Written on 4:53 PM by Walski69
This is my second attempt at using the iPad to draft a blog post out. The first one was to myAsylum. This time around, I'm posting this without using the usual template as a starting point, and test-posting it to this blog instead.
So, let's see how it looks...
Okay, except that the template stuff - like Technorati tags and the break-in-the post aren't included. Workaround? To keep the template permanently in drat, then copy it across whenever I need to post something new. A bit tedious having to compose in HTML, but until BloggerPlus has a WYSIWYG editor, or until the day Blogger comes out with an iPad app, this method will have to do.
It will definitely make it easier to blog on the go...
Read more!
Posted in
Blogging,
miscellaneous
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Written on 2:52 PM by Walski69
Technorati tags: Translation, Bahasa Malaysia, Musawah, myAsylum
The following is an English translation of a press release issued by the Pulau Pinang (Penang) branch of the Malaysian Ulama Association (PUMPP). The original Bahasa Malaysia version of the release can be found here (via the PUMPP blog). This translation is referenced to in a posting on myAsylum, related to PUMPP's objection to the Musawah Global Meeting, currently being held in Kuala Lumpur.
PUMPP CONDEMNS MUSAWAH THAT BRINGS THE LIBERAL ISLAM AGENDA TO MALAYSIA AND CHALLENGES BASIC PRINCIPLES OF ISLAM
The Pulau Pinang branch of the Malaysian Ulama Association hereby strongly condemns the ‘Musawah’ program, i.e. Global Movement for Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family, organized by the major Malaysian proponent of the deviant Islam Liberal, Sisters in Islam (SIS). The Musawah meeting is seen to wish to challenge the many basic principles of Islam, particularly in the area of syariah laws pertaining to women and family, that have been agreed upon and accepted by the consensus of eminent ulama.
This meeting is expected to be attended by various Liberal Muslim personalities whom the eminent Islamic ulama find objectionable. Those who will attend include Muhammad Khalid Masud, chairman of the Islamic Ideology Council of Pakistan, Farida Bennani from Morocco, Sana Benachour (Tunisia), Hussein Muhammad (Indonesia), Ziba Mir-Hosseini (Britain), Zainah Anwar (Malaysia), Siti Musdah Mulia (Indonesia) and Nur Rofia (Indonesia), plus non-Muslim activists like Cassandra Balchin (UK), and many more.
200 Muslim Liberalists have been invited from 40 countries, and will meet at the 5-star The Prince Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, on February 13, 2009, to attend the 5 day meeting. This closed-door meeting also does not allow participation from any party other than those by their closed invitation. PUMPP sees this well-funded meeting as possibly being supported by Western interests with the intention of liberalizing Islam, and hopes that the authorities will investigate the source of funding for the program.
This meeting will also give a negative perception of Malaysia, which may be seen as a country practicing Shariah laws that discriminate against women, especially when the meeting will be brought to the attention of representatives from the United Nations, with the presence of Professor Yakin Erturk (The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women), who will officially launch the meeting.
(the rest of the translation, in the full post)
PUMPP also criticizes the presence of national leaders for the offical launch of the program as not referring beforehand to the national religious authorities in the country, such as Jakim and the Council of Muftis.
Work papers and workshops that are to be conducted during the meeting are seen to have the intention of reinterpreting al-Quran and al-Hadith from women’s perspectives, that which are said to have been male biased all this while. Musawah will likely present issues pertaining to male/female equality within Islamic families, through laws such as polygamy, faraid (inheritance distribution), wife obedience, permission to leave the home, female aurat (parts of the body that must be covered), etc. These laws are likely to be challenged, contravening all the commandments brought by al-Quran and al-Sunnah.
PUMPP also hopes that non-Muslim groups and communities are not influenced by these Liberal Islam groups’ propaganda and will not interfere in matters of faith and principles of Islamic teachings, just as Islam teaches its followers to not interfere, and to respect teachings of other religions, as is stated in the Quran:
لَكُمْ دِينُكُمْ وَلِيَ دِينِ
(109:6) Unto you, your religous law, and unto me, mine!
Therefore, PUMPP condemns the implementation of this program, and sees it as potentially further damaging the faith of Muslims in Malaysia, leading to disunity of the Muslim community, and lead to a wrong perception of Islam by all parties, including the world community present, who will look at the developments in Malaysia.
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Posted in
Language,
Malaysia,
miscellaneous
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Written on 12:24 AM by Walski69
Technorati tags: Video, Dugong, Baby Dugong
Been a long while since anything's been posted here. Blogger recently provided the functionality to test run new applications they're developing for the platform. It's called Blogger in Draft.
