10 ms·

Today is Towel Day

360 points by Patient0 10y ago

Patient0 10y ago
I'm very much enjoying listening to the original radio series: http://www.induceddyslexia.com/hitchhiker.htm http://www.induceddyslexia.com/hitchhiker.htm
- tudorw 10y ago
  there used to be a constantly looped broadcast of this on a shoutcast stream, to fully appreciate the genius, I highly recommend listening to it twice in a row, or more! The stream stopped around the same time towel day began :( I've always wondered whether it was respect, or Mr A was running it, after all, he was fairly into this digital stuff :)
mjlee 10y ago
Douglas Adams on David Letterman (14 February 1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF2fZ2iOXhk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF2fZ2iOXhk The interview contains a version of one my favourite stories of his starting at 2:55. The whole video is worth watching.
- vidarh 10y ago
  There's a Snopes entry dedicated to variations of that story: http://www.snopes.com/crime/safety/cookies.asp http://www.snopes.com/crime/safety/cookies.asp
  - mjlee 10y ago
    Like all of the best stories, the truth is probably somewhere in between the fantastic and the more plausible. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of comedy.
Sarkie 10y ago
Douglas Adams' grave has bouquets of pens & is often strewn with tiny gifts: #TowelDay https://twitter.com/peachesanscream/status/735421735433076736 https://twitter.com/peachesanscream/status/73542173543307673...
d99kris 10y ago
I didn't know the origin before - as in why May 25th - but the Wikipedia article provided the background, and even the original proposal via Web Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20020424065309/http://systemtoolbox.com/bfarticle.php?content_id=46 https://web.archive.org/web/20020424065309/http://systemtool... Edit: To save the unknowing a link click, May 25th was two weeks after Douglas Adams' passing.
lernerslaw 10y ago
I did not know about this. It immediately made me think of South Park.
- beefsack 10y ago
  If you haven't yet read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I'd do so when you've got the chance.
  - smhenderson 10y ago
    “A towel, [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
    - mattmanser 10y ago
      You can't omit the second paragraph when quoting that, it's the punchline: More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: nonhitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost." What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.
okket 10y ago
Indeed: "Celebrating towel day at #RIPE72 !!" https://twitter.com/nnimpuno/status/735400708967665664 https://twitter.com/nnimpuno/status/735400708967665664
studentrob 10y ago
My favorite line is the one about British sandwiches.. [1] > There is a feeling which persists in England that making a sandwich interesting, attractive, or in any way pleasant to eat is something sinful that only foreigners do. > “Make ’em dry” is the instruction buried somewhere in the collective national consciousness, “make ’em rubbery. If you have to keep the buggers fresh, do it by washing ’em once a week.” I ate some sandwiches in the UK. They were dry and rubbery [1] https://norighttobelieve.wordpress.com/tag/douglas-adams/ https://norighttobelieve.wordpress.com/tag/douglas-adams/
- jeffwass 10y ago
  One of my favourite lines from the first book : "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
  - nlh 10y ago
    Similarly, my favorite line of all is: "The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." (I've forgotten which book it's from)
    - milkey_mouse 10y ago
      Might as well be from Toy Story
- vidarh 10y ago
  Having lived in the UK for 16 years now, it is exceedingly rare to find sandwiches here that are not made by sadists that you might imagine escaped from a prison kitchen where any attempt at making anything edible was punished by flogging.
  - teh_klev 10y ago
    Some of us here are old enough to remember the horrors of the British Rail sandwich.
smhenderson 10y ago
Well I'm just glad it's not Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays...
- nedsma 10y ago
  “This must be Thursday,' said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer. 'I never could get the hang of Thursdays.”
Aelinsaar 10y ago
Always... and I mean ALWAYS know where your towel is. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/91/9d/2c/919d2cc01ef766a4ce93bd9e29cf4766.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/91/9d/2c/919d2cc01...
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  Startup idea: always connected towels with GPS modules.
