fortytwo

There is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable …

… There is another theory which states that this has already happened.

Douglas Adams, 1980

What does October 10th, 2010 (42day) has to do with fortytwo? It’s simple: When I look back on my computer science degree, I remember how to convert numbers from decimal to the binary system. This is already the solution!

While the decimal system consists of 10 digits (0-9), the binary system uses just the numbers 0 and 1. During the conversion you have to multiply the last digit with 1, the second digit with 2, then 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, …

The results from the power calculations, in which means the last digit 2 to the power 0 (0 * 2), the penultimate 2 to the power 1 (1 * 2), then 2 to the power 2 (2 * 2), 2 to the power 3 (2 * 2 * 2), 2 to the power 4 (2 * 2 * 2 * 2), etc. brings us to these values:

In our example, it is therefore, according to the Addition:

And the answer is, as (almost) always: fortytwo.

These days takes place exactly every 1000 years in our calendar. Well that must be celebrated! Maybe with a new t-shirt?

In Cap Ferret on the terrace, I’m waiting on the Towel Day 2010 – in perfect “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’s clothing” – that, somewhere to be taken into space. But on the other hand the towel was a good help on the day!

To prove that Erik Spiekermann, Erik van Blokland and Ralph Oliver du Carrois in 2009 kindly – without knowing it – named a font after me: the Axel, Axel Kleynemeyer from FontShop Berlin took a picture at the Typo 2010 in front of “my” poster. A seat cushion with my name printed on it was unfortunately taken already … Who, what and why thought making the Axel, you can find in a fine FontFeed article.
I bought the font – of course (!) – immediately!

Today, Peter Gabriel is celebrating his 60th birthday.
Congratulations! He gives himself a new album called Scratch My Back, on which only cover versions (including Lou Reed, Radiohead, David Bowie, Talking Heads, etc.) are. In the 2nd Part of this English proverb (I’ll Scratch Yours) various musicians will cover Peter Gabriel songs. My (very) personal top-ten-Peter-Gabriel-songs-without-Genesis are:

1. Mercy Street Album: So
2. Solsbury Hill Album: 1
3. Red Rain Album: So
4. I Have The Touch Album: 4
5. I Grieve Album: Up
6. I Don’t Remember Album 3
7. Games Without Frontiers Album 3
8. White Shadow Album: 2
9. This Is The Picture (Excellent Birds) Album: So
10. Here Comes The Flood Album: 1

The origin of the number “42” was explained by the author Douglas Adams in a Usenet posting from 1993. When asked why the answer is “42”, he wrote:

The answer to this is very simple. It was a joke. It had to be a number, an ordinary, smallish number, and I chose that one. Binary representations, base thirteen, Tibetan monks are all complete nonsense. I sat at my desk, stared into the garden and thought 42 will do. I typed it out. End of story.

Source: Wikipedia

I do recommend the last entries of my Project42!

On December 5th, I’ve uploaded the forty-second video on Vimeo. My HD channel 42seconds (42 seconds (almost) daily, whereever I am. Filmed with Kodak Zi8 (1280×720 px / 60 fps). If I’m not travelling it’s usually a view from a small bridge while I’m walking my dog (Paulchen.) will constantly grow even further.

The videos can be used freely if you provide a link to my channel 42seconds!

During the PowerPoint User Days – from October 25th to 27th, 2009 in Fulda – we shot in the courses, breaks and even in the old town of Fulda with multiple cameras and used the material to produce this retrospective view video.

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

The video effects are created in collaboration with Elmar Strotmann using Adobe Photoshop, After Effects and Premiere. The music is from audiojungle.

Since mid-2009 we have worked on the video clip from the title song of the new bassa CD – Berlin Tango. The musicians were, individually and with changing costumes recorded in front of a green screen and then cropped out of the background. Then, with still images and stock photos we built the wrong cards and the old-fashioned cork bulletin board in Photoshop and then “brought it to life” with After Effects. This compositionswere then incorporated into the pin board, accompanied by other effects and rendered as a video in HD quality. You can see the result (not the HD version) here.

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

TV stations, we can – request in consultation with bassa – of course, ask for the HD version (1280 by 720 pixels).

On behalf of the Verlag für Computerwissen, we have created an animated logo, which can be integrated into videos or presentations. There is both an HD version with 1280 by 720 pixels, as well as a blog version in the ratio 4:3 (800 by 600 pixels).

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

The new CD by bassa is out now. It is titled Berlin Tango and was designed by me (label, booklet, and weiter »