2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

This was the insane line at the Vol.1 coffee shop on Thursday night. For those of you who’ve never been there I’ve highlighted with an arrow where the entrance to the place is. Keep in mind it was also 40+ degrees that night. Thats just crazy.

Yesterday the Daily Mail published an article on the dogs that were killed in Kuwait by the American security company and since then it’s been gaining a lot of traction online. Awhile ago it even hit the top of the World News subreddit on Reddit. If you haven’t seen the Daily Mail article yet you can check it out by clicking [Here]

Update: It made it to the New York Post!

Last month I launched Kuwikipedia since a lot of people email me asking me questions all the time. I figured I might as well setup a website where people could ask questions related to Kuwait, and them me and other people could answer it for them. Well the site proved to my more useful than I expected it to be so I decided to integrate it into the blog as a section. A twitter follower even helped me come up with a better more descriptive name for the section which is “Kuwestions”.

I’m still fine tuning it a bit but for now it’s up an running so check it out [Here]

Update: Looks like there is a technical issue when trying to answer the questions. Working on fixing that now.

Not a big list this weekend but there are some interesting things taking place. Over the course of this weekend the Human Rights Film Festival is taking place at Al Shaheed Park. The festival if three days and features different short films as well as different speakers for panel discussions every day. The other interesting event taking place is the JU.MO interactive experience where film photographers and illustrators will be curating an interactive experience while celebrating the launch of a new coffee concept called Jumo. Check out the full list of events for this weekend below:

Thursday
Eighty Percent Women’s Football Tournament
Red Bull Art of Can
Ramadan Bootcamp by Diet Care
Human Rights Film Festival

Friday
Eighty Percent Women’s Football Tournament
Red Bull Art of Can
Human Rights Film Festival
Yoga Flow with Rosy
JU.MO – An Interactive Experience

Saturday
Red Bull Art of Can
Ramadan Bootcamp by Diet Care
Human Rights Film Festival
Yoga at the Park (Hatha Yoga)

If you’d like to share an event on the blog [Email Me]
For a full list of upcoming events click [Here]

Sometimes events get canceled or have details changed so double check info with organizers.

There is an interesting discussion in the 248AM Community regarding internet latency in Kuwait. Internet latency is how much time it takes for a packet of data to get from one point to another so for example, from your computer to the website you’re trying to access. When browsing the web though, latency isn’t that important, but when playing video games, latency can make a world of a the difference in gameplay. A FASTtelco employee left some information regarding local internet latency in the discussion which I thought would be interesting to share, so I’ve copied and pasted it below with some minor changes:

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In order the get the best latency, first we have to understand the dependencies and the major elements which might effect your latency:

First, the ISP’s are contracted with international providers either by dry routes (land) or through the wet routes (sea). Sometimes it’s a direct IPLC to Europe, and sometime through other destinations. The major difference might result in higher latency, but at the present time, most of the international routes are optimized to provide the best routes, resulting in closer latency ms. So let’s put this factor on the side.

LTE:
Unfortunately, the mobile is a non guaranteed service. It always depends on the load within the closest cell tower and this changes with your geographic location. You will always be getting different ms (ping) depending on how many people are using the same cell tower and the time of day.

Fiber GPON:
This is the most guaranteed service in Kuwait. Usually the latency between the ONT box located in the house to the main point of the ISP is 10-15ms and that’s consider to be the least across all the other internet services. Another factor, we have CAT6 cables connecting between the ONT box and the main router which isn’t the situation in DSL areas (with few exceptions to DSL clients having upgraded their copper cables to CAT6 cabling from the MOC external point to inside the house). The GPON provides stability and FASTtelco does offer the gaming package on the GPON due to the reduction of error factors.

DSL:
The various ISP’s differ in local ms (ping) latency depending on the equipments they use, the different routes and the types of services they have with the MOC. The best way to compare is to test the local ms (between you and your ISP). This will indicate the exact latency which will assist you when conducting the comparison between the different local ISP’s.

When an ISP conducts a test on the clients house, they check the external point, and that’s what’s guaranteed. Meanwhile, the local building cable (copper) is out of the scope. Therefore, a proper cable needs to be in place. Today most of the DSL areas are over 30 years old and so we heavily recommend to replace those old copper cables with CAT6 cables in order to have a much more stable service.

The router also plays a major part with the service and is the last factor that can effect your internet latency.

A friend who’s currently looking for a new home suggested this post. It’s a list of all the real estate websites where you can find an apartment or a house to rent in Kuwait. If you have any which I haven’t listed below then let me know in the comments. Also if you have any experience with any of them, share it in the comments as well since it might help other people.

Real Estate Websites
Al Tijaria
Aqar Real Estate
Asas International Real Estate Co.
Deirah
Hilite Homes
Horizon Q8
KREIC
Kuwait 4 Rent
My Q8 Home
Q8 Realtor
Kuwait Real Estate Directory
The House Box

Other
248AM Classifieds
Expatriates
FindQ8
Just Landed
Mourjan
OLX

If you’ve ever wondered why some of your packages look like my brothers box below, now you know why. [YouTube]

Update: Aramex have responded to the video, you can read their response [Here]

I don’t watch a lot of Arabic shows but I can’t get enough of the show Swar Shuaib. Shuaib has to be the funniest Arab talk show host anywhere, he’s so good I actually subscribed to his YouTube channel so I don’t miss an episode. His last few episodes had me glued to the screen thinking no way, no way he just asked them that question. Although Shuaib plays the role of a Conan or a Jimmy Fallon, unlike them he does ask all the right questions, ones that most of the time viewers are thinking about. I’m actually surprised any guests actually end up on the show since he does put them in some tough spots.

