昨夜は聖夜気分 (I was in the Mood of Christmas Eve)

　最近の国内ニュースは、内閣による武器輸出三原則の見直し、実質的な偵察衛星の打ち上げ、防衛省による次期戦闘機の選定など、戦争中まがいのニュースばかりで、腹立たしい限りである。他方、国際的話題としては、昨12月13日（火）、欧州合同原子核研究所 CERN で現地時間の午後2時から、ヒッグス粒子と呼ばれる素粒子を探している二つの実験チーム Atlas と CMS が、それぞれのこれまでに得た結果をセミナーで発表するということがあった。当地では、ちょうど就寝時間になるので、すでにおおよその発表内容はインターネットで流れてはいたが、私は、けさのメディア・ニュースを楽しみにして、翌朝目覚めてサンタクロースが枕元に置いて行ったプレゼントを期待する子どもさながらの気持ちで、寝床に入った。そして、きょう、インターネットで見つけてツイートしたヒッグス粒子関連のニュースは以下の通り（英文のあとへ続く）。

Recently we heard national news about reviewing by the Cabinet of the three principles on arms exports, the launch of an essentially spying satellite and the choice of the next fighter by the Ministry of Defense. Those were just like news during the war and quite frustrating to me. On the other hand, there was a pleasing international topic. At 2:00 pm local time, Tuesday, December 13, it was scheduled that the two experimental teams Atlas and CMS, which looked for a particle called the Higgs boson at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), were going to present at the seminar their individual results obtained so far. Here, it was the late evening, so that I went to bed by looking forward to reading media news this morning (though I had learned the rough outline of the presentations on the Internet), like a child who was expecting to find a gift from Santa Claus ​​at the bedside in the Christmas morning. Today, I found numerous reports about Higgs boson on the Internet and tweeted as follows:

1. Today’s Higgs Results. Not Even Wrong http://bit.ly/sOYqJs
2. What did I learn today, during and after presentation? Of Particular Significance, by Matt Strassler http://bit.ly/teBZpm
3. BBC News - LHC: Higgs boson 'may have been glimpsed' http://bbc.in/u4xuXD
4. We may have glimpsed the Higgs boson, say Cern scientists http://gu.com/p/3446m/tw via @guardian
5. Detectors home in on Higgs boson. Nature, News & Comment http://bit.ly/uOoiLH
6. Higgs hunters close in on their quarry. physicsworld http://bit.ly/ttTpCv
7. ヒッグス粒子、発見近づく：国際合同チーム発表. （中日新聞, Chunichi Web）http://bit.ly/u69Vdo
8. 「ヒッグス粒子」発見に前進＝素粒子の質量起源－日本も参加、加速器実験で。時事ドットコム http://www.jiji.com/jc/zc?k=201112/2011121301011&g=soc
9. Sean Carroll on Higgs results: Science! It marches on. http://bit.ly/sheRW9
10. Why one Higgs boson will not be enough. By Lawrence Krauss http://gu.com/p/344bt/tw via @guardian