I was reading about the Volokh Brothers and Company stumbling upward into the pages of the Washington Post, and realized that we once again missed the anniversary of the start if this blog. This little hole in the internet has actually been here since 2 January 2002, which is a long time in dog years. Here’s the post that started it all:
Since nothing in my life is easy, I doubt this will work the first time I try it. If it does work, I will be moderately elated.
It’s basically been downhill since then.
Comrade Mary
Jeez, a little warning next time and I could bake a cake or something.
Ignaz Playel
@Comrade Mary: As long as it’s not red velvet, you can still bake one.
Ash Can
Thank goodness for the commenters, who prevent this joint from going completely to shit. Oh, wait…
Villago Delenda Est
The BJ calendar should have 2 January in red. To remind us all of the date.
The entire thing with Volokh indicates that the WaPo feels that it needs more reactionary stupid in its pages, that Krauthammer, Will, Marcus, Cohen, and Rubin are just not enough. They need more. Much more.
Bezos is being “hands off” for the present, but Hiatt, if he had enough working neurons, should be nervous.
Omnes Omnibus
I thought this was going to be about shaving a cat’s ass.
jl
“Oops I Did It Again”
Look, don’t screw around with the readership that way. I saw that title and thought “Christ almighty, Cole tried to wipe some snot off Lily’s nose and cut his foot off, or something”
@Omnes Omnibus: damn straight. That title shaved the hair off this cat’s ass for a sec alright, and did it Cole style.
Villago Delenda Est
@Omnes Omnibus:
You know, that’s pretty much what I was expecting, too.
Gopher2b
You mean everything everyone says on the Internet
lives forever.
Fuck.
chopper
@Omnes Omnibus:
I still imagine Wesley Willis every time I read ‘shave a cat’s ass’.
jl
@Villago Delenda Est:
” The entire thing with Volokh indicates that the WaPo feels that it needs more reactionary stupid in its pages, ”
First thing that came to my mind was Bezos’ New Rag Same as the Old Rag was trying to balance, or replace, the facty wonkitude of Klein. And Volokh conspiracy (at least as I remember back when I looked at it regularly) is blandly and wrongheadedly reasonable enough at first glance to do the job.
Edit Not that I was a real big fan of Klein’s sometimes shallow and sloppy wonkitude sometimes mixed with near beltway level pablum pretending to be political analysis, but it was better than other commentary and analysis in the Washington Post.
Ash Can
@Gopher2b: Considering the apparent fact that F-bombs are pretty much a requirement for posting or commenting here, you nailed it.
joel hanes
I’ve been reading you off and on for almost the whole time — came here initially because you were a veteran.
Thanks, John, for all you do, including all the stuff we don’t know about.
[ Though I’m not sure we *really* need to know about the vicissitudes of shaving cat butt. TMI, I wot. ]
p.a.
What’s the issue with Volokh? It’s center-right, just like the Village ™, country, and world.
AndoChronic
“Wesley Willis”! I slept at a place he slept at and the coffee table that he broke was still broke. I will not mention what I did to and on that same coffee table…
gbear
Did you ever imagine in 2002 that you would eventually be hosting ads for toenail fungus? Happy B-day.
chopper
@AndoChronic:
the jam session was *awesome*. it shaved the cat’s ass.
jl
From heaven to hell the road was paved
By a real sad try for a cat’s ass shaved.
But the ass, if not the hand, was thankfully saved,
Will it teach the master to be henceforth well-behaved?
Ans: No, not on your cat’s shaved ass it won’t.
Felonius Monk
Happy Birthday, Balloon Juice.
SarahT
Mazrl Tov, John Cole
joel hanes
@p.a.:
What’s the issue with Volokh? It’s center-right …
It’s explicitly libertarian. That’s a deep defect.
RSA
New Year’s Eve resolution: I’m onna make the world a better place.
January 2: Well, crap. Maybe I’ll start a blog instead.
Just kidding–this is all in my imagination. Happy anniversary! (And BJ does make the world a better place.)
jl
Yeah, OK, sorry. I guess I am supposed to be nice. Happy anniversary Balloon-Juice Blog!
But, no cake? Where’s the cake?
Drunken hausfrau
OMG! Have I been drunk for twelve years?
Thank you all for making it fun and enlightening…
Lurking, as usual, +3 or 4….Large.
Mike in NC
@Villago Delenda Est: For local reactionary stupiditary in our newspaper we get to enjoy weekly doses of Will, Krauthammer, Malkin, O’Reilly, Friedman, Parker, Rubin, D. Limbaugh, Walter Williams, Gerson, etc. God forbid some non-Tea Party freak should join the conversation. The world might spin off its axis.
