Help me here Ahura, I am frowning at the thought of paying 1500 pounds as a down payment. Do you know how much that is in dollars? What kind of a neighborhood is that? Unless the apartment looks like those I see on MTV cribs, there is no way I will pay that amount of dollars. Is it a furnished apartment with canopy bed and flowered bedspread? May be it is. What do I know about bloody England?

The daily show with John Stewart and the tonight show with Jay Leno are a great way to make humor out of news. Lou Dobbs needs to relax in front of the Camera. The dude is so serious with the "Broken Boarder" issue than any other news outlet there. Brian William of NBC news should also stop being so serious.He never smiles. My favorite news outlet is 60 minute with Andy Rooney and News Hour with Jim Lehere.

Thank you all. Thanks Abrar, you are right that we have to pray to Allah to guide us all as we edit our lives. Immediately after you walk out the graduation lawn, the first question everyone asks you is, what is next? Graduate school? Job? Or even marriage plans? For now I have a plan of applying to graduate school this June before I find myself lonely and deserted by the world. I am longing for the sight of Kenyan shores to visit my mom (IA). The only book I will open for now will be the book that will fill my eyes with the sight of the global world .

The economic War of pesticide is on in Africa.DDT is one of the most apolar compound to exist.It is a white to cream -colored amorphous waxy powder.The LD factor of this chemical is 250 mg/kg for a rat.Africans are not ****** enough to let the chemical kill the people. Talks on using DDT in malaria drive planned Story by JEFF OTIENO Publication Date: 5/15/2006 A meeting to decide whether to re-introduce a banned pesticide used to control mosquitoes will be held before December. Experts at the meeting will discuss the benefits and risks of using DDT, which was banned in 1988 because of its negative effects on the environment. Re-introducing the pesticide is expected to boost the war on malaria. Hear all parties "We will hear views from all parties including those who support and those who oppose the substance and come up with a position as a Government," said Health assistant minister Enock Kibunguchy. The meeting will be attended by health practitioners, environmentalists, economists and agriculturalists. Dr Kibunguchy said he would support the re-introduction of DDT because "it is the best alternative Africa has to control malaria". In an interview with the Nation, Dr Kibunguchy said the fight against malaria would not be won unless the ban on the chemical is lifted. "We will only be paying lip service to the fight against malaria if we ignore the re-introduction of DDT," he said. Calls to re-introduce the chemical have been growing louder due to an increase in deaths caused by malaria. Malaria is the leading killer of children, claiming 34,000 lives a year and accounting for 20 per cent of all hospital admissions. Recently, Tanzania lifted a 2004 ban on the pesticide so it could be used to fight malaria. It joined South Africa, Mozambique and Uganda which use the pesticide despite being signatories to the Stockholm Convention which seeks to outlaw the use of dangerous industrial chemicals dubbed the "dirty dozen". Some of the chemicals have been blamed for causing deaths, cancer or birth defects. Affect horticulture However, the Kenya Flower Council said the re-introduction of the pesticide would adversely affect the horticultural sector, one of Kenya's major foreign exchange earners. The council's chief executive officer, Ms Jane Ngige, said Kenyans should insist other alternatives. She said some international customers might boycott agricultural products from Kenya if DDT was re-introduced. The World Health Organisation ranks DDT as a class 2 poison. The pesticide, while covered by the convention, is exempted when used for disease control. Sources

It was a lovely day-much too lovely to walk as a graduating class of 2006.I have often heard it coming, finally it did last Saturday. There it was Stoic taking a new step. I was having a refreshing plunge on my mind when finally the school president signal as to switch the tassel to the left eye. When I finally looked up in the crowd, there it was I spotted family and friends yelling my name. I seemed like a toothpick in relation to the three thousand graduating student. There has never been anything quite like last Saturday. This was a natural fact of life. May I take this opportunity to thank SOL for keeping me busy and occupied before the invention of facebook. SOL kept me busy after long nights of studying Organic, Biochemistry, History, Religion, and Physics. Dazed with relief I can say thanks to Allah!

Hey Pal I have a suggestion for you. How about adopting all the children abducted by the Lord’s Resistant Army in Uganda? The LRA is using children to seek to overthrow the Ugandan government. The LRA is desensitizing children to kill. The LRA is abducting thousands and thousands of children from their homes. These children end up intoxicated to kill. I think there is many children around the globe that needs your help. Invisible Children PS It is a soliloquy..

ABC television movie “fatal contact: Birds flu in Americaâ€, 8 pm Eastern, May9, 2006.The movie will follow an outbreak of the H5N1 avian flu virus from its origin in a Hong Kong market through its mutation into pandemic virus that becomes human transmission. This is a movie and not a documentary. Just that you don’t sue me for advertising a false advertisement (ABC is not paying me for doing this). The film highlights important issues like planning. This will be a great movie to watch to open your eyes how disease pathogenicity is traced.If you live in the West Coast check your local channel listing.Enjoy! Sources

Do we not find raw ethnic violence there? Let your understanding of Somali politics not be clouded by your suspicion of American ambition. Great powers are the ones that suppose to regard each other with suspicion. What does Somalia has to be scared for? There is no danger to anticipate from the great power for now when we can’t even get our acts together. You might be scared to fall victim to American aggression, but I am telling you that the warlords and clan leaders are the worst.The suffering and the killings of Somalia are the doings of these so-called tribal leaders. Violence and mayhem becomes the characteristics of our people. No one is there to stop it. We can have a temporary marriage of convenience with these superpowers and may be convince them to leave us alone after we start acting like a descent people. Even if America will not be a genuine supporter of our cause (insert conspiracy theory here) we will still gain collectively from the restoration of normality. PS Kheyr....Waar xaaget ilaatay

There are lessons to be learned from the past in which America was unable to restore peace in Somalia. I personally would love to see American imperialistic ambition extended to Somalia. Warlords and clan based leaders remains the only threat of Somalia. The American invasion should be motivated by restoration of peace in a lawless country. While the conduct and record of America should be suspiciously guarded in a sovereign nation, but it is not an important issue when you have a country that is being washed by ignorance. It is not a secret that America envisions itself as the major revolutionary nation. I wholeheartedly support their invasion of that wretched land called Somalia to restore normality. Time to export America limitation of sovereignty to Somalia. I am thankful that Senators count on a Somalis vote.

The Point, This is the new world of politics of science. There are a number of global powers that sets trends of market. They can bully you anytime. There is usually big uncertainty attached to anything third world. Most of this super powers who get there cash crops from poor African nations wants to set unacceptable models for what and when to use their products/services. Few powerful countries control the world economic system. The extension of patents and intellectual properties set these standards too. This has profound effect on Agriculture sector. They can stop you from using their products if they want. This powerful countries are the ones that support programs that control the marketing and credit program of African agriculture. They can diversify or halt the upward mobility of the Agriculture system. Can you imagine if Kenya is banned from exporting coffee just because they used DDT on their residential quarters?

I don’t live in North Carolina, but it is a next-door neighbor. There is nothing really exciting in North Carolina except being home to one of the best schools in the nation (Duke and UNC-chapel Hill). Charlotte, Durham and Raleigh are the biggest cities. Do not despair if you got some off days you can go to the nearest car rental and drive off to New York and Atlanta, which are few hours away! North Carolina has one of the tallest mountains that you can climb. People do talk with funny southern accent down there. Ever seen Senator Edward talk on national debates? Good luck with your southern adventure. Edit: Sorry, Castro beat me to it...

I know he mentioned that South African is using it too. I am personally not sure about that considering that it was only few months ago that European Union threatened to sanction any country that dare to use the DDT. One thing the European Union missed is that this chemical will not be used in Agricultural setting. They will mostly apply in residential quarters. Enormous quantities of pesticides are used around the world every year. Many pesticides do not reach the target if they are not applied correctly. Instead they are end up on crops and trees that were non-target. I personally think that if Africa applied the DDT safely soon malaria will be history. DDT is one of the most misunderstood villains of the pesticide world. It is the only chemical that is effective against malaria .The ultimate residues of this chemical is clearly misunderstood. Can you believe that American food safety analyst still find some small amount of DDT on the American food. It’s been more than thirty years since they have banned the use of it. More and more of American foods have some sort of detectable pesticides in it. It is unfair to make the zero tolerance of pesticides applied only to African countries. Any pesticide does come with unacceptable aspects, but that should not deter people from using them.

