Category: Information

If you’ve got a Kuwaiti passport you’re lucky since according to recent data, a Kuwaiti passport allows you visa-free entry into 71 countries topping out all the other Arab countries. Lebanon on the other hand ranks at the bottom with the likes of Iran, Yemen and Syria ranking higher. Here is the list of Arabic countries rankings:

1- Kuwait 71
2- Bahrain 67
3- Qatar 66
4- UAE 64
5- Oman 61
6- Saudi Arabia 57
7- Egypt 43
8- Jordan 39
9- Syria 39
10- Yemen 38
11- Iran 34
12- Lebanon 32
13- Iraq 27

On the other hand the British passport topped the whole list allowing visa-free entry into 166 countries. Here is the link to the full article [Link]

Picture from zDistrict

I think I’m going to try and pass by after lunch tomorrow and take some pictures. I haven’t taken sport shots before and a rugby match seems like a good way to start:

The Kuwait Scorpions Rugby Club (formally the Nomads) start their 2010/2011 season this Friday (1st Oct) with a home match against Muscat RFC. Pre-season training has been well attended and with the recent league reconstruction, the Scorpions are looking to have a successful season both home and away.

Come and support your local team against the might of Muscat!!

Kick Off is at 3pm at the Ahmadi ‘Sandpit’

For directions and further details of KSRFC, please go to www.q8scorpions.com

Thanks Akbar

I just got an email from someone telling me he’s been getting lots of phone calls regarding my post about Sidekick Academy. It seems by mistake I typed the wrong number in and people have been calling him all day. The correct number for Sidekick Academy is 99975562.

Sorry about that!

It’s been awhile since I posted about Mishaal Al Roomi. For those of you who are new to the blog and haven’t heard about him, Mishaal is a young and extremely talented weather forecaster whom I’ve posted about a number of times before. He had a website which he used to update daily with the weather forecast even though he was only 17 years old. His site ended up having technical problems and then the updates suddenly stopped. Well he emailed me today telling me that his website www.q8weather.com is now fixed and getting updated daily.

So if you want to get an accurate weather forecast you can now head over to his website and check out his predictions. I’m also going to check with him and see if there is somehow I can implement his forecast into the Kuwait Blogs app. Here is a link to his 5-day forecast which is what I used to check [Link]

Van Cleef & Arpels will be launching tomorrow evening (September 28th) at Salhiya Complex.

Additionally, Bvlgari will be relaunching on October 4th in the same location as their previous store in Salhiya but this time it’s under new ownership.

Great news which you can read over [Here]

I’m more interested in the Reuters photo used in the article which I’ve posted above. I thought Reuters was against photoshopped images yet the one above looks fake. It looks like someone took all the skyscrapers in Kuwait and then shoved them next to each other… but I could be wrong.

I spotted new speed cameras on the First Ring Road. I think they measure your average speed because there are two cameras located at the start of the First Ring Road and two more located at the end. The first pair is located right after the highway 50 bridge if you’re heading from the Sheraton roundabout towards the Gulf Road. The road is only two lanes at that point and there is a camera pointing at each lane. The second pair is located right after the Istiqlal Highway bridge (road 30) when the multi-lane road becomes two lanes again.

The way these speed cameras work is they take a picture of your license plate at the first camera and then take a picture of your license plate after the second camera. It calculates the time it took from Camera A to Camera B and then calculates your average speed, if it’s higher than the maximum speed limit then you’re fined.

I know being 40 isn’t like being #1 or in the top 10 or top 20 but it’s still an accomplishment since Kuwait according to Newsweek is the best Arab country in the world. The results were based on Education, Health, Quality of Life, Economic Dynamism and Political Environment. Kuwait came in 24th place for Quality of Life while it loss mostly in the Education category coming in 76th place. That’s not good news. Lebanon on the other hand didn’t even make the list! Now that’s embarrassing. [Link]

Thanks Ahmed

Most of you probably already know what a Dreambox is, if you don’t then simply put, it’s a satellite receiver that allows you to watch all the encrypted channels like OSN, HBO, ART, Canal+, Nova etc.. for a flat fee of around KD15 every 6 months. It’s illegal of course since a regular subscription to OSN alone costs around KD20 a month. Well recently OSN have started swapping out receivers and one of the reasons is that they’re changing their encryption from Irdeto to Betacrypt. Once they move over from Irdeto to Betacrypt the Dreambox will no longer be able to decrypt their signal anymore and so you won’t be able to watch OSN. Personally think this is just temporary since everything is crackable but for now looks like the only way you’ll be able to watch OSN is by subscribing through them.

