thanks for the lumps

Stumbled across an article in the New York Times from three years ago, almost to the month. November. Written around the American Thanksgiving holiday. Hence the many references to gravy!

While initial surveys of the cosmic background radiation showed as consistent and smooth, Dr. Smoot reported in 1992 that data from a satellite experiment called the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE), revealed a pattern of minuscule temperature variations. 

It is thought these tiny irregularities or fluctuations are what formed the first stars, planets, solar systems, and galaxies.

The author states that it is a good thing the Universe was not perfectly smooth. "Without those lumps there would be no us."