"Flying at the speed of sound"*

Today we celebrate! Scientists at the underground site of the Large Hadron Collider on the Swiss-French border cheered earlier today when the largest atom collider set a record by colliding particles three times faster than ever before. (This occasion was also worthy of celebrating because a. the collider didn't break and b. it didn't create a world-destroying black hole!)



For those of you who follow my blog (all three of you!), you may remember that I've been keeping my eye on this experiment. Crashing together subatomic particles is risky business and the project has been plagued with controversy since it started, including an accidental death, mechanical problems, and even a theory that scientists from the future are sabotaging the collider. But with today's success we can look to the future.

An energy level of 7 trillion electron volts (TeV) was observed during the event. This seems like a big number, but when you consider that an ant can easily produce as much kinetic energy as 1 TeV, it's actually a small amount of energy. So what's the big deal, right? The big deal is that the particles in the collider are infinitesimally smaller than an ant, so when 7 TeV is applied to colliding particles (3.5 TeV per particle), they move almost as fast as the speed of light (note: not the speed of sound as the lyric in the title states!).

Scientists hope to eventually discover more about dark matter and the Higgs boson (or God Particle). If experiments go as planned (which they haven't so far...and they almost never do), this collider could smash open (literally) new discoveries in the world of physics. Ah, what great material for science-fiction writers everywhere!

*Coldplay

"I'm packing my bags for the Misty Mountains"*

If you've ever seen pictures or footage of St. Lucia (or if you watched the last season of The Bachelor), chances are you've seen the Piton Mountains. They consist of two distinct volcanic peaks in the southwest corner of the island. They're a World Heritage Site and a symbol of St. Lucia. In a word, they're gorgeous.

The local Piton beer (which is very tasty...I liken it to Corona, but more refreshing and with no need for a lime slice...perfect for a hot day) is named after the two peaks, the taller of which is called the Gros Piton and the smaller of which is called the Petit Piton. Based on the picture below, can you guess which is which?

If you guessed the one on the right is the Gros Piton, you're wrong! A close look at the label on the Piton beer will tell you what the locals call the mountains...the Mystic Mountains (I know, I know, the title of the post says Misty Mountains!). They call them this because of the phenomenon that is displayed in the above photo; every new view of the Piton Mountains gives you a different perspective of them.

That may seem like an obvious statement...duh, every new view of object will give you a different perspective of it, but the the Pitons take it to a whole new level. It's like they move, grow, and shrink.

Sometimes they look really close together, like you could jump from one to the other, and other times they look really far apart (they are really about a mile apart). Then you'll round a corner and the one that had previously been on the right is now on the left. It's really quite extraordinary they way they morph.

*Led Zeppelin

"She want the big bamboo"*

While in St. Lucia, the hubby and I did the Soufriere By Land and Sea adventure through Sunlink Tours. We traveled down the east side of St. Lucia by open jeep from Castries to Soufriere and back north by party catamaran. Al was our fearless driver and Thomas was our funny and knowledgeable guide (see below about bamboo for a taste of his trivia).



Here's our jeep. Al is all the way to right (and yup, that's the elusive hubby on the left). I'm very sad to note that I never did get a picture of Thomas. He was so busy making sure all of us tourists were taken care of that the only time he really sat down was when we were riding in the jeep.

The highlights included:

Getting pummeled by a waterfall, which was quite refreshing (yes, be kind...that's me in a bathing suit!)

Driving into a volcano, complete with sulphur springs that smell like--you guessed it--rotten eggs

Being entertained by the Captain (that's him jamming behind the wheel) as he sang along with Bob Marley and "Big Bamboo."

Every time I hear the word bamboo, it just brings me right back to St. Lucia. Did you know that bamboo was the national tree of St. Lucia? That is until they found out bamboo isn't a tree at all. Now bamboo is the national plant of the island and calabash is the national tree. All the Americans on the tour agreed that our country would have changed the status of the bamboo to a tree just to avoid having to admit being wrong!

*as performed by Horace Peterkin