Towel Day celebrates the work of Douglas Adams, but most specifically the novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” and its main character, Arthur Dent.You’ll know just what a blessing Towel Day can be when you face the removal of Earth to make way for a hyperspace bypass, or the ravenous hunger of the Bugblatter Beast of Traal.Don’t panic if that sounds entirely too geeky to you.Cram that Babel fish into your pinna and let the translating commence.Then you will understand why fans of the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” sci-fi novel series and geekdom in general are sporting their towels this May 25.
Let Towel Day remove the condensation from your suppositions
Towel Day is a big deal for interstellar hitchers (not mad hitchhikers, mind you) because nothing else but the right towel – not even payday loans – can do so much.From Chapter 3 of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” (courtesy of Wired), Douglas Adams clues us in:
” 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 mini-raft 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.”
Aside from such practical value, having a towel on Towel Day (or any day, really) is also a psychological balm.People who see you with a towel will assume that you are able to brave the vast expanses of space with minimal provisions; they will assume you’re a force to be reckoned with.Everything will begin to fall into place; you’ll know the meaning of 42 and have a soft cloth to whisk away those beads of existential perspiration.
Why May 25 for Towel Day?
Douglas Adams died on May 11, 2001.Two weeks after, fans of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” gathered and began celebrating Towel Day.To be more specific, says Wired, Adams fan D. Clyde Williamson was the one who first coined the term Towel Day.As Williamson writes in his blog, “Douglas Adams will be missed by his fans worldwide. So that all his fans everywhere can pay tribute to this genius, I propose that two weeks after his passing (May 25, 2001) be marked as ‘Towel Day’”.
So there you have it.Check out Towelday.org for more info, and if you want your own special towel to prepare for the next Towel Day, there’s a 42 Utility Towel for purchase on ThinkGeek as Wired points out.
Find more information on this topic
Wired
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/05/dont-panic-its-towel-day/
ThinkGeek
http://www.thinkgeek.com/geektoys/science/8e20/
Towelday.org
http://towelday.org/
