[staunton]

It was about the phrase "the standard model", which doesn't specify what "extensions" are implied. You seem to think it means "no extensions" to a somewhat arbitrarily chosen step of the evolution, which has 19 free parameters. I don't think that's how most people use the phrase. As far as I can tell, we are in complete agreement on all other points...

I still think my original comment, which seems to have given you offense for some reason, was completely appropriate. "The standard model" means "state of the art particle physics without highly speculative stuff", at least until we have a paradigm shift.