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BIRMINGHAM CHRISTIAN BBS NEWSLETTER
ISSUE #6
August, 1992
Table of Contents
Title Author
---------------------------------- ---------------------------
Yucky Technical Stuff Staff
Ricky's Mindless Mumblings Ricky Eanes
NewsWire Various
Southern Gospel Music Larry Hardeman
Southern Hospitality, Dixie-Net Style Anita Abney
Editorial Michael Davidson
Is God Hidden? Computers for Christ
Flying by Faith Mary Parker
Inside the PC Larry Hardeman
Why Manodnock Bible Conference? Mary Parker
User's Survey: What It's All About Michael Davidson
In Closing... Editors
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yucky Technical Stuff
Purpose
This newsletter was created as a way for the users of Birmingham's
Christian BBS's to have their own publication to cover all the events,
opinions, and general information of the various boards in Birmingham.
We hope to provide the reader with accurate, interesting articles on a
variety of topics, as well as dealing with modern Christian issues. Our
staff works very hard on each issue, and we hope that you enjoy it.
Disclaimer and Reprinting
Here at BCBN, we try to make sure all of the information in the
newsletter is correct. If a mistake slips by our crack editing staff,
we are not liable for any wrath that may be incurred in our general
direction or any other direction, for that matter. Of course, we hope
that none of our articles will incur any wrath, but just in case, we
thought we would throw in that fancy little disclaimer. Now for the
reprinting part.
We really don't mind if you reprint any of the articles contained in
this newsletter. In fact, if you do, we can do nothing to stop you. We
do hope, however, that you will tell us you are reprinting the article
and send us a copy of the publication. Now for the part where the
computer says "boink".
Boink.
Rules for Submitting Articles
Anyone can write an article for BCBN. In fact, if you do, we will
probably not only publish it, but we will publicly thank you. We
haven't turned down an article to date, and we don't think that the
practice will be starting anytime soon.
We do have a few very simple rules. Those being that you cannot write
anything that we deem inappropriate for Christian users. This is a
family newsletter that we hope all of you parents will share with your
children and vice-versa. We will make final judgements in that area, but
what we do and don't allow is pretty simple. We don't allow any
articles that go against the teachings of the Bible or any that promote
black magic, satanism, paganism, etc.
Submitting an article is very easy also! First, please type it in an
ASCII file. Most word processors will allow you to save your file in
the ASCII format. If possible, type it with our block paragraph format
with a right margin of 71 characters. To submit the article, do one of
two things. Either upload it into the BCBN Production file area on
Hardeman's Christian BBS or enter it in a message to either Ricky Eanes
or Michael Davidson in the BCBN Production conference on the new
BCBNet. Look at the Newswire in this issue for more information.
We look forward to your suggestions, comments, etc. Please also place
them in the BCBN Production conference, and we will get back to you as
soon as possible on them.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Ricky's Mindless Mumblings
by Ricky Eanes
Well, here we are. We finally made it to the half-year anniversary of
BCBN. However, do to the fact that both of our editors (myself and
Michael) were out of town most of July, we have had very little time to
put together the issue. Therefore, the survey results will not be
ready until next month's issue.
On a lighter note, it's time to reminiscence on that glorious first issue
of BCBN. It had eleven articles, which is good even compared with our
last few issues. The format used for it of course set the precedent
for all the future issues. I'd like to re-publish a few lines of my
original "Ricky's Mindless Mumblings" to show how things were back in
January.
--------------------
Welcome to the very first issue of what we hope is a great new online
publication in the Birmingham area.
You can also expect to see this little section in every issue. It is
written by me, Ricky Eanes, as sort of an introduction to the issue and
anything else I want to tell you that isn't important enough to put it
a separate article. Please read it as there is a slight chance that
there might actually be something important in here. First I want to
tell you a little about BCBN's history.
Around the beginning of the summer of 1991, two new boards popped
up in Birmingham that were "Christian" boards. I got on them,
liked them, and have since gotten very active on them. Another
one moved to town not too long ago, so now we have 3 Christian
boards in Birmingham. To me, all of the users of those boards
...
In closing, I want to thank everyone for contributing to this
newsletter. Thank you to everyone that reads and anyone who has or
will write an article. As a note to article-writers, if your article
didn't make it this month, it will be in next month's issue for sure.
--------------------
Of course, we now have twice as many Christian BBS's in Birmingham than
we did then. In all but one case our newsletter has gotten bigger with
each issue. According to most people's opinions, the contents of each
issue seem to keep getting better and better. For this I would like to
thank everyone who has ever written for BCBN. As a special tribute, we
will now list the names of every writer in BCBN history, in order of
articles written for issues 1-5.
