5 July 2012 (Thursday) - Ouch!



Having got home late last night I found myself parking about three counties away from the house because I couldn't park any closer. So this morning I was up with the lark to retrieve my car. There are many things I would like in life - today I'd like my own drive or dedicated parking space.
With the car outside the house, and with "Daddies Little Angel TM" on hand to help, I started loading up all the gear we'll need for the weekend's camping trip. And with the car half packed we found some things which should have gone in first, so we stripped the car out and re-packed. We did this three times until it all went in properly. Oh how we laughed.
Whilst hot and sweaty I then mowed the lawn. It didn't look like it needed mowing, but that's the trick with a lawn. Doing it regularly means it never gets to look like a jungle. Talking of jungles I then made a start on pruning back the overgrowth from next door. I soon lost interest in that game though. There was an interesting five minutes whilst putting all the tools away. The rake fell down and took a lump out of my neck. It hurt a bit, and now I look like the victim of a failed decapitation.

I spent some time job hunting, which seems to be my preferred waste of time at the moment. At the moment I'm hoping it's taken an up-turn. There were two posts for which I've got through the initial screening. I was invited to take a numeracy and literacy test for one application, and I had a web-cam interview for another. Fingers crossed.

With a little bit of help (i,e, Paul did all the work) we fixed the boot on the "er indoors TM"-mobile. It now opens. A traditional thing for a boot lid to do, but invaluable when one is planning to load the car up with camping gear.

Yesterday's blog entry (which in retrospect was rather dull) surprisingly attracted a record number of comments. Most were suck-ups trying to get me to advertise their various products, but one came as a pleasant surprise. I am rarely asked for requests, but when faced with the question "Where's the badger take on the Higgs boson / god particle?" I felt my loyal readership deserved an answer. If I don't give the public what they want they will only wander off looking for filth on the Internet.

So... Science has (probably) found the Higgs boson. It would seem to have been an elusive thing, and was probably hiding. I wonder if science might find my missing air-beds whilst science is at it. Science has spent over two billion quid trying to find it. And their finding it has cost Stephen Hawking a hundred dollars in a bet. The good professor thought Science wasn't up to the job.
But now the long-awaited God-particle has been found, I can't help but wonder what science intends to do with it.
For myself I must admit I'm rather sad that the Higgs boson has been found. I say "found" - the experts are still hedging their bets and calling it a "Higgs-like particle". I hope that the celebrations ar premature and that this isn't the predicted Higgs boson at all, but actually is just a "Higgs-like particle". A "Higgs-like particle" gives some wriggle-room in the current leading scientific theories. But if they really have confirmed their theories, then today is a sad day for humanity: the serious possibility of inter-stellar travel becomes far less likely.
Meanwhile, a Higgs boson walked into a church. "We don't allow Higgs bosons in here!" shouted the priest. "But without me, how can you have mass?" asked the particle.


And on that note I'm off on holiday, "My Boy TM" and Fudge take command of the house, but I doubt they'll do much with the blog. See you all next week...

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