Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Let there be snark.

You cannot shame the shameless.

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

T R E 4 5 O N

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

In my day, never was longer.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

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

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

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

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / It Wasn’t Balloon Juice

It Wasn’t Balloon Juice

by | 125 Comments

This post is in: ,

Just a quick programming note to say that the site interruptions this evening were not the result of a problem with our site – they were the result of problems way further up the networking chain. So there’s that, at least!

Since John thinks that all/most/some of us are insufferable pricks who complain all the time, maybe you guys can use this thread to comment about the things you do like about the new site?

Surely there must be something!

Reader Interactions

125Comments

  3. 3.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I will start things off by saying that one of my favorite things about the new site is that Baud 2020! is commenting. My second favorite thing after that, besides balloon man being back in the header where he belongs, with rotating tags… is Catcake, who is the happy cat cupcake image in the pie filter.

  6. 6.

    mattH

    I love the “View by…” section, prominent and a nice division, so I don’t have to hunt down a poster to sift through their old stuff.

  10. 10.

    Another Scott

    I like the variety of topics, and that (almost) every thread can be an open thread without too much disruption of the conversation.

    And while the software has issues, we can (usually) work around them without too much trouble.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  15. 15.

    dexwood

    What’s not to like? I trust all bugs will be worked out and people will move on to complaining about other things eventually. My nym and email address don’t stick from day to day. but auto-fill works. Minor issue easily worked around. Just because – fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck.

  17. 17.

    spudgun

    I love the fonts and I really just love the clean, organized look overall. And at the time, I didn’t really see what the big deal was about Recent Comments, but now that it’s back I totally get it. Love Recent Comments!

     

    So appreciative of all the work everyone involved put into it, especially WaterGirl.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: The developers thought I was crazy when I asked for those, but to their credit they made a face and did it anyway, with just a “really, are you sure?” and a virtual raised eyebrow.

  21. 21.

    spudgun

    @WaterGirl:  I haven’t had to pie anyone (yet…), but I’m tempted to pie someone randomly so I can see the pix!

     

    I mean, I can unpie them afterwards, right?

  22. 22.

    Ruckus

    I’m fine with the new site. It is nice but different, and that’s a good thing.

    It keeps the feel of the old place but it’s like getting a new car, same model as the last one without the oil leaks, the wondering all over the road, the constant breakdowns, the frustration of owning a pos.

  29. 29.

    Tim C.

    My favorite part of the new site is that it’s still filled with jackals.  Sorry if that’s too glurge positive for some people, but I likes this place.

  32. 32.

    debit

    I mentioned when the new site first went live that I really liked it.  Faster and a little cleaner, but still with the feel and flavor of the old site, so I find it really comfortable and homey.  You guys did a great job and I appreciate the effort that must have gone into the design.

  33. 33.

    Joy in FL

    I like the site overall.

    The arrows that send me back to the top of the page are so convenient!

    I like the titles just under the Balloon Juice banner. It was easy for me to re-find the post about funding transport for Merlin.

    And it remembered my nym : )

  34. 34.

    Marcopolo

    Once again enjoying Chris Hayes’ live Friday show.  Opening topic is addressing the Republican disengagement from empirical reality & how that relates to impeachment.

  35. 35.

    Mary G

    It loads in an instant and navigates a million times faster between posts. I love the header photos on the categories up top, particularly Nancy SMASH shaking her finger at Twitler in Politics and Ellie with Walter in his Christmas reindeer antlers smiling with all his teefuses out of the page. I don’t have to fiddle around removing hashtags from tweets I want to embed because we can have more links now. Haven’t been in moderation since the changeover, huzzah!

    Also, missed two or three threads reading other things and answered late to an inquiry about HBM here. TL, DR he and I have lost touch, but he posted on FB for Thanksgiving and is still with all his family.

  36. 36.

    Ruckus

    @Baud:

    I have the nav buttons on my phone.

     

    And I’m used to the buttons on the bottom right and I haven’t taught my self to go directly to the top yet. Maybe some day, birds will fly, ducks will waddle and my brain will work. Lofty goals and all.

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    @dexwood: Is it possible that you use private browsing (or whatever your browser calls it) or you don’t accept cookies?  Both of those things make it so your nym isn’t saved.

  38. 38.

    donnah

    I like the new site and it’s very quick. My fave part is that it’s remembered my name and email. That alone is worth the relaunch.

     

    Nicely done, and thanks very much.

  42. 42.

    Armadillo

    I love the new site.  Balloon Man is back.  Okay, I just love the patriarchy.  Lol.  I do think the new site is amazing.  I haven’t used many of the new functions, just use it the same way I used the old site, but I think it’s great.  It works just fine, it’s beautiful, and faster.

  44. 44.

    planetjanet

    I love the refresh button that stays at the top of the page.  I can refresh the comments and not lose my place.  Also, I loved the blue box around the blockquote that everyone was using the other night.  Squeee!

    Baud

    December 6, 2019 at 8:05 pm

    And who doesn’t love magenta.

  45. 45.

    spudgun

    Ok, the pie filter pix are cute! Obvs catcake is the best.

