Actually, it's even better than I realized when I posted that comment. I hadn't yet grasped the "F-theory" model building program in string theory, which is about two years old. I've been studying that lately, and it was mentally apocalyptic to realize how all the details of the standard model could be expressed as a configuration of branes in hyperspace. The morning after, life went on, and I still have heaps to learn, but there's no turning back after an experience like that.