Two quick things-
1.) Just got all the thank you cards for the snail mail donors except for two in the mail. Two of you will not be receiving them because I saved your envelopes and they were on the front seat of my car and I was driving on the highway with the windows down and they blew out the window when a gust of air hit the car. So sorry. The rest of you should receive them in a day or so.
2.) Just saw the alpha of the website and I really liked it. I think you all are going to be pleasantly surprised, and there is even a “this sucks” button you can click on and take you back to the old format without the new bells and whistles. They are also working on a very customizable comments section where you can choose if you want nested, etc. Probably another two weeks. The site is very readable, too. I don’t have my reading glasses or bifocals yet (going to break down and get them next month), and I could read the page without hitting
So far, so good.
Yatsuno
So…return of Recent Comments? Please? Pretty Please? With sprinkles on top?
raven
What about us schlubs that gave online? Did you get enough to cover the damage? Go Dawgs!
kindness
Just so long as you didn’t use Itunes as a template for upgrades.
schrodinger's cat
Will the blog have a daily Tunch photo?
ETA: Grainy videos of Tunch or the current inhabitants of Casa Cole also acceptable.
JPL
Bah Humbug!
kc
Well, at least you didn’t say the dog ate them.
Paul in KY
Look forward to seeing it.
Bobby Thomson
Hard core nudity.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
There was a Seinfeld show where Kramer was going to get Jerry and Elaine somewhere, and the address flew out the window, so he went through a neighborhood, peeking in through windows until he found the right house. Just something I thought of when I saw this…
pamelabrown53
I’m worried about “this sucks” button. It allows for piling on and I worry that this would change the conversational nature of this delightful oasis.
Wouldn’t it just be better to flag a particular poster/troll.
Please don’t turn this into DailyKos where an interesting or not litmus tested opinion is swarmed and folks just push a button instead of registering a thoughtful dissent or nuanced opinion
IMHO, let’s start small: when one replys, the comment # is automatically displayed. Would help with cohesiveness without outside influences gaming the system.
Calouste
Just read this article on TPM where a “jaywalking” teenager (no points for guessing the ethnicity) was arrested by 9 cops. Nine. Three times three. A complete baseball team.
The conclusion I draw from that is that that city (Stockton, CA) has way too many cops with way too little to do.
Linkie: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/stockton-teenager-arrest-jaywalking
WaterGirl
@raven: I just searched my email for “John Cole personalized thank you note” and it brought up nothing! :-)
WaterGirl
@Calouste: Un-fucking-believable. Except that it isn’t. Damn, when is this going to stop?
Calouste
@pamelabrown53: The “this” in “this sucks” refers to the new site design. The button will allow you to go back to this design we’re now using that we all love to hate.
pamelabrown53
@Calouste:
Thanks, Calouste, for informing me that I’m not even in the same universe! as per this discussion.
Morzer
I am glad to see that BJ is finally approaching value-for-subscription standards.
NotMax
So the two envelopes are sitting out in a field off the road?
I sense a pattern…
Rosalita
@pamelabrown53:
I believe he meant that you can revert back to the old blog format if you don’t like the new
Bobby Thomson
The button should say “that really sucks, lady!”
Rosalita
We’re still light on pet posts. Remember come for the politics, stay for the pets?
Mike E
My dog ate themThe wind took them…how lame.bystander
What is the snail mail contact? I’m not a fan of PenPal.
Morzer
@NotMax:
Those liberal envelopes will be getting gay married before you can say “Thurston!”
NotMax
So long as I’m not forced to enable any javascript with the new design, shall be happy. Web surf just dandy with it turned off 99.5% of the time.
WaterGirl
@bystander: As I recall, you send Cole an email (contact an author on the upper right section of the page) and then he sends an email back that gives you the snail mail address you can send your donations to.
Morzer
@NotMax:
Fight the power, bro!
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: If he goes back to find them, they will be sitting under a jar of mustard.
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Bobby Thomson:
Your links are failing because you’ve got an extra “http” in them.
Lee
Sweet Mother of Abraham Lincoln!!!!!
SiubhanDuinne
O/T, or maybe not since the title says Open Thread, but the House has just passed the Defund Planned Parenthood bill. Two Dems voted with the GOP adroitly: Dan Lipinski (IL) and Collin Peterson (MN). Anyone know either of these two or have a clue why they would vote against funding PP?
Morzer
@SiubhanDuinne:
I think Lipinski has always been a Blue Dog of the more odious variety, especially on women’s issues.
Gin & Tonic
@SiubhanDuinne: Lipinski is from the most conservative Chicago CD, lots of old ethnic Catholics, and is chair of the Pro-Life caucus in the House.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: If they shut don’t the government, Planned Parenthood still gets funding through Medicaid.
phoebes-in-santa fe
@schrodinger’s cat: I agree. There should be a place on the side with pictures of Tunch and the current crew. Updates, even, on a daily basis. (Except for poor Tunch, of course)
Yatsuno
@SiubhanDuinne: Welp…there goes my job for awhile. So much for any possibility of funding the government since the House will have a fit now and not vote for anything until the Senate agrees to take this up. Sigh.
