Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

So many bastards, so little time.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

We will not go back.

They punch you in the face and then start crying because their fist hurts.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

This fight is for everything.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Human rights are not a matter of opinion!

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

🎶 Those boots were made for mockin’ 🎵

No one could have predicted…

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / I’m Back

I’m Back

by | 191 Comments

This post is in: ,

Woke up this morning and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I feel good. I think I finally have this cold licked.

It’s been so long I blogged I don’t know where to even start. So we’ll start with an open thread.

BTW- the Balloon Man, which you all wanted, is the default icon when the author refuses/fails to set a distinct image for a post.

Reader Interactions

191Comments

  2. 2.

    Nate Dawg

    So reading about intelligence that warned of an imminent attack, a troubling thought had taken hold. ISIS has targeted Lebanon, Iraq, France, and possibly Russia in the past two weeks–and it makes me wonder if this is just the opening salvo, and there is an imminent attack on U.S. Soil. I certainly hope not, but listening to security experts on television, they are baffled why IS hasn’t hit the U.S. With Aminbai-style attack yet. They believe it is inevitable.

  4. 4.

    Corner Stone

    @Nate Dawg: There’s still no evidence, that I am aware of, that a bomb took down the Russian plane. Much less a bomb used by ISIS.
    Still waiting to see what happened there, IMO.

  7. 7.

    Corner Stone

    I feel good. I think I finally have this cold licked.

    For God’s sake, DO NOT lick this cold! You’ll be incapacitated for months!

  10. 10.

    Nicole

    Watched Jurassic World with my 5-year-old for the first time (husband manned the DVD player to skip the parts too scary for the kid.

    SPOILER ALERT This whole thing wouldn’t have happened if Chris Pratt’s character wasn’t such a crappy zookeeper. Which I announced. Husband says I take the fun out of everything. ;)

  11. 11.

    Keith G

    BTW- the Balloon Man looks like William Katt. Every time I see him, I think of Pippin singing, “Gotta find my corner of the sky”

    Look it up, youngsters.

  13. 13.

    ally

    Sorry but… I really hate that balloon man drawing. Please make it stop It’s such a bad graphic that when there are several in a row, I feel like putting cardboard over the screen.

  14. 14.

    mclaren

    Instead of joining the rest of the Paris lemmings and whimpering about the latest Bad News ® (there is always some superimportant Bad News ®, because Civilization Is Always About To End™ and Things Are Always Getting Worse ©), I watched a great Pixar film: Inside Out.
    94% rating on metacritic.
    Do yourself a favor, watch it.

  15. 15.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Nate Dawg: Richard Clarke has been saying an attack like that is inevitable since I first heard of him more than ten years ago. I don’t mean he’s wrong, I mean I’m surprised, too. I suspect it has something to do with a lack, so far, of US-born fighters (with US passports for re-entry) that have/can be trained (I’m piggy-backing off what Adam Silverman, who knows what he’s talking about, unlike me, said in the thread below).

    I gather Peter King said on one of the Sunday shows that we (“we”) stopped a Paris-like attack planned for the past Fourth of July week-end, then said the attacks in Paris were a sign of Obama’s weakness and incompetence.

  17. 17.

    vickie feminist

    John, I had the same cold–flat on my back 3 weekends, and then 2 more weeks of post cold recovery coughing and exhaustion. Going to work but avoiding coworkers. Unbelievable. It’s ripped thru the mid-Atlantic region with lots of secondary infections. It was only stunned by Zicam. It is the Godzilla of rhinoviruses.

  18. 18.

    BruceJ

    @Nate Dawg:
    “they are baffled why IS hasn’t hit the U.S. With Aminbai-style attack yet.”

    After Aurora, Newtown, Umpqua and all the others, even ISIS knows they can’t scare Americans by walking around shooting people at random…

  22. 22.

    max

    This post is in I Hate All of You

    If you could find some mustard that might get better.

    Woke up this morning and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I feel good. I think I finally have this cold licked.

