As a public service, I'd like to inform you that there will be a Rocky Horror Picture Show Convention in Atlantic City the weekend of September 28.
I'm so tempted to go just to people watch.
CC
who, with Joe-the-Math-Guy, theCSO and a bunch of her college amigos once forced the Rialto theater in Raleigh to impose a limit on the number of rolls of toilet paper one person could bring in after we brought in a dozen rolls apeice. (WalMart had a sale.)
Ah, the halcyon days of my misspent youth.
Showing posts with label Joe-the-Math-Guy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Joe-the-Math-Guy. Show all posts
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Guest Post from Joe-the-Math-Guy
I read up on a few 1st amendment cases on which the Supreme Court has ruled, and I thought I would comment on this free speech thread. I am getting some of the information on these cases from Wikipedia, so feel free to take it with a grain of salt.
The "clear and present danger" language that PG uses apparently comes from the case that fausto referred to: Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919). During World War I, Schenck had distributed literature opposing the military draft to men eligible for the draft. The Federal Government held that this violated the Espionage Act of 1917. The Supreme Court upheld Schenck's criminal conviction unanimously, with Holmes writing the opinion. Holmes' "clear and present danger" standard reads as follows:
"The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent."
The "substantive evil" in this case is obstruction of the recruiting or enlistment service during a time of war. I read through the opinion and could not find a general criterion for determining which things these "substantive evils" are. I may be being somewhat unfair to Holmes and the other justices, but to me the content of this seems to be: your freedom of speech can be curtailed whenever, in the view of the government, your speech would lead to bad results.
I am very sorry for the innocent people who were killed, but in my view the 1st amendment must have more force than that.
__
The Supreme Court's interpretation of the 1st amendment has been considerably liberalized since the Schenck ruling. As far as I can tell, PG's interpretation is indeed the interpretation currently in force, but that is a fairly recent thing. The key here is "imminent lawless action," not "clear and present danger." The key case was Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969).
Clarence Brandenberg was an Ohio KKK leader who had been convicted of advocating violence under an Ohio Criminal Syndicalism statute.
During a KKK rally, Brandenburg had called for "revengeance" against "niggers," "Jews," and those who support them. The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, reversed the conviction. Justices Black and Douglas wrote concurring opinions. The view here was that inflammatory speech could not be punished unless it is directed to inciting and likely to incite imminent lawless action. I think that the "imminent" aspect gets at what PG was referring to when she indicated that the victims have to be concretely specified and available at the time the speech is occurring.
This is just about the most absolutist interpretation of the 1st Amendment I could imagine. I am delighted at the thought that this is not some fantasy of the way our country might be run, or should be run, or maybe somehow someday could be run, but rather simply the rules down on paper for how it is to be run right this minute. Most certainly we should not give this up for a security that surely would be temporary and illusory.
If it is saddening to think that the 1st Amendment protects the likes of Hannity and Coulter, please keep in mind that it might well be the single most substantial piece of legislation protecting you--from them.
Clarence Brandenberg was an Ohio KKK leader who had been convicted of advocating violence under an Ohio Criminal Syndicalism statute.
During a KKK rally, Brandenburg had called for "revengeance" against "niggers," "Jews," and those who support them. The Supreme Court, under Chief Justice Earl Warren, reversed the conviction. Justices Black and Douglas wrote concurring opinions. The view here was that inflammatory speech could not be punished unless it is directed to inciting and likely to incite imminent lawless action. I think that the "imminent" aspect gets at what PG was referring to when she indicated that the victims have to be concretely specified and available at the time the speech is occurring.
This is just about the most absolutist interpretation of the 1st Amendment I could imagine. I am delighted at the thought that this is not some fantasy of the way our country might be run, or should be run, or maybe somehow someday could be run, but rather simply the rules down on paper for how it is to be run right this minute. Most certainly we should not give this up for a security that surely would be temporary and illusory.
If it is saddening to think that the 1st Amendment protects the likes of Hannity and Coulter, please keep in mind that it might well be the single most substantial piece of legislation protecting you--from them.
Joe the Math Guy
(JTMG put this in the comments today and I liked it and asked him if I could make it a guest post. He kindly agreed. He's an old friend of mine and wicked smaht.)
--
___________________________
http://chalicechick.com/
"Friends? Hah. These are my only friends. Grown-up nerds like Gore Vidal. And HE's kissed more boys than I ever will."
--Lisa Simpson
Monday, August 04, 2008
I played this song for Joe-the-Math-Guy and he loved it.
I apologize for the utter crappiness of the picture quality. It's the best that YouTube had.
