Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

The willow is too close to the house.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

T R E 4 5 O N

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

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

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Trip Down Memory Lane

Trip Down Memory Lane

by | 133 Comments

This post is in: ,

In case you missed it…

John’s birthday post this morning:

It’s Somebody’s Birthday Today!

By request, a much-loved photo that was missing from the photo array in that post:


Rosie Adores Dad, and The Feeling Is Mutual

…..

Oh, and this is classic Cole, don’t you think?

picture of tombstone

It’s from one of the posts below, but I’m not gonna tell you which one.

…

Subaru Diane wrote this masterpiece in honor of the blog master’s birthday:

I am the very model of a semi-centenarian,
My visage is curmudgeonly, my politics contrarian;
I mop my bathroom naked, and I shave my cat’s posterior
(He’s going to kill me in my sleep, for he is my superior).

I rescued Lily, Rosie, and — oh, what’s his name? — that other dog;
I lost the mustard, broke my shoulder, made a top ten-thousand blog;
Because you jackals are a bunch of idiots and stupid fools,
I wish you all would email me in CAPITALS AND MAJUSCULES.

(Chorus: He wishes we would email him in CAPITALS AND MAJUSCULES,
He wishes we would email him in CAPITALS AND MAJUSCULES,
He wishes we would email him in CAPITALS AND MAJUS- MAJUSCULES)

I write a righteous rant, but I have made my home a place of Zen,
I chill out in my house, front porch, back yard, or living room and den;
And for the next half-century I’ll just keep calm and carry on,
For I’m the very model of a semi-centenarian!

~SiubhanDuinne

And for anyone who wants to take a trip down memory lane, here is a collection of birthday posts (and more) from over the years:

It is my 32nd birthday (2002)

Blog Break (2003)

Birthday (2004)

Happy Birthday to Me (2005)

Happy Birthday to Me (2007)

An Open Thread Dedicated to the Greatness of Devon Cole  (2007)

Another Open Thread (2008)

Peak Wingnut (2008)

I Am Aware Of All Internet Traditions  (2008)

It’s the Thought That Counts (2009)

Open Thread (2009)

How Jack Russell Terrier Puppies Dry Themselves (2009)

You’ll Never Get this 21 Minutes of Your Life Back (2009)

Open Thread: Happy Birthday, John Cole (2010)

Still the King (2010)

Mid-Day Open Thread (2010)

Tuna On a Dinner Plate (2010)

Open Thread (2010)

Happy Birthday To Me (2011)

Open Thread (2012)

Godson Meets Dog (2012)

Snarky Post Title That Some Will Laugh At But Will Offend Others

For Our Very Special Angry Lady (2013)

I Am Such A Dick (2013)

Another Teeny Tiny Request (2013)

Tuesday Sorta Late Night Open Thread (2013)

Happy Birthday, West Virginia (2013)

Happy Father’s Day Everyone! (2014)

True Blood Open Thread (2014)

Mothering is Hard work (2015)

Happy Mother’s Day (2015)

Long Day (2016)

Healthcare, Birthday, and other Bullshit (2017)

Saturday Open Thread (2018)

Friday Night Open Thread (Shut Up I Know There is Already One) 2018

Birthday Party (2018)

Happy 50th Anniversary to the Old People (2018)

Good Birthday (2019)

Happy Father’s Day (2019)

Pets Open Thread (2019)

Another Fun Day at the Beach (2019)

Reader Interactions

133Comments

  1. 1.

    Mathguy

    I’ve got to say that “Peak Wingnut” has not aged well. It’s appears that wingnuttiness is a bit like COVID-19, since we’re still riding the first wave.

  2. 2.

    joel hanes

    Not birthday themed, but any list of the GOAT Balloon Juice threads IMHO must include BJ’s part in the three-way “I am aware of all internet traditions” event — the other two participating blogs being LGM, where it started, and Sadly, No!

    LGM has lost that part of its archives.   Sadly, No! is dormant.

    Only Balloon Juice remains to remember and to tell the tale.

  5. 5.

    WaterGirl

    @joel hanes: Do you know the timeframe?  You can go to Balloon Juice Posts -> View by Month and Year and can find stuff pretty easily

    I could add that one (those) to the list if you find them.

  9. 9.

    p.a.

    Damn.  Lots of nyms that I remember…

    Anyone seen a Corner Stone comment lately?  Almost scared to ask.

  13. 13.

    BGinCHI

    Anyone else remember a Soonergrunt post where we pretended to comment in a meta- way on commenting itself?

    I often think about how funny that was.

  19. 19.

    Tim F

    @WaterGirl:  NP! I’m going from memory about the traffic analytics so who knows if I got that right. But the tire rims & anthrax line was such a perfect distillation of what negotiating with Republicans actually would be like, and it got a lot of traction around the blogosphere.

