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The Democrat congress which swept into Washington in 1993 canceled the SSC. Two aspects of the SSC are significant today: 1. It was canceled by small-dicked Democrat politicians out of political spite and jealousy. 2. It was aimed at discovering the Higgs Boson, the particle which CERN's Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is currently uncovering.
What are the differences? 1. The SSC would have discovered the Higgs Boson 20 years earlier. 2. The Higgs Boson would have been discovered in the United States. 3. A Republican congress would have been credited with initiating the project in a state which was rapidly turning Republican.
In 1993 the U.S. had already spent $2 billion of the initial $5 billion estimate. How do we know that the Superconducting Supercollider was canceled because of political jealousy, and not, as the article states, because of budget considerations? ......a dirty little locally-held secret. The 1993 Democrat congress which canceled the SSC spent big money. They filled the already-completed sections of the SSC reactor tunnel with concrete so that the project could never be completed.
But somehow Democrats keep trying to convince people that Republicans are mean-spirited. ..
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Boneroni
Michael Peterson status
Reged: 03/05/12
Posts: 1926
Loc: Goleta
Epic science failure after epic science failure, because of the new American paradigm. If we can send men to the moon, then why can't we pay people to quit work and abandon their families?
Oh wait ....we're doing that ......while our president parties and vacations.
Did you see? They're putting the final space shuttle in a New York City museum.
Would the last person to leave please turn out the lights? ..
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dkennedys11
Miki Dora status
Reged: 07/17/06
Posts: 5038
Loc: beneath the blue suburban sky
Quote: I still can't really grasp all this stuff, but it is fascinating. Pretty good explanation.
yup, i've read a couple of different explanations and barely grokked the concept. to paraphrase George Carlin, it sounds like the invisible mass with magical powers
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SmackDaddy
Duke status
Reged: 02/12/02
Posts: 15931
Loc: San Diego, CA
During the design and the first construction stage, a heated debate ensued about the high cost of the project. In 1987, Congress was told the project could be completed for $4.4 billion, and it gained the enthusiastic support of Speaker Jim Wright of nearby Fort Worth.[5][dubious – discuss] By 1993, the cost projection exceeded $12 billion . A recurring argument was the contrast with NASA's contribution to the International Space Station (ISS), a similar dollar amount.[3] Critics of the project argued that the US could not afford both of them. Early in 1993 a group supported by funds from project contractors organized a public relations campaign to lobby Congress directly,[6] but in June, the non-profit Project on Government Oversight released a draft audit report by the Department of Energy's Inspector General heavily criticizing the Super Collider for its high costs and poor management by officials in charge of it.[7][8]
Congress officially canceled the project October 21, 1993[9] after $2 billion had been spent.[10] Many factors contributed to the cancellation:[3] rising cost estimates; poor management by physicists and Department of Energy officials; the end of the need to prove the supremacy of American science with the collapse of the Soviet Union; belief that many smaller scientific experiments of equal merit could be funded for the same cost; Congress's desire to generally reduce spending; the reluctance of Texas Governor Ann Richards;[11] and President Bill Clinton's initial lack of support for a project begun during the administrations of Richards's predecessor, Bill Clements, and Clinton's predecessors, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. However, in 1993, Clinton tried to prevent the cancellation by asking Congress to continue "to support this important and challenging effort" through completion because "abandoning the SSC at this point would signal that the United States is compromising its position of leadership in basic science". [12]
Steven Weinberg, a Nobel laureate in Physics, places the cancellation of the SSC in the context of a bigger national and global socio-economic crisis, and not just for science.[3]
President Clinton signed the bill which finally cancelled the project on October 31, 1993, stating regret at the "serious loss" for science. [13]
The closing of the SSC had adverse consequences for the southern part of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, and resulted in a mild recession, most evident in those parts of Dallas which lay south of the Trinity River.[14] When the project was canceled, 22.5 km (14.0 mi) of tunnel and 17 shafts to the surface were already dug, and nearly two billion dollars had already been spent on the massive facility.[15]
Funny how Squidly's account doesn't match the wiki entry he cites.
-------------------- "It makes the Mach 5 look like a vagina!" - S.Archer
. Squidley: "How do we know that the Superconducting Supercollider was canceled because of political jealousy, and not, as the article states, because of budget considerations? ......a dirty little locally-held secret. The 1993 Democrat congress which canceled the SSC spent big money. They filled the already-completed sections of the SSC reactor tunnel with concrete so that the project could never be completed."
SmackDaddy: "Funny how Squidly's account doesn't match the wiki entry he cites."
What kinda hack accuses me of lying about what the article I cited said after I openly stated the differences between the article and my account, and stated my reason for the differences.
Seriously????? .......you fukkin little weasel. ..
