Large Hadron Collider soon to be operational again (Or the End of the World is Nigh. Again.)

10 November, 2009 – 10:12 pm
Large Hadron Collider

Large Hadron Collider

Over the past year or two, I have followed the sagas of the Large Hadron Collider with some interest. The countdown is on again for the second switch-on, scheduled for mid-November.

For those scratching their heads right now, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the world’s largest particle accelerator. Located underground near Geneva in Switzerland, the LHC is a large, circular-shaped instrument and by large, I mean a circumference of 27km (17 miles) long. This is no test-tube experiment!

The particle accelerator works by firing two beams of sub-atomic particles (Hadrons) in opposite directions at near speed of light velocities, and monitoring the behaviour of the particles as they collide with each other. The collisions will take place in temperatures of around −271° Celsius, just a couple of notches above Absolute Zero (−273.15°C). The purpose of the LHC is to recreate the same kind of conditions that existed in the Universe just after the Big Bang. To quote their web site:

Researchers think that the Universe originated in the Big Bang (an unimaginably violent explosion) and since then the Universe has been cooling down and becoming less energetic. Very early in the cooling process the matter and forces that make up our world ‘condensed’ out of this ball of energy.

The LHC will produce tiny patches of very high energy by colliding together atomic particles that are travelling at very high speed. The more energy produced in the collisions the further back we can look towards the very high energies that existed early in the evolution of the Universe. Collisions in the LHC will have up to 7x the energy of those produced in previous machines; recreating energies and conditions that existed billionths of a second after the start of the Big Bang.

The facility, developed by CERN (same people who gave us the World Wide Web), has had its share of problems and delays during construction. It was finally scheduled for switch-on (almost a year later than planned) in September 2008. Unfortunately barely 10 days after becoming operational, around 100 of the magnets which line the collider failed and it had to be powered off again. There were additional problems in July this year with vacuum leaks in the tunnel. The scientists now believe the teething problems are ironed out and have begun cooling the Collider to operational temperatures once again for switch-on in the near future.

Last year, when the Collider was first switched on, there was a little hysteria from some quarters of the press. I suppose this quote from the LHC people didn’t help.

The results from the LHC are not completely predictable as the experiments are testing ideas that are at the frontiers of our knowledge and understanding.

This led to fantastical stories in the press about explosive anti-matter, black holes engulfing the Earth and alternate universes. (Perhaps this [slightly outdated] demotivational poster sums it up best.) My favourite loony theory however comes from a surprising source. Respected String Theory physicist, Dr. Holger Bech Neilson has speculated that the problems and delays the LHC has faced are caused by sabotage … from the future. One of the main aims of the LHC is to prove the existence of the mythical Higgs Bosun particle. According to Dr. Neilson, however, the creation of the Higgs particle may be so “abhorrent to nature” that the effect would travel back in time and stop the Collider before it could create the particle in the first place. Is your head hurting yet? Dr. Nielson goes on to say “It must be our prediction that all Higgs producing machines shall have bad luck,” He also said “Well, one could even almost say that we have a model for God.” It is their guess, he went on, “that He rather hates Higgs particles, and attempts to avoid them.”

Well dear reader, if we’ve all been crushed out of existence in a black hole by this time next week, I’d just like to say so long, and thanks for all the fish!

Further information:

Large Hadron Collider official web site

CERN’s Guide to the LHC (pdf file) – An introduction to the LHC and the physics behind the experiments

By Mesanna | Posted in Stuff | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Lubuntu delayed

10 November, 2009 – 7:36 pm
Lubuntu - Ubuntu with LXDE

Lubuntu - Ubuntu with LXDE

I had written a while back about the release of Lubuntu – an officially endorsed version of Ubuntu with LXDE desktop. The project was scheduled for release at the same time as Karmic Koala, at the end of October. Although a beta .iso was issued, there have been delays and they haven’t managed to meet the October deadline.