This is the bootleg version of the video of Bree Sharp's "David Duchovny" that the X-files cast and crew made for Duchovny's birthday. It has a fuckton of celebrites including Alex Trebek, Jeanine Garafalo, Melissa Etheridge and Sarah Michelle Geller. And Kiss.
Trust me, this thing is so awesome it's like sex and a pizza wrapped up in a burrito and served by Mr. T*.
CC
who wants the Chaliceblog to be everybody's source for ridiculous YouTube videos about moody, sexy actors.
*Simile stolen from somebody else. But worth repeating.
Monday, February 20, 2006
CC reads Joe Bageant and goes "meh."
I'm reading the infamous Joe Bageant essay and I'm really underwhelmed.
Robertson Davies wrote that this sort of masochism is a Canadian thing, but I see it in Americans all the time. We never get tired of hearing how stupid, and in this case "inauthentic" we are. I'm sure fans of the essay will tell me that this is my internal dialogue speaking, but I've got my house in the suburbs, and I just don't live the life Bageant describes.
E.g.: When we do "get together with friends," there is little to talk about, other than one form or another of consumption, consuming music, or movies or whatever.
Conversations I've had (offline and in person) with my friends in the last few days.
1. Many, many talks about Margaret.
2. Trying to explain Rothko, and indeed all of abstract expressionism, to some of my friends. Failing.
3. Telling Joe-the-Math-guy about the conclusions Linguist friend came to about the Virgin Mary and consent issues.
4. Talking to Pam's daughter Lisa about the nature of prayer and odd things people pray for and whether God listens.
5. Whether it is a rationalization to say that people who overapply their negative experiences with one race or another and have a loose negative impression that they would never act on, aren't exactly racists.
6. What are the racism implications of dating preferences (e.g. A white guy who only dates white women, vs. a black man who only dates black women vs. a white man who won't date white women vs. a white man who only dates asian women)
7. It's not worth it to date very attractive people. They're not very interesting because they don't have to be and are typically very high-maintenance. true or false?
8. Smoking bans: Does it suck more when the government plays nanny or when inconsiderate people slighly endanger the health of others?
9. The situation in the middle east. Does Israel deserve our support?
And I've been staying with people who live in Laurinburg, North Carolina and watch Fox news!
I'd say that if Joe Bageant feels that he has no community, instead of bitching about the internet, he might want to go hang out with some people and make some friends. I'd suggest that he whine less, though.
I'm sorry, those of us who are going to pay for the air ambulances of guys like that who go off in the woods to commune with nature don't deserve to be insulted.
((Quick semi-related rant:
People who talk about how great it is to live off the land have forgotten what it's like to starve when the crops fail. When Mr. Back-to-nature breaks his leg, my tax dollars and yours will pay for a helicopter to go haul his ass out of the woods. It means that his tent will not leak because if he has any sense he will get camping equipment made of plastic. (For all their tough talk, I don't see most of these people drinking out of a canteen made of an animal bladder.) It means that if he, God forbid, should get some awful disease and shows up in the ER, modern medicine will do it's best to save him and will succeed much of the time. ))
To Bageant's credit, he wants to go live in a really touristy country not owned by America. I don't think he's as cool as he does for wanting to chuck it all and move to a honeymoon destination, and I think showing your objection to capitalism by moving to a monarchy is sort of precious, but hey, at least Queen Elizabeth will be paying his bills, not me. (Somone should really tell him about Great Britan's stand on the war, though. Moving from the USA to a British territory to show you're above such things is just dumb.)
Fifty bucks says his plan to rough it in paradise lasts as long as his Immodium does.
As for the bit about all of us being replaceable now, it's stupid.
If we don't make it, it someone else will. If we don't buy it, someone else will. Some other faceless person will step forward to fill in our place. The same goes for the engineers who created this computer and the same goes for your own job. The machine rolls on. With us or without us.
No more genuine community where people know each other and socialize together and work together exists than a small liberal arts college. St. Andrews is practically a kibbutz. I knew my friend and former professor Margaret very well, but I also understand that my college is going to hire another professor of archeology to take her place.
To look at this more directly, in the "good old days" that Bageant romanticizes, we might have known the guy who packaged our groceries a little better, but people were still replaceable. If the town grocer died in the olden days, his son took over or his wife took over or somebody bought the store. That we are replaceable is a general rule of any economy. Which is why the only people who take a strictly economic view of a way of living are either idiots or trying to make a point while ignoring conflicting facts.
I could go on, but you see my point.
My advice to Bageant would be to build a life he likes and work for a better world right where he is. But he's going to have to quit whining first.
