A pair of otherwise distinguished physicists have suggested that the hypothesized Higgs boson, which physicists hope to produce with the collider, might be so abhorrent to nature that its creation would ripple backward through time and stop the collider before it could make one, like a time traveler who goes back in time to kill his grandfather.

Holger Bech Nielsen, of the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, and Masao Ninomiya of the Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics in Kyoto, Japan, put this idea forward in a series of papers with titles like “Test of Effect From Future in Large Hadron Collider: a Proposal” and “Search for Future Influence From LHC,” posted on the physics Web site arXiv.org in the last year and a half.

According to the so-called Standard Model that rules almost all physics, the Higgs is responsible for imbuing other elementary particles with mass.

“It must be our prediction that all Higgs producing machines shall have bad luck,” Dr. Nielsen said in an e-mail message. In an unpublished essay, Dr. Nielson said of the theory, “Well, one could even almost say that we have a model for God.” It is their guess, he went on, “that He rather hates Higgs particles, and attempts to avoid them.”

This malign influence from the future, they argue, could explain why the United States Superconducting Supercollider, also designed to find the Higgs, was canceled in 1993 after billions of dollars had already been spent, an event so unlikely that Dr. Nielsen calls it an “anti-miracle.”

The Collider, the Particle and a Theory About Fate [The New York Times]

If you’re a real physics buff like me, follow these links to the actual papers:

Search for Effect of Influence from Future in Large Hadron Collider (pdf)
Authors: Holger B. Nielsen, Masao Ninomiya

Test of Influence from Future in Large Hadron Collider; A Proposal (pdf)
Authors: Holger B. Nielsen, Masao Ninomiya

People are unconsciously fairer and more generous when they are in clean-smelling environments, according to a soon-to-be published study led by a Brigham Young University professor.

The research found a dramatic improvement in ethical behavior with just a few spritzes of citrus-scented Windex.

. . . . .

The study titled “The Smell of Virtue” was unusually simple and conclusive. Participants engaged in several tasks, the only difference being that some worked in unscented rooms, while others worked in rooms freshly spritzed with Windex.

Clean Smells Promote Moral Behavior, Study Suggests [ScienceDaily]

Have you ever formatted your computer and had to install all your favorite programs all over again one-by-one?  Not anymore!  Hop on over to Ninite.com and create a custom app installer.  Simply select all the applications you want in your installer, then download the custom executable file (.exe) and run it.  Ninite currently *only* serves Windows XP/Vista/7, which, let’s face it, is 93% of the market share worldwide at the time of this post.  (Sorry Mac fanboy, you’re not as relevant as your commercials make you think you are.  But you come in at a respectable 5%, good for second place, and my continued disdain at your cluelessness.)

Ninite – Easy PC Setup and Multiple App Installer – Great For Win7 Upgrades [Ninite]

Consider this experiment. A group of students were shown a series of products. There were a couple of bottles of wines, a couple of computer components, and a couple of unrelated products. Each student was given a sheet with the products listed on it. They were asked to write the last two digits of their social security number at the top of the page.

. . . . .

Then they were asked to write that number in the form of dollars (e.g. $43) next to each product listed. Then they were asked to write whether they would pay that amount (e.g $43) for each product by writing yes or no next to each product. Finally they were asked write the maximum amount they would pay for each product.

. . . . .

The students with social security numbers in the top 20% (80-99) placed bids from 216% to 346% higher than those with social security numbers in the bottom 20% (01-20). As an example, the top 20% bid an average of $56 for a cordless keyboard while the bottom 20% bid an average of $16!

. . . . .

What happened in this experiment was that students were asked to consider buying items at that price. That contemplation created an anchor that then subsequently influenced what they were actually willing to pay. The anchor was completely arbitrary.

Irrational Decisions – Anchoring and Arbitrary Coherence [The Rat Race Trap]

For years now, professional and recreational bikers alike have been using spring-loaded seat posts. They absorb the worst shocks, and make the ride more comfortable for the back. Still, for noticeably greater ride comfort, you have to dig deeper in your pockets. Fraunhofer researchers have just developed a functionally-integrated bicycle seat post from carbon fiber composite materials (CFRPs — Carbon fiber reinforced plastics) that is ultra light and extraordinarily effective. “A hardtail mountain bike with this new kind of CFRP seat post rides as if it were a full suspension bike,” says triathlon world champion Daniel Unger after a test drive. The professional cyclist means that the CFRP seat post can turn any mountain bike without rear-wheel suspension into a fully spring-loaded luxury vehicle. No surprise that in September, the component earned the Eurobike Award at the Eurobike 2009 trade show in Friedrichshafen and in Stuttgart, the high-tech post has been nominated for the 2009 AVK Award for Innovation.

High Tech For Bicycles [ScienceDaily]

Recently researchers decided to put the theory of “inattentional blindness” to the test: the unicycling clown test. They documented real-world examples of people who were so distracted by their cell phone use that they failed to see the bizarre occurrence of a unicycling clown passing them on the street.

I’m pretty sure I could be unconscious and I’d see a unicycling clown.

Distracted By A Cell Phone? Some Cell Phone Users Fail To See Unicycling Clown Passing Them [ScienceDaily]

Thanks to Geekologie for pointing out that when South America is superimposed over Africa, it forms a Tyrannosaurus Rex head.

South America + Africa = Tyrannosaurus Rex [Geekologie]

Samsung OLED is Virtually Indestructible [Tom's Hardware]

Q) Is it waterproof?

A) No, so dont put it in the dishwasher

Q) Is this case flammable?

A) If you light it on fire it is

Q) Will this case make me awesome?

A) I think that goes without saying

Q) Is there a warranty?

A) no, it is cardboard afterall

Q) Can I get a paper cut on my ear while using this case?

A) My first guess would be no, but anything is possible, we dont promote unsafe use of the recession case

These are actually for sale.

iPhone 3G / 3GS recession case [Case-Mate]