There will be not, therefore, be any official Lubuntu 9.10 distro. Instead, the developers are aiming for the Ubuntu 10.04 release schedule. Next April – hopefully – we will have Lubuntu Lucid Lynx! The developers hope to incorporate new artwork and themes, and there are ongoing discussions about which applications will be included. More information is available at their Wiki.

There is currently a lubuntu-desktop package available in Ubuntu’s Multiverse repository, if you’re desperate to try it, though I understand it is still very much a work in progress.

I’ll update as I hear more on this project. Watch this space.

By Mesanna | Posted in Linux, Ubuntu | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

The OpenOffice Mouse

9 November, 2009 – 9:54 pm

I’m still not sure if this is a wind-up or not.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the Open Office mouse.

The OpenOffice Mouse

The OpenOffice Mouse

Is this open sourcery at its finest? An 18 button mouse designed for gaming and, well, OpenOffice. Apple recently launched their Magic Mouse with no visible buttons, but the Penguinistas had to go one (or in this case, 18) better. The developers’ blog is pretty hilarious. When asked “Why do you hate Apple with all the burning fury of ten thousand suns?“, their answer (in part) was “To be honest, we simply don’t care that much about Apple.  Our furiously burning hatred is already far too occupied with Microsoft“.

Another couple of sterling quotes:

Well, we were certainly surprised by the, ah, enthusiasm with which people have responded to the OOMouse.  The reaction ranged from a deep sense of sexual pleasure to discussions of whether we are insane or on drugs, which makes us wonder what would have been the reaction if we had included the two side toggle switches in the original design.  You think you can’t handle 52 simultaneous on-mouse commands… try 208!

And:

To put to rest the questions that kept popping up in the comments at the various sites: yes, the OOMouse is real.  Yes, it has an absolute boatload of buttons… and they all have assignable double-clicks! Yes, we’re probably amok with insanity.  No, we’re not on drugs, at least not of late.  Yes, we think Apple’s buttonless approach is sexy, stupid, and limiting.  Look at it this way.  If you have a Magic Mouse and I have an OOMouse and we compete in any FPS, RTS, MMO, or OpenOffice.org Calc-off, you are going to be utterly obliterated.  OBLITERATED.  It won’t even be close.  So, if you want sleek and superficial style, by all means, go ahead and buy a Magic Mouse.  We don’t mind.  But if you want raw power, flexibility, and speed, speed, speed, you will do much better with an OOMouse .

The Open Office Mouse. Out early next year. Apparently. And sign me up for the OpenOffice.org Calc-off!

By Mesanna | Posted in Lawls | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Add GetDeb.net repository for the latest Ubuntu software

9 November, 2009 – 9:27 pm

The GetDeb web site offers the newest versions of Ubuntu software, which may not have hit the official repositories yet. They have added a new feature which allows you to add a line to your software sources, so that you can download the latest releases directly through Synaptic. They are only providing updates for Ubuntu 9.04 and 9.10, though I believe there is a legacy site for older versions of Ubuntu.

To add the GetDeb repository, open the System menu, select Administration, then Software Sources. Select the “Other Software” tab, then click the Add button at the bottom left and enter the following line:

deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu karmic-getdeb apps

You will be prompted to reload your software sources, however if you do, you will receive a GPG error message, as you haven’t added the key yet.

Open a terminal and enter the following text:

wget -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

Once this has been accepted, you can open Synaptic and reload the repositories and you will now have access to the latest and greatest Ubuntu software. Just a note of caution – remember these aren’t official Ubuntu releases so there is always the chance that you may bork your system by downloading something incompatible. Always back up before you do anything silly!

I think this will be very useful for mainstream software like Firefox or Open Office. Firefox 3.5 was released at the end of June, but wasn’t automatically available to Jaunty users. There are a lot of packages that I would be hesitant to upgrade, but I would certainly want to try the newest versions of, for example, The Gimp or Open Office as soon as they were available, and this enables me to do that easily.

By Mesanna | Posted in Linux, Ubuntu | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

Firefox is 5 years old today

9 November, 2009 – 8:37 pm

Happy Birthday Firefox!

