It’s one of the great unanswered questions of science. What gives matter its mass? By generating conditions present moments after the big bang, scientists hope to locate the elusive ‘God Particle’. “This is going to take us to the next layer of understanding”, enthuses Prof Geoff Taylor. The Hadron Collider at CERN, due to be switched on next year, will shoot beams of energy around a 27 km loop, smashing them into each other at the speed of light. It’s all in the hope of detecting the Higgs Boson, or ‘God’ particle, thought to give matter its mass. CERN scientists will also create mini black holes and search for dark matter. As Taylor states: “We are on the verge of discovering how our universe evolved from the first few fractions of a second.”

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0Fg16j5hbvY

 Some highlights from the Toyota museum.

Toyota-7

Prince R380 + Toyota Celica -73

And a Lotus Esprit in mint condition driving around in the streets of Tokyo…

m.

Sometimes there are advantages to getting up really early.

It is becoming increasingly clear that widespread consumption is wrecking havoc on the planet. But, if it’s making us happier then perhaps it’s worth the compromise, some argue. Strangely, that doesn’t appear to be the case, either. The spreading westernized belief that “more” possessions equates to more happiness hasn’t panned out. In fact, statistically, the First World now has more depression, alcoholism, crime, anxiety, obesity and overall dissatisfaction with life than was reported 50 years ago. What if “more” isn’t “more” in terms of consumption? Recent research is now shedding light on the phenomenon.These studies suggest that our Stone Age brains, or what scientists refer to as the “primitive” brain is evolved to want more, but not necessarlily to ENJOY more. For example, Brain scans by Emory University revealed that the reward-chemical dopamine is released when we spot a product and consider buying it. Interestingly, only the anticipation releases dopamine. After the item is bought, the high often evaporates within minutes, and the purchaser may be indifferent to having one more item or even suffer from “buyer’s remorse”.

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2008/01/how-advertising.html

m.

I have about 5000 plus unsorted slides…anyone want to sort and scan them for me? Nope? didnt think so…

I started the process many times but just get lost in old trips…

Turks and Caicos 1999

Italy 2000

Africa 2001

New Zealand 2002

Whistler 2004

One of the standout tracks from the album by Marco Polo – Port Authority. Feelin it…

“Land Rover reveals an exciting vision of its future with the LRX concept – a bold evolution of Land Rover design that signals the brand’s shift into new areas of the market, while remaining true to its core values. As the company prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary during 2008, the three-door LRX, with its more compact size, lighter weight and sustainability-focused technologies, clearly addresses the needs of a changing world and offers the potential of 120 g/km CO2 emissions.”

The car looks wicked, and it is certainly a lot smaller than the current models but it doesnt address the fact that a hell of a lot of oil goes into producing a car of this complexity. Every little helps I guess, but maybe it is too little too late.

THE world’s biggest car maker, General Motors, believes the global oil supply has peaked and a switch to electric cars is inevitable.

In a stunning announcement at the opening of the Detroit Motor Show yesterday, GM’s chairman and chief executive officer, Rick Wagoner, said ethanol was an important interim solution to the demand for oil, (editors note: Ethanol is a really bad idea, read here if you want to know why) until battery technology gave electric cars the range of petrol-powered cars.

“There is no doubt demand for oil is outpacing supply at a rapid pace, and has been for some time now,” Mr Wagoner said. “As a business necessity and an obligation to society we need to develop alternate sources of propulsion.

“So, are electrically driven vehicles the answer for the mid- and long-term? Yes, for sure. But we need something else to significantly reduce our reliance on petroleum in the interim.”

GM is working on an electric car, the Volt — due in showrooms in 2010 — but delays in battery technology have slowed its development.

http://www.energybulletin.net/39096.html

We headed up to flachauwinkel 45 mins from here this weekend. There is more snow forecast to fall all week. My fractured vertebra is about 70% better so we skiied all over the mountain including some sweet offpiste. yessirr.
The bad news is I got a letter from the polizie regarding my tuned scooter, either I pay 1500 euro in 2 weeks or I have to go to jail for 30 days. Unbelievable. It was still a 50cc, it just had a decent pipe on it. Before they stole it. Bastards.

These guys have the best catalogues I have seen for years and top notch bikes.
Hopefully they will be coming with a new website but you can check em out here…

“The best of the world’s “raw numbers” on global crude oil production still comes from the U.S. DOE/EIA. Eighteen months ago, I began looking closely at the EIA’s global crude oil and condensate production report summarized in the EIA’s Monthly Energy Report (Table 11.1b) as it showed a peak in crude oil production in 2005. For almost a year, minor adjustments to the 2005 data were made. Over time, however, the facts point to the glaring and inconvenient reality that the May 2005 crude production represented an all-time high, even though it barely exceeded 74 million barrels a day – 74,298,000/day according to the EIA. April, May and December 2005 were the first three months in the 150-year history of oil when the world ever produced this much oil. In July 2006, global crude once more inched above the 74 million barrel a day high-water mark. No other monthly report before or since shows oil produced at or above the 74 million barrel per day mark.

PDF file:

http://www.simmonsco-intl.com/files/Another%20Nail%20in%20the%20Coffin.pdf

Predicting that world economic activity will grow by an average of 4.5 percent per year during 2007-12, much of it driven by unbridled growth in China, India and the Middle East — July 9 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA)concludes that global oil demand will rise by 2.2 percent per year, pushing world oil consumption from approximately 86 million barrels per day in 2007 to 96 million in 2012. With luck and massive new investment, the oil industry will be able to increase output sufficiently to satisfy the higher level of demand anticipated for 2012 — barely. Beyond that, however, there appears little likelihood that the industry will be able to sustain any increase in demand. “Oil look[s] extremely tight in five years’ time”
http://www.alternet.org/audits/66625/

American immigration at Vancouver Airport? UK Border post at Calais port, or Gatwick airport (50 miles inside the country)

Can a border post be anywhere? Do we need borders? The EU for example doesnt seem to think so, while North and South Korea jealously guard theirs with thousands of soldiers.

Nationalism can be a touchy subject these days.

We took a full size replica of the UK Border barrier from Gatwick, to Speakers Corner and various other places to see how people reacted…

The reaction was mixed to say the least

(including amoungst many others being called racists, crazy and having 3 police encounters with 1 illegal demostration fine)

Super hot photoshoot by Mert & Marcus shot in Ibiza with Miss Moss.
Check out some more photos here.