Mutakallam, Moby-Dick is a book with a great enigma.I am reading it now after i finished Gaildon's "Yibiir of Las Burgabo".It is a little way over my head(many philosophical digressions) but i am reading it slowly to make sense out of it!.

Well mr Notherner reading will help you gain knowledge and know yourself better.It would help relate to others.Knowing others through reading -MalcolmX-will help you win freinds and influences(insert your Ngonge theory here) on people.Reading will help you understand your sorroundings better.An individual who is a know-how is definately more equiped to face the world than one who is not a know-how(like me).Reading will help you know where the diamonds are burried around the world.Heck reading will even equip you with something to brag about.Who will turn down a vivacious girl who has read classical novels.Now reading will equip you with a vivid imagination and colors.You will have a mind that is like a steel trap;Your insights in to problem solving would confuse and mystify people of less keeness( what Ngonge does to us on his postings).If you become an avid reader trust me you will be witty, clever, delightful, brilliant, and entertaining(not that you are not now).

Now you guys might be wondering why on earth is STOIC a firm beleiver in anti-smoking,an eco-militant, and an animal right operative is not against a muslimah smoking.Smoking is a serious problem that causes not only ill health but also of many death world wide.I wish Kheyr should had rephrased his article to adress the smoking problem in a wholesome.May be he was raised up in a culture where women are not allowed to smoke in public but men are given the free pass.Whatever the reason Mr Kheyr,Allah says in the Quraan "Don't kill or destroy yourselves for verily Allah has been to you most merciful"(Quraan 4:26-29).If i may be confident with my limited knowledge, i think this Aya applies to both men and women.I know Kheyr your intentions were purely honest when you posted the thread.I am sorry to remind you that your audiences here are mixed.It would have been helpful had you neutralized your approach and slapped a cogent argument in the face of your audience.May be we will not have had all this vehement, loud, and noisy nomads in your backyard.Your intentions were good since you did not view your sister in Islam suffering with complete composure.We are all a piece of Islam!. ***He sips at his cup of cofee,looking forward to the day-InshaAllah***

AS I was walking down the street i heard someone scraping the match against the box!.The noise was raspy and loud.I wondered could it be another looser on smoke break!.A wisp of smoke threads upward as i glanced at a muslimah's mouth!.I got so annoyed at how she is against her beleif, revered traditions and cherished customs.How dare she smokes i wondered?.Does she thinks smoking makes a person tactful and socially experienced?.I bet she is a loud-mouthed, shrewish and turbulent woman at home.Where did the women of free of complexes ended up? is this the kind of women we want in our society?.......

Zeph...i know automobile is an extension of men personality!.My car expresses identity and anouncement to the world that STOIC is in the neighbourhood.This expression is away of life for us.Even though my car is not plush-i still have a dream! I have a dream from the mountains of Georgia to the Smogs of London,that one day Stoic's car sound will make us think of power saw! I have a dream.....

Zeph...you are not alone, though you are a little late welcome to the club!.I usually drive or ride the bus to work every morning.Last week i drove to work and parked my in a good parking position.When the day was over instead of driving my car back home i took the bus.Only when i reached my apartment did i discovered that i left my car at work..Argh the feeling of riding the bus back to work :mad: .

