Friend of the blog, Larime, whom many of you know as the fellow who, disabled, can draw better than most of us, is having a tough go of it. His wife has been diagnosed with cancer and they don’t have the means to adequately deal with it, and I just learned that it is malignant and she will be needing all of the horrible things we associate with cancer- radiation, chemo, etc. They’ve set up a gofundme site, so if you have some extra scratch lying around, please do pitch in. I’m sure he’d also love to do some work for you should you want to commission a piece like the one above.
Additionally, I upgraded my video card because my pc (I picked it up in 2010) was getting long in the tooth so I added some RAM and upgraded the video card, so I now have an Nvidia GeForce 660 ti lying around that I will give away for a 50 dollar donation to Larime. Any takers?
Finally, some Christmas Tunch, since you have been asking.
I miss the fella always sitting at my desk with me all day every day helping me (knocking things off my desk, sitting on my keyboard, attacking my hand, or silently sitting there staring at me until I paid attention to him). Steve doesn’t do that like Tunch did, but Lily is now always by my side on the couch in my home office.
John Cole +0
I’m brain cramping and hope to hell I used who and whom correctly before one of you asshole pedants comes in and derails the whole god damned thread.
Mike J
@John Cole +0:
Substitute in he or him.
Many of you know him. Him has an M, whom is correct.
Omnes Omnibus
@John Cole +0: Isn’t that rather unkind to the commentary here? Why be an asshole in the first fucking comment on your own post?
Scamp Dog
I’m glad we still get Tunch pictures now and again. Steve pictures, too. Oh, and Lily.
Gin & Tonic
You live for asshole pedants.
Violet
Oh, my goodness. That drawing of Lily is amazing. Love the whole drawing, but Lily is always my favorite. Just love her. Those eyes.
Will look to see what extra cash I have and send some Laramie’s way. That’s a tough place to be. Sending good thoughts their way, if that helps.
Love that picture of Tunch.
BAtFFP
I’ve been meaning to commission a picture for a long time now! I guess now would be a good time to actually do it.
ruemara
I’ll see what I can scrounge. I got a bonus for the 103% improvement in sales. unfortunately, I don’t get reinstatement to full time, but, you know, I haven’t had a Christmas bonus since 1999. I was going to try to pay down some of the old medical bills from spring but, I’d rather help a fellow artist out.
As a reminder, JC, I sent you an email about possible help for Rosie regarding vet visits. Last time mentioning it, since you may not want it.
Also, Mem, email me, re: cats.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: Despite Cole being a passive-aggressive asshole here, I donated. It doesn’t mean Cole wasn’t an asshole. One wonders why he would choose that route.
wasabi gasp
@John Cole +0: Hole in one.
Violet
@Omnes Omnibus: I don’t think he was being an asshole. I thought it was funny. He’s not wrong that grammar nazis sometimes derail entire threads. I read it as a curmudgeonly comment on that issue.
And the thread derailment seems to be what’s happening, albeit in a somewhat meta manner.
Omnes Omnibus
@wasabi gasp: Bullshit. Despite the tendency for people here to wax pedantic at the drop of a hat, people here also respond very quickly to requests for help. Cole was being an asshole to his community; OTOH, Cole is an asshole in his interpersonal style.
dp
I don’t think you ever stop missing pets that are gone.
My wife put one of our (late) dog’s picture as her icon on my contacts. Her (the dog’s) death hit me harder than any other ever has, and every time she calls me I get a little shot seeing her picture.
Thanks for the Tunch pics.
Omnes Omnibus
@Violet: On a thread like this, this community would have opened their wallets before they went grammar nazi.
Omnes Omnibus
@Omnes Omnibus: I also may have been inclined to have a jaundiced view of a Cole post based on his Sony post.
wasabi gasp
@Omnes Omnibus: You misunderstood. Cole derailed the thread. And if I am to trust his opinion, which I often do, is then an asshole.
Omnes Omnibus
@wasabi gasp: Missed it at first. Got it now. Self-derail.
ETA: Despite my brilliance, I do miss things once and a while.
JustRuss
For the record, I thought Cole’s grammer Nazi comment was funny. Can’t imagine BJ without a cranky Cole. And even if I found it offensive, I’d forgive him for the Tunchy-pic.
Violet
No matter what Cole did or didn’t do re: derailing the post, Laramie’s gofundme site is getting donations. Some kind soul just donated $100!