     

    Baud, how ya doin’? Soul still ok? I used your name because your name came up the most in the comments and I wanted to see as many pix as I could…

  51. 51.

    dww44

    I very much appreciate the recent darkening of the text and the subduing of the white space.  My eyes like it very much.  Thanks.

  57. 57.

    ola azul

    Gotta small linguistic request, opt in or out as you please:

    Would dearly love to see the term “meddling” get shot in the fucking head n buried inna shallow grave. Specific point being:

    What was done in ’16, rightly understood, imo, was an attack. Deliberate. Premeditated. Successful. If you cannot bring yourself to use such forceful language, the Latinate interfere will, I suppose, suffice, altho it lacks specificity and punch. Sabotage would answer better, imo. But:

    “Meddling” is the big reveal at the end of an episode of Scooby Doo. “Meddling” is an insulting and cowardly way of dodging the gravity and import of what happent, of what is *presently* happening. “Meddling”, in the “Lakoffian frame”, is, imo, a way of unknowingly or “bend-over-backwards-civilly” ceding the rhetorical ground to people who do not, in any fucking way, deserve such consideration.

    It’s like consenting to use the word pro-life. Fuck off.

  61. 61.

    Suzanne

    I like that it works well in portrait mode on my iPad.

     

    I’m in Pittsburgh right now. Had an extended job interview. I really hope this works out. This is a rad city and I really like the firm a lot. Fingers crossed.

  62. 62.

    randy khan

    I love the navigation arrow buttons at the top of the page, when I remember to use them

     

    (You said one thing.  That’s the one I picked.)

  68. 68.

    Martin

    Since John thinks that all/most/some of us are insufferable pricks who complain all the time, maybe you guys can use this thread to comment about the things you do like about the new site?

    I like that John is too much of a fucking coward to tell that to our face.

    Seriously, my quibbles with the new site are too minor to mention. Great job everyone.

     

    [Edit] Jesus, John. You’re bigfooting comments now?

  74. 74.

    Gin & Tonic

    A little musical interlude for the season. One or two of you may have heard a little ditty called “Carol of the Bells.” It was written as “Щедрик” (Shchedryk) by the Ukrainian composer Mykola Leontovych  and became popular after the Ukrainian National Chorus performed it at Carnegie Hall in 1920. This is the first known recording, cut in 1922 in New York. It was actually intended as a New Year’s carol, not a Christmas carol, but that’s what it has become.

  75. 75.

    Melusine

    Like having the Comment and Refresh buttons right at the top. And the arrows – I was always accidentally hitting them on my phone when they were at the bottom right.

     

    Also, many thanks for staying true and abhoring the barbarous threaded discussion layout. HATEHATEHATE that format as much as I loathe Discus in general.  Very glad there is no Dicks Us here. I appreciate being to switch to another tab and then come back where I left  off.

     

    I am agnostic on the “tres trop” periods after the numbers, but I am glad that the numbers are there. I will occasionally check during a long thread in case I lose my place, and it’s very handy when switching between devices mid-thread. Very useful when a T-Bogg unit is looming so you can gauge how many caffeine-xanax-vodka cocktails it will take to finish the thread. I hate tossing xanax in the blender if it’s under 200 comments on refresh.

     

    Thank you very much to our graciously grumpy host and the fortuitously flame-resistant WaterGirl.

  82. 82.

    raven

    @ola azul: I’m recovering from a trashed knee when something hit my bait and my rod and reel flew out of the holder into the water. Being that it was a Penn reel and expensive rod I had no choice but to dive for it and landed squarely on my knee. Dude was stripping line and heading for Mexico but I managed to turn it and get it in! I turned out to be a ray but it was fun until I knew what it was.

  84. 84.

    rekoob

    All of it has been an improvement, and I’ve been using f.lux since John Cole recommended it. Probably the best feature is having links open in another tab automatically. Very handy for keeping place.

  88. 88.

    daize

    @WaterGirl: I so appreciate how patient you are with folks like me who don’t read your posts carefully and then ask idiot questions.  You are always so gracious about it.

     

    I love the new site design.  Thank you for all of your very hard work.

  89. 89.

    crosspalms

    I like the new look. Clean, similar enough to the old one to not rattle my senses, loads faster (especially embedded tweets). I don’t comment enough to have an opinion on how that differs, but my hat’s off to everyone who worked on this. Thanks!

  90. 90.

    batguano

    I like that the new site smells like lavender.

    ETA: plus how is it possible that it barely drains my phone battery on Chrome Android 10.

  92. 92.

    mvr

    To be honest I was already thinking about how to send along a comment of thanks for the new site.  The up and down arrows on the right were great. The lack of skeezy advertising is a definite improvement over the previous iteration. That I only had to fill in the comment form once is a blessing.  And it looks pretty good too.

     

    Thanks for all of your work!

  96. 96.

    kindness

    John thinks that all/most/some of us are insufferable pricks who complain all the time.

     

    Pure projection and honestly many of us came to this place because John was an insufferable prick back in the day.  But we loved it.

