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After hitting my 42nd birthday this year, I thought for a while that Douglas Adams had layered the joke with a bit of truth: at 42, a man is more or less confid
by toyg 5y ago
After hitting my 42nd birthday this year, I thought for a while that Douglas Adams had layered the joke with a bit of truth: at 42, a man is more or less confident in his skin, having lived through enough to feel somewhat unflappable; he's probably raised kids, bought a home, got a decent job, and can pretty much choose what he wants to do for the rest of his life. Hence "the answer" - the answer is to be 42.
... Alas, it was just a random number he came up with, without any deeper meaning. I was a bit disappointed, although I'm sure he would have found my serious speculation about it extremely funny.
- rsynnott 5y agoI mean, he wrote the radio play aged 25, so that would have been an odd basis for it. Though, funnily enough, Adams' child was born when both he and his wife were 42! So you might be on to something.
- geoduck14 5y agoYou sought for meaning where there was none, and you found it. Then you lost it when you realized it was never there to begin with. I'm sure there is a lesson to be had here.
- hibbelig 5y agoThis wouldn’t have happened with the towel!
- wizardforhire 5y agoThat towel advice is a total pro tip.
- headmelted 5y agoAlways trust your gut even when you have irrefutable proof it’s wrong
- amelius 5y agoSounds like: https://gizmodo.com/the-cow-that-proves-you-cant-be-right-accidentally-817993766 https://gizmodo.com/the-cow-that-proves-you-cant-be-right-ac...
- markdown 5y ago> bought a home Maybe in Adams' time. These days it takes an entire lifetime to buy a home.