There have been several nostradamic predictions about the world’s end in the last couple of years — and, well, we’re all still here, right? In less than 20 hours (as of this writing) scientists are going to turn on the large hadron collider — a particle accelerator, that, well, creates black holes and may create strange matter. (And no, I didn’t just make up that term to funkify this little doomsday article!)

First off, what is the large hadron collider? It is a large (the name says it!) particle accelerator that’s located at CERN, near Switzerland. It is located in a tunnel that spans from Switzerland to France.

Basically, the experiment’s going to be trying to create a blackhole, sounds dangerous, huh? Well, it wouldn’t be a government-backed project if it would cause harm, right? But we’re talking about theories here. Like so many works of fiction, “something” could go wrong, for no particular reason; be it a miscalculation, an unpredicted result or a freak accident — well I’m here to scare you!

Here are 3 scenarios of what might happen once this badboy’s lit.

Gobbled by Strangelets. Strangelet, such a happy term, right? It’s short for “strange nugget,” and, well, there’s nothing happy about it. A strangelet is a bit of strange matter, (yes, I’m still not making that up!) that, upon contact with normal earth matter, turns the earth matter into strange matter itself. Imagine if this strangelet was stabilized, and, well, started turning the nuclei of nearby earth matter into strange matter — imagine this going on a thousand times over, at a speed that can only match the number of earth matter that comes into contact with the strangelet that’s growing. Bam! Instantly the earth will become nothing more than a huge ball of strange matter. Or, alternate scenario, since strangelets are anti-matter candidates, they may just blow up upon contact with Earth.

Devoured by a microscopic black hole. They say that a black hole evaporates in time because of Hawking radiation — and, well, say, for your normal average sized-black hole, it will take lifetimes before you ever see it happen. But a small, teensy, tiny microscopic black hole? If, say, they do make a black hole in the facility — it might not disappear — and since black holes are of such high density, placed on the earth’s surface, it’ll slice it’s way to the earth’s core like a hot knife through butter, after which, it’ll oscillate back, over and over, until it has consumed enough matter to slow down. By that time, the earth might be gone, by the way.

Nothing happens, and you have to die knowing that a failed experiment might’ve killed you like Y2K did with the panic back in ’99. It can just go kaput. Imagine the beams of particles being bombarded into one another, re-creating the big bang … and then poof! Nothing. I mean, life’s too short to be playing around with theories, right? And besides, what will advancement in matter studies do? Can we re-create another earth for which to try these sort of experiments on?

[Update: They pushed back the experiment, woohoo!]

Has life gotten any faster recently? If we can do things faster now, how come the number of people sleeping less than 8 hours has increased exponentially over the last few years? More and more people are indulging in the 4-four sleep, which, to the 8 glasses of water you have to drink everyday, is the equivalent of half the optimum number of hours people should be sleeping.

Here are a couple of things you’re missing out on big time if you aren’t getting the recommended 8-hours of sleep:

Attentiveness! Fact. Coherent thought is impossible after three days of sleeplessness. By day four, you’ll be a raving lunatic. While missing out a night’s sleep gives off a lesser version of this, the body will become sluggish and easily-tired during the day.

Lessened ability for learning and memory. While we sleep, the brain undergoes a process called “memory consolidation” — this is when the brain commits new information to memory, this is pretty important!

Proper metabolism. Sleep deprivation may affect how the body processes and stores carbohydrates, and messes up hormones that affect the appetite.

Repair-work. The body repairs itself during sleep. The immune system releases some antibodies only during sleep, so keeping up with sleep helps the immune system work a lot more efficient.

Dreams! Dreams rock. You can be anyone, or anything, and well, whatever parts of the last night’s dream may also give you ideas for what to look forward to. Plus, isn’t the whole world a lot better when you wake up fresh and energized for the day ahead?

Mother’s day is coming up — and well, you probably have a nice gift for your mum, or, well, reading the first part of the sentence has just reminded you. Not being your sibling, I’ve no idea why your mom is the best; there is, however a means of comparison by contrast. From childhood, we’ve heard tales of stepmothers making the children miserable — and, reading a couple of these evil moms will make you appreciate your parent a hundred million times more, if only your mom wasn’t that great already! (Thinking about it, were these tales crafted to give better appreciation for moms?)

