In case you’ve never met me before, that’s my go-to when it’s time to change the subject.
Open thread.
This post is in: Open Threads
In case you’ve never met me before, that’s my go-to when it’s time to change the subject.
Open thread.
by WaterGirl| 15 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging
There has been some interest in before and after comparisons of photo editing so I thought I’d post a simple series taken from my post regarding collaboration with Janie. The first of the two images will be the photo as it comes directly from the camera, altered only to fit the file parameters required by Balloon Juice. The second will be the edited version of the same shot.
These appeared in the 8/24 post titled My Collaboration with JanieM
On The Road – Steve from Mendocino – Photos Before and After EditingPost + Comments (15)
by WaterGirl| 82 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Trae Crowder has outdone himself. Best ever?
(If you’re vaxxed) see me live:https://t.co/1XEdAE9g5B
— Trae in Huntsville 10/8 – 10/9 (@traecrowder) October 7, 2021
h/t Quiltingfool
Seems like it’s time for a new thread.
This post is in: Open Threads
I may do one of these posts every so often as we head toward the 20th anniversary of Balloon Juice in January. I asked for some random numbers in an open thread the other night to provide some starting points for where to go in the wayback machine.
Here’s all the Balloon Juice news that was fit to print on May 16, 2013:
John Cole posted “I’m a Loser” about bingeing Arrested Development.
Anne Laurie posted about ‘Douchecanoes’ in the Republican party.
Zandar (!) writes about a made-up FOX “news” crisis, titled *WKRAP in Cincinnati”. (I miss Zandar!)
We have mistermix writing about the New Yorkers new secure system (Strongbox) for sources to submit documents to them. (I wonder if that made a difference to all those women who came forward to talk to Ronan Farrow.)
Mistermix wonders whether Chris Kluwe was cut from the Vikings because of LBGTQ support.
We have more mistermix with an Open Thread and an invitation to ‘discuss the culture of corruption in Obama’s White House’.
DougJ writes about Michael Kinsley and austerity. (Was that his 15 minutes of fame?)
And DougJ with a music thread.
Anne Laurie with a post about hedgehogs and Dave Weigel predicting a Hillary Clinton loss in 2016 because of Benghazi.
We had DougJ with a Megan McArdle reference and a Kinsley beat down on twitter. (I have no memory of who that is.)
We have John Cole with a treatise on “The Manly Men of the Right”.
And a second Cole post with a “Manly Men Update”.
We have Anne Laurie with a post about writers dragging themselves through message boards at dawn looking for a troll to fight.
And a classic Cole Tunch post: Hands Down, the Worst 200 Bucks I Have Ever Spent
And Cole with another post about why the NHL isn’t more popular than it is.
It’s interesting to look at those posts, a little snapshot in time. Barack Obama had just started his second term. We had republicans to battle, but we still had high hopes. It was a time of partisan politics, and plenty of bullshit, but we weren’t living with an existential threat that weighed on us pretty much every single day.
I am, of course, referring to the Republicans, not to the pandemic. But there’s that, too.
⭐️
On May 16 of 2013, I was worrying that my (formerly) beautiful redbud tree was dying, deciding to have it cut down, taking pictures of flowers, and arranging to have my beautiful new fence built – blissfully unaware that in just 15 days my new fence would be installed, my huge silver maple would fall on my house and the fence that was just 7-hours old, and that life as I knew it would be totally disrupted for 6 months until mid-November when I was finally able to move back into the house.
Where were you and what were you doing in May of 2013?
by WaterGirl| 12 Comments
This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging
Friends invited us to go camping with them at a State Park on the Hood Canal just a few miles southeast of the Olympic Mountains, locally called The Olympics. This is at the southwest corner of the Kitsap Peninsula.
We were excited, especially since we were a ‘bit’ rusty, not having gone camping for a couple decades.
It was timed to see the Perseid Meteor Shower. We found a neighbor to feed the cats and water the many vegetables and flowers in containers and unearthed loads of backpacking equipment that had never been used. It seemed many times we’d never get it together but we did, for the most part.
On The Road – Dan B – The Other OlympicsPost + Comments (12)
The east slope of the Olympics ruse abruptly above the Puget Sound lowlands. My understanding is they lie on top of a mound shaped mass of rock called a Batholith. The Hood Canal is a hook shaped inlet with the majority running in a straight line north south on the western boundary of the Puget Sound lowlands. The water in this view is Tahuya Lake. There are several lakes, including a couple with tiny islands, on a plateau surrounding Green Mountain ridge. It’s 600 feet above sea level. It felt strange to drive up a steep hill to find beautiful lakes.
by WaterGirl| 18 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads, Pet Calendar
Start your engines!
Time to start going through your pet photos for the 2022 Pets of Balloon Juice Calendar!
Be sure to look for high quality photos – in terms of resolution. The really low resolution photos have to be really small in the calendar, so think big if you have them! Otherwise, low res and small beats not being in the calendar at all. :-)
All you photographers out there, let me know if you want your photo to be in the running for calendar cover(s) this year.
Some time in the next few days, I’ll put up a link where you can upload your photos.
Totally open thread.
Time to Go Through Your Pet Photos for the BJ CalendarPost + Comments (18)
by WaterGirl| 57 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
It’s beyond disappointing. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act has been declared dead in the Senate. Apparently as dead and George Floyd himself.
I hesitate to say anything in this climate where we are outraged all the time, but it would be wrong to let this happen quietly, going by without notice.
I am appalled and enraged. I know the democrats can’t do this stuff by themselves, or by “Democrats – 2”, but geez, when Republicans cannot even agree that it’s not okay to murder black men, I don’t even know where to start.
I am of the opinion that the Democrats aren’t pushing in a few areas because they want to get the current 2 bills passed before they take on the third rails of policing.
What can we do to help get the Justice In Policing Act passed? There must be something we can do. There’s always something we can do, right?
Update: News that came in after writing the original post:
Texas board recommends posthumous pardon for George Floyd in 2004 arrest (Washington Post)
A Texas board on Monday recommended a full posthumous pardon for George Floyd for a 2004 drug arrest made by a former Houston police officer now charged with murder in a botched 2019 drug raid. The officer’s case history has come under scrutiny amid allegations that he falsified evidence in previous arrests.
…years before his death, Floyd was arrested in his hometown of Houston for selling $10 worth of crack cocaine in a police sting. Gerald Goines, an undercover narcotics officer who made the arrest, claimed Floyd had given the drugs to an unnamed informant. Floyd initially battled the charge, but facing a 25-year sentence if the case went to trial, he later pleaded guilty and served 10 months in state prison.
..But his family has said the 2004 arrest is what began the unraveling of his life.
Sorry for shouting, but in what world does it make sense that someone charged with $10 worth of crack cocaine in a police sting can face a 25-year sentence if the case goes to trial???
So this first (likely bogus) arrest not only sent a man to jail for 10 months, but may well have triggered the unraveling of the life of George Floyd. It’s no wonder that he had an anxiety attack when the police were shoving him into the back of their vehicle on the day George Floyd lost his life.
It’s not just policing that needs to change. It’s also prosecuting. I may not remember his name, but I am still gutted at the thought of the remarkable young man who took his own life several years ago after being threatened with a ridiculous sentence by prosecutors.
Beyond Disappointing – The George Floyd Justice in Policing ActPost + Comments (57)