Awlugooye, Never underestimate the power of human beings regardless of age and gender I bet the lady taught you a lesson! Not knowing the language of the inhabitants of the place that one calls a home can be difficult at times, but there're millions of immigrants in America who make ends meet, actually live better than those who are proud degree holders but never get the job they wish and hope for. In your mind you may think that these are illiterate individuals and feel sorry for them, but in reality they may have many assets that college graduates don't posses, You wanna know one big difference between that group and the other group- the so called degree holders- the degree holders think about buying newer cars, dressing to impress while the other grou think only of helping those who are less fortunate and most of all investing for a future. One example buying a 2008 car and driving here in qurbo land especially in one of the snowy states where it'z so easy for the car to get rust vs. buying a house back home, sending an elder relative to hajjka those are the best investments that anyone could make for here "xayatu dunyaa" or for "aaqiro" the here after. Waslaam walaalo and never underestimate, never ever!

This officer was offensive and abusive to the brother and towards all of us as Somalis, no matter where we live, therefore the chance of winning this sue may seem very slim, however we’ve to applause for him for having the courage of speaking up. You can’t imagine if about 200 hundred of Somalis are asked if they’re ever been assaulted, discriminated, harassed, abused by police I am sure more than 75% of that 200 hundred will somehow some way say yes, but never complained to anyone, let alone sue them. So please leave the brother alone, so that he can act on his constitutional rights! heheheh

This officer was offensive and abusive to the brother and towards all of us as Somalis, no matter where we live, therefore the chance of winning this sue may seem very slim, however we’ve to give him the courage of speaking up. You can’t imagine if about 200 hundred of Somalis are asked if they’re ever been assaulted, discriminated, harassed, abused by police I am sure more than 75% of that 200 hundred will somehow some way say yes, but never complained to anyone, let alone sue them. So please leave the brother alone, so that he can act on his constitutional rights! heheheh

Thanks Umu Zakaria for your opinion about the article, the only reason I posted this article is that there has been some criticism regarding it, and I dont see the issue, so I was wondering what others could think of it? here is one of the criticizing pieces towards the sista about her article sahro alle ka cabso Bismillaahi Raxmaani Raxiim Asalaamu Calaykum ww salaan kadib marka hore waxaan salaamayaa dhamaan umada islaamka intaas kadib waxaan rabaa inaan u mahad celiyo asxaabta somali talk hadaan usoo dhaadhaco ujeedkeyga waxaan rabaa haduu allaah subxaanahu watacaalaa ii suurto geliyo in aan wax ka iraahdo gabadha la yiraahdo sahro oo ku owr kacsaneysa in naagta iyo ninka ay siman yihiin inaysan sineyn waxa kuu cadeyneysa in haweenayda markhaatigeedu inuusan la mid aheyn midka ninka, isagoo quraanku sheegay inay bar tahay, taasi waa mida koowaad oo cadeyneysa inuusan ninka iyo naagta sineyn tan labaad waxaa cadeeyay illaah kheyr haka siiyo walaalkeena abu xaazim oo daliilo cad meesha keenay anigana baaritaan ayaan ku sameyay kitaabada uu sheegay marka waxaa cad ineysan daliil heynin sahro oo ay ku doodeyso meel cidla ah marka waxaan ugu nasteexeenaa in ay baaritaan ku sameyso diinta islaamka mida hore waa sax ineysan quraanka ku jirin meel dhaheysa in ninka yahay boqol gabadhuna tahay bar laakiin waxaa jira ugu jirin Waa inaan aadnaa tallaabada xigta sunnadii khulafada raashidiinta, iyo ijmaacii saxaabada, markaan kutubta islaamka soo rogno oo mas’aladaan baarno waxaan helaynaa in uu arintaas xukmiyey Cumar Bin khaddaab iyo cuthmaan bin caffaan, sida ku cad musannafka ibnu abii shaybah mujalladka 11aad bogga 22aad. Iyo Irwaa Al-qaliil uu qoray Sheekh Albaani 7/310. As-sunan Al-kubraa uu qoray Imaam Al-bayhaqi 8/71 saxaabada rasuulkuna sidaas ayey ku midoobeen in magta haweenaydu tahay kala bar inta ninka, waxaana ijmaacaas soo guuriyey culimo badan oo uu ka mid yahay: Imaamu shaafici, Abubakar Bin abii shaybah sida ku sugan kitaabkiisa Musannafka ah, waxaa sidoo kale soo guuriyey dhammaan fuqahada islaamka sida ku cad: Al-muqnii uu qoray Imaam Ibnu qudaamah 9/531, iyo Ijmaaca ibnu Mundir iyo Ibnu C/barr, iyo fiqhi sunnah Sayid Saabiq 2/377. intaasi ayaa kugu filan daliil sida uu u sheegay walaalkeena abu xaazim anigana tixraac ku sameeyay sahro waxa kaloo ka rabnaa i saxaabada rasuulkuna sidaas ayey ku midoobeen in magta haweenaydu tahay kala bar inta ninka, waxaana ijmaacaas soo guuriyey culimo badan oo uu ka mid yahay: Imaamu shaafici, Abubakar Bin abii shaybah sida ku sugan kitaabkiisa Musannafka ah, waxaa sidoo kale soo guuriyey dhammaan fuqahada islaamka sida ku cad: Al-muqnii uu qoray Imaam Ibnu qudaamah 9/531, iyo Ijmaaca ibnu Mundir iyo Ibnu C/barr, iyo fiqhi sunnah Sayid Saabiq 2/377. waxa kaloo jira in ay tiraahday waxay bilaabatay qarniga afaraad arintqan diyada oo ninkana 100 yahay naagtuna 50 tahay marka waxaan ka rabnaa meesha ay kasoo xigatay arintaas tan kale arinta qabiilka wax jira oo jira jira doono waaye mahan wax ey reebi karto ma ahan Allena isagaa nooga ogaalbadan qabiilka , marnaba dhici mayso in qabiil meesha kamarnaado waayo ilaahba ugumatalagalin , alle marka uu lahaa , dadyohow waxaanu idinka yeelnay shucuubyaal iyo Qabiillo Suuratul xujuraat Ayadda 13aad, (yaa ayuhalnaasu inaa khalqnaakum min dakarin wa un tha wa jacalnaakum shucuuban wa qabaa ilaa litacaarafuu) marka arinta ay ka hadleyso waa qabyaalad waa wax xun oo waxa soomaalidu heysato laakiin hadaad dhahdid qabiil ma jiro waa adiga oo dhahdo rixim ma jirta tusaale qureysh yaa waaye waa dadka uu ka dhashay nabi muxamed salawaatullaahi calayhi wasalim qureysh waa qabiil ka mid ah qabiilada carabta hadaad dhahdo qabiil majiro waa adiga oo beeniyeysay aayadaas tan kale qabiilku kama jirto soomaaliya oo kaliya waxay ka jirtaa caalamka tan soomaaliya ka jirto oo cudurka ah waa qabyaalad taasi waa tan nakala geysay oo na dhigtay meesha hada yaalno marka waxaan ku talin lahaa in illah loo noqdo oo doodaan meesha lagu joojiyo waxaan allah ka baryayaa inuu xaqa na waafajiyo

