Author: Mark

It’s been nearly a month since I got my Tamiya FJ and just a few moments ago I finished building it. It took some time because I had to paint the body and ended up messing up the job, I then had to wait for the motor and electronic speed controller to arrive from the States and finally tonight I just had to source one more small part locally and get some wires soldered onto the motor. I’m now done with it, I tidied up all the wiring and my FJ is finally ready for a crawling session. I missed out on one last Friday because my car wasn’t ready but this Friday I am going and will take some pictures once I do.

Update: Here is a picture I took this morning

Tomorrow their will be a huge fire on the 61st floor of the Al Hamra Tower which is the soon to be tallest building in Kuwait. I can’t see the future but a reader emailed me telling me they will be testing the firefighting capabilities tomorrow. I didn’t quite understand if they will be testing the actual firefighters capabilities to fight a fire in a high-rise or if they’re testing the fire readiness of the building. In any case if you see smoke tomorrow you know why.

Thanks Ba3ks

Update: The exercise took place today but I don’t have any pictures so if you do send it in.

Someone emailed me an interesting question today which I thought I would ask here:

…I was wondering where can someone go and get tested for all types of STDs and HIV here in Kuwait… would really appreciate your help…

I never thought about that before. I am guessing private clinics? The thing is if you do get your test back and you’re HIV positive does the clinic have to inform the ministry or do they keep your results confidential?

This is a very beautifully shot documentary on the South China Mall, the worlds largest shopping mall. To give you an idea on how big the mall is, the largest mall we have in Kuwait is Avenues and that isn’t even in the top 10 list of largest malls. Dubai Mall on the other hand is the 4th largest shopping mall in the world, the South China Mall is literally twice as big as the Dubai Mall. The problem? Only 12 stores have been occupied out of the 1,500 the shopping mall has.

It’s a 13 minute long documentary but you don’t have to watch all of it although it would be hard to stop. Here is the [Link]

According to a news article dated June of this year, the Arby’s and Wendy’s franchises for the Middle East and North Africa were taken by a Saudi conglomerate. This sadly means the first branches which are scheduled to open early 2010 won’t be in Kuwait but will be in Saudi.

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group, Inc. (NYSE: WEN) today announced an agreement with Saudi Arabia-based Al Jammaz Group to build 135 dual-branded Wendy’s® and Arby’s® restaurants in nine countries in the Middle East and North Africa over the next decade.

Here is the link to the article. [Link]

Thanks ElHaddad

If you have the new BlackBerry Messenger 5 then join the 2:48AM Group. All you need to do is click on “BlackBerry Groups” in BBM5 and then “Scan a Group Barcode” and scan the barcode above. It’s that simple.

If you haven’t downloaded the latest BBM you can do so by visiting the link below from your BlackBerry:
https://www.blackberry.com/select/bbm/download.shtml

Update: Seems this group thing is still kinda buggy. Just updated the barcode above, if you had trouble joining before try now.

Update2: It seems the group has his the limit and no more people can join.

q8blackmarket took a picture of this classified ad on the street in Kuwait City. I just tried calling the number to see how much they wanted for the kidney but the phone was closed. [Link]

Update: I messaged the guy asking about the price and he replied saying how much I would pay, I replied asking what the best price was. He then replied saying for a Kuwaiti KD1000 while for a non Kuwaiti just KD800.

Update2: When I didn’t reply he messaged me back asking if it was too much. I told him it was and the best I could offer was KD500. Surprisingly he went down to KD650.

Update3: I asked him why he wanted to sell it, he wouldn’t tell me just said it was a personal problem. It’s sad, he must be desperate. Told him not to sell it and that it was very illegal to do but he just responded with a “Thank You”.

I can see this huge fire from my window in Kuwait City. A friend of mine that works in one of the buildings on the Gulf Road near the Scientific Center told me its a restaurant after Green Island. That could be Burj Hammam which already caught fire before. If you have any details, videos or pictures [Contact Me]

update: so far I’ve heard it’s either the Lebanese, the Saudi or the UAE embassy, a power generator or a gas station.

update2: Seems most probably is was a power generator that caught on fire. Below is a video that was shot by one of my readers.

[YouTube]

My friend snapped this photo at the Kuwait Airport last night. I love how they have out of order in Arabic written in English.

Update: A reader (Burhan) snapped the photo below in Hawalli

From Kottke:

That’s the flag of the Benin Empire, a pre-colonial African state situated in modern Nigeria that lasted from 1440 until 1897.

Sultan is now carrying Pepsi cans with the new logo and design. They are imported not the locally produced ones and they’re also caffeine free but they look very cool. I know a lot of people hate the new designs but I think its a nice direction away from all the clutter and junk that’s currently around.

[YouTube]

[YouTube]

Has to be the dumbest invention ever. [Amazon Link]

The latest Human Development Index is out and Kuwait ranks 31. I honestly don’t have an idea what that exactly means but I can highlight some countries we are ahead of.

35 – United Arab Emirates
59 – Saudi Arabia
83 – Lebanon
92 – China
123 – Egypt
129 – South Africa
134 – India

For the full list here is the [Link]

I sadly don’t have much info on this event only what I found on the Facebook page which is:

This is the very first car show to be hosted by the U.S. Embassy Kuwait, come enjoy the latest and greatest in automobile technology and modification.

Date: Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Location: U.S. Embassy Kuwait
Street: Masjid Al-Aqsa St.
City/Town: Bayan, Kuwait

Here is the link to the Facebook page but there isn’t much else there. An event like this should have been better advertised… only 11 confirmed guests on their Facebook page. I don’t even have a logo or picture to attach with this post since there doesn’t seem to be a flier or anything of the sort. [Link]