The mother/stepmother from Hansel & Gretel – Married to a poor woodcutter, she coaxed her husband (h & g’s parents) to leave them alone in the woods. The kids overhear and leave pebbles along the path to find their way home. If that wasn’t enough, she tried the plan again, emptying the children’s pockets this time — when the kids tried leaving a trail of breadcrumbs. Animals ate the trail and they got lost. Of course this is the part where they stumble upon the witch’s candy house. How bad of a mother do you have to be, to leave your kids to the mercy of the forest, almost getting eaten?

The stepmother queen from Snow White – (Plus her magic mirror) So what if being born with skin as white as snow and lips as red as blood is a genetic miracle? Being really, really vain means getting your daughter banished from the castle, tricked into eating a poison apple, and well, generally tormenting her life with the 7 dwarves ‘til she croaked. She had a “Highlander” mentality — there must be only one. Would you have someone killed just because they were prettier than you are? That’s just vain to the nth degree.

Rapunzel’s Enchantress Stepmom – Normally you adopt children out of love, but this enchantress was different — in exchange for a cure to a poor man’s wife, she would then receive his pregnant wife’s offspring. She adopted the child and named her Rapunzel, then shut her out of the world in a tower with no doors, and, instead, she put poor old Rapunzel’s scalp on the line whenever she’d use it as a climbing rope.

Queen Narissa from Enchanted – From last year’s Disney movie, featuring the latest Disney Princess, Princess Giselle. This spiteful queen didn’t want to step down of her being queen, therefore the union between Giselle and Prince Edward must not happen to her. Not content to banishing her out of Andalasia, she used her dark magic to chuck her through a portal to a totally different dimension. If that wasn’t enough, by the end of the film, she turned into a dragon and totally wanted to eat Robert Phillip and Princess Giselle!

Queen Hera – Now for the baddest of them all, of fictional characters, no one was as hardcore as Hera. Not only is she the mother of the god of war, (Ares) out of jealousy for Zeus apparently giving birth alone to Athena, she gave birth to Hephaestus, an unsightly offspring, of which, Zeus didn’t approve of, so he was thrown out of Olympus with Hera not saying anything. If that’s not enough, check out her Wikipedia entry, under Hera’s jealousies for more stories of her deception towards her children. I’m guessing Lucille Bluth was based on her!

There was this episode of Seinfeld where George was telling a girl (for conversation) how the toilet paper hasn’t changed much since its invention — agreed. Though the well, medium it’s being used for, the toilet, has changed bit by bit over the years — there were overhead tanks, the usual 13-liter monster, and there are the water-conservation models.

Here are 5 of the latest innovations in toilet technology.

Toilet Tunes – Ever had a soundtrack for, well, whatever activity you choose to do by the toilet? If you have $30 you can get one of these automatic entertainment devices. With a choice of jazz, latin or nature sounds, it’s sure to cover up the sound of, well, whatever activity it is you do in there.

WashUp – Is a mash-up of a toilet and a washing machine. (Think toilet with a washing machine for a tank.) It uses the water for washing your clothes as the flush water — not only does it help conserve water, it also eats up one space instead of two! (My only concern would be, what if the clothes fall in the toilet after washing? Hmmm)

Kisses! – Is a lip-shaped urinal. Not that it’s innovative or whatever, it just gives guys something to help their aim.

Neorest AH – Developed in Japan, this hybrid tank draws inboard and outside water sources to fully utilize 5.5 liters for flushing, instead of the usual 13. Not only does it flush the toilet, the water gushes out of the hard-to-reach-spots, making it a self-cleaning eco-friendly toilet. Did I mention it also has seat warmers?

The Cell – This beautiful piece of tank-less wall-mount will be something you’d be tempted to keep pristine. It doesn’t eat up too much space, perfect for bachelors in small apartments.

Ironman. As far as comicbook characters go, he’s not one on top of my list, though this being Marvel Studios’ first live-action movie, it’s looking good for them.

What else can I say about it? From the looks of things, it IS the first big hit of the summer. Casting Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark is an inspired choice, and, well, Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow also fit in their roles as Jim Rhodes and Pepper Potts, respectively.

