Happy Higgs Boson Day!

A tachyon walks into a bar. The bartender says “Hey buddy, not so fast.”

Happy 4th of July, everybody!  I celebrated today along with the rest of America: by hanging out with friends, throwing some meat on the grill, and discussing the breaking (and long-awaited) discovery of a Higgs Boson particle.

The discovery is touted as “five sigma,” meaning that at five standard deviations from the norm, the chances of it being a statistical fluke are miniscule.  The probability of my friends being total nerds, however, is beyond statistical doubt.

For a great cartoon explanation of the Higgs particle, check out this video by PHD Comics:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0hn0jYjijNs]

And just for fun, Vi Hart’s “Sonnet on a Higgs-like Particle”:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qzqIHj4uGI&feature=youtu.be]