  22. 22.

    greenergood

    Hippo Bird-day to Ewe, Mr Cole!! I only arrived at BJ after Tunch had crossed the rainbow bridge, so it was lovely to see photos of the feline overlord in all his glory. His feline and canine minions are worthy inheritors of his kingdom, esp Steve and that queen of queens-girl Lily!

  24. 24.

    Tom Levenson

    Missed the earlier thread so…

     

    Happy Birthday, John.

     

    A great blogfather you are. And, on the evidence scattered round the place, a better human.

  29. 29.

    BGinCHI

    @WaterGirl: I know this is self-serving, but I wrote this on that thread and it brings back all the feelz & memories:

    Usually AsianGrrl drops in and laments that no one is around. Yutsano magically appears.

    Something fishy there I think.

    Hours later Raven demands a football thread, but it’s only Tuesday.

    Just Some Fuckhead notes that everyone is an idiot.

    Brachiator dismisses hundreds of years of intellectual history with nonsensical reference to Shogun era Japan.

    Thread flirts with VICTORY! when troll flies in to tout Romney and corporate cash.

    Cole is still awake. Contemplating his life.

  32. 32.

    prostratedragon

    Happy Birthday, John Cole. And lovely picture of father and, is it Lily? And being the chorus in the verse is fun.

  33. 33.

    frosty

    Wow, I have been reading this blog for a long time. And so have many of you /waves/. I don’t recognize any nyms from the earlier years, but there are a lot of regulars here who were commenting from 2012 on.

    Like Raven, I changed nyms somewhere in there. fka Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason.

  35. 35.

    Mathguy

    @Tim F: That one is spot even today:

    “I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax.”

  41. 41.

    different-church-lady

    @Mathguy: I think it’s gotten worse: the date now insists she’s going to order the caviar and YOU must have the anthrax.

  48. 48.

    Yutsano

    Sigh. I  wrote a long post about long lost nyms then my phone ated it. Just miss a bunch of peeps who used to post here. A lot of them bailed after the Tommy incident and I can’t blame them.

  49. 49.

    EmanG

    Happy Bday blogfather! Thanks for making BJ such an oasis of semi-sanity. Long may you reign!

  50. 50.

    CaseyL

    @WaterGirl: I don’t think that’s Rosie; I think it’s one of Mom & Dad Cole’s Jack Russells.  They have two.

    My god, that list of Birthday posts makes me feel old.  OTOH, my…  (counts on fingers)… 14 years of comments on this blog are probably as close as I’ll ever get to a personal journal.

    I wished John a Happy B-Day this morning, but more never hurts: Happy Birthday, John!

  57. 57.

    daryljfontaine

    @Tim F: I legitimately still get mileage out of that quote on Facebook, as friends or friends of friends come to the dawning horror that These People Are Fucking Insane.

    Happy birthday, Cole. May you have another 50, if you want them.

    D

  59. 59.

    Ann Marie

    I missed the earlier post — Happy Birthday, John!  Please stick around and have many more so we can keep enjoying your blog.

  60. 60.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: His birthday was apparently double-secret that year!  It also means that while I was looking for the birthday post, I didn’t see anything else around June 22 that jumped out at me.

  61. 61.

    realbtl

    Happy birthday John and thanks for this place.  I still miss BIRDZILLA of the all caps.

  62. 62.

    Miss Bianca

    I forgot that godson’s Frenchie, Tulip, is possibly the cutest dog in the mapped universe.

  66. 66.

    MomSense

    @Yutsano:

    There are lots of people I miss.  Mnemosyne and Ruemara haven’t been around lately.

    Dog knows I’ve felt like leaving many times. Oh well.

  68. 68.

    Yutsano

    @MomSense: Rue is active on Facebook. Not sure why she’s only doing the occasional pop around. Mnem is on a break but hopefully will be back.

  69. 69.

    Yutsano

    Well that was entertaining! Got an error message saying bloghost could not be found. Site came up after reload. Oddsfidh.

  75. 75.

    piratedan

    @Roger Moore: and this is not a ding against you, but I also want to say that I still greatly appreciate interacting with the people who are still here.  while still appreciating those that have left us by either shuffling off this mortal coil or those who have found a need to depart for reasons unknown.  The constant education and entertainment that I find here offers respite in finding new pursuits, creating beloved snark and shared outrage and disdain.

    Simply thankful its still here and populated by so many good folks.

  76. 76.

    HeleninEire

    Here’s the funniest thing about turning 50…I made the same mistake that I made turning 30. I thought I would know everything. All would be exposed. Certainly now I’ve lived enough to know.

    Yeah, no. Just live your life. Do what you want.

  79. 79.

    MMM

    Happy Birthday to someone who has always been there for me – on this special day I offer champagne wishes and caviar dreams.

  84. 84.

    Yutsano

    @WaterGirl: Tara the Antisocial Worker and shortstop struck me as two I miss. Which got me thinking about TattooSydney as well. And RedKitten. Sigh.

  90. 90.

