Category: Information

I love my alarm clock but the problem with it is that its just that, an alarm clock. Sure it plays CD’s and has a radio but these are two features I never use. I really didn’t know what I really wanted until I found the Chumby.

What is a chumby?
The chumby is a compact device that displays useful and entertaining information from the web: news, photos, music, celebrity gossip, weather, box scores, blogs — using your wireless internet connection. Always on, it shows — nonstop — what’s online that matters to you.

Yes all that and it also has an alarm. It’s an internet appliance thats meant for the night table. The device isn’t out yet and won’t be out for at least a couple of months but the creators have promised it should cost under $200. You can check out the Chumby website for more details. [Link]

For now though if anyone is interested in an incredibly good deal on an internet appliance I would have to recommend the Audrey by 3Com. You can find them on eBay for under $50 and they look great and are perfect for the living room, kitchen or even the bathroom. You can check your email on it, browse the web and even use it as an organizer. I have one in my living room and it comes handy for checking the latest weather or headline news whenever my laptop isn’t around. Just go to ebay and do a search for “3Com Audrey”.

A site dedicated to helping non-Chinese when it comes to eating Chinese food. Basically if you ever stared at a Chinese menu and didn’t know what a certain dish was then this site should make things clearer. [Link]

According to survival rates based on seating, it turns out the further back you are seated on the plane the higher your chance of surviving a crash. [Link]

Fan death is an urban legend that originated in South Korea, but has since spread to other countries in the Far East. The belief is that an electric fan, if left running overnight in a closed room, can result in the death (by suffocation, poisoning, or hypothermia) of those inside. This belief also extends to air conditioners and the fans in cars. When the air conditioner or fan is on in a car, some people are apt to leave their car windows open a crack to avoid “fan death.” Fans manufactured and sold in Korea are equipped with a timer switch that turns them off after a set number of minutes, which users are frequently urged to set when going to sleep with a fan on. [More info]

I’ve had my eye on the Sonos digital music system for awhile now but I never bought it because I simply don’t listen to music at home. Today while I was at Alghanim Electronics I saw the device in person for the first time and it actually looks as pretty as in the pictures.

I don’t know how long they’ve been selling it for since I don’t frequent Alghanim, but the Sonos was priced pretty expensive at KD436. The newer and larger bundle on Amazon costs only KD288.

There are three other teams that I know of who have also been accepted to Red Bull’s Flugtag.

Rampurple’s team got accepted. They will be called B Toons.
Patrick Semaan’s team got accepted. They will be called The Phoenix.
MacaholiQ8’s team got accepted. They will be called Dragonfly Team.

Any more bloggers involved??

Fantasy World are selling a bunch of Transformer toys but the highlight has to be the large Optimus Prime action figure. They are selling it for around KD37 but on Amazon its being sold for $65. I’ve seen the same model but the limited edition Japanese version (metal) in Muthana Complex for KD80.

With the success of Transformers this was bound to happen. [Link]

Yesterday Tiesto was supposed to be playing in Bahrain but it seems the organizers were liars and Tiesto never ended up showing up. When people started booing the organizers (B&D Entertainment), security started throwing people out and that resulted in a riot. Abadi, a blogger in Bahrain has a full right up writeup of what happened and like the thousands of people who paid to watch Tiesto, he is really pissed. [Link]

update: Here are videos showing what happened Thanks k:

The foray in DJ Tiesto’s concert in Bahrain (Part 1)
The foray in DJ Tiesto’s concert in Bahrain (Part 2)
The foray in DJ Tiesto’s concert in Bahrain (Part 3)
The foray in DJ Tiesto’s concert in Bahrain (Part 4)

update2: Here is a link to a news article [Link]

update3: Another news article with a lot more details on what happened and why. [Link]

The Ministry of Information Interior has a competition to find the best driver in Kuwait. You can apply online and the grand prize is I think KD250.
To qualify you need to:

