Lunchtime news coverage of the current preparations for the supercollider at CERN were predictably weedy. The BBC's science correspondent (he has a hapless role, methinks) was wearing his hadron-proof hard hat as he toured the site. He admitted that the science was hard to explain - so didn't bother to do so except in a very patronising and superficial manner. Sigh.
We had a wobbly-cam high-speed video of part of the tunnel, some spring-and-ball graphics of subatomic particles in grey, pink and green (mmm, nice), and a pretty picture that looked like maypole ribbons - presumably intended to copy the x-ray traces of particle collisions but in a more inclusive and accessible way. I did Physics A level in the early 70s, and take an amateur interest in science - so I guess I am way over-qualified to watch this drivel. Higgs bosons to the lot of them.
Meanwhile, I am spluttering into my cup of lunchtime soup at the utter futility of it all. I suppose that with Daniel Radcliffe's stage debut being counted as top news (compared, for example, to all the death and destruction in Iraq - so last week), I should hardly be surprised.
You can find out a tiny bit more here, should you wish to strain your grey matter just a little.
28/02/07 @ 17:09