Considering the fact that they will be the first African country to resist with boldness the international presure.I think they will hit a home run for this one. PS I got the joke.......

This is one of the toughest decisions I recommend for African countries to take.This decision of using DDT demands a logical and biological plausability.The approach of using this pesticide should be conducted with great care.The risk of any pesticides arises from the manner it is handled, transported and applied. The African countries should develop steps to insure the safety of the public when applying this chemical.There is risk everywhere we look.If you do not put safety first you will probably end up in hospital for falling off your stepping chair.I recommend that African countries should only allow certified pesticides applicators to use this chemical.If African countries ignore these risks then the chemical will do no good to the public; only a far-reaching consequences will be witnessed. The governments should respect the people, land, economic welfare, and stewardship for the land.They should be cautious that greed should not overrun the safety of the public.It is known or shall I say, It is fact that risks from pesticides exposure depend on the dosage of the chemical, time of exposure, and susceptibility of the individuals. Always good judgements gives birth to good science. Tanzania to lift up DDT ban

This kind of articles really gets my blood boiling. Considering the fact that most black people are not bums, it would be difficult to take this article as a social commentary of black America. In America where the irony of the gap of political and social condition is strong, black people are not always portrayed as a decent living people. Instead they are misunderstood through the lenses of hip-hop culture. Today things are far much better than civil right era of the 60’s. You might be asking yourselves hasn’t the old blatant racism being done away with? Yes, they’ve been erased from the public disguise. But economic inequality hasn’t been crossed out yet. Today the most worshiped god is the green. Think of Louisiana for a minute. Who were the most devastated? If you have been turning your ears to the news you might have been bombarded with the less fortunate epithet sound bit. Today in an age of abundance prosperity you might be wondering what is keeping black America behind. I hate to answer this question with a collective assumption, but I will say it is due to lack of social equality. If you have watched an episode by Anderson Cooper on the 360 covering the Washington School system, you might have witnessed the inequality I am bombarding you with. Can you imagine a school that is few feet’s away from Whitehouse affected with molds and lack of basic necessities like toilets? Lets not subject this kind of stereotype to all the blacks without looking things deep and reflecting on it.

Xiin, the point was to highlight the danger of the people who carried out this hideous execution. There seem to be evidence to suggest that they are the type of “mullahs†who would go after small things. I think it doesn’t matter if they carried out the execution due to their affiliation with warlords. They have clearly based their verdict on their version of Islam. I was not in anyway referring to all the wonderful peace loving Muslims who cherish a just world as a “skirt adjustersâ€. I thought the description fitted this kind of mullahs. I ‘m sorry if the word has offended you, but I think this words better reflects their actions. I take back the word.

Did it ever crossed the fetid brain of this “Skirt adjusters and beard strokers†(Ngonge’s coined word) what most of us are familiar with; indestructible human right. I am thankful to Allah that I live in a country where the constitution protects me against federal government violating my due process right. The right to due process is the greatest constitutional check against arbitrary infringement of human right. This right originated from what those mullahs would call “Kufrâ€. This is the fountainhead of liberty in Anglo-American history. This is the only process that mandates the fundamental right of people. It is shameful at time when the rest of the world is debating on a humane way to execute the guilty; we are stabbing people to death. This execution is so horrifying. It is too bloody and time consuming. I can imagine how the poor soul struggled or convulsed when the beast was stabbing him to death. As Muslims are we not instructed not to cut the throat of an animal with unsharpened blade? I am afraid soon people will be beheaded for listening to “insulting†songs. Vengence seems to be the only reason why this execution was carried out. How are we going to get out of circle of violence if we keep circling on a circle of revenge? This revenge may console the heart of the victims’ family, but it will only lead to more vengeance. An eye for an aye only makes the whole world blind.

