Friday, May 31
Jun. 1st, 2024 12:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
A pretty nice day, weather wise. A bit windy, but warm and sunny.
I almost didn't want to go outside though, because the garden is still not done. Sigh.
But go outside, I did. I tilled the half that had the compost spread already, and that went fairly well. The soil is loose and crumbly right now, so it was easy enough. Then I spread some compost on the other half before I went to see River.
Wonder's hoof seems better today. Sometimes with these abscesses, they can really hurt one day, and drain the next. I will keep the boot on for a while to help keep her foot clean.
Then I went to see River. We worked outside, mostly on our freestyle, and broke it down a bit into parts. He did well overall, and his breathing was okay.
Then I stayed to work with Quidley during the other person's lesson, and we worked on getting him to turn correctly off his hind quarters. He kind of wants to do more of a side pass, so you have to be very clear with your cues.
Then I came home, and we watched some "Boardwalk Empire".
Somalia is right around most of the Horn of Africa, making it both the Easternmost part of Africa, and the country with the most coastline. The roughly 17 million people are mostly Sunni Islam.
"In antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial center.[17][18] During the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Sultanate, Adal Sultanate, Imamate of Awsame, and the Sultanate of the Geledi. In the late 19th century, Somali sultanates were colonized by the Italian and British Empires,[19][20][21] who merged all of these tribal territories into two colonies: Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland.[22][23] In 1960, the two territories united to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government.[24]"
Things have not been peaceful since then. There has been a lot of civil war, conflicts with a group called the ICU (Islamic Courts Union), and the government of Somalia needing to partner with Ethiopia to bring in troops to deal with insurgents from within.
There was a long period with a transitional government that finally worked towards a permanent government that was established in 2012.
Several states within Somalia are declaring themselves to be autonomous "Northern Somalia is now de facto divided up among the autonomous regions of Puntland (which considers itself an autonomous state), Somaliland (a self-declared but unrecognized state) and newly established Khatumo State of Somalia. In central Somalia, Galmudug is another regional entity that emerged just south of Puntland. Jubaland in the far south is a fourth autonomous region within the federation.[1] In 2014, a new South West State was likewise established.[179] In April 2015, a formation conference was also launched for a new Hirshabelle State.[180]"
Human rights sucks. Any same sex activity can be punishable by death. The population is very young, with about 44% of the population being under the age of 14, almost no one over the age of 65, and a life expectancy of 48.2 years for men and 51 years for women.
As mentioned, a lot of Somalia is coastal, and overall it is pretty dry and arid. Moving inward, there are plateaus, highlands, and grassy plains. Not much going on for agriculture. It is pretty hot year round, with a rainier season, though not much variation overall in temperatures. There are some greener regions near the bigger rivers in the South.
There is a massive ongoing project to plant trees at the edge of the desert, to try and stop the spread of the sand dunes. There was also a massive effort to stop the cutting of old growth acacia trees for charcoal, which has been fairly successful.
If there hadn't been so much civil unrest going on, Somalia likely could have become an important shipping country like it's neighbor Djbouti, but it is not the shipping powerhouse it could have been. There is still some shipping, and it does benefit from the Suez Canal. There are things that could be mined, like a huge deposit of Uranium, if they can just settle down.
Even though there is not a lot of agriculture, it's still important, with things like bananas and lots of livestock being important products. They are a large producer of Frankincense resin.
There is some industry. Oddly enough Coca Cola recently built a big bottling facility there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia#Notes
https://youtu.be/8TIrJADv7iE?si=u-wkWuXZGy7eUyr6
A pretty nice day, weather wise. A bit windy, but warm and sunny.
I almost didn't want to go outside though, because the garden is still not done. Sigh.
But go outside, I did. I tilled the half that had the compost spread already, and that went fairly well. The soil is loose and crumbly right now, so it was easy enough. Then I spread some compost on the other half before I went to see River.
Wonder's hoof seems better today. Sometimes with these abscesses, they can really hurt one day, and drain the next. I will keep the boot on for a while to help keep her foot clean.
Then I went to see River. We worked outside, mostly on our freestyle, and broke it down a bit into parts. He did well overall, and his breathing was okay.
Then I stayed to work with Quidley during the other person's lesson, and we worked on getting him to turn correctly off his hind quarters. He kind of wants to do more of a side pass, so you have to be very clear with your cues.
Then I came home, and we watched some "Boardwalk Empire".
Somalia is right around most of the Horn of Africa, making it both the Easternmost part of Africa, and the country with the most coastline. The roughly 17 million people are mostly Sunni Islam.
"In antiquity, Somalia was an important commercial center.[17][18] During the Middle Ages, several powerful Somali empires dominated the regional trade, including the Ajuran Sultanate, Adal Sultanate, Imamate of Awsame, and the Sultanate of the Geledi. In the late 19th century, Somali sultanates were colonized by the Italian and British Empires,[19][20][21] who merged all of these tribal territories into two colonies: Italian Somaliland and British Somaliland.[22][23] In 1960, the two territories united to form the independent Somali Republic under a civilian government.[24]"
Things have not been peaceful since then. There has been a lot of civil war, conflicts with a group called the ICU (Islamic Courts Union), and the government of Somalia needing to partner with Ethiopia to bring in troops to deal with insurgents from within.
There was a long period with a transitional government that finally worked towards a permanent government that was established in 2012.
Several states within Somalia are declaring themselves to be autonomous "Northern Somalia is now de facto divided up among the autonomous regions of Puntland (which considers itself an autonomous state), Somaliland (a self-declared but unrecognized state) and newly established Khatumo State of Somalia. In central Somalia, Galmudug is another regional entity that emerged just south of Puntland. Jubaland in the far south is a fourth autonomous region within the federation.[1] In 2014, a new South West State was likewise established.[179] In April 2015, a formation conference was also launched for a new Hirshabelle State.[180]"
Human rights sucks. Any same sex activity can be punishable by death. The population is very young, with about 44% of the population being under the age of 14, almost no one over the age of 65, and a life expectancy of 48.2 years for men and 51 years for women.
As mentioned, a lot of Somalia is coastal, and overall it is pretty dry and arid. Moving inward, there are plateaus, highlands, and grassy plains. Not much going on for agriculture. It is pretty hot year round, with a rainier season, though not much variation overall in temperatures. There are some greener regions near the bigger rivers in the South.
There is a massive ongoing project to plant trees at the edge of the desert, to try and stop the spread of the sand dunes. There was also a massive effort to stop the cutting of old growth acacia trees for charcoal, which has been fairly successful.
If there hadn't been so much civil unrest going on, Somalia likely could have become an important shipping country like it's neighbor Djbouti, but it is not the shipping powerhouse it could have been. There is still some shipping, and it does benefit from the Suez Canal. There are things that could be mined, like a huge deposit of Uranium, if they can just settle down.
Even though there is not a lot of agriculture, it's still important, with things like bananas and lots of livestock being important products. They are a large producer of Frankincense resin.
There is some industry. Oddly enough Coca Cola recently built a big bottling facility there.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia#Notes
https://youtu.be/8TIrJADv7iE?si=u-wkWuXZGy7eUyr6
