I Love it When Newspapers Record History

UPDATE: I've now been told this is a fake. Which is a shame. But it was still fun to read.

Found this on Facebook today, and it's a treasure.

It's the movie prop that keeps on giving. A lot of work went into it -- for something that was onscreen for about a second (okay about five seconds), in an era where very few people had the option to stop, rewind, and freeze frame.

If you look closely, the copy along with the headline "Ghost Fever Grips New York" is extracted from some dull article on the economy.

Looking at the second headline, "EPA Try to Shut Down Local Ghost Disposal Business," you get treated to an actual article featuring quotes from Walter Peck and others in the film.

The first few paragraphs:

Citing unsafe practices and potential toxic accumulation, the Environmental Protection Agency shut down a small ghost-entrapment operation in downtown Manhattan today, and had four of the business spectral entertainment specialists arrested in the process.

According to EPA agent Walter Peck, employees of the company – located in an old fire station in the Tribeca neighborhood of New York – had repeatedly refused to grant him access to their storage facility, which posed a health hazard to the surrounding community.

“The facility in question unlawfully used public utilities for the purpose of non-sanctioned waste-handling and was in direct violation of the Environmental Protection Act,” Peck said.

“Additionally, the company powered several unlicensed portable nuclear accelerators that were flagrantly discharged within mere feet of citizens.”

It goes on to quote Consolidated Edison technician Brian Holmes, so this guy has a name:

There's also this little gem, which has a guess that isn't far off from their actual box office of $282 million.

This really is the gift that keeps on giving.

And lest you think they left anything out, behold the story's final paragraph:

At press time, representatives from the firm were meeting with New York Mayor Lenny Cloch to discuss the growing spectral plague, despite fierce protests from Agent Peck. The talks have reportedly not proceeded beyond an animated debate over whether or not Peck has a p****.
 

"They Expect Results"

So I'm close to being back to full-time work at the full-time job.

Still working at home thanks to King Corona, but it's been busy. Most everyone else, if I'm not mistaken, is back at the office, leaving a few of us still on the outskirts. That means projects that were forsaken for a while are now hot commodities, and all at once.

I'm trying not to complain. After all, this is what I signed up for with that full-time job with good pay and benefits.

Still, it's like Dean Yeager has paid that visit and I'm being tossed out.



Or tossed back in, as it were.

And it's fine. I mean, I'm contributing. Doing valuable work and all that. Feeling better since the weekend. I think.

Michelle and Lexie spent the last 2 1/2 days at the council Trail to Eagle merit badge scramble at Krupp Scout Hollow. Lexie and Sam worked on Eagle-required merit badges while Michelle did whatever it is Scout leaders do at events like this when the Scouts are occupied. They worked on three merit badges, which is a good thing -- Personal Management, Personal Fitness, and something or other else. Emergency Preparedness and/or Citizenship in the Nation.

The boys and I stayed home. I may as well have stayed home alone, as the boys weren't worth the powder to blow them up. If any dishes got done this week, it was because I did them.

And oh my gosh I am laughing at the camping episode of Bob's Burgers:

Ten Years As A Ghostbuster

Come the end of the month, it’ll be ten years I’ve worked at the RWMC.

I’m not sure why that feels like an accomplishment. It’s probably because it’s a nice, round number that looks good when you type it.

All that doesn’t matter. I’m just glad I’ve got a job that I like and that pays the bills.

I have to admit part of why I like it is that it’s the public sector. Well, a public/private hybrid. Nevertheless . . .

Not that this job hasn’t expected results. To the contrary – it’s expected a lot of results. But different kind of results than what was required of me in ten years of journalism. Churning out those results, I do NOT miss.

(Also, I’m amazed at how much Ghostbusters sums up my working life.)

So, what have I accomplished in the past ten years?

1.      We moved from Sugar City to Ammon. Don’t know what that proves, but as we’re still able to make a mortgage payment, that’s got to count for something.

2.      I earned a masters degree in English with an emphasis in technical writing, and did not have to go into debt to do it.

3.      Michelle earned that same degree, and we did not have to go into debt to do it. And she got better grades than I did.

4.      We both now teach part-time at BYU-Idaho, which has helped fill in the cracks in our growing budgetary needs. Last year, I earned $18,000 teaching, which is about the same amount I earned the first year as a journalist.

5.      We’ve got three kids who are semi-normal.

6.      I’m actually writing and editing novels, rather than just talking about doing so.

Overall, I’m seeing some improvement in the last ten years. I don’t know how much of this would have occurred had I remained in journalism, but I think I have an inkling:

There have been times, working in this industry, that I’ve felt out of my league. But I also found ways I could contribute and help these intelligent folks get the job done.

Life, as they say, is good. Here’s to another ten years.