    Whatever you do, don’t listen to Jim Morrison.

    max
    [‘They started hitting Raqqah. I think I’m supposed to be displeased with this? God knows why.’]

  24. 24.

    Trentrunner

    I’m expecting an ISIS attack on a good-size but not flagship American mall running up to this Christmas season.

    Wish it were not so. These are our times. Wish we would stop freaking the fuck out.

  28. 28.

    Hal

    There was some talking head on msnbc this weekend who spoke of the Paris attack as a way of ISIS trying to show it has the capability of striking at the west directly. That makes me wonder if this is really the beginning of big things or more of a distraction from a terrorist organization that is weaker than it wants people to know. But honestly? Wtf do I know?

  30. 30.

    Nate Dawg

    @redshirt: I’m not afraid that I will be a direct victim of terrorism. I’m afraid of what the backlash in this country would do to my economic and healthcare security, yes.

  31. 31.

    Ruckus

    @BruceJ: got it right. We don’t do anything about our homegrown terrorists, like even acknowledge they are terrorists, why would ISIS think they would be effective here?

  32. 32.

    gogol's wife

    @max:

    He’s supposed to be up at the top where you don’t have to stare directly at him all the time. He was charming as a header, annoying as an accompaniment to every post.

  34. 34.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    Welcome back, old young man.

    Give Tommy and Alain a raise and thank them for the job they’re doing here. It’s turning into a nice upgrade.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  35. 35.

    Nate Dawg

    To wit: JEB? Is already calling for a “war” against ISIS, and I would expect the jingoism and stupidity to be ramped up to the nth degree of there were a successful attack on U.S. soil.

  36. 36.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Nate Dawg: anything even resembling the Paris attack, this one or Charlie Hebdo, and all bets are off wrt to politics and 2016. Frankly, I’m surprised the Boston bombing doesn’t feature more in our political rhetoric. Maybe because IS- wasn’t a buzzword in the spring of 2013? we were still fixated on AQ?

  37. 37.

    gene108

    @Trentrunner:

    I’m expecting an ISIS attack on a good-size but not flagship American mall running up to this Christmas season.

    Depends, who doe the mass shooting. If it is Muslims, then people will freak out. If it is like those two rejects from the Bundy ranch, who shot a couple of cops and one guy at a Wal-Mart, it will be the first salvo in the New Revolution for Freedumb.

    P.S. Chuck Norris documented such a possibility in Invasion USA, where Soviets were planning to bomb malls at Christmas time, but didn’t plan on Chuck Norris.

  38. 38.

    Nate Dawg

    Well look, when/if there is a Mumbai style attack here, we will see the GOP call for the mobilization of our armed services to stop it and all sorts of manly talk. When there is a lone wolf gunman massacre, crickets. Now I don’t think Dems have the political skill to point out how ridiculous this is, because for some reason Americans are more afraid of Mooslims with guns than white guys with guns. It is what it is, but I don’t want to watch the county go down the Iraq War 4.0 with a President Cruz at the helm.

  40. 40.

    gene108

    I’m mad at Starz. I want to binge watch Ash vs. Evil Dead, but they keep releasing it one episode at a time.

    It. IS. SOOOOOOO. Annoying.

  41. 41.

    Gimlet

    Repost from long dead thread

    http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/260171-trump-paris-attacks-would-have-been-different-if-civilians-were

    Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump says victims of the terrorist attacks in France on Friday would have had a better chance of defending themselves if they were allowed to carry guns.

    “When you look at Paris, you know, the toughest gun laws in the world, nobody had guns except for the bad guys, nobody,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Beaumont, Texas, on Saturday. “Nobody had guns, and they were just shooting them one by one.”

    The billionaire business mogul said the outcome would have been “different” if citizens were armed.

  42. 42.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @ally: More Better Balloon Juice at Stylish makes it go away.

    Hey Cole, glad you’re feeling better. It’s quite comforting to hear you still hate all of us.

