I’ve decided to introduce a new segment to an already crowded blog: the strangelet. Strangelets are like Nerdlets, but weird, wild, and, well, strange. The term “strangelet” derives from the controversy surrounding the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which powered up today after a long and convoluted history (remember the Super Conductor Super Collider?)
In other words, it is appropriate that our first strangelet be about, well, the strangelet. Here is the definition from wikipedia:
A strangelet is a hypothetical object consisting of a bound state of roughly equal numbers of up, down, and strange quarks. The size would be a minimum of a few femtometers across (with the mass of a light nucleus). Once the size becomes macroscopic (on the order of meters across), such an object is usually called a quark star or “strange star” rather than a strangelet. An equivalent description is that a strangelet is a small fragment of strange matter. The term “strangelet” originates with E. Farhi and R. Jaffe. Strangelets have been suggested as a dark matter candidate.
So what’s the big deal? Well some believe that the strangelet, if it exists, could destroy the world. Don’t believe me? Well the BBC documentary End Day lists this as one of six possible doomsday scenarios.
For a more balanced perspective, and a history of the controversy, be sure to check out this story on NPR’s Talk of the Nation. And here is today’s news on the subject.
Assuming we are all still here tomorrow, I hope to have another wild and wacky post from the world of strange news. And, as luck would have it, it also deals with the end of the world…
Update: See the story by Ars Technica here.
I have mentioned wordle before, the cool free web-app that turns a pile of words into a occurrence-based cloud image.
John Schweneler has recently applied wordle to the official campaign blogs of McCain and Obama. This is interesting on so many levels, but of particular note is that the most frequently used word on both blogs is… Obama.
A to-the-point analysis from Politico.com.
The two candidates will make their first joint appearance this Saturday at Saddleback Church, hosted by Rick Warren. The website for the event can be found here. NPR reports:
Warren has said that the conversations will focus on issues such as
poverty, AIDS, climate change and human rights. The forum also gives
the politicians the chance to appeal to religious voters. The most recent poll
from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life shows that white
evangelicals are more undecided now than they were at this point during
the last two election cycles.
And also this, from a Q&A with the Pew Forum’s John Green:
Beyond what it may say about the role of religion and the campaign, the
event seems to serve the purposes of both the Obama and McCain
campaigns. As you know, there has been a lot of back-and-forth between
the campaigns about joint appearances. This is the first one that’s
happened. It could also be that some of the people who put this
together, including Rick Warren himself, were a particular draw.
In the course of further discussion, Green compares Rick Warren’s recent place in political discussion to Billy Graham:
One of the reasons Warren has the kind of attraction to Obama and
McCain is that he is not as political as some pastors are. He cares
very much about issues like AIDS in Africa. The better parallel is
between him and [Billy] Graham. Graham was friends with many presidents
and close to the Bush family. Graham did this in a very bipartisan way
but always managed to stay above the rough and tumble, because he
always talked about issues, and he based his appeal on personal
relationships.
Read more here. Mark Stricherz of getReligion.org offers some further thoughts about Rick Warren. It is also interesting that the abortion debate does not appear to be on the agenda, particularly given some statements by Obama, not to mention proposed changes in the Democratic platform on the issue.
Peter Sagal on All Things Considered:
Like a lot of people, I am constantly checking my e-mail accounts. I also check if anybody has commented on my blog, and I check my phone for text messages, and I await instant messages like a trembling young fawn. But I noticed recently that once I’ve received an e-mail, text message or comment, I feel a certain letdown. Before it arrives, it could be anything: a new opportunity, an old friend emerging from the past, a summons to the palace, because the king has decided that only I can save the kingdom. Once the messages arrive, they seem so mundane: friends I already have, requests that ask nothing of my special crime-fighting abilities, entreaties from Nigerians to whom I’ve already sent checks.
Read more.
At first it may seem that the Garfield comic strip has nothing to do with my aforementioned open-source agenda. But check out this post, which not only tells us about the benefits of a culture of sharing, but also provides an interesting perspective on art, language, hermeneutics, and the contextual nature of meaning.
