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The God Particle

The Straight Dope: What is the "God particle"?, an analogy for our time:

Now for the woolly part. If it exists, the Higgs [God] particle is a part of the Higgs field, which fills the universe but is invisible to our eyes and, so far, to all scientific instruments. Subatomic particles — everything that makes up matter — are thought to acquire mass by how they interact with the Higgs field. To explain how this works, I'll paraphrase an explanation floated in 1993 by David Miller, then at the department of physics and astronomy, University College, London. Imagine a convention hall filled with political groupies, a scary thought all by itself. The hall represents the universe; the groupies represent the Higgs field. Now suppose Barack Obama enters the room. (In Miller's telling the political heavyweight was Margaret Thatcher, but that was then.) Obama represents a subatomic particle. The political groupies cluster around the president, seeking to bask in his cool and possibly get a job at the State Department. As Obama tries to make his way through the room, he gathers new hangers-on, while others drop off due to embarrassing questions about unpaid taxes. The cluster of groupies hovering around Obama represents the mass the president gains while he's in the Higgs field.

Markers

Today I'm going to get a tattoo, and then go see Modest Mouse. In between, I'll probably stop at the little grocery store with the huge beer selection and pick up a few liters of Belgian ale.

Could I be any more of a hipster ?

Update:
I got an archeopteryx on my outer calf. Though the guy who did it said a calf is typically not a very painful place to get one, this was ten times more painful than either of the two I have on my shoulders (the little one on my ankle doesn't count - I was drunk, and it only took two minutes). I was literally writhing at times. OMFG. It was outrageously painful: literally blindingly painful at times. Hold your breath and clench your whole body painful. I was trying to think of painful dentist visits to distract myself. But I don't remember even flinching at any of the others. Usually with tattoos you go through waves of pain and numbness as your endorphins ebb and flow - it hurts a bit and then you get a bit of a headrush and the pain fades for a while. Not this time. I guess I have extremely sensitive calves.

Mrs. C is going to get a huge back piece done started tomorrow. I hope her back is tougher than my calf!

I haven't had a really good look at it yet, so I don't know if it was worth the pain. I hope so.