Thanks for sharing.

D.O.C;937830 wrote: I have seen more pro hijab girls employed in profesional fields than westernised wanna bees. This is the difference between selling your womenhood or beauty for exchanged of money where in contarary the hijabbed lasses selling their intellectuality and talent . As they say "do not run after this world, let the world run after you....EDUCATION IS POWER AND WILL GIVE YOU EXTRA MILE! lol and you can determine this from the presence or absence of a piece of cloth?

Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar;937833 wrote: Qof ayaa micnaha 'reer miyi' u gambisay. Reer Miyi, for your information, waa dad diin iyo dhaqan leh and far from being a woman who engages in xaaraan activities. Where did Reeyo say anything about haram activities? In fact, she titled the thread "halal homewreckers."

For those of you (hopefully all of you) running Google Chrome as your internet browser -- you can explore over 100,000 stars in the Milky Way through this recent Google experiment that pulls together data from NASA and the European Space Agency.

Haatu;937816 wrote: That's a beauty thanks. So much useful general knowledge. There's this guy I sit next to in class who always tells me these interesting facts. I guess I'll finally be able to tell him a few things soon Blue, that's a shame. There's nothing more interesting than the sciences and nothing more rewarding than having a eureka moment when you solve a puzzle. If I had gotten into the sciences, I think I would have studied astrophysics The universe is so fascinating (though I think those of us in the humanities just explore it in a different way...)

Haatu;937808 wrote: Science is amazing. +1 I was obsessed with this a while back -- the Scale of the Universe.

Lots of valuable documents relating to 1970s Somalia in the Kissinger Cables, released by Wikileaks.

I saw the documentary Freakonomics last night and really enjoyed it. Definitely worth watching, especially if you're not familiar with the book:

Haatu;937783 wrote: Are you sure about Silver Linings? It seems so cliched. I enjoyed it too -- thought it was well written and refreshing in the sense that it wasn't a typical romantic comedy, but I didn't like the ending.

Yes I have! It's amazing what Somalis have put on websites and on YouTube

SomaliPhilosopher;937676 wrote: don't flatter yourself dee. there was 287 before you.

I did. I posted about Dur Dur more because the story of how their music reappeared was interesting (and the songs were great too!), but this material is definitely more in line with my research... popular music (and poetry) can be a source to access what everyday people were listening to and thinking about during that period, and especially useful for Somali history since we're a predominantly oral society.

SomaliPhilosopher;937670 wrote: I noticed a pattern of your late night posts I see I have a stalker

SomaliPhilosopher;937667 wrote: Titles that contain words such as "Pearl" and "Beautiful" are probably not suited for academic study They're government issued documents, which makes them artifacts of a particular period in Somalia's history and ideal for academic study

SomaliPhilosopher;937665 wrote: Safferz, you don't sleep much, do you Not much at all.

Thanks for the response, Chimera. It's almost 4am on the east coast and I am delirious and less combative than my usual self, so I'll accept a thoughtful response for what it is More cute photos please.

http://www.folkways.si.edu/TrackDetails.aspx?itemid=15627&GLMU=1 I came across this through my university's electronic resources, so unfortunately you won't be able to listen to the full audio without a license. But I recorded the first song, Dulkayaga here .

Wadani;937614 wrote: Ur gonna become a somebody someday insha'Allah. Thanks Wadani

Safferz;937602 wrote: So what books have you guys read about Siad Barre and his government? Maybe we can start putting together a bibliography. I'll post some of what I've read in a bit. I'm not aware of a full length book about his government, but these all include useful information: Jackson, Donna. 2007. Jimmy Carter and the Horn of Africa: Cold War Policy in Ethiopia and Somalia. Jefferson: McFarland & Company Inc. (focuses on US foreign policy in response to @gaden War) Laitin, David. 1979. The War in the @gaden: Implications for Siyaad’s Role in Somali History. Journal of Modern African Studies 17.1: 95-115. Laitin, David. 1977. Politics, Language, and Thought: The Somali Experience. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Lewis, I.M. 2002. A Modern History of the Somali (4th Edition). Athens: Ohio University Press. Lewis, I.M. 1994. Blood and Bone: The Call of Kinship in Somali Society. Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press. Samatar, Said and David Laitin, eds. 1987. Somalia: A Nation In Search of a State. Boulder: Westview Press. Samatar, Abdi Ismail. 1989. The State and Rural Transformation in Northern Somalia, 1884-1986. Madison: University of Wisconsin. Tareke, Gebru. 2000. The Ethiopia-Somalia War of 1977 Revisited. The International Journal of African Historical Studies 33.3: 635-667. (also a chapter in his book The Ethiopian Revolution) There is also the Indiana University Digital Somali Collection, which includes a number of government publications and posters.

SomaliPhilosopher;937610 wrote: It sounds like your preparing to write a barre biography safferz Nah, but I definitely have an (academic) interest in his regime and there's some overlap with what I'm studying now, so who knows... it wouldn't be a biography though, I'm more interested in a history of that period.

So what books have you guys read about Siad Barre and his government? Maybe we can start putting together a bibliography. I'll post some of what I've read in a bit.

Chimera;937543 wrote: I agree. but the Kindle is great for when your tired and you just don't want to hold a book. I have an iPad that I use for reading and annotating PDFs and other documents among other things, so I'm not a complete luddite But nothing compares to an actual book.

Cambuulo iyo bun;937595 wrote: if only watched his recent films then yeah but in Face/off he is really, really, really good Lord of War was also really good.

Chimera;937534 wrote: Labor participation rate for Somali women is very low, much lower than that of men. It doesn't matter which country with a sizable community you look at. It's logical considering the structure of the Somali community. Three examples of the employment rate difference: UK – Somali men 40.1% employed - Somali women 9.6% - WIKI USA – Somali men 51% employed - Somali women 38.5% - Link Denmark - Somali men 34% employed - Somali women 22% - Link Never said that, they're roughly the same, with Somali men having a higher proficiency in English. Listen, my post wasn't some invitation for a gender war, considering each side is one half of the same team. However, I feel when people project that stereotype of "sisters outdoing the brothers" based on news headlines or dropout rates, they are doing the community a big disservice by neglecting a significant group that needs attention, support and assistance. Those figures don't take the informal economy into account, which is where you'll see a lot of Somali women employed (ie. in a Somali mall, domestic labour, etc). It's also important to differentiate between first generation Somali immigrants who arrived in these countries as adults with families (our parents, for most of us here) and Somalis who have been educated here, because the trends are also very different. Chimera;937534 wrote: The community wouldn't collapse because they're "educated" or "working women", (nice twist) however a large section of our community unfortunately due to war, divorce or other reasons is headed by single-mother households. Your exact words were "the assumption that Somali women are more educated and employed than their male-counterparts is a myth, our communities would have collapsed a long time ago if that were to be the case," so there's no twist. As Blessed points out, being a mother and having a career are not mutually exclusive. Parenting isn't a mother's sole responsibility, it is a shared task. Chimera;937534 wrote: Its very difficult for such a mother to juggle all of these responsibilities with a career/university on the side, if she did do this, then the kids would be neglected badly. There has to be a balance, if sisters opt for higher education or a career, then the brothers have to become the fathers that pick their kids up from school. feed them, bathe them and put them to bed. Otherwise, again the sister would be forced to drop all of her personal dreams and become a full-time mom. I have seen many Somali fathers like that, but it all depends on the mentality of the couple, and whether they're willing to compromise. My point was that fathers should ALWAYS be doing this, period. The idea is only controversial to the misogynists who believe that raising children is a woman's job, and their rightful place is in the home, not at school or at work.