This is a test of some of the new features introduced to Blogger. Just a post to test 'em out. This is the new Video gadget.
Most of you following the main myAsylum blog will probably have seen this before on YouTube. It's about the death of a baby Dugong (Manatee) that was found injured, and kept in captivity at an island resort off the coast of Terengganu, Malaysia. Presumably, the videos are stored on the Blogger servers.
Verdict? Not too bad, except that the sound reproduction isn't all that fantastic. Had the same problem with YouTube when I uploaded it there. Plays great in Windows Media Player, though. The other bad part is the time it takes to upload a video. Looks like myAsylum will probably continue to use the usual method - upload to YouTube.
On the sidebar, you'll see a poll, which will be set up after this post has been completed. I'll be testing some of the new functionalities, as and when they're released.
Posted in
Blog Design,
Layout,
miscellaneous
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Written on 11:28 AM by Walski69
Technorati tags: Humor, myAsylum, Blogging
Lately, Walski's noticed that this test blog has been getting a few hits. Nice.
But really, unless you're interested in the pains of getting the New Blogger to work the way Walski wanted to earlier this year, there's really nothing much of interest here. myAsylum, Walski's primary blog, is much more interesting.
Stay here as long as you want, though.... no harm in that whatsoever.
Posted in
miscellaneous,
Thoughts
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Written on 12:44 PM by Walski69
Technorati tags: myAsylum, Redesign, New Blogger
Finally the task is now complete, and the new layout has just been implemented on the main myAsylum blog. There are still a few tweaks to do, but the biggest headache is now over.
Walski can now concentrate on content, which has been neglected for the past week or so.
And what is to become of this blog? Well, it shall remain as Walski's testing and playground to try out other bits and bobs. Maybe this blog may evolve into a blog-design related site... who knows.
One lesson learned, however. Doing a full template save does not save widget contents. Perhaps what Walski forgot to do was to expand the widgets first before saving - maybe that's the reason why a number of things did not copy across to myAsylum as expected.
That, therefore shall be the next experiment... and another thing Walski just noticed... the timezone settings for this blog are incorrect as well... oh well, live and learn, eh?
Posted in
Blog Design,
Layout,
miscellaneous
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Written on 2:21 AM by Walski69
Technorati tags: Layout, Blog, Blogger
One of the features implemented that should enable this template to go live is the Expandable Post Summary feature. This post tests it.
(let's see if this works, in the full post)
If all goes well, this portion of the post should not appear on the main page.
Posted in
Blog Design,
Layout,
miscellaneous
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Written on 11:39 AM by Walski69
Technorati tags: Blogging, Layout, Design
Changed the layout to 3-column, and adjusted the coloring. This looks closer to what the envisioned new myAsylum will look like. Target implementation: by January 21 - myAsylum's first anniversary.
Posted in
Blog Design,
Layout,
miscellaneous
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Written on 7:02 PM by Walski69
Technorati tags: Blog, Design, Pain
Looks like it's gonna be more work before the template can actually go live. Will probably also use 3rd party code for the Adsense ads (more flexibility on formats).
Posted in
miscellaneous,
rantings,
Thoughts
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Written on 6:26 PM by Walski69
Technorati tags: Miscellaneous, Rantings, Thoughts
First success - putting a picture in the header. Now we next try to change the text size and case orientation, just like in the original myAsylum.
Posted in
miscellaneous,
rantings,
Thoughts
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Written on 6:16 PM by Walski69
Technorati tags: Miscellaneous, Rantings, Thoughts
This be the new look, trying to be just like the old look... in time, it will happen. In time.
If that didn't make any sense whatsoever, I don't blame you... This blog was created as a companion site to myAsylum, where I test changes to be made to that site before implementing them.
These would include changes to templates/blog-skins, new widgets, new CSS/xHTML/HTML constructs, etc. Occassionally, it will also touch on neat services that I may consider adding (or have added) to myAsylum.
While not a technology blog, per se, it does touch on blogging technology. Since knowing how to manipulate scripting languages is a pre-requisite to creating attractive looking blogs (or at least I think so), I created this site also as a means to learn more about programming in these languages.
The template used here will change quite frequently, as and when I find new neat layouts to test out... So don't be surprised if the next time you happen by for a visit, it will look like a totally different blog!
Posted in
Blog Design,
miscellaneous,
rantings,
Thoughts
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