Category: Information

…gun ownership in Kuwait amounts to 24.8 firearms per 100 people, and that there are approximately 630,000 civilian guns in the country… Kuwait’s defense forces possessed roughly 30,000 guns that year, while the police had only 8,358.

I was reading an article about a guy who killed a wolf in Kuwait and thought that bit of information on gun ownership was a bit shocking. The number is based on a 2007 count of civilian firearms published by Cambridge University press. I don’t know but that number seems a bit unreal to me. [Link]

The new airport will be completed by 2016. That’s in 4 years time. [Link]

Turns out when it comes to “Nation Branding”, Kuwait for some odd reason scores really well… like really well. Out of 236 countries, Kuwait came in 13th place for Q3 of the 2011 Brand Perception Index. And it’s not a one time fluke, I checked the 2010 index and Kuwait actually came in 6th place overall last year! I think that’s great but honestly I don’t understand how.

Norway for example is currently at the bottom of the list in 236th place… right behind Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Pretty weird, I mean they had the bombing incident and the shooting but 236? Here is how they rank the countries:

Our indexes rank all countries and territories based on how they are perceived in leading international media, published quarterly and annually. The indexes are based on analyzing millions of mentions in hundreds of thousands of news articles.

For the full list click [Here]

via BlogBaladi

Zeebrgr is a new burger joint by the same people behind Maki. They’re soft opening tonight and they’re located at The Palms in Al Bida. #notenoughburgerjointsinkuwait [Link]

Hermès sent out invitations to their opening at Al Hamra Tower which will be on the 13th of December. I’m not sure if anyone can attend the opening without an invitation but you could give it a shot if you really want a bag. The invite says the event starts at 7pm and I’m guessing if they will have any Kelly’s or Birkin’s available they’ll probably all be taken that first night.

Spoiler: Kuwait came 120th out of 220 countries surveyed. That’s not that great specially when Dubai came in 74. No surprise at the top of the list with European and Canadian cities dominating it all. Vienna came in first. [Link]

Digumz is helping KACCH (Kuwait Association for the Care of Children in Hospital) collect video games (PS3 & Xbox360) for children all around hospitals in Kuwait. The idea started on the United Nations Universal Children’s Day but they’ve now made some adjustments to their campaign to make it even easier for people to donate games. Here are the options available:

Option 1
If you have 5 or more games you would like to donate (used or new), you can call Digumz on 25733040 and they will come by and pick up the games from you. If you have less than 5 games you can still donate them but you need to drop it off yourself at their store in Salmiya.

Option 2
You can purchase games from the Digumz Online Store by using the coupon code UNCHILDREN. When you use that code you will automatically get a 10% discount and the games will be accepted as a donation for the children and held at the store with the rest of the donated games before being sent out to KACCH.

Note: The coupon code works on PS3 and Xbox360 games only since those are the two systems available to the children. Also, the coupon is entered at “Step 5” in the payment process. You need to enter the coupon if you want to donate the games.

Here is the link to the Digumz Online Store [Link]

I heard about this place that fixes iPhones ages ago but never had a reason to pass by until today. My mum accidentally dropped her iPhone into her coffee and it stopped working so I took it to the Michel Chinese Workshop in Hawalli. That’s the official name of the store but you can call it the iPhone and iPad Workshop. The shop is located in the basement of a complex and is run by a very nice Chinese couple in the front and four young Chinese technicians in a small glass room in the back.

This tiny place kicks ass. They fix whatever problem you have with your iPhone or iPad and at a very reasonable price. They fixed my mums phone for KD15 while one of my twitter followers was able to replace his broken iPad screen for KD30. They’re also fast, it took them less than an hour to diagnose what the problem was with my mums phone and also fix it.

Finding the place isn’t too difficult as long as you know Ibn Khaldoon Street since they’re right on it. Get to Ibn Khaldoon and if you pass McDonalds on your left, keep driving around 100 meters and you’ll spot the above banner on your right hand side. If you’re on Ibn Khaldoon Street and you pass McDonalds on your right then you’ve passed the place. In case you get lost you can call them on 66228596 or 22640666.

The 2011 Corruption Perception Index is out and although Kuwait does poorly compared to our GCC neighbors, overall we’re not that bad when compared to the rest of the world. Kuwait ranked 54 out of 182 countries in the 2011 Corruption Perception Index with New Zealand being the least corrupt coming in 1st place while Somalia is the most corrupt landing at the bottom of the list at 182. Here is our ranking compared to our neighbors (the higher the less corrupt):

1- Qatar
2- United Arab Emirates
3- Bahrain
4- Oman
5- Kuwait
6- Saudi Arabia

You can check out the full results [Here]

A team from Sidekick Academy took part in the 2011 NAGA European Open that was held in Paris, France over Eid. Like the US Open which they took part in back in July, the Sidekick team kicked ass again. Here are their results:

Hussain Gholoom
Gold ADCC teen intermediate
Silver Gi teens blue belt
Bronze no-Gi teen intermediate
Silver ADCC intermediate

Nasser Alqattan
Gold ADCC intermediate
Bronze Gi blue belt

Mahmoud Chragh
Bronze Gi blue belt

Mohammed Alnusif
Silver ADCC intermediate

For more information check out the Sidekick Facebook page [Here]

Franklin Marshall opened up yesterday (I think) at the Avenues Phase II opposite Paul Smith.

