New Hope for the Wretched?

Punk rock singer and Mohawk-wearer Wendy O. Williams (of the Plasmatics) was born this day 61 years ago. One of the wildest rock stars of the punk scene, Ms. Williams was also a movie and stage actress, macrobiotic cook, gypsy dancer, animal rehabilitator, and health food activist. (The title for this entry comes from one of the Plasmatics' record albums.)

Why the MTV artists decided to use Sandi Griffin as the model for W.O.W.'s alter ego (at right) is beyond me, but Sandi carries it off rather well, except for wearing her light blue blouse instead of the two strips of electrical tape that Ms. Williams wore on stage. Sandi has her limits, I suppose. Sandi's pose appears to be a modification of Ms. Williams' appearance in a 1982 press photo.

Writer, journalist, and former WW2 commando Ian Fleming was born 102 years ago today. He is best known for creating the action hero James Bond, whom Mack Mackenzie honors in his From Russia with Love jet pack outfit (at left). Lt. Cmdr. Fleming planned and took part in Operation Goldeneye during the war, and the name was later used for one of the more recent Bond films.

The Dionne Quintuplets, the only batch of five identical twin sisters to ever survive to adulthood, appeared on this world 76 years ago today. They had a rather unhappy life, I am sorry to report. They later formed part of the background inspiration for this Daria fanfic.

Finally, we also remember math genius Alan Turing, who submitted a paper for publication 74 years ago that changed the world, as it eventually led to the invention of modern computers. The paper was called "On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem," and I have no idea what it was about. I don't think even Daria would know. Click the link to read it, and good luck. (Turing and Ian Fleming, by the way, knew each other well. Small planet we have, isn't it?)

BRAKING N0OoZ!

• The Daria Shrine has updated! Hooray!
  

PPMB

• Finn Morgendorffer 47: Hell is Homecoming, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 6): The day before the Homecoming Parade was the day they announced the Homecoming King and Queen. They did it in homeroom, so, unfortunately, Finn had to stomach it with Timothy O’Neill. The man had always been a bit splotchy-eyed from crying ever since Barch was arrested.
  
• General Semantics, Private Angst, by Gwrtheyrn (Part 26): On a squishy carpet in Re'lax, dead Daria sleeps, dreaming....
• Into the Fray, by Minx (Part 11): “Whoa, easy there, Rambo,” Sam chuckled as he lurched forward from the pressure. “We both know you’re not going to shoot me.” “What makes you so sure?” Trent said through gritted teeth.
• Legion of Lawndale Heroes Special: Tokusatsu Team Up! by LSauchelli (continued): Daria and Green carefully eyed the older Daria as they walked to the wish-granting Artifact. Green was doing everything in his power not to try to pummel the Planeswalker. Daria had to keep a constant mental reminder that if he even tried, Urza would probably kill him without breaking a sweat.
  
• Robert, by OverlordMikey (preview): "I swear, Robert, mother and father would turn over in their graves if they knew how you let yourself be used by those shameless little hussies from that Fashion Club."
  
• Sister, by OverlordMikey (COMPLETE!): Jane arrived home and noticed Penny getting ready to leave. "Hey, Penny." "In a hurry—got a plane to catch." "Yeah, I just wanted to say..." Jane mumbled the last part. "What?" Penny asked.
• Tales of the Ringbearers: Bad Apple, by Doggieboy (preview 2): "We've got a problem."
• Unnamed story (Scenes That Should Be: Breakfast of Zombie Champions), by Doggieboy (COMPLETE!): "Your money," one of the men said. "We're broke," Daria said, her voice seemingly small. Both pistols aimed at her and one of the gunmen said, "Too bad."
• Unnamed story (Write-Off Challenge 3, Round 3), by LSauchelli (COMPLETE!): Jane knocked on the door to the red-brick house and was surprised when almost immediately it appeared to open itself. She almost jumped back when a green-faced Quinn Morgendorffer motioned her to come inside.
  

A Significant Day for the Computer Age, Indeed

Sit back in your computer chair for a moment, ignoring the squeaky sounds, and cogitate on the following importance of this date.

141 years ago today, a man named Christopher Latham Sholes was granted a patent by the U.S. government for inventing a thing he called a "Type-Writer." Others had attempted this, but he put everything together and got it right. He went on a few years later to invent the QWERTY keyboard you are probably using right now.

97 years ago today, a man named Alan Turing was born. He is nowadays regarded by many as the father of computer science. Time magazine said of him in 1999: "The fact remains that everyone who taps at a keyboard, opening a spreadsheet or a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of a Turing machine."

66 years ago today, a man was born named Vint Cerf. He is presented regarded by many as the father of the (capital I) Internet. He was involved in the creation of ARPANet, the Internet's predecessor, and now works for Google.

Finally, 45 years ago, Joss Whedon was born, who later went on to create Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which in time became one of the favorite, if not THE the favorite, TV show of Quinn Morgendorffer, per the episode "Speedtrapped." He also gave us the fandom term "Jossed," which has no relevance to Daria fandom now that the show is over.

What does this mean? It means.... um, wait, I went too far. Skip the part about Joss Whedon. Strike it out.

What it means is that today is VERY IMPORTANT in the history of the very item you are staring at right now. I mean the whole computer, not just the monitor. VERY IMPORTANT. Don't forget that.

Today is also the 83rd anniversary of the very first SAT test as we know it, which gave us the P-STAT that caused some distress among the Fashion Club in Is It Fall Yet? Is that cool or what?

That's all I had. Enjoy.