Category: Interesting

I spotted a compact electric composter a few days ago at a small business and it looked really practical. It was an Oklin GG-02 and I hadn’t seen one similar before so decided to track down the dealer to find out more about the unit so I could post about it.

A compost bin is a container into which you place organic waste to turn into very rich plant nutrients. You would throw in your leftover food, your coffee pucks, fruit peels, etc and with time it would get converted into compost which you could then use in your garden or your house plants.

I had only ever seen regular compost bins, ones that are just plastic or wooden boxes you put in the garden and fill in with waste. But what caught my interest with this Oklin unit was that it was electrically powered. The Oklin is a home appliance, you could place it in the kitchen, on a balcony or anywhere you want and just keep it plugged in. Whenever you have organic waste you just empty it into the Oklin and in just 24 hours it would convert it into compost. It can convert up to 4KG a day which should be more than enough to handle a large household.

If you’re interested in composting and looking for an easy quick solution I can’t think of anything more practical than this. The price is KD350 and the dealer is Advanced Technology Company. They don’t have a storefront so to enquire on the Oklin you could call or Whatsapp Zahra on 99912663, or email her at [email protected]

Update: The dealer for the product is now TP Green and the price has increased from KD350 to KD385. But on the bright side, they have a website which you could order the Compost and other green items from which you can check out https://tpgreen.shop

I have Snapchat on my phone but I barely ever use it. In fact, I realized the other day that whenever I do use Snapchat it’s for checking out fires. Snapchat has this cool feature that allows you to look at a map of Kuwait and then click on an area to see Snaps taken there. So want to check out the parties on Kubbar on the weekend? Just click on Kubbar, want to see if the Marina Mall to Scientific Center walkway is busy? Click on any part of that walkway. It’s a great feature I wish Instagram had. Firefighters tend to use Snapchat a lot, even during an active fire so whenever there is a big fire somewhere, I just find the location on Snapchat and then check out all the videos they’ve taken.

On Saturday morning for example as I was heading towards Avenues when I noticed a large plume of smoke coming from Shuwaikh. The first thing I did when I parked was to check out Snaps from that area. I ended up finding videos taken by Snapchat users of what looked like a warehouse that caught fire, but the firefighters had still not arrived by then. So I checked back again later in the day by then there were a whole bunch of videos taken by the firefighters that ranged from videos of their colleagues working on putting out the fire, to videos of them during rest breaks. One firefighter even filmed a petty cool and creepy-looking walkthrough of the warehouse after the fire had been put out that had a very Silent Hill vibe because he was walking around in complete darkness which just the flashlight lighting up different spots.

So if like me you like watching behind-the-scenes footage of fires, I guess kinda like a firefighters mini reality show, next time you see a large plume of smoke in the distance or hear about a large fire that took place, just open up Snapchat.

I was going through some of my old bookmarks and found an article I had saved years ago on the backstory of how Elevation Burger came to be in Kuwait. It was written by Ali Ashkanani, one of the local owners of Elevation and it gives an interesting behind the scenes look into the opening of the brand in Kuwait. It’s worth reading and it’s not too long so check it out here.

I used to purchase my US Apple store and iTunes digital cards from Xcite but someone a few months ago left a comment on my blog letting me know I could actually purchase them from Amazon. I assumed that would be the cheapest option since Amazon is selling the $100 gift card for $100, with no extra fees or commission which I assumed Xcite or any other store locally would be adding.

But, Redditor noooris did a bit of math and turns out if you purchase the $100 gift card from Xcite for 29.750 KD, you’re actually only paying $98.94 for it once converted to US Dollars. On the other hand, it cost me 31.072 KD to purchase the $100 gift card from Amazon after converting the amount to Dinars.

So if like me you routinely purchase Apple cards to top off your US Apple Store account, Xcite is the cheapest option I’m aware of for purchasing $100 cards. Here is the Xcite Link

Update: Xcite have now increased the price of the $100 card to KD31. So it’s back to ordering from Amazon again.

There is an instagram account called @beach_finder35 and it’s a guy that goes around with a metal detector trying to find buried treasures in the desert and beaches. So far he’s found old coins, military buttons dating back to WWI, bullet casings over 100 years old, a ton of rings, and lots of other interesting stuff. It’s really fascinating. He even posted about an old water well that used to be used back in the old days and still functions as a water well today. I love it so check out his account @beach_finder35

Thanks @mvntasar

Yesterday @badshaiji posted the photo above taken back in 1975 of the old Kuwait Television studios that were located in Dasman. For those of you old enough, turns out that’s pretty much the same compound where Villa Moda and Mais Alghanim used to be located. I didn’t realize that location had previously been the KTV studios and offices so I decided to pass by after work and explore the area.

