"And the punchline of the joke is asking someone save us"

[cupcake_goth]

(There are maybe 10 of you who will recognize where I took the title of this post from, and are probably giggling to yourselves.)

Hey look at that! The world didn't end when the Large Hadron Collider was switched on. Of course, as several people have pointed out, there are all sorts of doomsday possibilities that would take a few weeks to really get started, but that just means everyone has time to prepare for the possible rip in space-time and/or a zombie uprising.

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So I'm going to see the Sisters Of Mercy in November, when they play El Corazon. Because apparently I am an optimist, and think the show will be better than the last time I saw them. (You couldn't tell what songs were being performed thanks to the WALL OF DISTORTION, and the smoke machine was cranked so high that it set off the smoke alarm. Fun for everyone!) But my dear StuntHusband has never seen them live, AND stroppy_baggage is planning on attending. Mostly so we can tell people he's Uncle Andy's younger brother. (Because Andrew Eldritch really does look like he's the older, drug-addled brother of the Stroppy One. It's kind of eerie.)

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Random gothy eye candy clicky-link: A pirate-loli photo shoot from egl. I think her outfit is lovely, and it is making me covet more stripey blouses.

Comments

[skepticle.livejournal.com]

http://www.hasthelhcdestroyedtheearth.com/

http://www.lhccanhazdestroyearth.com/

[e-juliana.livejournal.com]

I giggled!

I love my geeky friends. Also, zombies.

I am not seeing SoM this time. Not unless you report back that it was the Best Show EVAR. I like being able to continue to breathe, thank you!

Bah

[tolkiencub.livejournal.com]

Turning it on had no chance to cause damage; the news (and the lawsuits) were based on stupidity, not even very-low-probability ACCURATE science.

The first experiment that actually involves doing more than TURNING ON A SWITCH and WATCHING THE PRETTY "yes it's on!" LIGHTS isn't until the end of October.

Bah.

Micro-black-holes - not a problem. The same physics that suggests they *can* be made also describes how they *would* go away without doing more than wrecking the LHC.

Strangelets? Mini-super-string bundles? Quark blobs?

Well. So exotic, we're more likely to die by a meteor strike. (And so long-term our CHILDREN wouldn't have much to talk about except "don't go near the ruins of the LHC, they glow!")

Bah.

Re: Bah

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

Well, this means your mad science plots to rule and/or destroy the world can still go forward? I try to look on the bright side of these things.

Re: Bah

[tolkiencub.livejournal.com]

I *could* be lying, so I can LATER take credit for the Catastrophe.

"Oh, the earthquakes? That's MEEEEEE! No, don't think about the LHC - that was a dud. No, really."

Re: Bah

[marc17.livejournal.com]

It doesn't matter, we're probably all living in a false vacuum anyway.

[schwarze-krahe.livejournal.com]

if it was not for Eldritch I would like them, but his voice makes me want to kill. I'll go if someone buys me a ticket just so I can dress up and laugh.

[wbyonder.livejournal.com]

First of all and I don't know why the scientific community hasn't debunked this. The amount of mass involved with the LHC even if it swallowed the earth would not be .00001% big enough to start a black hole. Any info even suggesting this is either paranoia or publicity.

Having said that the density of smoke at the last SoM concert I attended (with you I believe) is far more likely to cause a black hole from an accreation disk then the LHC. I will not be attending that. I do miss hanging out with you but this will not be the event to hang out at. I do hope to see you again sometime. I know our social circles have diverged somewhat but that doesn't mean I've lost interest in you. Love always, -Jon

[marc17.livejournal.com]

Because the scientific community knows that black holes can be created at any mass. Send two particles colliding into each other with enough energy to get them to critical density and you could end up with a mini black hole. However, they'd only suck in items that actually touched their event horizon which would be incredibly small, much smaller than the nucleus of an atom. Meaning, it would probably just pass through most matter without anything happening. If it wasn't at escape velocity though, it would begin to orbit or oscillate around the Earth's center of gravity and eventually gather more mass as it does hit things over time. However, at the sizes we are working with Hawking radiation would probably cause it to bleed off energy (and therefore mass) and evaporate much faster than it could gather mass.

What we really need to worry about are stranglets that would turn everything around them into more stranglets.

[staxxy.livejournal.com]

in reverse order -

the lolli shoot is very cute.. You definitely need more stripey blouses.

Uncle Andy is still far too outright bitchy about the people who come to see him for me to want to contribute to his coffers.

The only reason why the physicists have said it is *possible* that the Hadron will end the world is that they are scientists and until things are proved impossible, they must allow for all possibilities regardless of probability. I think spydrman put it best when he said "it's also *possible* monkeys might fly out of my ass".

The real reason why the world is going to "end" is more idealogical than physical. They are looking for things that will provide/prove a unified theory, once and for *all*. It is true, in most senses of the word, that what they are looking for with this is God. I see it as a great escalation in the war between science and religion. This is the next big step... like sailing around the world proved it was round. This is fucking HUGE... like 'holy crap am I going to pay attention to this because it is likely to be the most important thing that happens in our lifetimes' huge.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

Even if the LHC folks find the Higgs boson, I doubt that anybody except the particle physicists will care. I'd be tremendously surprised if the Jeeezus freaks even noticed. Remember, they're still fixated on 19th century science, namely Darwin. And I said for the LHC goes for extraterrestrial life, too.

[staxxy.livejournal.com]

I agree that the Jayzus freaks aren't going to care right now about it. They will *eventually*, as more things are written about it, and it makes a lot of magazine and newspapers...

And really, they won't make a huge stink about it in our lifetimes.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

1) We'll know there may be a problem with the LHC if we're all suddenly flying through the air toward the glowing remains of Europe.
2) You take the stripey blouse. I'll take the corset.

[staxxy.livejournal.com]

I want the skirt!

[icebluenothing.livejournal.com]

I'm still not entirely convinced that Sisters of Mercy were actually *there* at the last concert, or if the venue simply concealed the fact they were using recorded tracks with horribly blown speakers, and the fact they were using almost-good-enough lookalike lip-synchers with clouds and clouds of billowing fog. No one can prove otherwise.

I'm going to be out of town the weekend of this next alleged "concert," but I'm not heartbroken -- I hate El Corazon almost as fiercely as I do Showbox So-So, or whatever they're calling it these days. (I keep swearing I'm never going back there, but then they keep booking bands like Goldfrapp. So.)

[cupcake-goth.livejournal.com]

They were there! Or at least Uncle Andy was. Thanks to a series of really zany things, I ended up standing on the side of the stage during "Dominion/Mother Russia". So I was close enough to see that yep, Andrew has aged not at all well.

I agree with you about El Corazon. And yet, I keep going to shows there.

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

I was at the ill-fated SoM show at that dreadful venue, but I haven't seen any shows at El Corazon yet (thinking of seeing SITD there though). Could you tell me more about the venue and what you hate about it? That might help me decide...

[icebluenothing.livejournal.com]

1.) Slightly weird two-tier layout that offers a surprisingly wide variety of poor viewing angles. 2.) More importantly, no ventilation to speak of. Which is a problem in massive black-clad crowds. When I saw VNV Nation there, I literally, no joke, ended up lying down shirtless on the linoleum floor, dizzily trying to remember what the symptoms of heatstroke are.

[weaselmom.livejournal.com]

Ack - you're so right. Poor ventilation is a huge issue. I'll have to rethink this. Thanks much!

[smu.livejournal.com]

SoM is touring again?

I wonder how much money it is... if they'll come to New York... dunno how much I'd pay to be sneered at by Eldritch himself...