Terry Pruitt's Blog

As you can see I have posted new photographs on webshots. If you look at my photo album link, just click on the part that says C and O Canal Cycling...

My daughter, aka ebofgod just got a laptop for graduation. I'm thinking of putting Open Office on it for her. As always, follow the link to get the full story. NewsForge | Detroit high school opens its desktops : "In 2003, John Hansknecht, the director of technology at the University of Detroit Jesuit High School and Academy, had a tough decision to make. The school had about a hundred older computers running Microsoft Office 97 and Windows NT, and some kind of upgrade was clearly required. It would have been an easy decision to simply upgrade to Microsoft Office 2000, but that would have required replacing all the computers with more powerful systems -- a large expenditure which could be better spent on other technology needs. Hansknecht had a better idea: OpenOffice.org. The previous year Hansknecht had begun evaluating OpenOffice.org with the assistance of Peter Guenther, the computer applications teacher, and Vondra Abbott, the school librarian. Hansknecht tho...

I've made the switch. I think the Linux version is slightly faster than the older 1.0 version.

Agent Tim has some comments on the Terrorist Handbook. It shows that terrorists are trained to exploit the institutions of our society, such as our media and courts system.

American Profile: 5/6/2001 - 5/12/2001: Ellen Gray Massey : "Mention moonshine or shiftless hillbillies, and Ellen Gray Massey’s smile turns ice cold. “I want to get rid of Ozark stereotypes,” says the Lebanon, Mo., teacher and writer. “I want to show the hardworking, intelligent people, and beautiful region I know.” For more than a half century, Massey’s praise of the Ozarks has filled high school, university, and Eldershostel classes, 13 books, 55 magazine articles, 125 dramatic readings, 239 speeches, two television documentaries, and a two-act musical. "

Book Concerns: Ellen Gray Massey - THE BITTERSWEET OZARKS AT A GLANCE : "Ellen Gray Massey - THE BITTERSWEET OZARKS AT A GLANCE From Writers Talk, with permission from the author. Compiling the photos and writing the captions and introductions to tie everything together for The Bittersweet Ozarks at a Glance, was a joy. I wanted to capture in this book the land and lore of the Ozarks. I think I did that satisfactorily, but I also recaptured the ten years from 1973 to 1983 when I was the teacher/advisor to a total of 120 high school students who researched, illustrated, wrote, and published the quarterly, Bittersweet. I began the Bittersweet after repeated urging from my brother, Ralph Gray, who was editor of The National Geographic World. As board member of the student publication, Foxfire, in the northern Georgia Appalachians, he thought I should create the same for the Ozark area. "

I did okay in Ms. Massey's class, but I found a love for languages and linguistics. Her lectures on the History of English still stick with me. 1066 was the year that English changed. What are the characteristics of a language for it to become a linguia franca ? Ease of learning, political success of the speakers, and economic success of the speakers. And more.... Ellen Gray Massey

The below quote of a quote....yeah, yeah I know a little much isn't it,....is talking about the need to not only mention the truth but understand what is wrong with unorthodox doctrine. Follow the link to a good article. LeadershipJournal.net - The Inadequacy of "Yes" Theology : "Without declaring the no, we become the church that Machen observed in his day: 'conservative in an ignorant, non-polemic, sweetness-and-light kind of way, which is just meat for the wolves.' "

On my trip I stopped in Paw Paw, WV. I had heard of Paw Paw because of the Frisbee golf course there. I ended up finding a restaurant "Grandma's Country Kitchen". Great country cooking. I ate with a older fellow who seemed eager to talk. I enjoyed his company. People riding the C and O Canal should know this is a must stop and eat there kind of a place. I had the fried hadock. The coffee and lemon pie finished off the meal for me. As I got back on the trail I soon found myself entering the Paw Paw tunnel. I was surprized how dark the middle of the tunnel was.I had to get off the bicycle and walk because I just could not see to ride. Then it was almost too dark to walk too. I was walking not sure my next step would be a safe one. I could not see the side rail. Had it rotted and fallen into the canal? Was there someone waiting to do evil? I literally had to step out in faith or go no where. Next time, I'm taking a flash light.

I wrote a long post Sunday on my adventures and somehow it did not post. So I have decided to break the post into sections. So the wild life I saw was: lots of deer, chimpmonks, fox, copperhead snake, black snake, owl, water turtles, woodland turtle, racoon, spider, rabbits, squirrels, ground hog, and a pair of turkeys. I almost ran over the copperhead. He kept me spooked for a while. Every stick on the ground turned to a snake in the fears of my mind.

