Notices by Karen Conlin (gramrgednangel@beige.party)

Got myself a new shirt.

Get yours from https://GodAintPetty.com, a Black woman–owned business.

See AltText for full wording

#YoureProbablyDEIToo

Yeah, I'm a professional copy editor/copyeditor. (Pick one, they're both acceptable.)

If I'm not being paid, I don't worry about my writing. I use internet-register American English quite often. I comprehend meme-speak.

Sometimes I even drop a word. If I notice, I go back and fix it. If I don't. c'est la guerre.

Same for other people's writing. You want corrections? Pay me. Otherwise, I couldn't care less. If I don't understand, I'll ask. If I can figure it out (maybe you hit a key next to the one you really wanted), I keep quiet.

IF by chance I know the person, I might DM them. If they're a stranger, no. (I have my DMs locked to keep the randos out. I know I'm not alone there.)

The Golden Rule appears in multiple cultures worldwide because it's common sense and it's kind.

Treat others as you would have them treat you.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks.

#StayWeirdBeKind

I'm seeing a lot of folks making the same suggestion, and now I'll day it too:

Use Amazon like a catalog you browse.

Find a thing you want.

Go to the manufacturer's site (NOT their Amazon "store!").

Buy it there. Often you'll find coupons or discount codes NOT present on Amazon.

#Boycott

John Goodman and Jay Thomas as the cops with no name in the diner

#Monsterdon #CHUD

I don't know what possessed Frank Langella to slum it in this flick. He's a phenomenal actor with roots in theater, including the Royal Shakespeare Company. I mean. Did he need money that badly in 1987?

#Monsterdon #MastersOfTheUniverse

Can't talk. Busy plotting a raised bed garden using concrete blocks instead of lumber

#Gardening

https://www.cbr.com/brother-from-another-planet-underrated-sci-fi-comedy/

Want more films written by John Sayles (Eight Men Out, Piranha)? This one is criminally underrated, both for Sayles's script and Joe Morton's performance.

If you watched "Battle Beyond the Stars" or "Piranha" with us for #Monsterdon, you owe it to yourself to see this one.

#Filmstodon #FilmMastodon

Birthday message from my bio-daughter: "The best thing about today is that you were born!"

😭🥰

#HappyBirthdayToMe

My business website is also my blog. You can find that at

https://grammargeddon.com

From there, you can navigate to my personal page, from which you can see GDocs about my services, fees, and so on.

I'm not pushing for new clients, being semi-retired, but that doesn't mean I don't take on new people at times. Asking for a phone call in your initial contact is a sure way to File 13. The circular file. The trash can. Get to know me and let me get to know you. It doesn't take long if we're both communicating in good faith.

Imma give you some hashtags I use in my editing posts, so you'll know what to expect.

#GUMmyStuff is Grammar, Usage, and Mechanics (spelling, punctuation, capitalization).

#AmEditing is the standard thing. I use that one when I'm actively working on a project. Sometimes. Maybe.

#SpellcheckCannotSaveYou is my creation from years ago, because it's true. Do not depend on any kind of "check" program. They're wonderful safety nets. They are not infallible. Why "cannot?" Because it's incapable of saving you. There's no volition, no "will" involved. It isn't that it will not; it straight up cannot. Can't. Not happening.

There are others I use for non-editing posts, like #LowCarb and #HarrisWalz2024. Self-explanatory.

And sometimes I make them on on the fly, for one-time use. #AmARebel

Want to give books but avoid Bezos?

Https://Bookshop.org lets you support local bookstores!

Https://thriftbooks.com is great for used or new titles.

Https://www.betterworldbooks.com donates books via nonprofit partnerships. Buy books, do good.

#Bookstodon
#Bookstores

@fifilamoura @mekkaokereke When my parents married in 1951, they were given a book about eugenics as part of their premarital counseling. All about having the healthiest white babies.

I have wiped the title and author from memory, but I felt filthy when I touched it during the housecleaning following Dad's death.

#AmEditing

"If the boundaries between universes were tapestries, what Corrine sensed in this place was a threadbare patch."

LOVE that imagery.

#LitanyForABrokenWorld @LJ

#AmEditing
#GUMmyStuff

When you indicate interrupted speech with an ellipsis (either three spaced periods or the single glyph), be aware of whether the next word needs to be capitalized.

If someone starts to speak, stops, then starts over with the same words, it's good to capitalize the repetition. They've gone back to the beginning. Treat their resumption of speech like a new sentence (which, arguably, it is).

If they're speaking, they stop, and continue on, don't capitalize the first word after the ellipsis (unless, of course, it's a proper noun).

"Are you . . . Are you my mother?"

"Are you . . . my mother?"

I'm positive that spouse and I are in a minority when it comes to the general gun-owning population. In materials from a major insurance provider/owners organization, there's a big Christo-fascist vibe and us/them division. Everyone who doesn't own one is suspect. And training videos? Women are mostly absent unless they're asking big strong men for help.

And everyone is white.

EVERYONE.

There's another organization, though, with nearly no indoctrination vibe and better representation of non-White males and women.