lol@J Fantastic. Pass the bombastic. loool. I am gonna rap like Abdul now. Waraa, manager, the video is off the hook horta. Glad to see my brother BIG J doing big thangs. That made me happy my brother. Great stuff.

lol@emotional. NGONGE, the above images seem to illustrate some sort of peace, stability and prosperity we would be so happy to have today. It is hard to avoid reminiscing about the past in the face of the massacre that is going on in Mogadishu. Through these pictures, I say tell your own stories and reminisce Awoowe. News is depressing. Ololah Hurumarinta Reer miyiga. That was an impressive project. It put a smile on my face when I saw those boxes today.

http://fotokunst.as/EastAfrica.html

lol@lacageey. Garaad Baashi waa lagu salaamay. .............................................._,,,,-------,,,__ ........................................,,;:#ggg@@g;,..........‘`=-, .................................,,;$#^`````*#@@@g;,.............’=-, ...............................,/$`................``#@@@#g,...............‘, ........................._,;f`......................,$@@@@#g,..............“, ....................,/*&gp..+,_..................%*#@@@@g;,............’, ................,./_`”>’.....`#$$#x;,............,%@@@@@#g;,..........` ..............,/ (............`....`”*=,``.......*&*%@@@@@g;,.......... ...........,/...,^=*#q,_,/`.......`~..`-.......g$@@@@@@@#g,........| ........../,;p8jq;,_..........;.........................`%@@@@@@@#g;....| ........,/.f,,,,_..`*8r-,.....;......................,&@@@@@@@@@#./ ......./.,$ `,...`.-...&..../........................`%@@@@@@@@$#/ .....,/,$--__........`..../............................#$@@@##@@@@/ ...,/...`’t-,__,;>`..../.........................................;`=””=.`;@#* .,/....`”~--~`’’....-`...................................,--”,~#-,.._*”` (..........................................................,....`””......,;` .`,_.....................................................&`*-,,_-”` .......`-,_............................................../`.../

I think this other list from one of our advertisers is a better list and more easier to find than the "downloads" at the Swedish site. The site has been advertising on the frontpage of SOL for many months. http://books.onelang.com/