Ricky Eanes
Larry Hardeman
Harry Jones
Henry S. McGraw
Michael Davidson
Brent Elliott
Mark Lawley
Mark Congleton
Andy Jones
Mary Parker
The actual article count will hopefully come next month along with the
rest of the BCBN Awards and Survey Results. Thank you everyone for
supporting our newsletter thus far, and please keep helping us in the
future.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
NewsWire
BCBN User's Meeting is Coming!
by Staff
The fifth meeting of Christian BBS users in Birmingham will be on
August 22. This is also the second of these meetings to be held under
the title of "BCBN users meeting". It will be in the food court of
Eastwood Mall from 12 noon until we decide to disperse. Usually they
don't last until much past two. If you want, you can even drop by just
for a minute and say hello to everyone and get the rare autographs of
the editors for free. Yes, you heard me, just this once we will be
giving free autographs. Bring your own pens and napkins, please.
----------
BCBNet is Here!
by Staff
Announcing a totally new way to do messaging in the Birmingham area!
Well, maybe not, but it's new for the BCBN Production conference. Oh
heck, it's just plain new. BCBNet is a network connecting most of the
Birmingham area Christian BBS's. In addition to housing the new BCBN
Production conference, it has a number of other conferences dedicated
to numerous topics. The boards currently or soon to be on the
up-and-coming network are:
Pooh's Korner (network hub)
Hardeman's Christian BBS
Christian Apologetic Board
Medicine Man BBS
And now for the beautiful conference list:
Fellowship Hall
Christian Issues
BCBN Production
Watchman Fellowship
Christian Youth
Clean Humor
Bible Study
----------
The Bear Gets The Cat
by Ricky Eanes
In early July, Pooh's Korner BBS made the great switch from
RemoteAccess BBS software to WildCat! in an ever-growing trend among
Birmingham Christian BBS's. Eddie Dake, SysOp, was given the new BBS
package from the monetary donations of several users. The change in
software was needed for several reasons, but a major one was to allow
PK to participate in BCBNet, which you will read about elsewhere in
this issue. Winnie the Pooh's BBS will be reviewed again by me in a
future issue because of this major change, but up front I can say that
the board is 200 times better because of it. However, if you haven't
called since the software change, you will have to re-register, as the
former users and message bases were lost. Call Pooh's Korner today at
980-8710.
----------
Yucky Technical Stuff Gets a Face Lift!
by Michael Davidson
That's right. I finally changed the Yucky Technical Stuff because the
other editor is sitting in a reclining chair in the lower-left hand
corner of this room right now, too apathetic to do anything at all,
except criticize me about my title. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it. If you
have any comments on this ever-exciting part of our newsletter, enter
them to me in any of the usual places.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Southern Gospel Music
by Larry Hardeman
The past few months I have written a few articles on Southern Gospel
music and have mentioned several of my favorite artists. If I'm not
mistaken, I think I may have even noted that during the last article,
while I was writing it, I was listening to The Spencers' "Coming Soon"
tape, which by the way is one of the greatest tapes I have ever
listened to.
Well, I had a fantastic experience this morning. I was on my way to the
bank to deposit my weekly pay check. While headed down highway 411
toward Leeds from Moody, I noticed a bus sitting in the parking lot of
the Super 8 Motel. Knowing that this was some sort of singing groups
bus, I slowed to see if I could read the name. To my surprise it was
The Spencers. I was awed and really wanted, if nothing else, to say
hello and I love you. I very quickly took the next parking lot on the
left and turned around to see if I could see anyone moving around.
After getting out of my car and tapping on the bus door, I kinda backed
off a little and started looking around. I then saw a man walking
across the parking lot. When he got a little closer to me, I recognized
his face from the album covers, it was J.B. Spencer.
Hey, this may not sound very exciting to you, but to me, it was about
like some teenager getting to meet the lead singer of Guns N Roses. We
shook hands and I pulled a tape from my shirt pocket to let him know
that I was truly an avid listener to his family. Then I explained a
little about BCBN and this monthly article I try to write. Mr. Spencer
was very polite and invited me to sit on the bus while I asked just a
few quick questions to find out a little background on them. I wished I
could have had more time and been a little more prepared. I did find
out that they were on their way to Jasper to a singing tonight.
