I did an hour-long deep dive into the highs and lows of Balloon Juice over the years with the blog’s founder, John.
It will make you laugh, make you cry, and you might even learn a thing or two.
Here is just the audio if the picture is annoying.
by DougJ| 193 Comments
This post is in: Anniversary Week, Balloon Juice, Readership Capture
I did an hour-long deep dive into the highs and lows of Balloon Juice over the years with the blog’s founder, John.
It will make you laugh, make you cry, and you might even learn a thing or two.
Here is just the audio if the picture is annoying.
This post is in: Anniversary Week, Balloon Juice, Readership Capture
It started with this:
Since nothing in my life is easy, I doubt this will work the first time I try it. If it does work, I will be moderately elated.
It’s been downhill ever since.
In all seriousness, it’s been, to borrow an overused phrase, a long strange trip. And twenty years is a long long time in the digital world. We’re like the blog equivalent of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell’s Hollywood marriage. We’re a 21 year old dog and a 32 year old cat.
Watergirl has all sorts of fun stuff planned this week and we have a couple surprises, so stay tuned.
It Was Twenty Years Ago Today- Balloon Juice Hits 20Post + Comments (303)
This post is in: Cat Blogging, Proud to Be A Democrat
Five tiger cubs, whose combined names stand for 'beautiful landscape of our country,’ are the star attractions at this South Korean zoo pic.twitter.com/RCnqTpFOY1
— Reuters (@Reuters) January 2, 2022
As we walk into this new year, I’ve never been more optimistic for our shared future. Together, over the past year, we have overcome incredible challenges. In this new year, I know we can make incredible progress as a nation. I wish you and yours a happy and a healthy 2022. pic.twitter.com/fKkwnE2hzS
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) January 1, 2022
In a new children’s book by Stacey Abrams, a girl finds fun and courage in words https://t.co/yEldBWJlq2
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) December 31, 2021
This new sinister combination of voter suppression and election subversion—it's un-American and it's undemocratic.
We must pass the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) December 30, 2021
Looking ahead to 2022. Wishing you a happy, healthy, and fabulous New Year. pic.twitter.com/eAuCATnoVW
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) December 31, 2021
Sunday Morning Open Thread: Year of the TigerPost + Comments (173)
This post is in: Garden Chats
The Ozark Hillbilly, to be specific:
Top pic: This is a Wolf spider, tho I couldn’t begin to say which species. I once found a very large female on my front porch who looked especially… Different tho it wasn’t obvious as to why. Looking closer, I realized there were almost a thousand little spider eyes staring back at me. She was carrying hundreds of babies on her back. Then I made a wrong move or bumped into something causing them to scatter and I watched in amazement as they spread out over my porch floor and wall.
It was years before I learned that these holes are the calling card of the Yellow Bellied Sapsucker. They drill them into the trunks of trees and then feed on the sap and whatever bugs the sap may attract. Generally, this does not harm the tree.
Weaver: Who doesn’t love a face full of Orb Weaver web when walking thru the woods? Protip: Carry a stick and wave it around in front of you.
I am not a bat expert, but I think this cutie is a big brown anyway. S/he is the right size and the pics on the internet are a good match. This individual took up residence in my front porch ceiling a couple years back and it was kinda nice having somebody to greet the day with me while I had my morning coffee.
Garden Spider: You guys have seen pics of these monsters from me before, but I just can’t resist them.
Wrangler Ants: I found these guys tending to a herd of… I don’t know what is on the underside of this sunflower leaf. I suspect they are responsible for all my sunflower heads getting chopped as soon as they bloom.
***********
The ground, even in my big raised beds, is frozen. And it’s been raining or drizzling most of the past week. So I can’t do any yard work, even though we haven’t had any real snow yet this season…
And, yes, given the kind of climate-change hell some of y’all are living with, I realize mine are extremely first-world problems!
What’s going on in your gardens (indoor / planning / memories), this first week of 2022?