W. Q. Zahra Abdi Hersi –Holland- Xigmad ayaa oranaysa “ Hadal kasta oo wanaangsan wuxuu sabab u noqdaa is fahan iyo is oggolaansho, dib iskugu noqosho iyo wadatashi, waa mid naga go’an in aanu isweydiino, maxaa talo ah iyo sidee ayaan maanta uga bixi karnaa masiibadan na kala dirtay,xusuuso xadiiskii rasuulkeena Ilaahay korkiisa nabad iyo naxariis ha yeele laga soo weriyay “hadalka wanaangsan waa saddaqo” Hadallada xun iyo dhaqanka xun ee aan caadaysanay waxay sabab u noqdeen kala fogaanshaha shacabkii Soomaaliyeed ku yimid iyo sababta uu dabka kuleyl uga shidmay dalkeena, waddankeena waxaa caadi ka noqotay in dhiig walaalaha wada dhashay ay si macnodarro ah iskaga daadiyaan,, ugu dambayntiina la kala saari waayo mujrimka ama dhiigya cabka iyo midka wax dhibsanaaya ee aan raalliga ka ahayn waxaan dhacaaya,waayo waxaa la la’ yahay mid wax wanaangsan sheega iyo mid si cad u diiddan waxaas, waxa keliya oo muuqda waa aniga oo reer hebel ah iyo aniga oo ku hadlaaya magaca reer hebel, waxaase is weydiin mudan waxa loo la’ yahay aniga oo ku hadlaaya magaca dhibbanayaasha shacabka Soomaaliyeed iyo magaca dhibbanayaasha la liido, waxaan been ahayn haddii la is daba qaban waayo in la waayi doono, dad iyo dalba, murugada iyo colaaddana waxay noqon doontaa (inkastoo ayba hadeer tahay) mid caadi ah oo aan lala yaabin ama nolosha ka mid ah. Laakiin haddii guud ahaan na loo eego oo aan qabiilka dhinac iska dhigno, qof kasta oo Soomaali ah wuxuu ka murugsan yahay arrimaha Soomaaliya ee murugsan, haseyeeshe xalka waxaa hortaagan oo aan weli la fahmin meesha ay ka unkatay ama ka bilaabatay mushkilada, eedayn aanu is eedaynayno iyo mid aanu dad shisheeye naga ah eedaynayno waqti badan ayaa nooga lumay, inagga oo aan ogeyn sababta aanu isku eedaynayno dad kalena u eedaynayno, waxay keentay in xalkiina la garan waayo meel laga baadi goobo. Wax kasta sabab ayay leeyihiin ama sabab ayay ku bilaabmaan, dabka waddankeena ka shidan wax ayaa sabab u ah, in bulshada ay wareersato oo ay kala garan waydo wax wanaagsan iyo waxa xun sabab ayaa keentay, waxaana sababahaas ka mid ah, sida aan isku cunsurino oo isku kala saar saarno, sida aan isku liidno ee midkeen midka kale iska weyneysiiyo, sida dhaqankeenu uu u kala fadilay haweenka iyo ragga, sida xun ee aan ubadkeena u barbaarsano, dhibaatada haweenka loo geesto sida gudniinka, sida ragga beenta dhegaha loogu shubo oo loo yiraahdo waxaad tahay nin 100 ah halka haweenka looga qaado sharafta iyo karaamo oo la yiraahdo waxaad tahay 50. Akhristow ama aan diidno ama aan doono inta dhaqamadaas aan ku dhaqmayno ka bixi mayno noloshan mugdiga iyo xanuunka wadata. Waa in aan colaaddan soo afjarnaa, innaga oo cidna eedaynaynin, innaga ayaa dabkan shidnay cid damin karta ma jirto oo aan ka ahayn innaga,innaga ayaa is nacnay, cidina dhexdeena jacayl ma dhex dhigi karto ilaa aanu innagu isku naxariisano oo is jeclaano in aan nabad iyo sinnaan u wada noolaano aan marka hore isku raacno oo isla fahano waxna laga qabto qodobadan hoos ku qoran: - Waxaa ugu horreeya xalka waddankeena in aanu marka hore erayga qabiil la isku raaco in uu yahay eray af lagaado ah ama erey la isku caayo. -In ragga iyo haweenka lagu kala fadli xagga u dhowaanshaha Rabbi Subxaanahu Watacaala waxaana fadli badan oo karaamo iyo sharraf u sugnaaday qofkii Allah u dhow. -In la baabi’iyo dhammaan maahmaahyada lagu liidayo haweenka lana raacsiiyo raga u taagan in ay markasta haweenka liidaan. -In carruurta lagu barbaariyo jacaylka diintooda iyo waddankooda lana baro taariikhdoodaa dahabiga ah iyo geesiyaashooda. -In ay bulshada ka soo baxaan aqoonyahano aan aqoon qabiilkooda ama kuwa aan haba yaraatee sheegan qabiil iyo qurunkiisa si ay aqoonyahanadaas u abuuraan Soomaali weyn. -In kuwa wata magacyada xun xun ee casrigii jaahiliyada laa isticmaalayay la baabi’yo kuwaasoo ah: Ugaas, Garaad, Wabar, Malaaq, Suldaan, Beeldaaje iyo wixii la mid ah, intii ay kuwaasi jiraana aan la helyn wax la yiraahdo Soomaali weyn oo ku wada noolaato nabad iyo caano. -In aan lagu soo qorin bogagga Soomaalida siiba kuwooda waxtarka leh, kuwa yiraahdo waxaan ku hadlayaa magaca reer hebel ama war ay soo saareen reer hebel, inta kuwaasi waxaasi soo qorayaan kama baxayno mugdiga iyo jahliga, middaa kale, kuwaasi oranayaan waxaan ku hadlayaa reer hebel ama war ay soo saareen reer hebel waa 4 nin oo meel iskugu tagtay oo aan cidne u hadleyn oo wareersan. -In haweenka Soomaaliyeed garab weyn lagu siiyo sidii ay u cirib tiri lahaayeen gudniinka nooc kasta ha la haadeene iyo in haweenka ay ogaadaan oo ay qiraan xanuunka uu gaarsiiyay falkaas waxashnimada ah. -In ragga Soomaaliyeed ay 100 ka qayb qaataan ka hortagga gudniinka haweenka ee loo geysanayo hablahooda. Ugu dambayntii in aan iska illowno wixii shalay dhacay, maanta aan dareeno in aanu Soomaali nahay mustaqbalkeena berritana aanu ka wada tashano

