Can anyone tell me if they have finally powered up that new biggest particle accelerator in France yet. I havent heard anything about it for a while.

I can now as I've just been checking. The media have apparently conspired together worldwide to present the news inaccurately so I've just got in in time to say that tomorrow is when it's turned on, but will not be used until an exhaustive programme of tests, to last at least 3 months, is carried out successfully.

Considering even tomorrow's date is a good few months behind schedule you can probably expect the 'few months' estimate to be way behind what will actually happen. It was one of the hardest news items I've ever had finding on the net and anyone reading this now will be saved the disappointment when they find this out tomorrow.

Dr Steven Hawking said he wishes there was a chance it would produce black holes as he'd get a Nobel prize for it. If he thinks it's safe then so do I.

That's interesting, on CNN there is nothing on their main page, not even under Science. However, I've read two articles about it already. Ask me where, but for the life of me, I cannot remember. I do believe though, that one may have been on my other isp, CompuServe. They did go to pains to say that it was on the border of France and Switzerland, sort of inferring that the Swiss have something to do with it. Is this true? or just media hype?

Just remembered, read one article in the local big city newspaper. But you are right, there isn't much out there about it. Personally, I think it is a pretty important item the media should be covering.

Edited to add: Another thread is in Not The Nine-O'Clock-News area. I've added a link to an article there.

Thanks Jar, what really concerned me was not the collider but the total ignorance of all the media last night which required people from the general public to call in to correct all the radio stations who said it would be used for the first time today. It's the same as saying a car will be driven when in fact all they're doing is starting it up and following all the circuits for a few months before they dare to actually drive it.
Official schedule this says a month now before it'll be used properly, but as the start was delayed by months then this may be as well. But certainly not today.
It does at least now prove to anyone on the fence what total liars the media are, as well as the fact they can work together, as not one TV or radio report differed by a single word although they were all lying. And when challenged by callers the presenters acted as if they were surprised, which either means they are totally ignorant and just do as their bosses tell them or acting innocent, either of which give us absolutely no confidence in their reliability or integrity.

"The media have apparently conspired together worldwide to present the news inaccurately so I've just got in in time to say that tomorrow is when it's turned on, but will not be used until an exhaustive programme of tests, to last at least 3 months, is carried out successfully."

I don't know, maybe you recieve different news than we do here, but I have been following this for at least a year. Recently, no where did it say anything other than: "Europe's CERN particle-physics lab is due to start shooting beams of protons through the LHC's 17-mile-round (27-kilometer-round) ring of tunnels beneath the French-Swiss border, near Geneva.
It will take months for the machine to reach full power."

I haven't seen anything remotely close to leading people on to think it would be up at full power and *we'll be blowing black holes left and right so everyone better take cover, and quick.* (Those are obviously my words ie the black holes.)

The varied reports I heard last week talked about the importance of this new facility and it's function. They explained what would take place over a three month period. Even though the details can sound a bit sensational in themselves, the articles underscored the fact the the tests were deemed completely safe by the scientists directing the project.
I was fascinated but not apprehensive -all it did was supply me some blog material.

"But Dr Evans, the leader of the project, who has devoted 14 years of his life to building the vast particle accelerator, is dismissive of the doom-mongers. In fact, he is so relaxed about the project, he even wears shorts to work.

Gosh! His normal trousers must be something else if they would protect him from this 'doom'!

Rest of article here, and if you want to know more, watch the video!

"Gosh! His normal trousers must be something else if they would protect him from this 'doom'!"

I've always had a phobia about quarks. Sneaky little things. Oh, wait, that was my "Tibbles" phobia. Still, I bet if a bunch of quarks together, they will produce tribbles. I have yet to share this theory with the scientific community.

The "super cold helium that could crawl out of a beaker" (as per today's "Washington Post") makes me think of Steve McQueen's opus, "The Blob".

http://tinyurl.com/5mh7pl

Fortunately for me, my son purchased a manual on eBay that covers the basics of constructing a family bunker. So we should be good

Sandy, I listened to the news on and off all day yesterday, and on every radio channel I heard (less incriminating to do it on the radio of course) the report was the same on all. In the evening when the lines were opened on some stations callers phoned in to correct them, only for the next programme presenter say it all over again. They'd written it all in advance and weren't going to let a small detail like the truth get in the way.
I only read a couple of papers this week and don't actually remember seeing anything about it in the ones I read. Only a link I was given to The Sun which does confirm the radio news item "End of the world in nine days" written nine days ago. Nothing there about waiting a month or three although we've all found it out one way or another.

Oh dear, in case anyone's missed it since they found two magnets caused a massive liquid helium leak it'll take at least 6 months to get it going again. Lucky no one's life depended on it like a plane then...