Starship Asterisk*

dougettinger wrote:
Neufer, I don't think this is the answer to everything.
One of the rules was repeated making the total number 41.

http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/book/may24.html wrote:
May 24 *Feast day of Hermes Trismegistus*
.
<<Both Thoth & Hermes were gods of writing & of magic in
their respective cultures. Thus the Greek god of interpretive
communication was combined with the Egyptian god of wisdom
as a patron of antique pseudosciences of astrology & alchemy.
Both gods were psychopomps, guiding souls to the afterlife.
.
As a divine fountain of writing, Hermes Trismegistus was credited with
tens of thousands of writings, of immense antiquity & high standing.
Plato's Timaeus & Critias state that in the temple of Neith at *SAIS*
there were secret halls containing historical records which had been
kept for 9,000 years. Clement of Alexandria was under the impression
that the Egyptians had 42 sacred writings by Hermes, encapsulating
all the training of Egyptian priests. Siegfried Morenz has suggested
(Egyptian Religion) "The reference to Thoth's authorship... is based
on ancient tradition; the figure 42 probably stems from the number
of Egyptian NOMES , and thus conveys the notion of completeness."
The Neo-Platonic writers took up Clement's "42 essential texts".>>
--------------------------------------------------------

Neufer wrote:

• 1. I have not committed sin.
  2. I have not committed robbery with violence.
  3. I have not stolen.
  4. I have not slain men and women.
  5. I have not stolen grain.
  6. I have not purloined offerings.
  7. I have not stolen the property of God.
  8. I have not uttered lies.
  9. I have not carried away food.
  10. I have not uttered curses.
  11. I have not committed adultery, I have not lain with men.
  12. I have made none to weep.
  13. I have not eaten the heart.
  14. I have not attacked any man.
  15. I am not a man of deceit.
  16. I have not stolen cultivated land.
  17. I have not been an eavesdropper.
  18. I have not slandered [no man].
  19. I have not been angry without just cause.
  20. I have not debauched the wife of any man.
  21. I have not debauched the wife of [any] man.
  22. I have not polluted myself.
  23. I have terrorized none.
  24. I have not transgressed [the law].
  25. I have not been wroth.
  26. I have not shut my ears to the words of truth.
  27. I have not blasphemed.
  28. I am not a man of violence.
  29. I have not been a stirrer up of strife.
  30. I have not acted with undue haste.
  31. I have not pried into matters.
  32. I have not multiplied my words in speaking.
  33. I have wronged none, I have done no evil.
  34. I have not worked witchcraft against the king.
  35. I have never stopped [the flow of] water.
  36. I have never raised my voice.
  37. I have not cursed God.
  38. I have not acted with arrogance.
  39. I have not stolen the bread of the gods.
  40. I have not carried away the khenfu cakes from the spirits of the dead.
  41. I have not snatched away the bread of the child, nor treated with contempt the god of my city.
  42. I have not slain the cattle belonging to the god.

- Who's Who in Ancient Egypt (Who's Who),
Michael Rice, Routledge, 1999
---------------------------

bystander wrote:It's from a work of fiction, Doug. Unfortunately, Douglas Adams is no longer around to answer your questions, but maybe this will help.

• What on earth is 42?

bystander wrote:

dougettinger wrote:42 what ? I don't understand. The dollar and euro are going to implode. Please tell me 42 what ?

Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life the Universe and Everything

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maiherpri wrote:
<<The Ancient Egyptian noble Maiherperi was buried in the Valley of the Kings, in tomb KV36. He probably lived during the rule of Thutmose IV, and received the honour of a burial in the Valley of the Kings, the royal necropolis. His name can be translated as Lion of the Battlefield. Amongst his titles were Child of the Nursery and Royal Fan-Bearer of the Right Hand Side. There is speculation that the first title signified that he grew up in the royal nursery as a prince of a vassal territory, or perhaps was the son of a lesser wife or concubine of the pharaoh.

In Maiherperi's tomb, a papyrus was found (in 1899 by Loret.) depicting him with literally "blackish" skin, leading scholars to believe he was in fact Nubian or of Nubian descent. The papyrus in question was the Book of the Dead, in the eyes of O'Connor and Cline "

ertainly the most famous and arguably the most beautiful" Book of the Dead.



There were "42" Confessions with "42" judges. One must pass these "Confessions" after practicing holiness to achieve an acceptable death of immortality. The "Confessions" is one of the most distinctive, innovative and best known features of the Book of the Dead.

The 42 declarations were found on papyrus in the tomb of the Nubian Maiherperi:

• 1. I have not committed sin.
  2. I have not committed robbery with violence.
  3. I have not stolen.
  4. I have not slain men and women.
  5. I have not stolen grain.
  6. I have not purloined offerings.
  7. I have not stolen the property of God.
  8. I have not uttered lies.
  9. I have not carried away food.
  10. I have not uttered curses.
  11. I have not committed adultery, I have not lain with men.
  12. I have made none to weep.
  13. I have not eaten the heart.
  14. I have not attacked any man.
  15. I am not a man of deceit.
  16. I have not stolen cultivated land.
  17. I have not been an eavesdropper.
  18. I have not slandered [no man].
  19. I have not been angry without just cause.
  20. I have not debauched the wife of any man.
  21. I have not debauched the wife of [any] man.
  22. I have not polluted myself.
  23. I have terrorized none.
  24. I have not transgressed [the law].
  25. I have not been wroth.
  26. I have not shut my ears to the words of truth.
  27. I have not blasphemed.
  28. I am not a man of violence.
  29. I have not been a stirrer up of strife.
  30. I have not acted with undue haste.
  31. I have not pried into matters.
  32. I have not multiplied my words in speaking.
  33. I have wronged none, I have done no evil.
  34. I have not worked witchcraft against the king.
  35. I have never stopped [the flow of] water.
  36. I have never raised my voice.
  37. I have not cursed God.
  38. I have not acted with arrogance.
  39. I have not stolen the bread of the gods.
  40. I have not carried away the khenfu cakes from the spirits of the dead.
  41. I have not snatched away the bread of the child, nor treated with contempt the god of my city.
  42. I have not slain the cattle belonging to the god.