I was also at Marina Mall last night and noticed SuperDry is opening up in place of where Diesel was located.

Finally some sad news, it seems my favorite Japanese restaurant in Kuwait Kei will not be reopening at Marina Crescent and instead Nestle Toll House will be opening in its place. Originally Kei closed down for renovation but they then gave half their shop to Columbus Cafe Caribou Coffe and it seems now they’ve given the other half to Nestle Toll House. They still have their JW Marriott location but I preferred the Marina Crescent branch since it was right next to my house.

Toll House picture by Mohammed

I’ve heard good things about Muscat but I didn’t think know it was actually so good it came second in the must visit city list for 2012. Pretty cool accomplishment and they’re right next door. Must add it to my to do list.

Top 10 cities
1. London
2. Muscat, Oman
3. Bengaluru (Bangalore), India
4. Cadiz, Spain
5. Stockholm
6. Guimaraes, Portugal
7. Santiago, Chile
8. Hong Kong
9. Orlando, Florida, USA
10. Darwin, Australia

[Source]

Thanks Yousuf
Photo by momentaryawe

Last year I upgraded the FJ’s head unit and this time around I decided to upgrade the speakers. I had to order everything online except for the amp which I luckily found locally. Upgrading the car sound system is a complicated process in Kuwait because of the fact we don’t have any good quality components available locally so your only option is to order everything from the US which means you can’t hear the speakers before buying them and you also have to pay expensive shipping charges.

I went looking for the items locally first but I couldn’t find anything I wanted here. The best brands I found here are Alpine, Rockford Fosgate, Pioneer and Kenwood. X-Cite is the Alpine dealer but they’re currently revamping their entire lineup so I couldn’t find anything except for the Amp which was part of their clearance sale. They’re also the dealers for Rockford but their collection was very limited. Pioneer and Kenwood aren’t really know for having the best sounding car speakers either, their head units are decent but their speakers are just average. The brands I was interested in were MB Quart, JL Audio, Polk Audio and Massive Audio, none of which were available in Kuwait.

After doing a lot of research I ended up going with Polk Audio for the subwoofer since I needed to install the sub into the FJ factory sub enclosure and some guys in an FJ forum managed to fit the Polk 8″ sub without too much modification. Since I was going with Polk for the sub I ended up going with the Polk 6.5″ components for the front as well. I also ordered a pair of 3.5″ Rockford Fosgate speakers for the rear pillars, some Dynamat for the doors (sound deadening material), a StreetWires Amp kit and some RCA cables. Shipping cost me nearly as much as I paid for the items which was depressing. The biggest culprits were the sub, the Dynamat and the Amp Kit. I also ordered some speaker adapters from tacotunes.com which would allow me to fit the front speakers into the existing factory FJ mounts.

For installation I headed to Zaharat Al Naseem again. They’re the best local car system installers and I used them last year to install my head unit. It ended up taking around 4 hours for the installation which was longer than expected since I had a few things that needed modifying and customizing. The most difficult part was getting the sub to fit in the factory box (check picture below) but with the help of a Dremel tool we managed to get it to fit nicely.

My sound system sounds pretty cool right now even though it still needs a bit of tuning. The best part is that everything fit into the factory locations so the car looks unmodified until you turn the sound system on. I’m not sure why we don’t have a high end components available locally, I guess the market is too small or just not interested in quality car sound systems.

Update: They’ve moved, here is their new location [Google Maps]

I already knew Kuwait was in the top 10 but 74.2% overweight sounds too high. Follow the link for the full infographic on Obesity Worldwide [Link]

Thanks Vineeth

A friend of mine figured out a way to get Siri to learn your home and work address as well as other addresses. Just follow the steps below:

1) Open the Maps App
2) Find your home, office or other location
3) Place a pin on the street in front of your location. Street not building or land etc…
4) Click the blue arrow that appeared over the pin
5) Click on Add to Contacts
6) If it’s your office address add it to your contact info
7) Go to your contact info, click on edit, then go down to the address you just added and make sure the label for that address is work (or if it’s your home address then home)

And that’s it. You can now tell Siri to remind you when you get home or to your office and she will do it. You could also add locations like super markets for example so you could tell teach Siri where Sultan Center is and then tell her to remind you to pick up milk once you get to Sultan Center and she’ll do that.

Thanks Saleh!