No, really, the LHC might be under attack by particles from the future

The idea that the Higgs boson is traveling backwards in time to derail its own discovery has been featured lately in the New York Times, among other places, but it sounds like scientists are just making stuff up for why the LHC isn't working yet.

Here's an intelligible explanation that completely blew my mind.

Interim Update

I have been pretty busy lately and at a loss for what to write, as will be explained below. My girlfriend visited recently, and we had a great time. She wrote a little about what we did here so feel free to go check out our trip to Vienna - my first trip outside Krakow that was not related to work!

Science-wise, I am super busy editing a report about the current work of the FCAL collaboration for a review committee. It has been my intention for some time to give a good explanation of the role of my particular detector, but I've refrained from doing this for two reasons. The first is that editing the report and reading the work of others, who work on detectors that perform similar or complimentary roles, has helped me gain a better understanding of how my detector fits into the big picture. The second reason is that LumiCal isn't a particularly glamorous detector - it won't be detecting new particles or extra dimensions. Instead it plays more of a "background" role, so trying to make it interesting and relevant to people is a bit of a challenge. I promise I'll give it my best shot.

Soylent Green

Here's a scary thought: If the world human population continues to grow at 1.14% per year, then we only have about 3,000 years before the entire mass of the Earth is converted into people. Good news, though; there is hope! We could reduce birth rates or let war, disease, and famine level out the human population, OR we could colonize the solar system. I know which one sounds a lot cooler.

Things that have happened to me in Poland while my camera has been out of batteries

1. The Tour de Pologne, a week-long road race through Poland, finished at the park a block away from my dorm. All the big teams were there, and it was really cool to be able to get right up next to the riders. I never realized that despite the fact that they ride for hours every day, the spectators only see them for about 20 seconds! Their open mouths and stooped shoulders really leave you wondering what the heck happens for the other 9 hours, 59 minutes and 40 seconds.

2. I went on another fantastic bike ride myself, to Niepołomice.

3. A friend from college came passing through for a weekend, just in time for a pierogi festival!

4. I have determined to not give up on this blog.

This city is fantastic during the summer; there's always some sponsored event, and since I don't speak Polish that well, it's always a surprise!

Thanks Jorge

Alright, I originally intended to post something about calorimetry in particle physics (which is what my project is about) but that post was getting way too complicated so I'll put it off until I think of a way to simplify it and actually make it worth reading.

In the meantime, the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing was just a couple days ago! Since lately I've focused on writing computer simulations of our calorimeter, you get a computer-y post today.

The Google Code Blog has posted some of the actual code from the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Module and Command Module! I can't really read it, but the comments are fun. Here's my favorite:

               TC      BANKCALL        # TEMPORARY, I HOPE HOPE HOPE
               CADR    STOPRATE        # TEMPORARY, I HOPE HOPE HOPE

Secondly, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has pictures of the landing sites! Here's Apollo 14, and click the picture for a link to the others.

Mom's here!

Hey everybody, sorry for the lack of updates but I had my first presentation over the weekend, and now my Mom's visiting! So it'll be at least a few days before I can write again. In the meantime, panic!

YES