The movie starts out with Tony Stark living the futurist/industrialist frivolous lifestyle, never having regard for anyone but his self interests. While doing a demo for the United States army, he is abducted by a terrorist faction who wish to use his technology to take over the world. In captivity, he meets Yinsen, a brilliant scientist who manages to save his life from shrapnels that are making their way to Stark’s heart.

Forced to make a missile that would guarantee the terrorists’ success, he and Yinsen start work on their way out — the Ironman Mark I suit. (This all pretty much comes direct from the first Ironman story, just set in modern times.)

Seeing his life’s work being used as a leverage for modern wars, Stark spends the rest of the movie redeeming himself by becoming Ironman, and, well, keeping up with the sexual tension between him and Ms. Potts. Laughs, action and Stark’s arrogance makes for an interesting superhero movie. Go see it!

By the end of the movie though, I had this weird hankering for some Burger King.

]]> http://thebiglife.wordpress.com/2008/05/03/the-big-life-ironman-review/feed/ thebiglife http://thebiglife.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/3-newsworthy-giants-of-the-animal-kingdom/ http://thebiglife.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/3-newsworthy-giants-of-the-animal-kingdom/#comments Thu, 01 May 2008 07:14:24 +0000 thebiglife http://thebiglife.wordpress.com/?p=75

I’m pretty sure everyone’s heard of the colossal squid that’s been in the news lately, and, well, in the animal kingdom, like in Texas, bigger is better! Here’s the colossal squid and a couple more giants that got their 15-minutes.

Colossal Squid

This gigantic, 26-feet long (that’s 8 meter sticks!), more-than-a-thousand-pounder was caught last year and is only now getting to be examined in New Zealand. The Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni, is being thawed slowly for proper examination begins — apparently, it’s also the animal with the world’s largest eyeballs.

You’d imagine how much calamares it’d make, (and there would have been tons!) if not for the ammonia in its flesh. (Translated, it should taste/smell like stale urine.)

Giant Killer Croc

Pictures of this humongous croc has been circulating inboxes since 2003. Apparently, in Point Noire, in the Republic of Congo, several villagers started disappearing, and nobody had any ideas where they were until they found this huge 16-foot Nile crocodile. It took the army to take down this beast, and, well, they preserved it too, to check the insides for human remains.

Obese Chinese Cat

This 33-pound cat was apparently loved so much by its owner that it was fed what’s considered to be a feast for a cat everyday. News about this cat was reported in fluff segments of news programs, but animal rights thought making this cat obese was a form of animal abuse. The cat got too fat that it can no longer support its own weight with his legs.

When I’ve done all I can to live this wonderful, wonderful life of mine, maybe have a successful career, become a guajillionaire, raise amazing kids who will outdo me and carry my name, live on a farm and reap the rewards of a retirement, there’s only one thing to look forward to, right? However grim the inevitable is, and, well, honestly, I’m looking forward to an awesome death.

Something that involves me going in my sleep, or maybe one that involves me leaving a cliffhanger sentence? (“The treasure is buried in …”) Something like that. Now there are other, more awesome ways to go, but I won’t detail ‘em here. In fact, I’m here for the opposite. Like many people, (or maybe few?) I have a list of things that I DO NOT want to happen to me in my last moments.

Drowning or Asphyxiation or, just plain not breathing … to death. There should be parental discretion warnings just before the nightly news. Some news are just not meant to be seen by kid eyes. See, when I was a kid, there was this news about a giant ferry that sunk — and days and days and days of search-and-rescue have yet to catch up with the count of the people missing. Then they used the choppers — and we, of the “we eat dinner in front of the tv” families got a shocking view of bloated corpses on salt water. Just imagine, bodies bloating from too much water exposure, skin stretched out to as far as it can go, and well, terrors of the deep probably eyeing the delicious morsel just floating about. Freaky! So, say I’m out on a cruise … that thought will always, always linger in my head.

Medical malpractice. News in the Philippines are making waves because, as it turned out, some inept nurse or doctor “leaked” a “documentation” of an operation. Not only is this a violation of doctor-patient confidentiality, it’s also unethical. The worst thing is, you couldn’t do anything about it at the moment. You are heavily sedated, and that’s why hospitals always make me queasy. I’m never sure what they do there, maybe play a little sedated surfing, plus, interns might be there — I DO NOT want to be an autopsy body. So what will I do? Ask not to get anaesthetized? Or, the harder alternative, try to keep healthy?

