Civil Unrest In Sierra Leone Concerns NPR Listener May 10, 2000 HANOVER, NH–A National Public Radio report on a rebel insurrection in the West African nation of Sierra Leone deeply concerned Hanover-area listener Jim Ellenson Monday. "Apparently, the Sankoh-led Revolutionary United Front rebels are rapidly advancing on Freetown," said Ellenson, listening to NPR while leafing through the latest issue of The Nation. "Hopefully, the U.N. peacekeepers will be able to limit the movement of the RUF in the interior near Masiaka." Ellenson said he plans to stay tuned to NPR for the latest on the crisis. http://www.theonion.com/content/node/31722 Light touch, but the bit with "The Nation" is overkill.

Originally posted by Amelia: ^ Well, maybe if I get it on with oday markuu kaco lafihiisu shanqadhayaan. Don't forget a dash of arsenic to season his muushaali. Clearly you'll just be after his money

Poverty-Stricken Africans Receive Desperately Needed Bibles MARADI, NIGER—More than 60,000 urgently needed Bibles arrived to allay suffering throughout the famine-stricken nation of Niger Friday, in one of the largest humanitarian-relief operations ever attempted by a Christian ministry. "Come rejoice, and feast upon the word of Our Lord, Jesus Christ," said Christina Clarkson, executive director of the Living Light Ministries of Lubbock, TX. "Those who were hungry, hunger no more, for the Word brings life." An exuberant Clarkson said the Bible drop was the culmination of one of the largest and most aggressive grassroots fundraising drives ever undertaken by the organization, which was able to fund the mission largely through local charitable events, such as bake-offs, barbecues, and pie-eating contests. http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46226 Supreme irony on the scale of Swift's "A Modest Proposal"

Alrighty, then. Why am I feeling a little embarrassed? Anyone have any more cooking tips? Lasagna: You can skip cooking the noodles and instead make the sauce with lots of water. I find it's way less hassles that way.

June 7, 2006 LAGOS, NIGERIA— Emergency-management personnel are calling the population explosion that ripped through this already densely populated coastal city last week "an unparalleled natural disaster" and fear the mounting life toll will only grow as tiny bodies are discovered among the human wreckage. "It's hard to put into words what we're seeing here," said Dr. Marceline Klurfeld, a World Health Organization pediatrician who was assisting in relief efforts but found herself "utterly helpless" to stop the senseless beginning of human life she saw unfold around her. "You can't comprehend the effect that a wave of impregnation of this magnitude can have on a country like Nigeria. The long-term consequences are yet to be seen, but I fear it won't recover from this disaster for decades, if ever." Nigeria's population, already the highest in Africa, is believed to have increased by eight percent in the wake of the explosion. With hundreds still clinging to life, that number is only expected to rise. The Onion

JB, after we make huge assumptions like the truth of our own existence and of other minds... there's no Truth with a capital T. Only approximations of reality. It's audacious arrogance to claim a monopoly on Truth, as if one is the owner of the only well in the village. Humans yearn for simple rules in a complicated world, and some individuals take advantage of that by proclaiming to know the unknown. Then they make their claims impossible to verify and damn the doubters. Thus Truth is born. It's Truth because it is beyond mundane fact-checking or verification.

Yo, Happy belated Birthday, V. Time to start checking for gray hairs? My goals for the next 3 months: Horse-back riding lessons, finish (publish) a paper, fly a kite at least once before the end of summer. I understand it's good clean fun. Over the next 5 years: finish school, post-doc (preferably somewhere warm all year), get married. Over 10 years: Does anyone really keep 10 year plans? Even nations stick to shorter timespans! I find that as long as I actually take the first step towards accomplishing a goal, it will more or less get done. It's that first step that gives me trouble.

SOL should start having an "ignore" feature. The earliest memory: I got sick and had to have that bit of dangly flesh at the back of my throat removed. I remember feeling so enraged and betrayed. I would've murdered someone if I could. I've never felt that angry since. Got sick again, this time a stomach-ache: same bloody witch doctor suggests burning the skin on my belly will somehow heal me. I overheard and snuck away and it took two days to find me. I remember hiding in this abandoned hut and hearing my mother call to me. I wanted so badly to go to her but I knew better. Hunger finally won out though Another memory: my mother used to go on long trips, I remember standing at the window watching her recede into the distance. I found out that if a person was far enough away, you couldn't tell whether they were going away or moving closer. That's how I learned to lie to myself.

Women as valuable objects. That's new.

^It sounds yummy except for the eggs. I can cook, and occasionally I enjoy it, but there are a million other things I'd rather be doing. Food tastes so much better when someone else prepares it.

LOL. That was really funny. I can't believe he lifted his shirt to accentuate his nonexistant derriere. Nearly ruined my keyboard.

