Daily Image
10-10-2010
101010b (42)
| Submitter: | Michael Garrett |
| Description: | Today is the 10th of October 2010 or 101010. In binary numbers (base 2) 101010 also equals 42 (0x1+1x2+0x4+1*8+0x16+1x32). The number 42 has attained cult status over the last few decades, almost certainly because of its prominence in Douglas Adam's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (h2g2)". In h2g2, a giant super-computer, named "Deep Thought", was built to figure out once and for all the answer to the ultimate question of LIFE, the UNIVERSE and EVERYTHING! After 7.5 million years, the super-computer came up with the answer... "42". Why 42? Well if you REALLY want to know your best bet is to download the audio files of the 1978 BBC Radio 4 series (see www.sadena.com/hh/) or buy the book-set, board game, tv/movie DVDs etc. that appeared thereafter. In any case, whether you love or loathe h2g2, the number "42" has entered into mainstream popular culture as some kind of magic number, along with many other phrases e.g. "mostly harmless" or some handy concepts e.g. the "Babel Fish" universal translator. Entering "the answer to life the universe and everything" into google shows how popular h2g2 is with many computer geeks too. Helaas, a juvenile element within our own astronomical community are also quite obsessed with the number "42" and there are some unfortunate examples, e.g. the diameter specification of a certain well-known extremely large optical telescope or the number of dishes in an equally well known SKA pathfinder array! Jodrell Bank Observatory also featured in h2g2 - but quite rightly they failed to spot the alien invasion because they were too busy having a nice cup of tea! |
| Copyright: | ASTRON |
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