CC
Robertson Davies wrote that this sort of masochism is a Canadian thing, but I see it in Americans all the time. We never get tired of hearing how stupid, and in this case "inauthentic" we are. I'm sure fans of the essay will tell me that this is my internal dialogue speaking, but I've got my house in the suburbs, and I just don't live the life Bageant describes.
E.g.: When we do "get together with friends," there is little to talk about, other than one form or another of consumption, consuming music, or movies or whatever.
Conversations I've had (offline and in person) with my friends in the last few days.
1. Many, many talks about Margaret.
2. Trying to explain Rothko, and indeed all of abstract expressionism, to some of my friends. Failing.
3. Telling Joe-the-Math-guy about the conclusions Linguist friend came to about the Virgin Mary and consent issues.
4. Talking to Pam's daughter Lisa about the nature of prayer and odd things people pray for and whether God listens.
5. Whether it is a rationalization to say that people who overapply their negative experiences with one race or another and have a loose negative impression that they would never act on, aren't exactly racists.
6. What are the racism implications of dating preferences (e.g. A white guy who only dates white women, vs. a black man who only dates black women vs. a white man who won't date white women vs. a white man who only dates asian women)
7. It's not worth it to date very attractive people. They're not very interesting because they don't have to be and are typically very high-maintenance. true or false?
8. Smoking bans: Does it suck more when the government plays nanny or when inconsiderate people slighly endanger the health of others?
9. The situation in the middle east. Does Israel deserve our support?
And I've been staying with people who live in Laurinburg, North Carolina and watch Fox news!
I'd say that if Joe Bageant feels that he has no community, instead of bitching about the internet, he might want to go hang out with some people and make some friends. I'd suggest that he whine less, though.
I'm sorry, those of us who are going to pay for the air ambulances of guys like that who go off in the woods to commune with nature don't deserve to be insulted.
((Quick semi-related rant:
People who talk about how great it is to live off the land have forgotten what it's like to starve when the crops fail. When Mr. Back-to-nature breaks his leg, my tax dollars and yours will pay for a helicopter to go haul his ass out of the woods. It means that his tent will not leak because if he has any sense he will get camping equipment made of plastic. (For all their tough talk, I don't see most of these people drinking out of a canteen made of an animal bladder.) It means that if he, God forbid, should get some awful disease and shows up in the ER, modern medicine will do it's best to save him and will succeed much of the time. ))
To Bageant's credit, he wants to go live in a really touristy country not owned by America. I don't think he's as cool as he does for wanting to chuck it all and move to a honeymoon destination, and I think showing your objection to capitalism by moving to a monarchy is sort of precious, but hey, at least Queen Elizabeth will be paying his bills, not me. (Somone should really tell him about Great Britan's stand on the war, though. Moving from the USA to a British territory to show you're above such things is just dumb.)
Fifty bucks says his plan to rough it in paradise lasts as long as his Immodium does.
As for the bit about all of us being replaceable now, it's stupid.
If we don't make it, it someone else will. If we don't buy it, someone else will. Some other faceless person will step forward to fill in our place. The same goes for the engineers who created this computer and the same goes for your own job. The machine rolls on. With us or without us.
No more genuine community where people know each other and socialize together and work together exists than a small liberal arts college. St. Andrews is practically a kibbutz. I knew my friend and former professor Margaret very well, but I also understand that my college is going to hire another professor of archeology to take her place.
To look at this more directly, in the "good old days" that Bageant romanticizes, we might have known the guy who packaged our groceries a little better, but people were still replaceable. If the town grocer died in the olden days, his son took over or his wife took over or somebody bought the store. That we are replaceable is a general rule of any economy. Which is why the only people who take a strictly economic view of a way of living are either idiots or trying to make a point while ignoring conflicting facts.
I could go on, but you see my point.
My advice to Bageant would be to build a life he likes and work for a better world right where he is. But he's going to have to quit whining first.
CC
Friday, February 10, 2006
CC is sad today
Professor Margaret Houston, known on this blog as Margaret-who-loves-pots, died of cancer yesterday morning.
I don't know most of the people who read TheChaliceblog, but I'm pretty sure that just about all of you would have loved Margaret.
She was warm and tough and vivacious and funny and I loved her very much.
She and our friend Joe the Math guy and I spent an entire summer driving up to the city once a week to see "Star Wars:Episode One" in the theater with good sound. I don't even like Star Wars that much, I just really liked them. Joe and I were talking the other day about how it was one of the best summers either of us ever had.
One time, I wanted to set Joe up with my friend Gwen here in DC. Margaret, Joe and I met her at a museum. The theory was that Margaret and I would slip off and leave Joe and Gwen to walk around together, but Margaret had such amazing things to say about the museum exhibits that Gwen forgot about Joe entirely and spent the entire day following Margaret around.
