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Phrases From The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a comic science fiction series created by Douglas Adams that has become popular among fans of the genre and members of the scientific community. Phrases from it are widely recognised and often used in reference to, but outside the context of, the source material. Many writers on popular science, such as Fred Alan Wolf, Paul Davies, and Michio Kaku, have used quotations in their books to illustrate facts about cosmology or philosophy. The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is 42 In the radio series and the first novel, a group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand to learn the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything from the supercomputer Deep Thought, specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be 42. Deep Thought points out that the answer seems meaningless because the being ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a Science fiction comedy, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC Radio 4 between 1978 and 1980, it was soon adapted to other formats, including both novels and comic books; a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (TV series), 1981 BBC television series; a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (video game), 1984 text adventure game; stage shows; and a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (film), 2005 feature film. ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is an international multimedia phenomenon; the novels are the most widely distributed, having been translated into more than 30 languages by 2005. The first novel, ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (novel), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' (1979), has been ranked fourth on the BBC's The Big Read poll. The sixth novel, ''And Another Thing... (no ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vogon
The Vogons are a fictional alien race from the planet Vogsphere in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy''—initially a BBC Radio series by Douglas Adams—who are responsible for the destruction of the Earth, in order to facilitate an intergalactic highway construction project for a hyperspace express route. Vogons are slug-like but vaguely humanoid, are bulkier than humans, and have green skin. Vogons are described as "one of the most unpleasant races in the galaxy—not actually evil, but bad-tempered, bureaucratic, officious and callous", and having "as much sex appeal as a road accident" as well as being the authors of "the third worst poetry in the universe". They are employed as the galactic government's bureaucrats. According to Marvin the Paranoid Android, they are also the worst Marksman, marksmen in the galaxy. They follow orders as they are told, and do not allow exceptions. Description Appearance and personality Guide description: Vogons are roughly human-si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy Primary And Secondary Phases
The terms ''Primary Phase'' and ''Secondary Phase'' describe the first two The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), radio series of ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', first broadcast in 1978. These were the first incarnations of the ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' franchise. Both were written by Douglas Adams and consist of six episodes each. The series followed the aimless wanderings of Arthur Dent, Ford Prefect and his book, the eponymous ''Guide''. It introduced unfamiliar music, mind-stretching concepts and the newest science mixed together with-out of-context parodies, unfeasibly rude names, "semantic and philosophical jokes", compressed prose, and "groundbreaking deployment of sound effects and voice techniques". By the time the sixth episode was broadcast, the show had a cult following. A Christmas special would follow, many repeats and a second series. The two original series were followed by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Tertiary to Quin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garbage In, Garbage Out
In computer science, garbage in, garbage out (GIGO) is the concept that flawed, biased or poor quality ("garbage") information or input (computer science), input produces a result or input/output, output of similar ("garbage") quality. The adage points to the need to improve data quality in, for example, programming. Rubbish in, rubbish out (RIRO) is an alternate wording. The principle applies to all logical Argumentation theory, argumentation: soundness implies validity (logic), validity, but validity does not imply soundness. History The expression was popular in the early days of computing. The first known use is in a 1957 syndicated newspaper article about US Army mathematicians and their work with early computers, in which an Army Specialist named William D. Mellin explained that computers cannot think for themselves, and that "sloppily programmed" inputs inevitably lead to incorrect outputs. The underlying principle was noted by the inventor of the first programmable comput ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prehistoric Earth
The history of life on Earth traces the processes by which living and extinct organisms evolved, from the earliest emergence of life to the present day. Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago (abbreviated as ''Ga'', for ''gigaannum'') and evidence suggests that life emerged prior to 3.7 Ga. The similarities among all known present-day species indicate that they have diverged through the process of evolution from a common ancestor. The earliest clear evidence of life comes from biogenic carbon signatures and stromatolite fossils discovered in 3.7 billion-year-old metasedimentary rocks from western Greenland. In 2015, possible "remains of biotic life" were found in 4.1 billion-year-old rocks in Western Australia. There is further evidence of possibly the oldest forms of life in the form of fossilized microorganisms in hydrothermal vent precipitates from the Nuvvuagittuq Belt, that may have lived as early as 4.28 billion years ago, not long after the oceans formed 4.4 bill ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scrabble
