Category: Interesting

From Kottke:

That’s the flag of the Benin Empire, a pre-colonial African state situated in modern Nigeria that lasted from 1440 until 1897.

Tonight I passed by a shop called Pro-Hobbies in Dajeej. I needed some paint for my Tamiya crawler and the Tamiya dealer had run out so they recommended I pass by Pro-Hobbies instead. It was my first time there and the place turned out to be really cool. While Tamiya specializes in on and off road electric cars and buggies, Pro-Hobbies specializes in helicopters and nitro powered race buggies.

While there I also got to check out the KHR-1 Robot. I had seen this robot before on YouTube playing football so it was very exciting to see the robot live. They aren’t selling them yet, they just got one to try it out and see if there is a market for it. The robot costs around KD400 which isn’t cheap but the way it moves is just incredible. It’s fully programmable and is driven by 19 servos (motors) which explains the hefty price tag considering a single servo usually costs around KD12. I took a video of the robot which you can see below. It was running out of batteries and the floor was slippery but you can still see how cool it is.

[YouTube]

If you want to pass by the store they’re located in the mall behind Showtime in Dajeej. Here is a link to the [Map]. They have a website but it’s still under construction. [Link]

There was an ad in the paper for this new electronics shop that was opening today in Hawalli called Best. According to the ad the store was going to sell Lenova netbooks for KD50, iPod Nano’s for KD20, an 8MP digital camera for KD10 and microwaves for just KD1. The result? An enormous mob gathered around the store waiting for it to open. But, probably due to the fact there was no way on earth they would be able to control the crowd, the store never opened. Check out the pictures and get more info [Here]

Update: Here is a video taken by M.Bahraini. That’s A LOT of people! [YouTube]

Q8Sultana posted about a Mirror House located in Qadsiya a few years back and now the owner has a website up with a ton of pictures and information on the house.

The house belongs to Lidia Qattan, an Italian lady who got married to a Kuwaiti (Pioneer artist/painter, Khalifa Al-Qattan), and has been living in Kuwait for decades. She has decorated her entire house, inside and outside, with pieces of mirrors. – Q8Sultana

Lidia’s website has pictures of every room and every angle of the house from the outside and inside. You can tell she put a lot of effort into fulfilling her dream of a “Mirror House” and it’s really one of a kind. Check out her website for more pictures and details. [Link]

I previously posted the first episode of The Chef’s Table but it seems since then two more episodes have come out. The one above is episode 3 and it looks like it was shot at eight6 Bistro in the Avenues. I guess the restaurant has opened already although I didn’t notice it this past weekend. [YouTube]

Note: The chef in the video is Ahmed Al Bader, the owner of Burger Hub and Prime & Toast.

Update: Don’t know how I missed this but the YouTube video description says eight6 Bistro is opening on Thursday, October 1st in Phase Two of Avenues.

Construction of the longest bridge in the world is going to start next year. The “Friendship Causeway” will link Qatar and Bahrain together and once completed should take people 30 minutes to drive from one side to the other. Now if only someone would build a Kuwait – London “Shopping Causeway”, that would be a cool bridge. [Link]

How much has car safety come in 50 years? Autoblog has pictures and a video of a crash test between two cars, one a 1959 model and the other from 2009. The result? We’ve come a long way. [Link]

Update: Link fixed!

Sydney got hit by a dust storm and it’s all over the news so I checked out the pictures and it just looks like one of the regular storms that hits Kuwait. Not a big deal but I guess they just never got one before. [Pictures]

I’ve always wanted Craigslist to open a Kuwait section and it looks like they just did. Check kuwait.craigslist.org, they’ve even kept the erotic section which should be interesting!

Slider Station is one of my favorite burger places in Kuwait. They’ve got a huge variety of sliders, burgers, starters, fries and desserts while also having one of the trendiest designed restaurant interiors in Kuwait as well as good music and some amazing staff. My favorite two things there are the onion strings with Chipotle sauce on the side and Ancho rib slider.

