Category: Kuwait

This is another angle of the fire that took place near Marina Mall which I posted about two days back. This video of the fire was taken from a tenant living in the building right above the fire. [YouTube]

Thanks Abdulrahman

40 years ago, NASA’s Landsat program launched it’s initial satellite into space (July 23, 1972). Since then the program has been tracking and recording changes on the Earth’s surface via satellite imagery.

Since it’s been 40 years, NASA commemorated the anniversary by selecting and compiling a list of its top ten stories or revealing images which it had stored up during its four decades of existence. One of the stories that made the top 10 was the 1991 Kuwait Oil Fires.

As Iraqi troops withdrew from Kuwait at the end of the first Gulf War, they set fire to over 650 oil wells and damaged many more, just south of the Iraq border (yellow line). These Landsat images show before, during and after the release of 1.5 billion barrels of oil into the environment, the largest oil spill in human history.

You can check out the top 10 stories and images on [WIRED]

Palm trees next to a building near Marina Mall caught fire in the morning, Some of the cars were burnt as a result. Kuwait fire department was quick to douse the fire, small video from the incident (I guess no one was injured in the incident)

Happened earlier today. [YouTube]

Heard about this service ages ago but never bothered to find out how to subscribe to it. The MOI SMS service when signed up to it will notify you when you commit traffic violations. The sign up fee is KD1 and then it’s 40fils per SMS notification. Here are the sign up instructions:

To subscribe, send the following SMS:
E(space)Civil ID

Example:
E 1111111111

Send the SMS to one of the following numbers:
Zain Subscribers 992
Viva Subscribers 55250
Wataniya Subscribers 1750

via PeachBox

The popular Kuwait guide iPhone app Urban Moon just got a major update yesterday. The biggest difference I’ve noticed is the speed of the app. My biggest complaint with their previous version is that once you launched the app you had to wait a few seconds for it to download the latest phone numbers. Now the downloads take place in the background so you can start using the app as soon as you launch it.

Another new feature is that the app will now contain reviews. Currently restaurants in the app have a generic description but they’ve already started writing reviews and soon they’ll be swapping out the generic descriptions with honest reviews of the restaurants. That I think could be interesting and maybe even more so if they allow people to submit their own reviews similar to the Yelp app.

You can check out the full list of improvements and features in the Apple Store [Here]

He’s actually pretty good. [YouTube]

Thanks TJCfilms

The Fixtures just posted a short interview with Nasser Al Sayegh who is Kuwait’s first nuclear engineer. He seems like a smart guy (obviously) and if people like him ran the plant Kuwait would be in safe hands so it’s too bad Kuwait scrapped all their nuclear ambitions. You can read the interview with Nasser on The Fixture’s blog [Here]

In case you missed it, here is a previous video interview with Nasser taken from AlRai TV. [YouTube]

Update: Some readers have pointed out in the comments that Nasser is not the first Kuwaiti to get a degree in Nuclear engineering. But, it’s possible he might be the only Kuwaiti nuclear engineer to actually work in the field. I’m trying to get some more clarification on this.

Update2: Nasser has posted the following comment in relation to the above:

To clarify things up I’m the first specialized person in the nuclear field In Kuwait. Although the others did get there certificates before me they didn’t actually work in a nuclear reactor so all what they have is theoretical backgrounds. I’m also the only person in the gulf that has a security clearance to work in nuclear reactors around Europe.

I’ve collected most of this years Ramadan commercials and listed them all below after the jump. If you prefer you could also watch them all consecutively by playing the video above or on YouTube [Here]

Note: I will keep adding to the list below, if there is any good commercial I’ve missed let me know.

Update: Added the National Youth Project commercial
Update2: Added Asnan Tower’s commercial
Update3: Added 6alabat and ABK
Update4: Added new Zain, Viva and McDonalds commercials

According to Forbes, Kuwait is the 7th laziest country in the world. But, on the bright side, Saudi Arabia came in third so at least we’re not the worst in the region. [Link]

Thanks Sahar

Earlier today I got a press release from Avenues regarding their new Multi-Purpose Hall that’s being constructed as part of Avenues Phase III. Since I hadn’t heard any information for quite sometime on the Avenues mosque that was designed by Zaha Hadid (pictured above) I asked them about it. Turns out for some reason they decided not to build it! Turns out it was only a concept design but never got the go ahead.

I think that’s such a major disappointment. Zaha Hadid is such an incredible visionary and I’m 100% sure the mosque when completed would have looked a hundred times nicer than the rendering above. Just watch the video below and look at what she did with the Guangzhou Opera House in China.

