Talk:Towel Day

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Copyrighted excerpt
The quotation from chapter three of HGTTG may be an "excessively long copyrighted excerpt" and may not satisfy the requirements of WP:FAIR. Walter Siegmund (talk) 11:19, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
 * I disagree. Look up the definition of excessive and you will notice it's not excessive. The article only uses a mere two paragraphs, short ones too, compared to approx. 300 pages of text the novel has. It's less than 0,1% of the copyrighted work and thus I don't think excessive is the right word for it, I'd rather say it's exactly what WP:FAIR specifies... --SoWhy Talk 11:57, 12 June 2008 (UTC)
 * As already noticed, it's an extremely small quote in the context of the HHGTTG. I also like to look at the series as a whole, which makes the quote less than 1/800 of the whole works.
 * --KOJV (talk) 21:09, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Origin
I immediately noticed something was funny about the Clyde quote. Browsing the history I found that a troll by the name Dr. Richard Squires has added an extension to the last sentence of the quote. See the difference here. That extension was not written by Clyde.

I also deleted the addition "seminal" that someone added to "Adams' work" since I find this to be a negative attribute - even though it may just as well be interpreted as a positive one - cause I got the idea that Wikipedia wants to stay neutral, non-reflecting and without putting value and opinion into the articles; I believe these features to come with the idea of wanting to be encyclopedic.


 * What do you find negative in "which are highly original and influential; more loosely: important, central to the development or understanding of a subject." which is the meaning of seminal when referring to books and other works.MidlandLinda (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:52, 25 May 2010 (UTC).

A tribute
To Douglas Adams As a tribute to your brilliance in radio, movie, and books, I carry a towel with me today, even though I get strange looks. Though you're not on Earth with us anymore, in the hearts of your fans, you'll always exist. So Doug, if you are reading this, please know that you are missed. RIP Note: If this not an appropriate place for this, feel free to remove it.Stormcloud22 (talk) 01:32, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Quote?
I am aware of the above conversation about whether the quote is too long to be fair use in terms of copyright, but IMHO it is incomplete. The section quoted starts with "Partly..." and then stops, without completing the thought which continues:

"More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, 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 hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker 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."

I think perhaps this should be added at the end, but I am worried about the copyright discussion being brought up again. Crito2161 (talk) 15:26, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Towel day tweets

 * "fought giant ogres, pursue exotic philosophies, take tea with weird gods and rescue beautiful monsters from ravening princesses"
 * "the past isn't a fiction designed to account for the discrepancy between my immediate physical sensations and my state of mind?"
 * "Oh Zarquon, oh heavens,I've been found. I've been rescued..." // "Well," said one of the officials, "you've been found at least."
 * Theta-active compounds so powerful that a teaspoonful could irradiate a whole planet. "I'm glad I'm not a planet," muttered Zaphod
 * "Have you much experience of computers?" "No," he said. Arthur bought the Apple anyway.
 * Thats what I got, a face drop. Give me 8 years, I said. I hope being 30 doesnt come back into fashion or Ive wasted a lot of money
 * "Course there was a number on the ticket, it was a bloody raffle ticket wasn't it?"
 * "One of them showed some horrible green scaly reptilian figure ranting and raving about the Single Transferable Vote system."
 * "That's right!" agreed Majikthise. "You'll have a national Philosopher's strike on your hands!"
 * "On its world, the people are people. The leaders are lizards. The people hate the lizards and the lizards rule the people."
 * Theta-active compounds so powerful that a teaspoonful could irradiate a whole planet. "I'm glad I'm not a planet," muttered Zaphod.
 * "They've garble warble fashes!" cried Slartibartfast, still waving at them.
 * I'd like to say it is a great pleasure, honour + privilege for me, but I cant because my lying circuits are all out of commission
 * The best way of dealing with a Silastic Armorfiend was to put him into a room of his own ... he would simply beat himself up.
 * It is one hell of a party. It is also one hell of a thing to get hit by in the small of the back.
 * "I beg your minuscule pardon?" roared Thor
 * "I come in peace," it said, adding after a long moment of further grinding, "take me to your Lizard."
 * "They are afflicted with a certain lassitude. They're just finding it hard to get behind the job. They lack oomph."
 * "I've been pestered by squirrels all night," said Arthur. "They keep on trying to give me magazines and stuff."
 * What's that strange thing you British play? Cricket? Self-loathing? Parliamentary democracy! The rules just kind of got there....
 * Curiously enough, though he didn't know it, he was also a direct male-line descendant of Genghis Khan.
 * "every single person in the Galaxy had 2.4 legs and owned a hyena"
 * "Being a sheep startled by a flying saucer was indistinguishable from the feeling of being a sheep startled by anything else"
 * The slogan was a elaborate pun in Lingua Centauri which was incomprehensible in any other language and pointless at a spaceport.
 * "History is an illusion caused by the passing of time and that time is an illusion caused by the passing of history."
 * it is easy to be blinded to the essential uselessness of them by the sense of achievement you get from getting them to work at all
 * "Prehistoric towel discovered in lava flow. Was God a Marks and Spencer sales assistant?"
 * "Not with a politician's chance in a truth telling competition"
 * It was showing a commercial for some brand of toothpaste that would apparently make you feel free if you used it.
 * "They eat nachos which they say they can't get. They do a lot of coke and are very wonderful about a whole range of things."
 * Hold stick near centre of its length. Moisten pointed end in mouth,insert in tooth space, blunt end next to gum. Use in-out motion
 * "This bowl was brought to you by the Campaign to Save the Humans. We bid you farewell."
 * ...with awe, pride, enthusiasm, affection, admiration, regret, jealousy, resentment, in fact most of the better known emotions.
 * Some people say that the lizards are the best thing that ever happened to them. Theyre completely wrong, but someones got to say it
 * "Now, let us bow our heads in payment," intoned the voice.
 * You suspect that if there's any truth it's that the entire multidimensional infinity of the Universe is run by a bunch of maniacs.


