13 things that do not make sense

New Scientist ^ | 19 March 2005 | Michael Brooks

[Physicist]

Typical overhype from the New Scientist.

[Petronski]

Why men never stop to ask for directions?

We know the way, we just need a landmark.

[ShadowAce]

This is a serious question, as I am NOT a scientist, nor do I read this frequently:

How is this overhype? What is it hyping? I thought it was just a column about science enigmas.

Thanks.

[RightWhale]

You can solve the horizon problem by having the universe expand ultra-fast for a time, just after the big bang, blowing up by a factor of 1050 in 10-33 seconds.

You can solve the horizon problem by having the universe expand ultra-fast for a time, just after the Big Bang, blowing up by a factor of 10⁵⁰ in 10^-33 seconds.

Looks a little better. If you ever felt small and insignificant in the face of the size of the universe, consider that the universe we can see with the Hubble is just as small with respect to the universe beyond the light horizon. This makes us insignificant^{insignificant}, and makes the phenomena of Doctor Laura and Doctor Savage even more miraculous.

[NautiNurse]

Why women can never re-fold the map properly

You win that one :o)

[cspackler]

Why do they put braille on drive-up ATMs?

That one REALLY bugs me.

[ShadowAce]

I was wondering about that. Thanks for the formatting correction. I went back and looked at the original, and it was just like it's posted above.

[Maceman]

Great. 13 more things to worry about.

I feel like the insomniac dyslexic who stayed up all night wondering if there really is a Dog.

[balrog666]

Don't ask to see his leprechaun!

[reagan_fanatic]

13 things that do not make sense

Why do otherwise reasonable people vote democratic?

[CollegeRepublican]

Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway? Why are apartments together?

[Don Simmons]

Speaking of things that do not make sense - some people have too much time on their hands and seem to love thinking themselves senseless.

Amazing how something as simple as going fishing makes so much more sense than a bunch of headache-inducing, theoretical, unproveable whizzbang-ology.

If everyone would simply try and live a happy life rather than engage in endless (and in the grand scheme of things, largely pointless) scientific one-upsmanship and circular logic-based theoretics...what a wonderful world it would be.

Then again...that's just my humble opinion. :-)

[NautiNurse]

Don't ask to see his leprechaun!

Good idea.

[Junior]

Merci.

[Drammach]

. Superconductors took 40 years to explain, he points out, so there's no reason to dismiss cold fusion. "The experimental case is bulletproof," he says. "You can't make it go away."

Cold Fusion.. Yowzah!...

Can't help it, I've been a believer since day one...

[Dead Corpse]

What really does happen if you pour Spot remover on your dog.

[spodefly]

BTTT

[dfwgator]

Chewbacca is a wookie from the planet Kashyyyk. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about that; that does not make sense. Why would a wookie, an 8 foot tall wookie, want to live on Endor with a bunch of two foot tall ewoks? That does not make sense! But more importantly, you have to ask yourself, ‘what does that have to do with this case?' Nothing. Ladies and Gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case. It does not make sense!

Look at me, I'm a lawyer defending a major record company, and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca. Does that make sense? Ladies and gentlemen, I am not making any sense. None of this makes sense.

And so you have to remember, when you're in that jury room deliberating and conjugating the Emancipation Proclamation... does it make sense? No! Ladies and gentlemen of this supposed jury, it does not make sense.

If Chewbacca lives on Endor, you must acquit! The defense rests.

[B-Chan]

The Pioneer deviations and the Kuiper Cliff could be the result of a spacetime anomaly orbiting the Sun in deep space -- a naturally-occurring wormhole, say. There are theoretical models that predict that the energies related to the creation of the universe could have "twisted" localized areas in spacetime into such wormholes, which would have negative mass-energy and would therefore tend to push other objects away rather than attracting them. A wormhole such as this would not only tend to "push" any proximate space probes and planets off course, but would tend to sweep a clear lane through any nearby gas, dust, and ice -- the Kuiper Cliff.

If such a wormhole could be located (perhaps by gravitational lensing effects) the human race might be able to use it for purposes of interstellar travel. In addition, a network of such naturally-occurring wormholes might form a sort of sub-space "skeleton" throughout the galaxy -- a rigid "structure" that would rotate about a common center, carrying with it (via frame-dragging) the spacetime in which the galaxy's stars and planets are "imbedded", and thus explaining how the galaxy can rotate as a unit rather than at differential speeds. Thus, the existence of wormholes might be a clue to the solution to the "missing mass" problem -- the mass exists, just outside of our 4-D spacetime.

But then again, I'm a comic book artist, so what do I know? Science & Rocket Guys -- any of this make sense?

[RightWhale]

Happens a lot. Doesn't hurt to make the text more conventional for the benefit of some up and coming Goedel who hasn't been exposed to cosmology yet.