There's a strong stigma associated with the agricultural lifestyle in parts of Somalia. The areas capable of supporting farming already do, in times of peace, although not to full capacity. The arid regions could be irrigated, perhaps starting with areas immediately adjacent to big towns. Where there's a will, there's a way. So anyone majoring in agriculture? Veterinary medicine?

SB, you just kill yourself don't ya? Anyway, I wasn't thinking about no mythic arks or ancient Sumerian legends (obviously they can be understood within the Islamic framework as message that got garbled in the transmission or something). My point was that mankind has been lamenting the end of the good old days and the imminent demise of the World As We Know It for eons. Every adult generation considers itself to be the last, and every disaster natural or manmade is seen as particularly ominous for those who live through it. It's actually an interesting study of human psychology.

"The Earth is degenerating today. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching." -- On an Assyrian clay tablet, circa 2800 BC. Perspective?

Telemarketing. 'Nuff said.

Peru or Morocco.

The only ones I know are #1 and #8

S.O.S. Common sense dictates that when some one says "Would you sell your eggs?" that the respondent actually have eggs to sell. In addition, when the questioner already sets aside the issue of it's permissiveness under Islamic law by stating "if you really needed the money and our deen wasn't against it?", than whether there's one Islam or a neat dozen is irrelevant. Do you struggle this much with basic everyday logic? Let's say a Muslim girl says she would sell her eggs if it wasn't against Islamic law. Would you then consider her views immoral? As in, even if it isn't unIslamic it is still wrong for her to do it? If not, then where exactly are you coming from?

Castro, those emoticons are very expressive but also occasionally baffling.

Let's not get childish and mundane, S.O.S. The original question was "But would you sale your egg's if you really needed the money and our deen wasnt against it at all?" As such your views as a man are irrelevant, whether you are Muslim or not. You simply wanted to make a personal attack on me and this was as good a venue as any. I'm sure you would have responded the same way if I'd mentioned a preference for mustard over mayonaise. And believe me, how I feel about you has nothing to do with your religion and everything to do with your conduct. But nice martyrdom complex there.

Castro, this "fight fight!" attitude you have is scary. In school you were that kid who went back and forth between two angry kids, arranging the place and time for them to duke it out. Blessed are peacekeepers.

Oh dear. In what way are your views more relevant than mine? As for your inane suggestion that the readers of SOL don't welcome my views, since when do you speak for anyone but yourself? I hope this will get deleted since it's not appropriate use of bandwidth but just had to get that off my chest. edited and not deleted as u did have a point [ May 25, 2006, 07:13: Message edited by: sheherazade ]

JL, Someone who claims to love and trust you has just told you to prove you don't have HIV (and therefore aren't lying to them about your sexual history) and you wouldn't feel even the slightest bit insulted? Granted, I would get over it and be secretly relieved they brought it up first, but I would definitely be miffed too. I'm a little amused by the AIDS-is-man-made conspiracy flying around. Let's say it is though. If they (the evil whities) were smart enough to genetically engineer a race-specific virus 30 years ago, then let's be smart enough to find a cure, please?

Jamilah, Maybe you can let them know your views indirectly so they leave you alone. Wear a t-shirt that says "Abortion is Murder" or something. Or maybe you can send the group an email explaining your views and that you were mistaken in joining their organization. I'm sure plenty of first years make that kind of mistake. Hey, maybe you can even get a refund on that club fee! But now I want to know if there's a socialist club in this school... As for why women don't enter politics: The political system of Somalia and elsewhere is set-up to maximize on male characteristics like single-mindedness, egoism, and competitiveness. Men can easily become power-hungry egomaniacs (not most men, of course, but it only takes a few). Whereas women like to cooperate and connect with others. They share responsibilities, rewards and accolades, and rarely seek personal glory, preferring the "team" as a whole to prosper. That's why a lot of grassroots movements are started by women, because initially these movements are small-scale and everyone knows every one. Politics just doesn't work that way. It's a dirty, no-holds-barred, dog-eat-dog impersonal world. Shake the baby and kiss the hand to advance to the next level. If you're not in it purely for the power and fame you won't get far.

My favourite optical illusion. So surreal. Let me see if I can remember high school science class. There are specialized cells in our eyes that are responsible for seeing color (rods) and light (cones). These cells tire easily and stop sending a signal to our brain if they are getting a constant stimulus. When we are actively looking at something, we unconsciously move our gaze incrementally so that new sets of cells are focusing on the object we are staring at. But when you focus your gaze on the + symbol and don't move your eyeballs at all, the cells in the periphery get tired and stop firing signals since the ring of lilac circles isn't changing. So they slowly fade away. The green colour has to do with complementary colors, can't remember the details.