Margaret certainly didn't intend to bogart the attention of Joe's potential date, she was just full of information and delighted to be sharing it, the way she always was.
The summer of Star Wars, I also went on digs with her to a local archeological site. My troweling was apparently sub-par, so my job was to sit there and amuse Margaret. I told her funny stories and she lectured me on what she was looking for. I talked and she talked and she heard weird stories about my screwed up childhood and she said useful things and I heard stories about her wild times in Mexico digging pots in graduate school and I said admiring things. Good times.
Margaret's sister told me the other day that Margaret lived for her students. I had to think about that one for a minute. She probably did, but she never let us know it. Margaret just seemed to always be having such a fabulous time that it never occurred to me to wonder what sacrifices she might be making. Teaching, digging pots and running the little roadside museum of local Indian Culture made Margaret happy, so that's what she did.
She was a really cool person.
CC
I don't know most of the people who read TheChaliceblog, but I'm pretty sure that just about all of you would have loved Margaret.
She was warm and tough and vivacious and funny and I loved her very much.
She and our friend Joe the Math guy and I spent an entire summer driving up to the city once a week to see "Star Wars:Episode One" in the theater with good sound. I don't even like Star Wars that much, I just really liked them. Joe and I were talking the other day about how it was one of the best summers either of us ever had.
One time, I wanted to set Joe up with my friend Gwen here in DC. Margaret, Joe and I met her at a museum. The theory was that Margaret and I would slip off and leave Joe and Gwen to walk around together, but Margaret had such amazing things to say about the museum exhibits that Gwen forgot about Joe entirely and spent the entire day following Margaret around.
Margaret certainly didn't intend to bogart the attention of Joe's potential date, she was just full of information and delighted to be sharing it, the way she always was.
The summer of Star Wars, I also went on digs with her to a local archeological site. My troweling was apparently sub-par, so my job was to sit there and amuse Margaret. I told her funny stories and she lectured me on what she was looking for. I talked and she talked and she heard weird stories about my screwed up childhood and she said useful things and I heard stories about her wild times in Mexico digging pots in graduate school and I said admiring things. Good times.
Margaret's sister told me the other day that Margaret lived for her students. I had to think about that one for a minute. She probably did, but she never let us know it. Margaret just seemed to always be having such a fabulous time that it never occurred to me to wonder what sacrifices she might be making. Teaching, digging pots and running the little roadside museum of local Indian Culture made Margaret happy, so that's what she did.
She was a really cool person.
CC
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Funny Post
CC had the following phone conversation about five minutes ago:
CC: Hey, Joe, Pam says she has the jacket you left when you were visiting the hospice.
Joe-the-Math-Guy: Oh really? That's good to know.
CC: Yeah, she will bring it to you tomorrow. She picked it up because she thought it was mine. I called because I figured you might be worried about it. It is such a great jacket.
Joe: I wasn't worried, really, maybe mildly concerned.
CC: Either way, whatever level of concerned you were, I wanted to allay that.
Joe: Well, thank you for a layin' me.
(Mother of all awkward silences.)
CC: Should I cook you breakfast now?
Joe: Say "hi" to your husband for me.
And we rang off.
CC: Hey, Joe, Pam says she has the jacket you left when you were visiting the hospice.
Joe-the-Math-Guy: Oh really? That's good to know.
CC: Yeah, she will bring it to you tomorrow. She picked it up because she thought it was mine. I called because I figured you might be worried about it. It is such a great jacket.
Joe: I wasn't worried, really, maybe mildly concerned.
CC: Either way, whatever level of concerned you were, I wanted to allay that.
Joe: Well, thank you for a layin' me.
(Mother of all awkward silences.)
CC: Should I cook you breakfast now?
Joe: Say "hi" to your husband for me.
And we rang off.
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
A Chaliceblog glossary
Terms used on The ChaliceBlog and what they mean:
Caligula's CC's nickname for her favorite sushi buffet.
CC's basement-Where she keeps her harem of smart guys. CC has a guy friend with a very jealous girlfriend. As CC is married and thus is unlikely to be trying to steal said guy friend away, CC surmises that his girlfriend believes CC is trying to assemble a harem of smart guys for her basement. Celebrities invited to hang out in CC's basement include Johnny Depp and Malcom Gladwell. Here's where the joke got started. If you follow that link bear in mind that I was really mad when I wrote it.
Choad Chode /chohd/ also spelled "Choad"
Pretty much an all-purpose dirty word at this point, Chode comes from Indian vernacular for "to fuck." Probably got here by way of the UK.
CC learned it from a gay guy named Ryan she went to college with, who said it was specifically the very sensitive area of muscle between scrotum and anus, though lots of people think it is a word for a short, yet wide, penis.
