Oh my GODS, my mom's been fretting about Xmas preparations. She can't drive, and she can't remember clearly (we take her grocery shopping each week), and she has poor impulse control, so she's been a bundle of nerves, worried that we won't have cookies this year. Tonight we made snickerdoodles.

I've reached the stage of overt caffeination where all the lyrics to songs I don't know but insist on singing are combinations of "poopy" and "poo" as befits scansion.

#copyediting One of those "I didn't learn it till very late, and now that I know it I follow the rules, even though I really don't care, and lots of people do it the 'wrong' way" things: set foot in ✅ step foot in ❌

Lehrer knows what's up. #Hanukkah #Chanukah

what the fucking fuck is this

One of my writers is promoting Strunk & White as a resource for professional writing. I'm pushing back, because I believe it's outdated and pushes bad advice. Anyone know of some good articles/blogs on how S&W goes awry? #AmEditing

Tim Hortons Korea with their fourth entry in their Canadian city as a beverage series with Victoria Butchart Gardens, adding a Victorian twist to the coffee #LinguisticLandscape! The world now asks, 'When Winnipeg?'

Stop and read these. In an era where the fact of someone's right to exist is a contentious political issue … these records bind us in commonality over centuries and across the globe.

One good side to not being popular: No one punches up my jokes and makes them worse, expecting approval.

Sunday night, after caregiving for my mother, I was forced to pull over just before reaching the highway. Both passenger-side tires had blown. All service garages in the area were closed, called to get towed back to the city, to support an independent garage. We're community-minded.

Both passenger-side tires blew just before I took the freeway, after caregiving at Mom's. Brought my car into our local tire shop, and the owner said in the last three weeks there's been a rise in both passenger-side tires getting punctured. Guessing it's a TikTok trend.

My dept's revising the closed-captions to all our YouTube videos, in compliance with Title IX requirements this April. Someone's been hitting me up for advice on how to structure/punctuate spoken copy, like for a webinar. Her questions refine my understanding and make me feel valued. #AmEditing

yeah. when asked, the most common view around the world is that about 1-2% of people in the world are Jewish ie 70-140 million people. it's 0.19% there are 12 million of us. world Jewish population has never returned to the pre-Holocaust number of 18m ajourneyintotheholocaust.com/wp-content/u...

Last night I whiffed it. No shamash, a day early. Tonight was better. My wife's returning to her faith, esp. in light of all the hatred of Jews and Israel. She's out of town, and though I worship gýgjar, I recited the transliterated prayers for the first night. I love my wife and I stand with Jews.

Old here who remembers: I had to get my newspaper-publisher boss to sign for my first credit card in 1975.

Had a nice walk by the lake, got some photos. Drove to Mom's, took her out to dinner, got some groceries, watched a show. Drove home, and just before I hit the freeway, both right-side tires blew. My insurance referred me to a towing company that had gone out of business. That's why the long wait.

Lovely walk today! Came home to a gang of turkeys, but hey, we're all just trying to get by in this economy.

11 people in Australia were killed today by gunmen while they celebrated the first night of Chanukah at Sydney’s Bondi Beach. Targeted because they were Jews. As Jewish families around the world, we place our menorahs in our windows. Our message to the world: Light will outlive the darkness.

Time again for my favorite christmas post ever, one that still makes me laugh every time i read it

I think some of the greatest delights in the business of etymology are words—especially everyday words—whose origins we just don’t know. So, this year, I’ll do an etymological Advent calendar on this theme: words with origins that are obscure, uncertain, or otherwise unknown.

Went to see the Minnesota Orchestra perform the score to the Muppets Christmas Carol. I may have gotten a little teary at times.

On it. stancarey.wordpress.com/2014/01/23/t...

Magnolia. Everyone I know thinks it's brilliant and profound, but all I hear the actors saying is "I'm making a movie, we're in a movie."

Life's been a roller-coaster lately, and time's been stampeding along without hindrance or relent. But. We got to see Big Bad Voodoo Daddy's holiday show last night, excellent seats, for free. That's not bad.

The soullessness, the entitlement …

Dude asked me to update usage in our docs. Didn't say which doc, so I went with the one he commented on. He said, snottily, that was the wrong doc and pointed me to another. I cleaned that up, and he said it was too late to work on that one. He's lucky we're working remotely. #AmEditing

Not a great sign, when I can carve 2/3 of my work Inbox's load just by previewing and deleting the junk mail.

I had a joke about Narcissus that required some reflection.

This was a nonsense project I rewarded myself with, after a full day of cleaning the apartment. In Old Norse it says STEIKJA, "cooking over flame," and I'll post it nearby when I grill. Which may not be for half a year, but I wanted to do this at any rate.

#Republicans #conservatives are a death cult.

My grandfather was a terrorist, so I suppose that makes me quarter-terrorist. I don't really practice anymore, I'm kinda secular terrorist. But my terror-mom can still guilt me into going to terror-church for terror-holidays, like Christmassmurder and Valentine's Day.

While looking up VoteVets' activism to have Hegseth removed as Defense Secretary, I found a year-old news clip of him stepping down from leadership of two #conservative veterans groups due to financial mismanagement and sexual assault. Seems Trump saw those as qualifying factors. #Republicans

Yeah, I think people forgot how to be an audience. It comes with responsibility.

I'm a doomer I'm a gloomer I'm a midnight shroomer "I recognize you're going through issues, but Is that really the message we want for this song? What else ya got?" I'm a dasher I'm a dancer I'm a midnight prancer "I'm coming out to check your pupils, Steve."

This was freakin' hilarious, packed with good advice at every turn. Overlook it to your detriment; look it over to your gain.

#Republicans #Conservatives are a death cult.

Shopping small is meaningful!

I'm seeing a lot of “ascribe” where “subscribe” is called for. To what can we ascribe this trend?

"do offer to reimburse" > "reimburse" #AmEditing

Angela's Ashes – Frank McCourt The Woman Who Walked Into Doors – Roddy Doyle Gulliver's Travels – Jonathan Swift Dubliners – James Joyce JS Le Fanu's Ghostly Tales – Sheridan Le Fanu

James's writing is rewarding in its own right, but I also recommend reading him for who he strikes me as a writer. Someone who writes because he can't help otherwise. As a way of being in the world, of processing being in it. Not for glory—though who turns down an audience? Who writes to write.

People get so upset over words. I don't even like to say the word "word". I've been calling it the w-word but that doesn't really solve the problem.

If I could be any animal I'd be a human but a really good one.

Legislative Update from Rep. Mike Freiberg - Tuesday, December 2, 2025 #mnleg www.house.mn.gov/members/Prof...

Just yesterday I got, "You used to work at OED? Did you quit in a righteous rage when they put in the wrong sense of _literally_?" I flummoxed him by replying, "No, that happened in 1908, so a bit before my tenure there."

You've got your wak min closet, you got your coat bath, you got your Jack & Jil full bathroom with three sinks and no other facilities, and just look at that great room. No living architect has been so audacious as to omit any door into a building. Game over, meatpuppets.

Top Ten Facts About Flash Gordon 1) He's a man 2) He has a man's courage 3) He's nothing but a man 4) But he can never fail 5) Gordon's alive 6) But he only has 14 hours to save the earth (further bulletins as events warrant)

I'll take "Wry Witticisms Twain Never Said" for $800, Alex. quoteinvestigator.com/2014/01/12/h...

I was invited to a Daz channel on Discord, and I started producing more digital art. I found a neo-pagan Old Norse community, and I'm motivated to return to prayer and self-improvement. Editors … I need you to lay off the horrifying-news addiction and start talking more about editing.