Originally posted by sheherazade: Qudhub-qadhab, congratulations. I second that. And heed old man Baashi's advice.

^ Speaking of "Snap,Crackle iyo Pop": What makes farts stink? The odor of farts comes from small amounts of hydrogen sulfide gas and mercaptans in the mixture. These compounds contain sulfur. Nitrogen-rich compounds such as skatole and indole also add to the stench of farts. The more sulfur-rich your diet, the more sulfides and mercaptans will be produced by the bacteria in your guts, and the more your farts will stink. Foods such as cauliflower, eggs and meat are notorious for producing smelly farts, whereas beans produce large amounts of not particularly stinky farts. Why do farts make noise? The sounds are produced by vibrations of the anal opening. Sounds depend on the velocity of expulsion of the gas and the tightness of the sphincter muscles of the anus. Contrary to a popular misconception, fart noise is not generated by the flapping of the butt cheeks. You can see proof of this in the close-up video footage of Carl Plant's fart on Mate-in-a-State . Why are stinky farts generally warmer and quieter than regular farts? (Question submitted by many, many people!) Most fart gas comes from swallowed air and consists largely of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, the oxygen having been absorbed by the time it reaches the anal opening. These gases are odorless, although they often pick up other (and more odiferous) components on the way through the bowel. They emerge from the anus in fairly large bubbles at body temperature. A person can often achieve a good sound with these voluminous farts, but they are commonly (but not always!) mundane with respect to odor, and don't feel particularly warm. Another major source of fart gas is bacterial action. Bacterial fermentation and digestion processes produce heat as a byproduct as well as various pungent gases. The resulting bubbles of gas tend to be small, hot, and concentrated with stinky bacterial metabolic products. These emerge as the notorious, warm, SBD (Silent-But-Deadly), often in amounts too small to produce a good sound, but excelling in stench. How much gas does a normal person pass per day? On average, a person produces about half a liter of fart gas per day, distributed over an average of about fourteen daily farts. Whereas it may be difficult for you to determine your daily flatus volume, you can certainly keep track of your daily numerical fart count. You might try this as a science fair project: Keep a journal of everything you eat and a count of your farts. You might make a note of the potency of their odor as well. See if you can discover a relationship between what you eat, how much you fart, and how much they smell. How does a fart travel to the anus? (Question submitted by Sigfrido H.) One may wonder why fart gas travels downward toward the anus when gas has a lower density than liquids and solids, and should therefore travel upwards. The intestine squeezes its contents toward the anus in a series of contractions, a process called peristalsis. The process is stimulated by eating, which is why we often need to poop and fart right after a meal. Peristalsis creates a zone of high pressure, forcing all intestinal contents, gas included, to move towards a region of lower pressure, which is toward the anus. Gas is more mobile than other components, and small bubbles coalesce to from larger bubbles en route to the exit. When peristalsis is not active, gas bubbles may begin to percolate upwards again, but they won't get very far due to the complicated and convoluted shape of the intestine. Furthermore, the anus is neither up nor down when a person is lying down. Why do farts come out of your butt? (Question submitted by the Perry family) The butt is the location of the anus in humans, and by definition, a fart is an anal escape of intestinal gas. We should be grateful that we are not crinoids. The crinoid is a marine creature with a U-shaped gut, and its anus is located next to its mouth. How long does it take fart gas to travel to someone else's nose? (Question submitted by SteF) Fart travel time depends on atmospheric conditions such as humidity, temperature and wind speed and direction, the molecular weight of the fart particles, and the distance between the fart transmitter and the fart receiver. Farts also disperse (spread out) as they leave the source, and their potency diminishes with dilution. Generally, if the fart is not detected within a few seconds, it will be too dilute for perception and will be lost into the atmosphere forever. Exceptional conditions exist when the fart is released into a small enclosed area such as an elevator, a small room, or a car. These conditions limit the amount of dilution possible, and the fart may remain in a smellable concentration for a long period of time, until it condenses on the walls. Why is there a 13 to 20 second delay between farting and the time it starts to smell? (Question submitted by B_read) Actually, the fart stinks immediately upon emergence, but it takes several seconds for the odor to travel to the farter's nostrils. If farts could travel at the speed of sound, we would smell them almost instantly, at the same time we hear them. Is it true that some people never fart? No, not if they're alive. People even fart shortly after death. Do even movie stars fart? (Question submitted by Mermaid2006) Yes, of course. So do grandmothers, priests, kings, presidents, opera singers, beauty queens, and nuns. Even Yoda farts. See the Britney Smears music video "Oops, I farted again." Do men fart more than women? (Submitted by Bigdude) No, women fart just as much as men. It's just that most men take more pride in it than most women. There is a large variation among individuals in the amount of fart gas produced per day, but the variation does not correlate with gender. I have read that men fart more often than women. If this is true, then women must be saving it up and expelling more gas per fart than men do. Do men's farts smell worse than women's farts? Based on what I have experienced of women's farts, all I can say is that I hope not. Scientific studies of farts show that women's farts have a higher concentration of odor-causing gases than men's farts, but men's farts have a larger volume. The two factors equalize out (the same number of stench molecules for both), so the odor is about the same.