  - Aelinsaar 10y ago
    Result: Towlie from 'South Park' =D
  - sangnoir 10y ago
    I guess RFID-tagged towels[1] is a start... 1. https://www.tnooz.com/article/when-pilfered-hotel-towels-become-tracking-devices/ https://www.tnooz.com/article/when-pilfered-hotel-towels-bec...
  - andyjohnson0 10y ago
    Internet of Towels
mbrundle 10y ago
I know I'm hanging out on the right site when a link like this gets promoted to the top spot. : ) A quick note to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy newcomers, your mileage may vary depending on your background. I read all the books when I was a kid, and absolutely loved them. And when the most recent film came out, a bunch of engineer friends and I went to see it. Me and the other British friend howled with laughter throughout, but the two other (from India and Brunei) looked utterly baffled. So, it may, based on this limited sample, play better to those with a British sense of humour...
- Aelinsaar 10y ago
  As an American, I think it's worth investing in the necessary background in British culture to appreciate the humor. If you don't, you miss out on Douglas Adams of course, but also the incredible and varied world of panel shows, everything that the alumni of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' ever touched (Fawlty Towers!!!), and so on. As a kid, Douglas Adams was my first major introduction to British humor, and questions about "what does that mean exactly?" drove me to learn a lot more about it.
  - sevensor 10y ago
    Also from the States, I read the Hitchhiker's Guide when I was eleven and laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. Predictably, I delight in the Pythons and their works. And Eddie Izzard, who seems to mine the same vein. But the reason I'm posting this is not to reminisce. It's that, out of sheer coincidence and for reasons having nothing at all to do with British humour, I'm carrying a towel around today.
    - mbrundle 10y ago
      I've noticed that brit humour seems to appeal to a particular subset of Americans. Not quite sure how to define the ones that appreciate it most, but regardless, it's great to have them in the brit humour appreciation club. Glad to know that someone else out there gets us crazy people, when the rest of the world doesn't. : )
  - 10y ago
imgabe 10y ago
I recently started carrying around a handkerchief. It's more useful than I would have thought, like a miniature towel.
- studentrob 10y ago
  I could see these coming back into style. Tissues have no strength
- nihonde 10y ago
  Every man in Japan carries a small towel. I always think of Douglas Adams.
yoodenvranx 10y ago
Douglas Adams is pretty much the only "celebrity" whose death really touched me. I am a big fan of his work and thinking about all the books he did not get a chance to write tears me up even now.
- davrosthedalek 10y ago
  That, and Pratchett.
  - andmarios 10y ago
    And today isn't just _towel day_, it is also _wear the lilac day_, a day to remember Pratchett and raise awareness about alzheimer. :/
  - yoodenvranx 10y ago
    Yes, you are right :( I just haven't fully processed his death yet, I am currently reading all the 30+ Pratchet books in my collection.
JustSomeNobody 10y ago
I never, ever travel without a towel. It is the first thing I pack. Not a large towel, mind you, but a towel nonetheless. It has been used countless times while on those trips.
cyberferret 10y ago
Damn, missed it again. I am only glad that Towel Day falls on a Thursday next year... then at least I will have an excuse to not get the hang of it... As upsetting as the recent death of great musicians and authors have been, no one's death hit me as hard as DNA's did. The thought of no more Svlad Cjelli stories always fills me with sadness.
thebigspacefuck 10y ago
My coworker has had a towel hanging from his cubicle for months. Today I ask him why.
sandebert 10y ago
Not that it's super important or anything, but Sweden and Switzerland are different countries. :-)
jpa5n 10y ago
Its worth remembering Doug Adam's book on endangered species he wrote late in life: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Chance-See-Douglas-Adams/dp/0345371984 http://www.amazon.com/Last-Chance-See-Douglas-Adams/dp/03453... Fondly remember meeting him briefly at the big bookstore near ULU in London to sign it when it was released. Sometimes I regret I gave it to my then-girlfried ;)
- cyberferret 10y ago
  That book was a great read. I am heartened to hear recently that the Kakapo seems to be making a comeback in New Zealand...