  97. 97.

    ola azul

    @raven:

     

    Saw that! Responded. Quite enjoy hearing your adventures. Misst you, was one thread behind you for a piece.

     

    Thing about ocean fishing, tho (in the words of my Norwegian boss of long ago up in Lake of the Woods, Minnesoooota): “You yuss never know!” Plus, yer injury is all in the game, right? Can’t be giving fishing rods to the ocean.

     

    Was fishing on the pilings of the Cape Coral Bridge at night one time with a buddy (illegal, course; i.e. fishing on the bridge, not the fishing with my buddy, tho that prolly by all rights oughtta be illegal, too). Had the water-mule stowed close by case got into sumpin big. My buddy hooks up to sumpin powerful. We clamber into the canoe n give chase. Never jumps. Don’t even run much. Got plows n plods. Me: “It’sa ray, Tom.”; my buddy (hopefully): “Might be a tarpon.”; me: “Din’t jump.”; him: “Sometimes they don’t.”)

     

    So we followed that fish all over the Caloosahatchee River for the better part of an hour n a half, till my buddy finally pumps it close enough to see it shimmering with purple phosphorescence in the gloaming light of the banks of the city. It’sa ray. Big’n.

    Me n my buddy got lotsa histry, and knowing how he once got stung/barbed in the leg by a sting ray n his buddy generously offered to piss onnit to make it better (iodine! not entirely insincere offer!), I allowed as how if he was to stop “meddling” with the rays, we might could go back to try’nta getta tarpon or snook and he wouldn’t have to find out to his cost that you can’t tap a dry keg.

  101. 101.

    Dan B

    I luuuurve the new!!

    Okay, time to mellow out.  I like how the changes seemed subtle at first but kept revealing how pleasing they were:  nym saved, refresh, blue box, text, etc.  And Watergirl for hanging in admirably through all the gnashing and glitches!  Many kudos and hugs (as desired..).

  102. 102.

    laura

    The new site is spiffy. Everybody but mostly Watergirl did a great job. And Baud is back right where we need him in the run up to the primaries.

  105. 105.

    Aleta

    I like the dream I had last night after I exited.   It was vivid and semi-real just like the new site.

  107. 107.

    Mike in Oly

    I am loving the new site. So well thought out and it looks great. I really appreciate all the hard work of everyone who worked on it.

  109. 109.

    sukabi

    Appreciate all the work that you guys have done on the site. The comment, refresh and other nav buttons are fantastic. ?

  110. 110.

    Aleta

    The design is thought-out and beautiful and navigation is fast and friendly. WaterGirl ⛩  ??

     

    eta  And I admire very much that you made room to list authors and artists and blogs.

  113. 113.

    Cowgirl in the Sandi

    Thanks to Watergirl and all for a great job.  I love the Refresh button and especially the fact that the balloon man has returned up top.  Thanks to John and all for such a great, educational, funny. amazing site!!

    Also, I’ll have to try out the pie filter to see the pics.

  115. 115.

    ola azul

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

     

    Dead thread, but: Watching news, someone sez “meddle”, got irritated, then curious.

     

    Adam’s an incisive human, no doubt, but just for shits n giggles, did a b-j search to see when I first expressed my ire at that insipid euphemism “meddling”. Earliest I could find was inna comment about the efficacy of removing Moscow Mitch not just as Senate Majority Leader but also from the Senate itself. Was a disgusted interjectory aside made inna diff point at Comment 59:

    https://balloon-juice.com/2019/01/16/our-goose-is-cooked-our-reputation-is-shot/

    Jan. 16 of this year, twere, back when poleaxed was still my nym.

  117. 117.

    ola azul

    Also, too: The site redesign is fab. Still learning its ways, but a wonderful job onna gargantuan task.

  118. 118.

    J R in WV

    @Suzanne:

     

    Oh, yeh, Pittsburgh is a really nice city, I love the rivers and steep hillsides. Great museums. AND you will only be about 50 miles from Balloon Juice HQ at Cole’s house.

     

    I love B-J mostly because of the news you all round up, and it’s my main social contact, as we’re hermits in the deep woods. We have lots of great friends and neighbors, but we don’t see them every day like you would neighbors in the city or even in the ‘burbs.

     

    I feel like you guys are my friends, even those of you I sometimes fuss with. Not the trolls, the real people. I can count on the Jackals for emotional support, as needed. For which I thank all of you, and esp. Watergirl and Cole.

     

    We went to see Ford V Ferrari this evening, a great movie with interesting real people and fabulous cars, from streets filled with period cars of the ’50s and ’60s to the incredible GT sports race cars built for 24 hour endurance racing. Then pizza and beer and home already.

  119. 119.

    ola azul

    @mrmoshpotato:

     

    Ruh-roh! Them’s fightin words!

    Notta Scooby hater at all. But will say: If there’s any justice left in this misbegotten world, which is very much an open question, then “deliberate bad-faith Scooby misappropriators” surely must be added to the formal articles of impeachment.

  122. 122.

    tomtofa

    @Ruckus:

    That’s a great analogy – exactly how I feel.

     

    And when nested comments goes live it will be perfect!

    Oh, wait . . .

Comments are closed.