Posted 4/04/2010 03:19:00 PM by Douglas

The CERN supercollider in Switzerland hits 3.5 trillion electron volts last week.

On Friday morning, the machine created two beams of protons, each with an energy of 3.5 trillion electron volts.

The effort breaks the prior record, set by the LHC in December, of just over a trillion electron volts in each beam.

The LHC will now aim to smash those two beams together, hoping to create new particles that give insight into the most fundamental workings of physics.

What does any of this mean? I have no idea, but what pisses me off about this story is that this research isn't happening in Texas. For the astronomical price tag of $12 Billion, the construction of the Superconducting Supercollider outside of Waxahachie was sandbagged. Instead, the federal government needed to give $800 billion to bad banks, another $800 billion for other bad investments, and another $100 Billion for car companies that can't make cars.

So what kind of discoveries will fall out of such a research facility? I don't think anyone knows yet. But Pierre and Marie Curie didn't know what they were going to find when they started distilling pitchblende, either. Look what they discovered before they knew what they were looking for. Guess what you find when you don't go looking for it? Nothing. Just good to know that these discoveries will be made in Europe and NOT in Texas. That $12 Billion is much better spent supporting an already inflated housing market.