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?

The Hunger Games - Movie Trailer and Book Club invitation

Though it is Young Adult fiction, many adults have become big fans of The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins. In fact, the series was recommended to me by a colleague that just celebrated her 50th.


 I have, so far, read the first two books of the trilogy, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire. Collins has done a great job of illustrating the post-apocalyptic dystopian future where North American society has been reduced to the Capitol and it's 12 subservient and impoverished districts that each produce or mine a specific resource or commodity, such as diamonds or coal. Each year the Capitol holds a draw in each district, choosing one male child and one female child, to compete to the death in the Hunger Games. The winner, is rewarded with a life time of wealth. 


In her district, Katniss is chosen and makes her mark by winning the games and inadvertantly inciting a growing rebellion, represented by the Mockingay (hybrid bird) against the Capitol. 


Collin's, herself, has written and produced the movie version that will come out on March 23, 2012. Hopefully, it will avoid the mistakes that many film adaptations tend to make and stay true to the original story. Katniss is played by Jennifer Lawrence, who you will recognize as the young Mystique in Xmen: First Class. From the previews, she looks like a pretty accurate Katniss, though, I never imaged the protagonist as having permanent superpout.


I recommend the books first, then the movie, but the decision is yours!

Other fight-to-the-death/survival-games type films and stories come to mind: Death Race 2000, The Running Man, and Gamer. Help me complete the list by posting other related movies or books in the comments section below.


As for Mockingjay, it is waiting on my shelf. As soon as I get a chance I'll dive into it. In the meantime, I'm going to list it on the Book Club page to, hopefully, get a discussion going in the comments section below!!! 


Some discussion questions to start us off (assuming that you have read the first two books of the series):

1. How well do you feel the title of this book fits with the content?
2. District 13 is revealed in this book. How is it different from what you expected?
3. Do you believe that Katniss was exploited as the figurehead of the war?
4. How do you feel about Katniss' decision to end the war?
5. Who were the ultimate victims of the story?
6. What was the underlying message?
7. Your thoughts on the upcoming movie version of the Hunger Games?

How will climate change affect the Earth?

According to Bill Mcguire, climate change will result in a surge of volcanoes, tsunamis and earthquakes, comparable to what happened 20,000 to 50, 000 years. 


           "Between about 20,000 and 5,000 years ago, our planet underwent an astonishing climatic transformation. Over the course of this period, it flipped from the frigid wasteland of deepest and darkest ice age to the – broadly speaking – balmy, temperate world upon which our civilisation has developed and thrived. During this extraordinarily dynamic episode, as the immense ice sheets melted and colossal volumes of water were decanted back into the oceans, the pressures acting on the solid Earth also underwent massive change. In response, the crust bounced and bent, rocking our planet with a resurgence in volcanic activity, a proliferation of seismic shocks and burgeoning giant landslides"                                                                             
                                                                        - Bill McGuire, Guardian U.K., Sunday, February 26, 2012

Read the article