    OldDave

    @John Cole:  You might momentarily interrupt the festivities and tell us if that’s Rosie communing with your dad. There’s some uncertainty.

  95. 95.

    spudgun

    @Roger Moore:  I used to hate Freddie and then I read about his subsequent mental health struggles that were bad enough that he had to quit his job or some such…then I just felt sorry for him.

    ETA:  Yeah, I do miss ABL and Sooner but they’re on Twitter, so that’s okay.

  98. 98.

    WaterGirl

    @Yutsano: I know, I saw RedKitten in a few of the posts and I was looking for the birthday posts, and each time it was bittersweet.

    Maybe you need to try sweet-talking her into coming back.

  99. 99.

    WaterGirl

    @John Cole: The first birthday thread was totally about you.  This one was a fun way to share some of the posts I found as I was looking for photos.

    Reminiscing  with old friends.

    edit: or, what Omnes said.

  103. 103.

    John Revolta

    @joel hanes: Omagawd I remember that post! I was just discovering this place and a couple others………….I’d been hanging out at Salon and looking for someplace a little more “Outside” as the hepcats say, so I started following blogrolls and found this joint and Sadly No and LGM among some others. I remember all the furor here and at LGM about the Internet Traditions thing although I wasn’t entirely clear about what was going on…….

    It’s like I was there for the first time Gary Coleman said “Whatchu talkin’ bout?”!!! Well okay, maybe not THAT big. But pretty big.

  105. 105.

    cain

    @WaterGirl:

    I still follow that guy on Twitter.. it’s too bad he doesn’t do any front page stuff anymore then again neither does Tim F. :D A guest post by ABL would rock as well.

  109. 109.

    cain

    @piratedan:

    My favorite era was really in the 2005 or 2006 era – we had both republicans and democrats and the kind of fighting was epic. But the best was when some troll shows up and then everyone would stop fighting and then focus on the troll.

    I don’t know if anybody remembers myiq2xu – otherwise known as ‘goat boy’ – it’s kind of the first instances of pie’ing that showed up. Although I thought it was hot grits or something.

  110. 110.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack:

    Oh, there you are. I thought episode 2 of Grantchester was a big improvement over episode 1. I’m hoping they get their mojo back.

  111. 111.

    zhena gogolia

    @Steeplejack:

    Love this one:

    eemom

    OCTOBER 3, 2012 AT 11:36 AM

    Glad you posted this, because in light of Cole’s assholery last night I want to reiterate what I said in response to your first post, i.e., that it was thoughtful, brave, and an honest attempt to engage dialogue. In other words, a real standout among the petty and/or same old same old shit that constitutes 95% of the FP posts here, especially from Cole.

    You deserve better.

    Who remembers what this was about? But it’s so classic. Haha, it’s followed by:

    xian
    OCTOBER 3, 2012 AT 11:40 AM

    @eemom: great parody of your usual “no sense of context or proportion” style!

  117. 117.

    spudgun

    This thread is probably already dead, but if there are some stragglers, can anyone tell me if Steve in the ATL is gone for good?

  118. 118.

    CapnMubbers

    @CaseyL: …you have 14 fingers???

    Birthday greetings to John, and much appreciation for this blog. Thanks to Watergirl for pictures and links to posts, and (sparkle) SiubhanDuinne for the song lyrics. Now you’ve done it! G&S for the win!

  119. 119.

    WaterGirl

    @spudgun: I could be wrong, but I think Subaru Diane is the person who has a good email address for Steve in the WHERE THE HELL IS HE, so try to catch her on a thread, and let all of us know?

  121. 121.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @WaterGirl: 

    It’s been a while, but I’ll shoot him an email in the next day or two and see what’s going on with SteveInThe.

  125. 125.

    spudgun

    @WaterGirl:  Thank you both! I don’t want to give him the impression that we’re hounding him – I mean, it’s only a top 10,000 blog, and I remember his wife was sick for a long time, so, you know…more important things for him to do.

    But he was always a witty and easy-going commenter.

  126. 126.

    Martin

    Gloves are coming off. 

    DDOSecrets, short for Distributed Denial of Secrets, published what it said where millions of documents stolen from more than 200 law enforcement groups around the country. Reporter Brian Krebs, citing the organization National Fusion Center Association (NFCA), confirmed the validity of the leaked data. DDOSecrets said the documents spanned at least a decade, although some of the dates in documents suggested a timespan twice as long.

    Police haven’t generally been the target of this kind of activity. Looks like they might be now. Gonna say the obvious – municipalities have WAY worse security than intelligence agencies, so any determined effort is going to turn up a lot.

  127. 127.

    Patricia Kayden

    Happy B’Day to John!! Hope he was able to do something special for himself and enjoy his day.

  133. 133.

    stinger

    I recall a while back Cole said there had been enough donations to pay for the servers through June. Just chipped in $50 to mark his 50th and to help keep them going a bit longer.

Comments are closed.