If you’re not interested in the deeper meaning of life, the universe, and everything … wellll… just skip on down to the next post
But for those that know the answer is “42” … and don’t know why, there’s this…
In computer programming, we sometimes use numerical codes to stand in for letters and characters. One coding system is ASCII Codes. In ASCII, the numeric code “042” is used for an asterisk. And we all know that “*” can be used to stand in for anything…
So the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything is…
42
…or…
*
…or…
Whatever you want it to be
**** ^ WHAT HE SAID ^ ****
I never thought to look to ASCII or even EBCDIC. (I know, that really dates me but I worked on IBM mainframes for many years. 042 in EBCDIC would be “Set Mode”)
I can see that the Hitchhiker’s Guides would use ASCII to give an answer!
Actually, pudding in the UK is what we Americans call sausage, so it actually is meat. After I learned that, I believe that it was just meant to be a funny line, as you can’t eat pudding, if you do not eat meat. The Brits would have known that, I didn’t until I traveled there decades later.