Posts by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
(DIR) Post #AZEJ7mOgqS2cywpw4O by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-08-29T13:01:36Z
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Was talking here last night yet again about the early days of the Web in the '90s, and heard from some people that they found it funny that in 1995, out of an ad agency with several thousand employees, there was literally only one employee computer in the entire building hooked up to the internet and with a working browser. But keep in mind, at many of my temp jobs in those days, the secretaries didn't even have COMPUTERS, but were still doing ALL their work on electric typewriters. Mid-1990s!
(DIR) Post #AZGUvzo6kU88ranEJM by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-08-30T18:48:08Z
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@grammargirl During my first visit to Germany in the early '00s, I noticed that people there didn't have even the slightest idea that "anxious" could be a positive statement. I would say something like, "I'm anxious to get to the party?" and they would respond, "Why? The party's going to be fun; no need to be anxious about it."
(DIR) Post #AZGVJ7hzXPIO1sxaro by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-08-30T18:52:19Z
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@grammargirl During my first visit to Germany in the early '00s, I noticed that people there didn't have even the slightest idea that "anxious" could be a positive statement. I would say something like, "I'm anxious to get to the party!" and they would respond, "Why? The party's going to be fun; no need to be anxious about it."
(DIR) Post #AaldVIVDYkD6gNitQ8 by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-10-14T17:02:49Z
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Going through the academic editing certification course co-sponsored by the Poynter Institute for Media Studies and the American Copy Editors Society this week, and am impressed that @grammargirl keeps getting mentioned over and over in the course material as an official resource to turn to in cases of questions and confusion. Let me tell you right now that MY blog will NEVER be cited by academics as an official source of information!
(DIR) Post #Aall75Vd13yH4FskcK by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-10-14T18:37:40Z
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@grammargirl And now who do I complain to over there about cultural biases in their test questions? There was a question on my final exam that you literally cannot answer unless you already know the Christian fable about Noah and the ark (question: "Noah led the animals on the ark [blank] by [blank]"), which is a RIDICULOUS thing to still be happening in 2023.
(DIR) Post #AalteDo1zNRVzOnfuq by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-10-14T20:13:14Z
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@grammargirl @EditorMark For what it's worth, the course is also still calling X "Twitter," and stating that it's "the most trustworthy social network out of all of them."
(DIR) Post #AbF8y9utIYyLmKf72m by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-09-20T14:21:20Z
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Happy 145th birthday, Upton Sinclair! Upton was a radical liberal who spent his life writing mediocre screeds the public generally ignored (something like his final two dozen books were all self-published, because he couldn't get a traditional publisher interested), but whose graphic descriptions of the nightmarish meatpacking industry in 1906's Pulitzer-winning "The Jungle" caught fire with a horrified public, leading to the creation of the Food and Drug Administration.
(DIR) Post #AcNeQAOHWBGtr0Fwh6 by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-12-01T23:02:12Z
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Sending a copy of the 2004 British sitcom "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace" to my brother for Christmas, and am watching it again this week and laughing my ass off. A parody of terrible low-budget '80s TV horror shows, it was created by and stars Richard Ayoade of "The I.T. Crowd" and his Cambridge Footlights buddy Matthew Holness, framed as a 20th-anniversary look back hosted by a low-rent Stephen King wannabe. The entire six episodes are free at YouTube right now! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4hF7948vIg&list=PLGWWgtAupbLk4TaAniyY4_aifhz9urPsp
(DIR) Post #AcNimE8cfJjnfDhrw8 by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-12-02T00:02:36Z
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@onan I hadn't heard of Danger 5 before now, so thanks for the recommendation! It's also free to watch (with ads) at YouTube!
(DIR) Post #AcwsDcrMZ9IYMcvc8W by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-12-18T21:54:36Z
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Has anyone else suddenly had all their subreddit RSS feeds fail at once in the last couple of days, as if the company had flipped a giant off switch that controls them all?