Ruling backs Somali refugees fired at airport Rulling Backs Somali Refugees fired at airport! Mary Lou Pickel - Staff Wednesday, July 20, 2005 Somali refugees who lost their jobs last year cleaning planes at Atlanta's airport were discriminated against because of their national origin and Muslim religion, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a recent ruling. A post-9/11 rule at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport requiring employees to take a test in English to obtain a security badge resulted in discrimination based on national origin, the Atlanta office of the EEOC said. In previous years the Somali workers had been allowed a translator while taking the multiple choice test. The agency also found that a supervisor for Aramark Aviation Services, the company that managed the cleaners, "made disparaging remarks towards employees," the EEOC wrote in a June 28 determination. The commission sent letters to Delta Air Lines, Hartsfield-Jackson and Aramark Aviation Services explaining the discrimination ruling. An Aramark supervisor complained about the scarves the women wore on their heads, said Safio Mohamed, 41, a refugee who lost her job cleaning planes. The conduct was inappropriate and based on the employees' Muslim religion, the EEOC said. "We used to wear the uniform, but we used to cover our hair, and they didn't like us to do that," Mohamed said. An Aramark manager at Hartsfield-Jackson did not return phone calls seeking comment. The company and Delta, both considered employers, were found to have discriminated against the group based on national origin and religion. Delta spokesman Anthony Black said that as a tenant of the airport, Delta is required to comply with the airport's security plan, which required the English-fluency test for issuance of the access badges. The airport's rule was found to have discriminated against the group based on national origin. The airport is reviewing the case, Hartsfield-Jackson spokeswoman Felicia Browder said. There has been no decision to change the airport's English-only test for security badges, she said. Mohamed and two other women eventually found jobs cleaning cars for Hertz Rent A Car at the airport. Others are still unemployed, Mohamed said. The next step is for the group of 12 Somali women and two men and their employers to negotiate a settlement, said Ali Omar, executive director of the Georgia Somali Community, a spokesman for the group. "If that doesn't happen, then they have to go to the court," he said. Under the federal Civil Rights Act the case would go to a jury, said Debra Schwartz, an attorney with Thompson, Rollins, Schwartz & Borowski. She is one of the lawyers representing the group. There is a $300,000 cap for awards for punitive damages and emotional distress, Schwartz said, but no caps for discrimination based on race and national origin. Others also dismissed Some Somalis who passed the test are still working at the airport as plane cleaners, Omar said. After the English policy took effect last year, some Mexican and Vietnamese workers contacted Omar because they also lost their jobs. "There are a lot of internationals who were affected the same way, but they don't speak out," Omar said. "They just go home and look for another job. But the Somalis speak out," he said. The Somali refugees worked about seven years cleaning planes. They were dismissed in January 2004 because they could not pass the security test given in English. A passing grade was needed to acquire a badge to enter the secure area of the airport, where the planes are parked. Tightened security Hartsfield-Jackson officials say that after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks they moved to tighten rules on airport security badges. One way was to require employees to take the test in English when renewing the badges. An airport spokesman said it was necessary for anyone with a badge to speak English so they could follow instructions and offer assistance in case of an emergency. The airport also said it got rid of interpreters because it had a reasonable suspicion that four years ago some of the interpreters may have provided the correct answers to the test, the EEOC documents show. The agency responded that the airport never proved its suspicions and waited three years to forbid interpreters. Hartsfield-Jackson shows workers a video about security rules before they take the test. The airport also submits workers' fingerprints to the FBI to weed out criminals. Airports around the country have different policies on how to give badges. Some allow interpreters; others don't require a test but offer security classes

How do we become, much less remain, calm and patient in a world that tears and fragment every second!.Hasty decisions and blind following of the west will not reform our society.Turkey serves as an example of fruitless western style of separation between the state and church here.Today the Islamic world is not short of natural resources and wealth nor is it short of moral and ethical values.But according to anyone with insight and critical analyzation skills Islam is today at a point of stagnation be it philosophical or scientific!(This observation is obvious in the eyes of everyone).The muslim Ummah today needs a redefining of the intellectual and cultural setting of it's communities.There is nothing wrong with the Quraan or the Shariah but there is problem of defining where the line must be drawn between the devine revelation and reasoning!.We all know that the devine revelation is the word of Allah-period!.But we must realise as a muslims that the devine revelation can be subject to multiple interpretation.If we avoid questioning and reasoning this interpretations,don't you think that we are not making use of our god given brain?.Today we all live in the western world where through realm of knowledge, scientific and philosophical breakthrough are achieved everyday!.Now inspite of this success, the western world is still witnessing imbalance in their judgements!.This shows us that reason alone can not attain the ultimate justice(devine revelation must accompany it). I have read most of the replies to this thread for the last two days.No one really adressed the solution to this problems.We know the problem exist but do we have solutions?.We know that ummah is weak and backward compared to the world standard.We know that there is intellectual stagnation.All this is an evidence that ummah is incapable of competing with the rest of the world.Shall we blame the mindless drive for westernization or shall we look back and see how the ummah have failed to make use of the Islamic spirit of sacrifice and sincerity in one's action?

