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To mark the 80th birthday of the man behind the elusive particle, we’re holding a competition to rename the damned thing
I once asked a brilliant physicist at Manchester University what he thought of the name the media use for the Higgs boson, the mysterious particle that is regarded as the universal origin of mass. That name, of course, is the God particle.
It is partly with thanks to names like “God particle” and spurious end-of-the-world scenarios that the Large Hadron Collider at Cern near Geneva got so much coverage when it was switched on last year. And broke…
But back to the physicist in Manchester. He paused. He sighed. And then he said: “I really, really don’t like it. It sends out all the wrong messages. It overstates the case. It makes us look arrogant. It’s rubbish.” He then added: “If you walked down the corridor here, poked your head into people’s offices and asked that question, you would likely be struck by flying books…”
Below I’ve set out the best criteria I can find for how to come up with a good name for a new particle. Depending on the number of entries, we’ll select the winner by: consulting physicists; testing the entries on the humanities graduates who run the Guardian’s newsdesk, aka “The Gate Keepers”; or by printing them out on a sheet of paper and asking the chef to throw a dart at it*.
The winner will receive a copy of Science: A Four Thousand Year History by Patricia Fara, and a surprise Higgs boson-themed gift.
1) Names should be serious and accurate
2) It is good to name things after people, but only if you can resist the pressure to hyphenate with two or three extra names
3) Names should be evocative and inspiring.The closing date is midnight Monday 1st June 2009
Post your suggested name in the Comments at the original article.
 “Hey guys, we’re waiting for you!” |
Australian women are as keen as men to take part in consensual group sex, and they initiate it almost as often.
These are the key findings of a survey conducted among members of the nation’s second biggest online dating site.
Almost 40 percent of respondents report an equal gender split in the group encounter, while a further 30 percent report a majority of men taking part and 30 percent a majority of women.
Almost as many women as men instigate the idea of group sex — 46 percent compared with 54 percent, according to the sizeable RedHotPie.com.au survey, which drew 8,763 responses from among its 1.5 million member listings.
A narrow majority of those engaging in group sex are couples, rather than singles, and most of the couples participate together.
The survey was carried out in response to questions from the national newsagency AAP following revelations of a group sex culture in rugby league which cost former NRL star Matthew Johns his television and coaching jobs.
The most common reasons given for group sex are excitement, variety and to spice up long-term relationships.
Whether or not General Motors files for bankruptcy protection, the carmaker has made clear that its future plans do not include two brands — Saturn and Hummer — that once seemed to hold immense promise for the company.
GM has said it will decide this year whether to sell or discontinue both brands as part of the stringent cost-cutting measures aimed at trying to restore the ailing company’s financial stability. The overall effort also has created an uncertain future for two other GM divisions, Saab and Opel.
GM spokesman John M. McDonald said this week the automaker has identified parties interested in purchasing Saturn and Hummer, but he would not provide specifics on who might be interested or when any deals might be reached.
Your Uncle Dave’s mother was appointed by the governor as the lay person on her state’s medical malpractice board years ago. They would review the evidence against doctors and decide if they should keep their licenses. Based on tales she told, combined with my once having been on a jury in a medical malpractice case, nothing surprises me.
Want to see how your state stacks up on hospitals charging patients when medical errors occur? Oops. Sorry for whacking off your leg instead of just the mole. That’ll still be $10,000.
When the sharp pain shooting through Lisa Strong’s back got worse, she thought it was another kidney stone and expected the discomfort to pass. This time was different.
But Kocik didn’t write “kidney stone” on her diagnosis report. Asked during the trial if she wished she had written it down, Kocik said: “You better believe I wish I did … a million times.” Dr. Strong remembers talking with Kocik and there was not a mention of a kidney stone. He also was not told she was in septic shock, so he went with a diagnosis of acute cholecystitis, a gallbladder condition unrelated to the kidneys.
Dr. Strong handled everything by phone, which is common in such cases.
Just what I want when desperately ill — a doctor diagnosing me by phone.