The Spencers are without a doubt one of the nations best Gospel groups,
and there are a lot of great ones out there. In the past couple of
years they have produced three number one songs (seems like more than
that to me). I got a tape of them this past Christmas as a gift, and
when I say I have worn it out, I really mean it. It kinda speeds up and
slows down a little now when I play it. But today, Mr. Spencer gave me
another Spencer tape, "It'll be Worth it After All". Thanks J.B.
Spencer, I will now commence in wearing in out.
Lemme just take a minute to tell a little about them, because that is
all I really know. They are from Shilo, Ohio and the group consists of
J.B. and Barbara Spencer along with their two sons Wade and Kevin, and
their daughter Geniece. In 1982 they made a couple of singles and sent
them out to several radio stations and it wasn't very long until one
song reach #19 on the charts and another reached #20. I guess from that
point to now, it has been ten years of their continuing efforts that
have brought them to where they are today. If you ever listen to any of
the local Gospel radio stations, you won't have to listen long until
you hear one of their songs.
It would really be unfair to say that Barbara is the best singer or
that maybe it's J.B. or that it's Geniece or Wade or maybe it's Kevin,
because they all seem to be blessed with a God given talent. With me
they have truly been a blessing over the recent past and I hope that by
the grace of God that they will be able to continue to bless their
listeners. You would think that this type of music is only listened to
in America, but recently they recorded a live album from the Virgin
Islands. The local radio station there in Tortola was one of the first
ones to call the Spencers after the release of the Coming Soon album to
let them know that the song Coming Soon was the number one song. So,
with that, I can say that they are inspiring more people than just some
of us locals. If you don't even care very much for Gospel Music, I
think you would enjoy their singing.
Keep up the work Spencer Family, and may God bless you all in return
for the hard work, your many miles driven, and all the hours that you
have dedicated to the Gospel Music industry.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Southern Hospitality, Dixie-Net Style
by Anita Abney
Message networks abound in the BBS community. All have something of
interest to offer to the bulletin board enthusiast with discussion on
almost any subject imaginable. A few months ago a friend and fellow
sysop mentioned that a brand new network was just starting up called
Dixie-Net and encouraged me to look into joining. Within a couple of
days Dixie-Net had found its way into the conferences on my board and a
week or so later three other Birmingham area boards were carrying it as
well.
Dixie-Net was founded in the spring of this year by Mike Phillips, a
programmer turned SysOp from Talladega, Alabama. While enjoying the
networks already in existence, Mike felt that something uniquely
"Southern" was lacking in them. His fascination with Southern heritage
and lifestyles inspired him to create a forum devoted to our culture
and interests.
Getting a new network rolling was a challenge. In the beginning, only
a handful of messages appeared in the fourteen conferences offered.
Slowly, as more sysops signed up and participants became better
acquainted with one another, the message base began to grow.
Admittedly, we're still small in comparison to the more established
networks, but we're growing steadily.
Today Dixie-Net includes sixteen BBS systems in Alabama and
Mississippi. The conferences included cover everything from hunting,
fishing, and racing to light conversation and ANSI-Art. I can say
quite truthfully that I've never met a friendlier group of folks. Not
that we all think alike, particularly when we start talking about "THE
ISSUES", but even opposing viewpoints are shared in a manner that
demonstrates respect for all participating.
In the Birmingham area, the bulletin boards listed below offer
some, if not all, of the conferences available. In addition, SysOps
interested in joining Dixie-Net may download an information file
containing all the administrative details not included here. (The
current file is DIXI0703.zip)
The Party Line...............856-1336
Hardeman's Christian BBS.....640-6436
NightWatch...................841-2790
The Playground BBS...........836-4200
The Drawing Room BBS.........951-2391
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Editorial
by Michael Davidson
For those of you who haven't already heard, my conference on Hardeman's
Christian BBS has changed from math to political debates. In light of
this change, my monthly (well, as many months as I can manage) column
will now be an editorial on an issue of the day.
Before I get started this month, I would like to issue a kind reprimand
to all who have been participating in my conference, including myself.
It would seem that some people are getting too venomous over debates
that are supposed to be fun. Maybe we should all reread the rules. My
conference is for debate, not name-calling and insulting. If I have
offended anyone, I am deeply sorry. Sometimes my temper can get the
best of me, but I try to keep it at bay. In the future, I hope we can
all be friends, and not call each other wrong, stupid, idiot, etc. That
name calling belongs in an election, not among friends. With that out
of the way, here goes my first attempt at a true editorial.
Acting seems to be popular in this country. Hollywood has become a
multi-billion dollar industry. But that's just acting on a screen. It
would seem that some people are disenchanted with acting on records.
Yes, it can be done. With the poetic license allowed in this country,
one can do most anything with most any medium.
