John McIntyre
@johnemcintyre.bsky.social
Retired Baltimore Sun editor, flaneur. Author of “The Old Editor Says” and “Bad Advice.” Kentuckian transplanted to Baltimore.
Feel free to share my scorn for Target.
Off-target
Once the Target store opened on Putty Hill Avenue in Towson in 1998, I shopped there pretty much once a week. It was part of my shopping ro...
johnemcintyre.blogspot.com
January 18, 2026 at 9:21 PM
Feel free to share my scorn for Target.
Be advised, people, that there are bartenders out there who will put brine, unasked, in your martinis. Beware.
January 15, 2026 at 10:50 PM
Be advised, people, that there are bartenders out there who will put brine, unasked, in your martinis. Beware.
Reposted by John McIntyre
“I have asked the clergy of the diocese to make sure their affairs are in order and they have written their wills.,not the time for statements. It is time to put our bodies between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable”. Rob Hirschfeld, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
Redirecting...
www.facebook.com
January 10, 2026 at 3:31 PM
“I have asked the clergy of the diocese to make sure their affairs are in order and they have written their wills.,not the time for statements. It is time to put our bodies between the powers of this world and the most vulnerable”. Rob Hirschfeld, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire
ACES: The Society for Editing Just posted:
Balancing clarity and voice… Every editor knows the struggle.
I commented: If the author has a voice that anyone wants to hear.
Balancing clarity and voice… Every editor knows the struggle.
I commented: If the author has a voice that anyone wants to hear.
January 7, 2026 at 8:57 PM
ACES: The Society for Editing Just posted:
Balancing clarity and voice… Every editor knows the struggle.
I commented: If the author has a voice that anyone wants to hear.
Balancing clarity and voice… Every editor knows the struggle.
I commented: If the author has a voice that anyone wants to hear.
I know it’s a little warmer today than it has been, but it is still January, gray, and dreary, and I am an old man and I am retired and I am not going to go anywhere or do anything today, dammit. So there.
January 5, 2026 at 2:57 PM
I know it’s a little warmer today than it has been, but it is still January, gray, and dreary, and I am an old man and I am retired and I am not going to go anywhere or do anything today, dammit. So there.
You're the writer; I'm the editor. Here's what you do.
What an editor needs from a writer
As an undergraduate I aimed to become a writer of fiction. Experience proved that I lack imagination. But for nonfiction prose--articles, l...
johnemcintyre.blogspot.com
January 4, 2026 at 7:49 PM
You're the writer; I'm the editor. Here's what you do.
Let me tell you what I can tell you.
I do say
Coming up in the new year: In February, when I turn seventy-five, I will mark forty-six years since The Cincinnati Enquirer offered me a p...
johnemcintyre.blogspot.com
January 2, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Let me tell you what I can tell you.
I’ve had my fill of this year. See you tomorrow.
January 1, 2026 at 3:52 AM
I’ve had my fill of this year. See you tomorrow.
Reposted by John McIntyre
I talked to the scholars who literally wrote the book on tech bubbles—and applied their test.
AI Is the Bubble to Burst Them All
I talked to the scholars who literally wrote the book on tech bubbles—and applied their test.
wrd.cm
December 27, 2025 at 8:08 PM
I talked to the scholars who literally wrote the book on tech bubbles—and applied their test.
On Christmas Eve, we wish you well, wherever you are.
December 24, 2025 at 10:21 PM
On Christmas Eve, we wish you well, wherever you are.
For Festivus, the current grievances:
The deluge of AI-generated plagiarism and fabrication.
The decline and collapse of corporate journalism.
The dismantling of the Republic by people who are corrupt, ignorant, incompetent, craven, or some combination thereof.
Comments?
The deluge of AI-generated plagiarism and fabrication.
The decline and collapse of corporate journalism.
The dismantling of the Republic by people who are corrupt, ignorant, incompetent, craven, or some combination thereof.
Comments?
December 23, 2025 at 4:10 PM
For Festivus, the current grievances:
The deluge of AI-generated plagiarism and fabrication.
The decline and collapse of corporate journalism.
The dismantling of the Republic by people who are corrupt, ignorant, incompetent, craven, or some combination thereof.
Comments?
The deluge of AI-generated plagiarism and fabrication.
The decline and collapse of corporate journalism.
The dismantling of the Republic by people who are corrupt, ignorant, incompetent, craven, or some combination thereof.