(CNN) — A major United States military post is shutting down for three days following a rash of suicides, the post announced. Fort Campbell, Ky., home of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division, started a three-day “suicide stand-down training event” Wednesday — the second one it has held this year, a post spokeswoman told CNN. At least 11 deaths of Fort Campbell soldiers this year are confirmed or suspected suicides, spokeswoman Kelly Tyler said. That’s out of 64 confirmed or suspected suicides in the entire Army, according to official statistics. At that rate, the Army is on pace for a record number of suicides this year.
The post commander, Brig. Gen. Stephen Townsend, addressed all 19,000 soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division on Wednesday, Tyler said. His intent was to be able to look them in the eye and make them aware that everyone cares about the issue, and make sure they know — corporal to general — what help is available,” she said. “To make sure that people know we want them to keep living.” Soldiers often refuse to admit they are having problems because of the culture of the military, she said. You still have the stigma in the Army of asking for help — it’s an institution of strength and honor. And they need to understand that there is strength and honor in asking for help,” Tyler said.
“It’s easy to lose focus of that. We are a nation at war, an army at war. The guys around you need you to be there. They need you to ask for help, or for them to ask for help if you can’t.”
A man aged 29 has fathered 21 children with 11 different women, it emerged yesterday. Desmond Hatchett’s brood came to light after authorities in Tennessee in the U.S. took him to court for non-payment of child support. He has apparently set a U.S. record but said: ‘It just happened.’ He added that he would not have any more children. ‘I’m done. I’ll say I’m done,’ he said.
Hatchett, who earns a minimal wage, told TV reporters he knows the names and ages of all his offspring. Their ages range from newborn to 11 years old. Authorities in Knoxville said they plan to take half of his monthly salary to pay for the youngsters but officials said that would work out to just over £1 a week for each. His lawyer Keith Pope said: ‘The children can’t all be supported by Desmond, so the state of Tennessee has had to step in.’
Many Knoxville residents called for him to be castrated. He even boasted of fathering four children by different women in the same year. Hatchett’s name appeared on court documents 11 times representing 15 of his 21 children. U.S. authorities are now braced for more women coming forward to claim Hatchett is the father of their children after he appeared on local TV. He said the women he was involved with all knew he had other children. One mother, who has two children with Hatchett, said she should get £44 a month but rarely receives any child support. ‘It’s frustrating, but usually, when I ask he gives it to me,’ she said. Authorities in Knoxville ordered Hatchett to court to explain how he intends to pay child support.
He arrived for the hearing with just over £300.
Maybe we should hook him up with this moron…
 Young movie addict |
Smoking in youth-rated movies has not declined despite a pledge two years ago by Hollywood studios to encourage producers to show less “gratuitous smoking,” according to an anti-smoking group.
The American Medical Association Alliance has been trying to get movie studios to make smoking-free films.
The American Medical Association Alliance, pointing to research that big-screen smoking leads teens to pick up the tobacco habit, called for an R rating for any movie with smoking scenes….
“Research has shown that one-third to one-half of all young smokers in the United States can be attributed to smoking these youth see in movies,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, head of the Los Angeles County Public Health Department.
Fielding cited another study that he said “found that adolescents whose favorite movie stars smoked on screen are significantly more likely to be smokers themselves and to have a more accepting attitude toward smoking”….
Joan Graves, who chairs the Motion Picture Association’s movie rating committee, offered her own statistics, based on all of the 900 films rated each year, not just the top movies included in Fielding’s numbers.
The association has given no G ratings in the past two years to a movie with smoking, Graves said….
“Any movie with smoking should be rated R,” [Fielding] said. “And if they worry about an R rating hurting their profits, then they should work with studios to remove smoking from films that hurt youth.”
I have a feeling that I could go to lunch with members of the AMA Alliance and the Motion Picture Association and walk away not liking any of them.
Can’t we find some clerical jobs for these guys or something?
Thanks, K B
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission
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As General Motors heads toward insolvency, the company that was once the biggest on the planet is still riding high in the world’s most populous country.
