How About A Cup Of The Answer To Everything? 491
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?"
Are you sure it's tea? (Score:5, Funny)
Gotta say it (Score:5, Funny)
Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea. Rather like your almost, but not quite, entirely accurate quote.
Maybe, but... (Score:3, Informative)
It was Arthur Dent who was responsible for this. Sorry to be pedantic, but some things are important :-).
Re:Maybe, but... (Score:4, Informative)
From Fit The Ninth (Radio series 2), in which our heroes have the chance to chew the fat with some old enemies and Arthur Dent has an unpleasant cup of tea.
Share and enjoy
TomV
Re:Maybe, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Are you sure it's tea? (Score:4, Interesting)
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? (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
42 == Tea for two (Score:5, Informative)
Another h2g2.com entry, 42 [bbc.co.uk], explains that "forty-two" can be parsed "for-tea-two", tea for two, the answer to "What is a good attitude towards life?" which is purported to be the Ultimate Question [bbc.co.uk].
Oh, DAMN... (Score:5, Funny)
The Universe was complicated enough... What have you DONE?
No, the real problem is... (Score:3, Funny)
The answer and question to LtU&E is known, and that I don't like Earl Grey Tea.
Re:Oh, DAMN... (Score:3, Funny)
There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
Re:Oh, DAMN... (Score:5, Funny)
Can we PLEASE have just one thread here that doesn't reference that damned SCO suit?
TomV
Re:42 == Tea for two (Score:4, Funny)
Re:42 == Tea for two (Score:2, Funny)
Re:42 == Tea for two (Score:3, Funny)
Re:42 == Tea for two (Score:3, Funny)
42 == Randomly chosen number (Score:5, Informative)
"Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk,
stared into the garden and thought '42 will do' I typed it out. End of story."
42 == Divinely chosen number? (Score:3, Funny)
What made Mr. Adams think that some sort of god didn't put "42 will do" into his head at that time for at least one of the so-called "complete nonsense" reasons?
Re:42 == Divinely chosen number? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:42 == Divinely chosen number? (Score:5, Funny)
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:42 == Randomly chosen number (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:42 == Randomly chosen number (Score:5, Insightful)
People gravitated around [Dirk], drawn in by the stories he denied about himself, but what the source of these stories might be, if not his own denials, was never entirely clear.
The tales had to do with the psychic powers that he'd supposedly inherited from his mothe'rs side of the family who he claimed, had lived at the smarter end of Transylvania. That is to say, he didn't make any such claim at all, and said it was the most absurd nonsense. He strenuously denied that there were bats of any kind at all in his family and threatened to sue anybody who put about such malicious fabrications, but he affected nevertheless to wear a large and flappy leather coat, and had one of those machines in his room which are supposed to help cure bad backs if you hang upside down from them. He would allow people to discover him hanging from this machine at all kinds of odd hours of the day, and more particularly of the night, expressly so that he could vigorously deny that it had any significance whatsoever.
By means of an ingenious series of strategically deployed denials of the most exciting and exotic things, he was able to create the myth that he was a psychic, mystic, telepathic, fey, clairvoyant, psychosassic vampire bat.
What did "psychosassic" mean?
It was his own word and he vigorously denied that it meant anything at all.
Re:42 == Randomly chosen number (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
Well, when *I* asked the computer... (Score:3, Interesting)
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:Well, when *I* asked the computer... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:42 == Randomly chosen number (Score:3, Insightful)
When using the proper numbering system, the product of any two numbers can be any given number.
The reason the 'Earth' computer came up with the question 'What do you get when you multiply 6 times 9' is because the Golgafrinchans (sp?) jumped in and screwed up the works.
Think about what happens when you throw and processor into a board made to support a completely different architecture (say throw an intel chip into an AS/400).
You may get it to look like its working
Cure-all? (Score:2, Interesting)
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 (Score:5, Interesting)
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].