Comments?
I have brought the Festivus pole up from the basement so that in the morning it will be ready for the report of your grievances.
December 23, 2025 at 3:08 AM
I have brought the Festivus pole up from the basement so that in the morning it will be ready for the report of your grievances.
Passed over by Poynter (again!) for Media Personality of the Year.
December 19, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Passed over by Poynter (again!) for Media Personality of the Year.
Reposted by John McIntyre
this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.
December 15, 2025 at 8:18 PM
this is not behavior becoming of a FIFA Peace Prize recipient.
I imagine a group chat in the Beyond in which James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Warren Harding are exchanging texts that begin "Did you see what he said today?"
December 15, 2025 at 4:12 PM
I imagine a group chat in the Beyond in which James Buchanan, Andrew Johnson, and Warren Harding are exchanging texts that begin "Did you see what he said today?"
I don't usually get excited by lexicographers' and linguists' word-of-the-year announcements, but Merriam-Webster's today strikes a chord: "slop," “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”
December 15, 2025 at 4:06 PM
I don't usually get excited by lexicographers' and linguists' word-of-the-year announcements, but Merriam-Webster's today strikes a chord: "slop," “digital content of low quality that is produced usually in quantity by means of artificial intelligence.”
Reposted by John McIntyre
Whatever else it can do, this tech adds work and erodes trust. The extra work is time-wasting and wearying, and I resent the erosion of trust most deeply. I cannot believe it is healthy for society to be ever less sure that anything you encounter is the real thought or expression of a fellow human
I spend so much time verifying everything now from art to cited sources to photos to historical references to citations to quotes to legal and medical information that it's really hard to fathom how much work AI has collectively added to the world, not reduced
Here's the reality this example illustrates:
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
It's not even just about people blindly trusting what ChatGPT tells them. LLMs are poisoning the entire information ecosystem. You can't even necessarily trust that the citations in a published paper are real (or a search engine's descriptions of them).
December 7, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Whatever else it can do, this tech adds work and erodes trust. The extra work is time-wasting and wearying, and I resent the erosion of trust most deeply. I cannot believe it is healthy for society to be ever less sure that anything you encounter is the real thought or expression of a fellow human
I’ve ordered the 18th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style and the 12th Merriam-Webster Collegiate. I will be 75 in two months, and I think they should see me out.
December 6, 2025 at 8:40 PM
I’ve ordered the 18th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style and the 12th Merriam-Webster Collegiate. I will be 75 in two months, and I think they should see me out.
Who ya gonna trust?
Yeah, "the real story"
An essay by Joan Didion in 1968 pointed out a fundamental problem with standard American journalism: "It is a comment on our press conventi...
johnemcintyre.blogspot.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Who ya gonna trust?
Reposted by John McIntyre
“Have Yourself A Merriam Little Christmas”
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
December 2, 2025 at 7:18 PM
“Have Yourself A Merriam Little Christmas”
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
Merriam, a career-oriented lexicographer from the city, returns to her small town for the holidays and meets Webster, a ruggedly handsome librarian, who shows her the true DEFINITION of Christmas.
At the holiday table.
Those holiday meals
I posted this on Thanksgiving morning on social media: I made the mashed potatoes this morning, with cream cheese, Parmesan, and more butte...
johnemcintyre.blogspot.com
November 30, 2025 at 9:21 PM
At the holiday table.
I made the mashed potatoes this morning, with cream cheese, Parmesan, and more butter than you want to know about. Kathleen made corn pudding. The turkey is in the oven and I’ve taken down the smoke detectors. There will be crab cakes and Key lime pie and wine and cursing from the kitchen.
November 27, 2025 at 5:36 PM
I made the mashed potatoes this morning, with cream cheese, Parmesan, and more butter than you want to know about. Kathleen made corn pudding. The turkey is in the oven and I’ve taken down the smoke detectors. There will be crab cakes and Key lime pie and wine and cursing from the kitchen.
What the hell happened to the Republic that there is now a profession called “TikTok influencer”?
November 26, 2025 at 7:52 PM
What the hell happened to the Republic that there is now a profession called “TikTok influencer”?
The flood of messages from retailers all day long leaves me thinking they are sounding a little desperate this year.
November 26, 2025 at 2:42 AM
The flood of messages from retailers all day long leaves me thinking they are sounding a little desperate this year.