beth and I have been working on postcards for awhile now. On Cafe Press, they come in packs of 8, and all 8 postcards are the same image.
On Zazzle, which we have also been checking out, you buy them individually, so of course you can mix and match.
On Cafe Press, it’s 8 for $8, so a buck a apiece. On Zazzle, the base price is much higher, so they are more like a $1.50 per postcard. For now, they are only on Cafe Press, but we are checking out our options.
To check them out, go to Balloon Juice Postcards in Our Store.
(These are just screen casts to give you an idea, nothing is clickable.)
beth doesn’t have all of them done yet, but hopefully more will be up within a week.
They all show on the site against the background of the white square, but of course they are postcard size and shape, not a square.
Open thread.
Saturday Pet Thread: Nick Loves Trixie
Alison Rose
Oh, yay! This will be fun to have :)
Alison Rose
Also, today is a very important holiday, in case you were unaware.
WaterGirl
I am terrible about writing letters and I feel like email and texting is so impersonal. I am thinking I might get some postcards. I mean, who wouldn’t want a cute postcard that says “thinking of you!” a short sentence and a “love you!” – right?
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: John Cole made me watch that movie a year or two ago; he couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it.
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: I like sending postcards occasionally just for fun. I have a shitload of stickers that I use to decorate them :) Having my own kitty on them will make it even better!
Almost Retired
@WaterGirl: I think that Wisconsin voters might find it a bit disturbing to get a postcard from a stranger telling them you are thinking of them and love them. But, the Wis SC is important, so whatever works…
WaterGirl
@Alison Rose: Remind me which one is yours?
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: I can’t either!! One of my faves when I was younger. I think it came out when I was a toddler, but I saw it when I was 9 or 10 and loved it. I had a crush on both Bender and (the well-named but wrongly-spelled) Allison. And then a handful of years later I started dressing like her :P
Alison Rose
@WaterGirl: Briery – she was on the December page, sitting on the red chair
Baud
@Almost Retired:
You’d be surprised. People are starved for affection.
ETA:
Baud! 20XX!: He loves you and is thinking of you.
Alison Rose
@Baud: Your campaign theme song could be Every Breath You Take. I’m sure all the weirdos who use it as a wedding song will think it’s the perfect choice.
WaterGirl
@Almost Retired: I will check the fine print, but I think the post office also delivers postcards that are not political.
WaterGirl
@Baud: I’ll send you my address. :-)
narya
Do the postcards also support AthensPets/Walter’s Fund?
WaterGirl
@narya: For sure this year since the calendars appear to be a no go.
We will always do the calendars for the pet charity.
At some point we will revamp the BJ store, and depending on where/how we do that, sales of other things might help support the site.
Just an idea we are tossing around. Whatever we do, we would always make it clear what was supporting the pet charity and what was supporting the BJ site.
Baud
@Alison Rose:
Joy in FL
@Almost Retired: and @WaterGirl: This reminds me of Judge Wackner in The Good Fight when he made people say “I respect and I love you” after he pronounced his judgment on their case.
WaterGirl
@Joy in FL: I don’t remember that!
oh wait, you said Good Fight. I only saw the first season of that one summer when they aired server episodes on cable as a teaser. It looked like it was good; there are just so many streaming channels you can pay for on top of cable. And if I ditch cable, then my internet costs as much as TV + internet. Bastards.
eversor
Rod Dreher got canceled. His entire salary and position at The American Conservative was bankrolled by one right wing donor (who probably shadow bought all his books to make him a best seller) who got pissed over “primative root weiner”, the monkey pox episode, and his shilling for Orban. TAC had been bleeding legally due to paying for Rod’s slander of people and other issues he caused which is why Rod is no longer on TAC and set to substack.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/03/rod-dreher-blog-weird-american-conservative
Geminid
@eversor:I’ve been wondering if there has been a dropoff in funding for right wing journalists and advocacy groups, among both large and small donors. That “Teneos” project of Mr. Leo’s may pick up the slack before too long, but in the short term money may start getting tighter for a myriad of grifters.
I have not seen any numbers to suggest this; it’s just a gut feeling.
Leslie
Data point: last I knew, Zazzle is union-friendly and Cafe Press is not, which might explain the higher price point. If that’s still the case, I’d rather pay more.
narya
@WaterGirl: Thanks–good to know! I found some national parks posters postcards on sale, plus I stocked up on the ones from the artist I linked to before–meaning I have about 200 postcards right now–but I’ll get some pet postcards too at some point. Turns out the artist postcards are lovely, but a little slick/shiny on the back, which means I have to be super careful not to smear the ink, which takes awhile to dry (even w/ a Sharpie). I was gonna save the Park postcards for a national campaign of some kind.
eclare
@Alison Rose: Hahaha…I was in high school when that movie came out, definitely left a mark. I can’t hear Don’t You Forget About Me without picturing Bender’s upheld fist as he walks away.
WaterGirl
@Leslie: Yeah, Cafe Press is the only one that allows us to send the proceeds directly to the charity, which means no taxes for John Cole, and of course no taxes for the charity because they are non-profit.
But we are thinking we might have Athenspets make their own account (which wouldn’t come through us OR get taxed because they are non-profits) and then it could be anywhere.
Once we get all the postcards set up on Cafe Press, we will likely do some postcards on Zazzle as kind of a test run. Cafe Press is really straightforward – x is the base price for a calendar, you decide what to charge (Y). Subtract X from Y and you know how much you “make” on each one.
Same with postcards on Cafe Press.
WAY more complicated on Zazzle. Still, once the postcards are done, we are likely to try to set up the 2023 calendar on Zazzle to get a feel for the process, etc.
But that’s not going to happen tomorrow (literally or figuratively) because both beth and I have day jobs. :-) But it’s our plan to do try that so we get a feel for their process and then we’ll have options for next year.
WaterGirl
Also, if anyone wants to “buy” the .pdf of the calendar with a contribution to Athenspets, all the info you need is in this post from earlier this week.
Link
zhena gogolia
I’ll get some of Duby!
Suzanne
@eversor: Wow. I was wondering what happened there. He’s been descending into crazy for some time.
MazeDancer
Zazzle has frequent sales. So you get 50% off when that happens.
They do let non-profits set up stores.So Athenspets set s up the store. Meaning Beth does it for them. Money goes straight to them.
@WaterGirl:
here is an example
Can vouch for their quality. Ordered a range of PostCards from them,
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: We kind of think of Duby, Gizmo and La Gordita as part of the “art” series. :-)
kalakal
I really like the postcards, Mrs kalkal has a cousin once removed who absolutely adores postcards, he has the most amazing collection. He’ll love the personalized aspect
WaterGirl
@MazeDancer: If something is 50% off at Zazzle, does that cut the profit in half? Or does the 50% off come out of the Zazzle profit?
I didn’t word it clearly, but yeah, I am assuming we would make the account for them and manage it for them. :-)
WaterGirl
@kalakal: Oh, good!
CaseyL
Oh, gosh; thanks for the reminder! I’ve had my latest batch of postcards waiting to be addressed and mailed on Monday, and will get ’em done this weekend.
And I love the Pets of BJ postcards!
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I thought you might!
I’m forgetting the details, but I’ll bet your niece (?) in Spain (?) would love to get a Duby postcard of her dog. :-)
WaterGirl
@CaseyL: We are having the music / postcard writing thread tonight at 7:45 blog time, if you want to join us.
MazeDancer
@WaterGirl:. You set a percentage of price to receive.
But, yes, of course, if people are paying less, everyone makes less.
Just base you estimated proceeds on the 75 cent price. And anytime someone pays more, gravy.
It’s like all retail, cheaper means people buy more.
If people can buy twice as many cards, they will. You end up making the same.
Urza
I’m not sure if there’s any laws around it, but post cards like these should be used when doing the Get Out the Vote mailings.
