h2g2 is not a fan site, but because Douglas Adams was one of its founders, there are a pretty large number of people who appreciate the Hitchhiker series hanging around.
This means that as well as being the sorts of people who give a secret, delighted smile when they are handed a lemon scented napkin on an aeroplane, who keep a count of shoe shops on the local High Street and who know where their towels are at, they also tend to really take notice of the number 42.
Towelcast42
Now a merry band of artists, musicians, and other assorted happy mutants headed by minichessemouse would like to harness this affinity for a running slot on their podcasts, Towelcast42, to begin later this year.1 They would like photographs of as many instances of the number 42 as they can per episode. And this means that they need the help of intrepid field researchers.
What kind of photos do they want?
The Towelcasters would like to receive photos of naturally occurring examples of 42 in the wild. Does your conversation list tell you that you have 42 replies to your favourite thread? Did you receive 42 birthday cards? Is your house number 42? Do you own a cd of Coldplay’s 2008 album? Have a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland handy so you can look up rule 42? Then take a photo!
However, the Towelcasters would also like to encourage researchers to exercise their creativity. Yes, any and all manufactured examples of 42 will also be enthusiastically considered.
Feel like spelling out ‘forty two’ with 42 sprouts? Lining up 42 bottles of beer on the wall? Cramming 42 of your friends into a phone box? Eating 42 lollipops at once? Then make that number, take that photo!
How to submit photos
Send your photos in to create@h2g2.com and we will upload them for you or, if you have a flickr account, you can join our public flickr group and upload your photos to the group directly yourself. Every photo provided will be posted on the flickr group and from them all a selection will be chosen for the podcasts. Quality photography is a factor but inventiveness is just as prized. Do not hesitate to join in. Do not hesitate to send in as many different photos as you can take.
STOP PRESS!
Do not hesitate to comment on the photos, either. In fact, as a last minute addition to this challenge we are having a caption competition. Please feel free to leave a pithy, witty and reasonably clean caption on any of the photos you find. Winners to be declared when we have worked out what consititutes particularly clever and whenever we have tracked down someone capable of saying so.
We are not alone!
Inevitably, we are not the first people to decide to scratch that itch with photographs. Check out these other 42 themed flickr collections:
A set by h2g2's very own dasilva
Magical #42
42 - Life, the universe and everything
42Day
Hitchhiker's Guide tattoos
42
42 Obsession
The number 42 (forty-two).
42 graffiti.
1 Mini invites ideas of all kinds for a segment on the variety show. Please contact her on the podcast page.
