Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

We still have time to mess this up!

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

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

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Everybody saw this coming.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

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

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

You are here: Home / Absent Friends / Pet Calendar and In Memoriam

Pet Calendar and In Memoriam

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Just a reminder to submit your pet pictures for the Balloon Juice Pet Calendar 2020. You can click the link to the upper right that says “Pet Calendar Info” and get the full rundown on how to submit. Get them in soon so we can get cracking!

Also, I thought that this year, in the pages prior to the start of the calendar, we would have an In Memoriam for those we have lost. So if you have a favorite comment or memory about General Stuck, efgoldman, greennotGreen, Scotian, schlemazel, or any others, please place them or link them in the comments below. I will then go through and pick out a few and we will include them in the calendar so that when you get it you can look back fondly on their memories. As a bonus I can spend the next six months dealing with angry emails from people whose memory was not chosen because that’s how we roll on this shit website where no good deed goes unpunished you insufferable pricks.

Update: On a computer or a tablet in landscape mode, you can click the link in the upper right that says “Pet Calendar Info” and get the full rundown on how to submit. On a phone or on a tablet in portrait mode, you can find “Pet Calendar Info” under the 3 horizontal lines, aka the hamburger.

Reader Interactions

87Comments

  1. 1.

    zhena gogolia

    My God, just looking at this list — “General Stuck, efgoldman, greennotGreen, Scotian, schlemazel” — I got tears in my eyes and was overwhelmed with memories of people I never laid eyes on, but whose unique and irreplaceable souls shone forth on this blog.

  4. 4.

    Ruckus

    So it’s OK to say pricks but one of the things they are used for isn’t?

     

    It’s a strange, strange world we live in.

  7. 7.

    WaterGirl

    It’s a sad list.  I searched for each one (search this website) yesterday. There are 461 pages of threads that match with efgoldman, 67 for greennotGreen, 217 for Schlemazel, 1302 for General Stuck, and 12 pages for Scotian.

    There may be more for General Stuck, but he changed his nym fairly frequently and I don’t remember all the nyms he used.  Searching for “stuck” gave the best results and found a couple of his nyms.

    edit: reminder: all of efgoldman’s original comments were somehow corrupted on the old site and were no longer there in the old database when we checked, which was probably a year ago by now.  any comments that efgoldman REPLIED to are in there.  So if EF wrote a comment about the awesome watermelon he found at the farmer’s market, that comment is not in the wordpress database.  But if YOU wrote a comment about the awesome watermelon you found, and efgoldman replied to your comment, his reply will be in there.

  8. 8.

    Miss Bianca

    I was just reviewing some pet photos of my own and got a bit overwhelmed looking at images of Luna, Stella, and Lefty, my passed pets.

     

    Then I read this post.

     

    Oh, dear.

  9. 9.

    laura

    @zhena gogolia: what you said. The weight of their individual and collective decency, the good they put out into the world, the Joy’s and sorrows they shared and the Grace they left in their absence, and the blessing that comes with the memory of each of them are gifts to be savored.

  10. 10.

    WaterGirl

    Does anyone know how to get in touch with Schlemazel’s niece, Laura?  I feel sure she will want to participate in this.

  11. 11.

    WaterGirl

    FYI search results are based on the best match order, so the posts are not listed in chronological order.  So if you search for “butterflies” the posts with the most instances of “butterflies” will be the first post in the list.

  12. 12.

    TomatoQueen

    @WaterGirl: She’s traveling in Australia at the moment and will be home very soon to be FlightParent for my boy Merlin on Dec 11, so I can send her a note, but she may not see it in time.

  14. 14.

    chopper

    @zhena gogolia:

     

    and those are just the ones who informed us, or whose families informed us. i think about some commenters back in the day and think oh man, i really miss X, i wonder what happened to them and think there’s a decent chance that some of them left us and we never found out. jesus that’s sad.

  15. 15.

    Ruckus

    @laura:

    Not everyone is an ass, although most of us know how to be one. Many try not to be one, it does make the world a bit better. But it’s  difficult to abide by the ones who can’t seem to be anything else. The list that zhena gogolia wrote were such people. Always trying to be in some way just a little bit better. Even in the face of horrible. And we knew them, sort of. They became friends, people who you wanted to be around, to hear, to agree with, or even disagree with on occasion. They were good, sometimes maybe not so good, but they wore their humanity right up front for all to see. And we miss them because they were memorable for all that.

  16. 16.

    Raven

    @chopper: I still get notices of the “Southern Dragon” from FDL and he’s been dead for 7 years. I don’t think he had any family and his Facebook page is still active.

