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Weasel Apparently Shuts Down World's Most Powerful Particle Collider (npr.org)
New reader mjnhbg1088 cites an article on NPR: A small mammal has sabotaged the world's most powerful scientific instrument. The Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile superconducting machine designed to smash protons together at close to the speed of light, went offline overnight. Engineers investigating the mishap found the charred remains of a furry creature near a gnawed-through power cable. "We had electrical problems, and we are pretty sure this was caused by a small animal," says Arnaud Marsollier, head of press for CERN, the organization that runs the $7 billion particle collider in Switzerland. Although they had not conducted a thorough analysis of the remains, Marsollier says they believe the creature was "a weasel, probably." The shutdown comes as the LHC was preparing to collect new data on the Higgs Boson, a fundamental particle it discovered in 2012. The Higgs is believed to endow other particles with mass, and it is considered to be a cornerstone of the modern theory of particle physics. CERN says the creature may have been a marten.
There are bugs, and then there are weasels.
They are called weasels for a weason.
Table-ized A.I.
...Goes the weasel.
IR Baboon is not happy with estupid weasel.
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Enough with these weasel words! I want to know why it shut down, really!
Was it an African or European weasel?
You can't handle the truth.
But a stoat is like a weasel and after seeing this video, I can totally believe it. . .
These animals may pose a bigger threat to humanity than ISIS. . .
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
It's not a weasel, it's a marten! POW! http://www.cbsnews.com/news/qu...
I just want to know how charred something has to be for it to be "probably" a weasel.
I thought he was campaigning in Indiana.
It was probably the opposite of this. (Yes, its safe for work)
Weasels may be clever, but eagles don't get fried by particle accelerators
...the LHC was about to destroy the universe and the surviving timeline involved a weasel chewing through a power cable this time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Or it could be aliens from the planet Zorg.
Let's keep speculating here.... ready, set, go!
Actually, it was an alien park ranger. (It's pretty obvious from the lack of interstellar traffic around here that this corner of the galaxy is a nature preserve.)
The ranger was just trying to stop this experiment before we park inhabitants blow ourselves to kingdom come.
Too many times I've seen what happens when squirrels get fried on the power lines near my house. To say they "explode" is an understatement. Mostly is just a big bloody meat mess on my garage door and driveway.
You must gather your party before venturing forth.
Somewhat ironic since Nibbler the Ferret helped get it running to begin with: http://www.best-top10-list.com... Ferrets have a pretty good history for helping out this way in scientific institutions, going back at least to 1971 in Fermilab: http://boingboing.net/2013/06/...
I would imagine fairly charred but then how much power was running through those cables...
Don't know where is TFA?
Either way, some small furry thing does not want us Earthlings to fondle nature's bosons.
Ah, kamikaze bunnies.... ;)
"I know you have questions." "That would be why I just asked them."
Click the little (npr.org) link in the title.
get the crowbars ready!
... a 'communist mole' ...
Does everyone remember when a bird with a baguette disabled the LHC?
Back then, there was a theory that the LHC could destroy the universe. There is another theory that says any parallel universe that could destroy itself or cause a paradox, is not a possible universe. Therefore, no matter what we do we could never build a universe destroying or paradox generating machine. So much like in H.G. Wells "The Time Machine" something would always happen to prevent the LHC from coming online. I dismissed it as crackpot until the whole bird with baguette thing happened. I'm told the LHC went online, but there is a part of me that just thinks it is all a hoax and we will forever be plagued with storms, earthquake, weasels, or baguettes at the very last moment before startup, until we give up trying to start the dang thing.
CERN says the creature may have been a marten.
Upon further research, CERN now says the creature was in fact delicious with a dash of Siriacha on it.
I worked as an analyst for an 911 (fire/ambulance) service in a large city. One day we heard what sounded like a large explosion outside the building and a few of the emergency calltaker consoles went offline. Several dispatchers were unnerved (and it takes it a lot to unnerve 911 folk). They dispatched a fire (pumper) truck to investigate. Outside were the remains of a pigeon. Cooked! It was apparently resting on the power lines outside, and stretched its wings, successfully completing a circuit between power and ground (on a 440 volt 30 amp line). The smell was a burnt salty odor (which along with singed feathers stunk bad). A scoop shovel to the nearest dumpster, a few reset breakers and we were back in business.
done ...added Weasel to my jira instance. Can't decide if it should be considered user error.
That was no weasel. That was Trump's hair. It looks like the good folks at CERN are doing their best to help destroy all of Trump's horcruxes.
