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Is the Universe a Hall of Mirrors?
PhysicsWeb is running an article by one of the researchers who has developed the theory that the universe may be finite, rather small, and soccer-ball shaped. The question is still open; it's one theory that fits cosmic microwave data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). Apparently testing the theory by looking in the indicated way through the WMAP data would so far be computationally prohibitive. From the article: "The Poincaré dodecahedral space can be described as the interior of a 'sphere' made from 12 slightly curved pentagons. However, there is one big difference between this shape and a football [soccer ball] because when one goes out from a pentagonal face, one immediately comes back inside the ball from the opposite face after a 36 degree rotation. Such a multiply connected space can therefore generate multiple images of the same object, such as a planet or a photon. Other such well-proportioned, spherical spaces that fit the WMAP data are the tetrahedron and the octahedron."
Everyone knows the universe is banana shaped.
Bable Fish translation: "You, the reader of this article, are not nearly as smart as you thought you were. Don't feel bad about not being able to grasp anything in this article other than the word "the". Go to bed and do not look up at the sky at night for a very long time."
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
Q: Does not a soccer ball require a soccer ball-sack?
A: Therefore, God exists.
World peace can be achieved by transferring to a carebear universe
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Nope, ball with 12 slightly curved pentagons => 30 edges + 12 faces => 30 + 12 = 42
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
soccer-ball shaped
I think these cosmic topologists are going to have to kick this theory around for a while before they achieve their goals.
And the brethren went away edified.
God doesn't play dice, he plays soccer...
Actually, it's a spheroid, 705 meters in diameter.
It's actually just a series of tubes, and it's definitely not a dump truck.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm..... universal donut....
*drool*
The shape of the universe is... (rolls dice) dice shaped! It's all one big boring D&D game
And if so, is there a mod for some extra Hot Coffee?
. . .it explains it in such a way that you don't need a degree in topology to understand it.
Oh, great. Nooooooow you tell me.
KFG
You trip because those bastards as OSHA didn't get a warning sign put up. Time to sue the universe, sight cases of previous soccer ball injuries as proof of negligent design by the creator/creator(s)/thing/fuji heavy industries/spagetti monster/who ever made this thing.
If you over-inflate a soccer ball you get a big bang, then get a new soccer ball; I guess that ties together the inflation and cyclic universe theories.
It is no more held than Pacman is held when you go out the right side of the screen and return on the left.
In fact it might be a good time to ask whether our universe is just a big simulation for a Pacman like game.
I knew it! The universe is shaped like a game of Pacman. I didn't waste the 80s on nonsense time-wasting after all.
... and then they built the supercollider.
You should have purchased the extended warranty.
Isn't there a multi-big bang theory
Ahh, you are referring to the Gang Bang theory?
Seven puppies were harmed during the making of this post.
So you are saying the Universe is nothing more than a series of tubes? Are you a senator? Alright, come out with it!
Okay, this is off topic, but it must be said. Your "spacetime is a bunch of rubber U-shaped pant crotch things connected by a blobby series of tubes" metaphor really deserves its own page on the uncyclopedia, http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Main_Page. I'm far too lazy to do it myself, so consider this a challenge.
Or maybe playing on a non-PvP server.