Photography: The Large Hadron Collider/ATLAS at CERN by Image Editor

I haven’t written here for a while, (but I have some plans to do more blogging and get a new blogging setup going, after all blogging is good for you! ) But I found that a topic got started on a forum about a previous experience I had (that I wrote about here)

A comment on that forum thread reminded me about the “Large Hadron Collider” which is a giant experimental physics machine/facilty that basically takes the tiniest particles known to man and makes them collide with each other at near light speed in hopes of discovering even tinier particles. If they find what has been dubbed “The God Particle” then it would be considered a major breakthrough in physics.

On the other hand, there are some concerns that this experiment could create “tiny black holes” or other side effects that could potentially wipe out the entire planet. So, these concerns obviously make this experiment a big event.

From Wikipedia:

Concerns have been raised that performing collisions at previously unexplored energies might unleash new and disastrous phenomena. These include the production of micro black holes, and strangelets, potentially resulting in a doomsday scenario.

What makes this even more interesting is the time that the first collisions are scheduled to take place is around the same date that a crazy (I hope) guy I met last year predicted the end of the world to be – August 2, 2008

Again from Wikipedia:

The first beams are due for injection mid June 2008 with the first collisions planned to take place 2 months later.

I don’t know the exact date of the first collisions but according to this it would be in August 2008.

I’m going to predict that on August 2, 2008 and the preceeding days after we’ll all be living life as usual. (After all what do I have to lose with this prediction, if it’s right, I’ll be hailed as wise, and if it’s wrong, nobody will be around, so it can’t be rubbed in my face lol). I remember we all thought the end was surely going to come when the clock struck midnight of December 31, 1999, but now almost ten years later, the end hasn’t come yet. I do believe that it is near but how near or how far, only God knows. (Matthew 24:36)

The LHC is a very interesting project and I hope that whoever is in charge knows better that to risk earth and humanity, if there truly is a significant risk. I wouldn’t worry too much about it. But I thought it all made for an interesting blog post as I’ve been fascinated by the LHC project since I first heard about it a while back. I certainly hope that it isn’t a doomsday scenario but at least I’ll have a month to play with my new iPhone 3g w/ GPS! (JK)

The End…

UPDATE (6/30/2008): Accorting to Gizmodo there is no need to fear a Report Confirms Large Hadron Collider Will Not Spawn Doomsday Scenario, End World As We Know It . Also the LHC will fire up sooner than August (lhcountdown.com)

Is The Large Hadron Collider… The End?…

Photography: shark or dolphin by schloppy

Check out this amazing story of a surfer who was attacked by a great white shark and lived with the help of God, friends, dolphins and many more…

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21689083/

Truly incredible!

Great White Attacks And Dolphins Help Escape!

Photography: Beach Party by lobster rocket

Transhumanist beach party? or even invading body hackers? Probably not, but an interesting pic none the less.

I’ve recently learned about a philosophy called Transhumanism… According to Wikipedia (at the time of writing)…

Transhumanism (sometimes symbolized by >H or H+) is an international intellectual and cultural movement supporting the use of new sciences and technologies to enhance human mental and physical abilities and aptitudes, and ameliorate what it regards as undesirable and unnecessary aspects of the human condition, such as stupidity, suffering, disease, aging and involuntary death.

It sounds to me like “Body Hacking” to go beyond our current human limits. To a certain degree we are already doing this. From standard medical procedures and devices like pacemakers, to the new weight-lose surgeries, and to even the use of steriods. Some of these things are helpful, and some are harmful. But it sounds like Transhumanism proposes to take it entirely to another level.

From Wikipedia…

Transhumanist thinkers postulate that human beings will eventually be transformed into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label “posthuman.”

So Transhumanists are thinking along the lines of a future where we exploit the knowledge of the human body to such a degree that we’re not even considered human but “posthuman”, maybe like Cyborgs or something. They are even thinking of escaping death, but is that even possible by human means? Some propose that we could theoretically take our brain and download all the info to some kind of manufactured brain that we could exist or be stored in. And while in theory it seems it could be remotely possible, what about the soul. I know not everyone believes in a soul but it seems to me that there is something that makes the human existence reliant upon more than just the brain or even the human body. If you take a step back and look at the big picture, man truly has dominion over the earth like no other creature. And when you look at the human world as a whole, there is a lot more to humanity than just carnal human bodies.

I’ll leave it at that as I don’t want to go on too much. But to say the least, it’s kind of scary that people would become “Body Hackers” to such a degree.

Transhumanist Beach Party? Or Invasion of the Body Hackers

Photograph by Pelagic Drifter

Are these guys insane? Maybe so, or maybe not. The sharks don’t seem to be bothered by them in their pictures. Although if they were bothered by them, their mouths look just big enough to permanently damage an arm or leg.

I’m really astonished at this picture because sharks have been on my mind alot this summer. I started taking an interest in snorkeling and scuba diving and other water sports. I never had a very successful time even snorkeling but I’ve wondered if I could possibly run into a shark out there off of the north L.A. beaches. Before I had this interest, I didn’t even think that sharks would be around here. But a lot of people I’ve talked to seemed to be scared and think they’re out there. At one beach I even saw a fisherman catch and throw back a baby shark from the rocks.

After seeing this pic and the rows of teeth, I don’t see how those guys do it.

Sharks, More Sharks and… DIVERS?!!