Comments on: Why 42?

By: iii

iii — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

maybe am onto something, 42 is Bill clinton :-> …
-someone who asked
(too bad couldnt post it anon)

By: Jupe

Jupe — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wud it be a crime to say that i think this world wud be a better place without Douglam Adams and his legions of mad folowers :-p

ps: Can i expect to see detailed reviews on the music of Veer*sigh*Zaara and Swades on Monday morning ?

By: gvenum

gvenum — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I have been skipping this for months now….its time I read about “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” before references about it will draw a blank from me. “Library!!! here I come”…o shoot…I haven’t returned the previous one …okie again..”Library here I come with a fine”

By: Paddy

Paddy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This question/answer occurs in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe".Do get a Towel before you read this.

Firstly 42= 6 times 9 base 13 as one popular belief holds.(13 is the number of squares in a scrabble implying Life is random as though picking letters from a scrabble bowl.)

Stop reading further unless your head is in the bits.I warned you.

(a) ASCII translation of 42 would result in a "*" which is the wildcard character.
(b) strlen("answer to life the universe and everything")=42
(c)strlen("What do you get if you multiply six by nine? Forty-two") = 42
(d) This is my favorite explanation.Run the following program :

#define SIX 1 + 5
#define NINE 8 + 1

Now SIX * NINE = 1+5*8+1 = 42 (atleast as per C)

Last but not the least here's to Zaphod Beelblebrox..Zaphod Rocks..

By: Megha

Megha — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

And then there’s the explanation provided by the author himself —

“The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought ’42 will do’ I typed it out. End of story.”

By: Paddy

Paddy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Megha,

Do you really believe the author? Just kidding.
His Insight is amazing.(as random as he could be!)

Anyways for those of you ineterested in listening to live radio show of The HitchHikers Click here Good Post..

-Paddy

By: Hifzur

Hifzur — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Ah, the mystery of ’42′ has been resolved. I had thought earlier, that the 42 was the total number of music reviews you had drafted, but realized it wasnt so, after I saw some reviews of new movies, which you couldnt have written earlier. Planned to ask you about it, but it always slipped my mind. Mystery resolved. Merci Beacoup Mademoiselle.

By: oxy_moron

oxy_moron — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I think I knew the answer to the 42 in your blog, but always forgot to put the question. Not knowing what to ask might have been one of the probable reasons:)

Also, 42 in binary is 101010: the alternate zeros and ones are supposed to signify indecision abt The Ultimate Question?

By: zaph

zaph — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks Paddy,

Though self-realization of my greatness occured several years ago, such lavish praise from total strangers still makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

[note to self: investigate heated hairballs]

Regards,
Zaph.

By: Prasad

Prasad — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi Megha, great blog. Nice post on 42, never knew why it had to be 42… Anyways, thanks for dropping by my blog