Will the universe restart, or will some scientists just get happy?

The Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland is back up and running! (Yes, that's it's name - who ever said scientists weren't creative - put an adjective in front of the noun, that makes it special, right?)

This is the machine CERN created to try to find the Higgs bosun particle, as well as any other interesting things that can be found when particles are smashed together. The particles they are looking for are the ones they expect were created 1 trillionth to 2 trillionths of a second after the Big Bang, and then disappeared almost immediately (I think). So they are trying to replicate the conditions that existed at the very beginning of the universe.

So will this be effectively hitting the "restart" button for the universe? That is a fear that some people have.

Or will this just get some scientists a Nobel prize? That would make some scientists very happy. That would make me happy, the "not the end of the universe" option.

Could humans actually do something that would end the universe? It seems a bit overly ambitious somehow. The good thing is, if it does happen, we will never know. Anything. Ever again. It would be the end. It's a nice, clean, full stop. I like the simplicity of it. It works for me.

For more interesting details see this and many other news articles available around the world: CBC news article

Where is the best handicapped washroom?

The best handicapped washroom I've ever been in is on one of the new BC Ferries Coastal ships!

Press large buttons to open the door. The door closes automatically behind you. There is a big button on the wall to lock and unlock the door. There is plenty of room for any maneuvering you want to do, and the toilet has lots of hand rails. The sink is totally accessible. Then press the unlock button and the open door button, and try to avoid exclaiming too loudly "This is the best washroom ever!" as you leave the room :)

I didn't really expect to be using my wheelchair onboard the ship, I can still get around with walking sticks - more slowly than most species of turtles, and not for long distances, but it's still easier to maneuver without the wheelchair. But as we were going through the payment booths at the ferry terminal the woman asked "Is that a wheelchair?" We had my manual chair in the backseat of the car because the trunk was full of our luggage. So my spouse said yes, and we got a special handicapped person sign to put on our dashboard and got to go to the front of the line! As we were boarding the ship all of the traffic was stopped and the person directing cars came and asked "What can we do for you?" So we asked to be near the elevator, and he said "Do you need extra room to get out?" So we said "Sure!" and were directed to tell the person who directed us to our spot to make sure we had room. So the person who directed us to our spot laid down traffic cones from where we parked at the front end of the boat back to the elevators so we would have room to get the wheelchair to the elevator.

At this point, we decided there was no way we could leave the chair in the backseat - it would just seem rude!

There's lots of room on this planet! So I have to say the new Coastal class ferries have a vast amount of space on them - for parking, for your butt while sitting in a lounge chair, for wheelchairs in the cafeteria area (every table is accessible), and in the washroom! It's like we've all come from Lilliput to visit!

And the handicapped washroom has got to be the best designed washroom ever!

When did laundry become therapeutic?

I'm not sure if this is one of those "you're getting older" signs, or if I'm just going a bit funny.

After a long and stressful weekend visiting my Mother, a full day at home doing nothing but laundry was actually quite relaxing for me. The methodical sorting, washing each load, doing the hand washing items, putting the clothing in the dryer, and calm, relaxing folding of the warm clean clothes.... I am going insane.

When did laundry become a form of stress therapy? I've got to admit it's cheap therapy, but it makes me feel like quite the drudge.

I have to get out more.

Is this a "wrinkly reunion"?

This could be one of those "you are getting old" indicators!

I've just had a visit to an optometrist, my regular one was out of the country, so I saw his partner optometrist. She's about my age. Actually, she's exactly my age.

I noticed something that looked very familiar on her office wall. It's a bachelor's degree from the University of Alberta. I have one of those too! Looking closer (drops in the eyes to dilate the pupils make it hard to see, I'm not loosing it that quickly) she got her degree in 1989... me too!

This by itself doesn't mean we're getting older, but the fact that immediately before this we were having a discussion about hair dressing appointments and how important they were, particularly for colouring over the grey hairs... oh dear.

It's actually quite cool to run into someone with the same background. We have a lot in common. We even have the same glass frames - something you notice in an optometrist's office. But the ensuing discussion of "I can't believe it's been almost 25 years since I graduated from high school" was a bit of a stumble.

