from cnn.com

"Black hole fears are "baloney"

Fears have emerged that the collider could produce black holes that could suck up anything around them -- including the whole Earth. Such fears prompted legal actions in the U.S. and Europe to halt the operation of the Large Hadron Collider, alleging safety concerns regarding black holes and other phenomena that could theoretically emerge.

Although physicists acknowledge that the collider could, in theory, create small black holes, they say they do not pose any risk. A study released Friday by CERN scientists explains that any black hole created would be tiny, and would not have enough energy to stick around very long before dissolving. Five collider collaborators who did not pen the report independently told CNN there would be no danger from potential black holes."

Don't worry, the end is still coming.

"Problems with a magnet quench on 19 September 2008 caused a leak of six tonnes of liquid helium, and delayed the operation for several months. Since the repairs are scheduled to be finished around late November 2008, this conflicts with the winter shutdown, meaning initial experiments will not take place until Spring 2009."

I love their response. it reads like "Oh, you silly retards... The black holes are just a theory, and theoretically, they are so small that they will, in theory, dissolve on their own very quickly. In theory."

To be honest, though, most people's fears about this thing equate to the scientific version of "God will reach out of the clouds and squish you." Which, while theologically possible, is very very unlikely.

Yeah, you're more likely to be hit by a bus on any given day, but I do want to see what does finally come of this machine once it's switched on.

that would be funny if it turned out all the delays were actually God trying to stop mankind from destroying all reality. They finally get it working, and just as they flip the switch, God shows up and says "No! cant you idiots take a hint?!


Wait, where'd everybody go?":D

This sounds like the plot to one of those sci fi channel original movies.

No- there's no giant creature.

And there's actual science involved.

No it just sounds like a bunch of bullshit to me, plain and simple bullshit, you don't need a big fancy fucking contraption to figure that out.