^^^The book is fiction.Isn't Fiction a simulacrum of real life?

I just finished reading "The Yibiir of Las Burgabo".If you ever thought that Somalis are not bigots you will read this book with a feeling of revulsion.The leading character(Ali) dad faces indignity at the hands of the society whose heart's are filled with malignity.The society bigotry breed an opposition to everything Yibiir.Ali's dad crime was of presenting false information about his tribe when he was getting engaged to Ali's mom.The felicity of their young love and family was cut short after the society found out the truth about Ali's dad identity!.The book exposes the cruel side of the Somali society.They are rude and atrocious in their mannner towards the Yibiirs.Ali and his family lived in a society given to mischief and deviltry!.

^^^I will see if i can find any article!. Thomas Freidman last article "If it is a muslim problem, it needs a muslim solution" was posted in Somali website.The article was misleading in saying that Islam did not condemn the action of Osama.Freidman is a prolific writer who appears in many guest column around the nation.I do admire reading his articles every sunday.I could not agree with his incitement of hatred towards the muslims when he clearly stated that No one condemn Osama.When the muslims were massacred by the Bosnian christians did Freidman and the rest of American writers blamed all of christianity?-this shows double standard on their part!.I do agree that this is a muslim problem that can be solved with the help of the muslims and humanity as whole.Instead of Freidman coming up with a thoughtful solution to this global problem, he twisted the problem toward blaming all the muslims. By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Yesterday's bombings in downtown London are profoundly disturbing. In part, that is because a bombing in our mother country and closest ally, England, is almost like a bombing in our own country. In part, it's because one assault may have involved a suicide bomber, bringing this terrible jihadist weapon into the heart of a major Western capital. That would be deeply troubling because open societies depend on trust - on trusting that the person sitting next to you on the bus or subway is not wearing dynamite. The attacks are also deeply disturbing because when jihadist bombers take their madness into the heart of our open societies, our societies are never again quite as open. Indeed, we all just lost a little freedom yesterday. But maybe the most important aspect of the London bombings is this: When jihadist-style bombings happen in Riyadh, that is a Muslim-Muslim problem. That is a police problem for Saudi Arabia. But when Al-Qaeda-like bombings come to the London Underground, that becomes a civilizational problem. Every Muslim living in a Western society suddenly becomes a suspect, becomes a potential walking bomb. And when that happens, it means Western countries are going to be tempted to crack down even harder on their own Muslim populations. That, too, is deeply troubling. The more Western societies - particularly the big European societies, which have much larger Muslim populations than America - look on their own Muslims with suspicion, the more internal tensions this creates, and the more alienated their already alienated Muslim youth become. This is exactly what Osama bin Laden dreamed of with 9/11: to create a great gulf between the Muslim world and the globalizing West. So this is a critical moment. We must do all we can to limit the civilizational fallout from this bombing. But this is not going to be easy. Why? Because unlike after 9/11, there is no obvious, easy target to retaliate against for bombings like those in London. There are no obvious terrorist headquarters and training camps in Afghanistan that we can hit with cruise missiles. The Al Qaeda threat has metastasized and become franchised. It is no longer vertical, something that we can punch in the face. It is now horizontal, flat and widely distributed, operating through the Internet and tiny cells. Because there is no obvious target to retaliate against, and because there are not enough police to police every opening in an open society, either the Muslim world begins to really restrain, inhibit and denounce its own extremists - if it turns out that they are behind the London bombings - or the West is going to do it for them. And the West will do it in a rough, crude way - by simply shutting them out, denying them visas and making every Muslim in its midst guilty until proven innocent. And because I think that would be a disaster, it is essential that the Muslim world wake up to the fact that it has a jihadist death cult in its midst. If it does not fight that death cult, that cancer, within its own body politic, it is going to infect Muslim-Western relations everywhere. Only the Muslim world can root out that death cult. It takes a village. What do I mean? I mean that the greatest restraint on human behavior is never a policeman or a border guard. The greatest restraint on human behavior is what a culture and a religion deem shameful. It is what the village and its religious and political elders say is wrong or not allowed. Many people said Palestinian suicide bombing was the spontaneous reaction of frustrated Palestinian youth. But