Abbaas has been given a new name. he now goes by the name Maqane. how come the ADMIN and the MODs allowed him to have his name changed? this is not fair, maha? i want to change my name, too. i could do with a new change of personality. for years now, the name Alpha Blondy has tainted my character, you know. Alpha = incredible ability...Blondy = foolish acts. you can't be talented and be foolish at the same time, dee. it's an oxymoron.

Alpha Blondy;962477 wrote: GAME Nigerian (Egbo) - Fox Ethiopian (Amhara) - Elephant Kenyan - (kikuyu) - Snake Tunisian (Pro-West) - Monkey Somali (Koonfurian) - Eagle NOTE: all things considered.....let's assume these animals have equal ability. using various relationships, partnerships and coalitions of sorts, work out the following. 1. political leader 2. economic strongman 3. neutral only ONE can survive, ma garateen? LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL anyone want to play this game?

who is watching you?

Khayr;985041 wrote: He has been fighting for you on here. He has been blind sided by you. He is a dreamer and a hopeless romantic. Just what you need to finish your thesis. Hell, he should be your new Thesis! stop spreading fitna, abti.

Haatu;985078 wrote: It's on the decrease. People are more aware nowadays especially the ladies who were the supporters of this practice in this past. It should have died out by my kids' generation inshallah. Nothing to get alarmed over. are you going to do this to your daughters? Shiekh Dirir preaches about Somali minorities folks being discriminated against in marriage. but.....apparently, the story goes..... he was once asked to marry one such daughter and he refused. lakinse not entirely sure of the story's reliability. denigrating a tradition will meet with resistance. the few loose canon feminists, who scream and shout about this practice, and other sorts of ''backward'' traditions are pathetic. a toxic mix of human rights mantras, particularly ''a woman's right to her body'' and other such methods are bound to fail. it embarrassing and highly insulting to our culture. the need to change must come from us. we'll need to do an internal appraisal of this practice and decide.

i've never been to Gacan Libaax mountains. looks alright, you know.

Al's Friday advice -doing 15 reps cos my opponent did 10. success is not dependent on copying others but surpassing your own targets. jimco wanaagsan akhyarta sharafta leh.

Khayr;984943 wrote: Waar kuub noo shoob! canno geel x 2 over here. no shoob shoob lakinse.

LIVE from the centre. this is the main reading room. commissioned some Ethiopians to do 13 shelves. lakinse not satisfied with the quality of work. :mad:

jeudi soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooir.

interesting vid. worth watching.

