just got this email from an old college friend.
"Hi folks,
Despite the hype it looks as if the world is still here (for now). No black
holes yet.
Passing protons through an experiment without collisions does not make for an
impressive picture. However when they stop the protons in a collimator just
before the detectors one gets blasted by a spray particles. In the case of the
experiment I work on, CMS, it nearly pegged all our calorimeter channels. Event
display pictures attached. One is the big splat before passing the beam, the
other is a muon from the first passing beam (not very exciting but historical).
Enjoy, and continue living life. It ain't over yet.
-I"