particles they're looking for, the problem with the Standard Model...

...for example, the predicted vacuum energy given quantum field theory as we know it is 10^60 higher than what we've measured. Fun fact, huh?

Since nobody's posting (come on folks!), may as well bring up one thing I'm keeping track of at the moment...the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search. Basically, it tests numbers of the form 2^p - 1, p prime, for primality. They do that since that's the form that allows the biggest numbers to be tested with the least overhead. In the last two weeks, after a LONG time not really getting anything new (the last record prime, 2^32,582,657 - 1, was discovered two years ago), two have been hit. Do I know what they are? They're not saying yet since they want both to be double-checked so they can do one press release for both, but at least one may be a legendary 10 million digit prime number.

Yes, I have my computer giving spare cycles to the prime search and I've been doing so for years; right now I'm testing 2^42,575,747 - 1 and it'll be done in a few months at 24/7...

The LHC is up and running! ...Well, sort of. They ran a beam around it forwards and backwards at about 20mph. And didn't collide anything. So, there is still a distinct possibility that they could destroy the world when they get it up to speed. October 21st, people. October 21st.

Oh, and for a bit of light-hearted humor about the whole thing, I recommend this website:

http://hasthelargehadroncolliderdest...heworldyet.com