  - amatix 10y ago
    During the filming of the TV series of Last Chance to See (with Stephen Fry) this happened https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY with a Kakapo named Sirocco and he then became quite the internet celebrity: https://www.facebook.com/siroccokakapo https://www.facebook.com/siroccokakapo
igl 10y ago
You wanna get high?
cyberferret 10y ago
Way back in the day when offices had 'on hold' music on their phone systems, we had the Hitchikers Guide radio show on regular rotation on our hold system for years. Customer would actually get angry when a worker took them OFF hold and ask to be put back on so they didn't miss the next bit. Others were completely mystified and ask us what the heck they had been listening to. Alas, our office was broken into one day, and about the only thing the thieves took was the little CD player hooked into our phone system next to the reception desk that played the series which we had on CDs (the thieves also took the CD boxed set after smashing one of the discs on the floor - making the stolen set basically worthless). Sad day.
CiPHPerCoder 10y ago
Remember how 42 is the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything? And how everyone's searching for the Ultimate Question? I think I've figured it out. According to Prak, it is impossible for both The Answer and The Question to be known in the same universe; should someone know both the question and the answer, the universe would cease to exist and would be replaced by something more bizarre and inexplicable. The narrator teases the reader that another theory states that this has already happened before. I posit that the Ultimate Question is, "How many times have the Ultimate Question and Ultimate Answer been known, and thusly the universe been eradicated and replaced by something more bizarre and inexplicable?" Answer: Forty-two. https://scott.arciszewski.me/blog/2013/10/ultimate-question-douglas-adams https://scott.arciszewski.me/blog/2013/10/ultimate-question-...
- studentrob 10y ago
  That can't be it, we're still here. Quit guessing! ;-)
  - Razengan 10y ago
    But were we [past tense of still] here? Or did we come into existence in this new universe created by the above commenter?
    - studentrob 10y ago
      Hmm ok I'll bite. If that's happened, then the number is ever-increasing and can't be known, because the moment you ask the question, the number increments and the answer changes Sounds like quantum stuff which would be right up Douglas Adams' alley. Cool theory, CiPHPerCoder! I'd agree you've nailed it
      - Razengan 10y ago
        Another possibility is that the Answer to the Question is a new universe.
Slackwise 10y ago
If you want to keep track of similar geeky events, I maintain and curate a "Geeky Events" Google Calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=9t07jqib63if4kecndchr1nk74@group.calendar.google.com https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=9t07jqib63if4... Let me know if there's anything I'm missing.
- bcraven 10y ago
  That looks brilliant but I am struggling to get it into my Google Calendar using the "Other Calendars > Add from URL" option. Do you have any advice?
  - Slackwise 10y ago
    Does the button in the bottom-right of the page work?
    - bcraven 10y ago
      Aha! Yes thank you. Crikey that is not obvious...
      - Slackwise 10y ago
        You're not the first. I shared this with many people and many seem to miss the button. It's arguably bad UI, as I'd imagine most people would expect functional buttons to be at the top of a full-page UI, and not shoved down to where you usually have a status bar or footer. The coloring and flat design doesn't help either, as it looks like some sort of badge rather than a button.
- scholia 10y ago
  Where should we send them, if we think of any later? PS Love the idea of your calendar and hope to consult it....
  - Slackwise 10y ago
haikuginger 10y ago
H2G2 is interesting to me - in general, over the last decade, there's been a growth in the popularity of "nerd culture". A lot of this has led to "nerd content" actually becoming less targeted (see: Big Bang Theory, recent seasons of Doctor Who). I find H2G2 fascinating because, as far as I can tell, it remains known only by those who were or would have been participants in nerd culture before it became a big thing.
overcast 10y ago
I'll probably be burned at the stake for this. I'm about 3/4 of the way through the entire Hitchhikers Guide series, and I'm just not enjoying it at all. I understand it is supposed to be humorous, and full of satire. But the scatterbrained events, nonsensical plot, and one dimensional characters, just ruin it for me. I don't get the appeal, and I watch a fair amount of British comedies, and movies.
