INDEX OF CHANTICLEER CALLS TOPICS, 1999-2003
From 1999 into 2003, I published 34 issues of an online collection of observations, homilies, and lessons learned I called Chanticleer Calls. The name was inspired by Thoreau’s self-aware mission statement in his book Walden:
I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up.
Mar 24, 2003 (#34)
- Frying Spam “Honey, which channel is the war on?
- Installing Democracy (Version 2.x)
- Perspicuous Perspective Ensuring Everlasting Life (at least among the living)
- General Semantics Miscellany
- One Moyer Thing …
Dec 23, 2002 (#33)
- NOT FOR SALE
Nov 19, 2002 (#32)
- CLARIFICATION: The Role of “Rolls”
- COLLOQUIUM REPORT: The Role of Roles (Dr. Albert Ellis and the Levinson’s)
- LITTLE ROCK, LITTLE MINDS (5 Rolls!)
- A WORD ABOUT GENERAL SEMANTICS: Identification
- A POLITICAL PARADOX
- PERSONAL UPDATE … Regarding those voting machine creatures
- SELF-CONFESSIONAL: My Roll of Roles
- COMPLETING THE HAND: A Roll of Rolls
- SIGNIFICANT LOSSES – Allen Walker Read and Chris Sheldon
- FEATURED LINKS AND NEWS
Oct 8, 2002 (#31)
- Hemingway on Great Writers and Crap Detectors
- Used Cars, Oklahoma Ocean-Front Property, and LASIK Eye Surgery
- Dick Armey is not Pulling Your Leg-ey
- A Word About General Semantics: EVALUATE
- A Jew and a Palestinian Co-exist on a Non-Verbal Level
- “Ya (don’t) Gotta Have Heart”
- Mum’s NOT the Word
- Signs Seen Along the Road
- Quotes I Didn’t Make Up
- Featured Links
Sep 4, 2002 (#30)
- General Semantics in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram
- How Do You Use Language?
- A Word about General Semantics: Limits
- Charlotte Read’s NY Times Obituary: In Synch with Safire
- News Bits
- Some Dates and Etc.
- Featured Links
Aug 5, 2002 (#29)
- Announcing … The DFW Center for General Semantics Report from the Institute’s Seminar-Workshop at Alverno College
- International Conference on General Semantics Planned (2003)
- A Chance Encounter; A Media Opportunity
- Charlotte Schuchardt Read, 1909 – 2002
- A Word about General Semantics
- News Bits
Jun 1, 2001 (#28)
- RUE ‘DA RULES! ‘Reserved’ Seats – How to almost spoil Graduation
- Jeffords’ Choice – What’s the big deal?
- Hair Do Rules! – A consistent standard?
- Father’s Day – BIG(amist) TIME – Doing time for the ‘crime’
- Whites, Coloreds, and a Greyhound – Remembering the 1961 Freedom Riders
- “Want fries with that? May I see your passport?” – Bad karma at McDonald’s
- Afghan (non-verbal) Labels – “The Big Lie” revisited
- Pick One, But Not Both [expletive deleted] – A compound (only) expletive
- United Way Aids Gays – Applying consistent criteria
- Rue ‘da Rules – Advocating fewer ‘rules’, more ‘exceptions’
April 24, 2001 (#27)
- Cut the crap, choose the cheese … – Recommending Who Moved My Cheese?
- Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elfs Agin) – How many different ‘selves’ do we have? How many do we allow?
- Singing to the beat of a familiar drummer – A tale of a bloke who became much more than what he ‘was’
- Lease terms – Learning how to measure things differently
March 25, 2001 (#26)
- SEEING “IRONY”: Seeing – Chanticleer now sees the world through Vaseline-colored glasses
- “Irony” – Real life example of a dictionary definition
- Weather Observations – Can you watch the weather without being in the weather?
February 25, 2001 (#25)
- Since this past week was “Grammy Week” (or, “Grammy Weak”, depending on your musical perspective), Chanticleer crows to the beat about music, relativity, and attitudes.
- “Irony Rules” – Observations on the awards show
- “Always … Patsy Cline” – Reviewing the Cowtown crowd
- Eminem and Elton, Eminem and Frank – A bum rap? A Perspective
February 1, 2001 (#24)
- Update on North Central Re-striping – A six-week job, nineteen weeks later
- “Straight From the Heart” – “The Girl and the Match” gets circulated
- What He Said – Tales from Singledom, regarding: Chocolat; What “DELETE” means; Close Encounters of the Rented Kind
January 1, 2001 (#23)
- WHAT I’VE LEARNED – Chanticleer relates some lessons from 2000
November 8, 2000 (#22)
- “TOO CLOSE TO CALL” – Post-election, pre-results observations
- UPDATE: un nombre, Hombre? – The results of the political nom de plume transformation of Mr. (I mean, Señor Tomas Eduardo Wesson
- ‘NSYNC, ‘NSCREAM! – Chanticleer confesses to an addiction, and to a ‘therapy’
- (UNPUBLISHED) LETTER TO THE EDITOR – Chanticleer shares a much-too-long-to-be-published letter to the editor dealing with “Dancing on Graves”, Wagner in Israel, and “Holy Land”, “Holy Killing”, “Holy Cow”
- AND FINALLY – “Economy Class Syndrome”
- But You Thought
October 22, 2000 (#21)
- Regarding various matters of discriminating, and non-discriminating, behavior Idiot, Idiot, Who’s the Idiot? – When not to call the police
- What’s in an un nombre, Hombre? – Are voters really this dumb?
