I just wanted to tease you all a little bit with the new website because I am so excited about it and it looks so good and is so functional. Obviously with every rollout there will be things we missed, but Watergirl has spent hundreds of hours on this and it looks pretty good, and I don’t think I am overstating by too much that the fucking invasion of Normandy took less planning.
And if you don’t like it, well, bag, dicks, you know the drill.
jeffreyw
Have I won?
Frankensteinbeck
I have a salt shaker right here!
David Anderson
It looks pretty awesome on the back-end too
Ohio Mom
I don’t we could ever thank Watergirl enough.
John Cole
@Ohio Mom: And Alain. He was truly a maestro and magician keeping this aging hulk above water.
guachi
How can I hate the new website if you won’t show it to me?
J R in WV
WOW, that looks great, now I’m really excited!!!
Heh.
I’m excited to lose Halloween to testing usability from a reader’s perspective. Glad it’s working for you front pagers! It actually is exciting, believe it or not.
Yesterday I ran into a sweet lady who was a primary user of our systems that I worked on prior to retirement. She said she missed us, that when we ran the software it was a user friendly environment, and that’s gone now. Sad to hear. It’s just as easy, maybe easier, to be friendly and helpful with your user community.
And I agree that Alain has done a great job keeping the ungainly thing B-J is now running in any way. A great guy, hope he hangs around for the friendship and social atmosphere!! Heh.
Gin & Tonic
@David Anderson: Phrasing!
Ruckus
John, was one of the signs that the old site needed to be nuked from space that it just won’t reload properly? That’s rhetorical by the way.
It’s telling that I can reload both the home page and this page ten times and it still says on the home page that there are zero comments on this page.
What I’m saying is THANK YOU FOR DOING THIS.
waspuppet
I was playing a gig in Montreal once and at soundcheck, just as one of the soundmen went up to a vocal mike to check it, I thought “I wonder whether French-speaking soundmen say ‘Un Deux. DEUX. DEUX’ to check a mike.
They do!
Hildebrand
You’ve redecorated, I don’t like it.
mrmoshpotato
@Gin & Tonic:
I hear the new website’s butt looks awesome!
KithKanan
@Gin & Tonic: Phrasing? @bjdickmayhew? Really?
dmsilev
Is the salt at least pink Himalayan?
Avalune
Smells kind of funny.
FlipYrWhig
@John Cole: Plus everything he did for the website the aging hulk runs.
BC in Illinois
@waspuppet:
I wish I could remember the song that started (in tribute to Sam the Sham) . . .
mrmoshpotato
Will we be able to look down our noses at other websites with our tasty lettuce and good mustard?
Mr. Mack
Mixed emotions. I am supposed to be a site tester…I was recruited hard by Watergirl due to my expertise in Win98, but I’ll be on vacation until the 28th and all I will have tech-wise is my electric telephone, which, if I am directly under a tower, at 2:00 p.m., with a full battery, will allow me to place a call.
SFAW
@BC in Illinois:
“Wooly Bully”
ETA: Never mind. I should clicked the link first. “No brain, no pain!”
TaMara (HFG)
@Mr. Mack: Now that’s a vacation I could get behind. Unplugged.
I think you guys will like the upgrade a lot. It’s new and fresh, but similar enough you won’t feel like you moved to a different country where you don’t speak the language.
rikyrah
Crossing fingers and toes for the new launch
Yutsano
@BC in Illinois: Ein, zwei, drei, quatloos?
feebog
Impressive that you got the invasion of Normandy and Dicks into the same post. Now try for mustard, mops and a wrecked Subaru.
Amir Khalid
@BC in Illinois:
I cringed. Ein is an indefinite article, like a/an. The cardinal number one is eins. And what is that plural S doing in quatro? Songwriters …
trollhattan
@TaMara (HFG):
A.K.A. life with a teen in the house.
Mr. Mack
@TaMara (HFG): Especially in Taos and Santa Fe.
Aleta
Could there be a couple wish lists for WaterGirl (Penzy’s, Mt R Herbs, L. Valley, or sites for gardening, food, appliances, linens, Chewy’s, Amaz., her choice) that individuals could send some helpful things her way? Little packages: it would be fun for all. (For you I’m thinking ducks come spring.)
Jay C
Am I just being thick here (always a possibility), but: WHAT new website?
Loaded B-J several times, and it seem like the same old [disparaging comments edited out] place?
Or is John crowing about a future event?