What I'm referring to, of course, is the controversial song Cop Killer
by the controversial speed-metal act Body Count who is led by
controversial rapper-turned rock artist Ice-T. The song is about an
inner-city black youth who is sick of being beat up on by policeman.
So, he says he is going to kill one. Granted, it's not a very nice
thing to say you're going to do, but if some people feel that way, Body
Count has a reason to bring it to the public's eye.
First, I'll look at the police officer's side of the story. First of
all, the name Cop Killer does seem a bit extreme, but it's what the
song is about, and let's look at the book, not it's cover. The song's
contents, as I have already mentioned, place Ice-T in the first person
view of a black youth about to go out and kill a cop. The police groups
are correct in assuming that some people may misinterpret the record to
be a call to arms against cops. After realizing that, they made their
big mistakes. They caused a controversy over the record, which of
course boosted record sales. Before the big fuss, Body Count had a
little-known record that debuted at 66 on the Billboard charts and went
steadily downward from there. After the big fuss, it shot up to 33 and
has remained in the top 100 for a while. If you don't want people to
misinterpret it, then don't give them a reason to buy it.
Second of all, many people made death threats, not towards Ice-T or any
other Body Count member, but to innocent Time-Warner (the parent
company of Body Count's record label) executives and anyone who had
anything to do with Body Count, including Arsenio Hall who had them
perform on his show. This accomplishes nothing, except showing the
general public that there are a lot of lunatics willing to do anything
to get the record off the shelves. Next, they claimed Ice-T wrote the
track to get publicity and money. That is obviously wrong, because if
he wanted publicity he would have said something to the effect of "Look
at me, I want kids to kill cops" which he didn't. If he did it for
money, he wouldn't have started giving the single away for free at
concerts.
Next, I'll take a look at Ice-T's good and bad moves. It was a bad
move, in my opinion, to write the song knowing that some people were
going to get hurt because of it. He is a smart man, with enough
foresight to be able to foretell the problem before it occurred. He has
been good about making public the intended meaning of the track: to
warn police officers that blacks are tired of being beaten and some are
being driven to the point of murder. He has also taken the track off
the record, which the opposition takes as a victory. It might be, but
they played dirty. He didn't do it because of pressure from his label
or from the lobbiers. He did it to protect people and to keep them from
getting more threats on their life. It was a good move, with good
intentions, and I wish the other side would leave it at that.
When this controversy fades, the big picture will remain: what is the
government to do about censoring obscene records? Obviously, whatever
is done, not everyone will be happy. Currently, if a record is deemed
inappropriate for young listeners, a parental advisory sticker is put
on it. Some record chains make you show them ID when buying such a
record, but it's not required by law. One problem with this system is
that there are records out there that almost nobody believes to be
offensive with stickers and vice versa. Two good examples are the bands
Pearl Jam and Guns N' Roses (controversial in their own right). Guns N'
Roses' Use Your Illusion 1 has no songs that are about sex or that are
explicit in that nature. It does, however, have enough bad words in it
to get it at least a PG-13 rating. Some people don't mind the words,
but just don't like songs referring to sex. On the other hand, Pearl
Jam's Ten has no warning on it whatsoever, but it has three songs with
the "f-word" in them. Some would consider this record obscene.
I think the best solution is to get a balanced panel to judge what is
and isn't obscene. That way, at least we'll find some middle ground. I
also think that the consumers of such material be allowed to see a
lyric sheet before purchasing a record. Or perhaps they could install a
ratings system like the movie industry. That way they could explain
what got a record which rating.
This is a controversy that I know will not die away for a while, but
maybe we can all come to an agreement that suits everybody.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Is God Hidden?
by Computers for Christ - Chicago
Submitted by Harry Jones
One of the deep and trustworthy insights on Biblical religion, in the
Old Testament and the New, is linked up with the silence, the
hiddenness of God. "Oh that I knew where I might find Him" (23:3), Job
cried out in his torment. "Behold, I go forward, but He is not there;
and backward, but I cannot perceive Him: On the left hand, where He
doth work, but I cannot behold Him: He hideth Himself on the right
hand, that I cannot see Him." (Job 23:8,9) "Verily," said Isaiah,
"thou are a God that hideth thyself." (45:15) "Why standeth thou afar
off" (Psalm 10:1)
In the New Testament, Philip voices the same wistful question of Jesus.
"Show us the father," he said, "and we shall be satisfied." (John 14:8)
These and many other passages in the scriptures speak of moments in
Human experience when God seems distant, absent or even non- existent.
