This past weekend I had the opportunity to see the most amazing thing in the whole universe. The amazing thing was the “Bodies exhibition†by a Chinese company. The exhibition was of a real human body. The bodies were preserved with acetone. I was able to see the world greatest exhibition of the human body from tissues to organs to a whole body system. I was able to see the four different primary tissues; from the muscles cells to the connective tissues. Have you ever seen a 6-week-old baby in a test tube? This is by far the best of human anatomy and physiology. I was amazed how Allah has built the human body. This is not the average Anatomy class visualization. This company will be in New York, London and Tampa . I would recommend each and every one of you to go and see it. And please take your kids with you, but make sure when you are explaining to them the anatomy of the reproduction part, you do it in a more biological terms (or more of a professional way) . Wonders of our Body

Dear SOL Ladies, I know this is my look like little girl talk chitchat to you.But please bear with me. I have a friend whom I am concern of her health and bodily physique. I have been watching this girl add more pounds every year. I cannot bring myself to warn her to loose some weight. The weight is making her unattractive and unhealthy too. I have more than once tried to bring up my concern, but I could not bring myself to do it. I know weight issues are sensitive arena for most women. What I want to know is if there is a more politically correct way to advice someone to watch his or her weight without making the person feel bad and you looking like a judgmental prick . Your's distressed freind

Congratulation Besbeso! You are the first winner of literature quiz.You got 7 out of 8 right.Emily Dickinson did not published ten poems in her lifetime.But you got close to the number, which practically make any guess you make closer to the real answer.In one of your answer I have an objection to it.We may need an outside help since I am English litreture rookie.In the Irish legend Deidre, the heroine sixth gift is needlework.But I let you have that one until I get someone else object to it.As for now lets wait until tomorrow and see if anyone can object to that answer too. I will send one of my old literature textbook to any of your charity organization of your choice PS You better be a US local; the brother can't afford overseas shipping and handling fees

A friend of mine from college who was into literature stuff has often quizzed my literature IQ through email. I must admit that I have lately developed the hobby of reading more literature novels. I never had the chance to read literature text in college due to my science background load. I would like to share with you guys some of the questions he used to ask me. This is how this quiz will work. If you answer most of the questions, I will donate one literature textbook to any charity organization of your choice . 1. What family was depicted in John Steinbeck monumental novel about the plight of dust bowl? 2. Who wrote the satirical collections of stories about New York called the four million? 3. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is to Sherlock Holmes as Dorothy L. Sawyer is to what? 4. In Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice what woman is known for her shrewd lawyerly mind 5. How many poems were published in Emily Dickinson lifetime? (she has a total of 1800 poems) 6. Which play did the British government banned due to its hint of insanity of George III 7. In the Irish legend Deirdre , the Heroine has six gift most desired by woman, can you name the six gift? 8. What was Samuel Clemens pen name? 9. Who was the author of this line “ I saw the best of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked†Disclaimer: The terms and conditons of the game are subject to change.I personally did not write the above quiz. I do not have the answers to some of the questions. But it will be fun if we all find out together. :cool: PS To the cheaters; honesty is the best policy. We are all learning together

Okay all under age could you please close your eyes for one minute? Islam is a religion that encourages prolific reproduction of many children as much as Allah can bless you with.I have read in a book that the prophet companions used to practice coitus interuptus in the time of the prophet.This is a process where you place the sperms outside when ejaculating.Now in some schools of thought this is considered offensive.If ejaculation outside was practice back then, is there possibility that condom is another form of safe sex without pregnancy.In any case I am the last person should listen to in religion matters.Hope someone will help you.But as a health advocate I think condoms are safe way to stop the spread of sexual intercourse diseases.

SB, what ticked me off was how some of the response looked like I was projecting the Arabs as a bad people. It is important to realize that I need an anger management. Don’t we learn so many new developments in our lives? One can not truly get to know a person through few and scanty words he writes on a forum. This might be a sign to you and the rest that a person can come out with quite colorful personalities (highly inflexible one) . PS Joining Jack Daniel's counselling is in line for me...