  44. 44.

    Suzanne

    I like the Balloon Man. Haters gonna hate hate hate hate hate.

    If ISIS attacked a shopping mall (especially a relatively posh one), I think we’d take it a lot more seriously than we took terrorism at federal office buildings, black churches, or public schools.

  48. 48.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Has the Paris attack been confirmed as ISIS? I know they took credit, but it’s in their interest to take credit, and France has no shortage of internal issues with Islam.

  50. 50.

    sharl

    @John Cole: Hahahaha….oh wait, this isn’t gonna lead to that whole “anal gland expression” business again, is it?
    {…Now trembling in dread…}

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    Seriously, why an automatic default image in the first place?

    Should a front pager deem use of an image unnecessary (or not germane or distracting to his/her content), ought not that choice be given due deference?

    And if for some arcane fetishistic determination a default image absolutely positively must be supplied, must it also be so frickin’ humongous in post after post after post after post? Thumbnails, they’re not just for previews anymore.

  54. 54.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @John Cole:

    I will just replace it with a picture of Steve’s ass

    Before or after expressing his anal glands?

    ETA Sharl @ #48: Curse you good and hard. Or as OO would say, darn you to heck.

  56. 56.

    Suzanne

    Can we have the Balloon Man image auto play “Balloon Man” by Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians? That would be simultaneously irritating and awesome.

  57. 57.

    Nate Dawg

    @Frankensteinbeck: Hollande has said so, and I suspect with good reason. Ditto goes for Cameron saying Russian and was brought done by a bomb. Still, we’ve seen initial reports wrong about these things.

  59. 59.

    Corner Stone

    A ball that hits nothing but net is known as a Rembrandt. And people like this sound and precision. GMC understands this.

  60. 60.

    FlipYrWhig

    I kind of like the balloon man but I don’t know why he’s so huge. It takes up a lot of real estate. He should be a little logo aligned to the right of the title/author header.

  62. 62.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Corner Stone: The whole ad campaign is based on the idea that the “C” in “GMC” stands for “precision.” Why. Why would you do that? It drives me bananas with a capital N.

  65. 65.

    Suzanne

    We are having a rare rainy day here in the desert. I have spent the day in loungewear, a great deal of it on the couch. These are my favorite days ever. This whole weekend has been awesome.

  67. 67.

    Wordpress Developers

    I made some performance tweaks, mostly to help iPhone users and others in the iOS ecosystem who had some issues with seeing old content.

    I think Betty had some issues with her iPhone saving the Mobile/Desktop site setting on her next return to the site, so I’m curious if that is fixed for her any any others with any iOS issues (or for that matter, any tablet or mobile device).

    Also, any more RSS issues? Things should be fine for all, but want to make sure it’s working.

    Finally, I hope to tweak comments a bit more. Ideally, they’ll auto-update and so less need to refresh the page. Once this is all done and tweaked, your patience and understanding will pay off and the site will be so much better and easier to use, no matter your device!

    Just a reminder – the site will be getting MUCH faster, more stable, and some of the quirky errors will go away soon when the web host upgrades some key server tech to current versions. On top of that, MM and I are adding some enhanced distribution tech to the site which should make it perform much faster for all.

    Less FYWP, more fun – coming soon!

    Please stand by…

  68. 68.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @sharl:

    :: wipes away una furtiva lagrima ::

    I had quite forgotten that Tunch started that entire anal gland thing. Was thinking it began with Steve.

  71. 71.

    Suzanne

    @efgoldman: I still think that there’ stop much space between comments, and that the text column is too narrow. The redesigned comments get about 10 words to a line, which still feels short. It’s better than the 7-9 we had right after the redesign, tho.

    The persisting crappiness on my iPad is weird, though. No other site I look at has these issues.

  72. 72.

    NotMax

    @WordPress Developers

    Just curious, as some of us live well away from the Eastern time zone and encounter still active threads which might have hundreds of comments already.

