Dave McClure is sounding the last chance horn for attendance at STARTonomics, his new conference on startup metrics. The event is this Thursday, October 22nd in San Francisco, and there's a last chance offer for 20% off of registration - just register using promo code START208.
Tomorrow's the big day: the mad scientists at CERN are starting up the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to finally discover if we're on the right track when it comes to particle physics. This is a Big Deal and ideally humanity will be able to validate some key theories without collapsing the Earth into a black cloud of antimatter. If you'd like to see what all the fuss is about, here's a hilarious rap video from the LHC staff...particle physics for dummies! (READ: It's for those of us who chose technology, or even just spending time with the other humans, over science.)
For bonus points, head down to Stanford for a tour of SLAC. (Stanford's linear accelerator.) Even without the 17-mile scale of the LHC, it's an awe-inspiring visit.
TechCrunch50 launched today with multiple waves of new companies and memes. Like many folks, I was most intrigued by the startups in the Enterprise cluster. Of those, I had one clear and immediate favorite: Yammer. At its most basic, Yammer is Twitter for groups; at its most sophisticated, it's a productivity tool for teams and workgroups. I'm usually not an early adopter, but I found Yammer compelling enough to actually give them my credit card number.