Zzz…oh sorry what were we talking about? Oh yeah, human rights violation. Where in the loving hell did SB got the word hate? I guess you don’t get it! He just heaves on the screen to show that he can write complete nonsense to stir some reaction. I am sensing something amiss here. Who is pointing a fault here just to make the Arabs look bad, ha?

^^^^I wondered what possibly possessed our brother/sister to make that comment. As I skimmed through his comment, I was left to chuckle at his point and perhaps interjected a comment too soon without looking too closely behind the irony of his words .

Zafiir, how so am I asking for damn too much? By telling the Arab world to become more humane? Who is playing the demonic role here, saaxiib? I am not suggesting a transplant of an alien ideology in redefining Arab society that has some laws that looks like ancient civilization laws. Don’t you see how this incident violates all human right shared by both secular and religious laws? I am sure that Islam does clearly commands us to establish justice by rendering our trusts, authority, rights, and respect to whomever they are due. I will make myself clear one more time. There is a big possibility that this is an isolated incident and that not every khamis wearing Arab is responsible for such a heinous crime against humanity. But this is not the first time I heard such kind of crime committed against poor Muslims/Christians from developing nations.

Welcome to the Somali version of “the lost art of political argumentâ€. Before I take a stab on the distinguished scholar article let me first state his arguments: 1. DR Pham is Appealing to the Christians 2. He is not a credible person on the subject of Somaliland 3. He is a part of foreign pseudo-Somali experts 4. He has some unknown interest in Somaliland 5. Since he spelled the word Qhat instead of Khat , it seems a little fishy that he is being under the guidance of some intoxicated Somalilander No one has the monopoly of knowledge in any academic argument. Every one in SOL political forum would agree with me that people argue against one another to see who is more reasonable by weighting their points. I am sorry to note that the distinguished scholar above did not in any way analyze and evaluate the various arguments the professor made; instead, the distinguished scholar succumbed to petty quarreling type response. Now I know some of you might think that I support Somaliland (or I used to support Somaliland Cause) I might be bias in my assessment. I would like you to read the image Mr. Hirad is portraying in his rebuttal before any emotional impact inspires you to dismiss me. .I understand the only substantial point the author is accusing DR Pham with is his lack of understanding the organization of the Somali community. Does anyone really need to be from Somalia to discuss the politics of Somalia? The attack on DR Pham character is really a distraction from the real issue our distinguished scholar was supposed to discuss. PS I gave up on commenting on any Somali political issue.It is only that I have hard time getting a sleep tonight due to a stomach fever that I decided to respond here.

Bishita tell me if this ain't what you want to hear ? - check this out: -This is a prety place, but I haven't seen anything as splendid as you siting there. -oh girl happiness would be loving you, and ecstacy would be the tenderness of your warm embrace -Girl, you are so fine I would marry your brother just to get into your family-fresh prince, Will Smith -Excuse me queen, can I get a minute of your time? Yum Yum all that juicy and no napkin would make a man like me leave his home -Is that your hair or a weave? -I found out my wife is a gay, are you? -You look so good you make me want to kiss your father PS I used to memorize some of the above lines back in the days markaan inanka yaar ahaa Edited: Due to sensitivity of SOL community I have decided to take out some sensitive pick-up lines......