What are the world's most widely spoken languages? This question is a very interesting one that has a rather complicated answer. Estimates of how many people speak a language are quite general and can vary considerably. For example, English estimates vary from 275 to 450 million, Spanish from 150 to over 300 million, Hindi from 150 to 350 million, and Russian from 150 to 180 million. To further complicate matters, the definition of “speaker” can be vague. Some surveys of languages give information on native speakers only. Others count both native speakers and secondary speakers (those who use the language regularly or primarily even though it is not their native language). Lastly, it is important to consider not only the population (number) of language speakers, but also the geographic distribution of these languages. Some languages have relatively large populations of native speakers but are used almost exclusively in a few countries. On the other hand, other languages have relatively small populations of native speakers but are used in many different countries as an official or national language. The Summer Institute for Linguistics (SIL) Ethnologue Survey (1999) lists the following as the top languages by population: (number of native speakers in parentheses) Chinese* (937,132,000) Spanish (332,000,000) English (322,000,000) Bengali (189,000,000) Hindi/Urdu (182,000,000) Arabic* (174,950,000) Portuguese (170,000,000) Russian (170,000,000) Japanese (125,000,000) German (98,000,000) French* (79,572,000) * The totals given for Chinese, Arabic, and French include more than one SIL variety. See chart for full details. The following list is from Dr. Bernard Comrie’s article for the Encarta Encyclopedia (1998): (number of native speakers in parentheses) Mandarin Chinese (836 million) Hindi (333 million) Spanish (332 million) English (322 million) Bengali (189 million) Arabic (186 million) Russian (170 million) Portuguese (170 million) Japanese (125 million) German (98 million) French (72 million) The following list is from George Weber’s article “Top Languages: The World’s 10 Most Influential Languages” in Language Today (Vol. 2, Dec 1997): (number of native speakers in parentheses) Mandarin Chinese (1.1 billion) English (330 million) Spanish (300 million) Hindi/Urdu (250 million) Arabic (200 million) Bengali (185 million) Portuguese (160 million) Russian (160 million) Japanese (125 million) German (100 million) Punjabi (90 million) Javanese (80 million) French (75 million) However, in terms of secondary speakers, Weber submits the following list: (number of speakers in parentheses) French (190 million) English (150 million) Russian (125 million) Portuguese (28 million) Arabic (21 million) Spanish (20 million) Chinese (20 million) German (9 million) Japanese (8 million) Thus, if you add the secondary speaker populations to the primary speaker populations, you get the following (and I believe more accurate) list: (number of speakers in parentheses) Mandarin Chinese (1.12 billion) English (480 million) Spanish (320 million) Russian (285 million) French (265 million) Hindi/Urdu (250 million) Arabic (221 million) Portuguese (188 million) Bengali (185 million) Japanese (133 million) German (109 million) The following is a list of these languages in terms of the number of countries where each is spoken. The number that follows is the total number of countries that use that language (from Weber, 1997): English (115) French (35) Arabic (24) Spanish (20) Russian (16) German (9) Mandarin (5) Portuguese (5) Hindi/Urdu (2) Bengali (1) Japanese (1) The number of countries includes core countries (where the language has full legal or official status), outer core countries (where the language has some legal or official status and is an influential minority language, such as English in India or French in Algeria), and fringe countries (where the language has no legal status, but is an influential minority language in trade, tourism, and the preferred foreign language of the young, such as English in Japan or French in Romania). For a complete breakdown of each and an accompanying chart, click here. After weighing six factors (number of primary speakers, number of secondary speakers, number and population of countries where used, number of major fields using the language internationally, economic power of countries using the languages, and socio-literary prestige), Weber compiled the following list of the world's ten most influential languages: (number of points given in parentheses) English (37) French (23) Spanish (20) Russian (16) Arabic (14) Chinese (13) German (12) Japanese (10) Portuguese (10) Hindi/Urdu (9) http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm

I think this is a good plan for SOL nomads. I haven't read the fine print, but this seems to be a good plan, specially for those without coverage. Raxmah, good luck!

Comparing Siyaad and Yeey is like comparing Abdiqasim and Abdirashiid Cali Sharmaarke. Different times, different mandates, different circumstances, different countrymen to rule. Siyaad Barre was the absolute ruler when Somalis were masaakiin (naïve), patriotic, honest, and easy to rule. He has used different techniques to stay in power over the years, but his tenure is forever marred by years of genocides, wars, tribalism and corruption which all in the end left a permanent sore on the nation’s psyche. Siyaad is the father of all the ills today. The other (Yeey) is a power hungry tyrant and a murderer trying to replicate Siyaad’s approach at a time when Somalis’ mindset has already transformed. Somalis are more informed, fearless, more alert, suspicious, and more ready to fight to the death … unlike in the past when they were selflessly singing “Aabe Siyaad”. The Somalis today are an entirely different breed, and governing them needs a whole lot of ingredients. Yeey and his cohorts are in for a good ride.

Nin aan saaxiib nahay oo reer Hargeisa ayaa markuu siyaasada Somaliland ka hadlayaba wuxuu yiraahdaa "wallee Riyaale reerka la hadh"

Amazing idea. Djibouti will be the next big thing. Start investing there.

Gacmodheere is the man touted as Somalia's next president. The interior minister has the skills and the support to ride his way into Villa Somalia. Keep an eye on this man!

pay attention to the zoom level yaa Mujahid. God, Boosaaso looks like a huge metropolitan.

