Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

It’s the corruption, stupid.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

“Squeaker” McCarthy

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

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Reader Interactions

63Comments

  2. 2.

    Bruuuuce

    I can take a swing at it, but not until the weekend. I’m about to embark on my usual 4 day x 10 hour set of overnight shifts. I’ll check back here later and see if that works, and we can exchange particulars.

  3. 3.

    sharl

    Did you try to meet up with Larime when you were in Vegas? From a 28Sep comment:

    I’ll be drawing caricatures in front of the Bellagio fountains from about 7pm to midnight. Stop by!

    I haven’t seen his artwork in ages, and unfortunately it looks like his website registration just expired. If you find (and like) samples of his work, and you can figure out how to contact him, I’m guessing he could use the work.

    But also, I liked the older “classic” logo as well.

  5. 5.

    shell

    Id like to give it a try. Do you want something different or sticking to the idea of the original image?

  6. 6.

    Ruckus

    I used to be good at stick figures. It was a while ago, as the olds say, still in short pants. As I mostly wear shorts now…… maybe the talent is related.

  7. 7.

    RandomMonster

    I’ve got Photoshop/Illustrator and some skillz. I’d happily give it a try and you could use or not use as you like.

  11. 11.

    Richard Fox

    Hi all,

    These days I work in pure watercolor (as well as oils) but a I had for a time dabbled in cartooning. Here is the link to the Facebook page with some visuals to give an idea of my creatures-

    https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.936046883088763.1073741832.935202873173164&type=3

    If the brush and ink quality appeals to you John– I would be happy to work up a ballon man (perhaps with some favorite canine / feline mascots next to him, floating balloon drifting off in back..?) I am not a graphic artist per se so would need help with the banner creation– photoshop, etc. But the visual itself –in a long horizontal banner format– appeals to me.. Anywho- just a thought.
    cheers. Richard

  13. 13.

    jl

    ” rework the balloon man ”

    Rework? The guy has been worked over so much he disappeared. I suppose Cole means revive the balloon man.

    I agree with commenters above, just use the old one. That was a fine balloon man.

    Also, make sure to keep Tunch watching over us all, either on the blog store button, or something else.

  15. 15.

    Mike J

    @RSA: It’s not as if it would have gotten better had I spent hours. The good thing about knowing how awful you are is that you can fail quickly and get on to something you are good at.

  19. 19.

    Roger Moore

    @rikyrah:

    The mobile voter ID program Alabama has been touting after DMV closures has issued only 29 IDs this year

    See, that’s just proof that nobody is having trouble getting an ID./wingnut

  20. 20.

    Eric S.

    I liked the old guy and if he returned without change that would be cool. That said, I like the idea of a reimagining.

    I wish I had the talent to help but my artistic abilities are limited. Given a pencil, eraser, a ruler and three attempts I can usually end up with a straight line.

  21. 21.

    Bobby Thomson

    OT: Al Franken just early endorsed Clinton. Not at all surprising, but leading to much rending of garments.

  22. 22.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    I hope you’ve got a vector version of the original Balloon Man. He looks a bit blocky here. ;-)

    The recent Balloon Man is here, but it’s thumbnail-size.

    Best of luck to the designers!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  23. 23.

    Germy Shoemangler

    Quote from Tony Bennett:

    “You have to understand that Columbia Records were actually forcing me not to sing jazz,” Bennett continues, warming to his subject. “They didn’t think that people would buy it. The public – thank God for them – they don’t care about musical genres. I am a jazz singer, and jazz is something that I love because it’s completely honest. I remember one time Count Basie said to me: ‘Why change an apple?’ That was a good lesson. You don’t have to change if you’re doing something good.”

  24. 24.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    OT: Tweety is talking about The Martian, how it will make you proud to be human, and how it shows how people can work together, and blah blah blah. I think he thinks it’s fact based, like Ron Howard’s Apollo 13

  26. 26.

    Gin & Tonic

    Since there hasn’t been an open thread in 16 hours, I’ll declare this one close enough, and post this link to a great NYT piece about the fantasy sports leagues, and how their employees are trading on inside information to profit.

    I will now try out my best Claude Rains voice to declare that I am shocked, shocked.

  27. 27.

    Corner Stone

    @Gin & Tonic: I saw that earlier and thought it was awesome that employees are allowed to bet on other fantasy sites. Sooo, that doesn’t damage other players outside the industry at all then?
    I also enjoyed the combo PR letter the two main sites put out.

  28. 28.

    James Gary

    Hi–I’ve been a BJ reader (and very occasional commenter) for a long time, and I’ve been a digital illustrator for even longer. I’d be honored to help out with any site redesign-related work you might want to engage me for. My website is here.

  29. 29.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Corner Stone: Wonderful statements there, truly. “A spokeswoman for DraftKings said Haskell simply made a mistake and that the company was certain that he did not use the information improperly.” But in the process, he made $350k that week. Pretty lucky guy, I’d say.

  30. 30.

    Geoduck

    You might want to be more specific with what you want. To bring back the balloon man exactly like he used to be, or just have something similar?

  32. 32.

    Central Planning

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:

    hope you’ve got a vector version of the original Balloon Man.

    I found a website that would vector-ize a raster image for you for free. They did a good job with a business logo I sent them, and I got .svg, .eps, and .pdf

  33. 33.

    Corner Stone

    @Gin & Tonic:

    But in the process, he made $350k that week. Pretty lucky guy, I’d say.

    Basically equivalent to knowing most all the lottery numbers ahead of the draw.

  34. 34.