Cabbie Sues Scottsdale over Alleged Racial Incident Tuesday, October 30, 2007 Scottsdale has been presented with a $750,000 demand by a cab driver who claimed an off-duty Scottsdale police officer shouted racial slurs and punched him during a cab ride April 10 in downtown Tempe. Omar Abdi, 30, and his attorneys contend Abdi is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder and other mental problems. The claim against Scottsdale was filed Oct. 8. It says Scottsdale Police Officer Chance Lovell accused Abdi of killing the officer's brother in Somalia and said, ``you are supposed to have chains on your legs, you (expletive) slave. My grandfather had 70 slaves.'' In a Tempe police report, Lovell was described as noticeably intoxicated and smelling of alcohol. Lovell was cited with one count of misdemeanor assault and released him after the incident, according to a Tempe police report. During the ride, Lovell pushed Abdi on the arm and tried to grabbed the steering wheel of the cab, the claim said. Abdi pulled the cab over at a gas station on N. Scottsdale Road in Tempe and asked Lovell to exit the cab. Lovell got out, pushed Abdi and punched him twice in the stomach, according to the claim. Lovell's assault charge was dismissed on August 7 because the officer completed an adult diversion program, according to Tempe Municipal court records. Abdi said he has frequent head and stomach aches, dizziness, depression, anxiety, fatigue and is easily startled, the claim stated. A doctor evaluated and diagnosed Abdi with post traumatic and adjustment disorders. ``Mr. Abdi is in need of intensive psychotherapeutic intervention. Mr. Abdi will most likely require six months to a year of treatment, costing approximately $125 to $200 per hour,'' the claim stated. Abdi's attorneys also stated in the claim that they will allow the city 60 days to settle, or they will move forward with a federal civil rights claim, contending similar damages. Neither Abdi's attorneys or a Scottsdale city representative could be reached for comment. Source: AP, Oct 30, 2006

Bob, what a beautiful story, Have you thought about writting a book on your story?! I think you should... as there are several lessons in which our youngesters who are growing up here in the diaspora can learn if you know what I mean...

High heels are a must for every occasion... So sistas wear high heels all the way that is if you know how to walk on them..hehehe qub- qac, qub,,qac,,, qub,,,qac...lol There goes Xaliimo pretending to be Hannah...lol

Waraa Rooble, can't you see ooooooh! cant you see that someone who is looking for a fam car is already taken the hubby.....lol and from the part where you mentioned the kids from the previous marriage---- acuudu bilaah ha habaarin gabadha... seey kaa noqotey adiga?! Habaar kululaa

Mj. Bada Cas, U funny 4real, U brought smile to my dried, tired hard working week-end thinking lips...lol

Thanks, Awlugeeye, I really appreciate the effort thanks a buch!

Hey Nomads, Please help me answer this question asked me by a friend... Ready here it goes again What is the best Economic Friendly Family Car to buy now a days? Please vote?

I meant to say safety rather than security...lol

Khayr, Aren't you making the issue a little more than it supposed to be! I repeat this is for a security reason, as one of the students have had an accident due to the slipperty of the floor of the bathroom So what is you in take in this? just wondering... Don't be so negative bro... We all know that we live in Kufaar land and that its bit too hard to have everything be in the way of living according to our deen, but we can make effort and see where it gets us!

