Tweaking The Moral Maze article has taught me allot. Since it was just one page I thought I'd test out a few of my CSS skills (Not much really). Managed to suss-out how to make the page only print black text (No images whatsoever) on a white background, it saves wasting expensive coloured ink for anyone who wants to print off the page. You can test it without printing it off just go to "file/print preview" on a PC or "file/print - (Preview button) - on a Mac. O yes, and remember, not this page but only the ‘Moral Maze’ page has had this feature added, it wont work here, I intend to add these features to the whole site sometime in the future, especially the iPhone CSS sheet (below)

I also added another CSS sheet for people who view the page on an iPhone, as the print CSS sheet it excludes any images (apart from the background image in this case) as I'm guess it will take ages to download images on any phone.

So this little site is doing me the World of good. I study daily the Word of God for the Topics Page and my Blogs, I soon should upload a Topic or two. Then on the other hand I'm studying web design so that I can put my Topics and Blogs on a half decent site. I win all round. And maybe when I'm over this M.E. I can have a decent feather under my cap.

This CSS stuff is cool, I've started to read a book on DOM Scripting and am looking forward to learning it, it teaches the basics of JavaScript and how you can target the scripts to certain CSS/(X)HTML elements. My only concern is - is it God's Will for me to be learning all this Web stuff? If I don't learn it then I can't build a site and make my material accessible the the public but then, maybe the Lord wants me to do something else. But what else can I do laying in bed with M.E.? I do wonder at times if I should just study study and study some more but then studying to add to this site is such an incentive so maybe I'm not too far off the mark. At least I'm not just laying here watching the TV all day, I made sure of that by not purchasing a license and removing the ariel cable from my home.

One last thing, I just discovered my Macintosh Powerbook will read selected text out to me, this is really helpful as hearing my material read out to me helps me find all those spelling mistakes and bad grammar, alright, well most of it. 

Grrrrr... I knew it would wind-me-up if I listened to it!   But I just had to.   I had my doubts if Melanie Philips would be invited to attend this week when discussing the ‘Gay Issue’, I was hopeful all the same. Unfortunately my fears were soon realized, she obviously hadn't been asked to appear on the panel this week.

If only they had been one real Bible believing Christian on the panel who feared God and believed in His Word then maybe the program would have been more interesting than frustrating! Clifford Longley was the one they held-up as the ‘believer’ however I'm not exactly sure what he believes in... he certainly wasn't prepared to stick-his-neck-out and say that practicing homosexuality was a sin as does the Word of God. However, maybe there are set rules on how a panelist should approach the set subject, Hmm...
One thing I have to say though, “it must take allot of courage to sit before those four seasoned panelists, epecially on a show as popular as The Moral Maze”.

Anyway, I've written ‘way’ too much   about the program to place it on my regular blog so here's a link to my ramblings on >>> The Moral Maze.

I have to admit that I am a little confused by to the fact that some Muslim women wear a head covering yet others do not, why some wear the full face and eye covering yet others are content to simply cover their hair, and further, why this is such an issue in some cultures that for those who refuse to wear the full face covering, they run the ‘real’ risk having acid thrown in their face! All I have heard is that the Koran states that Muslim women should dress modestly as does the Bible regarding Christian women...

If this is true, that all the Koran has to say on this matter is that women are to ‘dress modestly’ then I fail to understand why some hold to it so fanatically and am interested in what they base this fanaticism on, especially in societies where it causes problems, not only for the wearer herself but especially for those communities amongst whom they live. Maybe they are referring to extra-Koranic literature and this is the basis and authority by which they make their stand? There have been problems in what some ‘erroneously’ call ‘Christianity’ when people prefer to hold onto other's writings rather than the Bible itself, text such as the writings of so called “Latter-day Prophets” (Joseph Smith, Ellen G White and The Watchtower etc...).

Much of the British media often portrays Muslim women in ‘The West’ as victims being forced to wear a head covering by their male family members, obviously if this is the case it is an abuse and should not be tolerated, yet I think we can agree that there are many who wear a covering by choice.

