A grassroots movement on the net has sprung up in the week-or-so since the death of "Hitchhiker's Guide" and "Dirk Gently" author Douglas Adams to honor and remember a friend of the net (and a friend to people seeking to be both amused and challenged) in an appropriate, and yet somehow slightly odd way.

Thus, Towel Day: follow this here blicky for details, but the upshod is, on Friday, always know where your towel is.

Seeing as I've carried a towel (a garish hand-towel all of orange, yellow, and white checkerboard) in my satchel since 1983 for that very reason, I'm ready. But if you're a lover of DNA's work, consider joining in on Friday.

[The Long Dark Teatime of the] Shad