- Cheerleader Update – the latest on administrative tyranny
- More Rules, More Spirit? – learn sportsmanship from the LPGA
- Ban ’em, Dano! – So much to object to, so little time: No Oz in Kansas: No “picnic” in New York; No potato in Connecticut; No t-shirt at Notre Dame
- AND FINALLY – Two hilarious email notices this week
- But You Thought
October 8, 2000 (#20)
- Regarding “lines” … Restriping North Central Expressway – $134,000 of lines
- Rah-rah, Sis-Boom Beer! – Two of the most affluent high schools in the Dallas-Fort Worth area suffer consequences of suds
- “Hugs” – One word, but two very different experiences observed at the Cedar Rapids airport
- Rain! Finally! – But not so fast, Barometer Breath
- … And Finally – More on “lines” …
August 27, 2000 (#19)
- Chanticleer relates what he’s experienced and thought about during an unplanned ‘vacation’
- Impressions from Israel – from
- Jerusalem, Yad Vashem, and Gethsemane Seen and Heard – A collection of observations and comments
- Condoms To Go – What you won’t hear in this store
- AT&T – The customer service battle begins
- And Finally – Comments following the Little League World Series … what does our language reflect, and what does it perpetuate?
June 18, 2000 (#18)
- Chanticleer retreats from “protection” and sheepishly discusses lessons ‘learned’ …
- Learning and Knowing is NOT Doing – Limping out of middle age
- History, Geography … Whatever – How important is knowing the difference really?
- You Say Verbatim, I Say Verboten – Is rote recitation right?
- Disregarding What We Already Know – 60 years later, this quote is still spot-on Completing a Thought – Six months later, a scene makes sense Fading Away … – Must cultures and societies “shed to grow”?
- And Finally – Following up on Internet child protection
June 5, 2000 (#17)
- Chanticleer sticks his neck out to say a few words on the subject of “protection” …
- Bird Brains – Humans looking out for birds
- Protecting Libraries from Cyber-Porn – Are filters the answer?
- Protecting Lockney from Drugs One parent stands alone for a principle and his son
- Standardized Tests – The Texas TAAS tests answers questions … but are they the right questions?
- Protecting European-Americans from “massive discrimination”
- David Duke is at it again
- And Finally – Dealing with the KKK on the symbol level in St. Louis
May 14, 2000 (#16)
- Perspectives from a Parfait Sunset – An airborne sunset triggers some thoughts
- Conversations with Stacy – Three conversations demonstrate some lessons worth learning from a father’s perspective while taxing a teenager’s patience
- Quote: “He who rules our symbols rules us.” – Alfred Korzybski
- Symbols and Meanings – All things “Confederate”
April 21, 2000 (15)
- A Reminder: Who am I? What am I doing here? – the author explains Chanticleer and ThisIsNotThat
- Time-binding: “Cooperating and Graduating” by another name – A short definition and explanation of Alfred Korzybski’s term time-binding, and what it implies
- Maria’s Story – An example of time-binding, Maria shares her experience of finding a lump
- Regularly-Scheduled Programming – A (perhaps) humorous real-life anecdote I could never make up
- Slouching Towards the 20th Century
- Slowly, we progress to allow dancing in Oklahoma and Wagner in Israel
- And Finally – What a difference a Safire makes! – The after-effects of having your website mentioned by a nationally-syndicated columnist
- But You Thought – Comments from readers and new visitors
April 6, 2000 (#14)
- Crowing ThisIsNotThat.com mentioned by NY Times columnist William Safire
- Quote: “It is not disbelief that is dangerous to society, it is belief.” – George Bernard Shaw
- How To Get There From Here? Re-examining beliefs about the morning commute
- Gigabite Gullibility How easily people believe and act on what the read
- Whatever Happened Was Meant To Happen Regarding the March 28th Fort Worth tornado
- And Finally – A Special Tribute by, and for, Katy Beth on behalf of her sister Vikki
March 6, 2000 (#13)
- “Everything?”