Thinking back to my youth I can still recall how out of shear ‘rebellion’ I would wear certain clothes to identify what group I wanted to be identified with, my Sister as a Punk was a very good example of this. The more people were shocked or offended by what you wore the more you enjoyed being identified with that group and all it represented. By dressing differently this made a big impact at almost no expense and was very visual, and at times intentionally offensive. By doing this it did seem to relieve some of the internal anger and so had some positive effects. It also felt good to visually snub the society you so despised. I can't help wondering if there is an element of this going on regarding Islam and the full head covering and that is why the Koranic verse on ‘dressing modestly’ has been taken to such extremes. If this is the case then there maybe a small element of Muslim women that are simply trying to express their distain for Western society. With all the pornography, drunkenness and the likes in The West you can understand why some wish to disassociate themselves with the West and some of it's ‘new’ values (which Christians do not agree with either) but still, is it Islamic? as many like to confirm or just some visually expressing their opinion?

For those who wish to identify themselves with Islam and it's values by wearing the Hijab, Khimar or the Chador where the whole face is visible, I have no issue at all but for those wishing to wear the Niqab and Burqa where either only the eyes are visible or in the case of the Burqa, nothing is visible at all, then I do feel there is a grievance to be aired.

If I greet a friend or family member or come to think of it - anyone! I can immediately tell how I should approach them, I have the benefit in being able to see if they are upset, worried or troubled. Having access to that information allows me to approach them in a certain way. If asking directions in a strange town most offer me the decency of allowing me to read their mood etc... and to decide who to ask and how to approach them. When talking to someone on a ‘touchy’ subject I will know in moments if I have offended them or brought them close to tears and adjust my conversation accordingly or even apologize for upsetting them. Through looking at facial expressions I can gain an enormous amount of information. I can wave to a neighbour across the street and run over to greet them, I can rebuke someone and know when I have got my point across and so relent. The one I am talking to can warn me off talking about a certain subject with just a glance, a red flush can tell me immediately that I have embarrassed someone. These are ‘in the West’, if not most of the World, fundamental rights that we all share with one another that allow us to build friendships and communities, this we are denied by some who are basically saying “yes we live among you but we want little to do with you, keep your distance”. If any are having their rights denied, in this case it is not the Muslims who wear these coverings but everyone else. Where these are willfully worn with, as I can see it, no real scriptural backing, I can only conclude there is anger, hatred or simply a misunderstanding of the culture they live. However, isolating ones self so that you are unable to build helpful and beneficial relationships can only build on that problem.

The last picture in this blog says it all for me, just look at the flow of information coming from this girl! Which of those in the photo is approachable? Which one has understood your humour, did your humour offend any of the others? Who likes you and who dislikes you? How should you approach the others? As adults or children? Your guess is as good as mine, life itself is all about relationships but how can we enjoy and relate with people we can not fully communicate with? How can we build bridges or resolve problems when we are denied these fundamental rights?

Just realized that the links were not working at the top of this page, so I have corrected them. Plus as you may have noticed, I have placed a sidebar on the right-hand-side to hold links to all of my many archive blogs. One to date! 

I've just purchased the book "DOM Scripting" and am looking to try-out some JavaScript on this site soon. Not really sure what I'll be able to use it for but everyone seems to go on about it so I thought I'd give it a go.

My Bible studies hit a bit of a ‘Bad Patch’ recently , unfortunately it happens every now and then. I certainly can not blame it all on this M.E. although it doesn't help it is not the real issue. I find that to be able to study productively I need to be in ‘The Word’ regularly and to read a good chunk of Scripture each every day, not necessarily even Scripture that relates to my present studies but just Scripture.

When I do this and then make the time to study, then my studies generally go well and are not only productive but help me grow in the knowledge and grace of God, however, if I try to study without feeding off His Word... everything tends to fall apart. In other words I need to abide in Him, Jesus and eat my daily food, without it I can do nothing. By the Way, as a matter of interest. That relates to the name of this site, Esculent. Here is one dictionaries definition:

“fit to be eaten; edible.”

I was given the name in a dream after a couple of weeks of asking in prayer, but that's another story...