Roobleh, Having your bloody opinion heard, wouldn't make me hit you on the head, or on the second thought would it?! hmmmmm Let me think for a while and get back to you So are ppl voting for this issue I have had the poll URL above If you havent done it please do so, it would benefit us all... and make others think that we are united... remember the US presiden'ts saying "United we stand, divided we fall"

Khayr you should read the article from top to the bottom before you start criticizing... adigaaba galaadii ka darnaadee! Subxaanalaah They are asking for the "foot bath" for security reasons.... far more than "religious" reason. Kimiya here is the link for the poll http://www.startribune.com/462/story/1130217.html Thanks Chubacka for understanding!

Amiin Allahayoow!

To all the nomads, There have been issues now a days regarding our way of live- "Islam" being criticized in every aspect of the way.... so please read on and vote on the poll whether a foot bath is a religious accomodation or not... Thanks for the attention.... and remember "Far Kaliya Fool ma dhaqdo" lets show support to the Muslim students at MCTC AKA Minneapolis Community and Technical College. MCTC foot bath draws a broad response A Minneapolis Community and Technical College proposal to install foot baths for Muslim students provokes action at the Legislature and the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities board. By Jean Hopfensperger and Dan Wascoe, Star Tribune Last update: April 18, 2007 – 10:09 PM Printer friendly E-mail this story Save to del.icio.us Somalis shocked by hate mail. Joey McLeister , Star Tribune Related Content Poll: Are foot baths a religious accommodation? Katherine Kersten: 'Accommodations' could open door to more demands Local Woman killed, teen hurt in 2-car crash 2 school buses in accident in Anoka County Teen arrested in Starbuck school threat Wednesday Detours this weekend on I-694 Classes resume at U a day after bomb hoax Phil Davis, president of the Minneapolis Community and Technical College, never expected his "plumbing issue" to become a national controversy. However MCTC's plan to install foot baths for Muslims has prompted reaction from both a state legislator and the board overseeing Minnesota colleges. On Wednesday, the board of Minnesota's State Colleges and Universities (MnSCU) system decided that it will discuss the possible creation of guidelines for all of its campuses on these types of cultural and religious accommodations at its May meeting. And today Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, said he planned to introduce an amendment to the House Higher Education bill that would allow MnSCU workers to display religious symbols at their desks and cubicles. "I didn't expect a plumbing fixture would become a board issue or national news," Davis said. The foot-washing proposal sprang from an incident last year when a Muslim student slipped and hit her head while trying to wash her feet in a sink in a bathroom, MCTC staff said. There was also the potential hazard of slippery floors for other MCTC students because of the water that spilled on the floor . The proposal was the subject of a column by the Star Tribune's Katherine Kersten, which was picked up by conservative bloggers across the country. It became the subject of a nationwide "action alert" by the American Family Association, which urged its Minnesota readers to contact their legislators regarding the MCTC proposal. Davis, bombarded with 3,000 e-mails, in turn sent letters to every Minnesota legislator and Gov. Tim Pawlenty this week. The proposal has been misconstrued as a government institution favoring Islam over Christianity, Davis said. He noted that MCTC has a Christian Student Organization as well as a Muslim Student Organization, and that there's no preferential treatment for either. MCTC staff said foot-washing facilities are available at colleges ranging from Stanford University, the University of Houston, Boston University, St. Cloud State and the University of Minnesota-Duluth. In 2001, St. Cloud installed a bench and some ground-level faucets in a bathroom-sized room in the student union, said Ed Bouffard, interim director of the student center at St. Cloud State. The idea was to prevent puddles of water and slippery floors in the other restrooms, he said. The facility, paid for by student fees, generated no controversy, he said. Most days, a handful of people use it, he said. But 30 to 40 people use the facilities on Fridays, the Muslim holy day. About a dozen Christian groups also use the student union for activities, he added. "We're very happy to be part of a solution," Bouffard said. A visit to the MCTC campus on Wednesday showed a major reason for the foot-washing facilities -- there are 500 Muslim students among MCTC's 8,000 total. Hundreds of young women, covered head-to-toe in traditional Muslim dress, can be found in the classrooms, library, computer labs and across campus. Suleiman Isse, president of the Somali Student Union, and the college's Somali student adviser, Jamal Adam, said they were shocked by the opposition and hate mail that the foot-washing proposal has generated. "I thought the American people were more knowledgeable," Isse said. At the MnSCU board meeting Wednesday, MnSCU attorney Gail Olson said the foot-washing issue raised potential constitutional issues regarding the free exercise of religion versus the establishment of religion. It might be difficult to devise a general policy for the systems' 32 institutions, she said. Board member Cheryl Dickson said a foot-washing accommodation for Muslims at MCTC "is a safety issue and a religion issue" and could set a precedent with unforeseen consequences. Abeler said his amendment would clarify what can be permitted in MnSCU workplaces, in light of the Muslim foot-washing issue. "The foot-washing thing is absolutely a religious accommodations which they should do.," Abeler said. "My point is that as we accommodate one faith, we shouldn't suppress the rights of people of other faiths." Abeler said he is likely to offer an amendment on the House floor today to send a legislative letter to college officials urging them to remember that as they might accommodate one group, they should accommodate others as well. Staff writer Mark Brunswick contributed to this report. Dan Wascoe • 612-673-4436 Jean Hopfensperger • 612-673-4511

Nomads wether you agree it or not, wearing high heels does have an effect on the lady, Ati, xarago xanuun ma leh, Ha ka saarto hee! High heels may affect a woman's fertility an expert claimed recently. The trends for wearing killer heels may also affect your chances due to the 'unnatural' way the body tips forward when you wear shoes. This is the first time that fertility has been mentioned if a woman wears shoes higher than five inches. Health and Fitness Expert David Moy told the Daily Mail:" If you value your health in any way at all then avoid these killer heels at all costs, they're just not worth the risk." He added that the potential problems are caused when:" you wear heels as the pressure on the front of the foot causes you to compensate by excessive forward tilting of the pelvis." This tilting allows the abdomen to spill forward and in doing so compressing internal organs in a condition called visceroptosis. If unchecked this can lead to menstrual dysfunctions increases I period pains as well as affecting the ability to conceive.

