The Think Tank

“Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun.

Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea.”

One of these ape descended digital watch enthusiasts was named Douglas Adams.  He spent most of his time in a country called either England, Great Britain, the United Kingdom or the Lesser Satin, depending on who you asked.  He shared his singularly unique view of this small blue green planet by writing radio shows, magazine articles, novels, video games and eventually motion picture movies in exchange for small green pieces of paper.

This is not his story.

It is, however, the story of his day.

If you have never heard of Douglas Adams, then you have probably never spent very much time talking to me. In my humble opinion he was one of the worlds greatest minds and most entertaining writers.  I mourn his loss whenever I think of any of his quirky pearls of wisdom brought forth in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Dirk Gently novels, the Meaning of Liff, the Prostitute in the Family Tree, or any of his other wonderful publications – which is to say, several times a day.

Over the years I have invested in his offerings using every conceivable medium so that his complete works now grace my book shelves, my CD cabinet, my MP3 collection, the games directory on my hard drive, my kindle – probably the most remarkable book ever to come out of the great publishing houses of Amazon’s Ursa Minor facilities – and finally my Outlook calender.

As with all great men and women who have come before him, Douglas Adams has his own holiday, and that holiday is Towel Day.  But as is fitting the man who brought you a 5 book trilogy, Towel Day takes place on multiple days… or at least it will when I’m done with it.

Douglas hitched his final ride on May 11, 2001.  Three days later D. Clyde Williamson presented the idea of Towel Day to the world with a post on the now defunct forum “Binary Freedom”, suggesting that all the frood’s out there come together in remembrance by knowing where our towels are every May 25th (two weeks after his death).  That became the official day, and celebrations are held all over the globe – and they are getting bigger and more widespread each year.

The problem with May 25th, in my opinion, is that it isn’t particularly significant, for either Douglas or his literary legacy.  Other possible dates have been suggested which make some real sense:

• “Adams Day” – February 11, the 42nd day of the year
• “Second Day of Remembering” – July 6, 42 days afterDouglas died
• “Douglas Adams Memorial Day” – March 11, Douglas’ Birthday
• “The Day of The Coming of The Great White Handkerchief” – The 42nd Weekend Day of the year, which occasionally falls on Official Towel Day
• “Frood’s Day” – 42nd Thursday of the year, which for 2010 will be October 21st

I have to confess that I completely made up Frood’s Day, but it makes enormous sense to me.  (If you don’t understand the importance of 42, don’t know what a frood is, don’t understand how mind boggingly useful a towel really is, or if you still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea, you must immediately trade some small green pieces of paper for a copy of the wholly remarkable book,  The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy).

I did find one compelling reason to have Towel Day on May 25th: if you add the hexadecimal numbers 25 and 5, and convert the result to decimal, you get 42!  I honestly am not sure how anyone ever figured that out, but he or she is definitely hoopy.  However, I do think that is slightly offset by the fact that May 25 is also recognized as both Star Wars Day and Geek Pride Day.  I think Douglas deserves his own (six) day(s).

My proposition is this: I think we should celebrate them all!  Not sold?  Perhaps you need  another reason for celebrating all of these days?  4+2 = Six Days of Towel Day.  Think about it.

I for one am planning on kicking off Towel Day by celebrating Adams Day on February 11 at a local pub.  Right now I’m planning on that pub being The County Cork on 13th and Fremont, by my house.  If any of you sass a better location, let me know.  Wherever it is held, I am planning on eating peanuts and drinking five pints of ale.  I might even put a paper bag over my head if I think it will make me feel better.

Most importantly though, wherever and however you choose to celebrate, just remember to always know where your towel is and, most importantly…

DON’T PANIC!