Category: Interesting

A whole bunch of accessories but sadly nothing made from carbon fiber. [Link]

I just found this old article from TIME Magazine that was written after alcohol was banned in Kuwait:

A month ago the oil-rich sheikdom of Kuwait banned all liquor within its borders, and since then many of its thirsty citizens have been drinking everything in sight from perfume and eau de cologne to rubbing alcohol and Sterno — with predictably disastrous results. By last week, an estimated 150 Kuwaiti had died from alcohol poisoning, several hundred more had been blinded, and Kuwait’s hospitals were filled to overflowing. Bathtub gin is flourishing, and bootlegging the real thing has become Kuwait’s fastest growing business. A fifth of Dewar’s White Label Scotch now commands a sheik’s ransom of $50 on the black market.

Prohibition came to Kuwait as deviously as an Arab horse trade. In theory only Christian residents of the predominantly Moslem nation could drink, using ration cards to obtain whisky through London’s Gray Mackenzie & Co. Ltd., which has had an import monopoly on Kuwait’s liquor flow for decades. In fact, Moslems imbibed increasingly, and drunken-driving fatalities mounted apace. The nation’s stricter religious leaders then teamed up with local merchants who resented Gray Mackenzie’s lucrative monopoly to introduce a prohibition bill in the Kuwaiti Assembly. With voting a matter of public record in the tiny Moslem land, the bill passed easily, despite its manifest unpopularity and whatever the legislators’ private lapses from the temperance of Mohammed’s grace might be.

Gray Mackenzie padlocked its doors, and the poisoning cases began to stagger in as sales of after-shave lotions and cologne soared tenfold. Several dozen British and American petroleum engineers served notice that they would not renew their employment contracts if Kuwait stayed dry. Several influential Kuwaitis have applied to remote countries for posts as honorary consuls, hoping thereby to qualify for diplomatic liquor privileges. Many of the thirsty began flocking to Basra in Iraq, 100 miles from Kuwait City. Their pilgrimage has also produced agitation for repeal of the law from their weekend widows left behind. They fear that the forced-draft drinking by the boys and the wiles of the women of Basra may prove a dangerously combustible mix.

TIME Magazine – Friday, Jan. 22, 1965

Wow Kuwaitism just posted the coolest music video ever made in Kuwait. The video was recorded in 1978 back when alcohol was still legal and when the sea was actually visible while driving down the Gulf Road. Its an English music video called Do You Love Me? and its by the Bendaly Family.

Kuwaitism also has another video linked and more info so check out his post [Here] Also the guy who put the video on YouTube has a ton more vintage music videos which you can also check out by clicking [Here]

update: I asked my mum if she knew a group called Bendaly Family since she was in Kuwait back then and she told me she did and it turns out I do to. They are a Lebanese band and their daughter Remi Bendaly later went solo and was pretty famous. According to my mum back in around 1985 or 1986 I actually attended a Bendaly Family concert here in Kuwait and got to sit front row. The concert was held in Shaab Park which was an open area back then. The Showbiz owner back then George Karam brought the Bendaly Family to Kuwait.

I just found out Bershka is opening in The Avenues on March 13th. I am not a big fan of Bershka, Nat is, but the interesting thing to note here is the opening date. If Bershka is opening on the 13th then I am guessing The Avenues is opening either before or on that same day.

update: Launch pushed back till the 18th.

My dad is selling some of his Mont Blanc pens from his collection. All the pens are unused and in excellent condition. All of them are limited edition and exclusive. If anyone is interested call 9770714. Prices “might” be negotiable depending on the item.

Hommage à Alexander the Great
Limited Edition number 1290 of 4810
Fountain Pen
Price: KD700

Peter the Great
Limited Edition number 184 of 4810
Fountain Pen
Price: KD700

Marcel Proust
Limited Edition number 1181 of 21000
Fountain Pen
Price: KD600

Voltaire
Limited Edition number 9712 of 13000
Ball Point Pen
Price: KD150

Alexandre Dumas
Limited Edition number 6704 of 16000
Ball Point Pen
Price: KD150

Edgar Allan Poe
Limited Edition number 3530 of 15000
Ball Point Pen
Price: KD200

Fjodor Dostoevsky
Limited Edition number 1988 of 7000
Rollerball
Price: KD200

Mont Blanc Meisterstuck No 149
Passion & Soul Special Anniversary Edition
Fountain Pen
Price: KD125

ALL ITEMS SOLD.

