NOT TODAY, EBAY (14)
By:
August 23, 2024
One in a series of posts via which Josh Glenn will share recent examples of stuff that he was tempted to purchase from eBay… but, heroically, didn’t.
Vintage Holmes TSR Blue 12 Sided Die
US $49.99
Condition: Used
Throughout the 20th century, NASA scientists believed that the universe was flat and infinite — no angles, no borders. Now, in a truly infinite and flat universe, CMB (radiation left over from the Big Bang) measurements would indicate homogeneity in all directions. Yet when measured along different axes, in fact — scientists discovered early in this century — these measurements are strikingly different. So if the universe isn’t flat — if it has angles — then what shape is it?
When you express the Big Bang temperature fluctuations as a sum of spherical harmonics, then plot the harmonics’ relative strength as a function of angle — or so NASA scientists tell us — you’ll find that he universe consists of twelve curved pentagons joined together in a roughly spherical fashion.
When I learned this information, I immediately pictured a 12-sided die whose edges have been nearly worn away after years of heavy use. I’m sure that I own one of these D&D Basic Set d12s — but I’m not sure where it is; perhaps I’ve lost it or given it away. Hence my eBay search….
PS: The Dungeons & Dragons 1977 Basic Set was produced by TSR (cofounded in 1973 by Gary Gygax) and fantasy RPG fan (and professor of neurology) J. Eric Holmes, who made an offer to TSR to develop an introductory version of Dungeons & Dragons, hoping to expand the game’s demographics from college-age players to younger players and also try to get the game into the mass market. Hence the moniker “Holmes TSR” dice.
MORE FURSHLUGGINER THEORIES BY JOSH GLENN: SCHEMATIZING | IN CAHOOTS | JOSH’S MIDJOURNEY | POPSZTÁR SAMIZDAT | VIRUS VIGILANTE | TAKING THE MICKEY | WE ARE IRON MAN | AND WE LIVED BENEATH THE WAVES | IS IT A CHAMBER POT? | I’D LIKE TO FORCE THE WORLD TO SING | THE ARGONAUT FOLLY | THE PERFECT FLANEUR | THE TWENTIETH DAY OF JANUARY | THE REAL THING | THE YHWH VIRUS | THE SWEETEST HANGOVER | THE ORIGINAL STOOGE | BACK TO UTOPIA | FAKE AUTHENTICITY | CAMP, KITSCH & CHEESE | THE UNCLE HYPOTHESIS | MEET THE SEMIONAUTS | THE ABDUCTIVE METHOD | ORIGIN OF THE POGO | THE BLACK IRON PRISON | BLUE KRISHMA | BIG MAL LIVES | SCHMOOZITSU | YOU DOWN WITH VCP? | CALVIN PEEING MEME | DANIEL CLOWES: AGAINST GROOVY | DEBATING IN A VACUUM | PLUPERFECT PDA | SHOCKING BLOCKING.