“In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” —Douglas Adams

It’s the 12th annual Towel Day on May 25th, and any good frood knows it’s the one day a year you can’t leave home without a towel. Towel Day, for the uninitiated, is an international holiday celebrating sci-fi author and generally awesome human being Douglas Adams. I wrote my college entrance essay on how Adams changed my life, so Towel Day is a pretty big deal around these parts. (Here’s a primer on why towels are so important to any interstellar hitchhiker.)

Adams tragically passed of a heart attack at age 49 on May 11, 2001. His fans took two weeks to get the word out about a wake, deciding to designate the 25th of May as a day of memorial. The date stuck and now every year, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy diehards around the world dress up, bring out their towels and celebrate the man who gave them this absurd amazing world.

To love Douglas Adams is to be part of a club of weirdos, and what better place than the Internet for us to gather, our thumbs held high? In honor of Towel Day, check out the 42 most awesome Douglas Adams-related things on the web.

Don’t panic. It’s all mostly harmless.

1) Darth Towel

Photo by andyduc/Flickr

2) HG2G Fan Ready for Towel Day 2013

3) Thumbs Up!

Photo by rendalf/Flickr

4) Ford Bearfect

Photo by andyduc/Flickr

5) Game of Towels

6) Ford Prefect Towel Swag

GIF via monotoneminor/Tumblr

7) Douglas Adams Lectures on Parrots, the Universe and Everything

8) There’s a Frood Who Always Knows Where His Towel Is

GIF via steinkind/Tumblr

9) So Long and Thanks for All the Fish

Photo via KnighteenFiftyFive/Etsy

10) Want This Book Purse, Please

Photo via NovelCreations/Etsy

11) Join Team Adams!

Photo via NovelTshirts/Etsy

12) Grab a Towel… or Two

Photo via HeritageEmbroidery/Etsy

13) Traverse the Universe in These Kick s

Photo via YellowReason/Etsy

14) Fancy Fish

Photo via ThePressingPigeon/Etsy

15) Greetings!

Photo via ArtByCholeena/Etsy

16) Drink Up That Janx Spirit in These

Photo via CyberGlassware/Etsy

17) Cute Babelfish Crochet

Photo via YamPaint/Etsy

18) Don’t Panic—Relax on This Pillow

Photo via SaucyArathusa/Etsy

19) Speaking of Janx Spirit…

Photo via CreativeEtching/Etsy

20) Paranoid Android

Photo via BombsNamedF/Etsy

21) Time Is an Illusion

Photo via SnarkyLittleStitcher/Etsy

22) Don’t Panic Pocket Journal

Photo via WordsIGiveBy/Etsy

23) Everything You Need to Remember

Photo via SpaceMonsterTees/Etsy

24) Happy Birthday to the Ground

Photo via Nannyems/Etsy

25) This Is All Going to End in Tears

Photo via MyMothersHeritage/Etsy

26) Inspirational Wall Hanging

Photo via AshleyNicoleDesign/Etsy

27) Can You Tell I Really Like Marvin?

Photo via JooSweetie/Etsy

28) Stamp Out Panic!

Photo via WeTheSciencey/Etsy

29) Humblebrag

Photo via IvyMoonDesigns/Etsy

30) Hoppy Tats, Frood!

Photo via LiveForFilms

31) At Any Rate…

Photo via Faraley/Photobucket

32) The Dolphins’ Last Words

Photo via RJdecalking/Etsy

33) Zaphod Booblebrox

Photo via Palm Beach Post

34) Flying Is Learning How to Throw Yourself at the Ground Wall Decal

Photo via GreatWallsofFire/Etsy

35) Unhip-ster

Photo via ChattyNora/Etsy

36) Deadlines Woosh By

Photo via AlexWijnen/Etsy

37) Glassblown DNA Necklace (Douglas Adams’ initials were DNA, which has become a nickname for the beloved author.)

Photo via GeekOUTlet/Etsy

38) This Tattoo Took 42 Hours (JKJK)

Photo via Geeky Tattoos

39) Speaking of Tattoo Ideas…

Photo via CatScratchings/Etsy

40) Widely Regarded as a Bad Move

Photo via PaintedDoll/Etsy

41) Cufflinks for Wear at the Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Photo via UrbanEye/Etsy

42) The Answer to Life, the Universe and Everything Is, as We All Suspected, Cookies

Photo via LindasEdibleArt/Etsy

Illustration by Jason Reed



Correction: An early version of this article misstated the year of Douglas Adams’s death.