The last time I visited that compound I think was around 6 years ago. I was looking for a location for an event and decided to check out the old Villa Moda building. Back then it looked like some businesses were occupying the various buildings in the compound but when I passed by yesterday it was completely deserted.

There was nobody there and nearly all of the buildings had their roofs caved in and were in a horrible state. I actually ended up banging my head on a fallen beam so now I have a big bruise across my forehead. I should learn to keep my hard hat in the car so I could use it on these spontaneous explorations.

It’s pretty sad that this is all that’s left of the old studios. The compound is pretty big and I could have seen these buildings being utilized for so many things from restaurants, to design and photography studios to a museum celebrating Kuwait’s rich broadcasting and theater past.

If you want to know the exact location of this abandoned compound, here it is on Google Maps.

Back in 2014, a German documentary on used tires aired and Kuwait was featured prominently in it due to having the world’s largest used tires mountain. Recently the documentary made its way to YouTube and in English with no region lock and I just watched it now. Although a few years old I think the documentary is still worth watching although some things have changed since then.

Since the documentary aired I believe at least two tire recycling facilities have been set up including Green Rubber Recycling whom I posted about last year.

When I visited the tires graveyard back in 2012, the tires were all piled together in one large pile (pictured above). Due to safety issues and the continuous number of fires that take place there, the tires are now compartmentalized into smaller piles so that if a fire breaks out it’s contained in one area. Fires happen so frequently that it even shows on Google Maps.

While watching the documentary above just be aware that the info is not up to date. YouTube

Thanks Syed

Since it’s an odd posts day, here is another one. For those of you who aren’t aware, the first UFO sighting in the Arab world was in Kuwait back in 1978 and then again in 79. Reports of the sightings were published in newspapers and even the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) got involved.

I’ve posted about the sighting before but this morning I found an interview with the photographer who captured photos of the UFO (Ali Shash) as well as an eye witness who contacted the press. The interview was shot the same week as the sighting since the eyewitness starts off by stating it was Friday 11:30AM when he spotted the UFO from his window which faces the Qadsia stadium. Very interesting stuff and I love that this interview is available online to view.

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which participants use a Global Positioning System receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called “geocaches” or “caches”, at specific locations marked by coordinates all over the world.

A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing items for trading, such as toys or trinkets, usually of more sentimental worth than financial.

Someone was asking about geocaching in Kuwait and I hadn’t heard that term in years. The first time I heard about geocaching was back in 2002 and back then GPS devices weren’t as common, Google Maps didn’t exist and phones didn’t have GPS built-in so the only way to find a geocache was using a dedicated GPS device like a Garmin. I faintly remember a geocache located near Radisson Blu and after a bit of researching it turns out it was actually the first geocache in Kuwait.

The cache was called “Ya Darina Ya Kuwait” and the coordinates were N 29° 17.860 E 048° 05.205. The cache was placed there back in June 2002 by a user called walzuhair.

What’s cool about caches was that you never knew what you’d find and you were always meant to take whatever was inside and then replace it with other items for the next person to find. There still seems to be a bunch of active geocaches in Kuwait so it might be a fun activity to do this Ramadan.

Here are two videos of Entertainment City taken in the 80s which I hadn’t seen before. The first video on top was shot in 1984 during the visit of the late Sheikh Jaber Al-Sabah to the park, while the one below is from 1986 and looks like it was filmed during the National holiday.

Also since we are on the subject of Entertainment City, awhile back I read an interesting story on @abdulraoufq8’s Instagram. When Entertainment City was closed down and abandoned, people used to sneak into it and one time a group of kids snuck into the park and went to the Lightning roller coaster ride. One of the kids ended up sitting on the ride and then fastened the seatbelt and it got locked in and he couldn’t unlock it. Scared, the kids called 112 for help and the authorities ended up coming and freeing the kid from the seatbelt.

According to @abdulraoufq8, the ride was eventually sold to a neighboring country. For more interesting tidbits on Entertainment City, check out the highlights on @abdulraoufq8.

I’ve never really been interested in astrophotography myself since it’s a pretty time-consuming process that requires a lot of patience, but I do find the process interesting. I also assumed we wouldn’t be able to get good photos in Kuwait due to the light pollution but a local photographer is proving that assumption to be false.