(image from Lucid TV)

Decapitation or amputation. There was this .gif file circulating Digg a while back, like, supergluing your hands to the side of your head just before you jump with a noose on your neck. It’d then seem like you tore your head out your neck, right? Wrong. I’m guessing the flaps of skin, muscle and tissue, plus the bone would impede. What scares me is losing an arm, or a leg, or worse, a head, by accident. (Or some other brutal means.) I mean, come on! When the day for the dead rising comes, would I want to be the worst looking shambling zombie???

Alcohol poisoning. Respect the alcohol, or it will whup your ass. I certainly don’t want to go out like these guys. (Caution: NSFW, or, Not Safe For Work!)

Earth Day. Does anyone still care anymore? I saw this cartoon over at Truthdig, and couldn’t agree more. Some places even went so far as to celebrate Earth Day, fireworks and all.

Is it still a spectacle to love Earth? Can’t we just do it in our everyday routines? Have we, as a species officially gone too far that we have to remind ourselves to take care of, well, ourselves?

The funny thing is, I realized it all because of that cartoon — does that say something about me? That, I get my beliefs on news issues from cartoon illustrations? It’s funny, really, that, while I let out a chuckle, this is the actual reality that we are in.

The cool thing is, I saw it online, (along with other strips) meaning, there wasn’t any paper involved! (Though I wonder if those things got printed and are now just pieces of paper somewhere?)

Know what? I’ll suggest that, we all be considerate, even for one day (I’m guessing that’s what Earth Day’s for anyway) — conserve water, recycle paper, use less, re-use more. The basics, because I believe, we’re better than this, as a species, we can do so much more, without causing more damage.

Holy cow. Mortal Kombat and the DC Universe? Seriously?!

I’m guessing most of you guys have seen the teaser trailer of Batman beating up Sub-Zero, and, while I admit that it looks fun, I’m not sure it will be, but, as long as it has the MK name, we could expect brutal takedowns, hilarious/violent finishing moves and, well, just a huge, gigantic amount of unlockables.

From what I hear — MK 8 (Worlds Collide) will be MK without fatalities. That’s because DC wouldn’t want their heroes to be pulling heads off characters from a video game franchise that was built upon gruesome violence. (a Superman fatality??!) While it’s still possible, it would just take a whole gigantic amount of paperwork to do it.

Even if they do pull it off, what would secure the game from an M rating from the ESRB?

Video games, after all, is a business — the more narrow the audience, (who will be able to get it) equals less money.

So how can Midway / DC just balance this game in order to appeal to old-time MK fans and the DC comic book fans? I’m thinking they’ll go the traditional crossover story route — mind control or “fate of the universe unless you win” type of scenarios in order to allow superheroes to act out of character.

Like you, this just intrigued me enough to geek over.

This post (see number 3) reminded me how great a show Mythbusters is — I mean, I already love the show and yet I’ve only recently really got into it. (Waiting for the DVDs in the mail.)

If Kari Byron or all the explosion isn’t enough of a good reason to see it, here are a couple of season 6 myths they’ve covered that might convince you of the shows greatness.

Are bulls really aggravated by the color red? – Busted. This was awesome, because this is the first time I’ve heard that bulls are actually color blind.

Can you climb a building with a motorized grappling hook? – Plausible. From the Superhero special, Adam and Jamie each build their own grappler/launcher device, and while Jamie was able to pull himself up, Adam’s didn’t hold quite as well.

Does the presence of dolphins deter sharks from attacking their prey? – Plausible. For some reason, the shark wouldn’t bite into the tasty morsel while the roboto-dolphin was around it. (Later on, my friend told me that sharks are actually afraid of dolphins because of group of ‘em can bump their noses at a shark, capsizing him the opposite direction, towards the air. Shark that can’t breathe? Shark that can’t bite no more.) This is useful information especially if you’re out there in the waters.

See video here

Can a lead balloon fly? - However frivolous the myth may be, they will prove/bust it. That’s what’s awesome about this show.

Could MacGyver have built an ultralight airplane from bamboo, trash bags, duct tape and a cement mixer? – Busted. But the fun thing is, I remember this episode of MacGyver from childhood.

Still not convinced? Look up ‘mythbusters’ in the internets for that unaired episode. :)

[Comic from xkcd.]