Every now and then, an event like this one comes along and makes any rational individual to question the humanity of the Arab world. This kind of employee treatment defies all logical explanation of humanity. Personal account of maids in the Arab world is chilling and cruel. This kind of treatments raises profound questions about a country that calls itself the paragon of Islamic world. I know it sound so sappy to attribute all the problems to the country as a whole, but this is not the first or the last kind of cruel side of Saudi families. Don’t you expect these employees to be rational decision makers who analyze the cost of their actions to humanity? I am not asking the Arab world to innovate some incentive-based programs to motivate their workers, but to respect humanity. This kind of actions do draw conclusion of what I think of the Arab world. My hell on earth, by woman who Saudi Arabia deported Story by JUMA NAMLOLA Publication Date: 5/24/2006 At exactly 7.50pm on Monday the bus from Buscar Company pulls up outside its office on Jomo Kenyatta road in Mombasa. Tired passengers start streaming out after nine hours on the road from Nairobi, oblivious of the fact one of them is the reason a battery of journalists have converged at the offices. Carrying two paper bags, a petite, buibui-clad woman steps out as family members surge forward to hug her. The journalists, who have been camping at the offices for more than an hour, also shove to get the best shot of the passenger. Ms Nur Said Kituku (centre), who was deported from Saudi Arabia after she disagreed with her employer, in a tearful reunion with her children Aisha (left), Mariam (right) and Yassin (front), soon after she arrived in Mombasa on Monday evening. Photos by Gideon Maundu But Ms Nur Said Kituku is no ordinary passenger. Even after going for more than 50 hours without sleep, she still manages broad, but tearful smile, when her brother Yunnus, reaches her. Five minutes later, her father Said Mohamed Kituku and three of Ms Kituku’s children join in the emotional reunion. Dream come true With tears flowing, Ms Kituku hugs her children Maryam, 13, Aisha, 12, and Yassin, eight. For them, seeing their mother at last, is a dream come true. At a hastily organised press conference in the Buscar offices, Ms Kituku narrates the tribulations she has had to endure since she left Kenya in 2004, for a job in Damam, a city some 600 kilometres from Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh. Immediately she arrived at the home of her employer, a single mother, she was asked to surrender all her documents, including passport. Saudi laws require that foreign workers surrender their passports while in the kingdom. Their sponsor (usually the employer) obtains work and residence permits for them. The main problem with Saudi Arabia is the amount of working time is not proportional to the salary. I used to wake up at 5.30am and work nonstop until some minutes past midnight. And even then, whenever my bosses felt they needed to be served, I would be woken up, Ms Kituku tells the journalists. Relations with her employer plummeted from bad to worse, she says. "One day my employer came home at about 2am and called me to serve her, which I did. She then asked me if I had given her baby some juice, but when I answered in the negative, she beat me up with a telephone handset," she says. The following day she packed up her bags, went to report to police and asked to be returned to Kenya. Shocking news But there, shock awaited her. Police told her it was only the employer who could grant her request. And the employer demanded 5,000 riyals (Sh96,500) she had incurred while processing her visa. "I couldn’t pay that amount of money and I had to continue working under very hostile conditions until one day when I called the Kenyan embassy in Riyadh for assistance. The man at the embassy asked me to take all my documents and board the nearest bus to the embassy, but he knew it was not practical because my documents were with my employer," she said. And it is not easy for a migrant worker to switch jobs. Once in the country, they have to take whatever job they are offered, even if it does not match their skills or the job description specified in their employment contract. In theory, Saudi law bans this practice unless the worker agrees in writing to perform work different from what is put down in their contract. Left with no choice, Ms Kituku decided to give herself to police and asked to be deported. At the deportation centre, she realised that there were many other workers from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and many East Asian countries, waiting to be sent back to their countries. Almost all of them said they had disagreed with their employers. "One thing that makes the deportation centre worse than a prison is lack of information. Immediately you get there, your mobile phone is confiscated and the only person you can talk to (from outside the centre) is your employer, when he or she visits you," she says. When Ms Kituku finally got an air ticket for Nairobi, authorities had to persuade her employer to let her go. It cost her three months' salary because she did not give a quit notice. "I didn’t care about money. What was important was to leave that country as soon as possible," she said. She booked herself on a Saudi Airline flight from Damam to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, where she took a Kenya Airways flight to Nairobi. Ms Kituku’s release offers her Kenyan colleagues still being held in Saudi Arabia much hope. Several Kenyan women including Ms Margaret Njeri Ndung’u, Ms Aisha Abdi Dagane, Ms Hafswa Mwatime Said, Ms Pauline Wanjiru Gicheru, Ms Fatuma Wanjiru Majid and Ms Jane Kiinya are still being held at the deportation centre. One of the longest waits for deportation in Saudi Arabia is that of Eritrean Christian Girmaye Ambaye, who was held for nearly three years from 2001, for his alleged participation in "Christian activities" prohibited under the country's strict Islamic law. Now free, Ms Kituku has vowed never to look for a job in Saudi Arabia. "With my qualifications, I can look for a job as a salesgirl in Dubai, where they respect employees," she said. Her case and that of many other Kenyans in Saudi Arabia raises a pertinent issue. The authenticity of recruiting agents. "Almost every quarter seems to blame the agents but nothing has been done to ensure that people are not lured into hoaxes and end up losing money. With lack of employment, it is very difficult for ordinary people to remember that when the deal is too good, they should think twice," says Ms Kituku. Sources