Damned martens keep eating my car, too! A couple of months back, one ate the rubber pipe of the break assist and the battery cables. Cost about 200 euros. They are a real problem in middle Europe...
They built it out of such shiny parts.
lose != loose
so close
lose != loose
I have it on good authority that Dick Cheney was nowhere near the place. (j/k... couldn't resist)
they sent one of their Weasels after "US Calls Switzerland An Internet Piracy Haven" (in earlier news today) to sabotage this Swiss research facility.
Furries ruin everything.
Plus, it's unlikely getting stuck in a particle collider will give you mutant powers.
Back in 1991, California spent $12.5 million extending the 55 freeway for easier access to Newport Beach. Shortly before it was set to open, they discovered a mother fox had had kits in burrow on the side of the extension. The kits would've been easy to collect, but they didn't want to separate them from the mother. For about a month they tried all sorts of things to capture her. But she proved wily enough to elude traps, bait, and even tranquilizer darts. Eventually they finally caught her, and the extended portion of the freeway finally opened - a month behind schedule.
Back in the 1990s a whole bunch of weasels went up against Superconducting Super Collider. The SSC died, and was reduced a mere hole in the ground in the southern suburbs of Dallas, TX. Never underestimate the power of these congress critters.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I hear it left a real meson the floor.
I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
Please, please, please tell me there's some dome-headed scientist with a comical speech impediment engaged in an escalating series of attempts to foil the critter.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
Like armadillos. Some see them as a pest, and the rest of us just want to hug them and feed them cheeseburgers.
we shall consider a software or hardware issue normally considered a "bug" in a micro device as a "weasel" in a larger device.
Thanks for the clarification!
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B - D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
for bring your child's pet weasel to work day.
... it was a Schrödinger's Weasel. It could have been a stoat or a marmot until they looked at it.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Too many times I've seen what happens when squirrels get fried on the power lines near my house.
Squirrels are rodents, and their teeth grow continuously. They have to gnaw to wear them down. Weasels don't have that problem, and don't usually gnaw, especially on something inanimate like a cable. I am skeptical that the culprit was a weasel just because a particle physicist said so.
Weasels will gnaw out of curiosity like a dog
It was a 66KV sub-transmission supply. If you touch one, you will have possibly been a person. And that is assuming the protection works fast. We had a protection system fail, miles of power line had to be rebuilt and the damage to the area was so great no one knows the cause of the original fault.
In memory of Schrodinger's Cat, who selflessly gave his life today, in order that the world not be consumed by a man made black hole.
Summary says
The Higgs is believed to endow other particles with mass
I am no specialist, but I understood the Higgs is only used to explain the masses of bosons W+, W- and Z0. It is not involved for other particles.
...but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - David Brent
But it turns out they get fried by particle colliders, so it's not all good news.
-WolfWithoutAClause
"Gravity is only a theory, not a fact!""It was a 66KV sub-transmission supply. If you touch one, you will have possibly been a person." — bahaha :D
Sorry.
The heck with where it was from, I want to know how it got through that concrete tunnel !
Weasels in a particle accelerator. That sounds like a lousy movie idea. Maybe we should ask Samuel Jackson what he thinks?
Only if it's in North Korea.
Weasel Words...
My uncle, who lives in the Caribbean, has a generator and power cables toward the house. Rats love to chew on them and, of course, they die and the power goes out. We've stopped this now with armoured cables. But I'm wondering whether this is another instance of 'I must chew on this power cable' behaviour?
Maybe hum or something that is making them really, really attractive to chew on. But, OTOH, I'd expect everything in the collider to be highly shielded?
On y va, qui mal y pense!
NO, NO, NO, it wasn't me! At your service, Martin
Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
Mother Nature (God, etc...) doesn't want us to find out anything more! What, with the obvious stupidity of mankinds actions, especially Americans (i.e. Trump supporters, Clinton supporters, Cruz supporters, ...). We'll just continue to make too much of a real mess with our totally irresponsiblities.
Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
The Weasel has sabotaged scientific installations before. Just look what he did to the BioDome back in the 90s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
I've had ferrets as pets. Though they may not need to grind down their teeth, they do enjoy chewing on things similar to how dogs and cats do. I've a few gnawed game controller cords etc that can attest to that.
A friend of mine used to work on power distribution - stuff in the KV range. He told me he went out to investigate a short near a substation and found a hole in the ground, some blobs of metal and some black sticky gel.
The latter turned out to be fried gipsy. They'd thought the line was off ...
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."