The Mythical Tunnel Between CERN and Central Italy 303
fph il quozientatore writes "Mariastella Gelmini, the Italian minister of Public Education and Scientific Research, complimented the researchers for the recent (supposed) discovery of faster-than-light neutrinos. Her press release mentions that Italy funded the construction of a 'tunnel between the CERN [in Geneva] and Gran Sasso [the labs in Central Italy].' Google maps reports the distance between the two labs as over 900km — but of course once the tunnel is open to traffic the trip will be much faster."
Re:Darkies (Score:1, Interesting)
I really do hate to appear to be supporting an obvious troll, but IQ tests bear the same "racial prejudice". Asians tend to score higher (on average) than other ethnic groups, while those of African descent tend to score lower than others. European ancestry puts one squarely in the middle of the curve. There is great debate and controversy over whether there is a "cultural bias" towards "differing skill sets", but no one has anything they can actually call a theory without sounding racist, so any discussion is moot.
Before you mod me into Flamebait/Troll oblivion along with the parent, please keep in mind that I can actually back my statements up with facts [wikipedia.org]*., and I'm not actually being racist myself, merely pointing out that this particular racist misinformation has a basis in actual, factual for-really-reals facts. Of course, I will cheerfully accept an "Off-Topic" mod, because we're not commenting on the correct article. A better place for this discussion would have been here [slashdot.org].
Keep in mind, moderation is anonymous, so no one will know if you mod this "Informative" or "Interesting" instead of "Troll" or "Flamebait".
* I could find something more informative than wikipedia, but it expresses the gist of the information I wish to convey, and I'm being lazy due to the lateness of the hour in my geographic location.
Re:Darkies (Score:4, Interesting)
I'm black and I score at least three standard deviations above the norm on IQ tests.I don't buy the culturally biased bullshit about the tests.
Unfortunately there's an anti-intellectual theme in much of African American culture. Through peer and societal pressure, black kids learn to under-perform.
If I'm black and I can do well academically, then others can too. Just pull your damned pants up and read a book.
LK
Re:Faster, yes, but... (Score:5, Interesting)
Your argument has some issues. First, the speed of gravity is theoretically c. This can be proved experimentally sometime soon. Or was. I forget. Since entropy is ambiguous in this thread you forgave me I'm sure.
Neutrinos are believed to have mass of some kind, because they appear to experience time. Neutrinos are believed to cycle over time through electron, muon and tau neutrino flavors - and cycling at some time rate based on energy levels. If the mass of neutrinos is negative it becomes a different theoretical problem with neat solutions. The Neutrinos would be repelled by, rather than attracted by, gravity. Yes, causality remains a problem in this case if the speed of light is truly broken and the observation isn't an error, because of the potential for heavier particles of greater mass and potentially much greater speeds. The actualization of negative masses does help certain other aspects of the theory though. Perhaps the red-shift of neutrinos and their higher-order cousins caused the early FTL expansion of the universe, and they're what's now slowing it down. In that case the missing mass in the universe is the negative mass of the neutrinos that expanded the universe faster than c on their way out and are now opposing the expansion of the universe with their negative mass. That would make the net mass of the universe exactly zero, which would clean up a lot of mess in the math. Energy then becomes the potential between mass and negative mass, the speed of light the dividing line between (which makes sense, as light is massless energy). Energy becomes the attracting force that pulls the negative and positive masses together again in the end. The gravity force becomes the equivalent of energy shifted into the mass dimension. Our entire universe becomes a temporary twitch in higher-order math: a ripple in dimensions beyond our ken - a single bubble in a fleck of foam on the crest of a wave on an endless sea made turbulent by winds beyond our imagining, that blooms once and bursts or shrinks again, absorbed by an uncaring sea. Its duration would be the level of incursion of one higher-order plane on another.
Since the neutrinos and their higher-order negative mass FTL cousins experience time in what we would consider the reverse then naturally our big bang was their big crunch. Our big crunch will be their big bang. It would make sense that the positive masses exactly equal the negative masses, that the highest density of mass in this negative mass universe is exactly the same magnitude of ours (galactic core black holes with negative mass) and that though from our current view of time their mass inhibits ours by being outside our known universe's perimeter pressing it in, from their point of view we are the negative mass preventing the expansion of their universe, and presently pressing it in toward its end. Time starts and as the masses and negative masses disassociate on their grand loop, time slows until it reaches some apogee prescribed by its cause and stops, and then reverses gaining speed until it meets its opposite mirror and stops. It's grand symmetry, and it would make perfect sense if my perfect mirror were posting this comment on gro.todhsals out there somewhere, though it's not necessary for that to be true for the math to work out.
This may do away with the the cyclic inversion theory, or "string of beads" because time itself loops back with its opposite and the beginning is also the end. There may be exactly one, which cleans up a lot more math.
Really, who needs causality anyway? It's getting in the way of a lot of interesting stuff.
If the mass of neutrinos is an imaginary number, well, things get a little fractal from there as the picture gets more beautiful and more inscrutable.