The records are full of it, and somehow we have got to deal with that,
because it is an experience that is our own. In fact today it is what
constitutes one of the major arguments of unbelief - the absence, the
unknown whereabouts of God. It has become a sophisticated subject for
far out theology and it has provided the theme for any number of
secular plays, principal among them Samuel Beckett's ambiguous fantasy
'Waiting for Godot', an odd story about two nondescript hoboes waiting
around for someone who never shows up. A vague mysterious person has
promised to meet them there and never comes, or if he came in disguise
they did not recognize him. Even the writer accused of some of the
dirtiest books on the news stands, Henry Miller, in an interview for a
religious magazine, said that we are now passing through a period when
God seems more and more absent and man is doomed to come face to face
with the fate he has created for himself.
The absent God - the God who doesn't appear, or who comes in ways we do
not recognize! Why should we be surprised at all by this talk of
absence? We could have learned it from the Bible. Centuries ago
Isaiah said, "Verily, thou art a God that hideth thyself." Let's head
into that. Let's remember, first, that this is the God we perceive in
nature, the God who never appears. Who has ever seen Him? We may wish
for some assurance here, but the Almighty doesn't give it. He doesn't
advertise Himself or put a sign on every rose bush reading THIS COMES
THROUGH THE COURTESY OF THE ALMIGHTY. He doesn't put His label on
every summer shower like the advertisers of soap and detergent, WHITER
THAN WHITE. He is always the invisible behind the visible, the unseen
mover behind the motion.
We are confronted in nature with a certain unknown element, with all
things moving, without an apparent Mover. The world seems to operate
under it's own steam. The seasons come and go without our help; the
earth turns around every day; the heat of the sun lifts water from the
sea, and when the clouds are chilled, the rains fall; the grass grows
green to manufacture food to keep all living things alive. It is all
so simple, self-regulating and automatic that much of our modern
thinking about nature, because of it's consistent regularity, has
seemed to move in the direction of eliminating the very idea of the
necessity of God. Who needs Him? The thing runs itself. This causes
that, and that's it. The mover never shows up.
We are confronted too, with the element of purpose. Every living
organism and every individual cell has a bit of intelligence in it,
something akin to our minds, and seems to know within itself what it is
supposed to do or be. Something pushes a palm seed to become a palm
tree. It never makes a mistake and becomes a pumpkin. From the moment
a seed touches the soil it seems to know within itself what its needs
are and how to meet them. It lifts a hundred tons of sap each year
into its branches to make its blossoms, and its cluster of seeds keeps
palm trees coming on. By its own built in intelligence it moves to
it's own creative end. Where is the mind behind the mind, the power
that does the pushing? We never see it, the pusher never shows up.
There's an amazing chemistry in everything, but we never see the
chemist. There is a mathematical movement in the order of the stars so
accurate we set our clocks by it, but the engineer never comes out to
take a bow. There's beauty in the order.
The artistry is here. Where is the Artist? The scientist today sees
the universe as a single living process, a web of life in which all
things are linked together by a maze of laws so intricate and
interwoven, so far-reaching and complex, that no human mind can hold it
in totality. It's not only bigger than we imagine, it is bigger than
we CAN imagine; and yet the organizer, the architect of the great
design, never makes a speech to tell us how it is done. Even its laws
are so deftly hidden it takes almost a genius to discover them. He is
hidden even in His presence.
A man from Florida brought a Lawsuit against God and company, when an
Insurance firm denied his claim for damages in an accident on the
grounds that it was an "act of God." So, he brought suit against God
and company and named as co-defendants the churches of the city who
claimed to be God's representative. The court dismissed the case as
disrespectful. The defendant didn't show up, but that's intriguing.
If you had a case against the Almighty, whom would you sue? Where
would you find Him? Where in all this vast creation can we see the
face of its creator? Nowhere!
The Soviets sent cosmonauts in a spaceship spinning around the earth
and they came back saying He wasn't out there. They looked for Him,
but saw no paradise, no angels, no Heavenly Father - nothing but space
and emptiness. You wonder how they missed Him in the glory of the
skies and the grandeur of His creations. You wonder if they expected
Him to catch their little balloon and throw it back, or hold it in His
hand.
There's a story going the rounds among Christian people in Russia that
one day the Kremlin sent up a satellite and it didn't come back, and
they were worried about that. Then a few days later a few of them hung
around the pearly gates and asked St. Peter, "Sir, we don't want to
come in, but please can we have our ball back?"
When we turn to the great immensities we have to say with Isaiah,
"Verily, thou art a God that Hidest thyself."
