for the physicists

[Drake Tungsten]

Yes, it does.

QFT

[Dis]

This would be totally awesome and worth at least another few billion into studying if the elf chicks are hot or not.

judging by most rpg games out there. Yes they are.

[duke o' york]

Can I get funding for playing RPGs then?

Damn, I just got a fantastic new job, but it seems I needn't have bothered.

[Elok]

You can't put a human being "in" the LHC. The beam pipes are only a few centimeters across.

http://www.iamorrison.mistral.co.uk/beampipe.jpg

So build a bigger one, or just put Kate Moss in there. Anyway, what would be the effects of a high-velocity particle (or a stream thereof) on a human body? Never mind the logistics.

[SlowwHand]

This would be totally awesome and worth at least another few billion into studying if the elf chicks are hot or not.

[Elok]

Also, for $5 billion, could we create a computer program that could analyze videos of clothed women, deduce their booby size and shape from their clothing bulges, and seamlessly "nudify" them? So that, for example, we could make Palin announce her resignation in the buff, or watch a CNN anchor-honey talk about a trainwreck with a frowny-face and a jiggling rack? That is soooo much better as a use of funding...

[BlackCat]

Also, for $5 billion, could we create a computer program that could analyze videos of clothed women, deduce their booby size and shape from their clothing bulges, and seamlessly "nudify" them? So that, for example, we could make Palin announce her resignation in the buff, or watch a CNN anchor-honey talk about a trainwreck with a frowny-face and a jiggling rack? That is soooo much better as a use of funding...

Think that nature already have done that - it's called a male brain.

[Solomwi]

They serve no purpose other than satisfying a few oddballs' fetish. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't be funded.

Of course it does.

Edit: Crap, just call this another echo of KH's response.

[Ramo]

Really. And why are tectonic plates the size they are?

Tectonic plates are the surface manifestations (thermal boundary layers) of convection in the mantle. The lateral length scale is much larger than the vertical depth of convection in the mantle. The problem is that the differential equations that govern this system are pretty complicated, so don't permit a closed form solution in general. Numerical modelers have implemented observed features of the Earth to try to match this length scale. One possible controlling factor is the asthenosphere, which is a low viscosity zone in the upper mantle. This business is pretty ad-hoc (running numerical models all day to map out all of parameter space would be a ridiculous waste of time), so we'd like a more rigorous framework.

Assuming that the system organizes itself to minimize [, depending on the boundary conditions, certain metrics for] resistance to thermal flows (which is a big assumption), this scale is accommodated by low viscosity zones through which lateral flows are channelized, such as the asthenosphere. Looking at energy conservation, the low viscosity zones reduce lateral dissipation - and allow a larger aspect ratio to maximize heat transfer. Numerically testing the stability of these patterns (to finite thermal perturbations, aka subduction) bears out this prediction, albeit at a vigor of convection that is a few orders of magnitude lower than that which exists in the mantle.

Would you like a more technical explanation? I assume you won't, but I thought I'd ask.

[Aeson]

That's not useless Ramo! When the poles stop spinning or are going to shift or whatever, you can use your knowledge to help us figure out where the nukes should be set to get it spinning properly again. (I did not see this in a movie... at least not a movie that wasn't so horrifically bad that I didn't subconsciously repress the memories of seeing it.)

[Heraclitus]

Nukes are the duck tape of disaster movies.

[Thoth]

*duct tape

[BeBMan]

You can't put a human being "in" the LHC. The beam pipes are only a few centimeters across.

http://www.iamorrison.mistral.co.uk/beampipe.jpg

Looks like a big metal smiley. Probably laughing about humans

[Heraclitus]

*duct tape

Merci.

[Mint]

*duct tape

You're wrong.