def flatten_list_of_strings(args)
      args.collect do |b|
        if b.is_a?(String)
          # string, split on commas and turn into array
          b.split(",").collect { |s| s.strip }
        else
          # presumably an array
          b
        end
      end.flatten
    end
def flatten_list_of_strings(args)
      args.collect do |b|
        if b.is_a?(String)
          # string, split on commas and turn into array
          b.split(",").collect { |s| s.strip }
        else
          # presumably an array
          b
        end
      end.flatten
    end
take a variable list of strings and possibly arrays and turn
 them into a single flat array of strings