Where the Future Begins Tomorrow!

Lots of fascinating people and things born today, of which the following are of interest to us.

• President Harry S. Truman, relevant here because of his advice for parents: "I have found the best way to give advice to your children is to find out what they want and then advise them to do it." Helen & Jake, are you listening?
• Warner Brothers animator Bob Clampett, said to have put the "loony" in Looney Tunes. (This is a cartoon fandom, after all, so we cheer the great animators!)
• Coca-Cola, from which we get Ultra-Cola on Daria.
• Writer of super-complicated novels Thomas Pynchon, beloved of a number of Daria fans and authors (add "pynchon" and see what you get). Mr. Pynchon created a fictitious aerospace firm named Yoyodyne that appears in some of his stories, and the nonexistent company (complete with fake website) has since been borrowed by Pynchon's admirers for use in everything from Buckaroo Banzai to Star Trek. I guess this is sort of like Yoyodyne's birthday, too. So, like, when is Yoyodyne going to appear in a Daria story, hmmm? We need to get on the stick here.
  
• Jean Henry Dunant, who founded the Red Cross. Today, his birthday anniversary, is now called World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day.

This is also White Lotus Day, but this is difficult to explain so just click the link or whatever. Stay tooned.

NEW! Dark Kuno found the missing half of "All-Nighter" and has published it on PPMB as a complete story!

PPMB

• The Dark Days To Come, by OverlordMikey (Part 2): "Daria! Daria where are you?!" Jane was running through the streets of Lawndale. Corpses were everywhere. She could hear whispering around her... join us... the voice was familiar, but it wasn't Daria. Who was it? "Daria! Hey, where are you!?" Why was she looking for her? That was when she came upon a horrible site. On the ground lay the bodies of people—people she knew... (FF.net)
  
• Falling into College: The Clip Show, by RLobinske (Part 7): Jake stood behind the kitchen counter, stirring a large pot. "You know, when I get a hankering for some Kitchen Sink Stew, I've found a new friend to give it just the extra kick that it needs." Jake picked up a small bottle and unscrewed the cap. "Just a dash of Brother Brimstone's Blazing Brew is all it takes." After Jake shook a small drop into the stew, a small mushroom cloud billowed up from the mix. "One million Scoville units. Guaranteed!"
• NEW! Finn Morgendorffer 45: Quarter Past Midnight, by HolyGrail2007 (Part 5): While both Stacy and the guys said that Finn was acting a little weird, Tom didn’t seem to say a thing. Finn was glad he didn’t. Even Tom, who had dated Jane, wouldn’t have understood just what it meant. He wanted Jane, wanted Jane when he could have anyone else. Other girls were only interested in themselves, and only wanted to date Finn because of his looks. They lusted for him, and that was it. Even Stacy, dear though she was, initially was only attracted to his body. Jane saw him in an entirely different light, still liked him. And Finn liked being liked by her: Compliments from her were not cheap. But little good they did now. Jane was nothing without her presence, a presence Finn could no longer feel.
  
• The Game Called Life, by Trscroggs (Part 4): One of the problems with the White Room, as Daria had dubbed it many lifetimes ago, was that there was literally nothing to do with her hands before the Old Man’s desk showed up. Normally the problem was academic, but it did make it harder to get a good brood going. Daria had taken to hanging her head back over the chair back and gazing the infinite whiteness of up when she did her heavy thinking here.
• A Happy Place, by NightGoblyn (COMPLETE!): "Well, I am really impressed!" Mr. O'Neill said, looking back and forth between the two girls. "I don't think we need to go any further, it's obvious that you're ready to leave the self-esteem class." He clapped his hands together and smiled widely. "Never before have I reached young minds so quickly and so well. I am proud of the work we've done here together." "That's... great," Daria said, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. "So, you'll tell Ms. Li that we graduated?" "Oh, but you haven't yet. There's one more test you have to take, if you're going to leave the class early... it's just a technicality, really, but you have to go through a quick hypnotherapy session with Dr. Manson first."
• It Could Have Been Worse, by Yogi (COMPLETE!): Jane and Quinn had very little in common. There really was no reason for them to talk. She was only going downstairs to get a refill on snacks; it didn’t even take 5 minutes. Yet by the time Daria made it back to her room, Jane and Quinn were in the middle of a heated theological discussion.