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Callahan's February 2002 Bar Rag!

"To Callahan's Warmth
Wherever You May Be!"

In this issue:

Opening Toast - Manager's Corner
Website News - Conference News - Board News
Birthdays/Calliversaries
Joke - Pun - Poem - Pun
Closing Quote - Editor's Note -


Opening Toast

In light of the new year, if I may, I would like to raise a toast:

To all Things Past that remain in our memories,
and To all the Good Things the future may bring.

*crash*

- Joy Geiger January 5, 2002


Manager's Corner

Hi all..

Well.. January has come and gone.. and too fast. Still, there is a ton of material in this month's Bar Rag - we were very active both on the board and in conference which often happens when winter descends upon North America.. There is so much in here this month that we may have to start editing the Bar Rag again soon. I hope you enjoy it..:)


While the U.S. response to September 11th continued to dominate (or seemed to to me) our board discussions, we did manage to investigate "Snow Cultures" a bit - and choose the dates for Gathering 2002.

It will be held from July 3 through July 8th, 2002 at either Seattle, Washington or Victoria, British Columbia. The place will be decided RSN (real soon now.) I'm already looking forward to it and am trying to schedule vacation time. Please do so your own selves, too..:)


And finally, we regret that we must cancel our Valentine's Day Poetry contest this year. We look forward to resuming our annual Poetry contest in September.

Lou                


Website News

We discovered three Poems About Callahans in the archives this month - and added them to our site.

Cattwoman's poem, True Friends, mentions many early patrons by name. Lou met CattWoman at the Gathering in Sarasota, Florida.

Angel's poem, My Friends, was the second ever written about chatting here at Callahans and was post number 3733! Angel, as many of you know, preceded me as Manager here.

Finally, the third poem I had emailed to myself when it was posted and somehow lost track of it. Routine housekeeping turned it up..:) It's by Tim, is entitled With You, and was posted here last July.


Conference News

From Sandra:

Wow! What an interesting night in chat tonight! [Ed note: January 3, 2002] We had lots of new visitors who have either just found Delphi or who are actually experiencing their first time online. To start off our evening JJ, Kate and I gave our new friend Byron some tips on how to carefully navigate the web. We may have possibly confused him, too, but shouldn't everyone be in a state of confusion when they first start out? LOL

Throughout the night, we had many other new visitors including Ladycrow, Huehuetenang, Egosum, KenM, Meaning2000, Leather, and Mike76 who's been around Delphi for a while but decided to [finally!] check out Cals.

Cstar, talking about her cozy jammies, robe and slippers, inspired all of us to get comfortable. Uncle Scooby put on his Jolly Green Giant robe and educated us on the origin and makings of grits. There was quite a list of folks who don't have any jammies, but you know I don't like to kiss and tell :)

Carol (Ladylaughing) stopped by and managed to get Therm to confess to drowning his pet rock in a river. He claims that he thought it could swim. Therm did the appropriate thing and buried his deceased pet rock in his backyard. Carol donned a black shawl out of respect for the solemnity of the moment.

Listening to stories about Dixie climbing frozen fences at 3:00 am to make sure that her horses were doing well in the rare frosty southern weather seemed to make Brigitte even more chilly, so we stoked up the fire for her. Shane, being quite the gentleman, provided Brig with a pillow for her footsies.

Tim stopped in for a while and dazzled us with his creative drink making abilities. And that invisible apron is just... wow! Mommamackie made it in too... then out... then in... then out... then... well, you get the picture. Welcome back Momma and thank you for your persistence. We enjoyed spending time with you again.

Just before I left chat for the evening, I had one very important question for Tad that just needed an answer... what was up with the "Mute" name?! The answer that followed had me in stitches, though Dixie and Therm, having lived through it, didn't seem as amused as I was. It tickled me to think of someone sitting there speaking in motions instead of words...quite creative Tad.

My thanks to everyone! It was a fun night..:)


From Silky:

Whee! What a busy night! [December 29, 2001] New folks... Moochas... Desirable... Stabled.... OHO2... Free2play... waynesworld... At least they were new to me. Lots of coming and going. And some terrible puns...

I jumped in to help the twin (Cane)tend, since it got kinda crowded in there after a bit.


From Tim:

Tad was guest tender tonight [December 27, 2001], and he was a riot. After searching fruitlessly for various drinks, he provided Dixie a glass full of pepper, Carol a glass full of dirt, and various other unlikely pints. (I snuck in and got a glass of hot lard with a hair in it, being unwilling to wait for him to find the proper ingredients.)

Eventually Tad found the Miller Genuine Draught, and from that point on he greeted every patron with the words "Welcome to this and that at Callahan's! What kind of Miller Genuine Draught do you wanna drink?"

