Category: Information

Google will launch a new feature Wednesday: Google Health, that will help you find treatments, symptoms or alternative medicine treatments. You can try it today (be sure to set your Google interface to English). [Link]

Taken from digg

So I was at Hardees yesterday getting cookies when I noticed that they had replaced all the pictures of the burgers on their display menus with new ones that used the Thick Burger patty. Someone commented the other day in one of my posts that Hardees no longer had “normal” burgers only the Thick Burgers so I asked the guy if this was true and to my surprise it was! You can no longer have a normal Mushroom & Swiss for example, you can only have the Thick Burger version which honestly tastes terrible.

I hate the flavor of the Thick Burger and I don’t understand how they can phase out their regular beef patty. Now the cheapest combo is KD1.400 and its the Roast Beef & Chedder, everything else is KD1.500 and up. They are now officially the most expensive fast food joint compared to Burger King (the previous record holder), McDonalds, KFC and Texas Chicken.

Choowy Goowy cookies are now available at the NUMI Cafe infront of Dasman Complex in Kuwait City.

Its an interesting question and some of the answers are pretty cool. I didn’t know I needed so little to make a complete diet.. [Link]

Five people just got executed today morning for crimes ranging from rape to drug smuggling. The interesting thing is it turns out I could see the hangings from my office window. I used the office camera with a 120mm lens to zoom in as much as I could onto the hanging yard and if you look at the picture, on the left side you can see people wearing black. I think this picture was taken after one of the people got hanged because you can see the trap door open and some people dressed in black underneath it… [Picture]

My eyes have recently started burning when I sit in front of the computer screen because I think I need to update my eye glass subscription perscription prescription. I spend too much time working in front of the computer screen so when I found this page on how to exercise my eyes I was like cool shit. Its not something I would do at work since I would look really weird doing these exercises but maybe when I am alone at home.. [Link]

Where was this 2 years ago when I really needed it. Only translation options I had back then were Ajeeb and Almisbar and both had a membership fee to use.

Translate Arabic to English
Translate English to Arabic

Cajetan Barretto has been taking some amazing HDR shots here in Kuwait and a few days ago he posted a step by step guide on how to achieve photos of similar caliber. Its fairly easy but I haven’t been able to replicate anything as good as his stuff. Will keep trying.

Cajetan’s HDR guide [Link]
Cajetan’s Kuwait HDR pictures [Link]

Note: The picture above is by Cajetan

If anyone is interested in getting a puppy or kitten then I would recommend checking with PAWS. They have a lot of cute dogs and kittens that need homes and you can check and see whats available by checking their gallery on their website. [Link]

I posted about the “My Puppy” store back in November and I talked about how the store was animal cruel locking the dogs and cats up in tiny stinky cages with very little room to move. Well TwaiF a regular reader of the blog had an experience with the place he she would like to share with everyone:

Last week I got a cute white kitten for my freinds birthday from the “My Puppy” shop. The shop smells like shit and there was no electricity or air conditioning. I saw this little cute kitten in a dirty cage and I couldn’t leave her there in that stinky shop so I took her with me for KD70. Guess what? Today she passed away!! She hadn’t been eating and when we took her to the vet the Dr said that she was too small to be taken away from her mother. She was 2 months old according to the My Puppy shop keeper although we now think she was a lot smaller. I called the guy who owns “My Puppy” and told him what had happened and he replied telling me that it was my fault becouse of the weather she passed away! I hope Mark you write about this stupid shop and how dirty it is and how cruel the owner is to the animals. -TwaiF

I think local organizations like PAWS or local vets should do something about this place. Its sickening.

Update: extinct.dodo another reader had a similar experience which makes you wonder how many people have purchased puppies and kittens from that store only to have them die on them??

I bought a puppy from that place last year for KD250, and it died less than 2 weeks later..

What I did was that I took my pup to the vet, got papers to prove that the dog was terminally ill (distemper) and went back to the shop. Although they wouldn’t give me my money back, they did however get me another dog, although by that time I was emotionally devastated over my sweet baby pup that I’d gotten so attached to in the days that it had been with me.