- Who's Who in Ancient Egypt (Who's Who),
Michael Rice, Routledge, 1999
---------------------------

dougettinger wrote:Pi (3.14_ _) is unitless and will apply anywhere in the universe. And 3.14 can be derived assuming the proper number set is given which is also needed for the number 42. Can the number 42 be derived like 3.14_ _ ?

• What on earth is 42?

Chris Peterson wrote:

dougettinger wrote:42 what ? I don't understand. The dollar and euro are going to implode. Please tell me 42 what ?

What's not to understand? It's a simple answer (42) to a simple question (what is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the Universe, and everything). The answer is unitless.

dougettinger wrote:42 what ? I don't understand. The dollar and euro are going to implode. Please tell me 42 what ?

dougettinger wrote:42 what ? I don't understand. The dollar and euro are going to implode. Please tell me 42 what ?

Neufer wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_characters_from_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Frankie_and_Benjy_Mouse wrote: <<Frankie and Benjy are the mice that Arthur encounter on Magrathea. Frankie and Benjy wish to extract the final readout data from Arthur's brain to get the Ultimate Question. Frankie and Benjy are, after all, part of the pan-dimensional race that created the Earth as a supercomputer successor to Deep Thought in order to find out the question to which the answer was 42.

Unfortunately for Arthur, they claim the only way to do this is to remove his brain and prepare it, apparently by dicing it. They promise to replace it with a simple computer brain, which, suggested Zaphod, would only have to say things like "What?", "I don't understand." and "Where's the tea?". Arthur objects to this ("What?", he says. "See!" says Zaphod), and escapes with the help of his friends. Frankie says:

• "I mean, yes idealism, yes the dignity of pure research, yes, the pursuit of truth in all its forms, but there comes a point I'm afraid where you begin to suspect that if there's any real truth it's that the entire multi-dimensional infinity of the Universe is almost certainly being run by a bunch of maniacs; and if it comes to a choice between spending another ten million years finding that out and on the other hand just taking the money and running, I for one could do with the exercise.">>

---------------------------------

dougettinger wrote:42 what? I don't understand. 42 what? Let's have some tea. It could be 42 Euros to 1 Dollar if you don't pay your taxes. See me for the answers and leave my brain intact. Thank you.

DBE from Pittsburgh, PA

beyond wrote:
To me -- it very well could be that a long time ago in a place far away, Superforces designed and created this solar system and designed and created this Earth and put them together and launched everything to arrive at a certain point sometime in the future.

• What? I don't understand.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Places_in_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Magrathea wrote:
<<Magrathea is an ancient planet located in orbit around the twin suns Soulianis and Rahm in the heart of the Horsehead nebula. Magrathea is a planet whose economy was based on the manufacturing of other planets for the wealthiest people in the universe. Amongst the clients who asked for planets to be created were a race of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings who asked the Magratheans to create the Earth which, in addition to being a planet, was a super-computer designed to calculate the ultimate question to the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything. Amongst the people who worked on it was SlARTibARTfast, a coastal designer who won an award for his work on Norway.>>

• Pre-SlARTibARTfast Euro:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minor_characters_from_The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxy#Frankie_and_Benjy_Mouse wrote:
<<Frankie and Benjy are the mice that Arthur encounter on Magrathea. Frankie and Benjy wish to extract the final readout data from Arthur's brain to get the Ultimate Question. Frankie and Benjy are, after all, part of the pan-dimensional race that created the Earth as a supercomputer successor to Deep Thought in order to find out the question to which the answer was 42.

Unfortunately for Arthur, they claim the only way to do this is to remove his brain and prepare it, apparently by dicing it. They promise to replace it with a simple computer brain, which, suggested Zaphod, would only have to say things like "What?", "I don't understand." and "Where's the tea?". Arthur objects to this ("What?", he says. "See!" says Zaphod), and escapes with the help of his friends. Frankie says:

• "I mean, yes idealism, yes the dignity of pure research, yes, the pursuit of truth in all its forms, but there comes a point I'm afraid where you begin to suspect that if there's any real truth it's that the entire multi-dimensional infinity of the Universe is almost certainly being run by a bunch of maniacs; and if it comes to a choice between spending another ten million years finding that out and on the other hand just taking the money and running, I for one could do with the exercise.">>

dougettinger wrote:Thanks again for this enlightenment. The spacing would be approximately 12,000 AU's for 100 protostars per l.y.(3) - supposely less than the radius of the Oort Cloud from the Sun.

dougettinger wrote:I am not that familiar with all the details of protostars forming in large nebulas. So what are the observed typical distances between these newly formed protostars ?