Also attendant for the silliness: KapnKate, Shane, JP8, FISHNUT, Parinton, SHELLYPU2, and probably a few others whose names I misremember or have forgotten. :(

All in all, it was a fun time, with plenty of silliness to go around..:)


From Ron:

Punday tonight was, to say the least, unusual. There was a decent crowd by about 7:45p.m. (9:45 eastern), so things got off to a slow start. JJ, Kate, Therm, Shane, Robmagus, Scooby, Darlene, Wild, Dream, Mommamackie, Brig, and several others were there, with Delhpi booting indiscriminately. I was a victim at one point, and others had a lot of trouble staying at times as well.

There were some terrible one-liners committed by the usual offender (Therm), as well as contributions from several others. Therm won by default, since by 8:30p.m. (10:30 eastern) there were 3 of us left, and the other person was an innocent bystander. Not to diminish Therm's efforts, but he *was* the only choice :)

Kate had some good ones, including one about picking up a couple less than a dozen morays (I think), tossing a couple and being "Kapn and the ten eels." She also observed that the evening seemed to be going down the drain :)

Scooby rocked the boat a little and asked if we had noticed his " CAPS SIZE." Darlene sneezed and asked for an anchor chief.

And Therm... well he came up with "Did you hear about the Inuit who went out in his kayak and lit a fire in it to stay warm? It sank, just proving that you can't have your kayak and heat it too"

BTW, for any that didn't catch the topic as it floated by, we had a nautical theme tonight <g>


Message Board News

From bits:

Words with snow

Carol (LADYLAUGHING) posed the question "Just how many things can we find that either begin or end with the word snow?" The punning soon ensued. Walt (WWW3) perpetrated this line on us: "Snow business like show business." This shameless pun, "Snow use--I can't think of a thing!" was posted by Greymaus (GREYMAUS1). And, apparently, bones (BONES_10) "snows a pun when he sees one." Not all of the responses were puns, though most remained lighthearted. Carol gave us " snow on the rooftop" and Dave (FLATBUSHSKP) broadcast to the crowd "All I get on the TV is snow."

Susannah (SUAYRES1) offered "snow-storm" and described one memorable snow storm that had pink lightning! CATLAUGHING, a true child of snowy climes answered the question with "January." Katie (CATKATIE1) lamented that Ohio was the only state where you could experience all four seasons in a month. Serenity Sue (SUEMO) reminded us "To be politically correct let us not forget snow women." Gwenhwyvar(PUNSTERGAL) showed her scientific side with "acid snow (acid precipitation in the form of snow) and corn snow (granular snow formed by alternate thawing and freezing.)"

Lastly, we offer a warm welcome, despite the topic, to Jill (AIRPLANE2002), who was stopped by Cat’s response.

Tim (BRUNOTIM)started Hibernation Mode with this question: "Am I the only person who gets serious about laying in provisions during the winter time? I mean, geeze... I live in California, in a place that hasn't had snow in twelve years!" Check out the discussion to find out who else is a pack rat, and who else deals snow.

Silky (SILKY_43701), started a snowball fight that went on for over 60 posts! "Silky stares, somewhat morosely out the window, at all that white stuff fallin out of the sky. Oh well....only one thing to do with all this snow... <VBEG>!! " Did she miss anyone?

Walt (WWW3) informed us that It's Snowing in Virginia "I've been waiting for five hours now and it's finally snowing! It started out so agonizingly slow - an occasional white pellet so small and fine I had to look twice to make sure I saw it. Very gradually it picked up in speed and quantity. It's coming down steadily now - not a blizzard by any means, just a good solid snowfall. Absolutely silent. It's not melting when it touches down." Amazingly enough, despite Cstar’s intervention, a few folks hijacked this thread and started building sand castles! Shame on EK, Beach Blanket Brigitte, Boo Boo Bob and Bits!

In Snow Play Bits asked the question; "What do people do for fun when it’s snowing?" These folks like to stay inside: Sandra (DEMONRED), Greymaus, Peter (PHDESMOND), Tim (BRUNOTIM), Elizabeth Kate (ELIZABETHKAT), Sandy (MISSS), Cstar (CSTAR1), Carol (LADYLAUGHING), CANEGURU, IVORILUV, Bob (BOOBOOBOB.)

While these folks like to actually go out and play in the snow: GIRLZOOT, ALOUZON, Snowgod (KERRY726).

CATLAUGHING liked the idea of building snow sculptures and Serenity Sue (SUEMO) related this memory: "Once upon a time in a decade far, far away it was Christmas time in Illinois. A man and his wife ventured North from Missouri with their grade school aged youngsters to visit Grandpa Jack and Grandma Betty. The most wonderful snowstorm fell on Christmas Eve. The entire family bundled up against the 0 degree temperatures and the wind after dark that evening and went sledding down the hill on the street where the Grandparents lived. Even the sixty-year-old grandparents sledded. It was a wonderful moment in time filled with total joy and happiness for all involved."