MagdaInBlack
@WaterGirl: OMG, I didn’t even notice my Gordita. Now I HAVE to buy some 😊❤️
( i just showed her, she is all ” Well, of course I’m art.” )
Quiltingfool
Open thread, so I’m going to go way off topic, lol! I’m getting my knee replaced Tuesday, so I’ve been spending much of the last two months getting quilt projects done. Funny thing, when you want time to get your stuff done, all your quilt customers (they bring quilt tops, I quilt them) suddenly decide to bring their entire year’s output at once. Two ladies brought me 8 quilts. 8 BIG quilts. Another brought 3. Then when I thought I might get a quilt top of my own done before surgery, nope. My neighbor brought me two and I didn’t have the heart to refuse. My quilt? It’ll have to wait for a month or more. (It’s a custom quilt for someone).
Today I’m feeling joint pain all over, as I can’t take diclofenic 5 days before surgery. I am cranky AF. However, I did get a lap quilt top done today, even though my right shoulder was screaming at me to stop. Yeah, besides the knee, my shoulder has decided to not work very well. I blame the 13 quilts – I use my right hand, well, my right arm, really, to operate my quilting machine. I don’t use both hands as I am a quilt scofflaw. I break quilt rules, baby!
Well, I’ve got a photo of the quilt top – features cats, naturally! For dog fans here at BJ, I bought a dog quilt pattern – same quilt designer as the quilt pictured. I’ll do it in blues and yellows. I can still work on quilt blocks while I recuperate – my sanity requires it!
https://pin.it/E0nQkK3
Oh, and here’s a picture of my cat, Sassy (her shelter name was Allie, but that name doesn’t quite capture her personality). “Saucy” or “Feisty” would have fit her, too…she’s quite the “helper” in the quilt cave…
https://pin.it/4TaxMS5
Dr. Daniel Price (Saint Vincent)
We are so ready for this.
–Esme, Nizel, Kabo, Topaxi, Khrissa*, and even Cathulhu.
WaterGirl
@Urza: Yeah, that would have been great if we had been able to get the BJ pet postcards done a month ago. But there are probably only 2-3 weeks left of postcard writing time, and I imagine most folks have already purchased their postcards.
But they will be in place for the next one, for sure! :-)
Alison Rose
@Quiltingfool: Okay, since her name is Sassy, I must share one of my favorite TikToks. Coincidentally, this came up in my FB memories today from last year.
Hope all goes well with the operation!
zhena gogolia
@Quiltingfool: Good luck with the operation! Beautiful cat.
WaterGirl
@MagdaInBlack: Just goes to show that everyone should click the link so you can see the postcards in a legible size! :-)
zhena gogolia
@WaterGirl: She’s my goddaughter (sort of unofficially, since I’m not Orthodox) in Madrid. Yes, I’ll be sending her some. Too tired today but soon.
WaterGirl
@Quiltingfool: The first rule of “going on vacation” or “being away from work for awhile” is to NOT TELL PEOPLE YOU WILL BE GONE until you are very close to leaving.
Otherwise, what you just described is what happens, and you get even more stressed as you’re getting ready for your trip (or your surgery!).
Happy for you that you are going bionic, though! :-)
prostratedragon
I’ll be getting a set or two of the postcards — just the thing for friendly little notes.
@Quiltingfool: Charming kitties!
WaterGirl
@zhena gogolia: I was half right! No, make that 2/3! I remembered Spain and that you were related in some way. Not right on the actual relationship, which is why I’m going with 2/3. :-)
WaterGirl
@prostratedragon: Oh, good!
WaterGirl
Off to walk on the treadmill for a bit. It’s a bad day to be female in Line of Duty – one has her life threatened, another is killed, another is tortured. Hopefully something happier ahead.
MagdaInBlack
@Quiltingfool: I get that damned shoulder issue when I’m on the computer all day at work: right hand mouse. Usually ends up as a killer headache.
I love Sassy and her little black foot pads ❤️
pat
@MagdaInBlack:
I use one of those mice (mouses?) with a ball, so the hand never has to move except to the keyboard.