Check out this site on the Da Vinci Code. Davinci Decoded : "Here are some frequently asked questions about the issues raised by The Da Vinci Code:"

I have been reading about the Crusades long before this recent movie made it popular. It has seemed to me that what I usually hear about the Crusades is over simplified and one dimensional. For an article that really short, this is a fantastic summary of the Crusades. It is well worth your time to pick up a few historical facts about a time period you probably skipped over in high school history class. The Real History of the Crusades - Christianity Today Magazine : "With the possible exception of Umberto Eco, medieval scholars are not used to getting much media attention. We tend to be a quiet lot (except during the annual bacchanalia we call the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, of all places), poring over musty chronicles and writing dull yet meticulous studies that few will read. Imagine, then, my surprise when within days of the September 11 attacks, the Middle Ages suddenly became relevant. As a Crusade historian, I found the t...

I have to get wet weather clothing. I’m wanting to get something that is a little more high tech, not the low end product. My hope is that it will help me to cycle more on the commute work and at other times. I also need to thing about getting a water system, like a Camel-back. Then there is extra tires I need as spare parts. See more progress on: Bicycle The C and O Canal

“and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation,” Romans 15:20 I have desired to do pioneering mission work. As I am well into my 40's, I am wondering what that would look like. When I look at pioneer mission work it often is defined by those who attempt to carry it out. I see basically four different approaches that mission agencies attempt to do pioneer mission work. These are broad descriptions that are often combined or changed by those have variation in theme. Church Planting - Church planting is defined by some when you have a self-supporting congregation in the target culture, nation or people group. The U.S. Center for World Missions takes this approach, as does New Tribes Missions. Bible Translation – A Bible being translated into every language is the strategy. For years I prayed that the Southern Pocomam people would receive the Word of God. This approach assumes po...

Flying Snake Video Clips : "The following video segments are provided to illustrate different aspects of Chrysopelea's gliding behavior, primarily involving the takeoff and aerial phase of the trajectory. Landing footage will be posted later. Some of this has been published, mainly in abstracts, and the bulk of this material will be described in my dissertation. If you'd like to use any of these clips for a purpose other than teaching, please contact me. "

For those of you who are test nuts, I think this Myers-Briggs Personality Type is an excellent one. It has questions which are less analytic and more about you. Hat Tip: Liquid Paper Terry's #1 Match: INTP The Thinker You are analytical and logical - and on a quest to learn everything you can. Smart and complex, you always love a new intellectual challenge. Your biggest pet peeve is people who slow you down with trivial chit chat. A quiet maverick, you tend to ignore rules and authority whenever you feel like it. You would make an excellent mathematician, programmer, or professor. Terry's #2 Match: ENTP The Visionary You are charming, outgoing, friendly. You make a good first impression. You possess good negotiating skills and can convince anyone of anything. Happy to be the center of attention, you love to tell stories and show off. You're very clever, but not disciplined enough to do well in structured environments. You would make a great entrpreneur, marketing executi...

Surfing around the blogdom I saw a challenge from View From The Pew . By the way, my game was off today. That is in case the Jollyblogger is reading this. Pruitt Communications is a Giant Ant that dissolves in Water, has Bulletproof Skin, and Tunnels Underground. Strength: 6 Agility: 5 Intelligence: 8 To see if your Giant Battle Monster can defeat Pruitt Communications, enter your name and choose an attack: fights Pruitt Communications using Strength Agility Intelligence

Again a good article on the flat world. In some ways I think this is better than the previous two. Check it out...... More Flat Thoughts | Linux Journal : " Information, we observed, is derived from the verb *inform,* which is related to the verb *form*. To *inform* is not to 'deliver information', but rather to *form* the other party. If you tell me something I didn't know before, I am changed by that. If I believe you, and value what you say, I have granted you authority. Meaning, I have given you the right to *author* what I know. Therefore, *we are all authors of each other*. This is a profoundly human condition in any case, but it is an especially important aspect of the open source value system. By forming each other, as we also form useful software, we are making the world. Not merely changing it. "

I took my daughters, the two youngest, to baseball last night at Annapolis High. I initially just ran the Annapolis Strider's one mile loop. My daughter Corrie had told me about a trail through the woods and so I explored that. I was one of the best runs I have ever had.

“Q. 9. How many persons are there in the Godhead? A. There be three persons in the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one true, eternal God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory; although distinguished by their personal properties.” - Westminster Larger Catechism The doctrine of the Trinity teaches us about the ontology and economy of God, his nature of being and how members of the Godhead play roles in the salvation of mankind. There is no jealousy or division in the Godhead. There is unity in purpose. There is fellowship one with another. This sharing of one another is sometimes called perichorea. The word is derived from the prefix peri meaning around and the stem of chorea meaning dance, thus to “dance together”. (It would not be “dance around”, which is often a metaphorical way of saying avoid a sensitive issue.) The term perichorea is used by John of Damascus ...

