I can’t let the weekend go without recognizing the passing of Mark Felt, a.k.a. “Deep Throat,” the former FBI associate director who exposed Richard Nixon’s hijinks and in so doing drove Nixon from office. What an incredibly brave step that was, though his true motives might never be known.
Happy winter solstice!
Today is the winter solstice, the official start of winter and the darkest day of the year. From now until mid-summer the day will get longer.
No lack of rain this year
What a difference a year makes. Today our back yard is saturated – the steady rains we’ve had recently have dumped so much water on us that it has nowhere to go. We had a small stream in our backyard after last night’s rain.
Contrast this with how things looked last year, when we were in the midst of a serious drought and Falls Lake stood ten feet below normal. It was Christmas 2007 when Falls Lake fell to its lowest point ever.
The big difference was the month of September [PDF], when we got almost five inches more of rain than normal! That actually turned our rain deficit from Jan 2007 into a surplus of almost 2 inches! November and December should push the totals up even more.
There are still other parts of the state still suffering from drought, particularly the mountain areas. I hope they get some good snow in the coming winter months.
Dear recruiters
Voiceovers
Yet another caller to Chez MT.Net has remarked that my voice is worthy of voiceover work. Now that I truly have some Copious Free Time, I may finally dust off my USB microphone and create a demo CD for mailing out to local media.
Part of my inspiration came from reading Phil Hartman’s bio on Wikipedia. Phil believed his best work was his voice work.
Heh. Looks like I’ve been talking about this for five years now. Guess it’s time to put up or shut up, eh?
WSJ story runs – without my interview
Dadgummit. The Wall Street Journal article about being jobless at Christmas ran two days ago without any of my interview being used.
Ah, well. Its still a good read, even if it won’t help my job search after all. Maybe I need to learn how to be a more colorful interviewee?
As far as the issues the article raises, I admit to confronting them, too. At the time of my interview, I told the reporter I thought Christmas would be largely the same. Since that call, I’ve discovered that I see the holidays as more of an obstacle rather than something to celebrate. It’s tough not to blame the holidays for the lack of phone calls: “if only the hiring managers were in the office I’d already be employed.”
If as a kid I thought the wait for Christmas day was excruciatingly long, now the wait for Christmas to be over feels just as long. Sad, isn’t it?
China’s blue water navy
The Beeb says China’s navy will patrol the coast of Africa to combat the rampant piracy there. This is quite a departure from the Chinese navy’s tendency to stay close to its home shores. It will be an important test of China’s ambitions to build a blue water navy.
It will be not only an education for Chinese sailors but also for the other navies already patrolling the area, providing them a glimpse of China’s long-range naval capabilities. It will certainly be interesting to watch.
More on the Police Protective Fund
I did some more poking around the Police Protective Fund and discovered more.
The state of Missouri tipped me off that the “charity” is incorporated here in North Carolina, of all places, and lists a corporate services company on Hillsborough Street as its registered agent.
Its also licensed charity number SL000978 in North Carolina, with a number of documents available online from the North Carolina Secretary of State’s website.
I found the Filing Amendment dated 22 August 2008 to be notable. PPF’s law firm states PPF does not use professional solicitors or fundraising counsels in the state of North Carolina. Yet I have been unable to determine any presence the firm may have in North Carolina. So the question remains as to why did I receive a call from a Charlotte-area telephone number? Is PPF falsifying the CallerID of its solicitation calls?
I’m embarrassed that this charity exists in North Carolina. There is more digging to be done here, to be sure.
A mange in a wager . . .
Christmas is next week and I was just comfortably standing outside wearing shorts. Ah, North Carolina winters are so unpredictable.
(Title means nothing other than the songs of the season eventually run together in my head)
Phil Hartman
I was going through the special features of our Netflix rental How the Grinch Stole Christmas and up popped Phil Hartman, in full Troy McClure mode.
What a talent he was.