when Palestinians decided that it was in their interest to have a cease-fire with Israel, those bombings stopped cold. The village said enough was enough. The Muslim village has been derelict in condemning the madness of jihadist attacks. When Salman Rushdie wrote a controversial novel involving the prophet Muhammad, he was sentenced to death by the leader of Iran. To this day - to this day - no major Muslim cleric or religious body has ever issued a fatwa condemning Osama bin Laden. Some Muslim leaders have taken up this challenge. This past week in Jordan, King Abdullah II hosted an impressive conference in Amman for moderate Muslim thinkers and clerics who want to take back their faith from those who have tried to hijack it. But this has to go further and wider. The double-decker buses of London and the subways of Paris, as well as the covered markets of Riyadh, Bali and Cairo, will never be secure as long as the Muslim village and elders do not take on, delegitimize, condemn and isolate the extremists in their midst. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Many women whose tenacity was beyond beleive are now opting to be stay home moms.These women always acomplished their jobs with great eclat!.Many have respected the profundity of their thoughts-they attended the best Ivy league schools.Now they are facing their home making roles with exuberance.I have tried to explained in the women section that it is the spouses choices to make a decision on their life!.This story that i am about to post proves that women can be succesful and at the same time be a stay home moms!. (CBS) Look around these days, and you'll find women in positions of real power: a woman at the helm of the National Security Council, two Supreme Court justices, and female board members of every Fortune 100 company. It's just as it was supposed to be 40 years after women got in the front door. But look for the women of the next generation -- the ones everyone assumed would follow in droves behind them, and you're likely to find many of them walking right back out and staying at home. Lisa Beattie Frelinghuysen was on her way to the very top of the legal profession. At Stanford Law School, she was president of the law review. She went to work for a top law firm, and she clerked at the Supreme Court for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But after she had her first baby seven years ago, she left, and never went back. Correspondent Lesley Stahl reports on this story that aired last October. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- "I know myself, and I know that when I'm working at something, I work hard. When I was at the law review, I was working until midnight every night. And my husband started a surgical residency where he was completely unavailable," recalls Frelinghuysen. "I was afraid that if I was working, there would be no parent there with the children. And I wanted to experience getting to know my children, being there in a consistent way." She's hardly alone. Every Wednesday morning, a church in suburban Maryland is filled with professional women who have chosen to step out of the full-time work force to spend time raising children. They have organized a lecture series for intellectual stimulation. Tori Hall, a former analyst with the Congressional Budget Office, and Sheilah Eisel, once a top sales representative for Oracle, come each week. They, along with Ann Geldzahler, a Yale graduate and lawyer, are all stay-at-home moms. "The bottom line was, it was an emotional decision not an intellectual one," says Hall. "It doesn't make sense to give up a great job that pays a lot of money and has a lot of satisfaction for myself, just to walk away from that." "I think about it for a little, and then I think I just, I love what I'm doing for right now. I do," says Geldzahler. "I would say the first six months there were days that I had serious doubts, did I make the right decision," says Eisel. "Now, there's like bumps in the road but I'm very glad that I'm staying at home." Could it really be that this generation of women, the first to achieve success without having to fight for it, is now walking away, willingly, and without regrets? Census bureau statistics show a 15 percent increase in the number of stay-at-home moms in less than 10 years. Linda Hirshman is a lawyer, philosophy professor, and author. She didn't believe it, until she started researching the high-powered couples who announced their weddings in The New York Times in 1996. "The first man I called answered the phone, and I told him what I was doing, and I said, 'Where's your wife?' And he said 'She's at home in Brooklyn taking care of our daughter.' And it turns out, so are all but 15 percent of the women I interviewed," says Hirshman. "Eighty-five percent of the women in my sample are staying home either full-time or part-time." She's still in the early stages of her research, but the trend has been documented by other studies. And she's convinced it's going to be the 1950s all over again. Why does it matter? "These are the women that would have gone into the jobs that run our world. These were the women who would eventually have become senators, governors. These women would have been in the pipeline to be CEOs of Fortune 500 companies," says Hirshman. Staying at Home