Fashion beel, fashion muxuu taraa hadii kilyo xanuun laga qaadaayo, lol Excuse my language but we all do things that are regretable, although we may not know the consequences, or on the other hand we might, and do it for the sake of fashion, style, acceptance, Peer pressure comes to mind? I thought this ideaology was only among the teens but I guess it is among us humans...as a whole

Dear Nomads, I have lately noticed that all of our ladies, whether young or old have adopted a habit of wearing high heels eventhough some of them have a hard time walking on them, including myself, So any ideas as to what have created it, did it become a fashionable style, don't they know that it has some connotations to it as this article indicates, The western style of living, wuu ka waaley dadkeena in the diaspora, alloow noo naxariiso High and Mighty The vampish appeal of high heels By Anne Erickson advertisement The quintessential high-heel moment happens in the finale of the movie Grease. Good girl Sandy decides to transform herself into a bad girl. She trades her full skirt and sweater set for skin-tight pants and an off-the-shoulder T-shirt. But more importantly, she trades her flats for a pair of red mules with towering heels. Her somewhat reluctant boyfriend, Danny, sees Sandy in all of her newly sleazy glory and falls to the dirt, groveling lustfully. She flicks a cigarette to the ground, squashes it out with that dangerous-looking shoe, and then mock-kicks her man in the chest with the same spike-clad foot. Dancing and singing commence (Grease is, after all, a musical), but we all know what Sandy and Danny are doing as the credits roll... High heels often play a supporting role in life's more suggestive scenes. "They're the most dramatic fashion a woman can wear," says Bruce Gray, an L.A. artist who sculpts 6-foot-tall spike heels and curates an online homage to these sexy shoes (www.highheelmuseum.com). The most recent crop of slim stiletto heels all send the same message. It doesn't matter what age you are. When you slip into a pair of these, you're temporarily trading the good girl for the vamp. Stilettos for 20-somethings: The woman credited with being the 'mother' of high heels, Catherine de Medici, was only 15 when she followed a courtesan's advice and wore them during her 16th-century wedding to create the illusion of maturity. Some things never change. This season's slim stilettos are very grown-up, and quite a departure from the funky platforms of the past. Roman-style straps that climb up the leg will add some playfulness to this look. Even the King of Chunky Heels—Steve Madden—has a skinny-heeled sandal with gladiator straps this summer. Stilettos for 30-somethings: You've been around long enough to avoid that "I'm playing dress-up with mommy's shoes" look. And you probably know how to walk in these babies by now. If you want a break from being a mommy yourself, slip into something red. "Red is always the best color for high heels," says Gray, who favors a fire-engine shade for his oversized shoe sculptures. Calvin Klein has a red stiletto with a thin ankle strap that'll get a lot of attention if you wear it out for the evening. If you buy these and you have a daughter, I guarantee she'll steal them for her own dress-up adventures. Stilettos for 40-somethings: Did you know that high heels make your booty protrude by about 25%? Don't believe me? Stand up right now, put your hands on your upper butt, and go up on your tiptoes. Pretty amazing, huh? Add some sex appeal to slacks for the office with a slim pair of black Chanel pumps boasting a thin, metal heel that's the opposite of corporate casual. And if you wobble on those three-inch heels, steel yourself with this knowledge: Bruce Gray has a pair of non-platform, 7-inch heels in his possession. "Most women can't even wear them, they're just too high." Stilettos for 50-somethings: Of course any podiatrist would advise against wearing high heels in the first place, but Gray disagrees. "Most people in the know say you shouldn't be wearing them all the time, but for special occasions it's okay." If comfort is a priority, look for a pump instead of a strappy sandal, and just wear these sexy beasts for short stints. Helmut Lang has a pump that's plain, black and pointy as heck. And, unlike some sandals, you can slip these off under the table where no one can see!

