Ace of Spades HQ

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December 30, 2004

Happy Blogoversary to Me!

Okay, I jumped the gun yesterday -- forgot which day I started this blog on -- but I can now say that this blog has officially turned one year old.

As I've said, I started this blog because I'd been reading blogs for a while -- especially Instapundit, for links, and Steven den Beste, for the most amazing essays on the Internet -- and because I got annoyed that Oliver Willis, who is not-funny and not-insightful, was getting attention and I wasn't. And of course because I happened to read an article on Dec 29th or Dec 30th about how easy it was to start a blog now because of Blogger's software.

And because I'd actually met a real live blogger. She said, off-handedly, "Oh, you can read about that on my blog," and I determined at that moment that I, too, needed to be able to say, off-handedly, "I'm sorry, but I've already completely discarded that spurious claim on my blog."

Son of Nixon, it turns out, had read the same article, and he called me up to tell me he wanted to start a blog a mere two hours after I'd started my own. And boy, did we have some chuckles for a full month, as we'd just slip into conversation "Yeah, you can find that information on my blog" and then giggle like schoolgirls about it.

At any rate, Ace of Spades started out with this amazing blast in the etherspace -- a missive I like to call "First Post" -- and then the quality just got even better with this potty-mouthed reworking of Poe's The Raven.

I originally had a different schtick for the blog. I never said "I think" in the beginning; it was "We think." Because I was claiming that this wasn't a one-man operation, but rather a lavishly funded 644-man operation consisting chiefly of Gulf War special forces veterans and ex-CIA operatives, being run out of the luxurious Ace of Spades HQ corporate offices on the secret 103rd floor of the Empire State Building, all under the control of a secretive and mysterious rightwing benefactor we only knew as "Mr. Tranh."

I dropped that sometime after I moved to Mu.Nu. Trouble is, I only occasionally did anything with the schtick, and it turns out that 80% of readers didn't even know it was the schtick. They just hadn't heard of it, and they just thought I was being a pompous dick for always saying "We."

Anyway, if you read early posts and find me saying "we," that's why. I wasn't crazy and I wasn't using the royal we. I was just doing a comic riff that apparently only I and six other people even knew about.

I guess today I'll be doing a Best of Ace through the day, in between blogging about other crap. It'll be both my actual best stuff, and the most important moments in the blog-- important in terms of getting Big Links.

I won't be doing that Hey, Remember The Last Year of Blogging? thing I'd teased, because I really can't think of a lot of funny things for the Lisa Loeb Chick from Blender and Sebastian Bach to say about my site. If they never say anything funny, how can I be expected to make up funny things for them to say?

At any rate, thanks again for reading this site. It's really very satisfying to put up some nonsense and have other people read it, and occasionally even enjoy it.

Thanks to Carnivorous Conservative! ... for providing me with a new banner, which I think I'll use at least for the Blogoversary.

I don't know if I like the font he's chosen for the title, and I really liked the Garamond font for the Mencken quote, but baby, you cannot find fault with that kick-ass death card!

posted by Ace at 11:27 AM

Comments

Congratulations, Ace. Not even Vinny Falcone could have done a better job.

Posted by: Christopher on December 30, 2004 11:52 AM

Congrats. Now that the Commissar has joined me in limbo and Goldstein is making noises about playing video games, it's pretty much all on you, Ace. Don't let us down, bro.

Posted by: Allah on December 30, 2004 11:57 AM

Allah,

Thanks. As far as one of the big moments of the site, you're one of them, of course. Mind if I mention that? You know what I mean, I think-- you originally didn't want me to say what you were doing for me.

Posted by: ace on December 30, 2004 12:07 PM

Now, uh, about those flaming skulls you promised us...

Posted by: someone on December 30, 2004 12:14 PM

Is it just me, or does that new cigarette-smoking skull look a hell of a lot like Hunter S. Thompson?

Posted by: senator philabuster on December 30, 2004 12:20 PM

Happy Blogiversary, Ace!

I agree about the Garamond, and the quote is kinda lost in the background a bit, but the header typestyle definitely got my attention and reminds me of the scythe in the AoS card. It works.

