Richard Haydn? Indubitably. He of mushrooms and Alice and hookahs and �Whooo are youuu?� And I loved the Clyde Crashcup character. He was also in a little known Twilight Zone called �A Thing About Machines� back in 1960. I miss those great old character actors. Hollywood doesn�t seem to turn them out like it used to.

I vaguely remember him reciting that poem but can�t remember the venue.

[This message has been edited by Chapter 31 (edited 03-13-2006).]

Right, Haydn, not Hayden. The poem he delivered as an old radio performer on The Dick Van Dyke Show episode called "The Return of Edwin Carp" (1964).

Just tried that other place, planetary wide blizzard still raging. We are still marooned in this lonely outpost on Mars. The wind murmurs to me, "eat more hotdogs and popcorn, eat more hotdogs and pocorn, and a nice sparkly fizz of coca-cola at the refreshment stand..."

It doesn't sound like you're complaining, and I'm enjoying the company. I guess before too long you'll all be returning to the new house and filing your reports to the Bureau Of Moral Climate. I'm considering sending robots in your places.

[This message has been edited by grasstains (edited 03-13-2006).]

Curiouser and curiouser!
I made my 2-or-3-times-daily attempt to get on the "New Board" message board and ended up here! Wasn't there a "Twilight Zone" episode like this?

An individual from Authors on the Web gave an explanation, and here is their answer:

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. (The board owner) was unable to send email over the weekend and I just started working on this issue today. I've talked to some of the people at HC and looked at the site and I think I've figured out what happened:

Since the change over to Groupee, the domain name RayBradburyBoard.com had lead to the new Groupee message board. Also, all the links on the site went to the page RayBradbury.com/MB.html, on our server, which used a metatag to automatically forward users to the new Groupee board (RayBradburyBoard.com/eve). I believe that the only people still using the old board are people who had the direct link bookmarked or saved somewhere. So both boards were up and running.

Last week one of the HC tech guys renewed the URL RayBradburyBoard.com and changed it's settings so that it forwards directly to the old message board. So now there is no way to get to the new Groupee message board without typing in the exact IP address.

The other issue was that, in forwarding the URL without taking into account the message board directory (/eve), the change broke the link on Ray's site that used to forward to the new board, which is why clicking on the Message Board link on the site gave you a blank page or "file not found" error.

Anyway, I will send a message to HC to have them replace the settings on RayBradburyBoard.com so that the Groupee board is accessable again. Also, I have changed the site, so that if you click on the "Message Board" link on
his site you will go to the old board, for now. So people won't get a blank page anymore. When the settings for RayBradburyBoard.com are changed back I'll have the links lead to the Groupee message board again.

Once that is done, we can look into the issue of the missing posts, but I think if Groupee doesn't have an answer for that, they may be lost. I seem to remember this issue when we transfered the content to Groupee originally.

I'll send you a message when that change has been made. Let me know if you have any other questions or if there's anything else you need.

Here's my answer:

WOW, so you are the person I should have been talking to all along!

I do question your explanation about the url because all of the regulars had the new board bookmarked as well. But if something about the url were changed that would explain that.

Don't worry about the posts. Anything that didn't make it to the new board still exists at the old board, and most if not all of what was lost from the old board last time I checked exists in this link out in limbo-land. The material is there and I will be glad to check what didn't make the transfer. The issue I had with it is that I, as moderator, have no way to add back the posts in their original form into the threads from which they went missing. I'm not asking or expecting they be in the same order--probably anything "added in" would appear after what's already there--I just wanted a way to transfer the material as it originally appeared--as separate posts from different people--not as one long cut-and-paste job under my name, which is the only way I could do it.

Thanks SO MUCH for your attention and help on this situation!

I'm numb. That was heavy. It just won't be the same around this old lifeboat/ghost town/martian outpost. Just grasstains and footprints will be the only things left to show anybody was ever here in the first place.

What we do now, Kemosabe?

is it groupee or crappy? Thought I fell into the ravine there for a moment!

Please, don�t anyone ever tell Ray. He�ll write a story about it.

He said Kemosabe.

(in Bruce Dern voice with weird Appalatian twangy mouth instrument in background)

"You must have me mixed up with that masked man over there sellin cell phones in front of the saloon. Go on back er' boy to the cigar store and stand where you belong unless you want a lead part in them feathers."

(seriously, now I know what Chapter goes through cleaning the monitor, when you said Kemosabe. Chapter, what cleanser do you find works best?)

Yes, he did, he did say Kemosabe. Ahem�

A liberal application of window cleaner and paper towel usually works best. Once more unto the breach, Mr. Lincoln. Once more.

That work with blood too?

A white plume would be more appropriate for that, I think. After ending the refrain of course.

No blood here! There's no indication that we can't continue to use both boards!