h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It seems many of us missed recognising Towel Day (25th May)

It hit me today how much I miss DNAs contributions to the world at large, from musings about tea through to the meanderings of one Dirk Gently.

Hold your Towel high today/tonight/tomorrow (and every day).

Traveller in Time on his
"It is right here

"

Don't worry I didn't forget it I had mine with me all day!

I have two towels always at the ready - one in my car trunk and a small one in my briefcase.

DNA made some massive contrubtions to the world and he is allways missed, any way I've got my and im proud

I remember towel day a few years ago I was all set to take my towel into my exam with me and see if anyone asked any questions- and I forgot!! Had the towel with me the rest of the day, though.

You have a Towel Day in England?

What do think Douglas Adams was American?
In all honesty, it might have taken some explaining, and I'm not sure it's widely observed over here. Is it a big think across the pond then?

As far as I know, it doesn't exist at all, here. I was just impressed that Douglas Adams made a big enough splash to have Towel Day made.

Then again, if Hallmark can do it, why can't he, right?

Google hath enlightened me. I see it's an international holiday. Dang. Would have brought one to college with me.

they seem to have loads of special days for everything, there was a national penguin week a few weekd back

Did a lot of hitchhiking last year, and we always brought our towels. Came up with over 20 individual uses for towels while tramping the roads.
The towel theory is Adams's greatest stroke of brilliance.

Have you ever read The Salmon of Doubt? It's a post-humour collection of various Adams articles and speeches and stuff, as well as the hugely frustrating (in the sense that I really want to know where he was going with it) Dirk Gently novel he was in the middle of. There is a story somewhere in that (think it's a forward, or something) about a woman dying of a terminal disease who kept her towel with her because it comforted it her until she died.
ALright, just looked through the bloody book, can't find it anywhere, but it's there, I'm telling you.

I can't remember the woman with the bit - but then it's been three years since I read the book

I thought I read the book, but I only remember the Dirk Gently part and being really really annoyed because it just Stopped.

Comfort... I'll add that tothe list. It certainly wasn't one that we thought up.

I think to understand the comfort idea you have to have first read Hitchhiker. The principal of the towel being a comfort is, I think, grounded in the notion that whereever you go in the Universe you're okay as long as you've got your towel. So in that sense it is, perhaps, like a crucifix. There's nothing fundamentally comforting about a little cross unless you're Christian, or Peter Cushing.

I was thinking about the experiment with the monkeys, actually. They preferred a terry cloth to a metal milkbottle, because it was huggable and cuddlable.

Found it! Prologue, page 14. Who would want a metal milk bottle? They should tried a plastic one instead, that would have been a fairer test.

well it was supposed to test if they (baby monkeys) preferred food or comfort. they preferred comfort. they preferred towels. pretty n@sty experiment to begin with. photo of baby monkey hugging towel with frightened look on face is horrible.

I can only presume that for the purposes of an experiment into whether a baby monkey preferred comfort to food it was deprived of both- ie, scared and hungry. I'm not sure (well, no, I'm pretty certain, actually) I could justify being mean to a monkey just to find out how it responded. I can't really invisage a major gain to be made from knowing this stuff.