Spotted this bus on my way into work this morning. Turns out there was a building under construction that was lifting some metal beams via a crane but the beams crossed over the main road where a Citybus was passing by.
On a similar subject some of you might not be aware of this but the employees of KPTC, the public blue buses are on strike because they’re protesting a KD50 salary cut. [News]
A reader emailed me an article in which Kuwait asks BlackBerry to block around 3000 porn sites so I went to myself what? I opened my browser on my BlackBerry and typed in playboy.com and hit go and guess what? It opened! Why didn’t anyone tell me about this before? I never knew I could access blocked sites on my BlackBerry.
Kuwait has asked BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) to block pornographic sites though will not suspend services like other Gulf states have threatened to do, a local newspaper reported Tuesday.
RIM has given “initial approval” to block 3,000 porn sites at the request of Kuwait’s communications ministry, the al-Jarida daily said, quoting a source it did not identify by name.
It said the Canadian manufacturer asked the ministry to give it until the end of the year to implement the block.
It’s also good to know that the BlackBerry service won’t be blocked in Kuwait. Here is a link to the [Article]
Head & Shoulders in danger’
The Ministry of Health (MoH) might get the ‘Head and Shoulders’ shampoo removed from the market, in case it is proven that the shampoo contains carcinogenic substances, reports Al-Hurriya daily. A Qatari newspaper, Al Sahrq, recently published a report stating that research revealed the presence of ‘Deuxan’, which causes cancer, cirrhosis and kidney fibrosis, in the shampoo. The newspaper had warned the general public against using the shampoo and indicated that it will be withdrawn from the markets.
I’ve actually been using Head & Shoulders for years but just yesterday for some odd reason I decided to try Clear (pictured above). It’s actually pretty good, smells great and instead of burning your eyes like Head & Shoulders, Clear actually has this strange cooling effect.
This is not a bad idea actually, they should probably introduce something similar here in Kuwait.
The list of banned styles includes ponytails, mullets and elaborate spikes. However,quiffs appear to be acceptable, as are fashioning one’s hair in the style of Simon Cowell or cultivating a 1980s-style floppy fringe.
A reader sent me this article that appeared in The Guardian a few days ago about the state of Football in Kuwait and the UAE. The article talks about Kuwait’s football achievements in the 80s and the demise of it today.
While middle-aged Kuwaiti men are genuinely proud of the football team their country produced in the 1980s – champions of Asia in 1980, World Cup qualifiers in 1982 and Gulf Cup winners in 1982 and 1986 – the same cannot be said of the current crop of players. Dubbed the “gel team”, these shebab (young men) have been branded prima donnas by the older generation, more concerned with applying gel to their intricately styled coiffures and handing out their phone numbers to doe-eyed female admirers than with training and winning.
The article starts off with the question, “Is it because family riches spoil potential players that these countries’ sporting glories lie in the past?”. Personally I have no idea why football in Kuwait today is not as good as it was in the 80’s and early 90’s, but maybe someone else can answer that question. [Article]
The list of the hottest emerging markets for retail just got released and for the first time ever Kuwait made it onto the list but not only that, Kuwait somehow managed to rank the second hottest market place in the world for retail! China is in first place as expected, India in third and Kuwait squeezed in between the two. This probably has to do with Alshaya being based in Kuwait and bringing in and opening all these foreign brands. I’m still waiting for some kind of news on Shake Shack..
“Kuwait is an attractive opportunity,” said Deepa Neary, a retail industry consultant at A.T. Kearney. She cited the country’s location in the Middle East, which is quickly becoming an exciting region for retailers, and its highly concentrated urban population, which helps make the market more accessible for retailers.
According to Neary, Kuwait can serve as an entry point into the Middle East.
Here is the top 10 list:
1- China
2- Kuwait
3- India
4- Saudi Arabia
5- Brazil
6- Chile
7- United Arab Emirates
8- Uruguay
9- Peru
10- Russia
Someone in Russia painted a 65 meter large penis on a draw bridge and every time the bridge gets raised so does the penis. It’s a true story, it’s in the news right now. Very funny stuff. If I was Viagra I would quickly go and stick my logo on the bridge. [Link]
