NationStates Jolt Archive

So, I was randomly browsing the forums of the Internet Movie Database, looking at a bit of this and a bit of that (Pointed out to somebody on the KoToR boards that the previous page of his thread explained the history of the Sith in full, and explained on the Imagine Me & You page why it's not possible to have both an unstoppable force and an immoveable object), and I stumbled onto the page for The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I browsed quickly, like I usually do, and saw one of the never-ending threads wondering just what the heck Douglas Adams really meant when he picked 42 for the Ultimate Answer. There were the usual answers, ranging from complex philosphy to pure randomness, and an endless rehashing of the fact that 6 x 9 does not equal 42, when one person pointed out that, in Base 13 math, 6 x 9 does equal 42. Unfortunately, as somebody else pointed out, Adams has admitted than even he doesn't write jokes in Base 13, and I figured that it's pretty unlikely that anybody writes jokes in Base 13. And that's when it hit me: That would be a great title for a thread on NS. I quickly navigated here, opened a new thread with this wonderful title, and then realized that I had absolutely nothing to write about. Not a thing. I couldn't think of a single meaningful topic that would follow from this title, except maybe "Why don't people write jokes in Base 13?" I still think it's a good title for something, but I really can't think of what the heck it's a good title for.

In fact, in retrospect, it's not even that good of a title. Sure, it's nice and all, especially if I had a topic to follow it, but it's not so earth-shaking awesome that I need to create a topic just so I can use it. Talk about a let down. Oh, well, at least it's not the worst title I've ever used. At least, I hope not, cause that would just suck.

I can't work out a good topic to go with that title either, how irrational of me, it just doesn't add up.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v628/SaintB/1193920787163.jpg

Will octal do?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Math_(song)
http://www.stlyrics.com/songs/t/tomlehrer3903/newmath185502.html

It has that tone similar to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

There's been a trend in books this way, where titles are getting sillier and sillier in an effort to be quirky, it started in sci-fi and it worked there, it's being taken to annoying levels though.

So write a book, call it 'Nobody writes jokes in base 13', include a casual, unrelated reference and sell millions.

01001110 01101111 01100010 01101111 01100100 01111001 00100000 01110111 01110010 01101001 01110100 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101010 01101111 01101011 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001 00101100 00100000 01100101 01101001 01110100 01101000 01100101 01110010 00101110
This thread makes me a sad panda. :(

Lawrence of Arabia named his memoirs of his WW1 exploits, "Seven Pillars of Wisdom". The title has nothing to do with the memoirs. It was originally meant for an unpublished novel but he liked it too much to let it go.

01010100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01110111 01101001 01100110 01100101 00101100 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 00100001 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 01001111 01110010 00111010 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 01001000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101110 01111001 00100000 01000011 01100101 01101110 01110100 01100001 01110101 01110010 01101001 00100000 01100100 01101111 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110011 01100011 01110010 01100101 01110111 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 01100010 01110101 01101100 01100010 00111111

So write a book, call it 'Nobody writes jokes in base 13', include a casual, unrelated reference and sell millions.

You know, I'm actually considering that. It'd be perfect for my pseudo-scientific quasi-intellectual style of writing, with just that little touch of something else.

Now I just need to find that plot.

It has that tone similar to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.

There's been a trend in books this way, where titles are getting sillier and sillier in an effort to be quirky, it started in sci-fi and it worked there, it's being taken to annoying levels though.

So write a book, call it 'Nobody writes jokes in base 13', include a casual, unrelated reference and sell millions.

Dress Your Family In Corduroy..., etc.?

Polt Shmott! Who needs a plot?

It has that tone similar to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep.
There's been a trend in books this way, where titles are getting sillier and sillier in an effort to be quirky, it started in sci-fi and it worked there, it's being taken to annoying levels though.

So write a book, call it 'Nobody writes jokes in base 13', include a casual, unrelated reference and sell millions.

Didn't this book have another title?

01010100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01110111 01101001 01100110 01100101 00101100 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 00100001 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 01001111 01110010 00111010 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 01001000 01101111 01110111 00100000 01101101 01100001 01101110 01111001 00100000 01000011 01100101 01101110 01110100 01100001 01110101 01110010 01101001 00100000 01100100 01101111 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101111 00100000 01110011 01100011 01110010 01100101 01110111 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 01100010 01110101 01101100 01100010 001111111) ...Do you really want me to?
2) I have no idea how many centauri it takes to screw in a light bulb.

I'm actually of the opinion that Adams pulled 42 out of thin air--it makes perfect sense, in regards to the Guide books, since they are filled with randomness, pure chance, and, (dare I say it?) improbability. To admit that 42 is just 42, and no advanced processes went into choosing the number is just something you have to do to be able to read the Guide in the way it was meant to be read: Lightheartedly and without looking for inner meaning :)

I've got the Bible-Guide!