    Does your update imply that while leisurely catching up on reading down through such a still active thread that the comments page will be auto-refreshing over and over again?

  73. 73.

    Pogonip

    @Nate Dawg: Well, it’s always good to avoid crowds anyway, especially in flu season. As far as nuts with guns, your choices are: go to one of those “gun-free” zones where you can be sure no one but the nut is armed, or go to a place where many of your fellow citizens are probably packing, but you have no way of knowing who has been diligently training for such an emergency and who is going to panic and fire God-knows-where. In any case, wherever you go, keep an eye out for cover and concealment and the nearest exit.

  81. 81.

    RSA

    @Gimlet:

    The billionaire business mogul said the outcome would have been “different” if citizens were armed.

    True. In exchange for the privilege of looser gun laws, France could expect as many people to be killed accidentally by guns, every single year, as were killed in Paris by terrorists.

  82. 82.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Major Major Major Major: It’s a good thought. Larime and Sylv are undoubtedly under a great deal of stress with her cancer treatments. He has a GoFundMe page for her (it’s been front-paged here in the last few weeks).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  86. 86.

    father pussbucket

    I’m with those who liked little Balloon Man in the masthead. Seems like somebody got cranky and went all “You want Balloon Man? I’ll give you Balloon Man.”

  87. 87.

    max

    @Suzanne: I still think that there’ stop much space between comments, and that the text column is too narrow. The redesigned comments get about 10 words to a line, which still feels short. It’s better than the 7-9 we had right after the redesign, tho.

    Check.

    @efgoldman: More better they should make the font size uniform between the comment box and the comments. And change the font color in the format buttons.

    The size in the box a smidgen large and the size of the comment text a wee bit smaller.

    max
    [‘Gulliver and the little fonts.’]

  88. 88.

    max

    @John Cole: Oh, FFS. Someone redraw the balloon man or I will just replace it with a picture of Steve’s ass.

    Steve’s ass would be an improvement.

    max
    [‘Now, Donald Trump’s ass….’]

  89. 89.

    Nate Dawg

    @Pogonip: I generally do that. I was at a public shooting once, meeting up with some friends, when someone was shot right in front of me dead. Crowd panicked and ran every direction, and it wasn’t clear what exactly was going on. Found my friends a few feet away, completely unaware anything had happened.

  91. 91.

    redshirt

    I’d recommend no one watches Paris shooting footage, which will no doubt be running nonstop on all the news channels.

    What do you gain by watching it? You already know what happened.

    But by watching it, you’ll internalize the fear and terror.

  92. 92.

    Schlemazel

    ISIS want to destroy the concept of coexistence, they want a bifurcated world of Muslim and non-Muslim. They need help to do that, the help they are getting from right-wing nut jobs who want to separate and marginalize all Muslims. Morons like JEB? who say stupid shit about only allowing non-Muslim immigration are supporting ISIS. Half-wits who blame Islam for the actions in Paris are supporting ISIS. Fox News suggesting we need to isolate Muslims in America is supporting ISIS. We need to be clear on this you either support ISIS or you stand with humanity. Most Muslims, like most non-Muslims only want to live their life, raise their family and enjoy their world. ISIS wants to make them a political football and the rantings and actions of nut jobs who want to harm people of the Muslim faith simply because of their religion are supporting ISIS. It really is that simple.

  93. 93.

    Nate Dawg

    The more secure (economically and socially) the greater Muslim population is, the more isolated these nut jobs are. So by all means, let’s push more recruits into their open Arms. The new crop of GOP candidates make W look a “strategery” genius.

  94. 94.

    Mike J

    @Schlemazel:

    ISIS want to destroy the concept of coexistence, they want a bifurcated world of Muslim and non-Muslim.

    Someone I was reading was saying there;s a reason their flag is black and white. They’ve literally talked about getting rid of the greyzone.

  95. 95.

    jnfr

    @mclaren:

    We watched Inside Out last weekend. It really was wonderful, and also fun. Given that the world needs therapy, that movie is a great place to start.