The ESL program is a frustrating social engineering of incompetent school bureaucrats who want to funnel more money into their school system. Those of us who went through the system understands. Unless you construct reality out of such program you will be frustrated and maybe consider bowing out of school. When I arrived in this country many moons ago I wanted to sit in the same English class with the rest of the Americans kids. I was frustrated and even thought about quitting school. I develop a knack for balance by imitating the American kids who were reading Othello and Mark Twain. While I was often frustrated with the fact that I was not allowed to take upper level English, the system did not pull my spirit down. I took an exit exam and passed. The Somali kids should not argue stridently over this issue. They should instead ignore the hostile program and prove themselves by doing well in the exit exams. This will make the school system think about how they are wasting taxpayers’ money. By far the greatest goal of the Somali kid should be to do well on those exit exams. You will only give birth to success only through the Osmotic flow of hard work and determination. If the Somali kid keeps whining about the programs, I am afraid many of those kids will not have the chance to see a day in a literature class. If we try to prove ourselves, it will seem unethical for the school system to keep us in a nonsense programs. If, for some unknown reasons, we keep making excuses for these kids, I am afraid we will loose a whole generation of bright minds. To the Somali kid, you might have been thinking that this program is a waste of your time I understand that. It is only hard work and time between you and that literature class. Keep your head up!

Castro, this morning I was furious with my microbiology professor for telling us (seniors come-on) to make a poster of any bacterial caused disease for extra credit( I need that to bump). I was furious because this made us look like a middle school kids flocking in the stationary aisle of OfficeMax looking for a glue and a poster. Guess what microbe causing disease I choose to animate? If you are guessing a TB, you are right. I had to make a big most wanted poster of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. I will edit it by animating it with “you†Castro. This is what the poster will say…. Most wanted for invading the poor soul of Castro I am a gram-positive bacterium Mostly found in “Castro†vicinity I am rod like non motile I am treated with antibacterial such as Isoniazid (Ask Castro) I can be control by Quarantine I have the ability to disrupt phagosymal memebrane I am considered acid fast I transmit primarily by aerosol route I am just mad with my professor….Or maybe I caught the bug…

Jamilah, don't let my name give you a sniff of incredulity of my character.The pure in my heart abhors all evils.My Imam is my reference PS My sincere contrition of heart to my readers of the Kayaking story.I have found out few grammatical errors.Too late, the editing button time expired.

Azmaya, Before deciding on what to get him, you should check first if your friend has an ipod.I personally would loved my cousins to get me 60GB with color display and my name engraved on it. I doubt though if I want to put them through the hassle of coughing 300 dollars because they will spend couple of dollars on airfare, rental car, and hotel . If you can dissipate couple of hundreds anything electronic you will not go wrong with a guy!

My friends kept on going back to the big waterfalls. They wanted to make it through without flipping over their kayak. I was logy from too little sleep from the night before. Don’t ever go to kayaking especially if you had been up all night. The air outside was becoming quite chill .My friend’s girlfriend and I decided to leave those lucid brigands behind. We cheered wildly and slap ourselves at the back. And paddled our way to finish the trip. We were left with about four miles then. She would be my life guide if I ever drown, or so I thought. Actually we were both not sure of what to do if we ever got stuck in a rock. This never bothered me. By now I was gaining confidence and becoming expert on my own. Never have I ever thought not to gain confidence with a little learning skills. Half way through our paddling my friend's girlfriend kayak flipped over. I was ahead of her. I made through safely. She is screaming and hollering my name. I, being the biggest Igalshidhat, never looked back to save the poor girl and her kayak. I was moving like an errant calve trying to figure it out how to get up there. I knew I was scared to death. I lean on a big rock watching her being helped from a distance. Some blue eyes saved her by swimming down the stream. I was embarrassed and helpless. I was afraid of going upstream. Lets just say she got few bruises, which I will be blamed, for the rest of my life. I felt like a senseless git! The Kayak did help me strengthen my flexors.Whether you start the kayaking with a state of abject decrepitude or virile state, you will eventually welter in a turbid feeling. Your tenacity will be put under a test.You will not beleive this I was the second person to finish the Kayaking trip.I was proud of myself!! PS Cara, I will say go for it.Just like you said, all it needs is a confidence and you will be fine.I am looking forward to mountain hiking next time.No more water activities until I improve my swimming skills. PSS Baashow, Naftu wa macaan atheer...