Update 2: I emailed PAWS today morning about the above and this is what they just replied:

Hi Mark, I don’t know if you’ve seen today’s press coverage (Arab Times and Daily Star) on WSPA’s visit to Kuwait. Coincidentally the reps from World Society for the Protection of Animals visited My Puppy just yesterday with officials from PAAF and our PAWS Chairperson. Though meeting no international humane pet shop regulations whatsoever, they did not actually witness the worst of what WE (PAWS and you) know goes on at this place.

Please be assured that WSPA and PAWS are working with the ministry of animal health to enforce current legislation and bring in new laws regarding pet shop regulations and standards. Sadly, these won’t happen overnight. We will report your findings to both WSPA and PAAF and ask them to send regular inspection teams.

Please keep the reports coming in….they are very useful and will be acted upon in due course if not immediately.

We also took the WSPA officials to Little Jungle…..words fail me, but please, please use the power of your blog to report on the horrendous conditions which exist at this so called ‘fun family’ spot…..It’s off the 207 from the Fahaheel Express way and if you haven’t visited….do so, at least once…it might make My Puppy look like an ok sort of place,

Best regards, and use that Blog to keep animal welfare issues front and centre, PLEASE!

Barbara
for PAWS

Seems like I need to pass by Little Jungle and check out how bad it is. If its worse then My Puppy then thats some scary stuff…

I am going to try the Special Forces technique tonight. [Link]

Maps.Google.com recently got updated with new high resolution images and Kuwait gained from it. For example Salmiya no longer is a blur on the map, the images are pretty good quality. Also I found a military base which was previously also blurred out. Check it out.

Marina Mall
Fanar Complex
American University of Kuwait (still being built in this picture)
Shaab Park
American International School
American School of Kuwait
Military base with planes

I was just looking for an image on Photodisc.com when I came across an image that looked very familiar. I think I found the image that was used as a starting point for one of THE One’s adverts. Its common for agencies to use a stock image during presentation and then go shoot the advert once approved but this ad I believe won some sort of recognition which I now think they shouldn’t have received since its basically a copy of a stock photo.

THE One granny advert
The original stock photo

The other day I posted about bluetooth advertising and how if you are shopping in Sultan Center you can now receive ads on your phone. I like many of you had some concerns regarding this service and how easily it can turn into spam. Well someone from the company responsible for this bluetooth advertising commented the following:

Hi, I’ve been following your conversations regarding bluetooth. My company is actually implementing these bluetooth services in Kuwait and I’m always interested to hear what people have to say about it. I agree with everyone that spam is a major problem which is why when we put our network together we were sure to set non-spam parameters. If you reject the message once, you shouldn’t receive another request for at least a week. Also, no matter which location you go into, you shouldn’t receive more than 3 messages in a week. If this is not the case in any particular location it’s probably because we are doing testing and optimization. Within the next few months we hope to bring a number of services that you would actually find useful, so bear with us. I think you’ll be impressed.

I think the fact that its limited to 3 messages a week per person is a good thing. But the big problem is that I don’t think its possible for us to opt out of this service. This means anyone with a bluetooth phone is forced to receive 3 adverts a week. Sucks.

Update: Nibaq pointed out something very important regarding this bluetooth service. Read below:

Very interesting. So it registers your MAC address of your phone. Even though you aren’t accepting messages when the machine does a search it will regonize your phone and store it.

Spread these machines around town not sending anything but just registering phones and what do you have? A wonder tracking device.

Sultan can see how many times you visit the store in a month, and which stores. You can even track how long a customer is at the store.

Just another reason to have my bluetooh on Non Discoverable mode or simply off.

This is just a final reminder, if you are interested in winning tickets to the Ride & Drive event then you must email me a picture of an H3 you have taken in Kuwait by the end of today. The winners will randomly be chosen and sent an email tomorrow with details on how to collect the tickets. Send your H3 shots to EMAIL REMOVED