As the storied American company prepares to financially dismantle its operations between good and poor performing assets, GM China is becoming the crown jewel in the company’s operations.
“If there’s a good GM and a bad GM, China is definitely going to be in the good GM side,” said Michael Dunne, an auto analyst and managing director of J.D. Power and Associates China…
Industry analysts say the decision is a simple matter of dollars and cents: GM is now the third-biggest car manufacturer in China, which has recently overtaken the U.S. as the world’s largest car market…
In an unprecedented effort to crack down on self-serving edits, the Wikipedia supreme court has banned contributions from all IP addresses owned or operated by the Church of Scientology and its associates.
Closing out the longest-running court case in Wikiland history, the site’s Arbitration Committee voted 10 to 0 (with one abstention) in favor of the move, which takes effect immediately.
The eighth most popular site on the web, Wikipedia bills itself as “the free encyclopedia anyone can edit.” … But according to multiple administrators speaking with The Reg, the muzzling of Scientology IPs marks the first time Wikipedia has officially barred edits from such a high-profile organization for allegedly pushing its own agenda on the site.
For companies that compete with Microsoft, HTML5 is almost the Holy Grail, offering the ability to run applications regardless of the underlying operating system. While the browser isn’t more important than operating system today, Google this week firmly suggested it is only a matter of time.
We’ve heard that story before. Java was supposed to raise apps above the level of the operating system, offering cross-platform “write once, run everywhere” applications that would break the coupling between an application and a specific operating system. Proponents predicted Windows would become less important with the rise of Java apps.
While Java has accomplished a great deal, it’s potential as an OS-killer has not been realized. HTML5 has a better shot.
At its developer conference this week, Google demonstrated HTML5 applications support inside future versions of its Chrome browser and the future Android 2.0 operating system. Mozilla executives also promised HTML5 support inside the forthcoming Firefox 3.5 browser.
Microsoft, meanwhile, has announced plans to support HTML5, but appears to be keeping it as arm’s length, at least for now.
- Stanley Bing wonders if MSFT expropriated his name. Har.
- Bing looks like a shopping site.
- Google says 18 Androids coming at you.
- Pre ready for iTunes.
- Xbox hits 30 million in sales.
- Google says the browser will be the new OS thanks to HTML 5.
- Woz says Steve “sounds good.”
- Dell Hires IBM executive and gets sued immediately.
- Go to Avis.com/tech5 for a discount.
Right click here and select ‘Save Link As…’ to download the mp3 file.
Couple Ordered to Stop Holding Bible Study at Home Without Permit – FOXNews.com — What? Does this mean I cannot have a few guys over to watch a football game either? It’s kind of religious.
Pastor David Jones and his wife Mary have been told that they cannot invite friends to their San Diego, Calif. home for a bible study — unless they are willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars to San Diego County.
“On Good Friday we had an employee from San Diego County come to our house, and inform us that the bible study that we were having was a religious assembly, and in violation of the code in the county.” David Jones told FOX News.
“We told them this is not really a religious assembly — this is just a bible study with friends. We have a meal, we pray, that was all,” Jones said.
A few days later, the couple received a written warning that cited “unlawful use of land,” ordering them to either “stop religious assembly or apply for a major use permit,” the couple’s attorney Dean Broyles told San Diego news station 10News.
 Yes! Tell them to STFU!! |
White House to Sonia Sotomayor critics: Be ‘careful’ – Alexander Burns and Josh Gerstein – POLITICO.com — FYI. The thought police are wanting you to shut up, or else.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs issued a pointed warning to opponents of Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s Supreme Court nomination Wednesday, urging critics to measure their words carefully during a politically charged confirmation debate.
“I think it is probably important for anybody involved in this debate to be exceedingly careful with the way in which they’ve decided to describe different aspects of this impending confirmation,” Gibbs said.
He was replying to a question from CBS’s Chip Reid about a blog post by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich accusing Sotomayor of imposing identity politics on the bench and declaring: “A white man racist nominee would be forced to withdraw. A Latina woman racist should also withdraw.”
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