Didn't this book have another title?

Don't worry about this question I'm a fucking idoit, I knew I was thinking of Blade Runner, and that I had seen the android title somewhere but that was in my fathers bookcase.

Still, how do you make a gross math error? And why doesn't Adams just say, "OK, I suck at math" after all these years? Or is he trying to say that 6 x 9 = 42 after taxes or something? Because I always thought British tax rates were a lot higher...well, maybe not for around 42.

Yes, I ramble. Sorry.

AmericanHonorAndGlory, I think you've missed the point, Adams didn't make a math error, he picked 42 at random and was well aware that 6 x 9 is not the proper equation, that was part of the point. Others have pointed out that it does make sense in Base 13 math, thinking that might have been his point all along, but he stressed that there was no hidden meaning like that, and he had no idea Base 13 made it make sense.


2) I have no idea how many centauri it takes to screw in a light bulb.

01001010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00101100 00100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01000111 01110010 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01001111 01101100 01100100 00100000 01000100 01100001 01111001 01110011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01010010 01100101 01110000 01110101 01100010 01101100 01101001 01100011 00101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01111001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01100100 00100000 01001000 01010101 01001110 01000100 01010010 01000101 01000100 01010011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110011 01101100 01100001 01110110 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01110101 01110010 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01010100 01001000 01001111 01010101 01010011 01000001 01001110 01000100 01010011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 01100010 01110101 01101100 01100010 01110011 00100000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101001 01110010 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100001 00001101 00001010 00001101 00001010 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01100111 01110101 01100101 01110011 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01000010 01100001 01100010 01111001 01101100 01101111 01101110 00100000 00110101 00100000 01100110 01100001 01101110 00101110

Didn't this book have another title?

It was filmed* as Blade Runner, that might be what you're thinking of.

*well, 'filmed' may be the wrong phrase. There's a film called Blade Runner broadly inspired by the book, but from what I've heard there are significant differences.

Stupid Person: Your momma so fat, she sat on an egg beater!

Your Reply: That's why nobody writes jokes in Base 13.

01001010 01110101 01110011 01110100 00100000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00101100 00100000 01100010 01110101 01110100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01000111 01110010 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01001111 01101100 01100100 00100000 01000100 01100001 01111001 01110011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01010010 01100101 01110000 01110101 01100010 01101100 01101001 01100011 00101100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01111001 00100000 01101000 01100001 01100100 00100000 01001000 01010101 01001110 01000100 01010010 01000101 01000100 01010011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110011 01101100 01100001 01110110 01100101 01110011 00100000 01110100 01110101 01110010 01101110 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01010100 01001000 01001111 01010101 01010011 01000001 01001110 01000100 01010011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 01100010 01110101 01101100 01100010 01110011 00100000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01101001 01110010 00100000 01100011 01101111 01101101 01101101 01100001 01101110 01100100 00100001 00001010 00001010 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01100111 01110101 01100101 01110011 01110011 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01000010 01100001 01100010 01111001 01101100 01101111 01101110 00100000 00110101 00100000 01100110 01100001 01101110 00101110
01010100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101100 01101111 01110100 01110100 01100001 00100000 01101100 01101001 01100111 01101000 01110100 00100000 01100010 01110101 01101100 01100010 01110011 00101110 00100000 01101111 01011111 00110000 00001010 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01101110 01101111 01110100 00100000 01100001 00100000 01000010 01100001 01100010 01111001 01101100 01101111 01101110 00100000 00110101 00100000 01100110 01100001 01101110 00101110 00100000 01000001 01101110 01100100 00100000 01001001 00100111 01101101 00100000 01100111 01101100 01100001 01100100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01111001 01101111 01110101 00100000 01110111 01100101 01110010 01100101 01101110 00100111 01110100 00100000 01110011 01100101 01110010 01101001 01101111 01110101 01110011 00100000 01100001 01100010 01101111 01110101 01110100 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110111 01101001 01100110 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01101001 01101110 01100111 00101110 00100000 01000110 01110101 01101110 01101110 01111001 00101110 00100000 00111010 00101001

2+2 equals...

...10

In base 4, I'm fine!

I don't get this, at all...
I'm massively lost.

