I Love Bill Nye [The Science Guy]

I really mean this with every heterosexual bone in my body, but man is Bill Nye cool. Aside from his amazing life story, Bill Nye can take time out of his atom cracking day to answer the average person's concerns about the huge oil spill. 

The result is pretty cool [of course] because I initially thought he would have dismissed all of the suggestions [especially the hay one].

Commercial Break: Seahorse Has Seahorsies

Its been a while since I've posted some consistent Commercial Breaks, but rest assured the I'm working my way back into a groove. I'm working on a big update explaining my my posts have been so infrequent, but expect more interviews, more ranty articles and reviews. By the time I'm done with this site they'll be as many articles in one month as there are seahorses in that vid....oh my god! That's a ton of seahorses.

[Why Does It Look Like That Male Seahorse Is In An Immense Amount Of Pain?]

Frank Lantz Article On Game Design Advancement

Sir Frank Lantz of Area Code Inc wrote a damn interesting article on game design and the likely or unlikelihood of the probability of events occuring in games. This article is a result of several panel discussions at PAX East this year. Most notably, Lantz's focal point of the article is the topics discussed during the Rob Pardo and Sid Meier which talked about how game design should focus on adjusting to how a gamer plays as opposed to the gamer stumbling upon choke points of events.

Game Design Advance >> The Truth In Game Design

Commercial Break: Burning Branch vs "Let's Enhance" clips

Had a hard time determining this week's Commercial Break, so I'll post both. The Enhance clip has my heart because it takes from shows I hate and hate to love. Damn it! Was that MacGuyver! Well, the burning branch has that sweet spark-up at the end that I'm sure scientists with more degrees than I could explain at great length.

The "Enchance" Clip Is After The Break...

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Scientist Build An Artificial Brain That Is The Size Of A Cat's

Although the hype around my pet fandom project, the LHC, may have died down. There are plenty of cool things happening in science.

Earlier today, I explained [to the best of my abilities] to my coworkers that scientists were able to build the largest artificial brain which happens to be the size of a cat's brain. Naturally we joked about how artificial cat brains could eventually enslave us all and relegate all of our puny shopping needs to Fancy Feast and Catnip.

Now that I have had time to sit down and think about the ramifications of such a feat, you really have to wonder, "Is it worth it?"

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Update: LHC Shutdown from Glitch

Yep...I see what the problem is...Cheetos in the Magnets....

My obsession and I'm sure many others out there, the LHC [Large Hadron Collider] has suffered a minor setback from what would appear to be a 'slight over heating' of a transformer.  Alex Higgins reports for the Associated Press:

The faulty transformer has been replaced and the ring in the 17-mile circular tunnel under the Swiss-French border has been cooled back down to near zero on the Kelvin scale — minus 459.67 degrees Fahrenheit — the most efficient operating temperature, said a statement by CERN, as the organization is known.

When the transformer malfunctioned, operating temperatures rose from below 2 Kelvin to 4.5 Kelvin — extraordinarily cold by most standards, but warmer than the normal operating temperature.

Total bummer...just when you thought this week couldn't get worse...then this happens.  To make matters worse, due to the complexities of the LHC...its still questionable as to when it will be up and running again. It looks workable, but man...i just got slightly MORE nervous about this whole 'milestone in technology'.

Read more here.

Driving On Salvia

Excuse me...I have to go to space now

CERN Lab In 3 minutes

Okay...so it is the big day. I'm actually typing this on Tuesday, the 9th of September.  So if you are reading this then the earth wasn't destroyed...err...well the internet is still intact and so is whatever spaceship you've managed to stitch together. The above clip is the CERN lab explained [purpose, history, hubbub, etc.] in 3 minutes.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research known as CERN is the world's largest particle physics laboratory, situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco-Swiss border. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) will begin operations soon. On September 10th, the most sophisticated particle accelerator will go online, injecting the first circulation of accelerated particles. Actual experiments involving collisions will occur once scientists are satisfied the LHC is fully optimized and calibration is complete. The LHC has been undergoing "cool-down" for some time, ensuring the LHC's eight sectors are approaching the 1.9K (-271°C) operational temperature (that is 1.9 degrees above absolute zero). All going well, on September 10th, the first beam will be accelerated to an energy of 450 GeV (0.45 TeV), the preliminary step on the path to attaining particle energies of 5 TeV, a record breaking target

After the jump is a clip if things went horribly awry today...

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Hurray For Not Being Blown Up!

We The Best Mang...We Deed It

Although later I am posting another article about the CERN lab itself. If you are reading this then you should know that we, and by we I mean a hand full of physicists and scientist watched two white dots blink on a computer screen. Noticed what's missing? We [and they] did not die! Isn't that awesome!? Not dying rocks! The thing is, this is step one [or step 421] depending on how you look at this of many equally great and dangerous steps to come.

Here's what Alex Higgins [Associated Press] has to add:

"Now that the beam has been successfully tested in clockwise direction, CERN plans to send it counterclockwise. Eventually two beams will be fired in opposite directions with the aim of recreating conditions a split second after the big bang, which scientists theorize was the massive explosion that created the universe."

More photos and the AP article after the jump...

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Large Hadron Collider Going Online...Despite Death Threats

"Pay No Attention To The Guy Behind The Curtain!"

Hey crazy people, why do you have to be so crazy? The LHC is literally hours away from being 'turned on' or put online. So wouldn't you know it? Right on cue comes the crazies. Some of the complaints are general and make sense.  Parents and concerned citizens are calling the CERN lab and specific universities to talk directly with the professors and scientists who are involved with the construction of the LHC. Questions of: "Will my family be safe?", "Should we move?"...all good questions to ask.

But then the crazies come out, threatening the thoughtful minds behind the scientific marvel. Not just any threat either, to threaten these peoples' lives simply  because there is not a firm understanding of what is being done. The threats seem to come out of fear than 'prophecy' or 'religious fanaticism'...so I guess we got that going for us.

More from the Daily Tech source article after the jump...

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