- Kurtz79 10y ago
  Just my two cents, as humor is as personal as any other topic, and just as dependent of the audience than as the author. I mostly had the same reaction when reading the books some 15 years ago. I won't go as far as saying that I didn't find it enjoyable, but it wasn't the "laugh out loud" experience I was expecting given its fame and popularity, especially in my/our (as in nerdy/techy) circle. Eventually that kind of humor (also later discovering Monthy Python and Terry Pratchett) grew on me, and more than anything I is meant to provoke is a smile, more than a laugh (although it certainly can) and now I remember the characters and situations fondly. Also, I find it has a sort of meme-like quality, making it "funnier" as people (and you) keep referencing to it and you understand the reference.
- studentrob 10y ago
  Where do you live? Maybe it has something to do with the numbers and letters in your house address. They have to line up just right. Let us know and we can figure it out for you.
- RankingMember 10y ago
  I went into reading it without any expectations and found it enjoyable. I think if it had been beaten into my head that it was great I would've enjoyed it a whole lot less, because I'd be searching for flaws the whole time.
- leephillips 10y ago
  I guess it depends on your frame of mind. When I first read it as a young man I just found it mildly amusing, and wondered what all the fuss was about. Didn't bother reading beyond the first book. But years later I read it out loud to my 11-year olds, and we were all in hysterics - they demanded the whole series.
qwertyuiop924 10y ago
Funny. Today is the day Pratchett fans wear the lilac. Actually, I'm wearing one right now.
kolapuriya 10y ago
Belgium says : deal with it, you hoopy froop. French : Fait comme, espece de heuapy freaup. Nederlands : U bent een froopy hoop. Long live the King - Long live Belgium. I'm sorry : I'm talking complete bollocks. It is friday night.+
imrehg 10y ago
Also from the Hitchhiker's Guide, "Don't Panic" is pretty much one of the most helpful advices ever. Remembering it saved my ass multiple times in a hectic trip just last week...
jim-greer 10y ago
My kids don't quite get Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy yet, but they enjoyed making a Don't Panic towel to take to school. https://twitter.com/jimgreer/status/735497227183919104 https://twitter.com/jimgreer/status/735497227183919104
- jim-greer 10y ago
  Some paper towels were harmed in the making of this video. http://imgur.com/d7lnT7Q http://imgur.com/d7lnT7Q
aft42 10y ago
aft42 checkin' in - towel in hand :-)
mdip 10y ago
I've been a huge fan of Douglas Adams since I read the Hitchhiker's series in High School. My personal recommendation is to grab the audiobook version that's read by the Douglas himself. As an American, there's a little bit lost between British/American English and some of the humor is missed (sometimes changes are even made -- in the American version of the book that I have "Biscuit" is replaced with "Cookie"). I'm an audiobook junkie (speed reading has killed reading fiction for me) and I usually stay away from books narrated by the author because the quality of the narration suffers. Such was not the case with Adams' narrations -- they're excellent and I picked up on several things that I missed from my original (several) readings. I was very sad when he passed -- a heart attack while working out that was probably complicated by his legendary drinking. It was almost sadder when the latest book came out as evidence that nobody could pull off that series but Adams. The books and the author are endlessly quotable (and recognized by nearly every programmer I've ever worked with), but my favorite of his -- from the Dirk Gently series -- is "Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all." I use it every time a project is proposed that someone thinks is "nuts" or "impossible" and it sits on the background of my Visual Studio code editor as a reminder. :)
- studentrob 10y ago
  > "Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all." That's awesome. I need to find time to reread these. Thanks for sharing
candeira 10y ago
Silly brag. I often work out of a local library where the blinds don't work, so I always carry a towel in my bag which I use to block the sun. I always know where my towel is. Every day is Towel Day for me. Thank you, Douglas Adams!