- Regarding the Texas Rangers new marketing campaign
- American Beauty – My comments on the Academy Award-nominated film, in response to a “Letter to the Editor”
- A PROPAGANDA PRIMER, THANKS TO PAT ROBERTSON – Robertson’s “vicious bigot” attack on Warren Rudman deserves comment and reveals much about the man behind the ‘minister’
- And Finally – Your In Analysis
February 17, 2000 (#12)
- Grass on Campus High jinx returns
- Confessions of Awareness, or Lack Thereof
- Four examples of awareness/non-awareness: Cause/Effect (?) Oxymoron, Anyone? Reading Labels, Ignoring Labels
- And Finally The Divine Right of King’s Name
February 2, 2000 (#11)
- Groundhog Day and Other misLeading Indicators
- Knock on Would, and Other Silli-stitions (How about dropping superstitions?)
- The Ultimate “Oops, I didn’t mean to do that!” (Let’s be careful out there … with those email addresses.)
- Rocker Update (Baseball punishes John Rocker)
- More Words and Consequences (Kids say the darnedest threats)
- And Finally (re-instituting But You Thought …)
January 21, 2000 (#10)
- Bush League Words (My COMPLETE letter, a portion of which was printed in the Dallas Morning News)
- Forbidden Words 2000 (Words condemned for further use, from a Matt Groenig cartoon)
- Shrubbery Words
- Quote regarding words (I say what I say. I do not say what I do not say. – Alfred Korzybski)
- Rocker Words, ‘Racist’ Words? (On reactions to John Rocker’s remarks)
- Ship Words (Seen at the Orlando airport)
- And Finally (On The Cider House Rules)
January 1, 2000 (#9)
- Quoting Barry Manilow, Scarlett O’Hara, and Roseanne Roseannadanna (My Y2K status)
- Guides to Changing Your Life (Making mo’ better discriminations)
- What’s Wrong with These Lyrics? (Is it the song, or the songwriter?)
- Draft Dodger1967 = Draft Dodger1999? (Muhammad Ali as “Sportsman of the Century”)
- “Absolutely!” Respect Me, or Else! (Forget a “Sir”, break a law)
- And Finally (“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”. What else?)
December 15, 1999 (#8)
- Blame it on Rio, but not on Y2K (Mistakes happen, even without Y2K)
- Surgeon General on ‘Mental’ Health (1 in 5 Americans have illness; some comments and a rant on Santa Claus)
- Let’s Talk About Sex: “Don’t!” (Compares sex education in the States vs. France)
- Master of Whose Domain? (Preventing hate by hoarding domain names?)
- Stacy’s Poem And Finally (“ART”)
- But You Thought …
December 1, 1999 (#7)
- “Dogma” (Comments on reaction to the movie, and the movie)
- Georgia Baptists (On expelling gay congregations)
- Other Baptists (On the role of women)
- Taliban Justice
- Evolution, Creationism and Prayer
- And Finally (On the belief of beliefs)
- But You Thought … (25 Heloise-like tips)
November 15, 1999 (#6)
- Thankstaking (10 steps to appreciating yourself in preparing to thank others)
- And Finally (“Bleepers” in the meet market)
- But You Thought …
November 1, 1999 (#5)
- Mindfulness (“Where’s my toast?”;
- Ellen Langer’s “Mindfulness”;
- “Knock on wood”)
- Coming to Age (An updated map of 80)
- And Finally (No stir on “Hope” … but “Lactose Happens”)
- But You Thought …
October 15, 1999 (#4)
- Apology (Dupes the word)
- Classifications (Roger’s homework, “team” vs. “group”; organizing CDs – the classification doesn’t change the music; “liberals” and “conservatives” – the classification doesn’t change the ‘music’)
- Huh??? (Scratching the surface; Route 404; conphronting fonics)
- And Finally (“Hope” happens) But You Thought …
October 1, 1999 (#3)
- “Let’s Get Conditional!” Pavlov and conditioned responses
- Wedgewood Baptist Church shootings
- Smokers or Junior ROTC – you make the call
- And Finally (“Watch Me!” revisited, and personalized)
- But You Thought …
September 15, 1999 (#2)
- Signs on the Road
- An Experiment (3 buckets of water, relativeness of temperature)
- “Watch Me!”
- Quote
- In The News (rising ‘stress’ levels in London; “Ragtime” and the ‘N’ word; Mesa Jr. High and “Tom Sawyer” – NOT)
- And Finally (Friends bring something to the party …)
- But You Thought …
September 1, 1999 (#1)
- “What is This About, and Why Have I Received This Email?”
- This Is Not That Anecdote (Regarding painting, spots, re-painting, more spots, etc.)
- Observation (Braum’s ice cream store)
- In The News (Bill Bradley quote; Katy ISD prayer in school; Irving Youth Action Center; Irving ISD surveillance cameras)
- And Finally (Lexus radio commercial)