''Scrabble'' is a word game in which two to four players score points by placing tiles, each bearing a single letter, onto a Board game, game board divided into a 15×15 grid of squares. The tiles must form words that, in crossword fashion, read left to right in rows or downward in columns and are included in a standard dictionary or lexicon. American architect Alfred Mosher Butts invented the game in 1931. ''Scrabble'' is produced in the United States and Canada by Hasbro, under the brands of both of its subsidiaries, Milton Bradley Company, Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers. Mattel owns the rights to manufacture ''Scrabble'' outside the U.S. and Canada. As of 2008, the game is sold in 121 countries and is available in more than 30 languages; approximately 150 million sets have been sold worldwide, and roughly one-third of American homes and half of British homes have a ''Scrabble'' set. There are approximately 4,000 ''Scrabble'' clubs around the world. Equipment ''Scrabble ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ford Prefect (character)
Ford Prefect (also called Ix) is a character in ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by the British author Douglas Adams. His role as Arthur Dent's friend – and rescuer, when Earth is unexpectedly demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass at the start of the story – is often expository, as Ford is an experienced galactic hitchhiker and explains that he is actually a journalist, a field researcher for the titular ''Guide'' itself, and not an out-of-work actor from Guildford as he had claimed. Name Although Ford had taken great care to blend into Earth society, he had "skimped a bit on his preparatory research," and thought that the name "Ford Prefect" would be "nicely inconspicuous." The Ford Prefect was a popular British car manufactured from 1938 to 1961, and Adams later clarified in an interview that Ford "had simply mistaken the dominant life form" of Earth. This was expanded on somewhat in the film version, where Ford is almost run over while attempting to g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neural Oscillation
Neural oscillations, or brainwaves, are rhythmic or repetitive patterns of neural activity in the central nervous system. Neural tissue can generate oscillatory activity in many ways, driven either by mechanisms within individual neurons or by interactions between neurons. In individual neurons, oscillations can appear either as oscillations in membrane potential or as rhythmic patterns of action potentials, which then produce oscillatory activation of post-synaptic neurons. At the level of neural ensembles, synchronized activity of large numbers of neurons can give rise to macroscopic oscillations, which can be observed in an electroencephalogram. Oscillatory activity in groups of neurons generally arises from feedback connections between the neurons that result in the synchronization of their firing patterns. The interaction between neurons can give rise to oscillations at a different frequency than the firing frequency of individual neurons. A well-known example of macros ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Dent
Arthur Philip Dent is a fictional character and the hapless protagonist of the comic science fiction series ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by Douglas Adams. In the radio, LP and television versions of the story, Arthur is played by Simon Jones (not to be confused with Peter Jones, the voice of the guide). In Ken Campbell's 1979 stage production, Chris Langham took the part. In the 2005 film adaptation, he is played by Martin Freeman. In ''The Illustrated Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', he is portrayed by Jonathan Lermit. Arthur's story Along with Ford Prefect, Arthur Dent barely escapes from Earth as it is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Arthur spends the next several years, still wearing his dressing gown, helplessly launched from crisis to crisis while trying to straighten out his lifestyle. He rather enjoys tea, but seems to have trouble obtaining it in the far reaches of the galaxy. In time, he learns how to fly and carves a niche ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blowin' In The Wind
"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962. It was released as a single and included on his album '' The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' in 1963. It has been described as a protest song and poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom. The refrain "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind" has been described as "impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind". In 1994, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2004, it was ranked number 14 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Despite not charting when first released as a single, it has gained much radio airplay, ultimately peaking at #3 in France on the airplay chart. In June 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary released a cover version of "Blowin' in the Wind" three weeks after ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' was issued. It became the most commercially successful versi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year career. With an estimated more than 125 million records sold worldwide, he is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. Dylan added increasingly sophisticated lyrical techniques to the folk music of the early 1960s, infusing it "with the intellectualism of classic literature and poetry". His lyrics incorporated political, social, and philosophical influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning Counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture. Dylan was born in St. Louis County, Minnesota. He moved to New York City in 1961 to pursue a career in music. Following his 1962 debut album, ''Bob Dylan (album), Bob Dylan'', featuring traditional folk and blues material, he released his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gag Halfrunt
''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a 1978 radio comedy, it was later adapted to other formats, including novels, stage shows, comic books, a 1981 TV series, a 1984 text adventure game, and 2005 feature film. The various versions follow the same basic plot but they are in many places mutually contradictory, as Adams rewrote the story substantially for each new adaptation. Throughout all versions, the series follows the adventures of Arthur Dent and his interactions with Ford Prefect, Zaphod Beeblebrox, Marvin the Paranoid Android, and Trillian. Main characters Arthur Dent Arthur Philip Dent, accompanied by Ford Prefect, barely escapes the Earth's destruction when it is demolished to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Arthur spends the next several years, still wearing his dressing gown, helplessly launched from crisis to crisis while trying to straighten out his lifestyle. He rather enjoys te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