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SmackDaddy
Duke status
Reged: 02/12/02
Posts: 15931
Loc: San Diego, CA
Someone at work asked me why the big deal was about this "proof" of a probable Higgs Boson (still waiting for the peer review side of things).
I thought a smidge before providing a quick answer.
Came up with three things.
1 Remember when humanity learned about molecules and atoms and had proof of how they exist/behave/interact. That led to manipulating them, eventually creating useful things for humanity.
2 Remember when the Internet was all about smart dugs, electronic music, X-Files, and low rez porn? Now look at it. With the tangible comes opportunity.
3 If we can eventually control it, the Higgs boson, we might be able to reduce the mass of things without altering other characteristics/properties of those things. How much would pay for a thing that was a massive as a tank, or a battleship, or a building, yet could be tossed into orbit with your weak arm? (Obviously thinking small with the 'how much would you pay for' bit, but it was the best I could come up with on the spot)
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Malarcus
Duke status
Reged: 01/10/02
Posts: 16239
Loc: Roadstreet Ln.
Quote: 3 If we can eventually control it, the Higgs boson, we might be able to reduce the mass of things without altering other characteristics/properties of those things. How much would pay for a thing that was a massive as a tank, or a battleship, or a building, yet could be tossed into orbit with your weak arm? (Obviously thinking small with the 'how much would you pay for' bit, but it was the best I could come up with on the spot)
Of course, it's a weapon about a decade before that.
-------------------- "I consider going right a different sport." -BaliIdiot
Surfy, Surfy!
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SolventSolution
Miki Dora status
Reged: 05/23/05
Posts: 4929
Loc: that beach by the ocean
'imagine a crowded party, now an unpopular person can cross from one end of the part to the other fairly unhindered. A popular person, say Brad Pitt, enters the party and instantly people start to cling on and gravatate towards him. As more people are attracted to him he slows down and has a much more difficult time getting around.'
...so Brad Pitt particle?
-------------------- “in the abundance of water the fool is thirsty"
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Norm'
Duke status
Reged: 01/31/03
Posts: 18895
Loc: Lovetron
Quote: 3 If we can eventually control it, the Higgs boson, we might be able to reduce the mass of things without altering other characteristics/properties of those things. How much would pay for a thing that was a massive as a tank, or a battleship, or a building, yet could be tossed into orbit with your weak arm? (Obviously thinking small with the 'how much would you pay for' bit, but it was the best I could come up with on the spot)
Of course, it's a weapon about a decade before that.
Hmmmm.
A Higgs-boson disintegrator......aim, turn it on/pull trigger/imagine depressing the plunger and the target is surround by a Higgs-boson field nullifyer and the target's basic matter loses the ability to clump together to form quarks/atoms/molecules/etc.
You came up with the basic idea of weaponizing the science, so sure, most credit goes to you, but I get credit for figuring out a manner it which it could work...now to find some guy in China to build it for us for a few scheckles so we can sell it to terrorists for millions!
(dang...I just got on the list, didn't I?)
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Malarcus
Duke status
Reged: 01/10/02
Posts: 16239
Loc: Roadstreet Ln.
Actually, we are talking billions, not millions. And I was thinking of going Super-Villain-holds-continent-hostage rather than Adnan Khashoggi but we can talk. We should do lunch. Dubai, say, 13:00 local?
-------------------- "I consider going right a different sport." -BaliIdiot
Surfy, Surfy!
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SmackDaddy
Duke status
Reged: 02/12/02
Posts: 15931
Loc: San Diego, CA
It's like we had discovered the proton and the electron but knew nothing of the neutron. So our theory of atoms does't quite makes sense. We can't make the math work. Then Dr. Neu does some calculations and predicts that there is another particle called the neutron that has particular characteristics and that with these characteristics our theory of atoms works, and we're able to create the periodic table and explain how chemistry works. Then 40 years later someone actually discovers a neutron and all the predicted characteristics match Dr. Neu's predictions. Then the theory of the atom is proven.
Except that this is on a much deeper level of understanding matter.
We used to think that protons/neutrons/electrons were the small particles. Then we found out that they were made of quantum particles, but when you added up the masses and charges of all the quantum particles we found it didn't add up to the mass of an atom. Therefore, the theory predicted that there was at least one more particle - Higgs-Boson. If proven and it's mass/charge completes the equation then this is HUGE. Though I am a bit confused by the cartoon where it says there could be many more particles, but maybe they meant that we didn't know until we found HB (which I think is the case).
Basically, btw, matter doesn't really exist, it's all energy and what you think of as being solid is just the interaction of opposing energy forces. (But that's not the point of discovering the Higgs-Boson.) If you could make your energy not oppose that of the solid object you might be able to pass your hand right through it. (IMHO)
-------------------- "It makes the Mach 5 look like a vagina!" - S.Archer
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Im sure you would vote for it today right? 5.5 billion to science? 