[YouTube]

Imagine how beautiful and futuristic this mosque would have turned out to be. It would have been a landmark for sure and now it’s never going to happen. I’m pissed off.

I’m trying to renew my Civil ID but the website keeps telling me to go and come back after 2! Why??

I passed by KIPCO Tower (formally known as United Tower) which is located on the same street as Al Hamra Tower and Arraya. The tower looks pretty cool and the mall inside although not big is very bright and nicely designed.

It’s not officially open yet but I did walk around just to see what kind of shops are opening up there and I’ve put together a list which you can see below. Majority of them seem to be restaurants:

Upper Crust Pizza
MEZO (a cafe or restaurant)
Cafe November
Dijon (a restaurant)
Bubbleology Tea (UK franchise)
Alpha Wellness (some kind of spa I’m guessing)
Johnny Rockets
KFH

With three malls on that short strip it’s starting to look like Salmiya… which I don’t mind of course. The tower was originally supposed to have residential space but I’m not sure if that happened.

Back in December I posted about the Sulaibikhat beach cleanup which was done by K’s PATH in which they manually collected approximately 2 tonnes of waste in 4 hours. Along with that post I posted a shot of the beach before the cleanup and one after. Well they now have another shot of the same beach taken 6 months after the cleanup and as you will see below, the mangrove stretch, which was layered with plastic and styrofoam waste is now supporting new life.

Our 65th beach clean-up today at Sulaibikhat beach 1 (dubbed by volunteers as Kuwait’s ‘mangrove’ beach) proved to be a momentous day for K’S PATH and Al Yaal’s year-old sustained marine conservation program. Despite the rising summer heat, a fresh stretch of new vegetation was spotted flourishing along the mangroves today. This stretch was cleared of over 2000 kgs waste, mostly styrofoam and plastic, in December 2011 by 25 volunteers and students of AIS in 4 hours. Ever since, our team worked tirelessly to clear smaller waste and debris from top soil. Spring 2012 saw the first signs of growth – green saplings sprouting from soil which was, presumably for years, layered by a blanket of waste unable to support life. A big thank you to all volunteers who have worked relentlessly to protect this stretch of Sulaibikhat since the launch of the program in April 2011! We have much work yet to do, both in clearing waste from lower layers of soil and beneath mangrove branches. [FaceBook]

A new video by tjcfilms, this one is with BBoy Psycho who talks about the BBoy scene in Kuwait while also displaying some of his moves. I really like the videos tjcfilms keep producing since in a way he keeps us connected with scenes that aren’t really mainstream or very exposed. The music is by Gemini and called “Nothingness”. [YouTube]

Two weeks ago I posted a letter from Aramex Shop and Ship saying that due to customs regulations they will be charging 5% customs fee on all shipments not including a KD1 handling charge and a KD1 government stamp. From what I understood this was going to apply to all shipping companies but today I received a package via DHL Borderlinx and to my surprise there was no charge. According to the DHL employee they’re not charging 5% customs on shipments. But does that make DHL cheaper? I’m not sure.

The problem (the only problem actually) with DHL’s Borderlinx is they charge based on volumetric weight. What this means is if a small box weighs 1KG and a large box weighs 1KG, the large box is going to be more expensive than the small box even though they’re the same weight. In my case my package weighed around 2KG but the volumetric weight was around 5.35KG. If I had shipped it with Aramex they would have charged me for the 2KG but with DHL I had to pay more than double the actual weight. On the other hand unlike Aramex, with DHL you don’t pay the 8% New York State tax and you also don’t pay the 5% Kuwait customs tax so which comes out a better deal?

Item cost: $187 (KD51)
Actual Weight: 2.2KG
Volumetric Weight: 5.35KG

Aramex Shop and Ship
8% NY tax: $15 (KD4.1)
Shipping cost to Kuwait: KD13.75
Kuwait customs: KD6*
Approx time from US to Kuwait: 8 days**
Total shipping cost = KD23.85

DHL Borderlinx
No NY Tax
Shipping cost to Kuwait: $110.60 (KD30.8)
No Kuwait Customs
Time from US to Kuwait: 4 days
Total shipping cost = KD30.8

So even with the new 5% customs fee Aramex is charging and even with the NY State tax they still somehow end up cheaper than DHL. This mostly has to do with the fact that DHL charges on volumetric weight. If they charged on actual weight than they’d be considerably cheaper. On the other hand DHL is practically twice as fast as Aramex so that alone could be worth the extra cost for many people.

My conclusion
Large (not necessarily heavy) packages ship to Aramex
Small or regular sized packages ship to DHL

So basically I’m still going to be flip flopping between the two companies for now.

*Calculated using their customs calculator
**Based on a different shipment just received from Aramex