WaterGirl
@Jay C:
Future event, but hopefully not very far into the future!
dmsilev
@Jay C: The new-and-improved sure has entered limited testing. Front-pagers now, a group of testers Real Soon, and then go live.
mrmoshpotato
@dmsilev:
4. Profit.
Jay C
@WaterGirl: @dmsilev:
Cool. Tx.
CaseyL
Looking forward to the rollout, because I know hilarity will ensue.
Which does not for one instant take anything away from deep appreciation and gratitude for the crew that built/tested/ran-will-run the new site. I know beforehand they did wonderful work… it’s just that rollouts are always, always, always bumpy.
I mean, if this one goes smoothly, the crew deserve Nobel Prizes or something.
Leto
@feebog: There’s still plenty of day left ;)
@trollhattan: One of the small joys about not having to manage a shop full of Airmen is not having to continually learn new slang every three months.
Leto
@CaseyL: if they can manage that, they should be handed the keys to the government because apparently they’re miracle workers!
mrmoshpotato
@CaseyL: Looking forward to hemming and hawing and general rending of garments?
Amir Khalid
@CaseyL:
I remember that one weird rollout some years ago gave us all strange avatar images. That was freaky.
mrmoshpotato
@Leto: Now Leto. Let’s not get carried away here.
TaMara (HFG)
@WaterGirl: I added a new test post and a new comment for you over at the test site.
Avalune
@TaMara (HFG): Just showing off.
different-church-lady
You tease!
Don
@BC in Illinois: wooly Bully.
Droppy
I feel like I’ve been hearing about this for so long, I am beginning to doubt its existence. It is the Mrs. Harris of websites.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Amir Khalid: I had already scrolled past the username without noticing it, and yet I knew instantly that this comment was yours.
I mean that in a nice way! I too am afflicted with the grammatical equivalent of perfect pitch.
Ohio Mom
@John Cole: Yes, and Ooops, leaving Alain out was an egregious omission.
Alain
Thanks for the kind words, all. Just popped in while scarfing down some yummy pizza. Have a good weekend, everyone!
chopper
will the new site bring baud back?
JaySinWA
@David Anderson: I was going to suggest you report for sensitivity training, however I see you are already the butt of several jokes.
CaseyL
@mrmoshpotato: It’s somehow adorable to see people get so worked up over edit and format buttons.
@Amir Khalid: I don’t remember that and I wish I did. Will the new BJ allow us to have avatars?
JaySinWA
@CaseyL:
I believe that was top of John’s {kill} list.
ETA IIRC the avatars were randomly assigned.
Amir Khalid
@CaseyL:
Gee, I hope not. I ain’t no beauty queen.
Booger
“One-two, one-two, and through and through, the vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head, he went gallumphing back.”
ranchandsyrup
moar beastie boys lyrics for post titles please
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Booger: Slithy tove…
mrmoshpotato
@Amir Khalid: Can you fit all your guitars into one avatar?
Nicole
Thanks, Alain and Watergirl, for everything; very excited to see the new site! And thinking about the site’s possible new look makes me realize I’ve been visiting since Bush the Lesser was President and now I feel very old. Clearly I need to find a lawn of my very own, so I can yell at some kids to get off of it.
Amir Khalid
The Guardian’s daily blog on American politics says Hillary is not backing down from her claim that Russia is thinking of grooming Tulsi Gabbard to run for POTUS as a third-party candidate. There’s been speculation already, of course, but no real smoking gun. Frivolous accusations and hyperbole are not Hillary’s style. Is there something Hillary might know that the publkic doesn’t?
jl
Good luck to Cole, Watergirl, and all BJ readers and commenters on the roll out.
“the …. invasion of Normandy took less planning.” *
So. that means Cole will issue the Eisenhower statement right before the debut, taking personal responsibility?
That would be the honorable thing to do.
* Edited to make it appropriate for an almost top 10,000 soccer mom and tee-ball dad blog.
Martin
British Writer Pens The Best Description Of Trump I’ve Read
Completely on-point.
Amir Khalid
@mrmoshpotato:
All four? I don’t think so.
Amir Khalid
@Martin:
It struck me the other day that Trump is to Putin as Lucius Malfoy is to Lord Voldemort.
Yutsano
@Martin: I find that insulting to the Hutts. Say what you will about Jabba, but at least he was a competent gangster.
Old Dan and Little Ann
@waspuppet: Do you know what they call a quarter pounder in Paris?
Martin
I was having a conversation with my kids last night, who as they get older are increasingly tapped into politics and increasingly letting go of their ‘why not just do full communism’ thinking and they were trying to understand the dynamics inside the two political parties and I think we stumbled into something if we use the D&D alignment chart.