Their Black Widow burger was reviewed by me in “The Best Burger in Kuwait Challenge” and scored very high. A lot of people were put off by the price but now could be a good way to try it because Slider Station are offering lunch or dinner for two as today’s giveaway. You get to order and try whatever you like which is a fantastic deal so make sure you try their famous chocolate pudding when you are done. They’re located on the Gulf Road opposite Seef Palace near Pink Moon and Falafel & Company. You can visit their website by clicking this [Link]

All you need to do to win is to leave a comment below and later on in the evening I will use random.org to select a winner.

Rules: You need to put your proper email in the email field while commenting since the winner will be contacted by email. You also need to respond to my “You Won” email within 24 hours or I will have to make another draw and choose another winner. You can only comment once, anyone caught commenting more than once will get disqualified.

Picture of staff taken by Dakdoka

Update: The post was closed for commenting at around 6PM.
The winner is…

[YouTube]

Comment #156, you’ve got mail!
Everyone else check back tomorrow for another giveaway.

I was reading an article in WIRED magazine about Patrick Blanc and his famous vertical wall gardens when I read the following:

Forty-five years on, the French botanist’s gardens have grown massive in scale. One inside a Portuguese shopping mall is larger than four tennis courts, and there’s one in Kuwait that’s almost as big. [Source]

So I did a bit of googling and found this article from January of this year that says:

360 MALL announced the latest addition to its unique retail offer, with the creation of the world’s largest indoor living wall. This innovative vertical garden marks a new eco-friendly element to the 360 Mall on offer…

…Patric Blanc, a botanist and the inventor of the Vertical Garden said: “This vertical garden is set to become a must-see destination for people in Kuwait and beyond. It is something people will want to see and experience for themselves. [Source]

I’ve been to 360 Mall a few times and never noticed the vertical garden so I checked for some images of the mall online and found the picture above on Ansam’s blog showing the vertical garden. I don’t think a lot of people have noticed it before, maybe they should add a plaque or something in front of it. It’s interesting.

Here is a link to Patrick Blanc’s website. [Link]

Yesterday night I passed by Abyat to check up on something and on my way out I decided to pass by this new place that had opened right in front of it called Aquamondo. It’s a cute place that has everything you need for your bathroom ranging from shower curtains and floor mats to shower heads and bathtubs. They even have a small area with a few shower heads setup where you can turn them on and see how the water flows out of them.

Abyat does have a bigger collection of shower heads and tubs but its still neat.

The other day I posted about the new bollards (poles) that were being installed in the area around my office in Kuwait City. They really didn’t fit in with their environment and it looked like a lot of money was wasted on them. Well one of my blog readers just made me realize that they’re not there anymore. I saw some guys working on them this morning when I was coming in to work and figured they were just properly fixing them but it seems they were removing them. Strange, just like that they’re gone, not a single one left behind. Hmmmm…

I was lucky enough to get a private tour around the new Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel today and I have to say I loved the place. When you pass by it on the highway it looks like one giant building but once you’re inside its a completely different world. I really left the place impressed and I managed to take some pictures to share with everyone here. My favorite thing has to be the fact that they have a lot of Islamic design incorporated very beautifully into the design which you can see in some of the pictures below. The beach is a lot bigger than it used to be and they’ve built a very nice marina, not for boats but for swimmers which I think is cool. The place will have around 400 hotel rooms, 60 apartments and 12 private chalets. They’ll also have three pools outside, 2 large ones and 1 small one for kids. They’ll also have an indoor pool. Click continue below for all the pictures I took. Completion date is set for May 2010.

Teddy On The Go is an interesting social experiment by a Kuwaiti architecture student that recently moved back to Kuwait. To keep herself in check and out of a routine she decided to start the website Teddy on the Go as a way to motivate her into doing something interesting or new everyday and also as a way of expressing her opinions subtly through the bear. Her project is going to last for 365 days only after which the bear will be sold for charity. Currently she is at day 11. Check out her experiment by visiting her website www.yearofteddy.com