How About A Cup Of The Answer To Everything?

Reiner Schulz writes "Douglas Adams admittedly was a big fan of Earl Grey tea. Here's his enlightening entry in H2G2 on the subject (pretty much straight out of The Salmon of Doubt). And those familiar w/ the Hitchhiker's Guide will remember the drink dispenser from The Restaurant at the End of the Universe which, trying to figure out how to brew the perfect cuppa, grabs all available computing resources on board a certain starship. What a coincidence then that one of the finest blends of Earl Grey on the planet in general and in the UK in particular is Harrods' Earl Grey, Blend No. ... 42 . It's a plausible theory as to the origin of the answer to everything, isn't it? Earl Grey addicts like myself will certainly agree (even though Douglas liked his w/ milk; I prefer lemon). So, what would be the question? Perhaps, how about a nice cup of tea?"

Cure-all?

[Infernon]

From the Kinks 'Muswell Hilbillies' album:

It's a cure for hepatitis, it's a cure for chronic insomnia

It's a cure for tonsilitis and for water on the knee.

Brain-food drinks of mythology

[Empiric]

In a similar vein, but what might be considered "prior art", the ancient Norse people had a particular type of mead which was supposed to convey wisdom regarding everything. Made of the blood of a man created by all the Norse gods to seal a peace treaty, "Kvasir", some dwarves killed him and mixed his blood with honey, making the "Mead of Poetry".

Probably not as tasty as Earl Grey, but claimed to be even more effective--after all, what's knowing everything if you can't write about it elegantly?

More on this here [everything2.com].

Google seems to know it to

[miradu2000]

Try this query [google.com] Seems google calculator (nifty new feature) knows the answer to life, the universe, and everything to!

Cup of tea - is a cup for me...

[fi-greenie]

From time to time, I try to go around the stereotype and drink a cup of that hot brewed creamy java or those weird coffees, like a coffee called "Illumination" (or something) from Mexico. However, any type of coffee I've tried can't stand a chance over a good cup of tea, preferably vanilla flavoured or decaf lemon tea.

No jitters, no "I think I'll have to organize my desk or I think I'm going to die soon, if I don't organize my desk NOW, I'm going to..." feeling, but still something, which makes perfect companion for cookies and such.

God save the Tea!

(P.S. I know, that it was wrong to say "God save the Tea." It's possible, that the Queen somewhere is weeping, but still - I think that tea is probably the best thing that have come out of the British Empire, although they kind of ripped it off from Ceylon etc.)

Essential reading before embarking on the ritual

[sh0rtie]

How to brew the perfect cup of tea [bbc.co.uk] as specified by the Royal Society of Chemistry [rsc.org]

link to the paper here [rsc.org] [pdf]
who said this isn't news for nerds egh ?

Prior Art

[The Famous Brett Wat]

I've always supposed that when DA was dreaming up the answer to life, the universe, and everything, he just wanted an answer which was singularly precise, yet totally unhelpful. A number would do. A simple number. Why forty-two, exactly? No reason, other than it sprang to mind.

But note that there is prior art for authors of a twisted-logic bent to gravitate towards forty-two as a good arbitrary number. In particular, I refer to Lewis Carroll.

"Rule Forty-two. All persons more than a mile high to leave the court."

Everybody looked at Alice.

"I'm not a mile high," said Alice.

"You are," said the King.

"Nearly two miles high," added the Queen.

"Well, I sha'n't go, at any rate," said Alice: "besides, that's not a regular rule: you invented it just now."

"It's the oldest rule in the book," said the King.

"Then it ought to be Number One," said Alice.

-- Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland, Chapter 12

One instance doesn't count for a lot, so here's another.

The helmsman used to stand by with tears in his eyes: he knew it was all wrong, but alas! Rule 42 of the Code, "No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm," had been completed by the Bellman himself with the words "and the Man at the Helm shall speak to no one." So remonstrance was impossible, and no steering could be done till the next varnishing day. During these bewildering intervals the ship usually sailed backwards.

-- Lewis Carroll, The Hunting of the Snark, Preface

One more, just to be sure.

"No doubt", said I, "they settled who
Was fittest to be sent:
Yet still to choose a brat like you,
To haunt a man of forty-two,
Was no great compliment!

-- Lewis Carroll, Phantasmagoria, Canto 1

Why is the number forty-two so over-represented? I have no idea, but I like to think of Douglas Adams as the Lewis Carroll of the 20th century.

