Category: Interesting

Ok, the title is not true but more than once I’ve mislead Kuwait new comers into believing we were about to take the subway when walking down towards the Darwaza Abdul Razaq Tunnel in Kuwait City (pictured above). Even once you’re inside the tunnel and you realize it’s just a pedestrian tunnel, it’s still not hard to imagine a pair of escalators located in a corner that can take you further down below towards the trains. That’s why I always found that tunnel interesting and I don’t think there is anything else like it in Kuwait.

The Architecture of Kuwait blog has a bunch of pictures of this underground pedestrian tunnel and you can see them [Here]

Spotted this on Kuwaitiful and thought it was really cool mostly because I’ve never seen 3D mapping being applied to such a regular looking building. Most examples I’ve seen on the web have been “grander” like this years Saks Christmas light show or the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque projection. [YouTube]

You’ve probably passed by this building a number of times but not really known what it was or what’s inside. It’s currently getting demolished which is why I thought I would share some pictures I took back in 2003. Back then the building was still open and me and my friend decided to explore it and take some pictures. Most of the shots I had taken were abstract (it was a phase I went through) but I did find some shots that actually showed some of the interior which I posted below. We found a room full of files that contained dates and times of ships passing through some dating back to the 70s and I’m sure there might have been some even older. I kinda regret not taking more photos and flipping through more files but this is still better than nothing.

If the Salmiya Park ends up looking anything like the picture above then I’ll be spending most of my time in there hanging out with my dog. I am guessing it’s going to be an animal friendly park since other than the mall, museum, restaurants etc.. there is also going to be a veterinary clinic. For more info on the Salmiya Park follow this [Link]

Not sure what this is exactly but I’m all for street performers at the Marina Crescent walk path. [YouTube]

Architecture of Kuwait announced yesterday they will be tracing over old photos and turning them into 3D in order to visualize moments of that era. I think that’s a fantastic idea and one I’m looking forward to see. Not sure how far back in time they’re going but I’m guessing somewhere in the 50s and 60s. Check out their post on this project [Here]

Btw notice how much greener the city looked like in the picture above?

Back in September I posted about Brotips, a website that belongs to a young 16 year old Kuwaiti called Yousef Khraibut. Well Yousef emailed me awhile ago telling me Mark Cuban has invested in Brotips! How cool is that?! Mark Cuban if you don’t know is a business magnate and investor who also owns the NBA team Dallas Mavericks. That’s pretty freaking cool! Here is a link to an article on this deal at FastCompany. [Link]

Last year I posted about a house in Salwa that had two wind turbines installed. It seems their little experiment with wind must have went well because they currently have at least 7 wind turbines installed! I wonder if they’re completely off the grid yet?

Thanks Hamad

According to Desert Girl, the coal plates that used to be served with tea at Souk Mubarakia is now illegal. That’s doesn’t seem to be the only change since she previously posted about Souq Al-Hareem getting dismantled and removed. Not sure what’s going on over there but it seems like everything that is traditional is bit by bit being removed. Sucks. [Link]

Someone needs to film a zombie flick on Failaka. [YouTube]

I first heard about close captioning when I was living in Canada back in the early 90s since practically every station had it. Close captioning was created for the deaf community or hard of hearing individuals to help them understand what’s going on on TV. It’s a button on the remote you press to turn on and off and when on you can see subtitles on the screen along with sound descriptions. Turns out the system isn’t used here and so someone just started a campaign to try and push OSN to implement it. This is their aim taken from their Facebook page:

To urge OSN (Orbit Showtime Network) in speeding up the process of incorporating English subtitles in all OSN channels (whether the broadcasts are in English or Arabic) so that everyone – deaf, hard of hearing and hearing people – can have a better experience.

I’m surprised OSN don’t already have close captioning since they’re on the cutting edge of technology so I hope they listen and implement it soon. To support this campaign and for information on how you can help check out their Facebook page [Here]

On a side note they have a pretty cool campaign page with pre-written emails you can send with a click of a button and lots of information among other things. All campaign pages should be like this.

BirdTalk’s first proper episode is out and it’s an interview with artist Ghadah Alkandari. [YouTube]

Bianca the owner of Early Bird is starting a new YouTube show called Bird Talk in which she will be video blogging about things to do in Kuwait other than the usual ones. I’m not a fan of video blogs but the trailer above looks pretty damn good and if her shows are going to look like that then I’m definitely going to watch them. [YouTube]

via Blogyac

Update: Found the video below in their channel and I think it’s their first episode.

[YouTube]

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

Here are some of my favorite posts on 2:48PM from last week:

– Non-stop Nyan cat!
– Siri alternatives for Android
– Bill Gates & Steve Ballmer Night at the Roxbury theme
– 8-Bit Bike Light
– iPhone 4S vs Canon 5d MKII