Riding the Barksdale Cannonball!

As the Sick, Sad Life Planner says, today is the 141st anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike that united the U.S. from east to west by railroad. Helen is of course the first train through.

Today is also the 64th anniversary of the launch of the first V-2 from White Sands Proving Ground, an event commemorated in this fanfic. (See Chapter IV: Space Age.)

AND today is the day Daria returns to the airwaves! It will be on MTV2 in the USA from 5-6 AM EDT/PST! Don't miss it!

PPMB

• The Card, by LadieT (COMPLETE!): [Jane: too short to sample, go read it!]
• Finn Morgendorffer 45: Quarter Past Midnight, by HolyGrail2007 (COMPLETE!): Finn’s hand was quaking so much he dropped his quarters three times in a row. He almost felt like he was going to throw up, too. Once he finally got the money in, his arm was shaking as he positioned the handset in his hand and dialed. 1 for long distance, area code, then the number. His throat started to tighten and his heart to race as he heard it ring. [LAST PART: Whoa, it’s like a quarter after midnight, Finn thought. He yawned. It was pretty late. Not for Jane, for him. Should he go ahead and give her a call? He reached for the phone, but stopped when he heard something. A slight thump sound, coming from Daria’s room. There shouldn’t be anyone there. Daria wouldn’t come home just like this already. He only called her three hours ago anyway, and that phone was supposed to be her landline. And Mom and Dad wouldn’t... could it be... a burglar? You little bastard!]
  
• Kamen Rider D, by Silver (continued): "The sands of time" is an accurate description of the appearance of what time itself looks like. A desert of white sand, broken by many of the usual rock features of a desert. Each grain, a memory. Metaphor made real. Something beautiful in and of itself, borne of the human psyche. None of this mattered to the passengers of the train that zipped along through this scenery. It helped that this wasn't out of the ordinary for them, the semi-stalwart lot that crewed the DenLiner.
• Kill All the Lawyers, by Yogi (COMPLETE!): “You know, all those lawyer jokes I used to tell are now a whole lot funnier.” Daria said. It wasn't the best of her quips, but its hard to be witty when one is bound and naked in a pentagram deep within the basement of Vitale, Davis, Horowitz, Riordan, Schrecter & Schrecter.
• NEW! Parents Are People, by Legendeld (Part 5): Jane Lane watched Daria struggling to fit some mechanical do-hickey onto the engine of her car with some small amount of amusement. Daria hadn't even noticed the group standing in the garage watching her yet as she struggled with the part. With a sudden cry of frustration, Daria straightened up then pulled back her arm to throw the part against the wall. Trent moved forward and deftly plucked it from her hand. "That won't make it fit," he said cheerfully. Daria looked at him completely stunned. "It won't go into place," Daria said, trying not to sound like she was on the verge of crying.
  
• Shining Star: Temporal Conundrum, by RLobinske (Part 10): Richard whistled and showed Archangel the message. Archangel said, "Stop a supernova. No problem. You do it all the time." "Your sarcasm is showing." "Who did you piss off upstairs?" "Who did you piss off to get stuck working with me?"
• NEW! Taking the Cake, by Vlora (COMPLETE!): A few days later, the band had been intensely involved in preparing themselves mentally for the gig that was coming up. It was a true challenge to face; more than 50 people in one venue? It would mean they'd actually have a chance to move up in the music world. Max was particularly set on the idea, adapting himself to the "criminalé" lifestyle as best he could. This involved a lot of stupid, old-school "rock" hand gestures and trying to talk tough.
• NEWEST! There's Magic Everywhere, by Yogi (COMPLETE!): “Well, that’s the last of them,” Daria’s roommate said as she put a large cardboard box on the stairs outside of dorms, pausing to wipe her forehead. Despite cold December air she was sweating hard, causing her short brown hair to stick uncomfortably to her neck. Behind her, Daria didn’t walk so much as stagger downstairs with her own cardboard box, dropping it with a loud thud then immediately collapsing onto the ground. “Physical activity,” she gasped between breaths “My... only... weakness.” [Great crossover!]
• NEWEST! Twenty Percent, by JPAGC (COMPLETE!): "Right, then," the impeccable dressed gentleman examined the three humans seated in front of him, "I do believe everything is in order." "I really would like to go through this again," said quietly the young man directly in front of him, picking up the papers. "if you don't mind, that is..." "By all means, Mr. Mackenzie."
  
• Unnamed story (Flinging Fourth the New Ideas Thread), by Silver (COMPLETE!): "Buenos Dias, Mister Ruttheimer." Upchuck looked at the man who'd spoken. If one could call a living calaca figure a man. That thought was coupled with the fact that the skeletal figure was wrapped in a black robe and carrying a scythe. "I'm dead, aren't I." "Si." "I died a virgin." "Si. Unfortunate, that."
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Mother's Day Cards), by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): [Anthony: too short to sample, go read it!]
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Mother's Day Cards), by OverlordMikey (COMPLETE!): [Brittany: too short to sample, go read it!]
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Mother's Day Cards), by Jim North (COMPLETE!): [Daria: too short to sample, go read it!]
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Mother's Day Cards), by GlitterShrooms (COMPLETE!): [Jodie: too short to sample, go read it!]
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Mother's Day Cards), by Brother Grimace (COMPLETE!): [Janet: too short to sample, go read it!]
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Mother's Day Cards), by Roentgen (COMPLETE!): [Helen: too short to sample, go read it!]
• Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Mother's Day Cards), by Wouter (COMPLETE!): [Trent: too short to sample, go read it!]
• NEW! Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Mother's Day Cards), by Vlora (COMPLETE!): [Jane2Trent: too short to sample, go read it!]
• NEW! Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Mother's Day Cards), by Malakite (COMPLETE!): [Tiffany: too short to sample, go read it!]
• NEWER! Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Mother's Day Cards), by Jim North (COMPLETE!): [Ted: too short to sample, go read it!]
• ALSO NEWER! Unnamed story (Iron Chef: Mother's Day Cards), by NightGoblyn (COMPLETE!): [to Amy: too short to sample, go read it!]