Actually... 

*pushes nerd glasses back-on*

Douglas Addams mentions that the engineers that built it ran a test question by it but did not wait for the answer. The question was what is 6*9. Later-on it is revealed that this race had 13 fingers in total, making their numeric system base-13.

42 in base 13 = 54 base 10

Douglas Adams wowed never to make any more math jokes after that.

 

The number 42 is, in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, "The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything", and is calculated by an enormous supercomputer over a period of 7.5 million years to be 42. Unfortunately no one knows what the question is. Thus, to calculate the Ultimate Question, a special computer the size of a small planet and using organic components was created and named "Earth".

Ah....nothing like a dreamy interlude in the middle of a crappy work day. Nice!

If God is an astronaut, who built the spaceship?

What's to say there aren't living beings that require an ammonia atmosphere, use sulfur for metabolic energy, communicate through touch or telepathy, and would explode in gravitational fields less than 4G?  (Cell phone pun for those not paying close attention.)  It's quite plausible that they would absolutely assume a form completely "alien" to Earthlings.  Why, oh why, must it possess general human characterisitics?

It just so happens that 42 is the answer to Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.  I don't think that's a coincidence...

To revisit an previous topic on this thread ...
 
Someone suggested earlier, and I paraphrase here, that there is a negligible chance of livable conditions on another planet in the Milky Way.  That comment went on to list a few items required to sustain life: "(liquid water, energy, and organic material) ".

If God is an astronaut, then he is too many light years away for us to really know anything about him with any accuracy.  We can only be enthralled with the myth like earlier mankind used oral history to not lose track of and to perpetuate their identity. 

To revisit an previous topic on this thread ...
 
Someone suggested earlier, and I paraphrase here, that there is a negligible chance of livable conditions on another planet in the Milky Way.  That comment went on to list a few items required to sustain life: "(liquid water, energy, and organic material) ".
 
Years ago under the stimulus of powerful chemicals, my friends and I used to critique "the Star Trek view of cosmology".  Why must we assume that other sentient beings use carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen for metabolism?  Why must they always be assumed to inhabit axially symmetrical bodies, with, let's be serious here, a head, thorax, two arms and two legs?  Star Trek and LOTS of other science fiction vehicles also portrayed aliens using vocalizations or other noises for communication — a characteristic at which we chuckled for hours.  (Damned chemicals.)
 
What's to say there aren't living beings that require an ammonia atmosphere, use sulfur for metabolic energy, communicate through touch or telepathy, and would explode in gravitational fields less than 4G?  (Cell phone pun for those not paying close attention.)  It's quite plausible that they would absolutely assume a form completely "alien" to Earthlings.  Why, oh why, must it possess general human characterisitics?
 
That's like, just my opinion, man.  No disrespect aimed at anyone.

To revisit an previous topic on this thread ...
 
Someone suggested earlier, and I paraphrase here, that there is a negligible chance of livable conditions on another planet in the Milky Way.  That comment went on to list a few items required to sustain life: "(liquid water, energy, and organic material) ".
 
Years ago under the stimulus of powerful chemicals, my friends and I used to critique "the Star Trek view of cosmology".  Why must we assume that other sentient beings use carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen for metabolism?  Why must they always be assumed to inhabit axially symmetrical bodies, with, let's be serious here, a head, thorax, two arms and two legs?  Star Trek and LOTS of other science fiction vehicles also portrayed aliens using vocalizations or other noises for communication — a characteristic at which we chuckled for hours.  (Damned chemicals.)
 
What's to say there aren't living beings that require an ammonia atmosphere, use sulfur for metabolic energy, communicate through touch or telepathy, and would explode in gravitational fields less than 4G?  (Cell phone pun for those not paying close attention.)  It's quite plausible that they would absolutely assume a form completely "alien" to Earthlings.  Why, oh why, must it possess general human characterisitics?
 
That's like, just my opinion, man.  No disrespect aimed at anyone.

It just so happens that 42 is the answer to Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything.  I don't think that's a coincidence...

Well, I've done the counting. As it turns out there are 42 more grains of sand on Earth than there are stars in the universe. So take THAT, universe!! (The universe thinks it's so great.)

I really like this song! The album is great too.

 

Despite what Carl Sagan asserted, it's quite possible (or probable) that there are more grains of sand on the Earth's beaches than there are stars in the Universe - but I haven't counted lately.