And there have always been pro-forced birth Democrats, so this isn’t anything new.
Elizabelle
@phoebes-in-santa fe: There, we have “Classic Tunch.” Or even a pic of Tunch merchandise.
I am still thrilled with the photo of Lily and her dainty paw, under the duvet, from last night.
Gin & Tonic
In an actual act of journalism, the Bezos Post put up an article about the Unidentified Jackass “Muslim training camp” theory. Probably not much of a surprise that World Net Daily was mentioned a couple of times. Both the Feds and local law enforcement seem completely unconcerned.
geg6
@pamelabrown53:
I think the “it sucks” button will take you back to the old format, if I’m reading that correctly.
geg6
@NotMax:
At least, unlike the Subaru, they are probably biodegradable.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
Autocorrect does some strange, strange things. That should have said Two Dems voted with the GOP majority.
@Morzer:
@Gin & Tonic:
Thanks for info on Lipinski.
gogol's wife
@bystander:
I can tell you if you call me.
Bobby Thomson
@SiubhanDuinne: Petersen is one of the few tools who voted against ACA and didn’t lose.
Bobby Thomson
@Steeplejack (tablet): thanks. Perhaps the update could not tack one onto the link where it already exists.
Arclite
Let me know if you need QA on the site. It’s what I do for a living.
JustRuss
@Gin & Tonic: If they’re under a jar of mustard, they will never be found.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
Who are you!?! What have you done with John Cole!11?
>:-)
Thank you very much, kind sir.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mike J
If an example page of comments was posted somewhere, the maintainers of the pie filters could be ready on day one.
SoupCatcher
@NotMax:
I wonder if there is an Officer Obie in Cole’s neck of the woods.
MattF
How about a ‘sarcasm’ font option?
TaMara (BHF)
@Gin & Tonic: Next to the car in the field.
Cervantes
@Gin & Tonic:
Yes. He’s Catholic himself, “pro-life,” and voted against Obamacare because of how it handled women’s right to abortion.
On most other topics he’s a reliable Democrat.
TaMara (BHF)
@Yatsuno: More time for creating recipes for me. hint, hint
Cervantes
@MattF:
In many cases it wouldn’t help.
Betty Cracker
Ha! I’m baaack, bay-bee! Turns out it was a Verizon issue. My fucking iPhone bricked too, and I’m still trying to get that sumbitch straightened out. I always laugh at my teenager, who flops around like a carp on a deck if she loses connectivity, but damned if I didn’t miss you galoots a teensy bit!
Cervantes
@Betty Cracker:
I missed you, too.
Suzanne
I’m sure the envelopes are with the old car and the mustard.
bystander
@WaterGirl: Thanks!
Baud
I’m disappointed the “This sucks” button won’t apply to comments.
Fingers crossed for Comments RSS.
Not sure about threaded comments, even as an option.
Cervantes
@Baud:
I imagine you’ll find a work-around.
I know I will.
raven
@Betty Cracker: What ups.
Alain
@Yatsuno: Yes, most recent comments is coming!
Alain
@Betty Cracker: Betty, I’d love to get your feedback on the new site and posting capabilities. Got 30 minutes early next week to view it and answer questions about how you use it?
Let me know – public at getmechamot.com
Alain
@Arclite: Interesting. Pop me an email and let’s talk, not so much about BJ, but your skills might come in useful in the near future – public at getmechamot.com
RK
Logo should be Cole taking off in the balloon with Thurston trying to wreck the basket, which should resemble an apnea mask.
tones
To actually see the comment that one replied to together would be so nice, but what happened to
“Nested comments are an abomination and will never happen”.
Betty Cracker
@raven: It’s a lovely evening — the weather is changing, thank dawg! Wondering if there’s any chance BC can knock off the ‘Noles!
maya
You sure it wasn’t a butterfly’s wing prop that blew the envelopes out the window?
WaterGirl
@tones: I think what happened is that Cole learned that it’s not all or nothing with threaded comments – we will each have a choice about how we see the comments. Personally, I will choose to see them as un-threaded because I like the eclectic nature of the comments as they are.
Roger Moore
@Baud:
This. It’s already hard enough to figure out who is responding to what sometimes. If some people are using threaded comments and others are using flat, the people using threaded comments will see no reason to quote or link to the comment they’re responding to, leaving people browsing in flat mode mystified.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker: Hi Betty.
Are you ensconced with Friday night wine now, and maybe working on the foil sculpture collection?
Barry
Thanks, John!
Elizabelle
@WaterGirl: Yes. I like our flat threads and lots of white space.
Don’t care for threaded either. But it’s nice that those who do will get them.
Cervantes
@Roger Moore:
I’m already mystified!
Anyhow, I am off for dinner and so on. Have a great evening.
Rainy Day
I applaud your optimism to engage in computer-related things when Mercury is retrograde. I know that might sound hippy-dippy, but I have had too many ‘bad communication’ (in all forms) issues to not believe.
May the odds be forever in your favor!!!