Module development and code questions

I would like to define a block with content depending on the taxonomy of the current node (basically I have defined a taxonomy of travel places used in my blog and want to add a block to the sidebar with a map of that country). I think that I can figure out how to display the block (using a .module file) etc, but I'm having difficulty in finding out what the taxonomy of the current node is. This almost seems an FAQ, but I cannot quite find the answer I'm looking for in the forums.

I'm developing a module called Discussion Polls. You can see an example of this module at:

http://progressivereader.org/?q=node/75

I'm using HTML tables as part of the Drupal form, but obviously the lines aren't the same style as the rest of the Drupal Theme.

This might be a RTFM situation, but is there a way to get the table to use the Drupal theme line style? Or should I fall back to using HTML div blocks and adding those to the Drupal theme?

I'm having difficulty with this problem using the theme editor module. I create a new theme based off an old one, but it does not show up in the list of themes to potentially enable. Does anyone have any ideas how to make the modified theme appear so I can enable it.

Any help would be appreciated.

So far I've written a few modules for my own purposes by the simple expedient of hacking what other people have done (one day I'll write a book called "Plagiarism as a force for progress"!). Now I'm trying to do something starting from scratch, and boy is it not that obvious!!

I have successfully got a little baby module to display a form to a page, like this

I am wondering why Drupal is creating folders (temp, tmp, images-- from the image module, etc) inside my files directory that do not allow me to access and browse their contents. I want the permissions to allow this, especially since I am needing to troubleshoot how image_assist is handling (or not handling) images within these directories. Any insight into this phenomenon would be greatly appreciated.

What is the status of the Xstatic module? Has Keith dropped the issue or is it stuck in the pipeline?

See http://drupal.org/node/15223 for more information on Xstatic

Jim