Coorious Sarcamstance Mispelling of "a curious circumstance" that indicates the way the rural characters in Laurie King's fine novel The Moor pronounce it. CC just likes it.
CSO, the-CC's Husband, the ChaliceSignificantOther. He was just her boyfriend when she started calling herself ChaliceChick and his nickname has stuck. CC is always bugging him to write blog posts.
Ephron, Nora An untalented screenwriter of some renown. Discussed first here.
Epilonius TheCSO's best friend, a frequent poster to the Chaliceblog. Used to call himself Psyton.
Fugly -F'n Ugly
FuglyChalice, the The new symbol for the UUA. See commentary here.
FuglyCouch, The -A hideous couch The ChaliceParents left in the house when they moved out after we bought their house. We'd feel bad giving it to Goodwill just yet, but we don't like it. (Update: Has now been returned to the ChaliceMom. We have a much cooler couch now.)
Grissom The mystery-solving, scientist hottie on CSI. CC has it bad for him. (Though she much preferred him without the beard.) He's troubled. Mmmm... Troubled.
Katy-the-Wise-CC's favorite UU minister. She now lives hundreds of miles from CC, but CC sometimes still calls her for freelance pastoral counseling.
LinguistFriend One of CC's guy friends and occiasional contributor to the Chaliceblog He's a laryngeal physiology professor who also has a PhD in Linguistics from an institution beloved by UUs. He sometimes guest blogs. Sorry girls, there's a future Mrs. Linguist friend.
Mmm... Troubled... Expression of lust for male television characters who are very caught up in their work yet obviously somewhat disturbed by a deeper current of psychological turmoil. CC finds this hot. (Examples: Fox Mulder, Gil Grissom, and "House") CC has it especially bad for detectives. No, not Monk, thanks for asking.
Naff off, A Britishy way to say "screw you." CC picked it up from Princess Anne.
Other assorted people with and without nicknames Jennifer Beautiful, ZombieKid, Our-Hero-Charlie-the-Brave, My-smart-friend-Pam, Jana-who-Creates, Joe-the-Math-Guy, etc are CC's friends. I tend to name my friends after something cool or memorable about them. Blogging friends are referred to by their handle. Regaular friends who become blogging friends usually end up using their nickname as a handle for the purposes of the ChaliceBlog. CC's family members are usually referred to as "the ChaliceMom," etc. The nicknames proctect anonymity and remind everyone that what you read about them comes totally from my own perspective.
Sabina Fallacy, the a system of misguided thinking held by an Obvious Future Victim who is dating/marrying someone who treats others badly that allows the Obvious Future Victim to believe that though schnookums may have behaved badly in the past, he/she would NEVER treat OFV this way.
(e.g.“Well, yeah, she got her last boyfriend arrested for stalking, then sat outside his dorm room for two hours so he couldn’t leave without violating the restraining order*, but she wouldn’t do that to me. Things between US are different.”)
Smeghead CC and her friends' preferrred insult when they were small children. If you don't know what it means, you probably don't want to.
Sucketh Mightily, You the official insult of the Chaliceblog. I just started using it one day and it has stuck.
That Goddamned Island - CC's plan to buy an island and convince all her friends to move there. Discussed in detail here.
"Von Harnack" -- CC frequently names video game characters and the like after German theologian Adolf Von Harnack He was a really cool guy and it is meant as a tribute.
If you see something/someone else who needs an entry here, shoot me an email at Chalicechick at gmail dot com and I will add it.
CC
*The Sabina Fallacy is named after a real person who actually did this.
Caligula's CC's nickname for her favorite sushi buffet.
CC's basement-Where she keeps her harem of smart guys. CC has a guy friend with a very jealous girlfriend. As CC is married and thus is unlikely to be trying to steal said guy friend away, CC surmises that his girlfriend believes CC is trying to assemble a harem of smart guys for her basement. Celebrities invited to hang out in CC's basement include Johnny Depp and Malcom Gladwell. Here's where the joke got started. If you follow that link bear in mind that I was really mad when I wrote it.
Choad Chode /chohd/ also spelled "Choad"
Pretty much an all-purpose dirty word at this point, Chode comes from Indian vernacular for "to fuck." Probably got here by way of the UK.
CC learned it from a gay guy named Ryan she went to college with, who said it was specifically the very sensitive area of muscle between scrotum and anus, though lots of people think it is a word for a short, yet wide, penis.
Coorious Sarcamstance Mispelling of "a curious circumstance" that indicates the way the rural characters in Laurie King's fine novel The Moor pronounce it. CC just likes it.
