...here: http://thatrswebsite.blogspot.com/

See you there!

Sometimes I wish my site had automated updates, but alas it is all hand coded until such day arrives that I learn (or can be bothered) to do this, or stop using Frontpage 2003 (yeah, I know... you can stop laughing now).

Anyway, I decided today to add a news feed to the site. Now this was something I had on my old faithnet.org.uk site, but I tried to be too ambitious there - something not good with a hand-coded site - so it kind of fell by the wayside (as most things over there did).

So today I decided to re-add this facility to the site, but of course this required me to add the rss/xml code to each page of the site BY HAND!

Oh well, at least it makes keeping people informed about the site that little bit easier...

*** You can subscribe to my news feed by visiting any page on my website, and then clicking on the RSS symbol in your browser window. ***

I just saw out this trailer online, and it got me thinking about how 10 years ago I hit a crisis with regard to Christmas - I no longer believed in buying excessive amounts of gifts for people and I no longer believed in swapping like-for-like amounts in gift vouchers... Basically I no longer believed in the commercial spirit of Christmas!

And you know what, I soon found out that I was not the only one in my family who was fed up being constantly bombarded with the message that we must buy, buy, BUY...

...Nope! Sorry, Mr/Mrs/Ms Retailer  - I'm not going to do that anymore!!!

It took a few years for the rest of my family to 'convert', but when they did it was like an epiphany. It was like chains had fallen from them - like they had been released from some consumer prison... It was true Enlightenment!

Of course, in saying that we still buy gifts at Christmas, and we also make sure the kids get some fun stuff - but we do it in a more responsible manner now. Also, we no longer go craaazy buying gifts for every adult member of the clan. Instead, we only buy for people in our immediate family, and we only do so by process of a secret Santa draw...

Basically we write down the names of everyone in our immediate family (not including distant aunts, uncles or cousins), and then we each draw out one name (in secret) and then buy (only them) a gift up to or around the value of ten quid ($20).

That's it... One gift - one person - ten quid!

So on Christmas day, everyone gets a gift for around the same value, bought by someone secretly. The real fun of this is not only trying to work out who bought the gift, but also having to be creative in trying to find something people will like (or need) on a limited budget. Most of the time we buy fun gifts, but people have been known to find some great bargains on a budget...

A tonne of fun and maybe one way to break the spirit of commersialism this Christmas!

Yesterday I said I was waiting to hear about the birth of my new nephew... Well, he was born safe and well at 8.20pm (GMT) - Sweet! 

I finally got the new site updates live and online today. There's a new section, a new interview, a new review and also (finally) a new lesson. So much stuff - I hope you have some time to check it all out.

And having worked hard on the site, I'm now going to have a little rest and paint a door! 

Yesterday my sister in law and brother went into hospital for the birth of their second child...

Now when me and my missus were going to hospital for the birth of ours, the one thing we did not want to do was to call people to let them know 'We're on the way...'. Call us cruel or mean-spirited, but our first thoughts were only ever about getting to the hospital safetly, and to remain focussed and clear-headed about the coming hours...

And here's another reason why I do not like people telling others 'We're on the way'... It is because having woken up this morning and checked email, I find I have no messages, nor do I have any text message nor any message on the home phone to let me know what is going on. So now I'm sitting here wondering (and worrying) about what is going on, and how things are going (I think this blog entry is therapeutic).

Yet if I had not been told that they were 'On their way' yesterday, I would have simply woken up this morning, got my coffee, checked email, looked at a few news sites, played with my son for a bit all unaware of the events going on elsewhere.

And then at some point today I would have had lovely the surprise of being told that I am an uncle again...

Oh well!

Halloween is HUGE in the USA, but not so in the UK. I wonder why that is.

I grew up in the UK going to a church where Halloween was seen as a day associated with all things evil, wicked and Satanic. Yet here in the USA - where many people profess a Christian faith and religious moral sentiments run high - they have their kids running around getting candy from all manner of people, pumpkins are carved and put outside homes, people dress up, parties are held and basically the day is merchandised to death!

It is a strange state of affairs...

Oh, also strange is that we spend 364 days of the year telling our kids not to take candy from strangers, yet on Halloween we tell them it is perfectly okay to do that!

Happy Halloween everyone!

I got asked this question today by someone leaving feedback about my website:

"Is all your information on this website genuine and supported by documentation, or is this basic opinion?"

Well firstly, the fact that someone actually asked this question shows how little they know of the subjects I write about. I mean, if you knew anything about religious, theological or moral issues, they surely you would see very quickly from the articles I write that this is not solely my own opinion, but that all my articles are comprehensively researched (with a little bit of me in there now and again).

I also have an extensive library of theological, philosophical and moral textbooks (much to my wife's dismay), so yes I do have 'documentation' to back up what I am writing here.

Also, that I review books for the site now and again should give the casual reader some indication that I do read - rather than just write - about things!

But the thing that really galls me is that I can only assume that this person did not really bother to take a look around the site to see what evidence there for this being an academic rather than personal venture...

Maybe they missed this statment in the FAQ section, '[You are not free] to claim this original work as your own. I have spent many hours researching, writing and producing all the content you find here'. It is very frustrating when people miss such obvious references.

Oh, I should add that I do not post bibliographies or extensively referenced footnotes for my articles any more. I used to, but then I thought how easy it would be for someone to cut and paste my work, make a few changes, and then claim it as their own. If you want to do that, go and buy an essay rather take advantage of people (like me) who work hard to provide original content for free...

I'm ranting - I know, and I apologise - but my point is this. Any lazy git can cobble together a site composed of their own ideas and opinions about religious and moral issues, but I do hope that people using my site can see that this is not something I have done here...

I've been neglecting my blog - sorry about that - but I have had some friends visiting recently so it has been hard to find time to write and do stuff for the site.

However, I am here again and with another tale to tell.

Thought I would tell you (my faithful reader) about my visit to a bar last week. I decided to get some of my soccer team out for a drink at a local bar, where we found out they were having a karaoke night. Now my missus and 3 month old son were also in attendance, as were other wives and girlfriends. Of course, being the highly social and attention seeking individual that I am, I decided to get the proceedings underway by giving all present a rendition of Duran Duran's Rio...

Now to say that my version of this song was unique - is an understatement! However, I 'sang' and 'danced' my way through the track to the amusement of my friends, and the rest of the bar people.

A few songs in and someone drew my attention to a fellow on the stage, who had just got up and had dedicated his song to the 'best singer... the Rio guy!'...

And having done so he then started to sing Glass Tiger's Don't Forget me When I'm Gone...

I have been undertaking a slight overhaul of the site... In particular, I decided that I should really get all the videos I have made and stick them together on one page. Okay, so my grand total of eight vids (so far) do not make me a prolific filmmaker (do I get points for using the word 'prolific' there), but having to trapse around my site looking for them (if you even knew they existed) is not much fun. I have also made some slight admin. changes to other aspects of the site - but nothing anyone would notice unless they were a computer-geek-code fan...

... and now my 14 week old son has just decided to spit up all over me - oh great!