I think almost everyone aspires to be lawful good. We want to do good things, and we want to follow the rules. But we don’t always agree with the rules, so we rebel against them. Democrats tend to rebel against the lawful part, so they head toward the chaotic good box – good is always the inviolable bit. Banning plastic straws and requiring every school lunch have a carrot in it. Ban ROTC from schools. That kind of stuff. It’s all aspirational good stuff, but a lot of it is kind of bonkers, and some of it is counterproductive in the larger scheme, or at least a distraction. Some of the income inequality remedies will be actively damaging, but the intent will be good, I guess.
Republicans seems to rebel against the good part because the lawful is the inviolable part so they head toward the lawful evil box. We’re going to take your child away from you and lose it in a nation of 300M people because you broke a rule. We’re going to genocide this people because I made a promise. It’s why the GOP so readily jumps into process arguments. They’re reading the rulebook, and the rulebook says that technically, I can pull your heart out and eat it. You always need to temper that with the built-in assumption that all men are not created equal, so the rules can be applied differentially depending on who you are. So Dems can get impeached for wearing a tan suit (surely that’s in a rulebook somewhere) but Republicans can’t be impeached for murdering every firstborn in Massachusetts because we’ve always done impeachment votes on Tuesdays and you did it on Friday, so that doesn’t count.
Martin
@Amir Khalid: Lucius had a bit of class about him, to his credit. Trump has always been an oaf.
cain
Plot twist: New site comes with completely set of new front pagers – with Greenwald headlining. I hope the new site first post is a picture of ducks.
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic:
Your comment gave me a laugh. I think this might be worth of nomination as a rotating tag.
Ohio Mom
@Amir Khalid: Gah. I can see that happening and there is no way to stop it. If Hillary is worried, I am too.
Amir Khalid
@Martin:
Lucius was from old money and had some polish to him. But he was a Pureblood bigot and he liked to bully children, house-elves, and those he considered his social inferiors.
Gin & Tonic
@WaterGirl: That was Mayhew’s comment but you replied to me. I, unfortunately, have not seen the back end.
WaterGirl
@chopper:
I am really hoping that it will!
WaterGirl
@CaseyL:
I don’t usually like to speak for Cole, but in this case I feel pretty comfortable responding with “hell no!”. :-)
But that day will live in infamy!
WaterGirl
@Gin & Tonic: Yeah, I knew that. YOUR reposes to his comment made me laugh, and it made me look at his comment in a new way. I just think it’s classic BJ.
Just One More Canuck
@Amir Khalid: or Grima Wormtongue is to Saruman
WaterGirl
@Martin: That is perfect.
MisterForkbeard
@Droppy: The website is canadian and Cole met her at band camp, right? That’s why we’ve never seen it.
Uncle Cosmo
Here’s a frinstance for yinz:
Pretend you’re Speaker Pelosi. Yertle McTurtle invites you out for supper in a nice quiet restaurant, intimating he has “a proposition that you might find interesting.” And after the soup course (you ordering terrapin bisque on the off chance he’s situationally aware enough to be pissed off by it):
(NB yinz’ll have to do the Kain-Tuck accent yourself, my text-fu is insufficient)
(Alternately: “That there are enough GOP Representatives and Senators willing to leave the chambers when such a vote is taken to ensure a 2/3 majority, so long as every Democratic and Independent member votes to uphold the declaration?”)
How would you respond to that?
(Note: I presume that any one of us in that situation who would not immediately reject such a trial balloon would reply something like “With appropriate conditions agreed beforehand, it would be worth exploring.” And then demur when pressed on those conditions pending discussion with aides.
(Fine. On reflection, what conditions would you insist on?)
nyrobbin
@Martin:
That is brilliant!
Amir Khalid
@Uncle Cosmo:
Pelosi wouldn’t take that deal, nor would she waste time thinking up conditions to attach to it. She knows Mitch would be looking out for the first opportunity to renege.
Amir Khalid
@Amir Khalid:
On second thought, maybe she might. If she knew what was in the kompromat the Russians had on Mitch and could credibly threaten to expose him first.
Origuy
@Amir Khalid:
Does that make Pence Dobby the House Elf?
patroclus
Kasich calls for impeachment! David Brooks supports Warren over Trump. Man, I hope the worm is turning.
