LHC switched off yesterday. Run 3 is over, and tomorrow Long Shutdown 3 begins, three years of taking detectors apart and rebuilding the machine into HL-LHC. I wrote about what that feels like from the inside. www.borborigmi.org/2026/06/28/t... #LHC #HLLHC #CERN #HiggsBoson

Not seeing the immensity of cosmos leads us to fold inward, in space and in time: who today dares to dream of 2050? The future seems either nonexistent or condemned, so thinking about a project like the #CERN #FCC seems impossible... www.borborigmi.org/2026/05/22/t...

I code out of necessity, and I might finally be able to stop borborigmi.org/2026/03/11/i... #physics #AI

A dicembre avevo parlato di due sviluppi per il futuro di FCC: tra le altre cose, aspettavamo la redazione delle raccomandazioni sulla strategia europea per la fisica delle particelle, che lo ESG doveva redigere. Le raccomandazioni sono puntualmente arrivate (...) www.borborigmi.org/2026/01/12/i...

The European Strategy for Particle Physics reaches an important milestone At its 225th session, the #CERN Council received the recommendations for the update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics. Read more: home.cern/news/press-r...

I just completed all 12 days of Advent of Code 2025! #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com

I've completed "Christmas Tree Farm" - Day 12 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/12 github.com/marcodelmast... Jigsaw/Tetris-like puzzle to solve. I implemented a backtracking solution that converge rather fast if a solution exists, but takes a lot of time ...

I've completed "Reactor" - Day 11 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/11 github.com/marcodelmast... Using networkx to simplify all graph basic operations. I ended up implemented a path counting approach based on DP that speed up Part 1, and is compusory to approach Part 2!

I just completed "Factory" - Day 10 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/10 github.com/marcodelmast... BFS and bitwise XOR operation for Part 1. I initially thought I could adapt my BFS solution for Part 2, but ...

I've completed "Movie Theater" - Day 9 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/9 github.com/marcodelmast... Hardest day so far. Part 1 was trivial, Part 2 required to handle various edge cases and a peculiar input! Used a combination of ray casting and edge crossing detection.

It's a wrap! No more #LHC collisions this year - it's time for the "year end technical stop" op-webtools.web.cern.ch/vistar/

I've completed "Playground" - Day 8 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/8 github.com/marcodelmast... Things re-learned the hard way today: objects in dictionary and list are references; result of set operations are new set; `list.remove()` is pretty convenient ;-)

I've completed "Laboratories" - Day 7 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/7 Used `set()` for part 1 to deal with overlapping beams, moved to `defaultdict(int)` in part 2 to count beams in same position (it's lanternfish day!). github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Trash Compactor" - Day 6 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/6 github.com/marcodelmast... Part 2 was fun, using string to reconstitue values after rotation, catching str->int conversion to deal with empty lines.

I just completed "Cafeteria" - Day 5 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/5 Very similar to AOC 2016 Day 20, I almost entirely recycled that code to prune and merge the overlapping intervals. github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Printing Department" - Day 4 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/4 github.com/marcodelmast... First map of 2025 (and first visualisation)! Solved with `numpy` array operations...

(...) The ESG is working on them right now, during a meeting at Monte Verità, in Ascona, Switzerland. The recommendations will be delivered to the CERN Council which will then have to take concrete decisions for the coming years (...) we still have time, and we should try to be bold and visionary.

I've completed "Lobby" - Day 3 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/3 github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Gift Shop" - Day 2 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/2 github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Secret Entrance" - Day 1 - Advent of Code 2025 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2025/day/1 github.com/marcodelmast...

Sono seduto su un treno che va da Ginevra a Parigi, diretto a un simposio dove cercheremo di tirare le fila sulla posizione della comunità scientifica francese rispetto al prossimo aggiornamento della Strategia Europea per la Fisica delle Particelle (...)

Perciò era nobilmente pigro Un paio di lettori sono riusciti a decifrare la breve frase che avevo proposto alla vostra attenzione crittografica qualche giorno fa (...) www.borborigmi.org/2025/01/19/p... #borborigmi #primolevi #crittografia

Mentre stanno arrivando gli auguri di inizio 2025 per il biglietto di ATLAS di quest'anno, mi è venuta voglia di misurare quante persone avessero negli anni partecipato a questo appuntamento annuale che esiste dal 2010. (...) www.borborigmi.org/2025/01/06/c...

Un anno quadrato e il biglietto di auguri di ATLAS www.borborigmi.org/2025/01/01/u...

Dieci anni di #AdventOfCode www.borborigmi.org/2024/12/26/d...

I've completed "Code Chronicle" - Day 25 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/25 github.com/marcodelmast...

I just completed all 25 days of Advent of Code 2024! #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com

I just completed "Crossed Wires" - Day 24 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/24 github.com/marcodelmast...

I just completed "LAN Party" - Day 23 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/23 github.com/marcodelmast... (using a dictionary for Part 1, networkx FTW for Part 2!)

I've completed "Keypad Conundrum" - Day 21 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/21 github.com/marcodelmast... (Today was as difficult as Day 19, and in some sense similar in what the solution for part 2 needed)

I've completed "Monkey Market" - Day 22 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/22 github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Race Condition" - Day 20 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/20 github.com/marcodelmast...

I just completed "Linen Layout" - Day 19 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/19 github.com/marcodelmast...

I just completed "RAM Run" - Day 18 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/18 github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Reindeer Maze" - Day 16 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/16 github.com/marcodelmast... Dijkstra indexed on path score; for Part 2 saving full path and accumulating all positions for paths with best scores, returning total set when best score is exceeded

I've completed "Restroom Redoubt" - Day 14 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/14h...

I just completed "Claw Contraption" - Day 13 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/13 github.com/marcodelmast... (after some pondering I realised the problem can be reduced as a system of two linear equations with two unknowns, relatively simple to solve!)

I just completed "Garden Groups" - Day 12 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/12 github.com/marcodelmast... (Part 2 was tricky: I got the idea of finding vertices by projecting the square centres pretty quickly, but to account for concave patches I needed to make drawings)

I've completed "Plutonian Pebbles" - Day 11 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/11 github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Hoof It" - Day 10 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/10 github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Disk Fragmenter" - Day 9 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/9 (today I had almost no time and arrived quite late. Not difficult, but not easy. Brute force FTW as usual ;))

I just completed "Resonant Collinearity" - Day 8 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/8 github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Bridge Repair" - Day 7 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/7 github.com/marcodelmast... (There might be some mathematical shortcut, but I went for the brute force solution)

I just completed "Guard Gallivant" - Day 6 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/6 github.com/marcodelmast... (for Part 2 I initially tested all position on map to place obstacles, then realised I only need to place them on the initial path of the guard)

I've completed "Print Queue" - Day 5 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/5 Wrote a custom `compare` function, passed to sorting algorithm via `functools.cmp_to_key()`. After that, part 1 and part 2 are basically solved in the same way: github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Ceres Search" - Day 4 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/4 github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Mull It Over" - Day 3 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/3 github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Red-Nosed Reports" - Day 2 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/2 github.com/marcodelmast...

I've completed "Historian Hysteria" - Day 1 - Advent of Code 2024 #AdventOfCode adventofcode.com/2024/day/1 github.com/marcodelmast...