Tomorrow morning, at 6 am, the site will be unavailable. Right about now, long time commenters and readers are thinking “Sounds about right, it’s a date that ends in ‘y'” or more likely “FYWP!!!”
But wait! There is more! This is a PLANNED outage, and as you know, we don’t plan ANYFUCKINGTHING around here, so there must be a good reason for it. And there is! Tomorrow at 6 am, we will begin to migrate the website over to the new site, and at some point tomorrow (hopefully early afternoon, but I am not promising anything), the new website will be up and running and you can go about your normal daily business of ignoring your kids, pets, and work and arguing because SOMEONE IS WRONG ON THE INTERNET and sending me emails about how much you hate the website.
You’ve been warned. I’m excited and nervous. And remember, it’s bad form to tell anyone their baby is ugly.
TheOtherHank
Woo!
Mousebumples
Seems like a way to make me more productive on my last day of maternity leave…
I look forward to the (faux) outrage that is sure to follow the launch. And effusive thanks to you, John, and Watergirl and all the testers!
Spanky
Obligatory
jl
“Plans are worthless, but planning is everything” Dwight D Eisenhower.
Not sure if that is an auspicious or inauspicious quote to offer right now. Good luck.
laura
Get water girl an epidural STAT!
The willow tree is presenting breach.
I dont know nothing ’bout birthing no blog.
p.a.
Pls list names of those involved in order of blame, most to least…
AM in NC
Hey John,
I’ve been a BJ reader and occasional comment for over 10 years, and I just wanted to let you know how appreciative I am of all of your work and that of all of the front pagers over the years. It isn’t easy to build a community that lasts, and you have done so. Thanks, and let’s impeach the motherfucker already!
WaterGirl
@Spanky: Too funny! I almost sent a link of that song to John instead of calling to let him know that tomorrow would be the big day.
WaterGirl
@p.a.: I’m pretty sure that’s me.
p.a.
@laura: Cole had a headache, DougJ hit him with a hammer, and out sprang a new blog.
p.a.
@WaterGirl: Ah… a volunteer! ?
WaterGirl
@p.a.: My dad was in the army and he told me to NEVER volunteer for anything. I’m not so much volunteering as I am confessing.
TomatoQueen
We can do our work or watch hearings. It’ll be fine. JUST FINE.
Duane
Remember, e-mails should be in ALL CAPS, because you’re mad and the damn print is too hard to read anyway.
WaterGirl
@TomatoQueen: What time do the hearings start? Eastern time. I hope it’s early in the morning so I can distract myself. Like John, I am excited and not exactly nervous, but definitely something in that neighborhood. Let’s call it a heightened sense of anticipation.
FNWA
15 comments in and I’m the first one to say, “The baby is ugly!”
maiXai66
But… “That sure is a clean baby you got there,” slides right on past politeness editor. If you don’t hear anything further, from me, on the subject, you can rest assured “that baby is really clean!”
Patricia Kayden
Looking forward to the baby’s reveal and a great place to trade barbs about Trump’s impeachment. Tomorrow, it’s going down!
WereBear
@WaterGirl: We all appreciate it!
Ohio Mom
@TomatoQueen: Thank you for reminding me about tomorrow’s hearings. I was operating on the assumption I needed to make no special note of the day or time, I would just see them when I opened the blog.
@Mousebumples: Belated congrats on the arrival of your little one!
Frank McCormick
John and WaterGirl:
Congratulations in advance. Thanks for all the hard work!
WereBear
@maiXai66: A child photography specialist I used to know liked, “Well, that is a baby!”
debbie
@WaterGirl:
I don’t know what to do with my mornings now.
WaterGirl
@debbie: I’ll be putting up a post with details after dinner. But the *short answer is that there will be updates on John’s twitter.
edit: *short answer to a question that I either imagined or that is no longer there. :-)
p.a.
@WaterGirl: Were you under orders to not provide links to Cole’s email, twitter, etc on the new site until any issues get resolved?
debbie
@WaterGirl:
You didn’t imagine. I gave up trying to reword it intelligently.