360 points by Patient0 10y ago

I'm very much enjoying listening to the original radio series: http://www.induceddyslexia.com/hitchhiker.htm http://www.induceddyslexia.com/hitchhiker.htm

tudorw 10y ago
there used to be a constantly looped broadcast of this on a shoutcast stream, to fully appreciate the genius, I highly recommend listening to it twice in a row, or more! The stream stopped around the same time towel day began :( I've always wondered whether it was respect, or Mr A was running it, after all, he was fairly into this digital stuff :)

mjlee 10y ago

Douglas Adams on David Letterman (14 February 1985): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF2fZ2iOXhk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF2fZ2iOXhk The interview contains a version of one my favourite stories of his starting at 2:55. The whole video is worth watching.

vidarh 10y ago
There's a Snopes entry dedicated to variations of that story: http://www.snopes.com/crime/safety/cookies.asp http://www.snopes.com/crime/safety/cookies.asp
- mjlee 10y ago
  Like all of the best stories, the truth is probably somewhere in between the fantastic and the more plausible. I'm willing to suspend my disbelief for the sake of comedy.

Sarkie 10y ago

Douglas Adams' grave has bouquets of pens & is often strewn with tiny gifts: #TowelDay https://twitter.com/peachesanscream/status/735421735433076736 https://twitter.com/peachesanscream/status/73542173543307673...

d99kris 10y ago

I didn't know the origin before - as in why May 25th - but the Wikipedia article provided the background, and even the original proposal via Web Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20020424065309/http://systemtoolbox.com/bfarticle.php?content_id=46 https://web.archive.org/web/20020424065309/http://systemtool... Edit: To save the unknowing a link click, May 25th was two weeks after Douglas Adams' passing.

lernerslaw 10y ago

I did not know about this. It immediately made me think of South Park.

beefsack 10y ago
If you haven't yet read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I'd do so when you've got the chance.
- smhenderson 10y ago
  “A towel, [The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy] says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-boggingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can't see it, it can't see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.” ― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
  - mattmanser 10y ago
    You can't omit the second paragraph when quoting that, it's the punchline: More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: nonhitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet-weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitchhiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitchhiker might accidentally have "lost." What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the Galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

okket 10y ago

Indeed: "Celebrating towel day at #RIPE72 !!" https://twitter.com/nnimpuno/status/735400708967665664 https://twitter.com/nnimpuno/status/735400708967665664

studentrob 10y ago

My favorite line is the one about British sandwiches.. [1] > There is a feeling which persists in England that making a sandwich interesting, attractive, or in any way pleasant to eat is something sinful that only foreigners do. > “Make ’em dry” is the instruction buried somewhere in the collective national consciousness, “make ’em rubbery. If you have to keep the buggers fresh, do it by washing ’em once a week.” I ate some sandwiches in the UK. They were dry and rubbery [1] https://norighttobelieve.wordpress.com/tag/douglas-adams/ https://norighttobelieve.wordpress.com/tag/douglas-adams/

jeffwass 10y ago
One of my favourite lines from the first book : "The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't."
- nlh 10y ago
  Similarly, my favorite line of all is: "The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss." (I've forgotten which book it's from)
  - milkey_mouse 10y ago
    Might as well be from Toy Story
vidarh 10y ago
Having lived in the UK for 16 years now, it is exceedingly rare to find sandwiches here that are not made by sadists that you might imagine escaped from a prison kitchen where any attempt at making anything edible was punished by flogging.
- teh_klev 10y ago
  Some of us here are old enough to remember the horrors of the British Rail sandwich.

smhenderson 10y ago

Well I'm just glad it's not Thursday. I could never get the hang of Thursdays...

nedsma 10y ago
“This must be Thursday,' said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer. 'I never could get the hang of Thursdays.”

Aelinsaar 10y ago

Always... and I mean ALWAYS know where your towel is. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/91/9d/2c/919d2cc01ef766a4ce93bd9e29cf4766.jpg https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/91/9d/2c/919d2cc01...