Alison
Well, happy belated blogiversary! Wouldn’t it be interesting to go back to that day and tell the You of then what this blog would turn into by now – traffic- and impact-wise, but also the content itself. I wonder how much of it the old JC would believe…
Violet
Happy Anniversary, Balloon-Juice! I see that the 12th anniversary traditional gift is silk or linen and the modern gift is pearls. Which would you prefer?
jl
@Mike in NC:
You meant to type
“The world might spin off its shaved cat’s ass”,
right?
Yatsuno
I was still in rehab. So I appreciate the delayed celebration. I did have my computer though…
danielx
It most certainly has, and last night was yet another slip downwards. Although you’ve probably added a phrase to urbandictionary.com – “that’s about as likely as shaving a cat’s ass!“.
Sweet tidy bowl jesus skipping across the blue water, what were you thinking?
TaMara (BHF)
There will be Lane Cake in tomorrow’s recipe exchange if that helps any. Happy Birthday Balloon-Juice. Don’t know what I would do without this wonderful, crazy house that John built.
AndoChronic
@chopper: Good times. I’m running into a similar problem with our Maine Coon too though. The doc gave us some kind of steroid/alcohol spray with some cotton squares to give, rather, douche our little girl with now and then. Good thing we love her. We’re placating her with catnip though, after the ordeal. I’m wondering if it might be a better idea to give the catnip to her before hand. Although, that practice might have too much negative association attached to it. What do you all think?
Biff Longbotham
Loyal lurker/sometime commenter since ’04. Congrats on the anniversary, John.
BBA
Back when I was in law school, I thought Volokh was the bee’s knees. I think I was lulled into complacency by Randy Barnett’s not-obviously-insane contracts textbook.
What the fuck was wrong with me?
(Though even then I thought Somin was a tone-deaf bore.)
Cain
Damn, I think I”ve been reading BJ since 2006 or something. 7 years.. man, I don’t think I’ve ever had that long of a relationship with a website.
joel hanes
@BBA:
I thought Volokh was the bee’s knees.
…
What the fuck was wrong with me?
Youth.
Fortunately, the effects are (usually) temporary.
Suzanne
Happy anniversary! I got you a cat’s ass.
CaseyL
Happy BJ Birthday!
I love this place. I’ve met some great people – virtually and in realspace, through the BJ meetups – and had some great conversations.
To Balloon Juice; its proprietor and all its front pagers: Long may they wave.
Wag
Happy anniversary! Steve rocks!
srv
It only worked when you really hated people.
Less drinking, more rage against the whatever.
Elie
Happy Anniversary! I discovered BJ about 6-7 years ago during Obama’s first campaign through a link on Kos. I have been a juicer since, sometimes lurking, other times very visible — varying with the tides of my life and work.
Thank you, John. I really like it here and like the people and the sense of community that is unique…
dollared
@Yatsuno: And how’s it going?
Yatsuno
@dollared: Haven’t seen my therapist this week yet, so not sure what’s going on there. I should be up tomorrow. Good thing is I’m oing some self exercises and the leg is getting there. Best part is I’m hardly hurting. At least on that side. I kinda figured this would happen, but it’s on;y for a few months. When Mom is done with horse season we’ll get the right one replaced.
dollared
@Yatsuno: Glad to hear it. Therapy is going to be a lot of work…..
Matt McIrvin
I just realized that Balloon Juice has now been a liberal blog longer than it was a conservative blog.
cleek
Volokh is a weird one. some posters deal strictly with legal issues, and some think about the libertarian aspects ofthe law, but then there are others who are stone wingnut partisans who try to find the “conservative” win in every topic. which, whatever. that’s blogging. but side-by-side, the contrast between the straight legalistic types and the partisans makes the partisans seem utterly petty and ridiculous. weird mix.
Trinity
This blog is my favorite place on the intertoobz. Thank you John.
Steve is awesome. That is all.
pat
@Trinity:
Ditto that.
burnspbesq
@Villago Delenda Est:
The Volokh crew are many things, but stupid is not one of them.
burnspbesq
@BBA:
As long as Volokh has Orin Kerr, it won’t be a complete waste of electrons and pixels.
Ahh, for the golden days of 2006, when Greenie hadn’t completely lost his shit, Orin Kerr had his own blog, and Marty Lederman was a regular at Balkinization.
tofubo
It’s basically been downhill since then. lowering expectations since 2002, huh ??
sorry it took a year or so to hit your site and then another two to come back regularly, cus you were still in yer ‘other mind’ back then:
The UN Security Council is now utterly pointless and no nation will ever attempt to go through it again, the French have clearly staked out their future, and the Democrats have their position mapped out (the left wing bloggers have spent the last week engaging in their typical pop psychology analysis of Bush, crowing about dropping approval ratings, so it is going to be funny watching him make them look like idiots again).