Hey, Strongbad made NPR. But hey, I wonder if NPR will make Strongbad? That's the real question! NPR : Strong Bad Walks in Footsteps of Darth, Lex, J.R. : "There are lots of nasty characters lurking in the shadowy corners of the World Wide Web. But Strong Bad is just awful. And he's awfully funny, too. Strong Bad sports a Mexican wrestler's mask and wears boxing gloves all the time. He's the bane of Homestar Runner's existence. And who is Homestar? He's a slightly dim high school jock with a bowling-pin-shaped girlfriend named Marzipan."

Go over to Relevant magazine and vote for the best old-school P.E. game. RELEVANT magazine :: GOD.LIFE.PROGRESSIVE CULTURE. : "Best old-school P.E. game:"

My wife over at Big Red 5 has posted her Tag responses.

I have wanted to create a website for mobile devises for a while using WAP. This site seem to be a good place to do such a thing. WINKsite: Mobile Community, User-Generated Content, Mobile Site Builder, Social Networking, Mobile Publishing, Moblogging : "Join The WINKsite Mobile Community. In minutes, you can set-up a free mobile site that's available worldwide on a web-enabled phone, PDA or desktop PC. Each mobile site is outfitted with easy-to-use mobile channels including chat, blog, mobile feed reader, surveys, journal, forum, calendar, guestbook, bookmarks, email and more. Learn More | Recent News & Views | Testimonials One Platform. Many Uses. Use your mobile site as your personal podium to the world, a convenient mobile dashboard to all you find important or as a space to build and manage a mobile community. Create a mobile edition of your blog, journal or news service. Publish works of fiction to a mobile audience. Start a mobile chat room, forum or pol...

Christ was a man of sorrows. (Isaiah 53:3) But for the most part the current generation is unimpressed with the suffering of Christ. It is not that this generation of Christians has an unorthodox view of who Jesus is, it is that they believe that neither he nor anyone else should suffer at all. There are those exceptions to this rule, 1. those seeking revenge and 2. athletes who say “No pain; no gain”. Those who seek revenge do not do so for the sake of justice but simply to get even. It is pain returned for pain. The athletic types understand sacrifices must be made in order to achieve athletic success. They don't do so because they enjoy pain but because they can't bear to not succeed. Which of course is trading physical pain to relieve the psychological pain of not being the best. People who refuse to exercise often incur debilitating health problems. They get caught in a cycle which must be disrupted in order to keep it from destroying their health. The cycle st...

The Westminster Larger Catechism tell us in Question 2 tells us that while there is understanding about God in both our nature and by observing creation, our salvation from sin is not understood completely without the work of the Holy Spirit and the message of the scripture. The gospel message can not be understood without the special revelation of God. Some cultures may have the idea of the atonement as a cultural feature which can be illuminated by scripture. If the feature does not exist, the idea of atonement must first be established and then explained. In ancient Palestine, it was not only Israel who practiced blood sacrifices, nor did they have a monopoly on architecture of a temples with inter and out courts. Many of the cultures in the region practiced blood sacrifice and temples with similar layouts. 1 In his book, Eternity In Their Hearts, Don Richards shows how many cultures in remote areas of the world have a blood sacrifice system. He explains that animistic reli...

I intend to do a series of which this is the start. Introduction The basic question is one of cost and benefit. What did it cost God and what did I benefit. The cost shows level of commitment on God as the giver and the benefit shows how much good will the gift give me. The reason to pose the question in terms of me, is to keep from relegating the issue to the mere theoretical. One could ask how Jesus' life and work benefited mankind, or believers or even God's elect. To do so is to relegate the issues of the person and work of Christ into the arena of the theoretical and the logical. While we can not ignore the disciplines of good Biblical scholarship, logic and systematic theology, to rightly understand these, I must also add the element of aesthetics. Regardless of one's ability to be copiously systematic, defining each foundational word, determining the primal axioms and the resulting corollaries, one can only show costs and benefits only in terms of logic with...

I can't stand it any longer. I have to say it. Happy birthday Jollyblogger! I'm going to go comment over on his blog right now.

A very interesting and informative essay on one woman's experinces being discriminated against because of her linguistic heritage. I'll give you a taste, click on the link to get a full serving. What is Appalachian Language Anyway? : "What is Appalachian Language Anyway? An essay on Multiculturalism and Tolerance by author Sandra Mitchell-Quinn Copyright 2001-2005 All Rights Reserved When I first moved to Cleveland in 1980, from Athens County, Ohio, I was considered to have a speech impediment to everyone I met. The first thing people would say is 'Where do you come from?' When I would tell them Ohio, they would look at me puzzled and then write me off as one of those southern hillbillies of Appalachia. The first time I ever realized I had this so called 'problem' was when I was selected at age 15 to be in the Miss Teen-Ager Ohio beauty pageant which was held at Capital University in Columbus. An important part of the program was each gir...