Health Centers: Depression When Memories Are Scars ________________________________________ Harrowing experiences damage the brain. New drugs promise to heal it. Could the end of posttraumatic stress be near? PTSD due to the aftermath of the Somali civil-war is this what some of our community members may need? Will it help? PTSD is an issue in many communities such as ours, but no body emphasizes,,,,, So, Nomads any ideas, specially those of you who have a passion for the mental health field By Matt Bean Roger Pitman, M.D., hunts nightmares for a living. Not the vivid phantasmagoria populated by zombies or disembodied skulls, or even the nude-at-the-podium orations that leave us blushing in our sleep. He's after the nonfiction variety, the indelible, enduring flashbacks that stick in our heads after reality goes awry: a saw blade meeting flesh, say, or an improvised explosive device overturning a Humvee. I'm in Dr. Pitman's lab in Boston, watching him track down a particularly vivid figment, a stab wound to the neck that's been plaguing 43-year-old carpenter Al Carney for 2 months now. "We're about to put him back in the most horrifying moment of his life," says the Harvard psychiatrist, peeling back the top sheet on a thick medical file labeled Patient 102. In the room next door, the stout laborer sits, eyes closed, headphones on, wired with a battery of biofeedback equipment: electrodes affixed to his chest to monitor his heart rate; a forehead sensor scanning for tension; and a tiny pad on the inside of his palm measuring how much sweat seeps through his skin. "It's 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 30," a narrator begins to read over the headphones. "Noticing Peter Bowman standing there, you become tense all over. He says he's here to collect a check. Feeling jittery, you tell him he needs to fix several things before you pay him any more. As the argument becomes heated, your heart beats faster. Peter becomes physically aggressive, and you feel a blow to your neck. You fall to the ground. Several people pull him off you. . . . After you're separated, you realize that you're bleeding profusely from several knife wounds." Fade Away Carney's vital signs ebb and flow on a flat-screen monitor in the corner of the room as he reimagines the assault. They spike when he's "stabbed" by Bowman. But I don't need whirring telemetry machines to tell me the narrative has struck a nerve: Carney starts fidgeting, and he taps his scuffed gym shoes together at the toes. Even though he's been asked to sit still, his head twitches back and forth against the recliner's headrest. Later, Dr. Pitman will compare Carney's physiological responses with the results from previous sessions, as well as his reactions to positive scripts used as controls—the birth of his first child, a transcendent round of golf. Carney is one of dozens of accident victims that Dr. Pitman and his team have culled from Boston emergency rooms to study a drug called propranolol. The study is double-blind—no one, least of all Carney, knows whether the pill he took was a placebo or propranolol. But the contractor hopes he'll get lucky and will be able to stop the spiral of substance abuse, irritability, and insomnia that started with the stabbing at the construction site. Dr. Pitman's study is leading a new wave of research that promises to curtail the harmful psychological effects of extreme stress, especially posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Today's most common treatment, cognitive-behavior therapy coupled with drugs such as Prozac, fails at least as often as it succeeds. Dr. Pitman hopes that defusing horrible memories—that high-school car crash, the abusing babysitter—could within 5 years become less difficult with the help of propranolol. "Posttraumatic stress disorder is just a memory that has its volume set too loud," Dr. Pitman observes, thumbing through a thick sheaf of case histories. "Something turned up the switch. We're trying to turn it back down again." Surviving Trauma We all have things we'd like to forget. And some of us have things we can't bear to remember. According to the National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, 61 percent of American men will be exposed to a traumatic event in their lifetimes. And, according to the National Comorbidity Survey, 5 percent of men nationwide will develop PTSD at some point in their lives. These men include 9/11 survivors, Hurricane Katrina victims, and, increasingly, military veterans: According to a 2005 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, 17 percent of Iraq war veterans suffer from PTSD, anxiety, or depression. But the disorder also hits closer to home. Domestic disputes, burglaries, accidents, and even surgeries can engrave malignant memories on the brain. One recent study suggests that more than 15 percent of heart-attack victims suffer from PTSD, slowing recovery and increasing chances of a second attack. Not every man who falls victim to atraumatic event develops PTSD, of course. To be diagnosed, you must experience a laundry list of symptoms for more than a month. Some people, inexplicably, shrug off serious trauma without a second thought. Carney is somewhere in between the two extremes: While the past has become an inescapable drag on the present, it is a nagging presence, not an overriding one. "We all have stress hormones, and we're all affected by them," says Deane Aikins, Ph.D., a Yale psychologist who heads up the cognitive neuroscience wing of the National Center for PTSD. "We're just now beginning to understand why some of us are inherently more resilient to the stress, and how maladaptive behaviors learned at an early age can impact us for the rest of our lives." Just as cancer researchers have made countless discoveries about how normal cells live and die, so have PTSD researchers used their unique niche to shine a broader spotlight on the delicate interaction between the brain and the body. And what they've learned has implications far beyond PTSD. It could change how we think about stress altogether. Harrowing experiences damage the brain. New drugs promise to heal it. Could the end of posttraumatic stress be near? By Matt Bean, Men's Health (Story Continued...) All in a Day's Work "I should never have even been at the mill," says Terrell Kyle, a 43-year-old cabinetmaker from Caribou, Maine. "That's what really gets me." Kyle is the sort of solitary woodworker who'd rather fashion the occasional cabinet in his garage workshop than work behind the big-mill, big-money lumber machines that churn thousands of logs into millions of planks each day. But in the winter of 2005, his family short on cash, he went back to the mill, reluctant but resolute. About 3 months in, and just 25 minutes before the end of a brutal graveyard shift, the conveyor belt of lumber under Kyle's watch jammed. He walked over to do the usual routine: Hit the kill switch, clear the board, restart the saw. And that's how it might have gone, in fact, if he'd been more familiar with the equipment, if it hadn't been his 10th machine of the day, or if he hadn't been working at high speed for 11 hours and 35 minutes among some very sharp, very dangerous, very finicky machinery. As it happened, he dislodged the board, his hand kicked back into 24 inches of whirring steel, and, in a flurry of blood and blade, Kyle lost all the fingers and the thumb on his left hand. "I keep coming back to that moment," he says. "I know I was screaming. But here's the thing: I don't ever remember looking at my hand. That moment is just lost. My supervisor came over, and I told him I had lost all of my fingers, so I'm sure I knew. But I just walked out of the mill and had a cigarette." The orthopedic surgeon at the nearest hospital decided Kyle's injuries were beyond his reach, so the carpenter was helicoptered, along with a plastic bag containing four of his fingers breaded in sawdust, to Massachusetts General Hospital. There, he met an on-call member of Dr. Pitman's team and was administered a pill—either propranolol or a placebo—and underwent reattachment surgery. The Role of Adrenaline Kyle's hand rejected the fingers soon after, and months later, he still can't erase the painful memories. "Sometimes I wonder if I would have been better off as an automobile-accident victim with amnesia," he says. "The memory just seemed to impregnate itself so that it's there, all the time, like static, on the fringes of my mind, finding a way to intrude on my other thoughts. Anything going around fast creates this clenching feeling inside my chest. A snowblower. An airplane propeller. Car wheels. I often think I'm having a heart attack. I mean, consciously I know I'm not in any danger. But subconsciously, it makes me want to run, to get away, to not look, to plug my ears." Kyle's psychological symptoms—blackouts, flashbacks, depression, anxiety, insomnia, irritability, and hypervigilance—aren't the only tolls paid by PTSD sufferers. In a 2006 study, researchers in Switzerland found that the syndrome significantly raises the levels of a key blood-clotting agent, promoting arteriosclerosis and, by extension, increasing the risk of heart disease. Traumatic stress has also been linked to immune system, gut, and muscle disorders, such as hemorrhaging and ulcers. Posttraumatic stress amounts to a spectacular breakdown of what is normally a very helpful mechanism. Bundling an emotional component with a memory dovetails with Darwin's theory of natural selection, says Dr. Pitman. "If you, as a Paleolithic man, happen to be taking a new route to the watering hole one day and encounter a crocodile, you'd better remember that crocodile," he says. "If you don't, you'll be eliminated from the gene pool. Adrenaline not only helps you escape, but strengthens that emotional component to make sure you won't forget." But extremely traumatic events can unleash a torrent of stress hormones, searing the memory into the brain. That's where propranolol enters the picture. It blunts the impact of stress hormones on the amygdala, the small, emotional control center in the middle of your brain. As a result, the brain is able to encode the traumatic memory as a factual event, a garden-variety horrible memory, rather than a world-changing, panic-inducing schism in consciousness. It's like removing the crescendo of violins from the climax of an action movie: You still know what's happening, but you're able to focus on just the facts. Erasing Memories from the Hard Drive Propranolol is part of a class of drugs called beta-blockers already being