Sunday Morning Garden Chat: Wildlife of the OzarksPost + Comments (43)
This post is in: COVID-19 Coronavirus, Foreign Affairs
While Americans were out on holiday break, the virus kept spreading. Now people are bracing for the return to work and school https://t.co/rQJrD7uSWi
— delthia ricks ? (@DelthiaRicks) January 1, 2022
COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Saturday / Sunday, Jan. 1-2Post + Comments (27)
This post is in: Open Threads
Drunk, nicotine-deprived, anti-mask rage-baby picked the wrong flight crew to abuse:
Flight attendant explains what he did to stop the unruly passenger:pic.twitter.com/rUxQY6W89s
— Roshan Rinaldi (@Roshan_Rinaldi) December 31, 2021
The duct tape sound effects were particularly enjoyable. This flight attendant should be on all the planes.
UPDATE: The commentary section of the video is a spoof from a comedian. But there really was a drunk idiot who got duct-taped to his seat.
Open thread!
Revenge of the Flight Attendant (Open Thread)Post + Comments (30)
by WaterGirl| 97 Comments
This post is in: Anniversary Week, Balloon Juice, Open Threads
20 years ago today, Balloon Juice went live and John Cole put up his first post.
John’s first post, 20 years ago today:
Jan 2, 2002
by John ColeSince nothing in my life is easy, I doubt this will work the first time I try it. If it does work, I will be moderately elated.
Nearly 70,000 blog posts and 6.5 million comments later, John Cole is still here, and and so are we. I would guess that Cole is moderately elated about that, too.
We have some fun things planned for Anniversary Week, at least we hope you’ll think so, and John has some surprises up his sleeve for the new century on Balloon Juice. 20 years in blogging is considered a century, right?
About a third of the 70k blog posts are John Cole posts, and the rest have been written by various authors over the years. There’s a link in the sidebar that will take you to the first post written by each of the current front-pagers at Balloon Juice.
We have a new Past Authors page so you can check out all the people who have been on the front page of Balloon Juice over time – in chronological order of arrival at Balloon Juice. If you click on a particular author, you will see all of their posts, from most recent to earliest. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the biggest number you see; that will take you to their very first post.
Over the course of the week we’ll be rolling out links to some of the classic posts. We’ll be naked mopping, losing the mustard, skull-fucking kittens, dining on tire rims and anthrax, faxing credenzas, reaching peak wing nut… Oh wait, that last one didn’t turn out as expected.
My personal favorite might be Living the Dream, the day when Cole got a new pair of cargo shorts:
So last week, I ripped my last pair of cargo shorts. I had worn them until they were so thread bare that when I caught a pocket on a doorknob stumbling around in my usual ogre-like fashion, it ripped them all the way down the side. I went to the store, picked up some more, but also picked up a pair of the same shorts but only 7″ instead of 9″ leg or whatever it is called. Why am I telling you this? Stay with me.
Today, I traveled to go to some meetings, and during a break I sat outside for a while on a bench watching people walk by and just generally enjoying the day. It was kind of hot and humid, but I was in the shade and had on my new shorts, and they were quite comfortable. Sat there for a good bit, checking my email, reading the news online, etc. After about a half hour, I went to scratch my thigh, and to my horror…
We know that as you check out the classic posts you will see some commenter names that we haven’t seen for awhile, and we’ll see a whole lot of “oh, I miss …” (insert commenter name) comments.
We miss them too, so we’re planning a few ‘Homecoming’ posts this week (tailgating optional because of Covid) where we hope that all the old commenters (figure of speech!) will pop back in and let us know what you have been up to! And maybe some new commenters will pop in, too.
Not to mention the past authors… you are missed. Hoping you can all stop by, too, and even better, let us know if you are up for a guest post to fill us in on what you’ve been up to. Wherever we could, we included links to what you’re up to on your Past Authors page. But we couldn’t include what we didn’t know, or what John knew but didn’t tell me.
It’s the commenters and the front-pagers that have made Balloon juice what it is.
Oh my, where are my manners? Who would like some cake?
⭐
Thus concludes the first post of Anniversary Week at Balloon Juice!
Anniversary Week: Balloon Juice Turns 20!Post + Comments (97)