Posted by: Joan of Argghh! on December 30, 2004 12:23 PM

Happy Blogiversary, Ace. Believe me, the InnerwebnetAOL is better for your writing.

Posted by: Margi on December 30, 2004 12:28 PM

That new banner is BAD ASS

Posted by: TallDave on December 30, 2004 12:51 PM

Senator Philabuster is right on the money. Its like HST was looking into a mirror, if in fact I was a mirror and not someone wasting time at work.

Happy B-Day, Ace.

Posted by: Jersey Matt on December 30, 2004 12:55 PM

Happy blogoversary Ace! And, thanks for the linky love yesterday :)

Posted by: Carin on December 30, 2004 01:00 PM

Congrats Ace. Thanks for making my internet year!

Best wishes for a healthy, safe, and fun 2005.

Cheers,
Dave at Garfield Ridge

Posted by: Dave at Garfield Ridge on December 30, 2004 02:01 PM

Congratulations. I think a table dance from Kim Richards is in order.

I'll thow in ten bucks, if Allah and Goldstein agree to cover the rest.

Posted by: iowahawk on December 30, 2004 02:17 PM

Congrats, Ace. And the new banner is pretty cool, but my first thought was that the new font for the blog title is very D&D-esque. I swear I have a "Fighter's handbook" or something around here with that exact same font on the cover.

Posted by: francisthegreat on December 30, 2004 03:34 PM

Let's be honest, you just wanted me -- and the rest of the blogosphere -- to link to you two days with congratulatory posts so you could steal all our traffic.

Posted by: Digger on December 30, 2004 06:57 PM

Great Blog.

Posted by: BULLSEYE on January 1, 2005 06:25 PM

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Top Headlines

TJM wonders about world building in stories, mostly The Hunger Games

"It's f**king f**ked."
-- reportedly a genuine comment offered by a "senior Labour source"
Correction: I wrote that Labour is losing 88% (now 87%) of the seats it is "defending." I think that's wrong. The right way to say it is the seats they are contesting -- that is, they don't necessarily already hold these seats, but they have put up a candidate to run for the seat. It's still very bad but not as bad as losing 87% of the seats they already held.

Basil the Great
@BasilTheGreat

🚨ED MILIBAND [a Minister in Starmer's government] SAYS KEIR STARMER WILL RESIGN AS PRIME MINISTER

He has reportedly reassured Labour MP's that Starmer will be resigning following the disastrous results tonight

It's over

"The end of the two party system in the UK" as first the Fake Conservatives and now Labour chooses political suicide rather than simply STOPPING THE INVASION
Incidentally, the only reason this didn't already happen in the US is because of the Very Bad Orange Man (who is right on 85% of all policy calls and extremely, existentially right on 15% of them)

No political party that is NOT also a doomsday religious cult would EVER choose a cataclysmic loss -- and possible extinction as a party -- to support a toxically unpopular favoritism of NON-CITIZEN ILLEGAL MIGRANTS over actual citizen voters.

Only a cult does this.

Now they've lost 84%.

Annunziata Rees-Mogg
@zatzi
If this continues Labour loses 2,148 seats tonight.

That is much worse than the worst case predictions I’ve seen.

Cataclysmic

Update: They've now lost 88% of the seats they're defending. As I mentioned earlier, I think I heard that London will not bail them out, as many of those Labour seats will probably flip to "Muslim Independent" or Green. Detroit's 5am vote will not save them.

Yup, Labour is losing 80% of its seats...

The British Patriot
@TheBritLad

🚨 BREAKING: Labour have lost 80% of all seats contested as of 2:25 AM.<
br> If this continues, Keir Starmer will be out of office next week.

Reform has surged and projected to pick up between 1700-2100 seats.

Wow, up to 1700-2100 seats. It's not incredible that this is happening. It's incredible that the Davos crowd is so absolutely determined to privilege Muslim "migrants" over the actual native population who elects them, no matter how loudly the natives scream that they want to be prioritized, that they will gladly self-extinguish as a party rather than simply representing the interests of their own voters. Astonishing.
Remember, when they call other people "cultists" -- they are the ones so imprisoned in their social reinforcement and discipline bubbles that they will choose political death rather than dare upset the Karen Enforcement Officers of their cult.
Update: Now they've lost 83% of the seats they were defending.

