Callahan's October 1998 Bar Rag!

"Olga Garba Kapotky!"

In this issue:

Opening Toast - Manager's Corner - Website News - Conference News - Message Board News - Birthdays - Joke - Riddlers - Poem - Pun - Closing Quote - Editor's Note - Joining Callahan's

Opening Toast

To the end of summer warmth and to the coolth of fall..:)

*****SMASH*****

-- Lou

Manager's Corner

Our second annual poetry contest is closed and we await the judge's decision. It has been a somewhat frustrating month for me. We have had a *lot* of wonderful poetry posted and I felt compelled to NOT comment while the contest was underway. It feels good to be able to say just how wonderful some of our poetry is - and I'll start doing so again tomorrow.

As we start the final quarter of the year, we need to remember that the holiday season is upon us. While this is a time of joy for most of us, there are those among us who find little joy in the holidays. We must find ways to bring joy to our friends - not only during the next few weeks and months - but year round.

There are many ways to help, and I hope everyone reading this will take the time to post some ideas on our board. If we have enough ideas, we may organize them and create a pages or series of pages designed to help those among us who can use some help. A Resources Page, if you will - with phone numbers and web sites - and with ideas on how to fight the blues, or otherwise find happiness.

Let's put teeth into the notion of sharing joy! I await your response..:)

Lou

Website News

Our website now has more than 250 pages! In fact, it is so large, we need help maintaining it. Our first new website assistant is Ken DRANGD who will be adding to and maintaining our Games topic area - which includes Riddles. Please congratulate and thank Ken for his continuing and expanding service to the Callahan's community..:)

Conference News

Come one, come all to our annual Masqued Halloween Party! Try to figure out who is whom..:) (No fair using conference tools!) Join us for a great conference time - October 31, 1998 starting at 9:00 pm eastern.

Message Board News

Boy, was our Political Activism topic hot this month! With all the goings on in Washington, everyone was talking about "America's World Image" and "Clinton's Testimony" and his "World Image", too. There were very many opinions offered, but in true Callahanian fashion, disagreement did not lead to flaming!

"Illegal Sex" was a busy topic, too. Not ony did we get several definitions, it seems that Heidi, Mitzi, Mia, Dan and Sally have decided to make a party of it in their jail cell... They'll all be nekkid (under their clothes) while drinking tequila shots w/lime and salt... Oh yeah -- and Lou may be videotaping the whole thing. It should be quite the canasta (or was that pinochle? LOL!) game!

We were still working on our definitions in "What is Love?" Not only love, but hate and apathy also came up. But I think JayWilson put it best: "John Lennon was correct: 'Love is all you need.'"

Jay also gave us another sentence to punctuate correctly. Selena was the smartie! She came back with: John, where Mary had had "had", had had "had had". "Had had" had had the teacher's approval. Whew!

Avox posted our 30,000th message (by accident, no less!), which had the consequence of breaking rissatoo's and Nick's hearts.

We talked about "Gasoline Prices", and one thing I think we all can (and did) agree on is: We all wish they would go down! Nick got us talking about "Realism in the Movies." He wondered about the dinosaurs in 'Lost World' and 'Jurassic Park', but the discussion quickly turned to 'Saving Private Ryan'.

Gavin ARAQUAEL shared 'A Day' with us that brought many readers directly to Ireland.. a well written and moving chronicle..:)

Heidi shared with us a wonderful interview with her mom. And we discussed the generation gap in "Boomers Beware." Do YOU remember eating McDonald's Big Macs from styrofoam containers??

Roxy is back (Hooray!) and she gave us the next installment of "Roxy's Rambling's" Book VI, Issue 1. If you aren't familiar with Roxy, we have a page devoted to her with her past ramblings... See for yourself!

September was poetry contest month. "Politics and Society" was the theme. We had numerous entries from patrons new and old. And a lot of non-contest poetry was posted, too. Poems were offered by: Bardabard (Bardone), Squint, Cortland, Kathy, Queen of Illusions (TrinaJ), Diane36, Marywood, Kelly (TinasMom), Debra Grace, Camera225, Tasty, Walkerjoe, Roy Morrison, DarkEyes, jae whitlock, Alan, Bobette Bryan, Janie, Loca17, PurpleFirebrand, Mark, Eve, MyriadMoon, Stormdanced and Count Drakulya. Tough work for Peter PHDESMOND, the contest judge.

Birthdays This Month

Birthday Greetings were heartily extended to:

Riddlers of The Month

The first three correct solvers of rissatoo's August 1998 Riddle were Cathy Genge, Rissabriane and Elaine (from the Web.) Congratulations to all.

The first three solvers of our September 1998 Riddle were Sue Smith, Jim Crowley and Darren (from the Web.) Cathy and Sue's book prizes have been sent.

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 October 1998 Riddle for your chance to win a Spider Robinson book from our bookstore!

Joke of The Month

Today's Stock Market Report

Helium was up, feathers were down. Paper was stationary.
Fluorescent tubing was dimmed in light trading.
Knives were up sharply.
Cows steered into a bull market. Pencils lost a few points.
Hiking equipment was trailing.
Elevators rose, while escalators continued their slow decline.
Weights were up in heavy trading.
Light switches were off.
Mining equipment hit rock bottom. Diapers remain unchanged.
Shipping lines stayed at an even keel.
The market for raisins dried up.
Coca Cola fizzled.
Caterpillar stock inched up a bit.
Sun peaked at midday.
Balloon prices were inflated.
Scott Tissue touched a new bottom.

And batteries exploded in an attempt to recharge the market...

-- Rissa RISSABRIANE - 9/16/98

Poem of the Month - Untitled

there are cells of quiet
clinging here and there,
forming ever larger cohesions,
like inexplicables, grown
from spark sprung embryos.
she keeps them in hiding places,
untold, those little stories
in the making, jostling
their infant hands and feet
gently through the ebb and flow.
she often ponders her condition
and wonders what they will be,
formed so piecemeal of the quiet;
yet it is nature, and her patience,
that nurtures their perfection,
so she waits to urge them forward
when they are ready to be told.

-- Janie Bowman 9/26/98

Pun of the Month

In response to another post:

It's good you're putting into a text document, because I went to a computer store and couldn't find it in the software or games in the recreational section; there's no Pun Nintendo.

-- Peter PHDESMOND Post 28807

Closing Quote

Oseh shalom bimromov, hu yaaseh shalom, oleynu, v'al kol ha'olam, v'imru omayn.

May the father of peace send peace to us and to all the world, and so say we, amen.

-- Cortland - 9/18/98 on the eve of the funeral of a close friend.

Joining Callahan's

Joining Delphi is easy and FREE. The easiest way is to click on My Delphi and you'll automatically be sent to the registration screen. Then you can post on our message boards and join in our conferences.

Membership is absolutely FREE!!! No gimmicks!!! Come visit us!!!

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, please send your email to me. If you wish to be added to or removed from our Bar Rag mailing list, please send a note to Lou.

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