Oh dear, we are getting old. I think this was my first "wrinkly reunion". This is when people of the same age get together and discuss the indicators of the onset of age that they are experiencing... and everyone else is experiencing them too!

Is that 21 years of bad luck or just 7?

If you break a mirror, you will have 7 years of bad luck. Or so the saying goes.

If you break 3 mirrors at the same time... is that 7 years for the one event, or 21 years - 7 years for each mirror? HMMMMM

No, I haven't broken any mirrors lately, I was just sitting and watching men loading old mirrored closet doors into the back of a pickup, and expecting an inevitable span of bad luck to descend upon them. The doors were similar to the ones in my apartment, and they were being removed from my apartment building, so I know they are about 20 years old, and they are fairly sturdy from what I can tell. But as the one man got out of the truck and put his wallet in his back pocket as he walked towards the other man who had the mirrors ready for removal, I didn't think this was going to be a professional move. (If your wallet is too big to fit in your back pocket while you drive... suck it up and buy bigger pants, you've gained weight, bud.)

No, the mirrors didn't fit well in the pickup truck. No, they didn't put any padding around or between them. Yes, they did use a bit of red as a flag tied to the end of the door runners that they took away with the mirrors because they were sticking far off the end of the pickup. Unless they weren't going very far, I think those mirrors are now sharp pieces of glass strewn about the bed of a pickup truck.

I hope for their sake that it's only 7 years for the one event!

Can I have another arm?

You know you're in trouble when a doctor says "this is going to hurt".

I got a flu shot on Monday. Actually, I got 2 flu shots on Monday. My doctor gave me the regular seasonal flu shot in one arm, and the H1N1 flu shot in the other arm.

The jabs themselves were a mere pinch. That's not where the pain comes in.

The doctor warned me that the H1N1 flu shot will hurt "for about 3 days". It's now day 3 after the shot and it still hurts! It was a red angry hurt at first, but now it's an achy, can't sleep on either side because both arms have been assaulted by the flu hurt.

So can I have another arm? One that doesn't hurt? I'll give it back later...

What is crawling up my leg?

Oh my goodness, it's a squirrel!

Yes, really. Yesterday a squirrel decided to climb up my leg. It was a rare sunny November day yesterday and I was taking photos in Stanley Park. Just as I got to the little bridge over the western end of Lost Lagoon, I was greeted by a grey squirrel who thought my leg looked like a good thing to climb. I didn't have any nuts to give him, so I shooed him off when he got to my knee, and thanked him for the mud his paws got on my pants.

It has become very obvious to me that, as I've admitted I need a wheelchair to get around, I am now in the "weak and vulnerable" section of the human herd. I have no illusions of humans being above primal pack instincts to prey on the "weak and vulnerable". This makes me very wary of other humans. I would not be in Stanley Park by myself unless I was sure there would be a lot of other people there, including many park workers, who could potentially help me if an individual human was being beastly. Safety in numbers... I have primal instincts too.

It's shocking how this has changed my relationships with other animals as well. I smile at dogs, and I'm closer to their level now, so they often wag their tails back at me. I have to slow down and make "pigeon, pigeon, pigeon" noises very loudly to get pigeons out of my way when I'm driving my wheelchair around so I don't run over them. Cats glare at me and stay as far away from me as they can go while still watching me. And now I'm considered no risk at all by squirrels! At least not by the grey squirrels in Stanley Park who are used to being fed by humans. Another couple of squirrels bounded up to me a while later, but I shooed them away before they started climbing. (See the photo above for one that was bounding up, as I shooed at him.)

As I contemplated this event while taking photos in the park, I also realized I keep my left-hand pinky up in the air while I'm pointing my camera... because a chickadee landed on it! That made me shriek just a little bit. Those claws are sharp! So I'm not a risk for little birds either!

Now I have to figure out how to take photos of these animals while they are visiting me so closely... and I need to find some bird seed and some nuts for my new friends before I go out again. You're not supposed to feed the wildlife... but obviously I'm not considered the average human anymore, so maybe I'll side with the little animals.