52%+ of the federal budget for the past decade or so has gone to social programs. Military spending averaged 15% following the Cold War, post-9/11 now up to 20%. As for non-governmental spending…sending billions overseas to satisfy our energy needs takes a huge hunk away from available private funding for science, let alone government funding for science.

Fiscal responsibility? Sure. But, getting our collective heads out of our butts is sometehing we also need to do.

We are spending far far more on bling than on science.

coldwarrior on September 10, 2008 at 8:52 PM

That’s exactly right, we need to cut wasteful spending, and start giving incentives for innovations in science and energy. We also need to cut social programs (it’s not the govt’s job) and spend more on science and the military (the govt’s job).

As for the “real science” part discovery is discovery….proceed from there.

Marine_Bio on September 11, 2008 at 10:09 AM

Ditto. It’s all very cool stuff.

In the beginning,God created the heavens and the earth! Simple enough for this dumb marine to comprehend.Semper Fi

Marines for Mccain on September 11, 2008 at 8:29 AM

True enough, but for those of us who were created to have a scientific mind this is exciting stuff.

Science does not have to exist in absence of faith. That is the humanism lie of the post Darwinian world.

Not trying to sound too much like Newton, but this is just as much of a glimpse into the mind of God as peering into the cell.

Exciting stuff if you’re a GEEK.

Not that I’m a fan of Ice Ice baby, but the lyrics are much more realistic for a sampling cruise.

Ya gotta love energetic grad students.
:)

It isn’t unusual for these kind of deeply mathematical theories to need extraordinary circumstances to test. A good example is that Einstein’s theory of general relativity was partially tested using a solar eclipse in 1922.

In reality, the idea that these black holes would be formed in the collider are no more testable or observable than Hawking radiation. Common sense would dictate that a black hole generated by an energy-mass transferrence would not be of sufficient size to sustain itself or cause planetary damage.

Black holes just evaporate? right?
I so want to be led around by my nose.
No One Knows.
The head dude in control of this haldron project has been quoted sayin tat.

JDM3 on September 10, 2008 at 10:03 PM

I’m not an expert, but since it takes large amounts of mass to sustain a black hole, then yeah I would assume an artifical one would just evaporate miliseconds after it was formed, since it has no actual mass. I think the real particle you’re looking for in this scenario is a strangelet. If they managed to form one of those then it might destroy the earth, but I get most of my science from star trek so what do I know.

It’s not really on yet, since the first month of operation is just function checks, and I’m pretty sure the help desk for this think thing isn’t in India. I wouldn’t look for it to be on schedule, since this is most certainly a one off product.

The controversy about God vs. The big bang theory. I can’t think of any event described in science that more closely resembles a biblical depiction. God created the universe, and bang there it was.

DFCtomm on September 11, 2008 at 3:34 AM

Fixed.

The controversy about God vs. The big bang theory. I can’t think of any event described in science that more closely resembles a biblical depiction. God created the universe, and bang there it was.

As long as we lead in military science, everything else is moot.

Ask the Kaiser, Hitler and Tojo how that worked out for them…

I’m sure he’s heard that before. But he points out many problems with the big bang and of course the big bang is a highly invested theory that no one wants to seriously challenge because its been the standard model for so long.

Conspiracy theories like this show complete ignorance of how science actually works. Finding even *one* solid piece of evidence that seriously challenges the big bang theory or the standard model of particle physics = endowed chair in a building named after you at the university of your choice, Nobel Prize, and a blank check for research grants the rest of your career.

But other than that, um, yeah, nobody wants to challenge the standard model…

“Senator Obama. The first beam in the Large Hadron Collider at CERN1 was successfully steered around the full 27 kilometres of the world’s most powerful particle accelerator at 10h28 this morning. What do you think about that?”

Mr. Obama: “uuhhhhhh, ummmmmm…….. I uhhhh, think…. ummm…. uhhhhhh, where’s my teleprompter? Does it wear lipstick?”

Spend Read Spend Read Spend Read… – Learn Learn Learn…

WildBillK on September 10, 2008 at 8:40 PM

Fixed it for ‘ya…………….

coldwarrior on September 10, 2008 at 11:08 PM

:-) I’ll stick with beer and an occasional usquebaugh. Just remember that there are no mystical or unnatural events only natural events that haven’t been explained yet.

Oh yeah, its a creation site, I should have mentioned it. But I wouldn’t scoff to quickly, his credential are pretty good and listed on the site under, “About the Author.” The story about his education and background below that column is also interesting.

Oldnuke on September 10, 2008 at 9:58 PM

Think I’ll go back and just read Hello Kitty stories to my grandduaghter…

Still pondering the imponderable. Think I need to ask one of the college students down the street for a doobie.

No matter what side of the fence you’re on, his site is a good read.

I suppose I shouldn’t have been shocked by the domain name, but I was. I think we’re well out of the realm of science here, but I don’t begrudge his right to defend his religion. I just happen to believe that science is not an attack on it.