But it need not take long to know and feel Him. When we turn to Jesus
Christ, the God who hid himself from Isaiah reveals Himself in the
person of His Son. No one must wait, nor seek in vain, God may be
known. He can be experienced. He is not far away. When we repent of
our sin and believe in Jesus, God becomes our Father. Through the Holy
Spirit He lives in us - in the same house, our bodies. "In Him we move
and have our being."
Jesus said that anyone that saw Him, saw the Father also. When Christ
came to Earth, God came down and lived among men. The same Lord
Jehovah that created the heavens and the earth walked the dusty paths
of Galilee, died upon a Roman cross and rose again three days after His
death. God is not way out there somewhere; not far off and unknowable,
but Here and Now.
The Apostle John wrote, "That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked
upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life." (1 John 1:1)
Remember, Jesus is God. He did not become God, He was in the beginning
with God and He was God.
Do you really want to know God? Then open your life to Jesus. Be a
for-Real Jesus person. Read your Bible. Talk to Jesus many times each
day. And the better acquainted with Jesus you become, the more you
will know about God.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Flying by Faith
by Mary Parker
I would like to share with all of you readers out there about my
experience returning from New Hampshire to Birmingham on 08/01/92. I
hope you think it is interesting. Personally I think it was exhausting.
To begin with I would like to state that flying makes me really
nervous. I think it would be fair to say that I actually have a fear of
flying. But I do not give into this fear because I love to go to New
Hampshire.
My return from New Hampshire was supposed to be fairly uncomplicated. I
left Jaffrey Center, NH at 10:30 A.M. and arrived at the airport in
Manchester, NH about an hour later. At 12:45 I left Manchester and had
an uneventful flight to Philadelphia. When we reached Philadelphia I
noticed that nothing was happening quickly anymore. We had to wait for
20 minutes for the pilot to park the plane so we could get off of it. I
was slowly helped to the correct terminal to board for Charlotte, NC.
Time passed and passed and we did not board for Charlotte. Finally we
did board but then we just sat on the runway going nowhere. Of course,
I was putting up in prayer my petitions to God that we arrive safely
since I am scared to death by this point. After we are in the air we
are told that many of us--I did not realize at the time that would
include me--will not make our connections.
When we landed in Charlotte about five minutes after my plane was
scheduled to leave for Birmingham. I still had a glimmer of hope that
the plane would still be there. It was not.
I was quite matter-of-factly told that I would wait two 1/2 hours and
then take a plane to Atlanta where I would wait another two 1/2 hours
to take another plane to Birmingham. When I gasped and asked the lady
if she was sure she told me the only other option was spending the
night in Charlotte. That was out of the question. I wanted to be home.
I called my husband, Charles, but he had already left to go to the
airport to pick me up. I had them leave a message for him in
Birmingham.
I was given a complimentary meal--who wanted to eat? Reality struck at
last. I would be riding on four airplanes instead of just three. My
fear of flying loomed before me and I was almost in tears. I took the
matter to the Lord and found some peace about it.
Well, when I reached Birmingham I was five 1/2 hours late, but the Lord
had given me an opportunity to practice trusting Him for another flight
and I feel rather good about that. I still, however, do not like to fly
to or from Atlanta!
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Inside the PC
Was it a Virus? Beats me!
by Larry Hardeman
I have messed with a lot of hard drives over the past few years and
have came across some rather odd problems associated with hard drives
and the files on them. I must admit, I know very little about the
various types of viruses, but I do understand what they can do to a
system. Normally I get inside the hardware of a machine, and was going
to write on The Pros and Cons of Building Your Own PC, but for various
reasons chose to bore you with my dull past.
I just want to take a few minutes this month to share a couple of
rather odd situations that I have had this year. It shouldn't take me
too long to do this, other than the fact I am typing at a much slower
rate than you are reading.
One really started around two years ago when a commercial customer of
mine (not my customer at that time) was having tons of bad sectors
popping up on the ST-4144 hard drive in their AT computer. Well, they
sent it back to the factory since it was a mail ordered computer still
under warranty and a new ST-4144 drive was installed in the machine. I
think that was during September of 1990.
A few months later, around April or so, the same exact thing started
happening again. Well, through disgust, and this being the system their
accounting was kept on, they ordered a 386SX with a 120 meg IDE drive
from me. We restored the files on the new system from the tape drive
and all was just lovely (we thought).