used to treat real-time anxiety disorders, such as performance anxiety in public speakers. Dr. Pitman's study hinges on administering the drug within 6 hours of a traumatic event. And other researchers have been stretching the window even further—uncovering new revelations about how memories are made and stored in the brain. "The old story was that once memories are stored, they're stored forever," says Karim Nader, Ph.D., a researcher at McGill University, in Montreal. Nader specializes in the relatively new field of memory "reconsolidation," the subsequent revision of a memory after it's already been transferred into long-term storage. "But what I found is that once you access a memory, you have to restore it. It's kind of like taking a file off the hard drive and putting it into RAM—you have to save it to the hard drive all over again, or parts of it can get lost." Nader and his researchers have found an ingenious way to induce just such a memory loss—even in patients more than 3 decades removed from a traumatic event. First, he administers propranolol, effectively hitting the emotional mute button. Then he uses the same sort of prerecorded narration that Dr. Pitman (a co-researcher on the project) does to bring the memory into RAM. Finally, he moves on to other memories, and the patient's brain naturally "reconsolidates" the traumatic one with much less drama. Nader is now expanding the study in an attempt to corroborate his results with a larger group of subjects. "Nobody knows when they're going to be in a car accident, or be raped, or be kidnapped, so trying to give them a pill within 6 hours of the trauma is difficult," he says. "But we can control the memory now, bringing it back to the point of sensitivity no matter when it occurred. This could have implications for all kinds of problems: drug addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or anything where you need to change the wiring in the brain." As visceral as they may be, traumatic events—explosions, stabbings, car crashes—may be less to blame for PTSD than the brains of the sufferers themselves. That's the lesson from as-yet-unpublished research on the army's 10th Mountain Division, a light-infantry, rapid-deployment force that has been dispatched into active duty more frequently than any other army division over the past decade. Stress Resistance What's unique about these soldiers, beyond their combat training and high stress levels, is their uniformity: They're all healthy, they're all screened often to eliminate psychological maladies and substance abusers, and, most important, they're all willing to let Deane Aikins, the Yale psychologist, scan their brains, drain their blood, and shock them with a small probe, all in the name of science. Aikins, a soft-spoken researcher charged with helping the Department of Veterans Affairs plan its approach to treating the waves of soldiers returning from Iraq, designed an experiment to compare how the soldiers would react to two different stimuli: an innocuous pulse of light, and a pulse of light paired with a slight electrical shock. He found that soldiers who overreacted to the innocuous stimulus were more likely to develop PTSD in Iraq if exposed to a traumatic event (95 percent of active-duty members are) than the cool-hand Lukes in the crowd. What could the key physiological difference be? A chemical called neuropeptide Y. "In another study, we found that stress-resilient guys were under the same amount of combat stress as the PTSD guys, and indeed some of them were from the same unit," says Aikins, who plans to publish his research this fall. "But there's an explosion, somebody dies, a Humvee flips, and then one guy gets PTSD and another guy from the same unit doesn't. Why? Lo and behold, we're finding that the men who are unflappable may also have lower levels of cortisol and higher levels of neuropeptide Y." Neuropeptide Y is one of hundreds of compounds involved in the complicated braiding of stress signals and memory. It isn't easily administered or synthesized, and so Aikins's research is valuable largely for prescreening for PTSD susceptibility, rather than as a means of treatment. But it's proof positive that the way we react to any stress—even a slight shock and an annoying flash of light—dictates the way we're likely to react to the most extreme stressors. Flight-or-Flight Response Beneath all the bells and whistles, behind all the high-level cognition—calculus, poetry, Sudoku—the brain is just a fancy system for detecting and avoiding stress. Nobel Prize-winning researcher Eric Kandel demonstrated this more than 50 years ago by analyzing the nervous system of a simple sea snail, called aplysia. The snail's nervous system, Kandel found, would change at the synaptic level when it "learned," strengthening the connection between nerve cells that carry out a particular behavior (gill retraction) and sensory nerve cells that react to a stimulus (mechanical probe). It was a seminal discovery: Actual physical changes, both in how the neurons connect to one another and within the chemical gateways that govern the firing of each neuron itself, underlie learning and memory. The consequence of having a brain tuned to change with even minor stress, however, is that it's extra-sensitive to overload by extreme stress. Over the past decade, molecular biologists have begun to unravel how this happens at the cellular level. "The brain is like a collection of mobile phone networks," says Hermona Soreq, Ph.D., a Jerusalem-based neurobiologist who has developed a drug to block PTSD at the DNA level. "They all communicate within themselves, but also within each other. We know that when there is a big disaster, like the recent missile attacks, the network crashes. That's posttraumatic stress for you. That's what we see in the shelters and streets every day." Soreq's motivation for beating PTSD is anything but academic: I spoke with her the day before the UN-proposed cease-fire went into effect in the Israeli-Lebanese conflict, as she feared for the safety of her son, a soldier, and as both sides bombed and strafed to try to claim victory with the deadline looming. Threats of any kind—especially life-threatening ones—trigger the release of the fight-or-flight neurotransmitter acetylcholine. Add more and the neurons fire faster and more efficiently, speeding up the network. Take it away—this is what chemical-warfare agents like Sarin or Zyklon B do—and you essentially shut down the network. To keep us on an even keel, the brain releases certain chemicals to help tone down this fight-or-flight response after the threat has passed. But if we keep seeing Dr. Pitman's crocodiles, even just in our heads, these compounds can permanently alter the structure of our brain, disrupting our neurochemical balance and leading to PTSD-like problems. Playing God with the Brain Soreq's drug, called Monarsen (after her nickname, Mona), stops the unbalancing by blocking production of one of these buffering compounds, a persistent, fast-moving version that appears only during stressful situations. Monarsen effectively handcuffs the compound's DNA blueprint, or gene, from being turned into a biologically active protein, cutting the problem off at the source. "What we do in present-day therapy, with drugs such as Prozac or propranolol, is the least economical approach," says Soreq. "We try to block the bottom of the gene-expression pyramid—the proteins, the stress hormones such as cortisol or adrenaline," she says. "But you have one gene at the top of the pyramid controlling everything, so why not aim there?" Monarsen, then, is the equivalent of using a laser-guided missile to target an enemy's headquarters instead of razing the entire town. That precision enables it to be administered in smaller doses, with fewer side effects. And because acetylcholine impacts cellular signaling throughout the body, from the immune system to the red blood cells, it may prevent an even wider range of stress-caused symptoms. "Our goal is to prevent changes in the brain that have the potential to ruin the life of a child who spends 4 weeks in a bomb shelter, or the victims of 9/11," she says. "Or the soldiers now fighting in Iraq." "That's like playing god with the brain," says Barry Romo, a national coordinator with a Vietnam-veterans antiwar group. "One of the things that keeps us from remaking mistakes is looking back and having regret, as opposed to thinking, Well ..., that was a close shave, but at least I'm okay." Romo, one of a small but very vocal group of critics of Soreq's and Dr. Pitman's research, worries that the way we interpret memories, whether terrifyingly vivid or naive and nostalgic, is part of who we are as individuals. To tinker with that is to step onto unsteady ethical ground. Avoiding Abuse "I think people have a right to have medication, if they need it, but I have to wonder what these drugs will be used for in the hands of police or the military or someone who doesn't deserve them," he says. "We don't want to create a bunch of storm troopers who can do anything they want without having to worry about the repercussions." Dr. Pitman, for his part, says that's overstating what such drugs can do—at least for now. "I think it's far-fetched, but it's possible that something like that will be found. I don't think it's going to be with propranolol, but it's possible," he says. "But then you get into the question of 'Do we hold back a drug from people it can help simply to prevent others from abusing it?' If we practiced that, then nobody in the hospital would be able to get morphine for their pain. When you're talking about people who are dying of cancer, it's not really a tough decision." Cabinetmaker Terrell Kyle won't know for another year whether he received the placebo or the active drug in Pitman's double-blind study. But simply learning about the biology of his disorder has helped Kyle deal with the flashbacks and panic attacks, rein in his rage around the house, and reconnect with his daughter, who, he says, bore the brunt of his mood swings. The prosthetic he's been given is too clumsy for detailed woodworking, but Kyle hopes that someday he might even be able to fire up some of the new tools that now sit in his garage gathering dust. "Some people go through years and years of torture," he says. "Should we mess with their memories? Should we be able to take those thoughts away? Absolutely. We want to act as though nothing happened, but it's never that easy." "It's not about playing God," Kyle goes on. "It's about finding a way to feel human again."