For the first time in human history, man is actually travelling through space beyond the limit of the earth atmosphere.The reason why we study space is because our relation to the rest of the universe can not be measured merely in terms of mass , volume and position .We beleive that there must be more to it.Do other stars have planet revolving around them, if so are any of them like the tiny earth.Where did we came from? and are there any creature living out there in Space?(The last two question may raise your eyebrow as a muslim-but this is just science folks).Space travel has and will enable to verify or disaprove some theories of the solar system.Many scientist are needed to specialize in difrerent fields of science.Some scientist specialize in the study of the stars others specialize in the nature of the gases that are emitted.The scientist who study the object in space are called astronomers and astrophycist.The astronomer is the one who study the movement and appearance of object in space while astrophycist is the one concerned with the make up of the stars and galaxies.The first piloted space flight was made on april 12, 1961 by a gentlemen known as Yuri A Gagarin.He was the Soviet guy who orbited the earth in spaceship Vostok.The first piloted voayage to the moon was accomplished by the united state in 1969(remember Amstrong?) Gravity is the biggest obstacle in the space exploration.We all have heard of the statement" what goes up must come down".According to a famous legend , Issac Newton was inspired to discover the law of gravitation by observing a falling apple.What exactly did Newton discovered?.He did not discovered gravity itself because the force of the gravity was well known before him by Galileo.What Newton discovered was that the same force of gravity which made the apple fall keeps the moon in orbit about the earth.Philosophers and scientist used to beleive that everything heavy fall faster than lighter objects.The reason they were making this eraneous assumption was because they were doing their experiment in the presence of air-may be they didn't have vacuums at the time!.Also early "great minds"(philosophers) did not understand why things speed up when they fall.Due to gravity a space craft must be launched at a certain speed and direction.A powerful rocket called launch vehicle or booster helps space craft overcome gravity. All launch vehicles have two or more rocket section known as stages.The first stage helps the spacecraft leave the earth by providing a push.This stage must exceed the entire weight of the launch vehicle and the space craft.The booster generates thrust by burning fuel.To reach a higher altitude the space craft must make another rocket firing.The spacecraft escapes gravity only when its speed is faster than the orbital velocity(the minimum velocity required to overcome the gravity and stay in orbit).(this part is plagirized from NASA website) Astronaut put on an Extravahicular Mobility unit better known to the common person as space suit.The first thing an astronaut put on is a urine collection device after all the toilet doesn't come in handy in the space unless you want to shoot some on the air .The space suit is divided in two parts-the trouser(Pant for my American comrades) and the top.Did you know that while in air the astronaut can place the two leg in the pant at the same time?.Well they can do it all because of the gravity!.The suit has also a primary life support system that supplies oxygen for breathing and also removes carbon monoxide that we exhale.The astronaut do also wear a "snoopy cap" that has a headphone and a microphone.Inside the Manned manoevring unit there is a small rocket build in it gives nitrogen to push the astronaut through space.

We all know that individuals behave in a way they can explain to others in their society why they reached decisions they made.When they do explain to others why they behaved in a certain way-this leads them to follow what the society dictates upon them.Women do stay at home and do the house core in the Somali society because of two main reasons,the first one being due to economic based bagaining power.Men do earn more and got better jobs than their spouses.The second reason is gender expectation by the society.In our society women are expected to structure their identity around men hence leading them to abide the society norm.Individual interaction within the Society leads to multi-level cultural operative.The society may change like a piece of glacier melting slowly!.When both the husband and the wife are working, indivdual spouses may compromise their household activities to certain level because many women do view the house labor as an indicative of family commitment.The feminist claptrap may not agree with this half-hesitant negotiation but it all depends on the spouses choices.Household wifery has been institutionalized for long time.Some may view as a male priviledge society taking advantage while others may view it as women dominated tasks!.We all know that women do value time spent in the household core than men do.It starts at an early age-i remember when i was young my sister playing with the cooking pot while i was after big trucks.This does not mean that women are predisposed in doing the kitchen stuff!.It is an indication of where priorities starts.Nowdays in women sense marital sense can only be reached if men participate in the household chores.Many men have given in to this notion for the sake of saving the marriage and taking a little responsibility!.