TeMPOraL 10y ago
Startup idea: always connected towels with GPS modules.
- Aelinsaar 10y ago
  Result: Towlie from 'South Park' =D
- sangnoir 10y ago
  I guess RFID-tagged towels[1] is a start... 1. https://www.tnooz.com/article/when-pilfered-hotel-towels-become-tracking-devices/ https://www.tnooz.com/article/when-pilfered-hotel-towels-bec...
- andyjohnson0 10y ago
  Internet of Towels

mbrundle 10y ago

I know I'm hanging out on the right site when a link like this gets promoted to the top spot. : ) A quick note to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy newcomers, your mileage may vary depending on your background. I read all the books when I was a kid, and absolutely loved them. And when the most recent film came out, a bunch of engineer friends and I went to see it. Me and the other British friend howled with laughter throughout, but the two other (from India and Brunei) looked utterly baffled. So, it may, based on this limited sample, play better to those with a British sense of humour...

Aelinsaar 10y ago
As an American, I think it's worth investing in the necessary background in British culture to appreciate the humor. If you don't, you miss out on Douglas Adams of course, but also the incredible and varied world of panel shows, everything that the alumni of 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' ever touched (Fawlty Towers!!!), and so on. As a kid, Douglas Adams was my first major introduction to British humor, and questions about "what does that mean exactly?" drove me to learn a lot more about it.
- sevensor 10y ago
  Also from the States, I read the Hitchhiker's Guide when I was eleven and laughed so hard I couldn't breathe. Predictably, I delight in the Pythons and their works. And Eddie Izzard, who seems to mine the same vein. But the reason I'm posting this is not to reminisce. It's that, out of sheer coincidence and for reasons having nothing at all to do with British humour, I'm carrying a towel around today.
  - mbrundle 10y ago
    I've noticed that brit humour seems to appeal to a particular subset of Americans. Not quite sure how to define the ones that appreciate it most, but regardless, it's great to have them in the brit humour appreciation club. Glad to know that someone else out there gets us crazy people, when the rest of the world doesn't. : )
- 10y ago

imgabe 10y ago

I recently started carrying around a handkerchief. It's more useful than I would have thought, like a miniature towel.

studentrob 10y ago
I could see these coming back into style. Tissues have no strength
nihonde 10y ago
Every man in Japan carries a small towel. I always think of Douglas Adams.

yoodenvranx 10y ago

Douglas Adams is pretty much the only "celebrity" whose death really touched me. I am a big fan of his work and thinking about all the books he did not get a chance to write tears me up even now.

davrosthedalek 10y ago
That, and Pratchett.
- andmarios 10y ago
  And today isn't just _towel day_, it is also _wear the lilac day_, a day to remember Pratchett and raise awareness about alzheimer. :/
- yoodenvranx 10y ago
  Yes, you are right :( I just haven't fully processed his death yet, I am currently reading all the 30+ Pratchet books in my collection.

JustSomeNobody 10y ago

I never, ever travel without a towel. It is the first thing I pack. Not a large towel, mind you, but a towel nonetheless. It has been used countless times while on those trips.

cyberferret 10y ago

Damn, missed it again. I am only glad that Towel Day falls on a Thursday next year... then at least I will have an excuse to not get the hang of it... As upsetting as the recent death of great musicians and authors have been, no one's death hit me as hard as DNA's did. The thought of no more Svlad Cjelli stories always fills me with sadness.

thebigspacefuck 10y ago

My coworker has had a towel hanging from his cubicle for months. Today I ask him why.

sandebert 10y ago

Not that it's super important or anything, but Sweden and Switzerland are different countries. :-)

jpa5n 10y ago

Its worth remembering Doug Adam's book on endangered species he wrote late in life: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Chance-See-Douglas-Adams/dp/0345371984 http://www.amazon.com/Last-Chance-See-Douglas-Adams/dp/03453... Fondly remember meeting him briefly at the big bookstore near ULU in London to sign it when it was released. Sometimes I regret I gave it to my then-girlfried ;)

cyberferret 10y ago
That book was a great read. I am heartened to hear recently that the Kakapo seems to be making a comeback in New Zealand...
- amatix 10y ago
  During the filming of the TV series of Last Chance to See (with Stephen Fry) this happened https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T1vfsHYiKY with a Kakapo named Sirocco and he then became quite the internet celebrity: https://www.facebook.com/siroccokakapo https://www.facebook.com/siroccokakapo

igl 10y ago

You wanna get high?