Just read about how this girl nearly got kidnapped in Surra on Diigmaa’s blog. Pretty scary, you can read her post [Here]

Also just found out about the Six-K Club from what I have figured is a running club here in Kuwait. Seems pretty cool and you can find their website [Here]

A bunch of spy shots of the new Land Cruiser. Its starting to look like an over sized Fortuner which isn’t a good thing. [Link]

Brad Duke won $85 million in the Powerball lottery in 2005. Here’s how he’s spent the money so far. [Link] #

I just got the following SMS from my sister who I’m guessing is inside Avenues:

Avenues has what is acclaimed to be the sexiest Starbucks in the world. Even the name and logo are in silver, not green. The walls are also dark gray granite.

Sounds cool. I am going to google now and see if there is anything like this anywhere else in the world. Avenues is still not open to the public.

I was over at Marzouq watching 24, episode 11 of season 6 when Chloe O’Brian wrote down a number and then dialed it. Marzouq told me that all the numbers on the show are real numbers you could actually dial so we picked up the phone and called the number Chloe had just called on the show and we got the following automated message. [AUDIO FILE]

The number we dialed was 001-310-5973781

Our own car was rocked by a group of about 10 hoodlums trying to get in. We didn’t have foam. We didn’t even make eye contact. They kicked the doors, they scratched the paint, they shouted obscenities. The police had no way of controlling the crowds; most looked on with disgusted expressions; many of the older guys shaking their heads in disappointment.

Desert Girl has a really good post on how the National Day and Liberation Day celebrations keep getting worse and worse every year. Its really sad how these kids have turned 2 days of celebration into 2 days of terror. Next year I hope they ban the sale of foam cans in stores. Here is a link to her post. [Link]

Today I watched a pigeon hatch from an egg right outside my office window. At first it was exciting but 15 minutes later the pigeon still hadn’t finished hatching which made things really boring.

Hungry Bunny is a local creation that opened up in the early 80s in Kuwait. It was inspired by a Australian franchise called Hungry Jack which was what Burger King was called in Australia back then.

In 1997 Al Homaizi Foodstuff Co. who owned Hungry Bunny got the rights to Burger King. Since they couldn’t have two competing franchises they decided to close down all the Hungry Bunnys and open up Burger Kings in the same locations.

Since then there have been copycats the most popular being “Hungry Bunny World” and “Super Bunny” which was named after the famous Hungry Bunny burger. Hungry Bunny World actually opened up a branch on the 4th Ring Road back in 2005 and called it just “Hungry Bunny”. This led to a lot of speculation and rumors that Hungry Bunny was relaunching but they weren’t true. Al Homaizi sued (or threatened to sue) so they added the word “World” on their signage.

I heard awhile back from a friend that Al Homaizi was actually thinking of relaunching Hungry Bunny but I don’t know if thats true or not. For now the only way you can enjoy Hungry Bunny is to drive down to Saudi Arabia where the franchise still exists there. Here is the link to their website: www.hungry-bunny.com

note: the above information is based on my knowledge. If there are any mistakes in dates or events I will fix them but as far as I know the above is accurate.

update: A reader by the name of HaMooR wrote the following:

Dear Mark,

Al Homaizi has the BK franchize since the first hungry bunny openned in Kuwait. and I believe it was Kaifan branch, in order for Al Homaizi to sake BK prudects at that time in kuwait. they have to change the name of BK, because BK was consider in the taboo list (boycott Isreal).

There was a big sign in kaifan branch that says all the meat prudects are BK. So when BK was removed from the list back in 97 .. and there is no reason to for them to hide the name, they switched to BK.

I always was curious to how they were made… [Link]

This has to be the coolest thing the local government has done so far. The First Ring Road has an actual website! For those of you who don’t visit the city much, construction is soon to start on the Sheraton round-about to help decrease the traffic. This First Ring Road website has information on this project including pictures of how the project will end up looking like AND pictures of the current progress. They are actually updating the site on a regular basis with pictures of the construction site.

Now the site design is ugly of course but thats to be expected. [Link]