Category: Interesting

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

The coolest/freakiest/creepiest thing I’ve seen online for ages. I’m not going to ruin it, just visit the website and connect it with your Facebook then sit back and watch. [Link]

The 99 Unbound film premiered at the New York Film Festival earlier in the month. The animated series will be starting soon so this featured film was a way to launch it. I’m not sure when we’re going to get to watch it here in Kuwait but for now you can watch a short clip from the film above. You could also read a review of the film [Here]

A bagel place opened up in Kuwait City which I think is pretty cool I haven’t tried them yet but some friends at work did. Their website is horrible (slo-mo 90’s style flash) but they’ve got their full menu up there for you to download and order from.

Here is a link to their website [Link]
Here is the link to their menu bypassing their website [Link]
Finally here is their Facebook [Link]
Their phone number is: 55444303/313

Now this is an organization that needs all the support they can get. Their mission: Make Kuwait Green.

This group is for an environmental project which calls on people who go camping during the winter time to plant 10 trees of certain type and irrigate it during the winter season. By the end of the season this tree will be able to survive and year after year our deserts will be our kid’s oasis.

Doesn’t sound very difficult and you can buy the small trees for really cheap from the nurseries on the 4th Ring Road. Imagine how beautiful the desert would be all green. Check out the Kuwait Oasis Facebook page [Here]

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

Nicely shot film by Timothy Carr on Al Sawaber, the PK Jaguars and Parkour. This is the description attached with the video:

Al Sawaber is a Kuwaiti housing project built in 1976. This once beautiful complex is now a run down slum known for housing the worst of Kuwait’s criminal element. It is also an amazing parkour spot filled with unique architecture mixing harsh concrete edges and organic landscaping quite nicely. With its rooftops, elevated walkways, massive stairways, parks and unique architectural touches the PK Jaguars, Kuwait’s first and best Parkour team have made it their favorite spot to train. This is a film about Al Sawaber, the PK Jaguars and Parkour.

The film is nearly 10 minutes long which makes it a bit repetitive and I’m also not sure how accurate the description is about Al Sawaber housing criminals is. Still, it’s an interesting video to watch. [Vimeo]

Thanks Anes

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]

A reader going by the nickname “La Revue de Koweit” posted the comment below under the Avenues fight post and I thought it was funny but yet made sense at the same time. Below are 7 fight preventative actions that should be taken:

1) Serious shoppers should avoid going to the Avenues over the weekends and public holidays.

2) Increased presence of law enforcement officers on Segways throughout the mall and mounted on horseback in the parking lot.

3) Videowalls in the courtyard areas with live streaming videos from different fashion houses from Milan, Paris, London, New York and Tokyo plus exhaustive coverage of all the fashion weeks would be a useful distraction to keep the Jahra and/or Saudi set yobs engaged.

4) Rope in LoYAC to arrange activites that excite youth such as, kite flying, skateboarding and karting outside the mall.

5) Organize frequent blood donation drives and free health checks: mobile health camps to make possible blood draws for screening of thalassemia, blood glucose etc, all of which serve as small but rather useful diversions for channeling of youthful energies and making the national sport of weekend birdwatching seem less macabre and more civil.

6) Holding of spelling bees at That-el-salasil.

7) Naming and shaming policy can be a rather useful deterrant. Mugshots and names of the yobs involved in a fight should be displayed on a special bulletein board – the Avenues Fight Barometer for all and sundry to see.