Category:
Alex
Friends--thanks to the alertness of one of our core WU-vies, Messr. Dumbfounded, we have learned of a grievous but ineluctable Comments Implosion.
When Alex reconfigured the site and banished all the spammers, he implicitly authorized a purge of all past comments made by non-registered commenters.
A goodly number of those comments came from honest readers who had just not bothered to register. They were part of the legitimate conversation concerning previous posts.
Now they're irretrievably wiped.
We regret this accidental purge. Fully half of the pleasures of this site lies in the conversation following each post. We were thrilled to have this conversation archived for the enjoyment of all readers.
But if you recall the horrible spam problem, there seemed to be no other solution.
For now, we are still allowing comments by unregistered folks. We don't want to put up any extra barriers between readers and their public responses. But comments from unregistered folks are always less secure than those from registered WU-vies.
Thanks for your understanding and continued support.
I hope everyone is enjoying having Alex back as much as I am. Yay, Alex!
Perhaps you recall months ago when I touted his new book. Well, that was its UK edition only. Finally, in June, the US edition arrives.
Why not use the link the pre-order your copy now?
Sorry for our downtime! When we got linked-to by BOING-BOING and GIZMODO yesterday, it swamped us!
But we're back, thanks to Tech Wizard Alex!
One of our illustrious founders, Alex B., has been away from us too long. Now he offers us
The Mad Science Museum and says he might be back blogging at WU. For now, visit his new site!
You can't buy it yet, but here's the cover of Alex's new book!
If you visit the Amazon link, you can at least reserve your copy now!
Regular WU-vies realize that the blog has been missing one-third of its voice for the past many months, as Alex Boese hunkered down to finish his new book. Well, over at Alex's Museum of Hoaxes blog,
he's just announced his return to active blogging.
Let's hope that includes some time here at Weird Universe!
Alex has established a method of allowing quick deletes of spam, and I cleaned up a couple of dozen this morning. Faithful WU-vies should see fewer annoying comments. Thanks for your patience!
I would just like to take this opportunity to say what a swell job all the new contributors are doing! You have all been trained well in the "Chuck Shepherd School for Weirdos," graduating with honors. And a round of applause to Alex for thinking up this new forum and getting it off the ground!
I'm home now from my trip to the West Coast for only twelve hours, but I made sure that my first task was to read the last week's worth of WU posts and comments. Unfortunately I don't have a second, in the face of various deadlines, to respond to every single great comment on the assorted FOLLIES OF THE MAD MEN posts. But rest assured that I enjoyed each one, and continue to be amazed at the sagacity and enthusiasm and wit of the WU family of readers and contributors.
As for Chuck and Alex, they did tremendous work taking up my slack, with dozens of really great posts. If I can single out one, it would be Alex's talking goats video, which confirms that the earlier image I posted of goat testicles was accurate.
And that's what we're all about: accuracy in weirdness.
Please have one more FOLLIES, following this post. Then, tomorrow, even more goodies!
Continuing the travelogue, on Friday my wife and I drove up north from San Luis Obispo and did the tour of Hearst Castle. It was worth seeing, but for my money it wasn't as interesting as "Nit Wit Ridge" located about fifteen minutes away in nearby Cambria. Nit Wit Ridge is like the anti-Hearst Castle, being a mansion built entirely out of junk. From
sierrasol.com:
[Nit Wit Ridge] is considered a fine example of folk art and is a California State Historic Landmark. It was built by one man (Arthur Harold Beal) over the course of 51 years. Art began his creation in 1928 by digging out a hillside in Cambria. He used rocks, abalone shells, wood, beer cans, tile, car parts and other assorted junk to create his "Hearst Castle".
They're not kidding when they say it's built out of assorted junk. How many toilets can you spot in the picture below? (I see at least four.) Unfortunately Nit Wit Ridge is not open to the public, so I was only able to admire it from the outside.
All original content in posts is Copyright © 2008 by the author of the post, either Alex Boese ("Alex"), Paul Di Filippo ("Paul"), or Chuck Shepherd ("Chuck"). All rights reserved. The banner illustration at the top of this page is Copyright © 2008 by Rick Altergott.
Category: Weird Universe, Alex, Reader Recommendation