WaterGirl
@p.a.: Nope! And we’re even
transparent enoughdumb enough to provide a link called Site Feedback. I swear my IQ is in the triple digits, even if you might be questioning that after reading my first sentence.MattF
Will there be a gender-reveal party?
I’ll let myself out now.
Betty
Congratulations!
RedDirtGirl
I have no idea what to expect!
?BillinGlendaleCA
Guess I won’t stay up for the morning crowd.
Just One More Canuck
@Spanky: I prefer the Mormon Tabernacle Choir version (per WKRP)
Martin
I would like to file an objection. Anne Laurie plans a LOT of things. On an almost daily basis she’ll draft a post and schedule it to go up only for Cole, like a toddler on meth, to post something 30 seconds later, either on exactly the same topic, or because a pet kicked him out of bed.
Wmd
I thought you planned on invading Canada?
Pharniel
Praise be to the Omnisaiah, may the machine god bless this transition.
Old Dan and Little Ann
It’ll probably look like Lyndon Johnson.
Omnes Omnibus
@Pharniel: Don’t bring me into this.
TS (the original)
@WaterGirl: Thanks for all you have done (& no doubt are still doing) for the crowd. I’m down to reading 2 blogs on the inter tubes & this is one of them.
Sloane Ranger
So about 11am UK time. Great, I had to do some work on my taxes anyway and this will force me to get started.
Seriously, thanks to John for this wonderful online community, WaterGirl for her hard work and all our volunteer front pagers for their insights
Hoping for a quick and easy birth with no complications.
jk
Breaking News from CNN
Adam Schiff is a huge fan of The Big Lebowski
sdhays
This is exciting, but possibly even more exciting is what will happen while the site is down and no one can post. Will Dump resign? Will Mulvaney accidentally email a recording of Jared green-lighting the Khashoggi killing to Speaker Pelosi while trying to send talking points to House Republicans? So many possibilities!
J R in WV
Flhying Spaghettii Momster save us !!!
Where can I go to talk about the impeachment tomorrow..???? !!!!
Trump going down, Blog coming up !!!
Woot!!!
Professor Bigfoot
I’ve been a BJ reader since I found the place after the passing of Steve Gilliard.
I tell people all the time that if they really want to understand what’s going on in our politics, they need to follow the comment threads here.
From the front pagers to the Jackaltariat— this place is a lot like home. Thanks, John Cole.
jl
@sdhays: peak wingnut singularity?
raven
@Old Dan and Little Ann: Fuck Lyndon Johnson!
Catherine D.
Best wishes for a not-ugly baby :)
Patricia Kayden
OzarkHillbilly
This is a PLANNED outage, and as you know, we don’t plan ANYFUCKINGTHING around here, so it must go tits and balls up…
Thanx for the warning John. The rest of you? I’ll see you in a week or 2. Don’t know WTF I am going to do with my mornings until this shit gets straightened out.
Baud
I’m going to get so much work done tomorrow.
OzarkHillbilly
@jk: I knew I liked him for some reason or other.
Mary G
Will you send us all cigars?
TomatoQueen
I just checked PBS Ch 26 WETA for tomorrow morning: Special Coverage begins at 10:00 am (eastern time), goes until it stops, then there is a repeat starting at 8:00 pm. So, unlike a previous announcement in WaPo I think or somewhere else, PBS News will after all offer live gavel to gavel then a highlights show, just as they did when they were getting started in 1973. If it is half so riveting as in those days…
OzarkHillbilly
@WaterGirl: I’m still not convinced you are real. ;-)
joel hanes
An acquaintance who Did Not Particularly Care For Children, when shown a new baby by the adoring parents:
“I’ve seen babies, and I’ve seen babies, but *that* is a *baby*!”
Sab
EXCITING. I love babies, especially if they are blogs.
@Professor Bigfoot: Yes, I miss Steve Gilliard. What a voice. What a mind.
