Time to Reset Your Sundials

Today is Thoth 1, the beginning of the ancient Egyptian calendar. If anyone is still using it, adjust your sundial properly. If you use a different calendar, ignore this.

Today would have been Michael Jackson's 51st birthday. May he who changed music (and incidentally MTV) forever rest in peace.

An intriguing essay on the issue of whether Tom Sloane deserves to be called "evil" appeared this day nine years ago. If the issue interests you, give it a read. Ten years ago today in an alternate Dariaverse, Michael Mackenzie began a very unusual (and unusually dangerous) quest to save the world.

Want to make your computer use Daria WAV files instead of its usual programmed sounds, like when the system comes on, you empty the recycle bin, and so on? Read this Q&A session for starting information if you use Windows XP. The Media folder in the WINDOWS folder holds most or all of the usual WAV files used by the system—for example, Windows XP Startup, Windows XP Logon Sound, Windows XP Logoff Sound, and Windows XP Recycle (wadding paper noise). My system is to copy the desired replacement WAV file into the Media folder, rename the WAV file to be replaced (I never delete these, and the best thing to do is just add a suffix like "-old" to the end of the file's name, so you can find and identify it again if need be), then rename the replacement file with the old file's name.

It is very important to keep these replacement WAV files about the same length as the original ones, or shorter, to prevent them from running into one another during the computer's operation. I would not recommend using the full-length Daria theme music, for instance, but a short quote from one of the characters would be great. My suggestions for replacing the above four sounds: Windows XP Startup, Windows XP Logon Sound, Windows XP Logoff Sound, and Windows XP Recycle.

Has anyone tried this? Tell us about it if so.

FF.net

• D Is for Daria, by Fringeperson (Part 2): "Aw, come on, D! If you didn't want to be famous then why did you agree to do the radio show in the first place?" "I was offered a very attractive bribe in the form of a regular pay cheque."

PPMB

• Stacy Rowe, Seeker (Part III), by jtranser (continued): Back in the 19th century when archeology was a fad among German nobility, Daria's great-great grandfather, Prinz Klaus Friedrich, was one of the most avid explorer-collectors of the period....