CSO, the-CC's Husband, the ChaliceSignificantOther. He was just her boyfriend when she started calling herself ChaliceChick and his nickname has stuck. CC is always bugging him to write blog posts.
Ephron, Nora An untalented screenwriter of some renown. Discussed first here.
Epilonius TheCSO's best friend, a frequent poster to the Chaliceblog. Used to call himself Psyton.
Fugly -F'n Ugly
FuglyChalice, the The new symbol for the UUA. See commentary here.
FuglyCouch, The -A hideous couch The ChaliceParents left in the house when they moved out after we bought their house. We'd feel bad giving it to Goodwill just yet, but we don't like it. (Update: Has now been returned to the ChaliceMom. We have a much cooler couch now.)
Grissom The mystery-solving, scientist hottie on CSI. CC has it bad for him. (Though she much preferred him without the beard.) He's troubled. Mmmm... Troubled.
Katy-the-Wise-CC's favorite UU minister. She now lives hundreds of miles from CC, but CC sometimes still calls her for freelance pastoral counseling.
LinguistFriend One of CC's guy friends and occiasional contributor to the Chaliceblog He's a laryngeal physiology professor who also has a PhD in Linguistics from an institution beloved by UUs. He sometimes guest blogs. Sorry girls, there's a future Mrs. Linguist friend.
Mmm... Troubled... Expression of lust for male television characters who are very caught up in their work yet obviously somewhat disturbed by a deeper current of psychological turmoil. CC finds this hot. (Examples: Fox Mulder, Gil Grissom, and "House") CC has it especially bad for detectives. No, not Monk, thanks for asking.
Naff off, A Britishy way to say "screw you." CC picked it up from Princess Anne.
Other assorted people with and without nicknames Jennifer Beautiful, ZombieKid, Our-Hero-Charlie-the-Brave, My-smart-friend-Pam, Jana-who-Creates, Joe-the-Math-Guy, etc are CC's friends. I tend to name my friends after something cool or memorable about them. Blogging friends are referred to by their handle. Regaular friends who become blogging friends usually end up using their nickname as a handle for the purposes of the ChaliceBlog. CC's family members are usually referred to as "the ChaliceMom," etc. The nicknames proctect anonymity and remind everyone that what you read about them comes totally from my own perspective.
Sabina Fallacy, the a system of misguided thinking held by an Obvious Future Victim who is dating/marrying someone who treats others badly that allows the Obvious Future Victim to believe that though schnookums may have behaved badly in the past, he/she would NEVER treat OFV this way.
(e.g.“Well, yeah, she got her last boyfriend arrested for stalking, then sat outside his dorm room for two hours so he couldn’t leave without violating the restraining order*, but she wouldn’t do that to me. Things between US are different.”)
Smeghead CC and her friends' preferrred insult when they were small children. If you don't know what it means, you probably don't want to.
Sucketh Mightily, You the official insult of the Chaliceblog. I just started using it one day and it has stuck.
That Goddamned Island - CC's plan to buy an island and convince all her friends to move there. Discussed in detail here.
"Von Harnack" -- CC frequently names video game characters and the like after German theologian Adolf Von Harnack He was a really cool guy and it is meant as a tribute.
If you see something/someone else who needs an entry here, shoot me an email at Chalicechick at gmail dot com and I will add it.
CC
*The Sabina Fallacy is named after a real person who actually did this.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
Curse my smart and interesting friends.
CC has a bad habit of befriending and bloquaintancing professors and ministers.
Never does she feel this more deeply than late spring. Right now, Ministrare readies himself for rest. CC’s linguist friend is planning a road trip to LA. CC’s smart friend Pam is in Florida. Joe the mathematician has seen the star wars movie innumerable times, and Margaret-who-knows-about-pots is no doubt off to Mexico soon. Peacebang’s biggest complaint is that when she goes to Italy to drink gelato every day, she has to pay extra as to not share a hotel room.
Meanwhile, CC called 120 (literally) lobbyists today, trying to persuade them to attend a function for a certain New England congressman who can’t seem to keep himself out of the newspaper.
Right up until the June 30th FEC deadline, she will be throwing fundraisers and working her tail off trying to get promised campaign contributions in. After that, there’s fundraisers for everybody who decided to put off their fundraisers until right before summer recess.
Duing summer recess, we update the database (the least fun work we do all year) and prepare for fall, when, historically, every client we have decides to throw a major fundraiser in the middle two weeks of September.
Not that being a professor or minister isn’t hard work. It is. Probably way harder than planning parties.
But still, y’all suck.