1) Own either a car or motorbike
2) Not have gotten any traffic violations between 07/31/2006 and 01/07/2007
3) Not have had any car accident between 07/31/2006 and 01/07/2007

To enter the competition visit the MOI website. [Link]

I am Am I the only one who finds this competition funny? Funny or not I am still going to sign up.

update: Imagine if the cops start recruiting drivers…

“Hi, sorry to pull you over but we’ve been tailing you for the past 30 minutes and we’ve noticed your driving skills are unparalleled. We would like you to consider signing up to the “Role Model Driver of the Year” competition because we think you have a strong chance of winning. What do you say?”

As part of a promotion for the upcoming Simpsons movie, 7-Eleven turned a dozen of its stores into Kwik-E-Marts. They will also be selling items which had previously only been seen on the TV show like Squishees and Krusty cereals. There is a whole flickr photoset of one of the branches which you can check out by clicking [Here].

Nibaq sent me this over the weekend. Its a chart of the most reliable and least reliable vehicles. In the number 1 spot for reliability its Lexus, Toyota is 5th, BMW 9th and Mercedes 19th. The least reliable brand is Land Rover and its the least reliable by FAR. [Picture]

For lunch I passed by Shatea Al Watyia, a small Kuwaiti restaurant located behind Casper & Gambini in Kuwait city. The restaurant is in an old Kuwaiti style home which goes well with the menu which is based on traditional Kuwaiti food.

The inside of the restaurant is divided by regions, since we were a large group we sat in Fintas which was a private room with enough seating for 8 people. Flipping through the menu there are a lot of dishes to choose from ranging from machboos to grills. I decided to go with the Mourabian which is a rice and shrimps dish.

We first got the starters which were made up of a variety of dishes including sambousak, yerish and a lentil soup. The sambousak was so so, but the yerish was pretty cool. It was my first time trying it and I honestly forgot whats it made from but to me it tasted like a chilidog’s chili which is pretty cool. The lentil soup was also really great.

The main course arrived soon after that and the quantity was huge. Last week I was in Ta’al and ordered the shrimp curry which disappointingly came with 8 pieces of tiny shrimps. In comparison at Oum Habib the Mourabian had at least two dozen tiny shrimps and the rice portion was gigantic!

The general atmosphere of the place was quiet and the staff friendly and fast. I don’t know how packed the place gets in the evening but I imagine its even cooler when filled with a lot more people. The prices are also really cheap. The soup was KD1, the appetizers around KD1.500 and my main dish was just KD3.500. Thats a really good deal for what you are getting in return. The shrimp curry at Ta’al for example was KD5.500 without rice. Good food, great prices and good service, final score is a 4.5 out of 5. I would definitely go back there again.

update: Erzulie decided to edit my review since my vocabulary is limited to three words “good” “cool” and “amazing”. If you want to check out her interpretation of my review [click here]

A reader sent me the following email:

Dear Mark,
I am personally aware of a very sad story about an American teacher in Kuwait. The teacher, Katherine Phillips, is an Al-Bayan Bilingual School Middle School Deputy Principal. She is the victim of an influential parent who has effectively detained her in Kuwait. Her only crime was to suspend the influential parent’s son for fighting! This is a normal procedure but the parent threatened her and is carrying out his threat. Her full story can be found in International Schools Review site.

She is crying for help. It would be great if you mentioned it.

Regards,
bu ziyad

You can read her story by clicking [Here]

During lunch I went with a bunch of coworkers to the ice skating rink. I was expecting the place to be packed with kids since school is out and the weather is extremely hot but instead the place was deserted! I am such a bad skater but I love the place since its freezing cold and in this heat I can’t think of any place I would rather be except for the frozen isle section at Sultan Center but thats about it.

For people who haven’t been there before the entrance is KD1.500 and that includes entrance and rental of the skates. Its also easy to find, look for a yellow building in Kuwait City.