Cameron
@eversor: TAC is a strange publication; I don’t think that Primitive Root Dreher is even the most repulsive one there. But it also carries Daniel Larison, who I actually like to read, from time to time.
Barbara
@WaterGirl: Uh, not be a spoiler, but after watching that show for a while I started wondering if someone inspired by Escher had taken over the plot lines.
MagdaInBlack
@pat: Meece 😉
Quiltingfool
@WaterGirl: I didn’t tell anybody! The 2 ladies who brought me 8 quilts, this is just their yearly tradition. They are elderly, so I thought maybe that age would reduce their output, but, no. They don’t believe in small quilts, either. King size is their norm, lol!
I attribute the outpouring of quilts at this particular time as a variation of Murphy’s Law.
mrmoshpotato
@Alison Rose: More of a dinner party guy myself.
eclare
@Quiltingfool: Good luck with the knee replacement! The quilt top with the cats is fun, and your Sassy is adorable. I’m sure she is a very good quilt cave manager.
pat
This is copied from realitychex.com, my go-to place for news in the morning.
I’m surprised this hasn’t caught anyone’s attention. I think this is a terrible idea, and it’s the young people who we need to get out to vote for Biden!
pat
I posted this already but it seems I can’t find it. This is from realitychex.com, my go-to site for news.
I think this is a terrible idea, especially since it could turn off the younger voters in the next election.
mrmoshpotato
@Alison Rose:
Yes.
🎶I’ll be
watchingstalking you 🎶Quiltingfool
@MagdaInBlack: Sassy does have extremely adorable feet, and she enjoys waving them around. It’s her way of getting me to pet the feet so she can grab my hand and bite.
She is sharing the recliner footrest with me. She is not a lap cat! She is a “snuggle against your leg” cat.
Quiltingfool
@eclare: Sassy a good quilt manager? Uh, sometimes, when she’s snoozing. When she isn’t, she wants my undivided attention at the exact same time I’m very focused on my work. No surprise to any cat owners…or people who are owned by cats!
prostratedragon
@Quiltingfool: “Meow” rhymes with “Now.”
Alison Rose
@pat: Yeah, I’m pretty pissed about this. Obviously I’ll still vote for him, but wtf Joe
eclare
@Quiltingfool: I wish one of my cats would be a “snuggle against your leg” cat. For the past few months my Oliver has decided that the perfect place to sleep is on my stomach, chest, or neck ( those whiskers are ticklish!). Even if I try to sleep on my side he somehow climbs up on the ridge of my ribs and perches there.
pat
@Alison Rose:
It’s the younger voters that I worry about. They are all aware of what’s going on with climate change and that something has to be done, especially with respect to fossil fuels, but starting a NEW drilling project in the Alaskan wilderness???? Shit.
prostratedragon
BBC on a hot streak. Just heard on my radio that they’re ending the BBC Singers (as well as other sharp reductions in their in-house performing groups) because, apparently, continuing to support the dozen or so outstanding singers is a crushing impediment to the regional choirs they want to promote. Their statement is here; wellies and macs recommended (not the new ones!).
zhena gogolia
LP does it again.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwNuIzJy9ok
eversor
@Cameron:
They fired Larrison over a year ago for not towing the line.
Dan B
@Quiltingfool: Sorry about the joint pain. Good to hear about the knee fixing. Annnnd Cute! Kitteh!
zhena gogolia
@pat: I’m sure they’ll be very happy with Republican policies. They’ll be great for the climate.
Cameron
@pat: I wonder this is a Joe Manchin special. Or maybe a way to squeeze some votes for the budget from House Republican potatoheads.
pat
@zhena gogolia:
I have to think of the young man I saw when I was going door-to-door in the last Obama election. Said he was not going to vote because what difference would one vote make? No talking to these people.
Baud
@Alison Rose:
Sounds like most of the Alaskan tribes are for it, as well as the new Dem from there.
Cameron
@eversor: No kidding? I thought I saw something in the last day or two. Better recheck my dates.