Baashi, I realized Katrina money was trickling down when I saw pictures of mayor Nagin re-election in downtown Atlanta. Out of necessity, we all do work for all the things you mentioned; a house, a family (I skipped the wifey part ), vacation time, health insurance and retirement plans. Even though there is more to motivation than just to the size of the paycheck, we are here in this country to make the green awowo .

Baashow, I currently have a “real†full time job . I wake up between 5:30 am and 6:00 am in the morning. I pray my morning prayers and get a quick coffee from the nearest coffee shop and head down to the laboratory. This is where I spend eight hours of my life. Listening to stressed out PHD student whose research project is not promising enough. I learnt to be a good listener and a sympathetic individual. I just got a new job offer this week, which pays way better. I will miss the people at my current job. The new place is more work and uptight :mad: . The boss gave me a quick tour when I was interviewed. The place looked more like a real job. I will miss my current freedom of browsing the web more often.

Baashow, Miyaat nawalii rabtaa ninyohow...it is amazing....

Scarface, I feel your guilty misdemeanor of violating the Somali language. We actually think with words. I used to think in Swahili and then flip it in Somali. Thanks to Qurabaha now I can communicate effectively without the damn Swahili. My advice is like SB said use non-verbal communication. If she flips her hair in front of you, say two nice words about her hair in Somali. Never ever regress back by weighting the words you just said since this would be a hard way to move forward with the discussion. Victor Hugo once said, “When a woman is speaking to you, listen to what she says with her eyesâ€. Voice is only, but a tiny portion of your communication. Your non-verbal communication says something about your intention. Do not despair saaxib, the door is still wide open

Baashi, hatred is passed from one generation to the other. Your daughter experienced one of the most frank and tenacious affliction of racism. Racism is not as overt as it used to be in America. But it is still there both consciously and unconsciously especially stereotyping. Your daughter experienced in-group racism. We all want to be associated with the people we look alike;the people we eat same food or even wear same clothing. As our children grow in this society it is necessary to have with them a frank and non-judgmental discussion of the by-product of how people tend to think-what majority of us will call ignorance. Children will definitely learn this carved out world of them against us. I have cousin who lives in a predominately professional middle class white neighborhood in Michigan. His kids attend mostly a white school. I was convincing him the other day to get with a black family around his city. If the kids will not see that there are people like them around the neighborhood, they will experience a homogeneity bias of their friends. Racism can color the judgment of our kids if we don’t sit and explain it to them about our humanity. I am not advocating to turn your children in to a bigots, but to explain it to them what they will experience in this cruel world we live in. Racism will have hurtful consequences on our kids if we try to isolate them in to a non-diverse community.

