Higgs, or something like it

I'm no longer on CDF or CMS, so I didn't have any prior knowledge of the results announced today (or Monday). Others who were there Resonaances and Dorigo, for example, reported already and I can't improve on their work. I didn't even get up at 2:00am to listen--figured I'd read the reports later. I, and most I knew, were already pretty sure of what they'd announce. Fermilab got in one last shot Monday, reminding us that there was some independent verification, though not a discovery there.

It was quite a feat, and a great milestone--but I wish the reporting were more accurate. First, of course, I wish they'd get rid of all references to the g-d particle. Second, though this fills in a hole in the Standard Model, we already know the Standard Model is incomplete: there are known technical problems with it. Third, astrophysics tells us there's more dark matter than visible, and dark matter isn't in the Standard Model at all.

This isn't the capstone for particle physics: there's still work to be done. I don't know if the LHC will address all of these problems--there are things more easily done with ultra-cold and ultra-pure low energy detectors.