cosmic catastrophe(?)

I'd like to juxtapose a few things I've seen recently: a TED talk and a funny little snippet from Slavoj Zizek. We remember this. So watch it again, and then, watch this. Although CMM is not necessarily about the design of the universe, it is still relevant I think--art and science and so on.

Figure Zizek: Dude has somethin' to say

I'm not going to pretend to wax philosophical on Smoot, but his idea of tiny fluctuations (imperfections, maybe) and the near-perfection of the universe before the big bang are pretty, well, great. And the visualizations are just so darn beautiful!

Figure Smoot: Dude has somethin' to say about antediluvian radiation