I have a freebie, no-frills kind of counter here. Mostly, it's so I can see what kind of weirdos are doing strange searches that might bring up my blog, and modify word choices accordingly. Also, because I'm obsessive about lists and facts. I love that I can see that you checked on my blog from the Oregon State higher education computers at 2:36 p.m. on Tuesday, or that I can play the internet version of looking for other state license plates on the road by seeing what nations or states my readers hail from, or learning that you found my blog because of a search using the keywords: tatted holy leaves.

However, it seems that there are some folks in the backwoods of Oregon, who have been looking into the sunrise so long that their vision is spotty. No matter. Welcome to my new readers, nonetheless.

It's interesting how the word fundamentalist is used as an epithet. I do not describe myself as a fundamentalist Christian, because it is a specifically defined movement with which I have some rather strident theological differences. I imagine the feeling is mutual, that a strict fundamentalist would be glad to hear I don't call myself one, and would also have some serious reservations about the theology our family holds. All disagreements with the religious movement in America aside, however, the term fundamentalist, in and of itself, is not a negative. As I understand it, even the religious movement began as a return to the fundamentals of the faith, which is not a bad thing. Someone who might be called a mathematics fundamentalist is not some power hungry maniac who is trying to ruin my life by getting me to balance my checkbook on a regular basis, and forcing me to take calculus, but someone who understands and follows the principles mathematics and seeks to clarify the departures from strict mathematical theory.

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