    Corner Stone

    On Monday, DraftKings and FanDuel released a joint statement that said that “nothing is more important” than the “integrity of the games we offer,” but offered few specifics about how they keep their contests on the level.

    Nothing except fleecing gambling addicts who will take any risk to continue betting on anything, at any time.

  35. 35.

    Central Planning

    So I googled “old dude hot air ballon” and the first image was OK, but didn’t have a megaphone. I added that to my query and stumbled across this one. It’s doesn’t have a balloon, but I get a BJ vibe from it.

  36. 36.

    Schlemazel

    @Gin & Tonic:
    If it is an open thread I have to look for satsby, my chromebook was delivered today and I am ready to type that bleu cheese cheesecake recipe in here as promised.

  39. 39.

    Schlemazel

    @Corner Stone:
    I have a friend that used to play poker on one of the online sites. He did OK, he estimated about $7.50 an hour on average so ~ a crappy part time job. But I asked him how he knew someone was not cheating since it would have been east to do. He insisted that there was no incentive for the sites to cheat as they made their rake no matter who won. Then a couple years later an investigation showed that some of the sites were indeed cheating and sock puppets were winning money for the house based on knowing what cards were coming up next.

    Never ever underestimate how much people will cheat for a little more money.

  40. 40.

    Citizen_X

    I’ll be contrarian, and suggest you don’t bring back the balloon guy graphic–it’s too old-timey. How about keeping the same color scheme but renovating the graphic, like having a polar scientist (female?) releasing a weather balloon?

    (Sorry, there’s not that many modern uses of a balloon.)

  41. 41.

    Schlemazel

    @Corner Stone:
    I have a friend that used to play poker on one of the online sites. He did OK, he estimated about $7.50 an hour on average so ~ a crappy part time job. But I asked him how he knew someone was not cheating since it would have been east to do. He insisted that there was no incentive for the sites to cheat as they made their rake no matter who won. Then a couple years later an investigation showed that some of the sites were indeed cheating and sock puppets were winning money for the house based on knowing what cards were coming up next.

    Never ever underestimate how much people will cheat for a little more money.

  42. 42.

    Gin & Tonic

    @LarryB: I read the book last year, almost exclusively on the basis of somebody’s recommending it here. Don’t recall who it was, but I am grateful.

  44. 44.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Citizen_X: (Sorry, there’s not that many modern uses of a balloon.)

    You post this right smack in the middle of Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta week.

  46. 46.

    Corner Stone

    @Schlemazel:

    He insisted that there was no incentive for the sites to cheat as they made their rake no matter who won. Then a couple years later an investigation showed that some of the sites were indeed cheating and sock puppets were winning money for the house based on knowing what cards were coming up next.

    The sites know something he does not know, since he are one. They have an inexhaustible supply of dupes who will donate their rake for a little rush.
    Can’t link to the article because it has bad words in it but a 2013 Slate article says:

    had cheated players out of millions of dollars with the help of “God mode” software that let him peek at other players’ hands. The scandal ruined Hamilton’s reputation, and Ultimate Bet officials rushed to assure people that Hamilton had been acting alone.

    “Just over two weeks ago, a former Ultimate Bet employee named Travis Makar posted to an online poke her forum secret recordings showing that the scandal was bigger than originally imagined. The recordings do confirm that Hamilton was the primary actor. On them, he bluntly says that “I did take this money and I’m not trying to make it right, so let’s get that out of the way.”

  50. 50.

    Corner Stone

    @efgoldman: I like watching the Lions because I’m always mystified that 1. Caldwell still has a job and hasn’t changed facial expressions in 17 years, and 2. Matt Stafford is a vampire who simply does not age. He looks the same baby face scrubbed cheek old timey baby food commercial model now as he did 172 years ago.

  51. 51.

    01jack

    Balloons: Meh. The best thing about the old logo was the guy in a cutaway coat and striped pants, yelling into a megaphone. It had such a perfect old-man-yelling-at-clouds vibe to it.

  52. 52.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Know it isn’t an open thread, but have just had shocking news about the untimely death today of a friend (former partner of a former coworker, and a person I’ve known for 27 years). Reeling.

  54. 54.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Central Planning: (Your link only worked for me when I opened it in an Incognito window on Chrome. Otherwise it complains about “hotlinking”.) That’s a big megaphone!

    This one is sorta interesting, too. Definitely gets the “hot air” aspect right. ;-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  55. 55.

    Schlemazel

    @Corner Stone:
    It was odd because the guy is bright and very computer savvy but he couldn’t imagine a company taking that kind of chance with their reputation for more money. Did I mention he is a libertarian who believes market forces are important for controlling fraud & abuse? He has been getting smarter and smart over time, I have gotten him from a mostly R voter to an almost 100% D voter but he is losing his innocence along the way.

  57. 57.

    RSA

    @Mike J:

    The good thing about knowing how awful you are is that you can fail quickly and get on to something you are good at.

    This is a good philosophy for so many things in life.

  58. 58.

    RSA

    @Schlemazel:

    It was odd because the guy is bright and very computer savvy but he couldn’t imagine a company taking that kind of chance with their reputation for more money. Did I mention he is a libertarian who believes market forces are important for controlling fraud & abuse?

    I think libertarians tend to have a blind spot there. I haven’t done this, but I can imagine asking, “Imagine winning the lottery–what amount of money would be enough that you’d never have to work again, and you’d be happy to go off and enjoy your life doing whatever you want?” And then, “What if you could get that amount of money in a year, by cheating? Would you be tempted?” A lot of people, maybe most people, would resist the temptation, but it’s easy for anyone to imagine that someone would give in.

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