  97. 97.

    Mike J

    Hey webdev, the comment editor just now didn’t appear as a popup, but replaced the page content.

  100. 100.

    different-church-lady

    @Baud:

    Dude, it’s not morning. It’s almost 6 pm.

    Cut him some slack here, sickness screws with time.

    One time I went home from work on a Thursday in the early afternoon feeling like I had the flu coming on. I went to bed around 4 pm and when I woke up it was 9 in the morning — on Saturday.

  103. 103.

    MomSense

    @John Cole:

    Steve’s ass! Steve’s ass! Steve’s ass! Steve’s ass!

    I like balloon man just fine and I appreciate how well the site reads now on my phone. Glad you are feeling better. I’m on day three of the cold from hell. It really is a terrible cold.

  104. 104.

    shell

    That makes me wonder if this is really the beginning of big things or more of a distrac

    Course after the Paris attacks all the cable talking heads were going ‘Is America next/at risk?’ If we were a target, why wouldnt ISIS have attacked at the same tme? Why give time for anyone to go on high alert?

  105. 105.

    Ruckus

    @Suzanne:
    Mine does the same thing on the desktop but I noticed that it is from the zoom level the distance I read my monitor from. When I zoom back it all starts to make sense.

  107. 107.

    Steeplejack

    @WordPress Developers:

    Thanks for all your work.

    One (minor) thing I have noticed is that the post titles that appear in the browser tabs (Firefox/Win10 here) have been distilled down to just “Balloon Juice.” So, when I have 10 or so tabs open (which is not unusual) and click to “List all tabs,” all I see is uninformative repetition of “Balloon Juice.” There is a tiny little Balloon Juice logo next to the text, so perhaps (ideally) the text could be the title of the current post. (No need to repeat “Balloon Juice.”)

  108. 108.

    Mike J

    Why on earth, in that mind numbingly bad NBC football theme song, do they insist that the game will be star spangled?

  110. 110.

    Ruckus

    @Pogonip:
    For years after I got out of the service I never would sit in public without my back to the wall. I had to keep my sight lines open. I’ve long since given that up but maybe I need to reinstate this diligence.

  113. 113.

    RSA

    the Balloon Man, which you all wanted, is the default icon when the author refuses/fails to set a distinct image for a post.

    Do your part, front pagers, or suffer the wrath of the BJ commentariat.

  116. 116.

    Gimlet

    HuffPost

    On Sunday, conservative commentator Bill Kristol went as far as calling for 50,000 troops storming the Syrian city of Raqqa.

    “If it takes 50,000 troops going in there and cleaning out Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State, do it,” he said on ABC’s “This Week.”

    “What’s the harm of bombing them at least for a few weeks and seeing what happens? I don’t think there’s much in the way of unanticipated side effects that are going to be bad there,” he said.

  122. 122.

    Starfish

    I was wondering how you were doing. I finally convinced someone to give me a round of antibiotics. I hope I can join you in recovery soon.

  123. 123.

    Ruckus

    @redshirt:
    I refuse to let life scare me.
    I want to enjoy what of it I have left and can. If it kills me sooner than later, so fucking what? It won’t make any difference in the overall scope of things, I am 1/7 billionth of the human population. As are you. We are but pissants in the scope of it all.

  127. 127.

    gogol's wife

    @Schlemazel:

    This is what I keep thinking. It’s a collaboration between ISIS and the fascists, they help each other. We have to choose the other side. There are only really two.

  128. 128.

    gogol's wife

    @shell:

    Ooh, I saw two minutes of it. Barbra in a really bad hairdo, with her own voice singing a syrupy song in voiceover. I hastened to turn the channel to a rerun of Season 5 of Downton.

  129. 129.