MagdaInBlack
@Quiltingfool: Gordita is not a lap cat either. Definitely a “snuggle against your leg” cat, unless she wants a treat. Then it’s a “scream at the top of her lungs” Siamese yowl cat. That act, btw, is happening as I type .
pat
@Baud:
I suppose if you are losing your entire village to rising waters, what do you have to lose? Make some money off it, I guess.
raven
The Bohdi
eversor
@Cameron:
I should also add but I was slow on the edit they replaced Larrison with a Christian Hillsdale School graduate who has openly aruged that slavery and Native American genocide were both good because Christianity was spread that way so it was all for the best.
Baud
@pat:
We’ll see what happens. We lost the war of high gas prices last in 2021.
Geminid
@pat: Alaska’s Native Corporations are not so short sighted, and neither is Rep. Peltola. They want the jobs, and they know we’ll need oil for the next decade whether that project is built or not.
pat
@Geminid:
That’s probably what’s behind this. But it seems to me that global warming is having a big effect in the Arctic polar regions. I guess they, as I said, have decided they have to learn to live with it and why not get a few jobs out of it while they’re at it.
Cameron
@eversor: Damn. Straight down the toilet, no flushing required.
mrmoshpotato
@MagdaInBlack: Is that pronounced the same as “meese?”
MagdaInBlack
@mrmoshpotato: Yes.
mrmoshpotato
@Cameron: Hey now. Also, please don’t disrespect Mr. and M(r)s. Potatohead like that.
wmd
RC Gizmo… variously Rodent Control Gizmo, Rocket Cat Gizmo (he had zoomies take him from ground to 30′ up a redwood in under a second)… There were a few other bits of RC nomenclature he earned that I’m not presently recalling.
mrmoshpotato
@MagdaInBlack: Hmmmm. Could cause confusion. A friend and I claimed “meese” as the plural of “moose” decades ago.
Dan B
@Geminid: Supporting new oil production is likely to encounter catastrophic climate disruptions in the Arctic. Thawing permafrost alone will make roads impassable. People don’t seem to grasp how many places will become uninhabitable.
Geminid
@pat: The UN’s IPCC report released October, 2018 called for nations to reach a carbon neutral global economy by 2050. This project won’t prevent that.
I think Alaska’s Native Corporations and Mary Peltola care about global warming as much as you do, maybe even more. And what may seem like “a few jobs” to you might not seem like a few jobs to them.
pat
@Geminid:
Well then, no big deal. Thanks for the info.
Geminid
@Dan B: Mary Peltola is no dummy. I bet she grasps the factors involved in this particular project as well as you do.
pat
@Dan B:
Do you think the oil companies have taken into account how they are going to manage this thawing permafrost and its effect on their operations?
Geminid
@pat: I guess you are being sarcastic.
pat
@Geminid:
Sorry I left off the //.
It’s just that I find it unacceptable in this age that they are opening up a new oil field in the Arctic, where the global warming will be most felt.
MagdaInBlack
[email protected]: Many mice = meece. Many moose= meese.
Location: if you tell me you have meece in your pantry, I will assume many mice.
( work with me here, I’m making this up as I go 😉)
Geminid
@pat: A lot of people feel as you do.
pat
@Geminid:
To get back to my original worry, I worry that this will turn off the young voters in the next Presidential election. We definitely need them!
Dan B
@pat: My guess is they are in denial. Some roads are already thawing and it’s warmed 5° already. People, except for climate scientists, believe the changes will be slow and steady but that is not the case. They’re slow until tipping points.
pat
One last thought, I am old. I will not be around when the shit really hits the fan, and I live in a part of the country which is , so far, not that badly affected by storms, etc. I don’t have any children. I will be long gone before today’s kids have to deal with the realities of global warming. I’m glad I won’t be here to see it.
Geminid
@pat: I guess we’ll have to encourage those young people to look at the totality of the Biden administration’s efforts on this issue, and not just one project.
Baud
@Geminid:
A lot of the messes we currently have to deal with are because people refused to do that in the past.