Re:42 == Randomly chosen number

[gartogg]

Just to suggest this, but perhaps Mr. Adams was not entirely aware of his bias, which would be entirely possible. It's also possible that the fact that he said this, to pardon my possible blasphemy, does not mean that he didn't lie, becuase (for example) he felt that the story was sufficiently mudane that people would think it sucked. Plus alot of the speculation was amazingly cool.

101010

[zakezuke]

I always thought that the whole reason for 42 was the fact that it was 101010 in binary.

As far as this particular blend of earl grey goes, I have not tried it yet. Being in america i've found Earl Grey is easy to find, where Ceylon without the bergamot oil is a pain in the tookus. I do enjoy earl grey though, iced with a touch of sugar. The best blend I can get local is actually Stash's with double bergamot oil.

Re:Google seems to know it to

[smallpaul]

Okay, yes. Google calculator is a neat idea. But step back for a second and think about the sheer wastefulness of making an HTTP connection to do a CALCULATION. Wouldn't it make more sense for the feature to live in the brower, operating system or anything else living on the client side?

This is still my favorite interpretation:

[Komodo]

What do you get if you multiply six by nine?
Answer: 42.

Better answer: God has thirteen fingers.

Re:42 == Randomly chosen number

[PetWolverine]

I've heard that Catch 22 was similarly chosen. Supposedly Joseph Heller even used a different number right up till the end, when he changed it right before it was put in print. I don't recall what the number was, though. Perhaps someone more in a mood to go googling will supply that information.

Re:42 == Randomly chosen number

[AyeRoxor!]

You are aware that there's currently no such thing as a desktop-computer-generated or human-generated random number, right?

All common desktop computers generate "random" numbers based on the current time and date. They're "seeded" with it.

As for humans generating something random? Not at all possible.

If I ask a computer to generate 1000 random numbers from 1 to 100, each number will show up one percent of the time.

If YOU try to write down 1000 random numbers from 1 to 100, patterns will emerge. Just like if I ask you to pick a random word, or a random color, or a random object. Your answer will be based on something in your subconscious; a word based on something you heard, read, or thought; a color based on something visually evocative you recently saw or thought of.

The point is (and this would be beautiful if it were true), 42 meant something to dear departed Mr. Doug. And if he didn't even know what the question was? Well, that's the universe I've come to expect.

Re:42 == Randomly chosen number

[n.wegner]

I believe it was 18. The reason was because something else featured 18 in the title, so his publisher (friend?) suggested 22. I only know because I was half awake after the movie aired on the History channel, so don't quote me.

Well, when *I* asked the computer...

[Fred Ferrigno]

Using Excel's pseudo-random number generator to generate 1000 random numbers from 1 to 100:

1 0.5%
2 1.3%
3 1.2%
4 1.5%
5 0.9%
6 0.6%
7 0.6%
8 0.7%
9 1.3%
10 1.5%

That's only the first 10 of the 100, because Slashdot won't let me post the full list. Of the full hundred, only 13 numbers are represented exactly 1% of the 1000, 41 are less than 1%, and 46 are more. The maximum was 1.7% and the minimum was 0.3%.

Re:But....

[zakezuke]

If you watched the BBC video series, they seemed to make a point 101010 on the cavewall. I forget exactly what was being explained other then multi-armed beings who invented underarm deodorent before the wheel.

Re:Are you sure it's tea?

[egork]

Only if the brewing timing is right. Use my teatimer(written in Java) [geocities.com] to make sure you do not miss the right moment.

Re:Are you sure it's tea?

[tsa]

In my opinion any teamaker that sells fruit 'teas' is crap. Twinings is one of the worst.

By the way, in Newcastle they like Earl Grey so much (he lived there) that they erected a statue [northumbria.info] for him.

Re:Are you sure it's tea?

[Blue Stone]

" If you need a good cup of tea that tastes like a good cup of tea pick up a box of Tetley British Blend!"

God no... not the sweepings, please.

Try a good strong cup of Assam, or a milder Indian tea like Darjeeling (preferably leaves rather than bags, and drunk without milk.)
George Orwell [booksatoz.com], on tea.

Easy target for all you tea snobs

[mwood]

The Question is obviously, "why am I perfectly happy drinking this muck from a Lipton's teabag?"

Although Bigelow's Constant Comment is a nice change now and then.