Here’s an incomplete list of some of the other snowy discussions:

Snowmen? Are they bigger in Texas? Started by Carol.

Snow etiquette started by CATLAUGHING

Snow! Started by Cstar

Brrr started by Caneguru (check out the snowman in Cane’s first post!)

Cold Weather Creatures started by Cstar

Lou wanted to know if you could feel the numbing cold when you read "Call of the Wild" in this Brrr thread.


And another report from bits, this one on some of the discussion surrounding Hobbits, Middle Earth, and Tolkien:

There have been several Tolkien related discussions over the last couple of months, beginning with I'm So Excited!! which discusses The Lord of the Rings movie that came out in December 2001.

There was the Songbirdie-Premiere dilemma: "I know this married couple up in Canada who are both huge fans of Tolkien and are Very Excited about the movie. The husband's company had something do to with an on-line trivia contest relating to 'Lord of the Rings.' The company got three tickets to hand out and He (the husband) got ONE ticket to the Toronto premier of the Movie for TONIGHT! Just ONE. The director is supposed to be there, maybe some of the actors... it's a Red Carpet kind of Premiere. A full 5 DAYS before the national release date! When I was up visiting them last week, the wife was offering $400 Canadian to one of the other employees to give up his ticket. And I think she was offering other things to the husband that I can't say here (or this'll get moved to the Grab Bag!) in exchange for HIS ticket! If one goes without the other, it could be a real problem. What a dilemma! This could really be a test of their marriage!

Dave (FLATBUSHSKP): The movie was FABULOUS. I found the movie matched my expectations for a couple of the locations. The kids sat through it without a problem. When it was over they could not believe we were there for 3 hours. There are some minor story changes and some things that were left out for time. The special effects were first rate and the acting well done. The changes don't ruin the story so just go with them and enjoy your visit to Middle Earth.

Mitzi (MTPROCT): We saw it and thought that it was really great. My son has seen it twice so far. BTW, I never read the books, but I may now.

AELITH: I saw it today! it is just so wonderful. It was very clever of them to draw on the famous illustrations for the famous locals so every thing looked as expected - familiar. The story really flowed. But that was part of Tolkin's gift. Just can't rave enough.

ALOUZON: I was thrilled with how much they stuck to the dialogue and language of the book. Even if all scenes could not be included due to time restraints and moving the plot, key discussions still took place. The casting is WONDERFUL. I would not have recast any of the actors differently. I am NOT a Liv Tyler fan and I thought she was good. The reshaping of the plot to include more female presence on screen was rather well done (poor Glorfindel gets the boot again!), and the only thing I found intrusive about the Arwen-Aragorn love story was the fact that it slowed down the fast pace of the movie (it was quite accurate if you've ever read the appendix in the back of the book). I love the soundtrack (purchased it right after I saw the film). Sometimes the music was overpowering in an overly-dramatic way, but I liked it nonetheless. My main beef was with the ending of the film. Frodo does not tell everyone that he is leaving (in the book), but considering how people (who have not read the novel) may have reacted when the rest of the Fellowship go after Merry and Pippin instead of the Ring-Bearer, it made good sense. The movie was long, but it had to be in order to get all the relevant information into the plot. Luckily I have heard that the next two will be a little shorter. I have also heard that the story-telling coup of the novel, the second last chapter will not be included. Too bad, but also understandable. Maybe it will be on the DVD version for the hardcore fans. If I were to rate this film on a scale of 1-10, it would be 1,000,000. I never want to see another movie again! (except for the next two parts, but I will consider it one film, just as the three novels are really one book) Peter Jackson is God.

ALOUZON asked for help finding information about Tolkien & allegory. Here are snippets from some of the responses:

Boadecia (_RHIANNON) It seems to me that "the bomb", the V2 and Buzz bomb attacks on England and all the other war technologies that sprang out of WWII horrified Tolkein. Tolkein believed in the virtue of simple, technologically limited societies (i.e. the Shire) and shunned the idea of "technocracy."

The grey pilgrim (0LORIN) "Tolkien Lecturer in a Pinch" I don't think Tolkien changed very much during this time. His " formative war-years" were around 1916 in WWI, where he fought at the Battle of the Somme. the Hobbit was a story meant for his children (although he later regretted the "talking down" to children he employed in the novel.) The LOTRs was produced over 15 years at the request of the publisher of the Hobbit (they wanted a sequel). Tolkien, however, for the 20 years up until that point, had been very busy with the creation of his linguistically inspired mythology (of which the LOTRs is a small part.) The Hobbit had little intrusions of this backstory, but Tolkien got utterly sucked into it which he was writing LOTRs. Since this mythology was broad, serious, and often terrible and tragic, LOTRs assumed this nature, and one can even see the stylistic inconsistencies in the novel stemming from this (noted also by the author.)

