What to do about comments and other housekeeping stuff

Well, I found the template problem -- YouTube video encased in BLOCKQUOTE instead of DIV tags. Everyone should see things OK now.

I've taken out as much stuff that requires downloads from other sites as possible. Unfortunately, that means also widgets -- at least for now -- until we break in the new template and I see how those of you who have written me in the past about load times and browser crashes do with the new dress.

The last step in this process is to restore the Haloscan commenting, which I'd like to do. However, I don't want to lose the comments we already have, especially the generational warfare comments. I've snagged what we have as of this morning, and I can restore them manually by copying them into Haloscan once that's set up.

If you have any objection to this kind of cut-and-paste, please let me know via e-mail: brilliantatbreakfast-at-gmail-dot-com.