Firefox 5th Birthday cake

Firefox 5th Birthday cake (Photo by Christopher Blizzard)

Mozilla are celebrating the anniversary with a “Light the World with Firefox” marketing campaign and a few parties. (I must have really boring friends. Not a single one threw a Windows 7 party and no-one is throwing a Firefox party either. What is wrong with these people?)

There is a (rather cheesy) little video from the Firefox people to commemorate the anniversary, which you can view here. What I found most interesting however, were the changes that have taken place on the web since Firefox launched.

Back in 2004, most people were using Internet Explorer 6. Back then, there was no tabbed browsing, no extensions, atrocious support for CSS and web standards, and frankly a bit of a security nightmare. Remember all those pop-ups you used to get? You had to install separate software to block them. Man, have we come a long way since then!

Whether your preference is Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Safari or, hell, the Lynx text browser, the single greatest thing we have now is competition. A thriving marketplace where browsers are in continual development and each tries to outdo the other with new features, speed and efficiency. Microsoft had whupped Netscape good and proper in the browser wars in the late 90s, and Netscape crawled into a corner where it was supposed to die quietly. Microsoft, secure in their victory, just sat back and pretty much ceased development on Internet Explorer. But, out of the ashes of Netscape, arose Firefox (originally named Firebird – the proverbial phoenix) and it continues its ascent today. For sure there are claims that Firefox ripped off Opera back then, and that it’s ripping off Chrome now – just as IE is ripping off Firefox, Opera and Chrome. But, overall, the general push is forwards to a standards-compliant, open web, as envisioned by Sir Tim Berners-Lee in the early 90s and I think Firefox can claim a lot of credit for this.

So what’s next for Firefox? On the Mozilla blog, they discuss the general direction they believe the web is going, and they will be focusing on user privacy, video codec standardization and an increasingly mobile web. As a non-profit (and open source) organisation, Mozilla inspires a certain amount of faith that they will put their users first (all 330 million of them), unlike certain other browser developers, cough, Microsoft, cough, Google.

Here’s to the next 5 years of Firefox on the web!

By Mesanna | Posted in Computers, Internet | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Windows v Ubuntu boot times

2 November, 2009 – 9:56 pm

Fun video from Tuxradar.com showing a 4-way boot time competition between the latest two Ubuntu releases (9.04 and 9.10) and the latest two Windows offerings (Vista and Windows 7). Each PC is set to boot up, log in automatically, load Firefox and go to the Tuxradar home page.

Guess who wins? No, go on, guess!

I suppose it was obvious which operating system would win even before pressing play. Only surprise was which Windows version came last!

By Mesanna | Posted in Computers, Linux, Windows 7 | Tagged , , , | Comments (4)

UK campaign against internet disconnection

26 October, 2009 – 9:58 pm

In the UK, it’s been all over the news lately about the Labour Government’s plans to disconnect file sharers from the internet.

After having dinner with David Geffen (of Geffen Records), Business Secretary Peter Mandelson suddenly took a great interest in file sharing legislation and wants to impose a 3-strikes plan to disconnect repeat “offenders”. Bear in mind that Peter Mandelson is not currently an MP. Indeed, he holds the dubious honour of having had to resign twice from Parliament for alleged corruption. Yet he still manages to have a say in creating the laws of this country.

Disconnection of users on the say-so of a copyright holder – hardly a disinterested party – makes a mockery of the law. What happened to that whole innocent until proven guilty thing? You know, the presumption of innocence that has been the cornerstone of our law for centuries. If you believe someone guilty of infringing upon your rights, take them to court. That’s the way it’s always been done.

Recently, the All Party Parliamentary Communications Group published a well-researched paper on the subject. I’ve quoted a couple of their conclusions below. (Read the full report here).

58. We conclude that much of the problem with illegal sharing of copyrighted material has been caused by the rightsholders, and the music industry in particular, being far too slow in getting their act together and making popular legal alternatives available.

