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Callahan's June 2000 Bar Rag!"To Callahan's Warmth
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"So here's to all the homes - where we live, where we are welcome, and where
we are loved. To infinite possibilities; may we have the vision to see them all,
the wisdom to choose the best of them, and the strength to believe in the
possibilities we choose, even if we don't think them the best."
******CRASH****** -- Jim (CROWLEY47) A Toast to the Future Hi all.. Well - the saga continues..:) A week ago, after not wanting to talk to us about rooms and events so far away as September, we now find that many St. Louis hotels are booked solid. There is a major auto race in town (actually just over the border in Illinois) on our weekend. Never fear though, our coming Gathering will take place in St. Louis and on the weekend of September 16th as planned! We have a few places we're talking to and hope to arrange those cheaper room rates soon. As of now, we have 19 people signed up to go and 8 more saying they hope they can make it. Six more are saying, "Maybe!" In other news, we're waiting to hear who Cstar is going to designate as her "Bodyguard-Nominee" Brigitte became a Callahan's Goddess and promptly named Rich as her "Bodyguard-Nominee." Rich has departed on a quest to become worthy - but more about that next month! Two more tender appointments are in the works but I'm afraid that will also have to wait..:( Summer's heat is upon us in the USA but I hope all of you around the globe are facing fair weather and good times. Notwithstanding Delphi Demon attacks, you'll read here that things at Callahan's are doing well. Enjoy..:)
And the beat goes on...!
Walt gave us this conference report. Romcritters! The 5/26 TGIF chat was truly an adventure. Cstar opened the room early to get it published. At 9:01 p.m. EDT, just as we were getting started, the entire system crashed. A new room was opened, but some folks found themselves in the original room, which we named The Twilight Zone room. Being always gracious, Cstar paged the people from the Twilight Zone into the TGIF chat - enter the Romcritters! We were joined by Proser, Sabrina, and Michelle, who advised us they were romcritters. Being Callahanians, we naturally had to make up stories about ramfritters and chromefitters. The Romcritters are actually a group of romance writers, approximately 50 in total. They got caught up in great Shutdown and somehow wound up in the Twilight Zone room and then TGIF at Callahan's. Unfortunately, just as we were getting to know the Romcritters, the system crashed again. Join us in our conferences! We have saved you a seat, and your favorite beverage is waiting. If you had a great time in one of our conferences, tell us about it! We want to hear your thoughts! David shared with us this report from the creative writing folder. Creative Writing is thriving at Callahan's. Bikewriter (Dick) shared his fairy tale A Party With the Fairies..., and continued it in The Journey. More Great Lies from Callahan's got revived, and we heard MrsSouth (Helen), Midustouch (Vickie), Southron (Ron), and Vcrumble tell us how they came to Cal's. And Sylphidine promised us hers soon.... how about it, Syphidine? I've been updating my Hiawatha pastiche as the new entries come in. SirWill (Will) gave us pause for thought with An Essay on Dreams. Griddlebone, ubiquitous as always, had LOTS of fun things to share this month. Affairs of the Heart gave us a good look at two perceptions of a marriage, and the difficulties of communication. The Relic: Guardians of the Balance II is the further adventures of our well-loved characters from A Work of Art. Griddlebone was kind enough to warn of sugar content in By the Book ... an entirely unnecessary warning; I loved this story! We were privileged to see more of the writer's internal processes in blathering/thinking out loud which is always fascinating. And over in The Grab Bag, we got a glimpse into a darker vision of loving, in Secrets. We were graced with an all-too-rare story from Weredragon (Bob Hall) in Stretch of Time , an apocalyptic vision of the future which was left "to be continued" ... !!! Bo- Bo! When, please? I wanna know how it ends! Last but far from least, Suemo (Sue) shared her not-so Random Thoughts ; a thoughtful, inspirational piece of writing. This in from Cstar our terrific message board leader! Spider Bytes! The never-ending search for the (discontinued) Callahan's Crosstime Saloon computer game was again brought to the fore this month, when a newcomer, Jon (POWERTOOLMAN), joined us. The latest word seems to be, that a chain called Zellers, in Canada, might just have one copy in the bargain bins of selected stores. Jon's been a regular in chat ever since, stop by to meet him, and he might just treat you to a pint of Smithwicks. Callahan's Key, the newest book from Spider Robinson is scheduled for release on July 5, 2000 in hardcover (ISBN: 0553111639) You can order it from Amazon in advance, or get it from our bookstore shortly after release. Moby found that Spider had posted an excerpt for his bi-monthly Galaxy Online article. Chad (kestrel) has been keeping us updated on the appearance of Spider's Galaxy Online articles. There were three articles in late April, and May, you don't want to miss any of them. Some are new, and some reprints from his Globe & Mail columns. Greylensman (PHOTO11) has begun his long-awaited Tales of the Captain, a series of stories about a real character in his life, his late father. The Captain did things his own way, it seems. Whether it's the Captain catching spiders for the army, or bending his orders in Korea, Grey tells a fascinating tale, and will leave you clamoring for more. Bill Merritt (MERRITT9) shared some favorite stories of the Civil War in honor of National Service & Remembrance month at Callahan's. JP remembered a thread from last year, with a letter written by his great grandfather from that same time period. I hope you went back to read it. *I* hope JP gets a chance to post some more of those historical letters. The I Love You computer virus caused an estimated 8 billion dollars in lost productivity during May of 2000. It wasn't even particularly destructive, just very prolific. What do you think should happen to the virus author? GK (MINDGAMEGK) thinks it should be financial reparations, others think some serious jail time. What do you think should be the penalty for writing and releasing computer viruses? Peter shared this with us. Popular discussion topics during May were numerous. Pewter Pot led the poetic protest against demons and inspired others to write limericks: Prairie Poet challenged us to write a poem about a tornado using words that all begin with the same letter. Notable was the outpouring of poems inspired by the Memorial Day holiday. A sampling includes those by Cortland, Lou, Kathy and various contributions on our ongoing War Poetry thread. Elizabeth Kate gives us this information.