NotMax
@John Cole +0
When in doubt, recast the phrasing.
Friend of the blog Larime, known by many of you as the disabled fellow capable of drawing better than most of us
Omnes Omnibus
@Violet:I donated and I think Cole was an asshole. You don’t ask for something from people while calling them pedantic assholes. Not if you are a sensible person.
Pogonip
@dp: In ’71 or ’72, our dog Fuzzy died. I clipped the little tuft of hair from the end of her tail. I still have it.
Betsy
@Omnes Omnibus: that must be why his bros and so many other folks come and stay at his house and hang out n stuff. Ps projection
ruemara
@Omnes Omnibus:
hmmmm
I think I see the error. Cole? Sensible? HA!
J R in WV
John,
In the morning we’ll see what we can do to help out. Seems like everyone is having such a hard time. I’m just so glad many more of us have health insurance of some sort today than we did just not so long ago!!
In the meantime, I want to congratulate you on your inspired piece about Cuba, Senator Rubio, he who can’t remember when his parents moved away from his wonderful homeland in Cuba, the Republican love of V. Putin, turned over night into madness over the situation in Crimea and Ukraine. Putin – who now is the man who lost Cuba!!!
President Obama is a political genius, as you say. I just hope he can help the poor Democratic party in the future, after he steps down from his high office.
Thanks for that epic speech (I know, written, but still!) on the repeated dismay of the Republican Party. Sleep well!
Betsy
@NotMax: like “who, disabled,” for emphasis and style, also, because it IDs him as a plain old “fellow” first and only then adds the adjective that makes the point for contrast
Stylin’. Are not we english majors unimpressed by mere grammatical correctness?
Yatsuno
Alerting proper authoritahs. And gonna return to this thread next week. Just dropped some scratch on a medical bill & running a hair lean right now.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betsy: Yeah, right.. Cole goes off on people on a hair trigger when he feels like it. His heart may be in the right place, but interpersonal skill-wise, he is an asshole. My other concerns about Cole qua Cole can be addressed at another time.
NotMax
@,a href=”https://balloon-juice.com/2014/12/17/help-a-brother-out-6/#comment-5202631″:>Betsy
A myriad of ways to recast it possible. Didn’t mean to suggest that example was the only one.
Although I do always default to the Strunk & White dictate of ripping commas out as often as possible.
Violet
@Omnes Omnibus: I took being called a pedantic asshole as a term of endearment. Didn’t bother me at all. Thought his comment was funny.
NotMax
@Violet
Suppose labeling folks a-holes whilst simultaneously requesting donations from them could be described as rectal pleading.
TaMara (BHF)
So my cat is tormenting the dog and I’m not even sure what to do about it, mostly because I can’t stop laughing.
Hope it ends your night on a good note. :-)
TaMara (BHF)
I love how in his painting, the pets look so floofy, like you can reach out and snuggle them.
dp
@Pogonip: That’s what I’m talking about. They crawl in and make their place, and when they’re gone, their place is still there. I get teary-eyed just typing this.
asiangrrlMN
I remember this painting. It’s so evocative of Tunch, Lily, and Rosie. I’m sorry that Larime and Sylv are having such a rough time and kicked in a bit hoping to ease their troubles just a little. This is one of my absolute favorite pictures of Tunchie (by the computer), and it makes me teary-eyed thinking about him. He’s gone, but never forgotten.
@John Cole +0: As a very pedantic asshole, bite me, Cole. ;)
@Yatsuno: Hope you’re improving every day, Yutsy. Thanks for alerting me!
notorious JRT
@Omnes Omnibus:
Because this place DOES have its pedants, who can come off as jerks.
larimegimp
Just got home – we only found out this morning that it’s malignant after most signs suggested it wasn’t, so I took Sylv out for the night to get away from everything. Thank you guys SO MUCH! And yes, by all means, commission away!
Anne Laurie
@Omnes Omnibus: His mom’s an English prof. It’s PTSD.
(My mom was an English teacher, so I get to say that.)
Amir Khalid
This sentence is grammatical, and perfectly fine as far as use of who/whom is concerned. I just have two quibbles on style:
(1) “whom many of you know as” can be cut without loss of meaning, and should be;
(2) the adjective “disabled ” should be used attributively before the noun, rather than in a relative clause where it trips up the flow of the sentence.
