11 February: 42

Today is the 42nd day of the year. 10 things you might not know about the number 42.

1. When people mention 42, what often springs to mind is The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, in which 42 is said to be the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything", calculated by an enormous supercomputer named Deep Thought over a period of 7.5 million years. Sadly, by the time Deep Thought had come to that conclusion, everybody had forgotten what the question was. In January 2004, Asteroid 2001 DA42 was duly given the permanent name 25924 Douglasadams.
2. He wasn't the only writer to be a fan of the number 42. Lewis Carroll also made many references to it. For example, Rule Forty-two in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is "All persons more than a mile high to leave the court". Rule 42 of the Code in The Hunting of the Snark is "No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm", and the Baker had 42 boxes. Alice in Wonderland has 42 illustrations. There are more, but a little too mathematical and complicated to explain here.
3. 42 is the atomic number of molybdenum (Mo), a metal which only occurs naturally in various oxidation states in minerals. It was first isolated in 1781 by Peter Jacob Hjelm.
4. In Japan, 42 is an unlucky number, because the word for it in Japanese sounds similar to the Japanese word for "dying". In Chinese, however, it sounds similar to the word for "yes".
5. The number 42 is used 8 times in the Bible. There are 42 generations in the Genealogy of Jesus; 42 men of Beth-azmaveth were counted in the census of men of Israel upon return from exile (Ezra 2:24); God sent bears to maul 42 teenage boys who mocked Elisha for his baldness (2 Kings 2:23); and in the book of Revelation, the Beast will hold dominion over the Earth for 42 months.
6. In Judaism, the name of God has 42 letters, and it's also the number God used to create the universe (perhaps there's more to the "Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything" than Douglas Adams ever let on).
7. In ASCII code 42 represents the asterisk, a wildcard for everything.
8. In Egyptian mythology the deity Ma'at would ask recently deceased people 42 questions to determine whether they would reincarnate or reach the ultimate goal of becoming a Star.
9. There are 42 laws of Cricket.
10. The Nat West Tower in London is now known as Tower 42.

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