SLAC No More

In another sign that the world is going to hell, Stanford University is making the Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) change their name because it has the word "Stanford" in it. It's all about intellectual rights to the acronym SLAC and the word "Stanford," and pretty silly it seems to me, because each is a first-class place and you'd think either would be very happy to be associated with the other. But what do I know about the workings of the modern world?

A few years ago my old graduate school officemate Tobias took me and another grad school friend Joe on a tour of SLAC, where he was working at the time. It was a Sunday in the summer and the place was deserted. We got to poke all around and if you ever get the chance to do that in an accelerator (or anywhere, really), be sure to take advantage of it.