Qaiss from io81 has a great post on a small start up juice company here in Kuwait. The post talks about the basic structure of the company, how it works and how much it makes. He also highlights an important point at the end:

There is a market out there and huge potential for many business idea’s other than cupcakes

He is absolutely right. There are a lot of people that bake and cook food and then set up a Facebook page and start selling their goods. Other than the fact that its probably illegal to sell food from your home (since there is no way to guarantee the cleanliness) why don’t people actually setup a proper business? Why not open up a little bakery or a small delivery restaurant. What about ideas beyond food? Check out his post [Here]

A reader emailed me to tell me that Kuwait was featured in the most recent issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine (Oct 2010). A cool thing of course if it wasn’t for the fact that the article was very superficial and spoke mostly about shopping at The Avenues. I’m serious.

Outside The Avenues, the 125°(F) desert air is rising in waves from a sea of luxury cars in the mall parking lot—Land Rovers, Mercedes-Benzes, and Hummers, with a Ferrari or two thrown in. Inside, I’m swept along the marbled concourse by a tide of men in dark sunglasses and ankle-length white robes. Nearby are wives, sisters, and daughters, some in headscarves and designer jeans, others cloaked head-to-toe in flowing black garments, or abayas, and some walled behind face masks . Housemaids and nannies trail behind—domestic servants imported from the Philippines, China, and elsewhere—lugging the day’s boxes and bags.

Understanding the Kuwaiti passion for retail requires a brief civics lesson. Kuwaiti citizens—who make up only one-third of the country’s expat-heavy population of three million—benefit from a lavish package of petro benefits, including plush government jobs. “People get paid for doing relatively little, or nothing at all, and they get paid extremely well,” says Mary Ann Tetreault, a professor and specialist in Gulf affairs. “Shopping is really the only way to distinguish oneself from one’s peers.”

You can check out the full article on the readers blog located at [read-my-blog.com]

I’ve been meaning to post an update regarding the photographer for a few days now but haven’t had the chance. After my last post a very kind reader contacted me and told me she would be willing to finance the whole trip to the Hajj for the old man. She ended up passing by and meeting the old photographer and was able to get all his paper work and pass it on to a hamla who are currently processing them. Hopefully there aren’t going to be any issues and everything works out. Thank you to everyone who offered to help and a huge thank you to the reader who is making this old mans last wish come true.

A short video featuring Hasan Bomejdad, a player in the Kuwaiti national table tennis team on the hardships disabled people go through in Kuwait. The video focuses specifically on the lack of proper parking facilities or the fact that people don’t respect the disabled parking spots. [YouTube]

I get a lot of emails from people who want to setup their own blog under their own domain name and want to know where they can get a domain name from and hosting as well. Although I am sure I’ve posted this information before I figured I would do a quick refresh post about this.

Domain Names
I’ve tried a few domain name providers including DIrectNic and GoDaddy but my favorite is NameCheap. Their prices are decent and their admin interface is great and easy to use. Unlike GoDaddy (which I couldn’t stand) they don’t try and sell you services you don’t need every time you want to do something. www.namecheap.com

Web Hosting
My blog is currently hosted on Rackspace which you really don’t need if you’re just starting out. I originally started using Dreamhost and still use them to host some of my other sites. The biggest advantage to Dreamhost is the fact you can install WordPress (the software that runs this blog) with just a click of a button. Makes it perfect for a beginner to start blogging and they also have a free trial so you could try them out first before you sign up. I also think they give you a domain name for free when you first start or at least they used to when I joined up. www.dreamhost.com

I’ve got the following 5 Dreamhost codes that give $15 off a 1 year sign up and $100 off a 2 year sign up. These codes only work once and I only have 5 so if you try one code and it says it’s used try the second one. If all 5 don’t work it means they’ve been used up already sorry…

794847165544
910624757385
912484430318
915566572416
235249317682

Use the 12-digit code in the “promo code” field.

Please note the options above are not your only options. There are tons of domain name providers and even more hosting providers but the ones above are the ones I use and trust. If you have any questions just post it in the comments below and I will try to answer it.

Update: You can also use the code FIVEZEROOFF when checking out for a $50 discount.

One of the biggest events of the year is back with Kuwait Stock 2010. This year’s music line up includes a lot of great talent, here are the bands participating:

The Feeling
The Rebs
Revolution
The Juice
Dead Electrics
Jelly Shot

Location: British Embassy
Date: October 15th
Tickets/invitation inquiries: [email protected]
Website: www.kuwaitstock.info

Thanks Mahmood

Update: Just emailed asking about ticket prices and got the following

Thank you for your interest in KuwaitStock. The event is by invitation only. If you are known to a KuwaitStock sponsor and they invite you, they will let you know about what to do.

Please note that an invitation is not transferable.

Hope to see you soon

KuwaitStock Committee 2010