(((Dan Hodges)))
@DPJHodges

Reform are basically wiping Labour out in the North. It's not a defeat. It's not even a rout. Labour are simply ceasing to exist.

Nick Lowles
@lowles_nick

Tonight’s results are calamitous for Labour. Not just for Keir Starmer's leadership, but for the very future of the party

STARMERGEDDON: In early returns, Reform gains 135 seats, Labour loses 90, the Fake Conservatives lose 36 (and I didn't even know they could fall any further), the Lib Dems lose 4, and the Greens gain 6. Note that the only other party gaining seats is the Greens and they're only gaining a handful of seats.
Update: Reform now up 145, Labour down 98.
Labour projected to lose Wales -- where they've ruled for 27 years.
Fulton County Georgia just discovered 400 boxes of ballots for Labour
Update: REF +156, LAB -107, CON -45
Brutal: In four out of five council seats where Labour is defending, they've lost. 80%.
I'm sure it's not this simple, but Reform is straight taking Labour's and the "Conservatives'" seats. They've lost almost exactly what Reform gained. If understand this right (and warning, I probably don't), all of London's council seats are up for election, and Labour might lose hugely there, as their old voters abandon them for Reform, Muslim Indenpendents, and the Greens.
REF +190, LAB -134, CON -56.

Updates on the Labour collapse in council elections -- which wags are calling #Starmergeddon -- from Beege Welborne. There are about 5000 seats up for grabs, Labour is expected to lose 1,800, Reform will probably gain 1,580, up from... zero. So this would be more than that.
People claim that while Labour has adopted the Sharia Agenda to appeal to the million Muslims it allowed to migrate to the country, those voters are ditching Labour to vote for the Muslim Independent Party or the Greens. Delicious. This shadenfreude is going straight to my thighs.
Oh, and if Starmer loses about as badly as expected, Labour will toss him out of a window Braveheart style and replace him. He will announce he is resigning to spend more time with his Gay Ukrainian Male Prostitutes.

Media bias and senationalism are as old as, well, the media:

That was written by Denny O'Neill and illustrated by, get this, Frank Miller. Editor to the Stars Jim Shooter was in charge at the time.
I always thought the gag was original to the comic book, but in fact the "Threat or Menace" headline was a satirical joke about media bias and sensationalism for a long while. The Harvard Lampoon used it in a parody of Life magazine: "Flying Saucers: Threat or Menace?"

Hamas is Humiliating Trump's 'Board of Peace'
[Hat Tip: TC] [CBD]

Tucker Carlson is pretty sure Trump is a wizard

Ted Turner Dies At 87 [CBD]

Podcast: Starting a new season, CBD and Sefton discuss their personal journeys to conservative principles, is Nick Shirley the beginning of a trend?, Iran trying to reignite the war, the Left attacks itself, even on "Best Guitarist" lists, and more!

TJM definitively ranks the films of Billy Wilder, like Some Like It Hot

TJM talks about Billy Wilder

Democrat Congresswoman Sara Jacobs cites Me-Again Kelly, Cavernous Nostrils, Alex Jones and Tuq'r Qarlson as proof that concerns about Trump's mental health are "bipartisan"
As Bonchie from Red State says: Know the op when you see it.

Leftists who have been drawing Frankendistricts for decades are suddenly upset about Republican line-drawing
Socialist usurper Obama cut commercials urging Virginians to vote for the bizarre "lobster" gerrymander -- but now says gerrymanders are so racist you guys
Obama is complaining about the new Louisiana map -- but here's the thing, the new map has much more compact and rational borders than the old racial gerrymander map
Pete Bootyjudge is whining too. But here's the Illinois gerrymander he supports.

Big Bonus! Under the new Florida congressional map, Debbie Wasserman Schultz will probably lose her seat
And she can't even go on The View because she's ugly a clump of stranger's hair in the bath-drain