A Steady Paycheck . . .

I’m beginning to feel like Winstone Zeddimore from “Ghostbusters” when he said “As long as there’s a steady paycheck, I’ll believe anything you say,” when Janine rattles of the long list of oddball things he might or might not believe (astral projection, the Loch Ness Monster and the theory of Atlantis, et al).

Layoff day at RWMC. Our document control specialist bought the farm, leaving us now without document control support or word processing support at RWMC. And maybe that’s partially our fault – they saw how we handled being without a word processor for so long they figure we can now post our own documents and rely on other doc control folks for the tasks we can’t perform. Laying off tech writers is only just around the corner. I have GOT to find a new job before September.

I put feelers out. Not lots of feelers – I suppose I’ve still got my head buried in the sand to some point on this matter – but some. High hopes that the Space Dynamics Laboratory down in Logan will call me for an interview and then offer me a job and then keep the headcount and money on their books but transfer the work to another unit so I still get paid but I’m not allowed to do work.

And while I’m at it, I may as well get my novel published and then flap my arms and fly to the moon.

And, thankfully, there are comics I can use to illustrate this situation.

Other things causing stress at the moment, if you care to listen:

• Must find new health insurance by June 28. Current provider wants more money per month than what we’re paying for the home mortgage
• Behind in grading for FDENG 101. Have done some today. Need to do much, much more
• Dog is still an ankle-biting little weasel. Terrorized the daughter while playing backyard baseball yesterday
• Still fat
• But not grossly so, in case potential health insurers are reading this
• Cows got out during the last Super Bowl
• Lots of little, tiny dog poops in the back yard
• Need to replace deck, concrete under deck, house siding, kitchen, brake pads, brake lining, and a little wiring. Good thing the house only cost $4,800
• Also shocks
• Out of Twinkies, even the big ones
• Reliant too much on movie quotes from the 1980s
• Far too old to squish pinecones and pineapples together any more

Uncharted Heads to Columbia

It’s a place with an impressive pedigree. It’s a home to Nobel laureates Theodore Roosevelt, Milton Freedman and Enrico Fermi; admitted spies Whittaker Chambers and Harry Dexter White; the moguls Warren Buffet and David O. Selznick. It brought us Isaac Asimov, author of I, Robot, and Paul Gallico, author of The Poseidon Adventure. It brought us the likes of Upton Sinclair and Art Garfunkel, William “The Princess Bride” Goldman and Benjamin “Not that Spock” Spock. And, in 1984, it brought the world a shushing, ghostly librarian and Drs. Egon Spangler, Ray Stantz and Peter Venkman, who has PhDs in psychology and parapsychology.

It’s New York City’s storied Columbia University. And this Monday, Uncharted’s own Alan Murray, our benevolent founder and despot, will walk the same granite stairways and gaze upon the same verdant greenswards as these famous folk.

He is, despite his eastern upbringing – he’s a Pennsylvania native – a little flummoxed. “I’m hoping they all think I'm the CEO of Uncharted the video game,” he says. “That way, maybe more than 30 people will show up, only to be disappointed to find out I am a bum.”

The “they” of whom he speaks are high school students and their advisors; the “what” is the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s annual fall conference where, this year, presenters representing the fields of digital media, media law, newspaper and magazine journalism, photography, social media and Internet production and others will offer 98 presentations to students hoping to improve their skills in communication and make their high school and private school publications the envy of the universe.

Alan is one of those to whom the students will flock to partake of wisdom. On Monday, Nov. 2, he’ll present on “Geo-Social Media for an Uncharted Era.” He’ll focus on how students (and business) can communicate more effectively and work as teams to save money and time producing web publications. A full description of Alan’s presentation is available here.

“I’m really excited to be teaching this fall,” Alan says. “I spent most of my high school years attending conferences like this one. These events aren't possible without the many qualified professionals who donate their talent and time to make the event a success. It's nice to be able to do what others did for me when I was a student.”

The conference is among the most venerable student journalism conferences held in the United States. It’s sponsored by the Columbia Scholastic Press Association, which was founded in 1925 and formed to “unite student editors and faculty advisers working with them to produce student newspapers, magazines, yearbooks and online media,” according to the association’s Web site. (The online stuff, obviously, came a bit later than 1925.) Students form all over the United States and from overseas attend the conference as part of the education in communications, journalism, web production, photography, and writing.

Other presenters this year will teach students how to write effective editorials, take prize-winning photos, produce video for Internet delivery, explore the ins and outs of how social media can help them strengthen their publications and, from Alan, learn how to use inexpensive or free digital tools to enhance their publicaton’s presence on the web.

We at Uncharted, obviously, wish Alan the best of luck. And Alan, if you see any ghosts, be sure to follow Dr. Stantz’ advice: