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Fun Facts About The Number 42

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  1. In the original Alice in wonderland there were 42 illustrations.
  2. 42 is an episode of Doctor Who, set in real time, lasting 42 minutes.
  3. There are 42 US gallons in a barrel of oil.
  4. In the game of Risk there are 42 territories.
  5. 42 is the atomic number of molybdenum, which is also the 42nd most abundant element.
  6. 42 degrees is the critical angle light must reflect at to create rainbow.
  7. On the game show Jeopardy!, Watson the IBM supercomputer, has 42 threads in its avatar.
  8. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (the ninth and final(?) Star Wars movie) was released in 2019, 42 years after the 1977 original Star Wars film.
  9. The world’s first printed book (The Gutenberg Bible) has 42 lines per page.
  10. If you search “the answer to life the universe and everything” on Google, Bing, or Yahoo, the result will be 42.
  11. Buzz Lightyear’s ship is named 42.
  12. Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier at 42,000 feet.
  13. Cell 42 in Alcatraz was home to Robert Stroud, who was transferred there in 1942. And after murdering a guard, he received 42 years of solitary.
  14. Elvis Presley, the King, was 42 when he got abducted by aliens (or when he died, or whatever.)
  15. Google’s chief executive’s office is called Building 42.
  16. Cricket (the game) has 42 laws.
  17. In the Rockefeller Center (New York City) there are a total of forty-two elevators in five separate banks which carry tenants and visitors to the sixty-six floors.
  18. The three albums; Michael Jackson’s Thriller, AC/DC’s Back in Black, and Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon; all lasted 42 minutes.
  19. In one episode of The Simpsons chief Wiggum wakes up to a question, and answers “42.”
  20. Jackie Robinson, the first African American to play Major League Baseball, had the jersey with the number 42. In 1997, MLB retired his uniform number, 42, across all major league teams; he was the first pro athlete in any sport to be so honored.
  21. 42 is an even number. (even backwards)
  22. Dr. Seuss wrote 42 children’s books.
  23. In New York City, 42nd Street is a main and very popular two-way thoroughfare. Landmarks on it include the Chrysler Building, Grand Central Terminal (it is at the end of a line so it is a terminal and not a station,) the main branch of the New York Public Library, and Times Square. The Headquarters of the United Nations is at the east end of the street. The New York City street is also the setting for a movie by the same name (which also gave fame to its eponymous title song), and which later inspired a musical adaptation, 42nd Street.
  24. The 1970s song In the Summertime has a tempo of 42 beats per minute.
  25. In Shakespeare’s Romeo And Juliet, the potion that Juliet takes will have effect for 42 hours.
  26. The ASCII code 42 is for the asterisk symbol, being a wildcard for everything.
  27. In Star Trek – The Next Generation, the starship Enterprise has 42 decks.
  28. In Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams at one time says “Byron gets a 42, but you can’t dance to it.”
  29. This sentence contains exactly forty-two letters.
  30. 42 is the value of an essential scientific constant – one which determines the age of the universe.
  31. In Die Hard with a Vengeance, one of the puzzles that Bruce Willis has to solve is “What is 21 out of 42.” At the time of the film’s release, there had been 42 presidents. The 21st American president, Chester A. Arthur, is the name of a school where a bomb is placed. In addition, the temperature of the cooling equipment that the bomb is stored in is 42 degrees Fahrenheit.
  32. 42GHz is the resonant frequency of human DNA.
  33. The total number of dots on a pair of dice is 42.
  34. 42 is the sum of the first six positive even integers (2 + 4 + 6 + 8 + 10 + 12).
  35. 42 is one of the tracks on Coldplay′s 2008 album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.
  36. Cassius and Brutus, the main conspirators in the assassination of Julius Caesar, died in the year 42 BC.
  37. 42 is the number of Fox Mulder’s apartment in the television show The X-Files.
  38. The door to heaven in the television show Supernatural is marked with the number 42.
  39. 42 is one of “the numbers” in the television show Lost.
  40. In Egyptian mythology, there are 42 questions asked of persons making their journey through Death.
  41. 42 in binary is 101010.
  42. 42 is the answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything!
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