  18. 18.

    natakamus

    I’m an hourly lurker, but don’t comment much. Just submitted some photos of my dog, who had a crazy scare a few weeks ago. He’s 13 years old, and was developing a slight limp… I came home from work one night, and he was sitting in the middle of the rug, unable to move. After an evening in the Vet ER, he was diagnosed with IVDD, and sent home with pain killers, anti inflammatories, and muscle relaxants. He’s almost back to his old self now, so we’re pretty confident it’s not a tumor, or anything else that would involve MRIs and surgeries. Here’s to praying for many years to come – My last dog, a Miniature Long Haired Dachshund, lived to be 17, so I’m moving forward with confidence!

  21. 21.

    laura

    Thank you Blogfather for throwing this suggestion out – it’s so very thoughtful and it’s just one more data point in your journey to menchhood.

    Your’e a good’n you are, despite the crusty exterior your heart is true and its tender.

  23. 23.

    satby

    because that’s how we roll on this shit website where no good deed goes unpunished you insufferable pricks.

    I love you John.

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    @NotMax: I have tried to remember what his nym was before he changed it, but I cannot recall.  Maybe someone else will remember.

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    @chopper

    Yup. Purplegirl and sans culotte come readily to mind, could probably come up with a dozen more upon further cogitation.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    @chopper: I keep thinking that once we get all the kinks out of the new site we should publicize some sort of BJ Grand Reopening/Reunion online.  Call it Old Home Week or something and put out a call for previous commenter to stop by and say hi.  Maybe some would stay!

  30. 30.

    Gammyjill

    I was thinking the other night of the blogger, Steve Gilliard, who died in 2007 or 2008. His was the first political blog I followed and he was a brilliant writer and historian. Unfortunately, he was sickly and died in his early 40’s. What’s funny is that he was African American, which I didn’t realise til I saw a picture of him. I thought of him when Obama won in 2008, knowing how pleased he would have been.

     

    What a brilliant and disciplined mind he had. Does anyone else remember him?

  31. 31.

    Gin & Tonic

    @chopper: One of the ones who left the blog and then later (may have been last year?) left this mortal coil wasn’t to everyone’s taste, but some had a soft spot for him: Tommy.

  32. 32.

    laura

    @Gammyjill: Steve Gilliard!

    If/when awards in blogging are “a thing” they should be called a Gilly in his honor. A towering intellect and his influence led me to Digby, Driftglass, Tbogg and so it goes.

    Gone way too soon, missed so much.

  33. 33.

    Gin & Tonic

    Like most of us, I never met efgoldman, but we had geography in common, and I was fortunate to have been able to attend his memorial service, which I am quite sure he had a hand in. It included not just a screening of Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s on First?” routine, but had his daughter reading the infield fly rule. A more fitting exit I can’t imagine. So long, Peter.

  36. 36.

    NotMax

    @laura

    and so it goes

    Know you didn’t intend it that way but that was the name of my former blog! A decade of daily blogging along with running a sole proprietorship business full time kind of burned me out, and something had to give.

  38. 38.

    WaterGirl

    @chopper: I’m sure there is!  We just have to figure out what it is. :-)  Maybe it’s as simple as once there’s a date/week figured out, everybody mentions it on all the blogs they hang out at?

  39. 39.

    Ohio Mom

    Gin&Tonic #31

    I also had s soft spot for Tommy and am saddened to hear he died. He made my autism-radar beep loudly, I always assumed what other people found tiresome about him was the social awkwardness endemic to autism.

     

    How did you know he died, and can I ask what from — he was on the younger side.

  41. 41.

    Gin & Tonic

    @Ohio Mom: There were comments here a couple of months ago to that effect. I’m not sure who found out, but he’d had a bad stretch – his father died, then there was a fire at his house.

  44. 44.

    Dr, Fungus

    My beloved Lab mix, Rogue, passed of pancreatitis the night before Thanksgiving. At least her pain has ended. Rest In Peace, girl.

  51. 51.

    CO lurker

    This is a lovely idea…just don’t forget Walter (like we could.)

    I’ve been a long-time lurker — starting just after Obama’s election, so after Cole’s turn from the dark side but before his broken shoulder and various physical and home remodeling mishaps. I’ve checked this blog virtually everyday, devoting thousands of hours to reading the posts and the comments. I read through Walter’s saga and cried more when he died than I did when my own pets died. I have a flash bulb memory of where I was the horrible night I read that Tunch had died, General Stuck had passed away, and George Zimmerman was acquitted.

     

    Somehow I’ve developed parasocial relationships with some of the strangest, smartest people I could imagine (plus the occasional questionable front pager), and I say that lovingly. I think dozens of us have, in this pack of jackals. That’s kind of f*ed up, but remarkable — so much so that an honest-to-god academic wrote about us in a real book.

     

    So I recognize those names and was shocked to learn that each one of those commenters had passed away. I was especially moved by one commenter’s posts this year (I apologize for not knowing their name) as they cared for loved ones during their illnesses before cruelly dying themselves.

     

    I felt the need to share and hope everyone takes care. And let’s not forget Walter.