I am pleased to be able to announce Callahan's May contributions to the IBPC!
Take a moment and give these pieces an extra look--they've earned it!
Cortland's
War Dream Stay tuned to Drumroll, please in the Poetry folder for information about contest winners! (And remember, winning poets will be permitted to use the nifty "Poets O'Callahan's" signature image Peter is currently sporting. For more information, check out the official IBPC website. Good luck to each of the finalists! Vicki (MIDUSTOUCH) shared this with us. The General Discussion Board was busy as usual with quite a few threads on the forthcoming Memorial Day. If you ever wondered how the date of May 30th was selected, I imagine that JP’s (JP8) General John Logan’s Orders gave you the answer. Bill Merritt aka Cump (merritt 9) gave us his recollections of Memorial Day in Memorial Day 2000 and he was joined by quite a few of the gang in his reverie. Carol (LADYLAUGHING) shared with us her thoughts on preparing to go march in the rain with a group of Cub Scouts and not minding getting wet. Chad /Kestrel (shear2) took us on a tour of the Virtual Wall. A tribute to those who sacrificed their lives in the Vietnam War. It’s very moving. For those of us unable to visit the actual wall it provided a small glimpse of those who died in foreign fields. What a pleasure to see MaryEdna (Artwork) back posting. She raised the question "If You Had 3 Computers and Your Sick Friend Had None Would You?" in her poll. It was a lot of fun and I think our good friend Peter got the message. It’s nice to know that MaryEdna is on the mend and has regained her sense of humor. (Did she ever lose it?) If the Government is reading Callahan’s I think they have a very clear understanding of our feelings on "Should the Government Institute a Tax on Internet Time? " The answer was a unanimous NO (funny about that!) though the discussion was pretty interesting. Our very good friend Moby (Mobydik) has marked June 23rd as a VID on his Calendar. Not only is it the date of the Old Songs Festival but it’s the start of a journey into a new life for him. In Thinking About Portland Oregon. He told us all of his plans to pull up stakes and move on. It’s amazing who we know that come from Portland! We are all waiting for the continuation of this story. Good luck Moby and don’t forget to wear that beanie! Sex discrimination raised its ugly head and we found out that unfortunately, more than one of our patrons has experienced this. This thread started by Cstar Have You Ever Experienced Sex Discrimination showed some pretty ingenious methods of dealing with it too! Patch Work is still collecting wonderful squares and the quilt is looking beautiful. Some poignant moments were shared and a wonderful tribute paid to the caring of a certain blushing tender. The Mt.St. Helen’s Eruption was remembered by Borderwolf who posted his square on the 20th anniversary of that horrendous event. This was followed by Bob Hall (Weredragon) who gave another perspective on the eruption, after visiting the site and letting us in on the story of the pilot who took those awesome pictures that we all saw on the news. All in all May’s been a great month for human interest stories thanks to all of you for some great reading! Have something you would like to say about our message board? Drop me a line and let us know. Staff Birthday Greetings were heartily extended to:
Ilyana, once again, was the first correct solver of our May Riddle 2000 riddle! Barb and Alton solved it second and third. Congratulations to all! It's a lot easier to create a riddle than to solve one. We're always on the lookout for help with content here so send us your riddle creations today! And see our June 2000 Riddle for your chance to win a Spider Robinson book from our bookstore! A man walked into the ladies department of Macy's, one of the largest department store chains. He shyly walked up to a woman behind the counter and said. "I'd like to buy a bra for my wife." "What type of bra?" asked the clerk. "Type?" inquires the man, "There is more than one type?" "Look Around," said the saleslady, as she showed a sea of bras in every shape, size, color and material. "But actually, even with all of this variety, there are really only three types of bras." Confused, the man asked what were the types. The saleslady replied, "Well, we have the Catholic type, the Salvation Army type, and the Baptist type. Which one do you need?" Still confused the man asked "What's the difference between them?" The lady responded "It's all really quite simple. The Catholic type supports the masses, the Salvation Army type lifts up the fallen, and the Baptist type makes mountains out of mole hills." Poem of the Month - "Since My ISP Dumped Me"
Since my isp dumped me
I've been so lonely baby
how do I know you ask me?
I've been so lonely baby
too may ding dongs baby
how I've been lonely baby
With the greatest of apologies to Elvis -- JP 05/2000 "The secret of making something work in your lives is, first of all, the deep desire to make it work: then the faith and belief that it can work: then to hold that clear definite vision in your consciousness and see it working out step by step, without one thought of doubt or disbelief." -- Eileen Caddy It was another exciting month at Callahans! Thank you for joining us and helping to make this one of the best places there is. If you would like to submit information, just email me. This is your "Bar Rag." Until next month, walk in beauty. We hope you find the Bar Rag entertaining and informative. We can always use good pieces and writers here. If you have something you would like to submit, or have a comment, good or bad, about the newsletter, or if you wish to be added to or removed from our Bar Rag mailing list, simply send us a note. |