This past May, the same exact thing began happening again. Now, I have
checked this hard drive for viruses with every program I have and not a
thing has turned up. I had to low level format the drive (DON'T DO THIS
TO AN IDE WITHOUT THE PROPER SOFTWARE!) and then a high level and
install all the software again, and then performed over 100 continuous
diagnostic tests to no avail of hardware problems. So far we have had
no trouble again, but it just seems rather odd that this has happened.
The ST-4144 drive that I removed from the computer over a year ago is
running fine now with totally different software.
Second biggie. Another customer that I sold a computer to in November
of 1991 called me a little over a month ago. The boy was playing a game
and when he went to exit, the machine locked up (286 with 40 meg IDE).
The computer would not reboot, just display the BIOS/RAM check and sit
there without giving any errors.
Well, I go to check it out, not knowing really what to expect. First I
booted from a floppy and then logged onto drive C: and listed the files
and directories. All appeared to be intact. I then tried to run a few
files and every time the machine would lock up, no matter what file I
ran. The batch files and text files were fine. Well, I reinstalled DOS
on the computer and restored the menu and all files in the root
directory and then the computer was booting without the floppy, but
still no files would run.
I got to exploring the hard drive with a shell program and found two
child directories under two different parents with the names of some
Greek alpha characters. Each directory contained one file with a single
Greek character and the size of the file was over a giga-byte. Well,
being on a 40 meg hard drive I knew this was impossible (this isn't
Rocky Rawlins we are talking about - <g>). I tried to delete the two
files and two directories with just about every utility I have and no
success. Some utilities would tell me the file didn't exist while
others would tell me access denied. I then just ran a DOS CHKDSK to see
what would happen. Ah ha, it reported lost chains. So I then ran the
CHKDSK with the /F parameter. The chains began being converted to
files and would fill up the entire drive in just a few seconds.
Being rather late, I finally went to the last resort and formatted the
drive and restored from their last backup of a month or so old. All I
could tell them was that it just had to be some sort of virus that they
had picked up from somewhere. I really didn't know what else to say or
do. I wish I had another drive that I could have spared so I could keep
that for show.
We always hear of viruses and all of us that maintain a BBS scan every
file that we get, but sometimes I wonder if those virus scanning
programs really work. In the past year and a half I have had well over
1,000 files uploaded to my BBS and not the first one has reported a
virus. And, as I mentioned earlier, ran similar programs on the other
systems with no reports of a virus. Surely some of the larger boards
like The Matrix, F/X BBS, Little Kingdom, etc. have experienced a virus
somewhere along the line.
If you have a similar experience or a file laying around that contains
a virus I would like to know more about them. Please drop me a note on
either BCBNet, DixieNet or my BBS. This is an area we could all use a
little more education on and also make an attempt to let others know of
such files before they cause other people heartaches. At this, I will
hush for this month so you can go on and read articles of perhaps more
interest. 'Til next issue, goodbye.
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Why Manodnock Bible Conference?
by Mary Parker
Why do I set out each July for a long journey to New Hampshire? Why
would a Southern Baptist want to go that far away from home to study
about God?
I believe that the Bible Conference in Jaffrey Center, NH is very
special. This is a week set aside for blind people throughout the
United States to come together and worship God and make friends.
We begin each morning with a thirty-minute devotional. The "head guide"
reads from the Bible and then we take turns praying about whatever is
on our minds at that time. After the devotional we have breakfast
(strange Northern food) and prepare to begin our day.
At 9:15 A.M. each day we have a Bible study. The study this year was on
"The Nearness of the Rapture." First we sing and have special music and
then a Baptist minister teaches the Bible. It is great and quite
informative.
Other activities in the day include listening to tapes about spiritual
temperaments, reading time from a book, crafts, swimming, hiking,
boating, bread making, shopping and various other things.
We are met when we arrive by a person who is our "guide" for the week.
We basically have one sighted person act as guide for two blind
persons. This comes in handy when we go shopping but rather limits my
independence at other times. But they are getting accustomed to me.
In the evenings we have a worship service which includes great music
and singing and then a message. We had three different speakers, all of
whom are ministers.
Two times during the week we have Talent Night. There is more talent
there than one can easily imagine. We have poets, singers, people who
play flutes, trumpets, piano, organ, accordion and probably other
instruments I can't remember now. My roommate had unusual instruments,
a train whistle, a very strange noise maker she wore on her wrist, and
other things which are still undefined to me. She was probably the life
of the week.
I use this week to get away from my hectic job and take time out to
worship God in an atmosphere where I am very comfortable. I am looking
forward to next July when I shall again, God willing, be on my way to
New Hampshire and my very good friends.
