There are many reasons why the Super Collider and the Mini Black Hole are two of my favorite aspects of TSTO…ever.
Ever is a long time…but, as we all know, time is relative. Ask Einstein. In fact, time is merely a construct of THIS space/time, and one of the things that bounds us all here, according to most who subscribe to the Standard Model of Physics.
And then there are those folks who are starting to come to the realization that there may in fact be more to the “spooky science” of quantum physics, and are beginning to unravel some of the “laws” that have been just a tad shaky from the beginning. Plank, Bohrs, Higgs, Schrödinger, and countless others, are those who realized that time, space, and our consciousness, may have more to do with aspects far outside of the “Standard Model” and traditional studies of atomic science. It’s in the sub-atomic world…where particles and waves can be the same, and actions beyond the constant of the speed of light, may be the standard, where things get really interesting.
Oh. And the constant fear that tinkering with the most basic elements by causing particle collisions at almost light speed, could open up a hole in the fabric of the universe, which would suck our entire existence into another dimension almost instantly.
These were real fears (by some) in 2012 when physicists at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland were nearing their initial quest to prove the validity of the much-vaunted “God Particle” (The Higgs Boson), at the same time that others (less enlightened) were counting down the final days of the world, because the Mayan Calendar supposedly ended December 12th, 2012. (Remember that Update??)
Ok then.
Oh…and TSTO had just re-launched…and the TreeHouse of Horrors XXIII had just run, with a special segment about how Springfield’s Supercollider had spawned a mini-black hole, that was threatening to eat up everything…and was growing larger, because Homer and others, were using it as a way to get rid of garbage and people. It was funny time.
The fact is, since having a Near Death Experience in 1995, and getting a glimpse of what may be “the other side of possibilities” as it pertains to space/time, I have been a bit of a “Physics Phreak.” And sometimes, when there is a big discovery, or a “bump in the data” at CERN, it brings it all tumbling back.
And, when it all starts to come to a head, you start playing a game to take your mind off of it all…because it is overwhelming…and the very year that things are starting to come into focus, when the explosion of discoveries begin coming so fast, and furiously, with some of the greatest minds in the world suddenly coming to conclusions that you already knew because of your “cosmic dance,” and it starts to blow your mind completely…with joy, and wonder, and amazement, and some weird sense of triumphant validation that you want to shout it to the mountaintops…but you can’t because it scares the hell out of your friends and family to think that you almost died…and have never really been the same…and they don’t begin to understand what seems simple, and basic, and perfect to you…and…so…you try to become “normal” again for them…and just watch from a bench…in a park…feeding pigeons into the mini-black hole that is your life.
WOW…OK. So…maybe eating 16 leftover donut holes with two large cups of coffee wasn’t such a good idea. SUPER SUGAR RUSH…who needs hallucinogenic drugs when you have a handful of applesauce and cinnamon donut holes and a 22 oz. coffee?
So…a whole lot of what I wrote is true… except for the part about me sitting on the bench. That’s Grandpa.
I discovered that if you were going to keep your Springfield safe from being enveloped by a black hole…you had to feed it slowly…methodically…and heroically. That’s Abe for you…a WWII hero, with a failing memory…who gets little or no respect for his accomplishments. He just sits quietly, day after day after day…virtually useless to the “game of life,” except for the fact that by his actions…he is saving the world.
I like Grandpa Simpson. He’s cool…and independent…and weird.
There are days when almost nothing about this existence makes sense to me. Knowing that everything in this creation is connected at a subatomic particle level…where there are no delineations of race, politics, religion or national origin…and then watching us divide everything into camps and tribes, is puzzling. Letting our base instincts of greed and selfishness override what should be an obvious binding with all living things is frustrating. And knowing that traditional science, and traditional religion are just small parts of a bigger picture…but watching the camps deride one another, like political parties, until nothing of substance can be agreed upon…when the answers are so simple…is laughably painful.
Some days…it really is just better to sit on a bench, feed pigeons… and watch.
Get the Collider and the Black Hole…and think of me.
CrazyOldGuy
Patric