CGeorge (CGQ3) I think the individual races represented something too. The Elves, like the Ents, represented the death of old beliefs, the end of a purity from living with the land, like American Indians. Their contrast is the Men of Rhonan and Gondor, who fight to make themselves known, and are proud of who they are. Proud, to a fault. The Dwarves represent companies who take in harmony from the land. Their contrast is Sauron, who forces what exists into his own versions. (the Nazgul, the orcs, the trolls, etc.) The hobbits have no contrast I can see. However, they, to me, represent just about the best of what Tolkin believed of humans.

Dave (FLATBUSHSKP), aka Gandalf the Grey, found a fun LoTR test. Visit the thread to find the test and who other Callahanians would be if they were characters in LoTR:

Tim (BRUNOTIM) posted a LOL spoof of LoTR in the LoTR for Short Attention Spans thread. (http://forums.delphiforums.com/callahan/messages?msg=20402.1)

ALOUZON posted another spoof, Felonship of the Ring (http://forums.delphiforums.com/callahan/messages?msg=20328.1)


Birthdays Last Month

Birthday Greetings were heartily extended to:

Texican   TEXICAN   January 03
Barry   TRAINMAN11   January 03
Dan   DANCULBERSON   January 07
MiLady   MILADYDONNA   January 09
Ilyana   ILYANA1   January 12
Marci   MARCI2001   January 12
Dennis   GRIBBON   January 14
Will   SIRWILL   January 14
Cane   CANEGURU   January 20
Carrie   CARRIEO   January 22
Cameron   HHMCAMERON   January 24
Debby   BATMOM   January 24
Ginger   MMERMELSTEIN   January 25
Patt   MIST4   January 25
Richard   LOSTINMICH   January 28
Shari   SHARI127   January 30

Calliversaries Last Month

Elizabeth Kate
ELIZABETHKAT
  January 03, 1999
Dawn SHAMEAA   January 04, 1999
Kathy (Cham) WEBMASTERTIP   January 08, 1995
Jester OXNARD   January 10, 2001
Walt WWW3   January 10, 1999
Hendo HENDO4   January 13, 2000
Edie EDIEJAMES   January 16, 2000
K'Gale KNIGHTINGALE   January 17, 1999
Arlen BURROSE   January 18, 2001
Crystal WHITERAVEN   January 18, 2000
Trigger HARLZ   January 18, 2001
Crimson KISSING   January 18, 1999
Bob Hall WEREDRAGON   January 19, 1999
Judy JUDYCLEM   January 20, 1999
Chris LARDARON   January 21, 1995
Rainbow REVIEWER1   January 21, 2001
Brigitte SPROCKIES   January 24, 1995
Wolf BORDERWOLF   January 25, 2000
Maeve MICHELE859   January 25, 2000
KATSINABAG   January 26, 2001
James JW_CADLE   January 28, 2000
Mallie MALLIE11   January 29, 2001
Rozalyn ROZALYN   January 29, 1998

Joke of The Month

A man asked a nun if she was allowed to smoke.

"No," she replied, "one habit is enough."

- Lou January 9, 2001


Pun of the Month

An elephant got too close to all the baby ducks the circus had brought in for Easter, and accidentally inhaled a bunch of them. The poor elephant was choking on them and no one could help.

Finally the trainer goosed him, and the elephant blew out a whole trunk full of downy feathers.

Yep! That's what he gets for snorting quack.

- Larry Adams January 7, 2002


Poem of the Month - "I Like the Me I am with You."
A love villanelle.

Whatever changes we go through,
you help me be the best I can;
I like the me I am with you.

You show me, constantly, a true
and equal partner. We can plan,
whatever changes. We'll go through.

You mirror me; I see you view
me, good and bad, one whole loved man.
I like the me I am through you.

You give myself to me; renew
my trust that who we are will span
whatever changes we go through.

You make me feel I don't have to
pretend to be a better man;
I like me as I am, with you.

The people who are 'us' -- we two
had constancy since we began.
Whatever changes, we go through.
I like me, as I am with you.

- David Brewer Christmas 2001
For his beloved wife Elizabeth Kate


Closing Quote

The only time prayers are never answered is on the golf course.

- Billy Graham


Editor's Note

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, simply send us a note.

If you wish to receive the Bar Rag each month via email, simply send us a note Your email address will not be made visible to others who receive the Bar Rag. The Bar rag will, of course, continue to be available on our Web site..:) And a reminder: we urge everyone to use our website as a gateway into Callahans on Delphi Forums. You will find prominent links to our (Delphi) Message Board and Conference rooms there but also if we ever have technical trouble at Delphi, we can easily let you know and redirect you to a backup site if the trouble is truly serious. And besides - our website itself is special..:)

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