59. We do not believe that disconnecting end users is in the slightest bit consistent with policies that attempt to promote eGovernment, and we recommend that this approach to dealing with illegal file-sharing should not be further considered.

I like the straight-talking in this report – most unusual for politicians! Unfortunately our current government is rather infamous for commissioning a group of experts to research a subject … and then completely disregarding their findings if they don’t say what the Gov wants to hear. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the same thing happened here.

Anyway, getting to the point of this article! UK ISP Talk Talk, who has spoken out frequently about the problems with disconnection, has created a web site called Don’t Disconnect Us. On the site are various ways to protest the Gov’s plans, including signing an ePetition. Even if you do nothing else, why not take two minutes of your time to sign the Petition. Yeah I know it probably won’t make any difference, but at least you can say you tried. (NB petition is valid for UK citizens only, though I’m sure international visitors could join the Facebook group).

Although I’m not with Talk Talk, I applaud them for taking a stance on this matter.

Don’t Disconnect Us website

By Mesanna | Posted in Rants | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (1)

An alternative Windows 7 launch party

22 October, 2009 – 11:13 pm

After cringing with embarrassment at Microsoft’s Launch Party video (though I did like some of the spoofs created in response), I’ve just come across another rather more, uh, authentic Windows launch video.

Unfortunately WordPress won’t let me embed the video, but go visit Funny or Die to watch.

By Mesanna | Posted in Lawls, Windows 7 | Comments (0)

So Windows 7 launched today…

22 October, 2009 – 10:36 pm

Meh.

I’m far more excited about Ubuntu’s Karmic Koala Release Candidate, which is also out today. I’m also looking forward to trying out the brand new Fedora 12 beta. I know some are critical of the 6th month release cycle of certain distros (sometimes justifiably), but I love the fact that there’s always a new version just around the corner. No need to wait 3 – 5 years for something fresh and shiny that you can use to bork your computer!

The press reports that Microsoft are pinning their future on the success of Windows 7. The reviews have, generally, been positive. Well, that is, they seem to run along the lines of “Windows 7 is like Vista, only less annoying”. I suppose this could be considered a positive review. I’m not quite convinced that the success or failure of Windows 7 will make or break Microsoft, as they are too powerful to fail completely. However, they could go from being the major player on the PC desktop, to one amongst half a dozen. The New York Times recently touched on this subject too in a most interesting article well worth a read.

It’s hard to drum up much genuine excitement and anticipation about this particular Windows release. The early adopters, i.e. the kind of people who rush out to buy a new product on its first day, will have already been running Windows 7 for months, so there’s no big surprises awaiting anyone. Amazon UK has said that Windows 7 has the highest pre-order sales in the entire history of the site – even beating the final Harry Potter book. I rather suspect the real reason for this was the cut price offers that Amazon has been pushing for a while. The price of Windows 7 has practically doubled now that it is officially out. Still, at least MS will get to crow that they shifted a gazillion copies in the first week. They aren’t getting everything their own way however, as rivals try to steal their thunder with announcements of their own. Apple has launched some new and updated products and our very own Canonical is teaming up with IBM to offer Linux and cloud-based services. Well, at least Windows 7 will take the public’s mind off the disastrous loss of data suffered by Sidekick users through the Microsoft-backed Danger cloud service.

A week is a long time in politics the software industry.

By Mesanna | Posted in Windows 7 | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (0)

Karmic Clothing

21 October, 2009 – 10:29 pm

As the countdown to the release of Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala continues, I see the Ubuntu Store has some new Karmic merchandise, including new Koala T-Shirts!

Official Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala T-Shirt

Official Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala T-Shirt

I must admit, I rather like these and might be tempted to buy one (even though they only seem to have Men’s sizes at the moment). Buying a T-Shirt is as good a way as any of supporting Canonical and Ubuntu.

Visit the official Ubuntu store to gain some positive karma.

By Mesanna | Posted in Ubuntu | Tagged , , , | Comments (2)