Category: Information

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!

A reader who’s currently studying in Italy emailed me some photos of an exhibition called Discover Kuwait that’s currently taking place in the streets of Milan. According to him they’re there for a week promoting Kuwaiti culture with pictures, information and even with music and dance. Below are some pictures he took and you can find out more by visiting the Discover Kuwait website [Here]

Thanks Hadi

Aramex posted the following on their Shop&Ship website:

Pleased to inform you that the customs strike in Kuwait is over. We will be delivering your shipments once they are processed and released from Kuwait Customs.

For more information please contact us on +965 (1) 820011 or email us at [email protected]

Shop and Ship Team

That’s great news. I have one shipment in customs right now, another coming in a few days and I’m also expecting the iPhone 4S to ship from the UK any day now.

Thanks Qatami

Spotted this video on the LWDLIK blog. It’s a presentation on the new railway system that is going to be built in Kuwait. I’ve posted about this topic a number of times before but this video offers a new glimpse on how the system will work and be implemented. They even have a few 3D renderings over real world shots showing how it’s going to look which is a design similar to the Dubai Metro but with a potential to be better since they’re planning to cover the whole country. [Vimeo]

Google Maps recently added driving directions to Google Maps in Kuwait meaning you could now tell Google where you are and where you want to go to and it will calculate the route similar to navigation devices. You can try it by visiting Google Maps [Here]

Thanks Ds

LoYAC has started their part-time program. This program is for college and university students and what it does is allow you to work part-time at companies that are relevant to your major. If you’re interested in joining this program check out the LoYAC blog for more details [Here]

I have a post from back in 2005 where I mention that shipping 4lbs with Aramex’s Shop & Ship would cost KD7. Today the same weight according to their online rates calculator would cost KD11 not including the KD2 customs tax. The total with the customs tax is KD13 which is nearly double what we used to pay back in 2005.

I miss the old Aramex. Back when I joined in 2001 it would literally take 2 days from the time the package shipped from the States for it to be in your hands here in Kuwait and they were much much cheaper.

I just got the following email from Aramex. I really hope they don’t mean from now on I need to pay ANOTHER KD1 on top of the KD1 I am already paying for packages that go to customs.

Hello,

This is the most recent update with regard to Kuwait Customs: As per Kuwait Customs Authority in their directive number 94, effective immediately, all shipments undergoing clearance (Tasfiya) now require a 1 KWD government stamp fee. This stamp fee is being imposed on all Express shipments including Shop and Ship packages pending customs release as of today.

We thank you for your understanding and look forward to your continued support. For more information on Kuwait Customs please contact us at [email protected]

Shop and Ship Team

Update: It’s confirmed, they will be taking KD2 on every package for customs clearance. KD1 which they were taking before and now another KD1 for customs clearance stamp. Now my question is what is the KD1 we were already paying for? I thought we were already paying KD1 for customs clearance.

Update2: The extra charge is in effect starting right away. How do I know? I just got an SMS saying that my package weighing 0.15lb (that’s 68 grams) is out for delivery and the charge including customs is KD5.150. That’s for a package weighing under 100 grams… talk about expensive!

There was a press event held today at the Sheikh Saad terminal regarding the new airport design. At the event a CD was given to the attendees which contained various renderings of the airport (previously posted about here) as well as PDF’s containing information on the airport design plus some facts and figures. None of the documents say when the airport will be completed but they do say construction begins next year. Oh and it will have a metro station meaning I will be able to take the train from my home to the airport… that’s if they ever build the metro.

Other interesting facts, the airport will be covered with solar panels as previously speculated and they’re actually aiming to be the first passenger terminal in the world to attain the LEED “gold” accreditation (laymen terms = it will be very environmentally friendly). The steps which in my previous post I thought were weird (check image above) turned out to be water falls which makes a lot more sense. Check out all the renderings below, they’re slightly updated and polished compared to the previous renderings that were posted. Finaly here is a link to a zip file containing the PDF’s in Arabic and English. [PDF LINK]

Thanks Rabee

A documentary on Dr. Naif Al-Mutawa, the Kuwaiti psychologist who created The 99 comic books is going to premier in the States on PBS next Thursday October 13th. This is the description of the documentary taken from the Wham! Bam! Islam! website:

WHAM! BAM! ISLAM! tells the story of Naif Al-Mutawa and his venture to create the first team of superheroes from the Muslim world called THE 99. Following the tumultuous journey of THE 99 from concept to reality, from acclaim to censure by Islam’s cultural gatekeepers, from the edge of bankruptcy to plans for theme parks and an animation series, Al-Mutawa dodges cultural minefields and tries to tackle the harsh realities of the global marketplace while doggedly pursuing his vision to bring new heroes to Muslim children while re-introducing Islam to the West.

I’m not sure if the documentary will be available to download after the release or if it will even be available as a stream online. Once I find out how we can watch it I’ll update this post with more information. For now, here is the link to the Wham! Bam! Islam! website [Link]