Category: Kuwait

Yesterday night I passed by The Kuwait Bookshop in Muthana Complex. What I like about the Kuwait Bookshop is the amount of old books they have. Since its the largest bookshop in Kuwait and has been open since before the Gulf War they have a lot of books that have been in the shop since it first opened. For example I found a 1985 edition of the Guinness Book of Records on one of the shelves. I even ended up buying a book from 1985 myself. Ozy was with us at the bookshop and he found a book called “The New Observer’s Book of Automobiles”. The funny thing is the car on the cover was a 1985 BMW M635CSi… very new! Its actually a pretty cool book for anyone who is interested in information on the cars from the 80’s like the Lancia Delta HF Turbo or the VW Golf MKII. I also picked up a copy of Niccolo Machiavelli – The Prince and Aesop’s Fables. I already read The Prince in university but I feel like reading it again and I have also read Aesop’s Fables but the version I got seemed to contain more stories then the version I read so gonna reread this again.

I usually don’t have time to read books but recently I have been reading all my magazines in the beginning of the month and then I spend the rest of the month just flipping through them trying to find articles I haven’t read. Now I will try to read books instead when I am done with the magazines. I also prefer short stories since my memory is terrible for novels but I don’t mind thin books like The Prince. One of my favorite books of the moment is Supercade which Nibaq got for my birthday. It contains a lot of pictures and magazine style of writing. Basically every game or every video game console thats mentioned is treated like an article by itself. I don’t have to read the whole book from the beginning I can just flip through and read what I want when I want. Nibaq also got me another book called “The Ultimate History of Videogames” but that book is literally like a history book. I am going to try reading different bits of it randomly but I think I have to actually read this one from the beginning till the end.

Anyway here is a larger picture of yesterdays books.

Was just talking with Nibaq now and he pointed me to an article on NY Times about how Google is the new Microsoft. Well its true, Google IS the new Microsoft and we all hate Microsoft. So, Nibaq came up with the idea of using Yahoo! instead of Google. Sounds simple but when you have been using Google daily for like forever its not easy to swap to Yahoo! overnight. So we decided to have a “Try Yahoo! Week”. Starting Saturday the 27th all the way to Friday the 2nd we will only use Yahoo! for our searches. I already added the Yahoo! engine to FireFox and will start practicing this weekend. Everyone is free to join this activity.

A nice video of a white car spinning its wheels on a public road in Kuwait. Notice how the driver doesn’t care about the oncoming cars. [Video 4.8MB]

Here is a link to coupon you can print which would get you 20% off at Hard Rock Cafe although personally if this coupon gave me 100% off I wouldn’t go there. Definetly the worst Hard Rock Cafe in the world. [Link]

Offer Valid from Tuesday the 23rd of August till September 30th, 2005

Just another Aramex related post. I just got an email from Aramex telling me that mail arrived to my US mailbox. I guess this is also a new service since it never did that before. This is the email I received:

Dear Mark,

We thought you would like to know that there has been a new update regarding a shipment in your mailbox. Please click on the below link to access your account.

https://www.aramex.com/shopandship

BusyNow brought this to my attention, it seems Aramex Shop and Ship are now shipping packages straight to Kuwait from New York. Check this, no UAE:

Location Date Comments
KUWAIT 8/23/2005 Shipment held for consignee pickup
KUWAIT 8/23/2005 Shipment received at operations facility
UNITED STATES 8/20/2005 Shipment manifested for forwarding
UNITED STATES 8/20/2005 Full airwaybill entry
UNITED STATES 8/19/2005 Shipment record created

I was talking with a friend of mine and somehow we got into a conversation about Kuwaiti accomplishments. He was surpised by some of the stuff I mentioned and I figured I would list them here and maybe some of you guys can add to this list and that way we can have a nice list of Kuwaiti accomplishments and add them to Kuwiki.

Zed Al-Refai – First Kuwaiti and Arab to climb Mt. Everest
Mesaed Alhammad – Built a working spacesuit
Danah Al-Nasrallah – First Kuwaiti female to participate in Olympics, she was 16!
Munirah Buruki – First Kuwaiti female pilot, only 19
Fahid al Dihani – Bronze Medal in Sydney 2000 Olympics
Amani Al-Haji – Female Kuwaiti Opera Singer
Khalid Sauod AlZaid – World Taekwondo Champion, only 12 years old
Abdulrahman Al-Farsi – Owner of the worlds largest Kite (does this count?)

Do you know any more?

I just found out Zed Al-Refai, the Kuwaiti who climbed Mt. Everest has a website. Check it out. [Link]

From the Arab Times: A security source disclosed an Arab girl who is seen in a clip wearing police uniform is outside the country. A security source said contacts have been established with concerned authorities in her home country to arrest her, reports Al-Rai Al-Aam daily. Earlier it was reported the picture was circulated among phones users with the Bluetooth technology and the policeman who allegedly allowed the girl to wear his uniform is in police custody, said a source who refused to give his name. Police have also arrested the policeman’s friend for taking part in the crime. The same source said the girl was in an apartment hired by a policeman contrary to earlier reports which said the suspect was a police officer. The source added the rank on the uniform was a forgery.

Anyone have this video clip?

Update: Thanks to DNA-Q8, here is the clip. [Video 200kb]

So this is why our papers always take time to finish at the ministry.. [Video 76kb]

A short video of a BMW M3 racing against a Porsche Cayenne Turbo, I won’t ruin it by telling you who kicks whos ass. [Video 1.2MB]

I love Kuwait. This is a video of a guy in a Ferrari 360 having fun at a traffic intersection. [Video 0.9MB]

Someone in Kuwait has a red Ford GT with white stripes. Its rumored to be owned by someone from the Al-Wazzan family.

Someone sent me this today, its a video clip of a biker in Kuwait losing control and hitting the tarmac hard. If anyone has more info on this video please share it. [Link]

This is just now over lunch:
1) She parked over the line taking 2 parking spots at Souk Sharq
2) She drove against traffic in the Souk Sharq parking lot
3) She is driving and I tell her to take a right, she takes a left