On behalf of all coffee-drinking programmers: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:On behalf of all soda-drinking programmers: (Score:5, Funny)
Re:On behalf of all coffee-drinking programmers: (Score:4, Informative)
Depending on the blend of tea you can get vastly different ammounts of caffeine (herbal infusions don't have any caffeine). Generally even a straight blend of the Camellia Sinensis plant will yield less caffeine in the final brewed cup than coffee. A cup of black tea will average about half of the caffeine ammount of your average cup of coffee (80mg)
Earl Gray IS the elixir of life! (Score:5, Informative)
If you aren't able to stretch the budget to the Harrods blend, I'd strongly recommend the foil-packed Dilmah (100% ceylon) variety, which is about the freshest, and most fragrant I've been able to fine in Australia.
Ian
Re:Earl Gray IS the elixir of life! (Score:5, Funny)
Have you noticed that Mr Dilmah uses every available surface of the tea packet to write about how his competitors are out to get him? Check the lid flaps, bottom of the box, check under the packet for a tiny pamphlet etc -- the man is a paranoid nutter! It's probably foil-packed with pieces of his hat!
Nice tea, tho'.
Re:Earl Gray IS the elixir of life! (Score:2, Informative)
Dilmah Online Shop [dilmahtea.com]
Ian
My GOD (Score:5, Funny)
This ties right in with the Great Pyramid of Cheops, Stonehenge, the value of pi, crop circles, that weird face on Mars, that strange 1x4x9 thing floating around Jupiter, and the fact that the sun and moon look the same size from the Earth! They're all connected, I tell you!
Re:My GOD (Score:2)
42 (Score:5, Informative)
Re:42 (Score:2)
Even better... (Score:3, Funny)
sqr(10 * the answer to life, the universe, and everything ^ 3) [google.com]
the answer to life, the universe, and everything! [google.com]
(the answer to life, the universe, and everything * the mass of the earth) / 1 googol [google.com]
If you'd like to buy some... (Score:5, Informative)
This is .... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: Not to Worry (Score:4, Informative)
"These things will become clear to you," said the old man gently, "at least," he added with slight doubt in his voice, "clearer than they are at the moment."
Read the Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy books. In fact, expose yourself to any of Douglas Adams works in any medium and you will not regret it.
U42 (Score:4, Informative)
00101010 (Score:2)
he went far too soon (Score:4, Insightful)
Nah (Score:5, Funny)
Nah, I like this one better: Big Cup of Shut the #$@! up [troutsoup.com]
I can see it now, on Kuro5hin. "How to brew the perfect cup of shut the #$@! up"...
Drugs are bad mmmkay? (Score:4, Funny)
This is a well known phenomenon. It usually happens to me during the first 15-20 mins of smoking pot or the like. The trick is to relax and fight off the paranoia. A beer or two helps at this stage, or smoke another joint or two.
After a while you're so baked that not only do you not find your new state of mind strange and crazy, but actually enjoy it for the rest of your trip. I could post a recipe for a really good joint here, but maybe I'll be able to submit a story about it next Sunday, when news is slow to come by on /.
Re:Drugs are bad mmmkay? (Score:4, Funny)
1) Drink a beer first.
2) Toke the joint. You'll start to feel a little odd, but you won't freak out because of the beer.
3) Have another beer.
4) Have another toke. Two beers and two tokes will get you over the Wall of Paranoia to the Fields of Sunshine.
5) Take your pill of ecstacy. It'll take a while to come on, but in the meantime, you can always...
6) Have another toke. Repeat.
7) When you are more interested in hugging everyone than having another toke, this means the e has kicked in. This is the perfect moment to...
8) Drop your acid. Your mood will be sky-high, which will help in having a good trip.
9) When you get that "my mind is flying but my body is just destroyed" effect, this is when you snort your speed.
10) Don't take anything for a while. You probably won't be able to anyway, or even remember your own name.
11) When everything starts getting grey and scratchy, start toking again. Repeat until happy unconsciousness.
He had a variant recipe that involved cocaine and horse tranquilizers, but he never could quite remember what it was...
Google seems to know it to (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Google seems to know it to (Score:3, Interesting)
Best way to make a cup of Earl Grey (Score:4, Funny)
Origin of "42" already known (Score:4, Redundant)
In one of the small tales in the Salmon of Doubt collection, he states something along the lines of that he was looking out into his garden, mentally shrugged and thought, "42 will do". A number out of a hat, more or less.
