Philotic Web

Ray Bradbury died. He was one of the early school assignments I had that led me to love SciFi.

I heard. Very sad.

This fire is a little too close to home.

It's on the edge of my college town, about 15 miles away from my hometown and 40 miles away from my home. The smoke made it's way down here this morning. It brought with it a headache and an inability to keep my breakfast down.

Higgs-boson likely discovered.

For the physics averse: this is officially a discovery of a new particle (of the boson variety) which appears to be consistent with the predictions, made by the Standard Model of particle physics, for the Higgs Boson. While they have enough data to confirm the existence of a new particle to the considerable level of rigor observed by the physics community (a 5 sigma signal essentially means a 1 in a million chance that they're wrong); they don't yet have enough data to confirm that is actually the Higgs.

As one of your resident physicists, I'll be happy to try and explain any questions you may have to the best of my ability.

Which is why I said "likely" instead of something more absolute. And really, whether or not this new particle is the Higgs is irrelevant to a certain extent. The important part is that we've discovered a new particle we were previously unaware of and studying it will help us understand how the universe works. I read somewhere that some scientists would actually be disappointed if this new particle ends up matching the hypothetical Higgs exactly, not because they have anything against the Higgs but because some of mankind's greatest discoveries have been accidents while searching for something else.

I'm not a physicist, but I think that a discovery like this deserves me to chime in with a hearty "WAY COOL".

Some of mankind's greatest discoveries have been accidents while searching for something else.

Here's hoping for time travel. Or a perfect energy source. Or hoverboards.

Which is why I said "likely" instead of something more absolute. And really, whether or not this new particle is the Higgs is irrelevant to a certain extent. The important part is that we've discovered a new particle we were previously unaware of and studying it will help us understand how the universe works.

I wasn't taking issue with your post, I just wanted to make sure it was explained well since most people get their coverage from the news, and a lot of news sources are shouting "we found the Higgs, we found the Higgs".

I read somewhere that some scientists would actually be disappointed if this new particle ends up matching the hypothetical Higgs exactly, not because they have anything against the Higgs but because some of mankind's greatest discoveries have been accidents while searching for something else.

Also because if it is actually the Higgs, supersymmetry is probably in trouble, and a lot of physicists like supersymmetry better than the Standard Model.

Or hoverboards.

We're only 3 years away!




You Bozo, McFly! Hoverboards don't work on water... unless you've got power!

I admit it. I cried. Unsurprisingly.

Pregnant in Auschwitz: Toronto Holocaust survivor recalls split-second decision that saved her and unborn son

ETA: Best not to read the comments, though. They make me want to cry in a different way.

That's quite the story! As a side-note, I'm sure I've been past their shop when I was living in North York.

Mom arrested for letting kids play outside

This makes me so angry. One day, when the kids were playing outside and Brian and I were on the porch singing with his guitar, Brayden climbed on top of our car in our own drive way. I made him get down and he came over and talked to me about it. We went back to playing and having fun. Pretty soon, a police car drove up and informed us that a "concerned neighbor" had called that the child was in danger and he needed to make sure we weren't gone or drunk or something. (If you know us AT ALL, you know how completely ridiculous either one of those scenarios are.) If this neighbor was actually concerned about Brayden's safety, they would have come over to check out the situation before calling the police. And if they were watching that closely, they would have seen Brian and I watching over and disciplining our children.

It's hard enough being a mom without losing the support of those who are supposed to be your "village."

It's hard enough being a mom without losing the support of those who are supposed to be your "village."

Hey, every village has an idiot!

It's too bad that village won't come to reclaim your idiot neighbor . I think you could do without him or her!

Oh forevermore. Common sense, people! Common sense!

That poor mom. How awful.

Have all my Goodreads friends heard about Amazon acquiring it? Any thoughts/concerns over it?

I'm not really comfortable with it but I also have no real argument as to why it's a bad thing.

Oh that dismays me... Not that I've been using it as much as I wish I did, but still. It just reminds me a bit too much of the Red Mars books (which I need to finish yet... maybe I'll go to the library on Tuesday...) with massive international companies just acquiring everything for some major corporate purpose. Really, I just don't like having so many such major entities storing more personal data amongst their archives.

Photos of Boston, empty: http://storify.com/gteresa/this-is-not- ... our-usuall" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I honestly thought the only time a major city would be that far shutdown, without there being some sort of major natural disaster, would be for a zombie apocalypse type scenario. The first photo is so haunting to me.