Nin-Yaaban;981851 wrote: WoW! Africa is coming along pretty quick. With 1 billion + people, i hope they take off and make something out of themselves. Might take a decade, or even a century, but i hope they pull it off. ^^^ i'm not so sure, you know............ Against the Gospel of “Africa Rising” Almost ten years ago, Binyavanga Wainana mocked the relentless bashing of Africa for what it is: ignorance. Nowadays, however, a new gospel could use similar deriding: “tell them six of the ten fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa; drop names like Aliko Dangote and Isabel Dos Santos alongside Magatte Wade and Bethlehem Alemu; point to the 300 million middle class Africans; showcase the bustling cafes and glossy shopping malls with the latest products; spotlight the growing cities with towering structures; and always summon technology as your solution for everything. If they mention conflict, disease or poverty, chastise them for their antiquated colonial ways and refer them back to your points above.” What’s the problem? In the interest of tackling the distorted and singular narrative of Africa as a continent of need, the “Africa rising” discourse is reinforcing its own one-dimensional story. Bolstered by recent advances in economic growth rates, Africa has been turned into a brand, a product to be packaged and sold on the merits of its financial worth. Its value is discussed and negotiated yet conversations too often exclude the context and implications of the current economic growth or the policies and institutions that sustain it. Africa is certainly rising, but how is it rising? And who is or isn’t rising with it? The continent’s burgeoning middle class has driven much of that discourse. Stories about its growth, increasing wealth and expanding expenditure have contributed to portray an Africa on the ascent. Prospects are so promising that Mthuli Ncube, chief economist of the African Development Bank (AfDB), suggested that we recalibrate our development priorities: [Aid and development strategy] will have to concentrate less on the bottom of the pyramid and move to the middle, which means it has to be supportive of private sector initiatives, which then are the way middle class people conduct their lives. This sentiment is echoed regularly by development institutions. Never mind that the middle class is a precarious and expansive category lumping together people spending $2 to $20 a day. Let’s also ignore that the so-called “floating class” at the bottom end of the spectrum represent almost 40% of said middle class, people who contend with questions like affording school fees and medical treatment on a regular basis. If we cherry pick the middle, what happens to the rest? It is one thing to use the middle class to unpack singular depictions of the continent, it is another to pivot all development policies and priorities towards them. The economic model of the United States has informed much of the growth-oriented policies that international institutions prescribe and developing countries follow. But is that model any good? Over the last 25 years, the US economy boomed and collapsed, options in consumer goods grew exponentially while the number of consumers able to afford them shrunk. Despite political discourse on America’s middle-class, inequality increased. In the last four years, 95% of all income gains have gone to the top 1%. Inequality is a choice, as Paul Krugman argued recently, and …the United States provides a particularly grim example for the world. Because, in so many ways, America often ‘leads the world’, if others follow America’s example, it does not portend well for the future. On the continent, despite improvements in national economies, technology, and certain human development indicators, almost 2 Africans out of 3 remain affected by poverty. The number of poor people has doubled since 1980s and among the world’s 10 most unequal countries, six are in Africa. In a recent survey of more than 50,000 people in 34 African countries about current economic conditions, half say they struggle to meet daily needs like food, clear water, and medicine. The problem with the “rising Africa” narrative is that it isn’t creating a space for their voices and struggles to come to the surface. In centering the discourse on those who are doing well, the resource-poor are written out of mainstream narratives. Beyond narratives, I am concerned about the dismissive tenor towards the structures capable of expanding the benefits of growth and of addressing inequality — government and the social sector. The state is often presented as a barrier, a liability ripe with corruption and inefficiency that can be leapfrogged by technology and enterprise. At most, the state’s value is to facilitate an investment-friendly environment for business. Where there is a problem, business can resolve it. The World Bank and IMF have waged a sustained assault on African public services over several decades, and have never been called to account for the profound and lasting damage they have done. With corruption, repression, and leadership failures in many countries, it’s hardly a mystery why the state has earned such a bad reputation. However, the implicit exclusion of governments absolves them from their responsibility and undermines the potential role of the state, further endangering the prospects of just and equitable societies. With a weak government, who will hold the private and social sectors accountable? And if the state is as irrelevant as the discourse is rendering it, then why does it occupy so much of the critique in the first place? Increased investments in the private sector may in fact continue to strengthen the GDP’s of countries, as Tony Elumelu highlights, but they won’t address growing issues of inequality. Who will provide the social services needed to establish safety nets and protection for those at the bottom? Despite the creative offerings of essential services by the private sector, the fundamental needs like access to roads, clean water, energy, education and health must still involve the state. Business interests may flourish with or without a state, but countries can’t make progress without good governance. Leadership, transparency, civic engagement, organizing and advocacy must therefore remain central in the “Africa” dialogue. The current discourse on Africa’s future also touts the end of aid and the rise of business as the continent’s savior. Aid agencies and NGOs are often viewed as relics of an old era, marked by need, charity and dependence, a stain on Africa’s history that has corrupted our collective stories. It is clear today that aid is not an engine of growth: the mistake of the past two decades was relying on it as a development tool. Many aid agencies and charities continue to offer much fodder for critique, of which Invisible Children’s public hunt for Kony has become a symbol. Still, the blanket rejection of this sector is a disservice to critical dialogue and necessary improvements. The discourse on the role of aid too often lacks nuance and context. Efforts must be made to distinguish humanitarian intervention from development action, aid agencies from civil society actors, international organizations from local ones and, most importantly, the ineffective ones from those that are innovative and transformational. Demands for greater efficiency, accountability and impact are essential drivers of change but they shouldn’t come at the expense of the entire social sector. We must find ways to promote promising and effective models while eliminating those that are failing. In doing so, Africans should remain vigilant. The concept of “African-led development” seems to have bridged many past divides, bringing under the same banner institutions like the World Bank with African advocates. Platforms that were once closed are now open to African voices, be it TED or the New York Times. It isn’t uncommon to see Africans represented on high-level panels organized by the likes of USAID. As the priorities and spaces of activists and institutions converge, we should however ask ourselves: which Africans are gaining entry to institutional and mainstream development spaces and why? Is this change indicative of tangible shifts in power or is it simply a cosmetic facelift? On the continent or in the diaspora, we have insights into a different and constantly shifting picture of our communities, and that complex mosaic is still missing from most narratives. The conversation on Africa’s rise will likely continue to grow as various African nations climb the income ladder. Integral to that conversation are definitions and measures: is success defined by how much GDPs grow, how many phones Africans own, tech hubs they start, investments they attract or billionaires they count among their ranks? Or is it measured by the inequality gaps that are reduced, the livelihoods that are strengthened, and the freedoms expanded? In the prevailing “Africa rising” discourse it is all about the former. If we want meaningful and transformative change, we need to pursue the latter as well. ----- http://africasacountry.com/against-the-gospel-of-africa-rising/ ---- interesting article.

