It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

The Hadron Super Collider is online. Protons have been fired. The world is still here.

Although, you know, no collisions have occurred. Yet. So there's still a hope that the world will end and we won't have to watch or listen to the screaming and gnashing of teeth that is sure to proceed our Presidential Election. So, Higgs Boson or annihilation, either way it would be cool.

This reminds me that a few years back I read an article on how some astrophysicists were looking at some seismic anomalies. How the seismographs recorded some highly local events that look like an asteroid strike, of the size that would leave a crater, but no crater is found. And that at predictable times, there is another similar event on another part of the globe. How it looks like something with decent mass had passed through the Earth. While they didn't quite know what it could be, one of the theories is micro or mini black holes passing through the Earth.

So even if the Hadron Collider could create a micro-black hole, it'll only have the mass of a few protons. Not really something to get all bothered about. You experience more gravitational pull from the computer screen you're looking at right now (which is throwing off a few hundred thousand protons and is made up of more).

Which brings me to the alternative title of this post. "OMG, it's made of mass!" (Here's a link to a video that explains why some of us are giggling). And here is another link, you know, just in case something bad might happen (just check that URL out, physics humor, love it).