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Message-ID: <4771@sri-arpa.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 1-Sep-83 04:48:53 EDT
Article-I.D.: sri-arpa.4771
Posted: Thu Sep  1 04:48:53 1983
Date-Received: Sun, 4-Sep-83 22:54:53 EDT
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Subject: The Answer

	There has been a bit of talk, as of late, over the actual
meaning of the Answer given in Adams' Life the Universe and Everything.
I like the idea that 9x6 = 42 in base thirteen, and a couple of the
others that have come up, but there is one thing that must be taken
into consideration.
	Douglas Adams is a writer, an author of three very entertaining
books.  But he is not a computer scientist; his talent lies in another
area, and with no disrespect intended, I don't think that he would think
of using a totally alien numbering system to put forth a joke.   And
even if he did, I think he would have been more subtle.
	See, we gotta look think like a guy who spends most of his time 
in front of a different kind of keyboard --- a Typewriter keyboard.  How
many of us still use one of those nobel devices ??  I do, on occasion,
and one evening I came to realize a wonderful fact.  When centering the
paper on the machine's roller, using a standard left hand column setting,
the paper will always center on tab stop number 42...  
	Does this mean that the Universe is about to be replaced by some-
thing even stranger...?  Or maybe it has been already...


    		Dave