    Ruckus

    @Nate Dawg:
    I didn’t say nothing matters, you are assuming that. I said I want to enjoy life and I’m don’t want it to scare me. Lots of things matter, not having conservatives in power for example is a big one. But not sitting with your back to the wall so you can watch all sight lines for possible issues when having lunch in a restaurant? That’s letting your scared 8 yr old self run your life.

  130. 130.

    Steeplejack

    @different-church-lady:

    Or, you know, Cole could have gotten up, done other things and then written his post. Nothing in it says he is writing just after he got up.

    Frankly, this rush to judgment on Baud’s part is making me rethink my support for his candidacy.

  131. 131.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @efgoldman:

    Was it called?

    Yes.

    I would have liked to have seen the guy ejected, but you can’t get everything.

  132. 132.

    Baud

    @Steeplejack:

    Cole could have gotten up, done other things and then written his post.

    How long could it take to mop naked and shave the cat’s ass?

    this rush to judgment on Baud’s part is making me rethink my support for his candidacy

    Judgment delayed is judgment denied.

  135. 135.

    Anne Laurie

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Frankly, I’m surprised the Boston bombing doesn’t feature more in our political rhetoric.

    You don’t live in the Boston media market, do you? Every local winger wraps him/herself in that particular bloody shirt on a regular basis.

    And then gets reminded, by some snarkster, that the Tsarnaevs probably wouldn’t have been able to do as much damage as they managed if the FBI hadn’t fvcked up big-time, at a dozen different choke points, after which the conversation gets diverted to quarreling about the Waltham police department and Uncle Ruslam…

  136. 136.

    Death Panel Truck

    Does NBC pay Cris Collinsworth by the word? The guy is seriously getting on my nerves.

  140. 140.

    Anne Laurie

    @John Cole:

    Oh, FFS. Someone redraw the balloon man or I will just replace it with a picture of Steve’s ass.

    The cartoon graphic’s not the problem; the problem is that a thumbnail should not be blown up as a giant header to every otherwise-not-specified post.

    I put up an “identifying image”, and got asked repeatedly “What does a photo of your dog have to do with Jeb Bush (subject of the post)?”

    When I explained, several people said, “Oh, is that why all Zandar’s posts have a cartoon of a drunken matroyoshka?” (actually, a Weeble toy).

    If you want a thumbnail “image”, it should *NOT* appear except as a thumbnail. Even the place-holder pencil icon that was popping up for a couple days worked better, because it didn’t seem to indicate anything about the content of a post other than “Here is a piece of writing”.

    I’ve only ever seen a couple websites use a thumbnail that EXPLODED atop every post, and those were at minor sales websites where the company’s logo or banner popped up. If you were selling rare earth magnets to hobbyists, or a curated selection of hand-made earrings, it would be useful to have a GIANT IMAGE of your magnets or earrings pop up on every page.

    For a political blog, with a bunch of writers on a wide range of topics, not so farkin’ much.

  141. 141.

    Bill Arnold

    @Gimlet:
    “When you look at Paris, you know, the toughest gun laws in the world, nobody had guns except for the bad guys, nobody,…” Trump said
    Last time I was in Paris (Nov 2014) there were soldiers with military small arms at some locations. In context Trump was talking about civilians, but still, he was blatantly factually incorrect.
    “Toughest gun laws in the world” is also not factually correct.
    Why doesn’t anybody calls him on his misstatements and made-up-facts to his face?

  142. 142.

    Satby

    @Baud: yeah, I’ve been getting day old posts for the last 3 days, refreshing doesn’t bring up current content at all, I have to open an old one and scroll forward from there about 10 posts. Most annoying.
    So how much traffic has dropped off since this all started?

  143. 143.

    Bill Arnold

    @Suzanne:

    I think we’d take it a lot more seriously than we took terrorism at federal office buildings, black churches, or public schools.

    In particular, gun control debates would change. The “more guns make us safer” side might lose, a little.

  144. 144.