Hey Crystal Clear you are funny, the same thing happened to me during the summer of 2006, I had to go to an early training and I had to drive about 3 hours I am not a regular coffee drinker, but on that day I was like what the h*** its just oneday, and guess what I had the same thought I was like well "adeerayaal" are not in at the favorite star bucks as early as that time...i.e 5:30 or perhaps 6am, and guess what I had to run out of it and go to the Bruegger's Bagels- which obviously doesn't have the same coffee........ I wish they could go back and do some road construction back home coz they have a lot of time in their hands!

Subxaanalaah, warkaan war la hubo ma yahay? waxaan wax dhici kara oo maskax bani-aadam gali kara maba ahane, hadii ay arintani run tahay Ilaah baan ku dhaartee wixii ku kacay falkaan hoog ayaa u sugnaadey, I hope that this news is hoax, because it is hard to believe, very hard to believe indeed! If this is true then we are far worse then the Hutu-Tutsi civil war in Rwanda... Ilaahoow Noo naxariiso dhamaanteen...Aamiin

Yes, that is right, humans always taught that only women have biological clock that is ticking, but WRONG! Men have biological clocks, too Mounting new research disputes the long-held assumption that there is no risk when older men father children. Popular wisdom has held that babies born to older mothers are at an increased risk of having birth defects - but that the age of the father played no almost role in the baby's health. But now, the idea of a "biological clock" is being extended to men. Research says that children of men in their middle to late forties are more likely to suffer a list of relatively common conditions, including schizophrenia and autism. Some researchers doubt the findings outright, others say more research needs to be done before any conclusions can be drawn. It has been long known that some rare genetic conditions - some dwarfism, neurofibromatosis, Marfan syndrome, skull and facial abnormalities - are related to the age of the father.