Archive for December 2020

What I learned setting up a computer may help other novices

Three weeks ago I wrote about my inattention to technology and today I’m doling out computer advice. Before you think “What chutzpah,” know that I’m not posing as an expert. I merely think that what I learned when I came home with a new MacBook Air might be helpful to others who also never set up a... Read more »
By Marianne Goss,
December 28, 2020 at 4:06 pm
• 3 comments

An editor’s opinion about “Dr.” Biden

Since I spent my entire working life adhering to editorial usage guides, I want to weigh in (a little late) on the Joseph Epstein brouhaha. If Epstein’s December 11 Wall Street Journal op-ed deriding Jill Biden’s use of “Dr.” hadn’t been so condescending, maybe the topic could have been discussed without consideration of gender. Epstein... Read more »
By Marianne Goss,
December 21, 2020 at 9:12 am
• 8 comments

Are you behaving weirdly during isolation?

We’ve heard of people having weirder, more vivid dreams during the pandemic. Bizarre waking behaviors haven’t been discussed as much, unless you count hoarding toilet paper, which seemed reasonable to do back in the spring.  When I started moving around the living room furniture without having had a notion that I wanted to rearrange the... Read more »
By Marianne Goss,
December 14, 2020 at 9:48 am
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Is your computer old? Replace it before it dies.

“Things work until they don’t.” A doorman at my building offered that consolation when I was chiding myself for not replacing my ancient desktop computer before it died last week. I appreciated his sympathy, but it would have been better to replace the computer before it didn’t function. You can wait to buy a dishwasher,... Read more »
By Marianne Goss,
December 7, 2020 at 10:50 am
• 11 comments