reer SL are obsessed with action films. MBC 2 and MBC action are the nation's favourite channels. once i sat through that film with Robert Redford, Demi Moore and Woody Harrison called Indecent Proposal. there were all sorts of interpretations. :p

ultimate music. Acid Jazz y'all.

well.....it's not that interesting, is it?

Safferz;984766 wrote: Yes, I think you are right. Alpha huuno macaan, Isaamax, I didn't mean to injure you in this alleged qarxis, my intention was to point out how awesome and normal you are when you're not trolling on SOL Shame on the rest of these folks for taking a tongue in cheek post so seriously dee. Clearly they are just jealous that our introversion has enabled us to connect on a much deeper level as BFFs, and that we'll probably get married soon. Waa ceynkaas :cool:

STOIC;984789 wrote: I hope he finds him. He has good things to say about his friend.The name thing can be confusing. Somalis have Sharci name and real name. Case example; Yours truly.It was hard to explain to my college friends why my wedding invites had a different name. facepalm! Such is the world of a Nomad caajib. when will you stop being an apologist?

N.O.R.F;984805 wrote: There are too many Somali muppet ciyaals these days. What is going on? Why isn't this guy holdiing down a decent job or studying? What happened? 1992 was the last time holding down a decent job or studying mattered, ma garatay? now it's all burqas, balwad iyo bila camaal.

go on....mock me, ridicule me, embarrass me. halka ka si wada. backbiting and slandering are among the major destructive sins in Islam. ... Allah says in the Qur'an: ... And do not spy or backbite each other. Would one of you like to eat the flesh of his brother when dead? You would detest it - (49:12) in such times of shameful whisperings and character assassinations.... i shall turn the other cheek. because i'm better than that.

excellent. just excellent. there were more Arabs than you can shake a caleen at. caajib. in SL, the clan elder hierarchy is as follows.............there's Caqil, then there's Chief Caqil then there's Suldan....... but an Ugaas, a newly created title? caajib. they say he's wealthy. for reasons beyond reason, he's the namesake of the HAG destroyer 'Cali Mahdi' and he holds Saudi Nationality, a rare achievement by any stretch of the imagination. Ahmed Mohamed Saeed was the man of the hour this morning. without doubt the single greatest ego-maniac alive, Ugaas Ahmed of the Arab is a man of royalty. prior to today's extraordinary coronation, the title 'Ugaas' was non-existent and known for the Jesuits and pastures afar . but for the Arab, a tribe making great strides in recent years, it was a statement of intent. no longer a peripheral player in the game, the Arabs are not redefining the game, as it were......lakinse, in a society obsessed with derajo and honorific titles, this doesn't surprise, ruunti. in the coming days, as is the custom, Ugaas Ahmed will tour the Arabian hinterland....just as Big Silaanyo did recently. balse, we spoke and he seems different. he's a real Haqsoor, you know.

excellent. well done. first elected member of SOL. i will be the next.

hi. maxa cusub? it's already approaching mid-day here in the nation's capital. just at work and doing some important research.

once again, my trust in SOL has been severely tested as my person is mocked, ridiculed and openly discussed. sida wa laga ficanyahay.

Haatu;984626 wrote: I just spent £33 on books. Crazy. go to charity shops. like cancer research uk and marie claire. books are very cheap. clothes too.

chilling at yards. with couple of friends. another busy day. lots achieved but lots to do.