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User's Survey: What it's All About
By Michael Davidson
It's time for the first BCBN users survey! Here's how it works: you,
the user will log on to any Christian BBS in town and answer the
questions. If it is a Wildcat! BBS, we know right now that you can
answer a script questionnaire. As for the other types of BBS's, we will
either make out a questionnaire or put it in the format of a message.
What follows is the questions followed by the official BCBN editor's
endorsements followed by the rules. We realize with only five issues and
around six BBS's pickings are slim, but we know you'll come through.
1. What is your favorite article in an issue of BCBN?
Editors' Pick: New Age Music by Harry Jones (3rd issue). This article
was very informative and taught us many things we frankly had no clue
about! Thanks Harry!
2. Who is your favorite BCBN writer?
Editors' Pick: Harry Jones. We have enjoyed his articles and help in
producing the newsletter.
3. What is your favorite issue of BCBN?
Editors' Pick: The 5th issue. We just like this one.
4. What is your favorite monthly column/section?
Editors' Pick: Computers for Christ (submitted by Harry Jones). These
weren't written by a local author, but they sure are informative and
teach us more about our faith.
5. Who is your favorite editor?
Editors' Pick: Disputed endorsement. We just couldn't decide. Ricky or
Michael? Back and forth over the phone. We left this one in the air for
you guys to decide.
6. What is your favorite non-Christian BBS?
Editors' Pick: The Joker's Castle. A friendly sysop and a conference
all our own make this a favorite place to stop for these editors.
7. What is your favorite Christian BBS?
Editors' Pick: Hardeman's Christian BBS. The official support BBS for
BCBN! What else!
8. What Christian BBS's message base is your favorite?
Editors' Pick: Hardeman's Christian BBS! (Both editors have their own
conference there.)
9. What is your favorite door game on a Christian BBS?
Editors' Pick: Esterian Conquest. Locally authored, played worldwide.
Best door game ever.
10. What is your favorite file section on a Christian BBS?
Editors' Pick: Pooh's Korner. Great selection compressed with ARJ, the
compression utility of choice for BCBN editors.
11. Who is the best sysop of a Christian BBS? (We don't want any hard
feelings about this question. It's all in fun.)
Editors' Pick: Larry Hardeman. Larry played an important part in
getting this newsletter off the ground and for that we are eternally
grateful.
12. What is your favorite BBS software?
Editors' Pick: PCBoard. 'Nuff said.
13. What kind of computer do you own (and be specific!)?
Editors' Pick: Personally, I own a 386/SX and Ricky uses a 286. That's
what we mean by be specific. We just want to know what kind of
processor.
14. How old are you? (Optional question, obviously.)
Editors' pick: I'm 13 and Ricky's 14.
15. What denomination are you?
Editors' Pick: I am an Episcopalian, in other words I belong to the
Anglican church or the Church of England. Whatever. Ricky is Baptist.
16. What is your favorite conference on a Christian BBS?
Editors' Pick: Why, the official BCBN Production conference, of course!
17. What is your favorite conference on a non-Christian BBS?
Editors' Pick: The Teens conference on Joker's Castle.
18. What is your favorite network that is carried in the Birmingham
area?
Editors' pick: BCBNet, obviously. (We'll get canned if we don't endorse
that one.)
19. What is your favorite Christian BBS newsletter in the Birmingham
area?
Editors' pick: What do you think?
Finally, the last question:
20. How do you feel about the recent allegations against one of the
BCBN editors that dealt with the infamous wood-chip-and-reclining-chair
incident?
Editors' Pick: One of our lawyers tells one of us to decline to
comment.
Note: If you do not wish to answer a question, just put 0 if the BBS
tells you you have to respond. Don't worry, we'll know what you mean!
That's it for the questions. Now for the rules. Basically, don't vote
for yourself or anything you wrote. Other than that, anything goes
(especially for question #20). The results will be published in a
future issue of BCBN, hopefully the next (depending on response).
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Birmingham Christian BBS Numbers
Name Number SysOp
Hardeman's Christian BBS 640-6436 Larry Hardeman
Pooh's Korner 980-8710 Eddie Dake
The Word 833-2831 Rod Lewis
The Family Smorgas-Board 744-0943 Randall Dickerson
The Medicine Man BBS 664-5662 Jesse Massengill
The Christian Apologetic Board 808-0763 Jeff Brumlow
Thanks for your support of BCBN through the half-year we've had it
going! We're looking forward to seeing you all at the meeting on
August 22!
Ricky Eanes and Michael Davidson
The Fabulous Flying Iguanas!
(that edit in their spare time)
