CERN. And Voltaire

CERN and Voltaire

Kirk and I spent the day at CERN, it is a incredible place. It feels like so much science and so many people. The bonding assurance lab was heaven on earth for Kirk.  So many toys, so little time.  Ian the bonding expert is brilliant, what a great resource to have.

We went to the CMS building and saw a life size picture of the detector, sent pic earlier.   The place goes on forever.  CERN is larger than most universities.

Came back to Ferney Voltaire and went looking for Voltaire's chateau, found it on the side of the mountain overlooking Mt Blanc and a field of grazing sheep.  This guy must of had money, even though he changed his name , because this house is huge and he pissed off a lot of people with his politics, fore runner of separation of church and state, and  religious freedom beliefs.  So I figured it out, I can voice my beliefs if I am rich and not get my head cut off.  But for now I better shut up. Voltaire was about religious freedom, people back then just could not handle it, probably the same as now; power, money and keeping people ignorant.
He was very prolific, wrote over 20,000 books consisting of prose, poetry, treatises...

Why people can not respect other people's beliefs and  end up taking up arms against one another is very sad, but then you have to follow the money and money is not behind respecting others beliefs. Maybe some day...

I do not think it was by accident that Voltaire and CERN are rather close to each other...tolerance and knowledge, they go hand in hand.

Voltaire said,
"I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write."  
"Ours [religion] is without a doubt the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and the most bloody to ever infect the world."