 * Does this section add to the discussion necessary to build the Wikipedia article? --Wally Tharg (talk) 11:58, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

My apologies
Apparently, somebody from this IP Address has been vandalizing the Towel Day page.

I've been trying to teach the kids, and get other staff to teach the kids, about responsible internet usage. We are a school, though. It's an uphill battle with some of the little %#$#@$&s.

Again, my apologies. 216.73.66.34 (talk) 19:06, 13 October 2009 (UTC) (User - Weaponofmassinstruction when logged in)


 * No problem, it's good to see young people taking an interest ... hope some of them grow to be Wikipedia contributors. --Wally Tharg (talk) 11:58, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

Frood redirects here, but why?
Thanks. Imagine Reason (talk) 21:05, 8 March 2010 (UTC)


 * Neither can I - Redirects to HHGTTH now as does Hoopy ...lɘɘяɘM яɘɫƨɐƮ 12:28, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

10th Towel Day
Article from the UK newspaper The Guardian noting that today is the 10th anniversary of the first towel day. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/25/towel-day-douglas-adams Should anybody need an additional source. Drappel (talk) 16:10, 25 May 2011 (UTC)


 * Barbecue sauce, perhaps? --Wally Tharg (talk) 11:58, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

Why the 25th May?
This article fails to say why it is celebrated on this particular day, other than the fact that the first one was proposed 2 weeks after DNA's untimely death. Has anyone proposed that it be celebrated on 11 May or even 11 March? Both would be more logical. (Unfortunately I don't have the information necessary to make a good edit.) --Wally Tharg (talk) 11:58, 3 March 2013 (UTC)

External links modified
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 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070527084727/http://oslopuls.no/kunst/article1804401.ece to http://oslopuls.no/kunst/article1804401.ece
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100529203644/http://www2.tfo.org/Volt/Video/8611 to http://www2.tfo.org/Volt/Video/8611
 * Added tag to http://www.towelday.org.nyud.net/archives/2010/Mark%20Roberts%20interviewed%20on%20Radio%20City%20%28Ecuador%29%20on%20Towel%20Day%202010.mp3
 * Added tag to http://www.towelday.org.nyud.net/archives/2011/David%20Haddock%20on%20Planet%20Rock%20%28UK%29%20on%20Towel%20Day%202011.mp3
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20100529203644/http://www2.tfo.org/Volt/Video/8611 to http://www2.tfo.org/Volt/Video/8611
 * Added tag to http://www.towelday.org.nyud.net/archives/2010/Mark%20Roberts%20interviewed%20on%20Radio%20City%20%28Ecuador%29%20on%20Towel%20Day%202010.mp3

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External links modified
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effects of COVID on Towel Day
overlooked in 2020 & 2021; presumed resumption in 2022; Howard from NYC (talk) 14:04, 11 May 2022 (UTC)

Towel Day 2051
historians in 50 years will shake their heads at our odd ball interests Howard from NYC (talk) 14:04, 11 May 2022 (UTC)

not allowed to provide requested citation
Attempting to update the citation needed for the online petition that was created to ask Google to create a Doodle in honor of Towel Day. Attempting to refer to the Internet Archive page of the actual petition at the time, errors out due to the Web site in question (Petition Online, long since defunct) being blacklisted. Is there a way to resolve this Catch-22

petition online dot com/towelday/petition.html Macslacker (talk) 06:11, 26 May 2023 (UTC)
 * , you can request whitelisting for a specific URL at a blacklisted domain here. But if the petition just existed, and no reliable and independent source saw fit to comment on or discuss it, I would question whether it's really worth mentioning at all. Seraphimblade Talk to me 06:27, 26 May 2023 (UTC)