== Bernie's brain backup for November 2007 ==

=== Fri 9th to Sun 11th ===

==== An old friend ====

A few days ago, my old friend DaSnake appeared on IRC and told me he's
was an intern at FermiLab National Accelerator, near ChicagoCity.
I told him I was at OneLaptopPerChild, in CambridgeCity.

So we decided we were "close enough" to visit each other's workplace
and do some tourism together.  So, on Friday morning, I took a cheap
UsAirways plane to ChicagoOHare through Philadelphia.

==== Trip To Fermilab ====

Refer to the [[http://www.fnal.gov/pub/visiting/map/site.html | Fermilab map]].
My friend lives in a coed apartment in the Fermilab village, which is
surrounded by several little lakes with gooses, buffalo and various other
animals.  Indeed, a very pretty natural park.

http://www-bd.fnal.gov/wao/fermipics/94-0470-09.jpg

On Saturday, I took a bike and rode on the bike path to the main
laboratory buildings.  I took a guided site tour, starting from the
museum.  They have lots of real-scale models of the accelerator parts
and really working equipment such as scintillators and Geiger's counters.

Then we visited the Wilson Hall, a 16 floors building shaped like Goldrake's
and Mazinger's atomic base.

http://www-bd.fnal.gov/wao/fermipics/99-0005-04.jpg

Then... WAH!  They guided us **inside** the [[http://linac.fnal.gov/ | Linac]]!
The Linac is the LINear ACcelerator facility, the first stage of acceleration
that produces protons for the MainInjector.  It was like entering an old
science fiction movie.  You know, like Frankenstein or Buck Rogers: with giant
Tesla generators, panels with flashing lights and indicators...Buck Rogers
The continuous buzz reminded us that the proton beam was shooting through
this long corridor next to me.

http://www-bd.fnal.gov/wao/fermipics/93-0073.jpg

Finally, we visited the MainControlRoom, from which they run the whole thing.
The room looks like the bridge of an old starship, surrounded by monitors,
with a bigger chair in the middle for the captain.


FermiLab is no doubt the most amazing place in the world:

 * http://www-bdnew.fnal.gov/tevatron/
 * http://www-bd.fnal.gov/wao/fermipics/fermipics.html
 * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tevatron

To beat this place, next time I shall visit the NCC-1701A!