    RSA

    @Anne Laurie: One of the main (and hardest) lessons I try to bring across to my computer science students, in a class I teach on human-computer interaction, is that they have to take people as they are, not as one would want them to be. For example, we don’t build interfaces that require people to read instructions, because most people don’t read instructions, even if you tell them they should. We get buy-in from users before we institute design changes that make them do things in a new way, because they may not want try a new way, even if it would be good in the long run.

    I tell my students that if they were highway engineers working on a curvy mountain road, they’d put up guardrails; it’s not sufficient to say, “We don’t need them, because people should drive safely.”

  145. 145.

    Pogonip

    @Ruckus: I’ve never been in the service and I keep my sight lines open. Can’t hurt, might help, is the way I look at it. Now move over. You’re taking up the whole wall.

  151. 151.

    Betty Cracker

    @WordPress Developers: Thanks for fixing that — my mobile settings are working now on my iStuff in both Safari and Chrome. Much appreciated!

    Regarding the featured image function — I don’t know doodly-squat about UX or design, so feel free to ignore me. But if I’m understanding the intent correctly, we want to have images at the top of the blog consistently to modernize look and feel, so the idea was to have the post author add an image pertinent to the post, with a default showing up if the author doesn’t set a featured image.

    That’s no probs for me — I love to use images. But a lot of times, my image is integral to the post — for example, the football picks post earlier today. And if I make it the featured image and someone clicks through to the post rather than reading it by scrolling down the blog, it won’t appear on the standalone page, which doesn’t work in that scenario.

    I got around that by using two images — one the featured image and the other in the body of the post. But that’s an extra step. My guess is a lot of times people will just say screw that and let the default image appear.

    Would it make sense / be feasible to make the featured image the author’s avatar, preferably on an automated basis and in thumbnail form? That would solve the problem of hunting around for a suitable image, ensure more variety in the top image and give people a visual clue as to who the author is. Just a thought — take it or leave it.

    And thanks for your work on the site. We’ve still got hiccups, but performance is improved, and I do like the design.

  155. 155.

    Heliopause

    @Corner Stone:

    I had pegged Seattle to squeak into the playoffs, probably as a wildcard, based on the favorable second half schedule, but I might have to rethink that. Their offensive line is quite simply the worst in the NFL. And it’s a personnel problem, they just have shitty players in that unit. That’s not the kind of thing that can be fixed in-season,

  157. 157.

    Anne Laurie

    @redshirt:

    So I assume that not only does Cole not read the blog, but he pays no attention to emails or comments from Front Pagers?

    He usually reads the comments on his own posts, which is why I’m being so public here.

    @Betty Cracker:

    Would it make sense / be feasible to make the featured image the author’s avatar, preferably on an automated basis?

    See my comment at #146. It’s elegant for gifted graphic artists, like you — or for the occasional post like TaMara’s this afternoon, where her thumbnail of Bixby’s paw in her hand made sense for her post about reaching out to do good in one’s community.

    But the best Cole can do for an avatar is the Balloon Guy… or Steve’s back end. That’s not really a good coda for 90% of even Cole’s weak-tea one-line OTs, much less his more developed work.

  161. 161.

    redshirt

    @Anne Laurie:

    See my comment at #146. It’s elegant for gifted graphic artists, like you — or for the occasional post like TaMara’s this afternoon, where her thumbnail of Bixby’s paw in her hand made sense for her post about reaching out to do good in one’s community.

    But the best Cole can do for an avatar is the Balloon Guy… or Steve’s back end. That’s not really a good coda for 90% of even Cole’s weak-tea one-line OTs, much less his more developed work.
    Reply

    I get the sense that Cole is an actual hindrance to this blog in both operational and editorial matters.

    That said, it’s a free blog and I know you’re all not paid. But surely there must be more for your efforts? Especially you and Betty. You two keep this place going.

  163. 163.

    p.a.

    Anybody check out the Balloon Juice video tutorial? I haven’t yet; want to pay attention to the game.

  164. 164.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @p.a.: It’s the same thing that has been there since the rebuild started. I don’t think you’ll find it helpful.

