Crazy optimist that I am, I imagine somebody reading these little posts and putting them at the bottom of a large pile. Whoever you are, I hope you are enjoying your day and that Slate provides coffee.

As indicated here, a number of us (each using different setups), are having trouble getting the XX Factor blog.

Also, I haven't been able to get the Preview function to work for Fray posts in some time. This remains true whether I use Internet Explorer or Firefox, and even if I dump cookies and restart my computer. Here's a copy of this post when I hit the Preview tab:

staffers, one must follow the correct protocol. Have you already requested a Central Services Form 287 Stroke BFD? Complete the form in triplicate, making sure the carbons are properly inserted, and return one copy to Central Services, one to Information Retrieval, and one to Department of Records. In the meantime, enjoy the banners and clickthroughs celebrating the salubrious advent of Cisco's Human Network and its Washington Post Corporate Partners. Remember, Everything's Better....With New Technology!

Even though it seems the error message you've complained of is chronic and apparently unnoticed by Slate tech staffers, one day you will receive an unexpected message via e-mail from one "Pat Stack", or "Chantay Mooers", requesting additional data about the problem you claim exists. You will know it's an authorized tech-staff query if it's supercilious, and accompanied by the official Slate Tech Staff icon, an almost laughably long-billed reddish-orange ballcap. Don't even dream of accepting assistance from a freelance technician, no matter how interested and responsive he or she appears to be. By providing quick, linear responses to technical glitches, these freelancers, little more than terrorists, subvert the great Network which treats us all as equals. We're (not) All In This Together!

The morning found me miles away
With still a million things to say

Now, when twilight dims the sky above
Recalling thrills of our love
There’s one thing I’m certain of

Return, I will, to old Brazil

(I kid. But I do love that song, and the movie too)

If you did anything, it solved my problem.

If you did nothing, you proved yourselves model Daoists ("By doing nothing, everything is accomplished").