Thanks John Cole. Home in America where the FSM flies over often
.o@debbie: Laundry and dishes.
joel hanes
@Professor Bigfoot:
Steve Gilliard
Peace be upon him, and upon his memory.
dexwood
You’ve gotta see the baby.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkadtxlCRU4
TS (the original)
Speaking of tomorrow’s hearing, I just ran into this description in wapo.
Did they mean to describe Jim Jordan this way?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: I guess I can get better acquainted with the new photo-processing software I got yesterday. It’s got a nifty sky replacement feature which worked well on this photo of the California State Capitol from 1975 that was scanned from a Kodachrome slide.
Spanky
@Baud: Wait, you work?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Someone claiming to be WaterGirl has been sending me emails about the new site.
joel hanes
at some point tomorrow … the new website will be up and running
Right on track.
First release two weeks before external commit :
https://balloon-juice.com/2019/04/06/very-important-announcement/#comment-7248771
WereBear
Then he has the right attitude to preside over an impeachment right out of Ionescu.
“I just dropped in, to see what condition my condition was in…”
JPL
@OzarkHillbilly: That is what I thought of.. Why not shut it down at 11 Pm jeez.. He hates us. Also Hillary might run.
WereBear
@Mary G: Bubble gum cigars! Do they still make those?
Mary G
About the story on Stephen Miller’s racist emails to Breitbart:
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Pictures? Otherwise she’s a Russian bot. And even then, I’m not too sure.
Aleta
Thanks John. There must be moments when you consider how much easier your life would be w/o this massive thing hung around your neck that tells you it can’t be abandoned and sustains a jillion people you don’t even know.
JPL
@Mary G: hahahahaha
Spanky
@TS (the original): I see that was already highlighted in the WaPo comments.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly: Actually it was partially a discussion about a picture.
debbie
@Mary G:
And fuck them for bad-mouthing the SPLC.
Drunkenhausfrau
So…I have to watch impeachment hearings on my own? No jackal commentary? Aack!
cmorenc
@John Cole:
OK, won’t say anything about the baby, but the baby has an ugly daddy.
:=)
WaterGirl
@WereBear: We’re all out of bubblegum.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Aleta: John will just be happy not to hear “Why do I have to enter my nym and email every time I want to comment?”.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WaterGirl: Sounds like John needs to make a Costco run.
mousebumples
@Ohio Mom: Thanks! Daddy is taking his 12 weeks of FMLA after I go back, so hopefully I won’t be a complete mess my first day back…
I
Elizabelle
@TS (the original):
That is classic. One cannot unsee it. WTG, WaPost writer Colby Ikowitz.
OzarkHillbilly
@?BillinGlendaleCA: Photoshopped, no doubt. Nope, until she shows up at a STL meetup… An STL meetup I actually show up at by the by, I will doubt her existence. Then again, has anybody ever actually met me? Maybe I’m a bot. Woops, dinner is calling. Bots have to eat after all.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@TS (the original): They spelled Gym Jordan wrong.
WereBear
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I could have used some sky replacement today. All snow no sun!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@OzarkHillbilly:
I do have a copy of Photoshop.
TS (the original)
@Spanky: I can only assume the writer (of the article) has a good sense of humor.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@WereBear: Luminar 4 doesn’t ship to the general public until next Monday(I got my copy cause I pre-ordered when they first were taking pre-orders).
Aleta
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You’re right. John should be permitted to have one! good! day! after his developers kill perhaps the world’s most despised …
NotMax
Friday the 13th comes on a Wednesday this month.
Just sayin’.
;)
Baud
This should be the 404 page when the site is down.
Spanky
@NotMax: Thanks, Pogo.
spudgun
This is wonderful news – very excited!
japa21
I have no doubt that the new site will rapidly become the 9,999th most read political blog. We’re moving on up.
chopper
so, the betting pool as to how long the site is actually out for is ON.
i give it a full 2 days. cole will be so bored he’ll actually look and find the goddamn mustard.
dexwood
You’re the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly – Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFq6eZBS1iM
out of here now, probably a good thing.
frosty
@TS (the original): What’s the other? For me it’s Wonkette. Oh, and Josh Marshall occasionally. Booman made his site unreadable so that one’s gone.
