www.roanoke.com

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Welcome, visitors from the esteemed science/biology/evolution Web site Pharyngula, and others. We're happy to have you at this humble, homespun and truth-telling blog that originates in the peaceful hills of western Virginia (NOT West Virginia, though that's a pretty good state and we're real close).

This blog is moderated, and I'll be away from my computer for most of today, at a Division III football game in a place known more for its moonshine than anything else.

Because it's moderated, I have to approve your comments before they show up. I'll get to that late tonight, I promise, after that white lightning wears off. But until then your comments will not show up.

But be patient, and please come back. We have a lot of fun here, and we like you!

Hey folks,

We've had a flood of comments in recent days; thank you very much! We passed the 6,000 "approved" comments mark Tuesday night -- Kristen was the poster. We also have a bunch of new folks (recognition for them down below). It has been wild and woolly these election days!

Thank you all for your participation.

For the newbies, a brief note about comments: Although your computer screen may trick you, no comments ACTUALLY get posted to the blog until I formally "approve" them. (It's the way we're set up, alas). Although I approve pretty much everything that doesn't have four letter words, sometimes that takes a while. I might be out on assignment, writing a column, sleeping, schlepping the kids around or on a date with my wife, etc. But I will get to it, promise.

Spam: I get a lot - about 1 piece of electronic garbage for every REAL comment that comes in. It all gets filtered into a huge file I peruse occasionally. Every now and then it picks up something from a regular here on these boards, including in the past day or two. If/when I catch those I can recover them, but there are a lot to go through and I don't do it often. So if a very long time goes by (say, 6-8 hours) and it seem like your message isn't up, please drop me an email and let me know and I'll go hunting for it.

Last but not least, we've heard from a number of relative newbies here on the blog very recently. Welcome! A partial list is below:

Read more »

Hey folks,

If your comments aren't showing up immediately it's because I'll be without internet access this weekend.

The people at Roanoke.com will be checking and approving them for me, but there likely will be a lag. I'll be back on Sunday night and will take care of "approving" everything that's in the cue at that time.

Have a great weekend ... and keep those comments coming!