    **One important note — the links to the pictures on Tunch’s memorial page are missing. Or is he being surly from the great beyond?

  53. 53.

    Ohio Mom

    Thanks, I found the thread about Tommy’s passing. I googled his obituary but no cause of death listed there.

     

    I once heavily hinted about autism in a thread, and he gave me an answer that could have been Interpreted as, “Yep, that’s me.” Knowing that he died so young — well, that’s not unusual for autistics, for a variety of reasons.

     

    It is weird that the death of people you “meet” online could punch you in the gut.

  54. 54.

    WaterGirl

    @CO lurker: I see that. Not sure what is happening, but at least I can see the names of the photos so I can find them again.  It looks like maybe the library didn’t transfer over every crop of the photo.  Or something.  thanks.

  55. 55.

    danielx

    @Gammyjill:

     

    Remember him very well, one of the first bloggers I followed with any regularity. One of my faves was a piece in which he named various types in the NYC web/media scene of the time and wrote something

    to the effect of “Try not to be an asshole, we have enough in the city already”….above a picture of Rudy Giuliani.

    Also, FTFY.

  58. 58.

    Ohio Mom

    @Laura #32

    In the early 2000’s, there was an annual award for lefty blogs. It was called the Kofaux Award (Sandy was left-handed) and was started by Dwight Meredith who had a blog called PLA: Politics, Law and Autism.

    After a few years, the couple  who had another now-defunct blog, Wampum, took over the award for a few years. I know Digby won it, she used to display her award on her blog (haven’t been there in a long time).

    Anyway, I tried goggling and didn’t get very far so I can’t tell you if Steve Gillard won one or not, but he certainly deserved one.

  64. 64.

    spudgun

    So, I’m mainly a lurker but I took a break from the blog after the 2012 election, and came back around the time of greennotGreen’s passing. Lots of change in commenters (e.g., no Soonergrunt, Redkitten, aimai, asiangrrlMN)…but the one person I keep wondering about for some reason is Higgs Boson’s Mate.

    Can someone tell me what happened with him?

  66. 66.

    Ohio Mom

    @Max #60: Skippy the Kangaroo passed as well.

    The aughts were a golden age of blogging that we shall not see again.

  67. 67.

    spudgun

    @Miss Bianca:  Oh, no…I feel your pain. In particular, poor Luna.

     

    It never really goes away, does it? I still mourn my Trixie-girl, 2 1/2 years after her passing.

  69. 69.

    Mary G

    @spudgun: He got a lot of his medical issues resolved and reconciled with his wife in August or September 2015. I have not heard much from him since, but we are FB friends and he posted in June that he could not stay on FB because they are evil. Then last week he posted Happy Thanksgiving wishes from himself, his wife and son, and Leland, one of the greatest dogs in the world. So he, and more as I used to tell him, more importantly Leland, are good.

     

    So I keep FB for things like that, even though I never post much. I did that thing where they have to tell you what they know about you, and send your data, and they said they had nothing.

  71. 71.

    debit

    @Mary G: I’ll never forget how frantic and upset I was when he posted a farewell, and then you hunted him down and brought him home.  You are a shining light of kindness and compassion and I admire you so much.

  72. 72.

    ChrisGrrr

    I came back here the first, second, fifth time ’cause of the antics of Tunch. (Not out to make less of BJ humans no longer with us… first thought this post was about a memorial to departed pets.)

  75. 75.

    Miss Bianca

    @debbie: That would be Roxy, and yes…she’s still with us!

     

    Let’s see, the pet photo roster would go: Stella, Luna, Pancho and Lefty, Watson, Roxy. I’ll have to get busy!

  76. 76.

    EthylEster

    Speaking of “because that’s how we roll on this shit website where no good deed goes unpunished”…

     

    I haven’t seen any mention of cost of “new” shit website. Maybe I missed it.

    Is this info available?

    Inquiring minds, doncha know.

  84. 84.

    vhh

    To the right of the banner there are 3 lines. Clicking on them DOES NOT yield any pet calendar info in Opera and Chrome browsers on my Android phone. Please probide an actual link.

  85. 85.

    WaterGirl

    @EthylEster: I don’t believe John has shared specific information about the cost for the developers or the monthly hosting costs, but they were and are significant.  So I’m sure contributions would be most welcome, and if it doesn’t work with your budget before the holidays, after the holidays would surely work also.

  86. 86.

    WaterGirl

    @vhh: That is a most excellent point!  Upper right, just below the balloon man, is where you find the Pet Calendar Info on a computer or on an iPad or tablet in landscape mode.

    On a phone or on a tablet in portrait mode, you can find whatever is in the box in the upper right on a computer under the 3 horizontal lines, aka the hamburger.  But someone forgot to add it to the mobile menu!  (That would be me.)  It is there now, but I’ll share the link anyway.

    Pet Calendar Info

    My apologies.  I promise I won’t forget about the mobile menu next time!

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