^ Horn Afrique is a dude. And the enemy of his enemy is his friend and that's how you made the list. Don't take it personally.

^ Can you believe it? I'm still stunned. Welcome back atheer.

^ Sure they are. The US just reversed it's stance on aid to the Palestinians. I think it was convinced by Israel who is worried Palestinians might storm the borders and do something crazy if they remain hungry too long.

Thanks awoowe. I do know that at least #20 on that list is trying to get out of the "union".

I have a feeling (don't know why) this "dialogue" is not going too well. Perhaps it's time to call it a day. Everyone?

^ No dude, you got it all wrong. America is bringing democracy to Eye-ran. Them people need the freedom we have over here. It's our obligation, nay our duty, to share this freedom with them. Freedom "is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity". "Freedom is on the march" dude, so buckle up. Bwahahahaha.

In another apparent barb aimed at the United States, Putin said countries should not use Russia's World Trade Organization membership negotiations to make unrelated demands. LOL. That's nice. Now someone remind me again what "union" is the author referring to when Russia is concerned? I thought the Soviet Union disintegrated into many fiefdoms one of which is Russia. I'm confused.

^ LOL. Just don't lose an eye.

Originally posted by Kulmiye: Somaliland is seriously ugly place to be Bigot. :rolleyes:

Soft indeed. Xabash is what they call themselves so if it's ok by them I guess it's ok for you to use. Unless this a case of a white dude overhearing blacks lovingly calling each other "nigga" only to lose an eye when he does the same.

What the point?

^ I'd call them our irritating and troublesome neighbors to the west. It describes how annoyed we are with them without insulting them. No detective work atheer. It's just that when I was a kid in the late 70's in Muqdisho, other kids in the neighborhood would have these little songs about how the Ethiopians were "dirty" and "garbage" and I thought it was terrible to say that. Sure we were at war with them but the whole calling your enemy names just didn't feel right to me at the time. I later learned that it dehumanized them and, in turn, us.

Originally posted by xiinfaniin: and by telling these stinking Etiopians to steer away from our internal affairs Yac dhe Xiinow. Atheer that's an unfair labeling of a people (60% Muslim, no less). Totally unbecoming Xiin.

Whether Ahmedinejad is sincere or not, this letter is literally a brilliant move. Why? Because it's now not the US vs. Iran anymore but the US vs. world. Every "calaacal" or, more appropriately, grievance mentioned in the letter is a legitimate one. The US is now caught between a rock and a hard place: reject, as they did, the letter and not respond thereby signaling they're really not as flexible as they claim or respond to it and show that they acknowledge at least some of the issues raised by the letter. Not specifically mentioning anything about the nuclear row in the letter was the master move, I believe. The Americans claim Iran just muddied the waters. I disagree. I think they just uncovered the already-muddied waters. Let the games begin, I say. I wish Iran would just call the US (and the West's) bluff. You know, dig in their heels and tell the "world" do what you have to do, we will continue our peaceful nuclear energy program. Let's see who really blinks then.

^ Saaxib all I (we) have at the moment is hope.

I hope the two of you are right. Three and half years is short enough to find out if any of this is true. And you will have to excuse me if I remain skeptical of Abdillahi Yuusuf and his TFG until then. They really have very little to show so far, despite good General Duke's best effort to highlight, what he believes to be, progress being made on the ground.

Yes. First, how transparent is all this fundraising? Can we see the books? Funds raised so far and how they were spent? Second, what, if anything, will the government do to stave off the looming disaster in Muqdisho? Third, how long will this "transitional" phase continue? Is it indefinite? What sort of dates are we looking at for the Permanent Federal Government (the PFG)? My frustration was the source of the outbursts above. I'm stunned the president would travel this much, this early in the "presidency". I mean fund raising or not, all this travel is costing millions awoowe.

General Dukeow, ninkani is fund raising to fatten his own bloody pockets. He wants to be another aabo Siyaad for it seems that is the only statesmanship he's ever known. I'm getting wearier by the day of his actions and even worse, his inactions. Awoowe, the faith you have in Phileas Fogg is not substantiated by the facts on the ground.

This SOB thinks he's Phileas Fogg. What in God's good name is he doing? Did he think he was "elected" so he could fly all over the place? Abdillahi Yussuf needs to go pronto.

Originally posted by Khayr: The Iranians are not as ****** and crude as people would like them to think. They are politically and intellectually savy people. How else can you have an Islamic State for over 27yrs in the 21st century?ent. No one's taking the side of the clear aggressor awoowe. It's good to see you join a discussion with more than just two words, however. Alhamdulilah. The quick rejection of the letter might hurt the US when its contents are eventually revealed. It may just show what the US's aims really are: hegemony at all cost.

I think Ibtisam has found her man in The Point. Won't you two open a business? "Choppers 'R' us".

^ Mommy must be so proud. :rolleyes:

Originally posted by Khalaf: if not then bow down to Uncle Sam. We don't have to "bow down" to Uncle Sam but we can lie down with him. It's in our interest that the US be engaged in Somalia. It will bring stability and foreign investment. What do we have to give in return? I'd say if we can keep our faith and our dignity, we can share everything else.