Mike in NC
@Martin: That was brilliant, as the Brits say. Trump as “Picasso of pettiness. Shakespeare of shit”.
piratedan
@Uncle Cosmo: wellllll…. if Mitchy was going to make such an offer, I suppose I would go the Braveheart route as a response if I was Pelosi…
1) You resign Mitch, your wife resigns, and you apologize publicly on MSM indicating that you personally directed the cooperation of the GOP with foreign interests in order to subvert our last elections
2) You apologize publicly to President Obama and the American people for your obstructionist policies and lying about Democratic policy for the last two decades
3) you submit to the House oversight committee the names of the other compromised GOP officials in both the House and the Senate, along with the documentation that proves their coercion and cooperation to subvert our political process
4) Then you can pay for dinner…
In regards to the new website, will it make my posts look fat and its not located too close to the willow, is it?
Steeplejack (phone)
@Amir Khalid:
She has been right about everything else she “predicted.” Just sayin’.
Amir Khalid
@Origuy:
I wouldn’t compare Pence to Dobby, who was a hero. Maybe Kreacher … No, Kreacher was among the good guys at the Battle of Hogwarts. Maybe Pence is Peter Pettigrew.
WaterGirl
@TaMara (HFG): Thanks for the heads up. The cake is gorgeous, and the detail in your comment on the other thread is very helpful. It’s on the list.
Miss Bianca
@Martin: Hey, I never even played D & D and I can grok this analogy!
@piratedan: I like the cut of your jib here, matey.
LuciaMia
On Chrome,the page comes up then becomes blank.
WaterGirl
@LuciaMia: I know that’s frustrating. We are not working on the current site at all. Just working on the new site. Hang in there.
Ruckus
@Martin:
Completely, perfectly on point.
Ruckus
@Amir Khalid:
Considering what Hillary Clinton knows from her time as SoS and as first lady and running for president, I’d bet on her rather than the news folks pontificating about what she knows/doesn’t know.
As far as TG goes, she seems to be stuck in the russian camp, both feet firmly encased in concrete, as in she’s not going anywhere else. Now let’s review the last 4 yrs or so, we know to a fairly high level of surety that vlad/russia fucked with our elections in many ways. We are fairly well assured that the numbnut in the WH is in hock to vlad way past that rug on that flabby, rotting orange mellon on top his neck and we also know that vlad has spent his entire adult life being against the US, so this is not all that far fetched.
Uncle Cosmo
@Amir Khalid: @piratedan: I could conceive of exploring that deal under some conditions slightly less drastic than piratedan’s, which IMO are designed to kill the whole thing as dead as Amir pronounced it. Just off the top of my head…
My first concern as Speaker would be for multiple safeguards to prevent or mitigate a Lucy-and-the-football denouement.
First, I would make no commitment to support this process until the original U2D (“unable to discharge”) declaration was officially in my hands and a second U2D declaration was signed (with a copy in my hands) for filing as soon as POTUS transmits an NSDE (“no such disability exists”) declaration in response to the first. Before that, at a minimum I would want a list from MoskvaMitch of the GOP members of Congress prepared to sign onto this. I would want each of them to sign a written statement to that effect. I would want them videotaped reading that statement & then admitting that they had just signed it.
Next, I would want specific concessions from the Acting President: The immediate release of all documents subpoenaed by the House and the countermanding of all orders barring White House staff from testifying under oath before the House. Thus even if this is Lucy+football, the House will have obtained crucial information for the impeachment inquiry, which could be restarted about 50 nanoseconds after the football was pulled away.**
My next concern would be for the composition of the Acting President’s staff and Cabinet. I would demand that Barr be fired, maybe Pompeo & McAleenan as well. I might insist on the departure of others as well. (Seborrhea Dorka, the Blue Footed Booby of Budapest, comes to mind.) Any security clearance initially denied & then granted on the authority of POTUS must be revoked & any such individual in a position requiring such a clearance terminated immediately.
Then I’d require a signed & witnessed pledge from the Turtle to release a number of bills passed by the House to the floor of the Senate for a vote – maybe not everything, but what House Democrats generally consider most critical.
Oh, and a pony. More than one. Maybe Dos Equis.. :^D
—–
** IANAL, but as I read Section 4 of the 25th, after the initial U2D declaration, a NSDE declaration from POTUS, and a second U2D declaration, VPOTUS is Acting President until Congress votes. I base this on the statement at the end that, should Congress come up with the necessary 2/3 vote in both houses, “the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President,” which implies he was doing so all along after the second U2D declaration. Our rezident :^D leagle egals may want to weigh in on this…