cyberferret 10y ago

Way back in the day when offices had 'on hold' music on their phone systems, we had the Hitchikers Guide radio show on regular rotation on our hold system for years. Customer would actually get angry when a worker took them OFF hold and ask to be put back on so they didn't miss the next bit. Others were completely mystified and ask us what the heck they had been listening to. Alas, our office was broken into one day, and about the only thing the thieves took was the little CD player hooked into our phone system next to the reception desk that played the series which we had on CDs (the thieves also took the CD boxed set after smashing one of the discs on the floor - making the stolen set basically worthless). Sad day.

CiPHPerCoder 10y ago

Remember how 42 is the Ultimate Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything? And how everyone's searching for the Ultimate Question? I think I've figured it out. According to Prak, it is impossible for both The Answer and The Question to be known in the same universe; should someone know both the question and the answer, the universe would cease to exist and would be replaced by something more bizarre and inexplicable. The narrator teases the reader that another theory states that this has already happened before. I posit that the Ultimate Question is, "How many times have the Ultimate Question and Ultimate Answer been known, and thusly the universe been eradicated and replaced by something more bizarre and inexplicable?" Answer: Forty-two. https://scott.arciszewski.me/blog/2013/10/ultimate-question-douglas-adams https://scott.arciszewski.me/blog/2013/10/ultimate-question-...

studentrob 10y ago
That can't be it, we're still here. Quit guessing! ;-)
- Razengan 10y ago
  But were we [past tense of still] here? Or did we come into existence in this new universe created by the above commenter?
  - studentrob 10y ago
    Hmm ok I'll bite. If that's happened, then the number is ever-increasing and can't be known, because the moment you ask the question, the number increments and the answer changes Sounds like quantum stuff which would be right up Douglas Adams' alley. Cool theory, CiPHPerCoder! I'd agree you've nailed it
    - Razengan 10y ago
      Another possibility is that the Answer to the Question is a new universe.

Slackwise 10y ago

If you want to keep track of similar geeky events, I maintain and curate a "Geeky Events" Google Calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=9t07jqib63if4kecndchr1nk74@group.calendar.google.com https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=9t07jqib63if4... Let me know if there's anything I'm missing.

bcraven 10y ago
That looks brilliant but I am struggling to get it into my Google Calendar using the "Other Calendars > Add from URL" option. Do you have any advice?
- Slackwise 10y ago
  Does the button in the bottom-right of the page work?
  - bcraven 10y ago
    Aha! Yes thank you. Crikey that is not obvious...
    - Slackwise 10y ago
      You're not the first. I shared this with many people and many seem to miss the button. It's arguably bad UI, as I'd imagine most people would expect functional buttons to be at the top of a full-page UI, and not shoved down to where you usually have a status bar or footer. The coloring and flat design doesn't help either, as it looks like some sort of badge rather than a button.
scholia 10y ago
Where should we send them, if we think of any later? PS Love the idea of your calendar and hope to consult it....
- Slackwise 10y ago

haikuginger 10y ago

H2G2 is interesting to me - in general, over the last decade, there's been a growth in the popularity of "nerd culture". A lot of this has led to "nerd content" actually becoming less targeted (see: Big Bang Theory, recent seasons of Doctor Who). I find H2G2 fascinating because, as far as I can tell, it remains known only by those who were or would have been participants in nerd culture before it became a big thing.

overcast 10y ago

I'll probably be burned at the stake for this. I'm about 3/4 of the way through the entire Hitchhikers Guide series, and I'm just not enjoying it at all. I understand it is supposed to be humorous, and full of satire. But the scatterbrained events, nonsensical plot, and one dimensional characters, just ruin it for me. I don't get the appeal, and I watch a fair amount of British comedies, and movies.

