After discovering that a number of comments were being incorrectly marked as “spam” and getting your feedback, I’ve installed a new system which should eliminate lost comments (at least, that’s the plan!).

This new system simply requires you to check a small box, located right below the “Submit Comment” button. We have been testing it over the past week and it seems to work pretty well.

That said, I have noticed an occasional legitimate comment still ending up in spam.  I’ll keep trying to eliminate this.  Even if I don’t, I’ll continue to regularly check the spam box.

So in the rare instance a comment does end up there, I’ll be able to retrieve and post it promptly.  The good thing is, the new system makes those comments much easier to find.

Again, my apologies if you have previously tried to leave a comment, only to see it disappear. I don’t want to waste anyone’s time and energy. If that ever happened to you, I hope you’ll give commenting another try the next time the spirit moves you.

If you find there is still a problem, please do not hesitate to email me at ewesner@gmail.com.  Thanks!

Turkey Tuesday brain drain

Someone asked me if I still did the “brain drain” posts, which was a semi-regular feature a couple of years back, basically a spattering of photos, links, and thoughts.  I hadn’t been planning one, but come to think of it, perhaps my brain does need a little draining.  So here we go:

  • Breaking Amish  I’m not really sure what to say about Breaking Amish.  Based on the clips I saw and the bits of news that filtered through, it felt like a train wreck in slow motion.  The thing is, a good and growing chunk of the public likes watching train wrecks in slow motion.  This was apparently TLC’s highest ranking “freshman series”.  Perhaps that means there’ll be a “sophomore” season.
  • Road safety by Viola  Amish Workshops has a nice road safety rules article.  In it, Amish contributor Viola explains how to drive safely in Amish areas.  Besides the well-known points such as not passing too close to buggies, there are less-obvious cautions such as “When approaching a buggy that is stopped at an intersection, be sure to leave plenty of room between your car and the buggy. Horses can get nervous at intersections and sometimes back up, which could result in damage to the front end of your car.”
  • Amish hair care  In a recent comment, formerly Amish Lydia Beechy discusses Amish hair issues, including how to handle thick hair, and Amish women braiding hair before bedtime.
  • Sweet tooth  The Amish dessert I most crave right now?  Doughnuts.  Wait, that’s not a dessert, you say?  Well, the last Amish-made creme-stuffed, chocolate-drenched bunch I ate sure tasted like dessert 🙂
  • Clinic for Special Children  We watched the Holmes Morton video a few weeks ago.  Reader Linda has sent along a link to a blog post by Dr. Morton’s daughter Mary, including photos of the auction.  Mary came of age around the clinic: “Most of my childhood was spent at the Clinic, playing in the lab, in the halls, in the surrounding fields and woods. Throughout college, I worked in the Clinic’s busy lab, running a gene sequencer, searching for the elusive single point gene mutations underlying the rare genetic diseases that affect the Plain people.”  Nice read about a beautiful endeavor.  Thanks Linda for finding that.
  • Where’s the juice?  Mike of Primitive Christianity took the following photo while in southern Lancaster County doing Anabaptist-related research.  What is going on here?  I guess it helps if you know that this is now an Amish home, but wasn’t always.
Amish Electric Meter
  • Giveaway contest  We have a neat giveaway scheduled for tomorrow.  The only clue I’ll give now is that it’s not a book.  Check back tomorrow for more.
  • If you’d like to submit items for consideration for future posts, they are always welcome.  Just send them to my email (see above).

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