  165. 165.

    Heliopause

    @Corner Stone:

    At this point Carolina’s riding a very easy schedule to the #1 seed. Arizona or Green Bay, who had a very poor effort today, have enough talent to challenge them, but that’s not the same thing as beating somebody on their home turf. Honestly, if Seattle had an offensive line that was so much as NFL mediocre I’d call them the conference favorites again, but realistically it looks like one of the other three I named.

  166. 166.

    p.a.

    Not sure what I think of Wilson as a QB. His O line sucks, but he’s not a very accurate passer. His O coordinator says he has to design the offense assuming (because of Wilson’s size) that pocket passing will be impossible.

  170. 170.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Steeplejack: If the offense can figure out how to function in the first half and not just the second, the team will be fine. I was happy to see Abbrederis do well.

  172. 172.

    redshirt

    @p.a.:

    Not sure what I think of Wilson as a QB. His O line sucks, but he’s not a very accurate passer. His O coordinator says he has to design the offense assuming (because of Wilson’s size) that pocket passing will be impossible.

    I think he scrambles too soon and gives up 5-10 legit passing chances per game.

  175. 175.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    @p.a.: Have you installed More Better Balloon Juice at Stylish? That and Even Better Balloon Juice at Greasemonkey will dramatically improve your user experience. Or, I should say that it has done so for mine. The Other Chuck is my hero.

  178. 178.

    Doug R

    @WordPress Developers: This updated site is the only one where the phone home page shows Exactly the same as my last visit. I have to force refresh every visit and also force refresh if I leave a thread and come back. It’s 1994 all over again.

  179. 179.

    p.a.

    I’m not him but surprised he hasn’t been around since the crash. Perhaps he’s using a nom de plume.

  180. 180.

    Heliopause

    @p.a.:

    I will grant you that Wilson is a hard quarterback to evaluate. His entire time in Seattle has been characterized by personnel discontinuity on the line and real questions as to how good the receivers are. On the other hand, he often seems to give up on a play after his first read.

  181. 181.

    p.a.

    @Heliopause: I’m in New England so we don’t see him weekly, and it’s hard to argue with 2 straight SBowl appearances, but he makes a lot of ‘WTF was he thinking’ passes. It’s his 4th or 5th year. If I were a ‘Hawks fan I’d want to see more improvement. He must be tough as nails; he takes a beating and never misses a series.

    Turning into a good game.

  183. 183.

    AnotherBruce

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Peter king may be genuinely worried about a Daesh attack, but his last statement about Obama is just foolish posturing. We need to unite as a nation to take these assholes out, and King is being an even bigger asshole by surfing on the dead bodies in Paris to spew his partisan bullshit. Fuck, why shouldn’t the Daesh assholes attack us? They know they could destroy our divided nation with even a mild attack. I hope King realizes the fire he’s playing with, because he might wind up being an attack victim himself.

  184. 184.

    Anne Laurie

    @AnotherBruce:

    I hope King realizes the fire he’s playing with, because he might wind up being an attack victim himself.

    Rep. Pete King has been playing the never trust a Muslim card since 2011, at least. He’ll never rise beyond his Long Island bailiwick of car dealership owners, private contractors, and NYC civil-service commuters, but he’s got that job for as long as he wants it, plus a nice side gig in badmouthing whichever Democratic office-holders have most recently fallen afoul of the Media Village Idiots’ courtier standards. (To be fair, he’ll attack his fellow Repubs as well, as when Rand Paul looked to be getting an unseemly amount of attention.)

  185. 185.

    Mister Papercut

    @John Cole:

    Oh, FFS. Someone redraw the balloon man or I will just replace it with a picture of Steve’s ass.

    Where “Photoshop the nightmare fuel source photo within an inch of its life” for all values of “redraw,” I hope. I did my best.

  189. 189.

    Gex

    On the plus side, the ubiquitous Balloon Man makes me appreciate the default mouseover action on an image.

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