Geminid
@pat: I wish I was going to be around in 2050, and that I was young enough to play a greater role in the clean energy transition and in the larger effort to combat global warming.
But I am not as fatalistic as you on this question.
Timill
@MagdaInBlack: Per Mr Jinks, the first of those is “meeces”.
Dan B
@Baud: Truth!
A huge risk in Alaska is methane from melting permafrost and from clathrates in the Arctic ocean. Since it’s 80 times as potent as CO2 there is no telling what will happen. 20° – 30° warmer in 20 years is possible. Siberia is much more terrifying but Alaska and Northern Canada are also vast. How much of the Boreal forest would go up in flames? Would the peaty soils dry out and burn as well? We have precious little research.
Baud
@Dan B:
Is there a connection between the place of extraction and the climate in that area? I thought it was worldwide carbon productiion that disproportionately affected the polar regions.
MagdaInBlack
@Timill: I’ll update. Thank you and Mr. Jinks 😊
mrmoshpotato
@MagdaInBlack: Fair enough.
pat
@Baud:
Yeah, and now we are adding to it by taking oil out of the Arctic in a place were there are at present no wells. The whole thing does not make sense. If you don’t have enough oil, deal with the lack of oil by replacing it with solar or wind, but for pete’s sake don’t limit the use of oil because omg the price of gas will go up.
Global warming may or may not be reversible, but everything we do that doesn’t reduce the use of fossil fuels contributes to the coming calamity.
So when I write about the price of gas going up, I realize that all these other solutions are really just pie in the sky. The world is dependent on fossil fuels. Jimmy Carter knew that, and put solar panels on the White House. The first thing Reagan did was to remove them.
Geminid
@pat: A lot of my perspective on the challenges of the clean energy transition was formed by two articles I read four years ago, in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
The first was by American economist Robert Pollin, titled “We Need a Better Green New Deal,” March 2019. Pollin treats the challenges and opportunities of the clean energy transition in the U.S.
British climate scientist Myles Allen gives a more global view in “The Green New Deal: a View From Across the Atlantic,” February 2029. Allen served on the technical side of the UN’s IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, I think) that wrote the 2018 report calling for a carbon-neutral world economy by 2050.
Many would say that this is too slow. I got the impression that they chose that timeline because as a practical matter, it was as quick as could be achieved with current and foreseeable technology without disrupting economies worldwide.
Groups like Extinction Rebellion would argue that an extended world wide recession is a cost worth paying- the so-called “degrowth” strategy. Others say that this would leave a lot of people in developing countries in poverty.
I could not pronounce on this question, but I do think that if we want a ecologically sustainable planet, we need a politically sustainable program to get there. I look at questions like the Alaskan Willow Lake project and others in this light.
As far as the Biden administration’s overall program goes, I think it will be successful if it can be sustained, especially in conjunction with current efforts at the state and local level, and in the private sector as well. Ten years ago there might have been a tradeoff between clean energy efforts and economic growth, but technical advances that Robert Polllin discusses will make the clean energy transition a source of jobs and economic development.
This is one of many reasons Joe Biden’s reelection next year is so important. We may have lost four years of progress under the previous administration, but if current progress is not interrupted the benefits will be so manifest that Republicans will not be able to obstruct the transition any more.
pat
And this is one of the reasons I think this is a bad decision right now, because is might turn off some of those all important voters.
I understand there is some opposition developing. We’ll see…..
Geminid
@pat: Lefties who oppose of the Biden administration generally will certainly try to exploit opposition to this project by the more sincere environmentalists. For the former, it will be like another East Palestine train wreck, and Representative Peltola could become the next Secretary Buttigieg.
But I think the project will go through. Like I said before, we’ll just have to make the totality of the administration’s efforts on climate the focus.
Watership
@WaterGirl: Wait, so will there be postcards for all the pets in the calendar? I’d definitely buy an 8-pack for each of my 4 little monsters. That would be another $50 for Athens and I already did a donation through the thermometer