Focus People! Focus!
I was not entirely wrong about last night's first Big Bang Broadcast but it was actually quite interesting, being a collection of clips from various past Horizon programmes. Not that they managed to use the evocative theme music of the 80s (you have to wait until a minute into this clip to see the titles). It was nice to see Feynman and the usual crew and even Fred Hoyle who whatever his opposition to the Big Bang Theory, was a nice guy. Next programme about the LHC itself is on PVR as two hours of physics is enough for anybody (I remember Wednesday mornings very well). However, there was no escape as there were 5 minutes of Physics-based jollity on Mock the Week involving the idea that the black holes will gradually pull us all towards Switzerland - "All I can see is the gateway into doom - I was expecting chocolate and cuckoo clocks!".
A few minutes of the second LHC programme actually got me really into what they are trying to find out - the idea that NOT finding the Higgs boson would be almost as exciting as it popping up within a nano-second of switch on waving a contract with Max Clifford. My wife still shrugs with the opinion (I think) that the whole thing is a pointless waste of money and that it has no real-world purpose. My reply would be that everything that makes our modern western lifestyle physically comfortable is the product of science. I have had the sudden revelation that this includes the technology used to broadcast Big Brother and talent shows which means I have to accept them even if I really hate them (and you have to believe me when I say I do). Task for today - make a list of everything that genuinely has no real-world purpose. This has made me think of the old fall-back of Maslow's hierarchy of needs- we need water - food - warmth - shelter and after that anything else is just dressing. The LHC is at the top of that pyramid and yet to me it seems to have more importance to our existence than many things which would be traditionally lower down the list. I not sure Tom Manuel - my Sociology Tutor would have let us discuss this in class. And before you snigger, yes - I did sociology - get over it - it was only an hour a week - I could handle it.
Right! No more noodling observations. My dad is talking about getting a laptop and I'm trying to persuade him to make sure it's got wireless and to get broadband. This of course makes me wonder whether he'll actually read this. His take on blogs is that they're just web-based ego supporters and what with the majority of visitors to here being robots I imagine, he may well be right. Having said that, if he decided to write a blog at about the level this one is pitched at, I would probably make the effort to read it but then again he is my dad. I don't actually have any friends who have blogs but if I did I would probably read them as well, unless they were really boring of course. He does contribute to this page occasionally but I am sure he sends the entries in on paper. The page reminds me of The Orwell Diaries.
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