^^^Thank you Zeph and Warrior of light.I did attend the funeral yesterday and paid my respect to his family!.I will advice you guys to attend any funeral once a year-it will remind you of death.We take life for granted.

Ngonge...you had me cracking this morning Ha-Ha!

^^^I take the challenge Ngonge.I will pass of as an Astronaut pilot.I will pretend to be one of those NASA selected pilots.I will investigate whether it is fun to float in space.My google research/cheating will be due next thursday!.It will be exciting and fun stay tuned....

Zeph..No, i will not shoot you!.I just got an email from a freind that one of my college freind died in a car crash yesterday!.It was only the other day me and him were planing on how to sneak out of our human physiology class on fridays to attend Jumuah prayers.I guess you make plans and Allah has his on for you!.No Zeph..i don't want to shoot any one....

Click on the image... I am afraid i will be a laggard in this competition!.

^^^I hope Bush fires that bedwetting conservative jerk! This is for the working crew, is your boss a psychopath? Psychopaths exist in the workplace. Ever worked with a seeminly smooth, yet strangely cold, callus person? You may have been working with a psychopath. Under certain circumstances in business, psychopaths can become very successful. Fast Company had some interesting information on these co-workers that you should probably avoid if at all possible. "Psychopaths have a profound lack of empathy. They use other people callously and remorselessly for their own ends. They seduce victims with a hypnotic charm that masks their true nature as pathological liars, master con artists, and heartless manipulators. Easily bored, they crave constant stimulation, so they seek thrills from real-life "games" they can win -- and take pleasure from their power over other people." "But how can we recognize psychopathic types? Hare has revised his Psychopathy Checklist (known as the PCL-R, or simply "the Hare") to make it easier to identify so-called subcriminal or corporate psychopaths. He has broken down the 20 personality characteristics into two subsets, or "factors." Corporate psychopaths score high on Factor 1, the "selfish, callous, and remorseless use of others" category. It includes eight traits: glibness and superficial charm; grandiose sense of self-worth; pathological lying; conning and manipulativeness; lack of remorse or guilt; shallow affect (i.e., a coldness covered up by dramatic emotional displays that are actually playacting); callousness and lack of empathy; and the failure to accept responsibility for one's own actions. Sound like anyone you know? (Corporate psychopaths score only low to moderate on Factor 2, which pinpoints "chronically unstable, antisocial, and socially deviant lifestyle," the hallmarks of people who wind up in jail for rougher crimes than creative accounting.) " Is your Boss a psychopath? Do you work with a psychopath?

So Karl Rove is the man who exposed Mrs Wilson CIA role!.Aha!, this will be the greatest showdown for Bush Adminstration.Will Bush be a man of his word and fire Karl Rove?..or will he make excuses for mr Rove?.For those of you who are not aware of the story.Karl Rove is a senior Bush advisor who has been in the suspect list of those who leaked the information of a CIA undercover!.It is a treason to unmask a covert CIA agents.You may remember the build up of Iraqi invasion plan Bush accused Saddam of getting uranium from Africa!.Well mr Wilson(the CIA agent husband)published an Op-Ed article in the Times accusing Bush of misleading the public.Someone in Bush adminstration unmasked Mr Wilson's wife identity in revenge.Bush assured us he will fire any one involved in the leaking the name of the undercover CIA officer.This is interesting, will Bush be a man of principle and stick to his gun -fire mr Rove?..........interesting drama unfolding stay tuned .......

Aha!, i will point my gun at Zeph...she asked for it folks!.No!,not my lovely Zeph.I will point my gun at any one who is not a paragon of human virtues.

You....scream,....i scream!.If you really want to light up Farah's eyes give him a little respect and make him feel that he worth something-other than the usual ANT (automatic negative thought).Go to the neighbourhood Best Buy and buy him the new electronic gear in store!.Little things matter to us too! PS: Zeph...Paris is a skank

> This is for Zeph...morning sickness!