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Each month Harper’s magazine offers a fascinating read with a feature they call the “Harper’s Index.” The Index is a page’s worth of single sentence numerical revelations that succinctly paint a portrait of our world with carefully chosen - and sometimes obscurely novel - facts.
The March edition of the Index contained this gem: “Estimated percentage of television static that derives from the Big Bang: 1.” (Source: NASA)
So, if tonight you should join the millions upon millions of people who’ll tune in to see if Rachel and Ross finally get it together, whether Monica and Chandler at last become adoptive parents and how Matt LeBlanc’s Joey character is going to be positioned for next season’s spin-off and find your TV beset by some quirks of reception, consider that in the errant crackles and flickers that may flash across your screen reside evidence of an alternative program for which there is no alternative: the Initial Flaring Forth, the Big Bang.
Perhaps regard the buzz of static - 1% of which more accurately represents our nature than even the Friends who’ve kept us company lo these many years - as an occasion to play a drinking (in of the cosmos) game.
Posted by mark at May 6, 2004 12:39 AM