All your base are belong to us! :D

I don't get this, at all...
I'm massively lost.57 6f 75 6c 64 20 79 6f 75 20 70 72 65 66 65 72 20 48 45 58 3f 0a
T3IgbWF5YmUgQmFzZSA2ND8K

00100010 01010100 01100001 01101011 01100101 00100000 01101101 01111001 00100000 01110111 01101001 01100110 01100101 00101100 00100000 01110000 01101100 01100101 01100001 01110011 01100101 00100001 00100010 00100000 01101001 01110011 00100000 01100001 00100000 01000011 01001100 01000001 01010011 01010011 01001001 01000011 00100001 00100000 00100000 01010011 01100101 01110010 01101001 01101111 01110101 01110011 01101100 01111001 00101100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01101110 01100100 01100001 01110010 01100100 00100000 01101111 01101110 01100101 00101101 01101100 01101001 01101110 01100101 01110010 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100000 01101101 01100001 01100100 01100101 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100011 01101001 01110010 01100011 01110101 01101001 01110100 00100000 01100110 01101111 01110010 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100011 01100001 01100100 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101100 01100100 01100101 01101110 00100000 01100001 01100111 01100101 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110011 01110100 01100001 01101110 01100100 01110101 01110000 00100000 00101000 01001000 01100101 01111001 00101100 00100000 01101001 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 01111001 00100000 01110101 01110011 01100101 01100100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100000 01101001 01101110 00100000 01000111 01101111 01101111 01100100 01100110 01100101 01101100 01101100 01100001 01110011 00101100 00100000 01101001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01100111 01101111 01110100 01110100 01100001 00100000 01100010 01100101 00100000 01100111 01101111 01101111 01100100 00101001

57 6f 75 6c 64 20 79 6f 75 20 70 72 65 66 65 72 20 48 45 58 3f 0a
T3IgbWF5YmUgQmFzZSA2ND8K

4e 6f 2c 20 69 74 20 64 6f 65 73 6e 27 74 20 71 75 69 74 65 20 68 61 76 65 20 74 68 65 20 73 61 6d 65 20 61 70 70 65 61 6c 2e

Tm8sIGl0IGRvZXNuJ3QgcXVpdGUgaGF2ZSB0aGUgc2FtZSBhcHBlYWwu

I don't get this, at all...
I'm massively lost.

There really isn't a whole lot to get, we're mainly just spouting random nonsense, but if you'd like to at least be clued in to our idiocy, I think I can help (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Answer).

... there are 10 types of people in this world.

those that understand Binary
and those who don't.

There really isn't a whole lot to get, we're mainly just spouting random nonsense, but if you'd like to at least be clued in to our idiocy, I think I can help (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultimate_Answer).

Uh huh, yeah, ok. Still lost...
But um, might as well join.

I LIKE TOASTER MUFFINS!

And why doesn't Adams just say, "OK, I suck at math" after all these years?
Well, right now, it's hard for him to say anything, due to the fact that he died in 2001.

Admittedly, he does definitely suck at math now.

*code was here*Jung nobhg guvf? :c

Still, how do you make a gross math error? And why doesn't Adams just say, "OK, I suck at math" after all these years? Or is he trying to say that 6 x 9 = 42 after taxes or something? Because I always thought British tax rates were a lot higher...well, maybe not for around 42.

Yes, I ramble. Sorry.

Firstly he's dead.

Secondly the whole point was that it didn't make any sense. 42 was just a random number that was funny as 'the answer to life the universe and everything'. 6 times 9 is just an extension of that. The joke is also on people who look for meaning in everything an author writes. There isn't any. It's just gibberish.

Jung nobhg guvf? :c

Sorry, that one's popping over my head.

sorry, that one's popping over my head.It's ROT13.

Bu, gung V qba'g xabj.

Bu, gung V qba'g xabj.|\|1(3, y0u 5h0u|d d3f1n173|y kn0w wh47 7h15 15. :p

No. Just no. I'll go along with ROT13, but I'll be damned if I sully this new computer with heathen 1337 593F\|<

Some lines just aren't meant to be crossed.

No. Just no. I'll go along with ROT13, but I'll be damned if I sully this new computer with heathen 1337 593F\|<

Some lines just aren't meant to be crossed.Alrighty. :p

.-- .... .- - .- -... --- ..- - -- --- .-. ... . -.-. --- -.. . ..--..

-.-. --.- / -.-. --.- / -.-. --.- --..-- / .. / .- -- / .- / .... .- -- / .-. .- -.. .. --- / --- .--. . .-. .- - --- .-. .-.-.- / --... ...--

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-.-- . ... --..-- / -.-- . ... / .. - / .. ... .-.-.- / ... .- -.. .-.. -.-- --..-- / .- ... / --- ..-. / .-.. .- ... - / -.-- . .- .-. / -.-- --- ..- / -.. --- / -. --- - / -. . . -.. / - --- / -.- -. --- .-- / - .... . / -.-. --- -.. . / ..-. --- .-. / - .... . / -- --- ... - / .- -.. ...- .- -. -.-. . -.. / .-.. .. -.-. . -. ... . ... .-.-.-

Alright.
The dots and hyphens are making my eyes hurt. :p

Yeah, that'll happen.

Yeah, that'll happen.Hopefully I won't have to deal with it that much.