Don't you love the power of quantum physics? World's First Quantum Computer Set For Debut D-Wave Systems Inc. will demonstrate the world's first commercial quantum computer next week, a supercooled, superconducting niobium chip housing an array of 16 quantum bits. By R. Colin Johnson EE Times Feb 8, 2007 07:32 PM PORTLAND, Ore. — Computing is poised for a quantum leap in speed and accuracy. D-Wave Systems Inc. will demonstrate the world's first commercial quantum computer next week, a supercooled, superconducting niobium chip housing an array of 16 qubits. To date, most quantum computing efforts have focused on communications or cryptography, but the D-Wave quantum computer, called "Orion," solves the most difficult problems—called "NP-Complete"—in a just a few cycles, compared to the thousands of cycles needed by conventional computers. Initially, D-Wave (Vancouver, B.C.) will lease time on its quantum computer, which will be accessed over a secure Internet connection. Eventually, the company plans to sell quantum computer systems. "We have built the world's first commercial quantum computer," said Geordie Rose, founder and chief technology officer of D-Wave. "It doesn't do any kind of communications or cryptographic applications, but instead solves multivariable, combinatorial problems on our own supercooled quantum computer." Nondeterministic polynomial (NP) problems are the most difficult to solve on conventional computers because each variable adds yet another dimension to its possible solutions. Each must be calculated and compared to find an optimal solution. Consequently, conventional computers almost never achieve completely optimal results, but rather use approximation techniques to save computer time. Quantum computers, on the other hand, can evaluate all possible solutions simultaneously and find the optimal solution, often in just a few clock cycles, thereby not only vastly speeding up the time taken to find the solution but also finding the most optimal result. NP-complete problems pervade the industry, from database searchs to pattern-matching to drug discovery to medical applications ranging from identifying diseases from symptoms to finding matches for genetic material. The Orion processor sovles these problems by loading its parameters into its 16 superconducting qubits, or quantum bits called thermally assisted adiabatic quantum computers (TAQCs). Each qubit can simultaneously take on all possible values for each parameter, and thus can more quickly perform the necessary comparisons and find the closest solution. Orion is fabricated out of the superconducting metal niobium using conventional lithography. It was then supercooled to near absolute zero to permit its qubits to maintain their quantum state throughout a caluculation. The chip does take time to set up a calculation since—like a field-programmable gate array—its interrconnections are reconfigured to match each problem. Once set up, it can find the solution in record time. "We translate combinatorial problems with many variables into graphs from which our chip can be reconfigured to solve [problems]. Much like an FPGA, it is software programmable," said Rose. "Once the processor is reconfigured for a particular graph, it can very quickly find the global minumum which is the answer." D-Wave will demonstrate Orion at the Computer History Museum,'(Mountain View, Calif.) on Tuesday (Feb. 13).

President Dahir Riyaale Kahin Fax: 00 252 213 8324 or 00252 252 3848 Email: sl_victory@yahoo.com Odagu ma yahoo buu isticmaalaa? :confused:

^^ Markaad soo yara aroortaan berri dambe, bal ila yara jalleeca xoogaagaan. 1. Ma Gaaraabidhood baan kugu baadi goobaa? 2. Kaalay, Caawa saansaan raajicis lihidaa! -- this one is a cool "pick up" line. Ladies would love it. 3. Reerku siyaado ma sheegay? -- code word. 4. Haye! -- (another code word. It is not what you think. ) 5. Aa la tahay! (this has become popular over the internet lately) 6. ragaasnimo luddiisa kuma jirtee, waa lali.

I am sure Cons will follow his passion and make this Student/IT section more interesting. Welcome Cons!

On the flip side of this incident, she was focused, calculating and hard-working here. She showed all the fine "qualities" of an astronaut.

Great stuff Zu. Thanks for sharing.

Hmmm ... It wasn't there before?

Good Nomads, this is the General section. If you prefer to discuss politics, please have fun at the Politics section. It is conveniently full of all that you would ever need on that blessed topic ... and much more. If you somehow forgot where that specific forum is located, it is the third forum from the bottom of the forum list .... right below the respected Dood-Wadaag.

Just got it Con, just got it. Looks amazing. Trying to set it up. Will report back soon.

So Yonis Cadaw has a thing for Val now? :confused:

What choice does the good sheikh have? "Muslinimo nimaan kugu bixinayn, Muuminnimo qaasa, Gaal maxasta kuu dhawra ood magansataa dhaama."

Here is the beauty of Cimaamad. Real Resistance! Inta Kale waa iska been been!!

Very sad news indeed.