The fact that this particular variety of tea, with this particular number, may well have been a favourite of the late Mr. Adams, well, that's just another example of what happens when you mess around with improbability drives.
Coincidence? (Score:2)
"Although he didn't know it, Phil had unwittingly provided the universe with one those strange coincidences that make unstable people wonder about God, and Evidentialist pedants write terse letters to the Oxford Dictionary demanding that the definition of "coincidence" connote a far more likely circumstance."
Welcome to Slashdot (Score:4, Funny)
The question is... (Score:2)
Cup of tea - is a cup for me... (Score:2, Interesting)
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 com
Essential reading before embarking on the ritual (Score:5, Interesting)
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 ?
Tea, Dressing Gowns, and Arthur Dent (Score:2)
An article I wrote on h2g2 which was published in the h2g2 post (the official h2g2 weekly publication produced by the site community) on the subject.. uh..
of some relevance.
42? Pffttt 420! (Score:2)
Re:42? Pffttt 420! (Score:3, Funny)
NO (Score:4, Funny)
Tea without milk? How uncivilised.
A Joke... (Score:4, Insightful)
What I find amusing is that he probably did intend it as a joke, and probably meant nothing at all by it, but that hasn't stopped people from finding all kinds of interesting things in the number.
Though, much like 5/23 (The Law of Fives) if you look hard enough you're going to find patterns.
FNORD
Re:A Joke... (Score:2)
oooh well. (Score:2)
It does remind me of the government agency in the U.S. that tasted tea. IIRC, it was put into place because back in the day, the British were cheating by putting other things into the tea. The agency was obsolete for, like, a hundred years or something ridiculous like that, before it was shut down. That's your tax dollars at work.
Prior Art (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
One instance doesn't count for a lot, so here's another.
One more, just to be sure.
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.
Favorite tea beverage... (Score:2)
Favorite coffee beverage: blended ice mocha. Now that Nestle's has released basically the adult answer to Nesquik, Ice Java [iq.com], it is fairly easy to make one's own and the syrup costs about the same price as one Tall Iced Mocha at Starbucks Corporate Coffee.
The syrup, plus milk, plus ice cubes, makes for a great iced mocha. The blender gives it a nicer texture. Add a scoop of chocolate ice cream for extra luxury before blending. Mm
H2K!!! (Score:2)
Ahh jello biafra and H2K. I don't remember any tea but I do remember Mary Jane... Good old Mary Jane and my friend Joker aka Dutchmaster aka Philly aka Bambu. Ahh those memories!!!
Now back to my evil coding [politrix.org]
Earl Grey with lemon? (Score:4, Informative)
No wonder Picard drank it! (Score:2, Funny)
The Drink Dispenser (Score:2, Informative)
Tea is the killer app (Score:5, Funny)
Tea, Earl Grey, Hot (Score:2)
101010 (Score:5, Interesting)
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:But.... (Score:3, Interesting)
I may be American but... (Score:2)
...I like my Earl Grey with milk and a little bit of sugar. (You British are right, tea is good with a little milk.)
Ingredients (Score:3, Insightful)
This is still my favorite interpretation: (Score:3, Interesting)
Answer: 42.
Better answer: God has thirteen fingers.
tea-bags??!!! (Score:3, Insightful)
Go to Marks and Spencer and buy a packet of Earl Grey tea.
starting to lose me here - Earl Grey is the insipid-as-hell tea preferred by 9 out of 10 feckless tea-poseurs.
Put a couple (or three, depending on the size of the pot) of tea bags into the pot.
tea bags??!! ok, lost me completely now
-and stuff asking the English on how to make tea, or even buying English (packaged, not grown) tea - the best tea comes from the country that invented it - China of course (good quality tea is also produced by Japan and Taiwan)
Real quality Chinese tea, mostly of the green or oolong variety, is a revelation. It will cost you a fair bit more than grotty tea-bags made with black tea dust and various synthetic flavourings but it is actually very good value for money compared to other connoisseur products such as fine wine or good whisky.