CC
Never does she feel this more deeply than late spring. Right now, Ministrare readies himself for rest. CC’s linguist friend is planning a road trip to LA. CC’s smart friend Pam is in Florida. Joe the mathematician has seen the star wars movie innumerable times, and Margaret-who-knows-about-pots is no doubt off to Mexico soon. Peacebang’s biggest complaint is that when she goes to Italy to drink gelato every day, she has to pay extra as to not share a hotel room.
Meanwhile, CC called 120 (literally) lobbyists today, trying to persuade them to attend a function for a certain New England congressman who can’t seem to keep himself out of the newspaper.
Right up until the June 30th FEC deadline, she will be throwing fundraisers and working her tail off trying to get promised campaign contributions in. After that, there’s fundraisers for everybody who decided to put off their fundraisers until right before summer recess.
Duing summer recess, we update the database (the least fun work we do all year) and prepare for fall, when, historically, every client we have decides to throw a major fundraiser in the middle two weeks of September.
Not that being a professor or minister isn’t hard work. It is. Probably way harder than planning parties.
But still, y’all suck.
CC
Wednesday, May 04, 2005
17 things about the ChaliceWedding
Various people have been decrying the bigass modern wedding. Well, the CSO and I just did one November 27 and we had the time of our lives. Here’s how it went:
1. The ceremony was held, after some debate on the issue, at the
ChaliceParents' church, a gorgeous gothic Cathedral right outside
Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. Having a humanist wedding in a
Presbyterian church took a bit of doing, but we managed it.
2. Katy-the-Wise officiated, naturally.
3. Katy couldn't fly in until the day of due to preparations for the Conference on the Free Church, so CC ran the rehearsal
herself. Thanks to her trusty copy of "Miss Manners on Weddings," she
only had to say "Has anybody ever been to a wedding before? How does
THIS happen?" once.
4. The script of the ceremony is below. Instead of flowers, the
Bridesmaids carried candles because CC had observed in a Presbyterian
Christmas Eve service as a child that people carrying fire look like
they are doing serious business and she wanted her bridesmaids to have
this look.
5. Less than an hour before the ceremony, CC was barefoot and in jeans
setting up place cards for the reception. She had to be marched
upstairs by the photographer to dress, but the ceremony still started
on time.
5a. The CSO had instructed the photographer to feel free to get pictures of CC changing into her wedding gown. A picture of CC holding the gown up to cover her breasts with a “Wouldn’t it be awful if someone THREW ME IN THE POOL? Please don’t THROW ME IN THE POOL? AH! This big handsome guy is THROWING ME IN THE POOL! I’m going to get my WHITE T-SHIRT WET!” sort of expression of lusty mock consternation made for the best bride picture, though for some reason the ChaliceMom prefers the one of CC in the church with the stained glass windows behind her.
6. CC carried a large bunch of white roses purchased at Costco the day
of the wedding. We're not a floral couple, the CSO and me.
7. The maid of honor carried a big candelabra because she thought it
would look cool. But she hadn't carried it in the rehearsal, so the
bridesmaid who took it when CC handed off the bouquet didn't know how
heavy it was and nearly fell over when the maid of honor handed it to
her. No wedding photos caught this, but the maid of honor swears it
was hilarious.
8. There were five bridesmaids because CC has lots of important people
in her life. There were five groomsmen because the CSO does too. CC
bought a bazillion yards of ice blue silk Dupioni and mailed it out
to the bridesmaids, who each had a dress made that looked good on
them.
9. CC bought ice blue and indigo crystal necklaces made by a friend
for all of the bridesmaids and herself, but had a fight with the
friend a month before the wedding and didn't wear hers in the
ceremony. How very mature.
10. Katy-the-wise sent CC a huge list of ceremony elements with some
12 introductions, 10 sets of vows, etc. CC and the CSO picked what
they liked and got it approved by Katy. No one else saw the ceremony
before the wedding.
11. The readings were selected by the people who read them, though Joe
asked for a list of suggestions and Don ended up writing his.
12. Seven ministers were invited, three attended.
13. Though CC was escorted down the aisle by her father, both parents
of both bride and groom blessed the union. Nobody got given away.
14. The organist was a music librarian from the library of congress
and kicked complete ass.
15. At the reception, guests ate salmon and chicken, CC and the CSO east coast swung to Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E,” CC and the ChaliceDad Viennese Waltzed to “Tales from the Vienna Wood,” there were toasts and a cake-cutting and CC tossed the bouquet. CC had seated two of her high school teachers with her current co-workers and her boss told her later that the teachers had mentioned that they were a bit disappointed that the unconventional CC had taken such a traditional approach to getting married. That CC just wanted to show that the Chalicefamily could do one rite of passage like normal people will not be surprise to anyone who has been reading this blog for longer than, oh, the last two posts.