The model that surrounds children is a powerful source of influence. Children behavior and believes are shaped by the people they look up to whether it is the neighbor next door or the cousin few buildings down. Children begin to identify themselves with their dads or moms. The fact that male and female have different life experiences may explain why dad is an important aspect of his son’s life or why mom is an important role model to her daughter. Role models are deeply ingrained in the culture that we live in. Role models shape our self-conception and identities. I was talking to my aunt in England over the weekend. She is a single mom with four kids. The kid’s dad is in Africa. He hasn’t been around their lives for the most part. Now the boys are teenagers. They give their mom a hard time by getting involved in ****** activities like skipping school and boarding the train without paying. This really frustrates my aunt. It is a little too late for her to catch up with them. This incident in my family shows how two parents in the household is an important thing. This can influence the way children behave. When families do migrate from one country to another, they do either break the family or live in different country. Torn between the need to fit in the new country and retaining their self-identity, children are caught up with the hype of freedom. Parents should come up with a healthy optimum way of protecting and nurturing their kids in a normal life. No matter who, where, and what you want to make your excuses, your kids are your family. They are your mirrors in life.

I hate to comment on Ayan recent blunder, but I am surprised to notice that she attended Muslim Girls Secondary School in Nairobi. The pace of life does really change, from Muslim Girls in Ngara to the most outspoken critic of Islam. May be she was locked out in the most unconscious part of the mind when she attended there. This is where all the Muslim parents send their girls for the best Islamic and secular education. Well people do revise their conception about their belief when they go to new places-which they are free to do. I wonder how her alma mater is receiving her news? Sources

The first week of my conception happened in a small Kenyan city. I was born under a tree in a remote Kenyan City. Everyone was happy to welcome a seven-pound bouncing baby with a smile that raised the cheeks high enough to wrinkle up the eyes. The passage of the womb to the outside world was a hell of job for my mother to endure. She eventually managed. My father, a sijui himself, was a son of British military from Hargeysa. He has some roots to the outskirt of Hargeysa. I personally identified my self as a Somali. I am a Somali under the immunity of Somalinimo, unless someone Qarxiis me like Ayan Hirsi. Ironically I cannot finger point Ayan recent blunder because I have lied too. My biography has no consistency .I came to America in the 90’s to a city called Hotlanta. I never moved from the city since then. I went to school and finished it recently. I am present -oriented individual since my history is full of crap. I sometime think that I have a thousand pounds of lie on my lips. I don’t know who I am?

I do not know about y’all, you might not like the dance, but I find the Nikko terribly alluring especially when you are watching it on a wedding video (Yes Bishita be careful I do watch some wedding videos brought by cousin sisters). You might think those girls have no bones on their apple bottom. Whenever my cousin sisters bring some wedding videos, I sit on the couch peering through my binocular and wait in vain when one of those young girls drop it like it is hot .

Kheyr, I have always assumed the hip culture was not your thing.Unless you are reformed sheikh.I thought your ears and eyes are always hard wired to Sudais.This is a demise of my instinct telling me the sheikh watches ET news. Is my grasping reflex going too far by accusing the sheikh? Edit: I have no intention of questioning your loyalty Kheyr......You can call it one of those office boredom banter.

The ego being the officer of our personality controls our behavior in public. Two opposing identities battle in our heads. Each of this personality has its own voice and pattern. Personally I am reserved person in real life, but if you meet me online you might think you crossed path with a vociferous individual. We totally turn out to cope with the real life and online personality. The online persona has become like a culture prescribed socialization practice. Every one of us has his own unique personality. We might be calm or emotional, sloppy or meticulous. But no one wants to be viewed as an insecure and Unpredictable. We want to be viewed as smart, confident, and vicious by our cyber peers who know zit about our lives. Some of us have a borderline personality where we yearn for attention and company. We are empty and bored. We are highly inflexible and lack true identity. Some of us are ego inflated and self-centered. We always want to be center of attention. If you have any of the above personality disorders, like I do sometimes, it is great that you double-check your life!

This really strucks a chord, but then they are human too.The Saudis may as well be checking the good vibration websites that has a wonderful-and non judgemental tips .

Facklexm, Is the swift ship plying the ocean and begining on plundering her prey? Help the sister out dude....