Alas, my own limited means as a medical retiree preclude a donation to the very talented Larime, so I must content myself with sending him good wishes.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
Be careful when following Strunk & White’s advice. Any AmE vs. BrE issues aside, their counsel on specific issues is not always rooted in sound scholarship. I usually just go with what feels right to me.
raven
Damn, put the bite on me first thing!
JGabriel
@Gin & Tonic:
Are you sure that’s the correct plural of Asshole Pedant? I thought the correct way to pluralize that was Assholes Pedant – like Surgeons General.
raven
@JGabriel: Or Attorneys General?
Amir Khalid
@JGabriel:
The adjective typically precedes the noun. The noun in this case is “pedant”, so it should follow the adjective form of “asshole” — “assholish pedants”. In a compound noun like “surgeons-general”, the adjective is hyphenated to the end of the noun, so “assholes” would be the noun. You should then say “assholes-pedantic” since in English adjectives don’t have to agree in number with the noun.
Okay, I’m done with pedantic assholery for now.
p.a.
@Mike J: Great tip, thanks. I’ve usually used a coin flip. Now if I can only remember it…
raven
Guess who no likey the Cuba deal???
raven
Cool, everyone on the show slapped the shit out of Joe. I’m sure they will drag up some asshole. . . hear he come! The head of the American Conservative Union!!!!
Peking Man
@John Cole +0: Read this Language Log post (http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=10398) to find that it doesn’t matter; unless you want more sex
John Cole +0
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh FFS. Are you new here? It was a fucking joke.
@Anne Laurie: My mom AND my dad. I got the double whammy.
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: Joe doesn’t want to talk to Cuba or Iran, I guess his solution is bombs away.
Betty
Can we vote on who is the bigger asshole- Cole or Omnes? I know who gets my vote. I like curmudgeons. Why I come here.
Sherparick
Tunch had a wonderful smile. Thanks for the pictures and the heads up. I may contact Larime to have him do picture of our pets, both present and past. Another reason to be grateful to Pope Frank this week.
Matt
FWIW, I personally will no longer make donations through Gofundme – they’ve demonstrated a nasty pandering-to-wingnuts streak that doesn’t deserve rewarding with their take of the donations.
Fer instance, they were totes OK raising $400k (and taking home $20k themselves) for Darren Wilson – they did eventually delete the torrent of horrifically-racist comments on that one, but they were still happy to take the money.
On the other hand, they suddenly develop an aversion to controversial funding when abortion is involved. As the Church Lady would say, “CONVEEEENIENT”.
But seriously, fuck those assholes. There are plenty of other crowdfunding sites, there’s no reason to pump money into wingnut enablers.
Althea
You made me cry, both with the story and the picture of Tunch. I was once a long-time, avid reader of this blog but 2 or 3 years ago I quit reading blogs for mental health reasons. I don’t know what made me come back a couple of times recently. At any rate, it has changed a lot, like everything else. Even so, I still miss him terribly. He was both beautiful and attitude-ful. But, I’ll be okay after these 4 mg of Ativan kick in. No worries, it’s a morning ritual.
satby
Totally kicking in, good luck to Larime and Sylv. I’m not able to give a lot, but I know from experience how much every bit helps.
And when I get back to solvent, I need to commission a Biggie portrait for my son.
Betsy
@Omnes Omnibus: concerns!?? Your CoNcErNs!??!!
Ymbfkm
Karen in GA
Kicked in a little. Larime, I hope all goes well — here’s to better days ahead.
shelley
GoFundMe doesn’t accept PayPal?
schrodinger's cat
Tunch kitteh, FTW. Thanks, you made my day. Soft and Floofy and ruling Balloon Juice with an iron paw.
Suzanne
I love all you asshole pedants/assholes pedant so, so very much. This is making me smile. It’s like family.
My mom was an English teacher, too. We couldn’t go to restaurants if they had grammatical or spelling errors in the menus, because she would complain to the managers so much. I tried to make the point that being correct about the nuances of English didn’t save me from loogies in my food.
JustPeachyAndYou
Donated, and after the crazy season, plan to commission a portrait of Mr. JustPeachy’s favorite cat, sadly now deceased (the cat, not Mr. JustPeachy). Ignored the grammar pedants and agree with the posts that said they missed Tunch, too.
Alex
Opposed to the gofundme group for personal reasons. Welcome suggestions for ways to donate to Larime and Sylv anonymously.