What is the meaning of life?

[Ethelred]

Originally posted by Giovanni August
What is all that 42 thingy going on?

Mah

Saluti

A man that doesn't understand the importance of the number 42 is always conscious of an inferiority - Arthur Dent who was created by an English author.

[notyoueither]

Hey guys, you have to cut some slack to people who have never been exposed to the finer points of English language pulp novels.

S'OK Giovanni. Shakespeare has better dialogue. Start with them.

Oh. According to Adams the answer to life, the universe and everything is the number 42. That's it. That's all. Just the number 42.

Yes Giovanni, all Anglos are insane. But it is funny to us. That's what makes us so unpredictable. We're culturally insane. Hahahahaha.

[=DrJambo=]

hehhe Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.

A recommended read for anyone...

[Mizaq]

42 leapt out of my mouth as soon as I read the title of this poll. This poll is seriously lacking.

[dac]

Auuuggghhh! Pay attention. 42 is NOT the meaning of life. It is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. You have to notice the subtle shading between "meaning" and "answer".

[kailhun]

Originally posted by dac
Auuuggghhh! Pay attention. 42 is NOT the meaning of life. It is the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything. You have to notice the subtle shading between "meaning" and "answer".

Actually, it is the answer to the great question, the ultimate question of life, the universe and everything. Which, incidently, runs along the lines of 'What do you get if you multiply six by nine'.
(Just watched the series on DVD)

Makes about as much sense as most philosphies, I suppose.

Robert

[Arrian]

I just wanna be the Sandwich Maker. Mmm.... mostly normal beast. With a banana for desert, of course.

-Arrian

[Thrawn05]

(kinda OT)
You have not experienced life fully until....

1: When you've been sent to Mingapulco 42 times...

2: When you download Firaxis' 42nd patch for Civ3...

3: When you beat Civ3 42 times in a row...

4: When you wait 42 minutes between turns...

5: When you turn 42 during those 42 minutes...

6: When you talk about what you want in Civilization XLII...

7: When you find out there are only 42 lines of code in Civ3...

8: When you eat 42 M&Ms figuring were to send your 42 armies...

[Spec]

Where's tha banana option!!!

[Brutus66]

I had to pick the first choice. Just for the sake of ACooper.

[Dan Magaha FIRAXIS]

Yatta!

It's so easy, happy go lucky!


Dan

[randommushroom]

IIRC, and I don't feel like doing the conversions right now, 6 by 9 = 42 in base 13, instead of our human conventional base 10. So it suggests that much of our misery and woe is caused by using the wrong base number.

Guess if God were really beneficent he would have given us 13 fingers.

[Scientia]

Originally posted by randommushroom
I don't feel like doing the conversions right now, 6 by 9 = 42 in base 13, instead of our human conventional base 10.

I forget the "formula" for converting from one base to another off the top of my head, but you can logically arrive at this result with a little insight.

Base 10 numbers follow that the 'tens' colunn is incremented once for every time the 'ones' row reaches a value of "ten"

Base 13 numbers would likewise increment the 'tens' (thirteens) column every time the 'ones' row reaches a vaue of "thirteen".

In abstract - base x numbers increment the 'tens' row every time the 'ones' row reaches a value of x.

To make the base set clearer, use some substitutions similar to hex

10 = A 11 = B 12 = C 13 = D

In the table below, a two-digit representation of the base 13 product reveals that the 'tens' (thirteens) place is determined by the number of times that thirteen divides into the base 10 product
and the remainder fills the 'ones' column.

A base 13 mulitplication table:
6 X 1 = 06 (6) = 0 + 6
6 X 2 = 0C (12) = 0 + 12
6 X 3 = 15 (18) = 13 + 5
6 X 4 = 1B (24) = 13 + 11
6 X 5 = 24 (30) = 26 + 4
6 X 6 = 2A (36) = 26 + 10
6 X 7 = 33 (42) = 39 + 3
6 X 8 = 39 (48) = 39 + 9
6 X 9 = 42 (54) = 52 + 2

6 X 9 = 42 (base 13) because 13 goes into 54 (base 10) 4 times with a remainder of 2

[N35t0r]

You know, i was thinking the other day...

what if Douglas Adams knew L33t, and what he meant by 42 is AZ, which ARE the first and last letters of the Alphabet...


and about counting, God really ment us to count with base 5, and use one hand for tens and the other one for units, but we were too stupid to realise it...

[Ethelred]

I don't thing Montezuma will agree with you on that.

Aztecs used base twenty. Bare feet I guess.