Happy Birthday, DNA!

Happy Birthday, Douglas Noel Adams (DNA)!

Douglas Noel Adams (wikipedia)

Today would have been Douglas Adams' 61st birthday. Born on March 11th 1952 he unfortunately passed away way too soon - at age 49 - on May 11th, 2001 in Santa Barbara, California.

Ever since, his life is celebrated by nerds and fans like myself on May 25th - with the annual 'Towel Day', as a tribute to his life. 

Of course, he is most famous for his 'trilogy' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', his Dirk Gently series,  "The long dark tea-time of the soul" or his involvement with the Doctor Who series or with Monty Python.

What many do not know is that he was also a great conversationalist, speaker and environmentalist on behalf of endangered species. The lemurs of Madagascar, mountain gorillas, black rhinos or Yangtze River Dolphins (which he 'hunted' with a condom covered make-shift underwater microphone) are just a few to mention. His friend, Biologist Richard Dawkins, said that "Science has lost a friend, literature has lost a luminary, the mountan gorilla and the black rhino have lost a gallant defender" upon Adams' passing. 

Douglas Adams is probably the biggest influence in my life. Throughout my life - from teenager to 'professional' business monkey, wearing analog watches, I felt a deep connection with the way Douglas' mind works. paintingbuddha.com and masterminis.net are 'brands' of my company (which most don't know is called Manabu (japanese for 'learning'). Not only did I dedicate my company to Douglas Adams, but the company's interior workings, its goals could pretty well be straight out of the HHGTTG universe. 

Since I can remember - and well before the time of HTML 0.x, when the internet was still white text on black (or amber or green for those of you who can remember) - I am known on the internet as 'Zaphod Beeblebrox', with email address and all. This probably constitutes the fact that I am slightly more crazy than the average crazy person. 

It is actually quite earie to see how many similarities and intersections seem to connect my life to his. For once, of course, we both liked tea. I just recently found that his favorite song was the same as mine: "Wish you were here" from Pink Floyd. On Douglas' 42nd birthday, no other than Pink Floyd invited him to perform with them at a concert at Earls Court in London where he played the lead guitar for "Brain Damage" and "Eclipse". He also picked the name for the album "The Division Bell" - the collectors edition of which I 'coincidentally' gave away during our crazy 42 giveaways. 

It is no coincidence (as I - among other things - don't believe in coincidences) that I re-started my life and started our 'nerdy miniature company' at the age of 42. This was something I had planned since I was 28. A dream 14 years in the making (which coincidentally is 1/3 of 42).

Can you see the answer?

For many years I have jokingly contemplated what the Question to the Ultimate Answer about Life, the Universe and EVERYTHING could possibly be. Well, we all knew The Answer is 42. 

It seems, that I just accidentally happened to stumble upon The Question, baby!

This was as surprising to me as to someone who finds himself floating in mid air as he forgets to hit the ground while falling. Belgium, man!

Thank you Douglas - For Life, the Universe and Everything! 

Wish you were here.

Zappi

P.S.:
I just realized, this is my 242nd post on the blog. Thank you Douglas for NO COINCIDENCES! :)