Torch Relay

Joined the crowds in Newbridge Hill to watch the Olympic Torch Relay go past.
Well you have to do it don't you?  It only comes around once-in-a-lifetime.

Olympic Torch Relay - George Harding in Bath - 22nd May

Except tomorrow when it goes from Bristol to Swindon via Royal Wootton Bassett. And yes I checked the number of Ts and Ss.

Everyone wants to have a go with the Torch

Like the Autobahn a legacy of the Nazis. Sort of.

Not sure what the Met Police were there for except to pose. Each time they cleared the crowds off the road they seeped back on again so the support vehicles ended up struggling to get through. Beep-beep. Not sure what connection the disco-dancers and publicity vehicles have with the Olympic ideals.

Went off well. Lets hope in the real events they remember to put out 10 hurdles and not just nine!

A pleasant interlude.

Travellin' Man

Long Time No See
As the unemployed bishop said to the actress.

Well – seven weeks of rain and I have got out more.
It is just have not had time to write about it.

Statistics

Since then:-

• Running – 0143 miles
• Driving – 1430 miles
• Blogging – 0000 miles

Headed north to get away from the rain.

Dumfries and Galloway – recommended.

River Nith

Travel
Broadends the mind they say. Also the bum if driving long distances.

"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.
I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move." - R L Stevenson

Faster Than Light

Faster Than The Speed of Light
No not my running - obviously. Neutrinos - allegedly.

Well that is what the scientists at INFN - Gran Sasso Labs say they measured. Neutrinos fired off from CERN in Switzerland travelling 732Km (or through “700Km of rock“ depending on which report you read) have been measured arriving at INFN at 60 nanoseconds faster than the speed of light.

The exact measurement is 57.8 nanoseconds plus or minus 7.8. Close enough for government work and far more accurate than my Garmin is or needs to be.

So What?
If proved to be the case the faster-than-light neutrinos would demolish modern physics. Mind you - some scientists are expecting the existing theories to be overthrown sometime soon. But not in quite such a radical way. See also the Higgs Boson.

Back to square 1.

Experiment Replicated
Not exactly but it has been repeated by the same team.
To be replicated an experiment needs to be repeated by different teams who arrive consistently at the same results as the original.
So far all that has happened is that the INFN team, who published the original findings, have adjusted the pulses of neutrinos to avoid one of the possible system errors.

Pulse Bursts
It had been suggested that in the long pulses of neutrinos the instruments were measuring the last particles to be fired as the first to arrive. The repeat experiment used shorter pulses to counter this - and still measured the 57.8 nanosecond breaking of the speed limit.

Supernovae Observed
These have been observed for many years. Most of the energy emitted is neutrinos. And these are not measured arriving at earth ahead of the light. So how can it be that when travelling over billions of light years across space the neutrinos arrive after the light images - but over a mere 700Km through rock they arrive nearly 60 nanoseconds ahead?

Alternatives

1. Error in the instruments - unlikely as they have been checked and double-checked
2. Conceptual error - the results measure something different from what the scientists think they are measuring
3. Unknown Unknowns - something not yet discovered that affects the results in an unexpected way
4. Existing Theory Wrong - particles can travel faster than light
5. Interference with the Results by Aliens or Gods.

The paper has been published for peer review - to see if someone can spot the error or come up with a theory to explain the unexpected results.
 
Outcomes
Possible outcomes are:-

1. Error in measurement identified
2. Error in concept of experiment identified
3. Something new discovered - but which does not overturn the current theories
4. Existing theory replaced by a new paradigm
5. INFN running out of funds before the experiment is concluded due to the sovereign default of Italy, implosion of the Euro and economic collapse of western Europe.

 
But will it affect the man on the Clapham omnibus?
 
 

Rhymes with Tune

Light - God’s eldest daughter - is a principal beauty in building. - Thomas Fuller 1608-1661

Cut Off

Broadband On The Run
It is Government policy to bring fast broadband to the whole country but BT contractors working on this project managed to leave a large area of Weston, Bath, cut-off for 9 days without phone, fax or internet.

Catch 22
Several hundred households were isolated from a Saturday night after contractors installing new boxes for fast broadband broke the existing phone connection to the exchange. Attempts by residents to inform BT were stymied by the automated response system - which directed faults to be reported online via http://www.bt.co.uk/

Demarcation
By Tuesday BT Open Reach technicians were back at work. One team dug up the pavement again around the newly-installed boxes and then left an open hole. Another was working up phone masts. But neither team were working on the line break and both denied all knowledge of it.

Everything-Everywhere
At least mobile works. But, nice chap called James at BT complaints department says he must read all his check-list. This includes ceremony of unplugging and re-plugging our phones and committing to a £137 charge if engineer is called out and fault is in our home.

Is it me or James who is off line?

James - offline and not yet red

Poli Poli
Open Reach turn up again in street. Oh dear - unable to help as the cables are crushed within the pipes underneath where the trucks had been parked to take away the soil from the hole-diggers.

New Day
Contractors unload and stack pipes.

Another New Day
Long trench dug and pipes buried.

New Week
Phone engineers pull out and replace cables. Phone and internet connection jury rigged by 1-20pm.

Learning From Experience - Not
More contractors fill in holes. Truck parked on top of newly repaired pavement where pipe was crushed last week.

New Speeds
Massive 373 kpbs now available. Slightly less than before.

Compensation Offered
From day report “received” - Tuesday - to day “fixed” - about 58p per day for 7 days - less than cost of mobile essential calls made to landlines during 9 days cut off.