16. The reception was winter-themed. The room was decorated in Ice blue and indigo and the cake was shaped like an iceberg and had little wooden penguins on it, with a penguin bride and groom at the top who were wearing little paperclip glasses. The cake was only enough for 25 and we had a variety of types of cake in addition. The CSO painted the penguins himself as they were actually owls made of gourds.
17. Instead of Jordan Almonds, CC and the CSO had a pair of Alpaca Mittens at every place setting for favors. CC got a deal on them online and in the weeks leading up to the wedding greatly enjoyed complaining that her wedding favors were held up in Brazil.
1. The ceremony was held, after some debate on the issue, at the
ChaliceParents' church, a gorgeous gothic Cathedral right outside
Dupont Circle in Washington, DC. Having a humanist wedding in a
Presbyterian church took a bit of doing, but we managed it.
2. Katy-the-Wise officiated, naturally.
3. Katy couldn't fly in until the day of due to preparations for the Conference on the Free Church, so CC ran the rehearsal
herself. Thanks to her trusty copy of "Miss Manners on Weddings," she
only had to say "Has anybody ever been to a wedding before? How does
THIS happen?" once.
4. The script of the ceremony is below. Instead of flowers, the
Bridesmaids carried candles because CC had observed in a Presbyterian
Christmas Eve service as a child that people carrying fire look like
they are doing serious business and she wanted her bridesmaids to have
this look.
5. Less than an hour before the ceremony, CC was barefoot and in jeans
setting up place cards for the reception. She had to be marched
upstairs by the photographer to dress, but the ceremony still started
on time.
5a. The CSO had instructed the photographer to feel free to get pictures of CC changing into her wedding gown. A picture of CC holding the gown up to cover her breasts with a “Wouldn’t it be awful if someone THREW ME IN THE POOL? Please don’t THROW ME IN THE POOL? AH! This big handsome guy is THROWING ME IN THE POOL! I’m going to get my WHITE T-SHIRT WET!” sort of expression of lusty mock consternation made for the best bride picture, though for some reason the ChaliceMom prefers the one of CC in the church with the stained glass windows behind her.
6. CC carried a large bunch of white roses purchased at Costco the day
of the wedding. We're not a floral couple, the CSO and me.
7. The maid of honor carried a big candelabra because she thought it
would look cool. But she hadn't carried it in the rehearsal, so the
bridesmaid who took it when CC handed off the bouquet didn't know how
heavy it was and nearly fell over when the maid of honor handed it to
her. No wedding photos caught this, but the maid of honor swears it
was hilarious.
8. There were five bridesmaids because CC has lots of important people
in her life. There were five groomsmen because the CSO does too. CC
bought a bazillion yards of ice blue silk Dupioni and mailed it out
to the bridesmaids, who each had a dress made that looked good on
them.
9. CC bought ice blue and indigo crystal necklaces made by a friend
for all of the bridesmaids and herself, but had a fight with the
friend a month before the wedding and didn't wear hers in the
ceremony. How very mature.
10. Katy-the-wise sent CC a huge list of ceremony elements with some
12 introductions, 10 sets of vows, etc. CC and the CSO picked what
they liked and got it approved by Katy. No one else saw the ceremony
before the wedding.
11. The readings were selected by the people who read them, though Joe
asked for a list of suggestions and Don ended up writing his.
12. Seven ministers were invited, three attended.
13. Though CC was escorted down the aisle by her father, both parents
of both bride and groom blessed the union. Nobody got given away.
14. The organist was a music librarian from the library of congress
and kicked complete ass.
15. At the reception, guests ate salmon and chicken, CC and the CSO east coast swung to Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E,” CC and the ChaliceDad Viennese Waltzed to “Tales from the Vienna Wood,” there were toasts and a cake-cutting and CC tossed the bouquet. CC had seated two of her high school teachers with her current co-workers and her boss told her later that the teachers had mentioned that they were a bit disappointed that the unconventional CC had taken such a traditional approach to getting married. That CC just wanted to show that the Chalicefamily could do one rite of passage like normal people will not be surprise to anyone who has been reading this blog for longer than, oh, the last two posts.
16. The reception was winter-themed. The room was decorated in Ice blue and indigo and the cake was shaped like an iceberg and had little wooden penguins on it, with a penguin bride and groom at the top who were wearing little paperclip glasses. The cake was only enough for 25 and we had a variety of types of cake in addition. The CSO painted the penguins himself as they were actually owls made of gourds.
17. Instead of Jordan Almonds, CC and the CSO had a pair of Alpaca Mittens at every place setting for favors. CC got a deal on them online and in the weeks leading up to the wedding greatly enjoyed complaining that her wedding favors were held up in Brazil.
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