Abdulmohsen Alreesh is a local photographer who has been capturing some great photos of our solar system and posting them on his Instagram account @mi7sen89. Not only that but he’s also listing the equipment he’s using as well as the capture details. For example, below is the info he shared related to the photo above:

Rosette Nebula NGC 2244

Description: The beautiful rosette nebula! Named because of the nebulosity that resembles rose petals. I actually see a skull but still a very cool target. The cluster and nebula lie at a distance of 5,000 light-years from Earth and measure roughly 130 light-years in diameter. The radiation from the young stars excites the atoms in the nebula, causing them to emit radiation themselves producing the emission nebula we see.

Equipment:
° Mount: Ioptron Cem40 with iPolar
° Main Imaging: ZWO ASI533MC Pro
° Filter: Optolong L-extreme 1.25″
° OTA: Skywatcher Esprit 100ED
° SW field flattener
° Guide Scope: ZWO mini guide scope 120mm
° Guide Camera: ZWO ASI-120MM-mini
° Stellarmate – Wireless Astrophotography Controller

Integration:
Lights: 30 x 300 seconds – gain 120
Darks: none
Flats: none
Bias: none

Total acquisition: 2 hours 30 minutes

Software:
Deep Sky Stacker
Siril
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Lightroom

It’s super interesting and he’s got other examples similar to this on his account as well. If you want to get into astrophotography or want to see more photos captured by Abdulmohsen, then make sure you check out his Instagram account @mi7sen89

This is super random which is why I find it fascinating. Someone from the roller coaster community (I guess a roller coaster geek?) posted on reddit asking for videos of a roller coaster that used to be in Shaab Park called the Spiral Coaster. Turns out it was an ultra rare roller coaster with only one ever made by Intamin Amusement Rides, a major player in the amusement park attractions industry and based out of Liechtenstein.

The Spiral Coaster was a pipeline coaster meaning the train rides between the tracks as opposed to a traditional roller coaster where the train rides above them. The Spiral Coaster concept was originally designed by the US company Arrow Dynamics and was featured in the National Geographics special on the company. You can actually see the prototype of the coaster in the video above (starts at 16:00). Arrow Dynamics couldn’t produce the roller coaster so Intamin took the concept from them and built it themselves.

Originally the roller coaster was called the Comet and was located inside a recreational complex in South Korea called Sky Plaza from 1996 to 1999. Sky Plaza eventually failed and the building demolished and Shaab Park acquired the roller coaster. Shaab Park renamed the roller coaster to Spiral Coaster and it was active in the park from 2000 to 2005.

Eventually, the ride was marked as SBNO from 2005 to 2017 which is amusement park lingo for standing but not operational. I actually found some pictures I had taken back in 2012 with the ride in the backdrop in poor condition. The area underneath the coaster was used as part of the MILSIM airsoft battleground.

If anyone here has any videos or photos of the ride, please let me know or share it. They’re rare and the roller coaster community would love it.

A couple of weeks back I noticed a shiny silver box popped up on my usual bike route and turns out they’re smart public toilets. The toilets are pre-fabricated which is why they suddenly popped up out of nowhere and are smart in the sense they have an automatic self-cleaning and washing mechanism as well as the ability to be monitored and controlled remotely.

The toilets look like they’ll be coin operated and I spotted two on my route, one next to the Swimming Pool Complex near Corniche Club while the second one near the new Burger King. Both had two CCTV cameras on the outside I guess to try and deter any vandalism or more likely, couples trying to hook up inside one of the toilets.

Update: A bit of extra info, these public toilets operate on solar power, recycle waste up to Greywater for irrigation and have airconditioning.

There’s a distinctive looking red and white boat that’s been parked off the Gulf Road in Salmiya for a few weeks now and I’m curious as to what it is. Does anyone know?

Update: Turns out its the new Failaka ferry called Obu Alkhair

There have been a lot of changes compared to the last time I posted the Arton Capital Passport Index 5 years ago. Kuwait has moved up quite a bit on the list from 54th place back in 2015, to 36th place this year. Kuwaitis can now visit 34 countries without requiring a visa and they can also get visa on arrival in 38 other countries. Here are some countries with their rankings:

1 – New Zealand
4 – United Kingdom / Canada
13 – UAE
21 – United States
34 – Qatar
36 – Kuwait
41 – Bahrain
44 – Saudi Arabia
45 – Oman
58 – India
60 – Egypt
68 – Lebanon
74 – Syria
75 – Iraq

Want to see how your passport compares? Check out the full list here.