Kurtz79 10y ago
Just my two cents, as humor is as personal as any other topic, and just as dependent of the audience than as the author. I mostly had the same reaction when reading the books some 15 years ago. I won't go as far as saying that I didn't find it enjoyable, but it wasn't the "laugh out loud" experience I was expecting given its fame and popularity, especially in my/our (as in nerdy/techy) circle. Eventually that kind of humor (also later discovering Monthy Python and Terry Pratchett) grew on me, and more than anything I is meant to provoke is a smile, more than a laugh (although it certainly can) and now I remember the characters and situations fondly. Also, I find it has a sort of meme-like quality, making it "funnier" as people (and you) keep referencing to it and you understand the reference.
studentrob 10y ago
Where do you live? Maybe it has something to do with the numbers and letters in your house address. They have to line up just right. Let us know and we can figure it out for you.
RankingMember 10y ago
I went into reading it without any expectations and found it enjoyable. I think if it had been beaten into my head that it was great I would've enjoyed it a whole lot less, because I'd be searching for flaws the whole time.
leephillips 10y ago
I guess it depends on your frame of mind. When I first read it as a young man I just found it mildly amusing, and wondered what all the fuss was about. Didn't bother reading beyond the first book. But years later I read it out loud to my 11-year olds, and we were all in hysterics - they demanded the whole series.

qwertyuiop924 10y ago

Funny. Today is the day Pratchett fans wear the lilac. Actually, I'm wearing one right now.

kolapuriya 10y ago

Belgium says : deal with it, you hoopy froop. French : Fait comme, espece de heuapy freaup. Nederlands : U bent een froopy hoop. Long live the King - Long live Belgium. I'm sorry : I'm talking complete bollocks. It is friday night.+

imrehg 10y ago

Also from the Hitchhiker's Guide, "Don't Panic" is pretty much one of the most helpful advices ever. Remembering it saved my ass multiple times in a hectic trip just last week...

jim-greer 10y ago

My kids don't quite get Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy yet, but they enjoyed making a Don't Panic towel to take to school. https://twitter.com/jimgreer/status/735497227183919104 https://twitter.com/jimgreer/status/735497227183919104

jim-greer 10y ago
Some paper towels were harmed in the making of this video. http://imgur.com/d7lnT7Q http://imgur.com/d7lnT7Q

aft42 10y ago

aft42 checkin' in - towel in hand :-)

mdip 10y ago

I've been a huge fan of Douglas Adams since I read the Hitchhiker's series in High School. My personal recommendation is to grab the audiobook version that's read by the Douglas himself. As an American, there's a little bit lost between British/American English and some of the humor is missed (sometimes changes are even made -- in the American version of the book that I have "Biscuit" is replaced with "Cookie"). I'm an audiobook junkie (speed reading has killed reading fiction for me) and I usually stay away from books narrated by the author because the quality of the narration suffers. Such was not the case with Adams' narrations -- they're excellent and I picked up on several things that I missed from my original (several) readings. I was very sad when he passed -- a heart attack while working out that was probably complicated by his legendary drinking. It was almost sadder when the latest book came out as evidence that nobody could pull off that series but Adams. The books and the author are endlessly quotable (and recognized by nearly every programmer I've ever worked with), but my favorite of his -- from the Dirk Gently series -- is "Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all." I use it every time a project is proposed that someone thinks is "nuts" or "impossible" and it sits on the background of my Visual Studio code editor as a reminder. :)

studentrob 10y ago
> "Let us think the unthinkable, let us do the undoable, let us prepare to grapple with the ineffable itself, and see if we may not eff it after all." That's awesome. I need to find time to reread these. Thanks for sharing

candeira 10y ago

Silly brag. I often work out of a local library where the blinds don't work, so I always carry a towel in my bag which I use to block the sun. I always know where my towel is. Every day is Towel Day for me. Thank you, Douglas Adams!