If you're interested here's a site [chineseteas101.com](one of many) to clue you in.
I still reckon that 42 is... (Score:5, Insightful)
Anyone who is a parent knows that the first thing you do when your baby is born is to book the grandparents (as baby-sitters) six weeks in advance (42 days/nights) so you can have the house to yourselves.
heh. Works for me.
it (Score:3, Insightful)
The answer is useless without knowing how to ask the question. The meaning of life, the universe and everything is the pursuit of the answer, not the answer itself.
You do realize that by you even mentioning this... (Score:3, Funny)
Earl Grey is Quetta Tea! (Score:4, Informative)
Earl Grey seems to be closest in taste to the tea commonly drunk in Pakistan, yet its not quite that good either. It has a papery taste. I was hooked to the non-brand name tea of Quetta until I came to the USA and had to contend myself with Eary Grey between the times when my visiting friends would bring me some from Quetta.
British companies have even tried to grab the Basmati rice of India and Pakistan, some company in the USA tried to patent that. Call it what you will, even the stamp of the name of a white guy doesnt make it QUITE as good in taste as the original Quetta tea or India Basmati. Grape seeds for wine and recipes for beer were stolen from Europe a long time ago but Americans still prefer to import the genuine article from Europe. Nothing beats the original.(Except maybe copies of Sega ROMS:)
Re:Earl Grey is Quetta Tea! (Score:3, Informative)
England() (Score:5, Funny)
This subroutin called england() only purpose is to calculate the best blend of tea by method of brute force.
retep.
Earl Grey? Give me.. (Score:3, Informative)
Earl Grey is fine and dandy, but if you really want to enjoy your tea, you should make it from dried cubensis. That way you'll really have some insightful (or not) thoughts on life, the universe and everything.
Taylor's is good Earl Grey (Score:3, Informative)
As for EG's to avoid, I would stay away from Bigelow (unnatural flavor), Tazo (Starbucks brand, too strong and bitter), and Stash (bergamot flavoring tastes funny).
Taylor's also makes several other fine teas such as Lapsang Souchong (tea smoked over pine needles I believe) and Scottish Breakfast (a very bright, strong tea). Buy the leaf tea and brew it with a tea strainer or french press, it's much better than using bags.
My two pence (Score:4, Informative)
Also, one of my pet ideas is that it people here in the U.S. prefer coffee over tea simply because of a boycott that started when the Boston tea party happened. Sadly, it looks as if there has been an anti-tea sentiment here ever since.
Easy target for all you tea snobs (Score:3, Interesting)
Although Bigelow's Constant Comment is a nice change now and then.
Non-linear programming? (Score:2, Informative)
If Earl Grey is a "blend", then one of its components must taste even better.
What if the most desirable components of Earl Grey is actually formed from one of the components of merchandise A and one of the components of merchandise 7X?
Basic linear programming.
Is taste a linear function?
Re:Chai? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Chai? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:straight up... (Score:2)
earl grey's funky flavor comes from bergamot essence - oil from a type of orange.
Re:straight up... (Score:2)
Re:err why is this here (Score:3, Insightful)
It's called light-heartedness. If you had any sense of reality or a social conscience, you would realise this. Does it hurt to post a silly topic on a slow news day?
Re:err why is this here (Score:5, Informative)
Re:err why is this here (Score:3, Funny)
Perhaps I will someday. But I already have a stack of unread books and little time to read them.
That's no problem. Simply put the Hitchhiker's Guide on top of the stack.
Re:42 (Score:2, Funny)
toodle pip and cheerio...
Re:this isn't k5 (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Answer to the Universe? (Score:4, Insightful)
The British know more about tea than anyone. Just because the Chinese found it and never developed it does not mean that their version is perfect, just primative.
Here is a little hint: tea is to Eastern culture as wine is to Western culture.
Yes: pretentious bullshitting designed for the impressing of the foolish and the self-comfort of the hopelessly shallow.
Earl Grey is piss, though.
TWW