You're such a BOSON!

Reports are out. They have finally found the mysterious Higgs Boson, or the "God Particle" (apparently, derived from "Goddammed Particle").

What is this Boson? Below is an excerpt from http://physicsforme.wordpress.com/2011/07/24/higgs-boson-one-page-explanation/ , where several explanations for the Higgs Boson are posted. I found this one relatively simple, if you have a high school physics background...and actually remember it:

"The Need to Understand Mass

By Roger Cashmore Department of Physics, University of Oxford, UK.

What determines the size of objects that we see around us or indeed even the size of ourselves? The answer is the size of the molecules and in turn the atoms that compose these molecules. But what determines the size of the atoms themselves? Quantum theory and atomic physics provide an answer. The size of the atom is determined by the paths of the electrons orbiting the nucleus. The size of those orbits, however, is determined by the mass of the electron. Were the electron’s mass smaller, the orbits (and hence all atoms) would be smaller, and consequently everything we see would be smaller. So understanding the mass of the electron is essential to understanding the size and dimensions of everything around us.

Bye Bye Penny! Hello SciFi-licious currency!

Canada's getting rid of the penny. We're going to round up or down, gain or lose. My brain's still twirling around that one.

Now we're moving even closer to a Science Fiction-like world with the MintChip that has just been announced by Canada's Royal Mint that will allow us to pay for things with our phones, tablets, and other popular gadgets, without exchanging personal information.

They are actually holding a contest for software developers to come up with the perfect MintChip.

Canada's MintChip

What do think? Is this MintChip a better alternative to debit cards and digital wallets?

Dragonvale App for iPhone

I have been fully engrossed in the DragonVale App from BackFlip studios. It's one of those world/scene-building apps like Sims, Tapfish, or FarmVille, and is so addictive.

In DragonVale you begin with some red gems and coins, allowing you to buy your first dragon eggs. Once they hatch, you feed them with treats that you make with Treat Farms. When the dragons grow to level 4 you can  breed them together to create rare hybrid dragons. As your dragons fly, crawl and swim around, they earn coins, allowing you to buy more treats, dragon habitats and decorations.


The island is essentially a dragon theme park, which is visited by wizards, princesses and other characters that teleport in and out of the park. The more  dragons you have, the more visitors you get.

If you like, you can exchange gems with online friends, however, I have not tried that out yet.

You can look up online breeding guides to determine with dragons to breed together. The baby dragons are irresistible, however they begin to look a bit awkward as they reach level 7.

BackFlip updates the game on a regular basis, adding new dragons and decor.

Give this game a try. It is quite fun and very addictive, but I believe I'm practicing patience as some eggs take days to hatch and, currently, I only have room for two eggs in the Hatchery.

My current goal is to breed a Love Dragon, but I need to make more treats to get my dragons to level 10. 

I love this game! You will too!

"Game of Thrones" season 2 episode 1

So, I just watched the season 2 premiere of G.O.T. I've read all the available books in the series, so I found myself relieved that the episode was over. Ouch!


It wasn't a bad episode. I just know what's going to happen way, way into the show's future. That's all.


I'll continue to watch the show and, hopefully, enjoy it. It's just such a dense book. Can they continue to do the books justice? I've formed my own ideas of what the new characters should look like and am not so happy with some of the casting choices.


Melisandre is nice enough looking, but I really pictured someone more dangerously beautiful and seductive...with better hair.


Isn't that comet kind of big? The comet takes a while to travel across the sky in the books. It just seems to me that a comet that bright would be much closer to the earth and would travel faster? Ah, but I'm not an astronomer, and I'm too lazy to evaluate the physical accuracy of such things. I may be way off.


Joffrey is a murderous jerk, that is accurate enough, and, though he fits the part physically, I expected Sandor's voice to be much rougher.


Daenerys certainly sounded like a leader when she decisively ordered her men to scout ahead to find any evidence of civilization, and, awwww, aren't her dragons cute?!!! Let them eat horse!


I like John Snow. He has the right expressions on his face for a young man trying to figure out his place in the world. I'm not fond of Rob Stark and I can't take him seriously anymore, now that I know what happens to him in the near future. Caitlin? Stop abandoning your children! Oh, but you have to, I know.


I'm still deciding whether the episode felt rushed. So many important parts of the book were crammed into the 55 minutes of show. That is what tends to happen when books are turned into film, so I should be forgiving and enjoy it for what it is.


What do you think?