I played this as a little kid and had never read the book and had absolutely no idea what was going on. I got a hint or cheat book to complete it.
1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
51–60 of 96 posts
Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
#52I don't think the article explicitly mentions it, but Adams was a rabid Mac fan, and arguably the first in the UK to buy one in 1984. This page (https://www.cs.mcgill.ca/~rwest/wikispeedia/wpcd/wp/d/Dougla... has some nice detail about it:
"Adams was a Macintosh user from the time they first came out in 1984 until his death in 2001. He was the second person to buy a Mac in the UK (the first being Stephen Fry - though some accounts differ on this, saying Adams bought the first two, and Fry bought the third). Adams was also an "Apple Master," one of several celebrities whom Apple made into spokespeople for its products (other Apple Masters included John Cleese and Gregory Hines). Adams's contributions included a rock video that he created using the first version of iMovie with footage featuring his daughter Polly. The video can still be seen on Adams's .Mac homepage. Adams even installed and started using the first release of Mac OS X in the weeks leading up to his death. His very last post to his own forum was in praise of Mac OS X and the possibilities of its Cocoa programming framework. Adams can also be seen in the Omnibus tribute included with the Region One/NTSC DVD release of the TV adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide using Mac OS X (version 10.0.x) on his PowerBook G3."
For Mac heads, this too: https://lowendmac.com/2016/douglas-adams-author-and-mac-user...
Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
You're doing a Microsoft and skipping one version? Why not just "Earth"? Deepthought wasn't Earth.
Earth was the computer before the Vogons destroyed it. Earth2.0 was what Slartibartfast was building for the mice. Just providing computer names from within the book. Deepthought can still exist even if the user replaces it with a new computer.
I wish TV stations would rerun the BBC serialization of Hitchhiker's. I've actually read Adams' books but it'd be nice to see the TV version again. (I used to love Peter Jones as The Book, his matter-of-fact tone made him just ideal for the job.)
Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also off-topic, TIFF files use 42 as a magic number in bytes 2 and 3 of the file header: "The number 42 was chosen for its deep philosophical significance."
Unlikely to be the source as TIFF was first released 1986 and HHGTTG initial "release" was 1978. Although I'm not sure "the answer" was mentioned in the original radio show.
Just another case of causal inversion.
“Not again!”
Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
#55Choose your own adventure... I was sure that meant:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighting_Fantasy
but apparently it's another book series.
Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
#56"Hitchhiker’s is hard to summarize, but one of its overarching themes is that technology, in the hands of big business and bloated bureaucracies, does not make life better: in fact it makes it far, far worse." Seems Adams was ahead of his time, I wonder what he would have thought if he were alive today given the antics of Google, Facebook et al. Incidentally, my printer is called Marvin for obvious reasons (Adams alm…
Given how heavily Adams struggled with procrastination, I wonder how he'd have fared in today's distractopia... he might not've gotten around to writing much. But what I wouldn't give to have him still around even just for the occasional quip.
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by.” - D. Adams
Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
#57"Hitchhiker’s is hard to summarize, but one of its overarching themes is that technology, in the hands of big business and bloated bureaucracies, does not make life better: in fact it makes it far, far worse." Seems Adams was ahead of his time, I wonder what he would have thought if he were alive today given the antics of Google, Facebook et al. Incidentally, my printer is called Marvin for obvious reasons (Adams alm…
Until my most recent workstation build, my two computers were Deepthought (the higher-end desktop) and Marvin (smaller and more finicky laptop). Never did think of an appropriate name for the new desktop though. edit: thanks for all of the suggestions!
You're welcome. Just a reminder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0yBf1JKTw8
Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Earth was the computer before the Vogons destroyed it. Earth2.0 was what Slartibartfast was building for the mice. Just providing computer names from within the book. Deepthought can still exist even if the user replaces it with a new computer.
I wish TV stations would rerun the BBC serialization of Hitchhiker's . I've actually read Adams' books but it'd be nice to see the TV version again. (I used to love Peter Jones as The Book , his matter-of-fact tone made him just ideal for the job.)
Adams himself changed every single version from radio, book, TV, film, etc. So you really need to absorb them in all of the formats to get it all
Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
#59This is off-topic, but I've always wanted to bring this up with fellow geeks... Integer code of the asterisk ('*') ASCII character is 42, which, is the answer to life, the universe and everything. The asterisk character is used as a wildcard character to indicate anything and everything. Adams never revealed the origin of 42. [0] So, just because we really don't know, I'd like to think it originates with ASCII table…
> Adams never revealed the origin of 42. Actually Stephen Fry claims that Douglas Adams told him. But it seems he is taking it to the grave to honor his vow.[0] [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrases_from_The_Hitchhiker%27... ?
I've heard fry say this before but don't believe him
Re: 1984: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
#60This is off-topic, but I've always wanted to bring this up with fellow geeks... Integer code of the asterisk ('*') ASCII character is 42, which, is the answer to life, the universe and everything. The asterisk character is used as a wildcard character to indicate anything and everything. Adams never revealed the origin of 42. [0] So, just because we really don't know, I'd like to think it originates with ASCII table…
When I was in middle school I was sure I had cracked the meaning behind 42. I sent Douglas Adams a letter telling him how much I appreciated the books and laying out in detail how the alphanumeric values of each major character's name related to 42.
He wrote back an exceedingly kind hand-written postcard informing me that he appreciated my curiosity but that there was, in fact, no deeper meaning to 42 other than it was a nice-sounding number.