A group of us decided to set a goal of kayaking in the broad river before our graduation ceremony in few weeks. Broad river is one of the local rivers close to our campus. The river has 70 mile navigable continuous water. The idea incubated from one of our friends who have been to the river. When the news got to me I wasn’t happy about it. I am a bad swimmer. I couldn’t figure it out of all the other activities we could do, why choose water activity? We set the date to be last Saturday. They thought these will be a fun to remember since we were all going different directions in life. The thrill of free falling from five feet waterfall was unimaginable thought. We all promised to meet in the intramural field at eleven in the morning to head down the river. The weather didn’t seem an auspicious start of a day. But that didn’t stop us. One of my friends girlfriend started whining right before we were about to leave the field. She is a complete extrovert girl, but her nagging gets under my skin sometimes. Propriety restricts me from hushing her. We let her boyfriend deal with her. When we all paid our dues, a staff member gave us each a kayak and a rowing stick. What looked like a safety culture tips followed? I choose the kayak that was hard to overturn even though it was heavy. All the other friends including the two girls picked the normal Kayak. You might think I was a Cassandra who always predicted the worst to happen. All these kids grew up around swimming pools while I grew up where there was no swimming pool. Maybe this explains my attempt to ingratiate myself when they all looked at me differently. In any case I didn’t expect an overwhelming cheers or shouts from them after all they were pain in the neck kids. Maybe this will make you understand them more. This group is composed of four Indians, two Somalis and three Ethiopians. They all grew up around Somalis. They even use words like “Caasharo†when they are describing women they met the night before at a party. We all call ourselves Qaxootis. Soon I am going to learn that no one was highly skilled or had an aptitude for Kayaking accept the Somalian dude, Ebb, who grew up in Canada. It was due to my disposition or maybe fear that made me to be one of the last people to get in the water. I was caught up in the trivial details of safety that I hardly noticed I was ahead of everyone. The river was long and dangerous for a beginner like me. It had many twist and bends. My diffident made me not to trust the edges or the center of the river. I always made circuitous turns whenever I reached a waterfall. I thought these waterfalls will be the catalyst of my boat overturning. I was ahead of the group about ten minutes when accidentally I slumped into a rock and my Kayak overturned leaving me to gasp for air as my life jacket propelled me upward. I thought I was done. I was going to die in the water. I started yelling for help, but my friends were no where near me. Luckily my Kayak was in my hand, but I lost my rowing stick. I forced myself to reach the nearby Island, but I was out of breath. I finally made it to the top of the rock when my friends arrived. I was socked in water and may be gulped down the river water during the accident. Ebb was an expert. I come to realize this when he rescued my Kayak and stick. He was able to get my stick from downstream and bring it up where I was. He started fuming at me how he told me not to leave the group. I apologized and got on my Kayak. When we reached a big waterfall he advised me to take the right side while he himself, the expert, went through it. But unfortunately they all fall of their Kayak. This was a hilarious moment for me. I laughed at them. PS To be continued....

Thanks, Viking.I will check out the articles sometime next week(right after my last undergraduate finals IA )

I had the chance of attending a seminar in my school given by the Executive producer of the critically acclaimed control room , Abdalla Schleifer. I was surprised to hear that ambitious moderate Arabs in the gulf have turned the image of Arab world. Fear always demonizes the enemy. Ever watched the television series of the cowboys. Did you paid attention how always the camera is with the good guys. The bad guys are on the other side of the hill shooting from long distance. Who do the viewers always sympathized with? The viewers sympathized with the cop or the authority, right? This is how the television was in the Arab world before AlJazeera and Al-Arabiya. The Arab world was never open to the media. When you don’t let the camera be your friend, people will not be on your side. You will always be viewed as the bad guy who is wanted by the sheriff. The western world always fears the radicals. The media will be a good tool to convince the western world and the policy makers that the Arabs/Muslims are not always the bad guys. People always generalize the actions of few Muslims/Arabs. I think folks in the Arab media will change the image of Muslims as a menacing fundamentalist.