(DIR) Post #Ad2WA0b0IeakP5RuYC by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-09-07T22:54:39Z
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Day 7 of my "30-day remote working vacation" test run while housesitting at my friend's place here in Chicago. Today's tourist activity was the Art Institute, where I learned with some disappointment that, despite majoring in the subject in my twenties and planning a career in it, here in my fifties I can no longer stand pretty much any art made after 1945, which now just seems like a big smartypants con game to me. Give me instead John Singer Sargent, George Bellows, Frederic Remington, etc.
(DIR) Post #AdLpKIK89wQwtP0kL2 by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2023-12-30T20:12:34Z
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Today at my #Substack newsletter: I recently learned that Substack profits partially off newsletters from white nationalists and other violent fascists, so I'm shutting down my Substack newsletter. The end. In this issue, where to sign up for the new one, not coincidentally located at my very first professional website just for my freelance editing, which just opened this week. Special shoutouts to Antihustle and @ernie! https://jasonpettus.substack.com/p/substack-profits-from-white-nationalists
(DIR) Post #AdVWul7qb3c163XTrE by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2024-01-04T14:34:46Z
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#Grammar people, I need your help! I just corrected a line from a client so that it now says, "The creator of Fortnite and the Epic Games Store," and the client is asking me why "Epic Game Store" gets a "the" but "Fortnite" doesn't, and for the life of me I don't know the actual academic grammar rule that explains why. Can anyone help?CC: @grammargirl, with my gratitude
(DIR) Post #AdVXwezKUCwway1ce0 by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2024-01-04T16:31:02Z
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@grammargirl Thanks very much!
(DIR) Post #Adhy5OdIQG9Ugo4Rea by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2024-01-09T20:32:28Z
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#TodayILearned that Bing Crosby was the world's very first major investor in magnetic recording tape, specifically so he could record his daily live New York show and re-broadcast it in California later. He spent today's equivalent of several million dollars on the first experimental machines, thus allowing for more R&D and arguably laying the groundwork for the entire resulting computer industry. Thanks, @clive! https://www.honest-broker.com/p/how-bing-crosby-made-silicon-valley
(DIR) Post #AhJomoWOMzk78RW9MO by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2024-04-27T15:59:08Z
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I'm participating in the annual Chicago Bookstore Crawl today! The goal is to visit 18 stores by 5 pm, so we'll see how I do. Here, store #2 of my journey, the neighborhood-beloved 57th Street Books, near the campus of the University of Chicago.
(DIR) Post #AiM3Izswytx6QPKjVQ by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2024-05-28T14:47:34Z
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@RobertDuke @ParadeGrotesque @onan As we all know, the Michelin entry on Earth simply says, "Mostly harmless."
(DIR) Post #AiuQG8U8hC3LjrNXaC by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2024-06-13T22:07:50Z
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An insane version of Pong that doubles the balls every time one hits a paddle, then adds various power-ups to make the game even crazier. Thanks as always for the interesting link, @clive! https://raould.github.io/pn0gstr0m/
(DIR) Post #AjbXqKMxxO8FtDx4bY by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2024-07-05T00:53:08Z
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I recently learned that the writers on the various '70s shows of Garry Marshall (Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Mork & Mindy, etc.) had a phrase they called "joke adjacent language," where they wouldn't write an actual joke but just a line that actors could deliver with the zaniness of a joke, and trick the audience into laughing anyway. Thinking about that a whole, whole lot this week as I attempt to watch the latest season of "The Simpsons." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cnW5ehBuD6A
(DIR) Post #AjcaFQlrgf0039ej1U by jasonpettus@mastodon.cloud
2024-07-05T13:12:27Z
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@onan I actually learned about it from a cheesy TV movie from the early 2000s called "Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Mork & Mindy." I watched it on my new subscription to Peacock, but it can also be watched for free on Tubi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT9KdQg4ck0