Open Breach of Health and Safety

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose - Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr

Extract from TTTE included without permission of the current holders of the right to the work of late Rev W Awdry, illustrator C Reginald Dalby, and publishers Edmund Ward.

Beyond Understanding

A Bosun Named Higgs
Using the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva the scientists of CERN are seeking publicity and continued funding at a time of austerity by claiming that after some 50 years they are on the verge of finding the elusive theoretical sub-atomic particle named the Higgs boson.

Or not finding it.

The Standard Model
A child of the 1960s.  The mathematics predict particles - all of which have been found except for the Higgs boson which is an important player in the theory as its existence is needed to explain the mass of many of the other particles.

If the Higgs boson is proved not to exist then the Standard Model will fall - and a new one will arise.

The Standard Model II
But even if the Higgs boson is found apparently this will cause problems for the Standard Model because to make the equations work there has to be something else.

One model requires a partner super particle - a sort of super Higgs.   A master particle.  Named after another scientist, perhaps.

A Pugwash captain, or a Bates master?

Gigaelectronvolts (GeV)
Previous colliders have examined particle collisions in the range up to 114 GeV looking for the Higgs boson.

The LHC has ruled out its existence in the range 135 to 500 GeV.

CERN is now looking in the range 114-135GeV. This is said to be precisely the region where, according to the Standard Model, the Higgs would be found.

Which rather begs the question  of why CERN did not use the LHC to examine that range first - working upwards from the range achieved by the smaller colliders.

Boys and their big toys.

Forty Two
The possibility remains that the Higgs bosun might be in the range up to 114 GeV but it was not found by the earlier colliders because their detection systems were not sensitive enough.  So if CERN don’t find it perhaps they should re-run the earlier experiments but in the LHC.

I predict 42 GeV. You read it here first.

Bath Point 5
The Higgs boson possibilities are:-

1. Finding the particle somewhere in the range predicted
2. Finding it outside the range predicted
3. Not finding it
4. Finding proof of the non-existence of the Higgs boson
5. Running out of funds before the experiment is concluded due to the sovereign default of Greece, implosion of the Euro and economic collapse of western Europe.

What a Higgs boson might look like - artist's impression

“Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.”  Genesis Ch 2 v 1.

“The Atoms of Democritus
And Newton’s Particles of Light
Are sands upon the Red Sea shore
Where Israel’s tents do shine so bright”  William Blake

Running
In this heat?  Forget it.

Plods Progress

1960s
Birmingham City Police
Town fringe 4am. Youths hanging around. Officer in panda car stops for a little chat.

Ladywood after midnight. Tipsy students carrying Bath Road sign when spotted by constable on beat carry sign into Police Station. Desk Sergeant notes down details of “find”. When asked if can be kept if no claimants, replies “Op It”.

Warwickshire Constabulary
Small village midday. Large group of lads. Local policeman on motorbike stops to find out who they are and why hanging around there.

1970s
Met
North London. Old banger is making lots of noise from exhaust. Waved down by bobbie on push-bike. Driver told “I know where this car lives - take it home now and don’t take it out again except to get it fixed”

Earls Court 10pm. Little yellow car driven in dashing style along Ring Road trying to keep up with Austin Healey ahead. Blue car behind suddenly sprouts sirens and blue lights. Flat-hatted crime cop gives driver of little car severe ticking off  “40 in a 30 limit, perhaps. 50 in a 40 limit, maybe. But you were doing 50 in a 30 limit! Don’t do it again, sonny.”

Central London. Armed police officer shoots and wounds passenger in a Mini.

1980s
Met
South London. A bored police officer advises home owner to “Move Home“ after the fourth break-in in 2 months. Takes no details and gives out yet another crime number. Surrounded by the evidence of finger-prints on windows and boot-marks on the remains of the door says no forensic examination will be done because break-ins are “routine low priority crime“ and the policy is to take no action.

Greenwich. Police examining burgled house of citizen arrest his son for possessing a traffic cone.

Greenwich Magistrates Court. Case of alleged assault. Accused not present. He had been “out” when police had called to arrest him. Police roundly castigated by magistrate. No Further Action taken.

Natwest Bank in Earls Court. Customer assaulted in full view of customers and staff. Police called at insistence of victim. Assailant admits assault. Police refuse to take action “It’s a civil matter”.

Sussex Constabulary
James Ashley - naked - shot dead in police raid.

1990s
Avon and Somerset Police
Second break-in within 1 month. Police reckon they knew who did it as local villains out on parole over Christmas. Hand out victim-support leaflets.

Met
Harry Stanley shot dead by police whilst carrying repaired table leg in bag.

2000s
Avon and Somerset
Notification of “Failure to stop after an accident” issued. Police refuse to supply any statements made about alleged “accident” or its precise time or location. When requested to examine car for signs of damage, police say “You might have repaired it”.

Force praised for its ethnicity and diversity policy guidance.

Cannabis found growing in concrete pots outside Bath police station.

Met
Jean Charles de Meneses shot 7 times in head.

2011
Sussex Constabulary
10 Feb - naked man shot and killed in Brighton.

Met, West Midlands, Avon & Somerset
The BlackBerry and Apple Riots - postcode gangs co-ordinate rioting, arson and looting across London,  Croydon, Birmingham, and Bristol using smart phones.

When constabulary duty’s to be done
A policeman’s lot is not a happy one. W S Gilbert

He that goeth about to persuade a multitude, that they are not so well governed as they ought to be, shall never want attentive and favourable hearers. Richard Hooker