Sunday, October 10, 2010

The answer is 42!

I've got the answer! (to the question at the end of yesterday's post)

The answer is 42! Haha.

OK, the real answer is Blowin' in the Wind. Hahaha.

All joking aside—well, almost all joking aside—there is an amusing connection between the two preceding paragraphs. Can any readers of this blog explain it in the comments? If you need a hint see the first comment.

And did you realize that today is 10-10-10? That's completely unrelated. Or is it?

2 comments:

George Putnam said...

Hint: See Chapter 32 in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (the first book in the series of the same name).

George Putnam said...

Hmm....give up? Here's the answer:

Chapter 32 is near the end of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. By this time in the story we know that long ago a race of super-intelligent beings built a supercomputer called Deep Thought to calculate the answer to the "ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything." After millions of years of calculations, Deep Thought came up with the answer: 42.

This was not satisfying, and the race of super-intelligent beings then built an even more powerful supercomputer to answer this question: what was the question that "42" was the answer to? This new supercomputer was the Earth.

The Earth calculated (in other words, life evolved) for more millions of years. Unfortunately the Earth was destroyed five minutes before the calculation was completed. In Chapter 32 two members of the race of super-intelligent beings (Trillian's pet mice) are discussing their problem:

" 'The only thing we can do now,' said Benjy, crouching and stroking his whiskers in thought, 'is to try and fake a question, invent one that will sound plausible.' "

After a couple of lame attempts they come up with a question they like:

" 'How many roads must a man walk down? Forty-two. Excellent, excellent, that'll fox 'em. Frankie, baby, we are made!' They performed a scampering dance in their excitement."

"How many roads must a man walk down" is the first line of the song Blowin' in the Wind.

Like any joke, if you have to explain it, it's not so funny. But if you figure it out for yourself, it's quite amusing!

BTW, it really was irrelevant that the date was 10-10-10. So far as I know, anyway!