In a massive blow to nihilists everywhere, the massive Swiss $8 billion particular accelerator went online last Wednesday without sparking atomic reactions, earthquakes or the occasional black hole:

“I wasn’t worried,” said Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture at Syracuse University. “If this were happening on an episode of ‘The X-Files’ or a new Pixar movie or any Hollywood movie with a budget of over $100 million, then I’d be worried. But it wasn’t. It was happening in real life.”

He paused, then said, “But I’m no physicist, either.”

In related news, experts say the new artificial intelligence defense project, Skynet, is nothing much to worry about.

And for the realtime updates, check Has the Large Hadron Collider destroyed the earth yet?

The Arabian peninsula has just had its second drama of the year canceled due to tribal animosities.  The historical soap opera, “Saadoun al-Awajy,” dealt with conflict between the Sammar and Unaiza tribes in the years 1750 to 1830.   The loss of Saadoun is felt deeply by some soap opera afficionados.  One Sammar descendant despairs, “It’s a fuss about nothing … At the end of the day such a drama was a money opportunity.”

The other show to be canceled for offending sensibilities was “Cup of Blood”—it was apparently a historical soap opera, not a procedural crime drama.

Read more on axed TV drama.

Question

I’ve heard that once a child reaches 12 years old, he or she can decide which parent to live with. Is this true?

Answer

Not in Washington. Unlike many states, including California, Washington tries to keep children away from court altogether in custody disputes. In fact, Washington courts often react quite negatively to a parent even saying “But my son keeps telling me he’d rather live with me.”

The courts take the “best interests of the child” seriously, but don’t believe that children should decide where they should live any more than they should decide about tattoos, alcohol, or staying in school—they’re children. Instead, the courts look to other indications of whether a child is thriving in the home he or she is living in—such as grades, socialization in school, etc.

As a practical matter, once a child reaches 16 or 17—and can drive—even though a court will not hear their testimony on custody matters, the court will often not interfere with a child who simply drives to the house in which he or she wants to spend time.