John Cole
@Martin: this is horrifyingly accurate
?BillinGlendaleCA
@chopper: The mustard is a myth, there is no mustard.
batguano
Expect a big new event tomorrow morning. Fingers crossed for Trump resigns the presidency.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@batguano: I’d rate that as pretty likely with Balloon Juice being down for 2 weeks.
VeniceRiley
Exciting! I hope you have a smooth birth, Jackal In Chief.
hitchhiker
@WaterGirl:
Your dad gave good advice. My mom once told me NEVER to offer to bring potato salad to the picnic, because it’s a pain in the ass to make, and then you’ll always be expected to make it.
I listened to her, but I’d make an exception for a jackal picnic.
Maybe.
Mo MacArbie
Dammit, I was just getting my old rut re-established in my new digs. I’ll have to be productive, or some shit.
Uncle Cosmo
@NotMax: I nearly posted that a few hours back, but chose to spare the Juicetariat.
Whiskey. Alpha. Sierra. Foxtrot.
NotMax
@Uncle Cosmo
It was either that or cajoling everyone to practice saying “I want my epidural!”
:)
scribbler
It’s been years since I didn’t check in on Balloon Juice (in a lurking way) at least once before noon. Tomorrow morning is going to seem strange. Sigh.
karen marie
@Sloane Ranger: Hear hear.
This is happening much more quickly than I expected. Fingers are crossed for a smooth transition.
Thanks to all involved, but especially our host John Cole and our duola watertiger.
chris
Exciting!
NotMax
An observation (as opposed to a complaint) for those who haven’t seen it – the left-hand column is about the same size but the portion of it devoted to displaying content is around 2/3 as wide (the rest is plain white space), so expect to do more vertical scrolling.
Baud
https://youtu.be/SmHeP9Sve48
Joy in FL
It will be weird not to read Balloon Juice first thing in the morning tomorrow.
Looking forward to the new site.
Thanks to all who worked and tested and coordinated it.
lee
I can’t wait for the threaded comments!!!!
/s
zhena gogolia
@Baud:
Yep.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@NotMax: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNkpIDBtC2c
WaterGirl
@Baud: The actual 404 error page:
feebog
I’m on vacation in Mexico. Will the new blog make it over the wall?
Aleta
Tomorrow afternoon as thousands of people check every 5 minutes whether the site is up, will that show on satellite images? Will it cause alarm in Freedonia?
zhena gogolia
John Legend is People’s Sexiest Man Alive! Good choice!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@feebog: Yes.
NotMax
@WaterGirl
Interrobang no longer available? Perhaps Rosie took it outside and buried it..
;)
chopper
@WaterGirl:
cole: can i get the 404 page in ‘mustard yellow’? why? oh, no reason.
Tinare
Congrats in advance. Looking forward to seeing the new site.
Central Planning
I come to bury WordPress, not to praise it…
WereBear
@WaterGirl: LOL
Fair Economist
Do we get a gender reveal party? I’ll bet BJ could manage an amusingly disastrous reveal party.
Omnes Omnibus
@hitchhiker: Aw, hell no, Karen! Keep your bland-ass potato salad to yourself!
JaySinWA
@J R in WV:
comming up like Venus from the ocean, or vomit from the first clause..
Miss Bianca
@OzarkHillbilly: I can’t get over seeing “planned outage” as “planned outrage”.
That’s all I’ve got for right now, I have to write two articles for the paper tonight! And then we’re waking up to a brand-new blog tomorrow, woot!
Miss Bianca
@Mary G:
Now *that’s* chutzpah!
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Miss Bianca: We’re outraged due to the outage.
Kattails
OK PUSH now breathe (pant pant pant) Ready? PUSH
Luckily we won’t be able to hear Cole’s hollering. I am told that mothers in the throes can say quite nasty things to the partner/perpetrator.
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca:
I’m pretty sure there’s some of that, too.
different-church-lady
See you in three days.