The first episode I ever watched was when he interviewed the flamboyant Mohammed Diego from the YouTube channel Fashion House of Diego. Shuaib didn’t play around, he asked him about his wardrobe choices, the way he poses and basically questioning his sexual orientation. In Shuaib’s latest episode he interviews the popular instagram fashionista Fatima Almomen (video on top, starts at the 9:50 mark). The first thing he does during the interview is pull out a scale from under his desk and asks her to weigh herself. If that wasn’t awkward enough he then later starts asking her if she had any plastic surgery done. When she denies she has he pulls out old photos of her to compare. When she continues denying she had anything done, he then invited a plastic surgeon to come on stage and examine her. I was dying, it was such a good episode. Surprisingly, even though there were a ton of awkward moments and questions, both Diego and Fatima handle themselves really well which I thought was pretty cool of them.

Swar Shuaib is in Arabic only and if you’re interested in watching more episodes then check out the YouTube channel [Here]

Does anyone know why all the shisha places next to Marina Mall were closed down? There a couple of rumors circulating including that the government wants the land and that they were all in violation.

A couple of days ago a reader emailed me the disturbing image above of dead dogs pilled up on top of one another. Supposedly the picture was taken in Kuwait but since I couldn’t find any more information on it I refrained from sharing it. Yesterday I was finally able to get more information when the Kuwait Animal Rescue Unit (KARU) shared the image along with the following message:

There was an extremely sad and horrifying animal abuse/massacre incident at a security company based in Kuwait on June 17, 2016 in Kuwait. Due to their contract being revoked, they slaughtered 24 of their US K9 dogs whom were trained by USK9 dog training facility which is located in Louisiana, USA. This security company is an American company which worked with Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC). KNPC paid 3000KD (equivalent of $9900)/month to the security company for each dog.

Early this morning, a brave lawyer, Esmail Al Misri, representing the workers from Nepal at the security company and an avid animal lover, advocate, and rescuer, Mimi Maamoun, went to file a complain at Mina Abdullha police station against the security company. The environment police and municipality registered the case. There are another 91 dogs remaining at the security company. While they abused the dogs by having them on duty for 24 hours without rest, their foreign workers would not dare to speak up and raise any issues with the company as they were also being mistreated and abused.

At this point, we as animal lovers in kuwait, USA, and other countries, we need to advocate all the animals by spreading the news and be the voice for these poor animals. We must help save the remaining animals!

PLEASE NO DONATION IS NEEDED from/to any individuals or organizations. I will keep you posted as soon as I obtain further information.

Hopefully the new animals rights law has come into effect so that the people behind this tragic incident get punished.

Thanks Janna

Bait Al Arab is another project under the umbrella of Diwan Al Amiri, the same diwan thats responsible for various large local projects like Shaheed Park, the Kuwait Cultural Center and the museums in Shaab. Bait Al Arab (previously called Arabian Horse Center) was originally established back in 1980 and prominently positioned Kuwait on the world’s Arabian Horses map until it’s destruction during the 1990 invasion. Six years after the invasion the members of the Arabian Horse Committee were given the task to re-establish the center by traveling the world and bringing back with them the finest Arabian horses.

Today, Bait Al Arab is committed to supporting private Arabian horse farms in the country by providing stallions and conducting cultural workshops on horse nutrition, breeding, training and veterinary skills. The video above which showcases Bait Al Arab was shared with me by Tamdeen Group who were commissioned to design and develop the project. Several Arabian horse beauty contests have already been held at Bait Al Arab with the most recent one being the International Arabian Horse Festival Kuwait 2016. Check out the video on Bait Al Arab above, or on [YouTube]

The National Council of Culture, Art and Letters sent local musician Mr.Fari to Chile along with other musicians to sing as part of a program to showcase the diversity of talent in Kuwait. The video diary about is a short but entertaining film where Mr.Fari documents a day with a Kuwaiti folkloric group in Chile. [YouTube]

A friend sent me two videos from a chase that supposedly took place this weekend. Seems like the crowd was rooting for the getaway driver. If you have any more videos of this chase let me know.

The Kuwait Marriott Hotel used to be located in Shuwaikh where the KPC building is located right now. [Google Maps]

In 1972, Santa Paula was sold to “Oceanic Sun Line Special Shipping Company Inc” of Greece and she was renamed Stella Polaris. It was intended for her to become a cruise ship. Although she arrived in Piraeus on December 11, she remained laid up until 1976, when she was obtained by the Marriott Group, and four Kuwaiti companies. She was sent to Rijeka, Yugoslavia (today’s Croatia) where she was converted for the use as a luxury floating hotel in Kuwait City. She arrived in Kuwait in September 1978 having been renamed the “Kuwait Marriott Hotel.” On October 17 workers commenced to raise the harbour bed at her specially prepared berth as hull was to remain to be permanently grounded. This was completed and she officially opened as a hotel on February 1, 1980. In 1989 she was renamed the “Ramada al Salam Hotel” but soon disaster would hit this fine vessel!

However, when Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1991 the ship was attacked and she was bombed and set ablaze totally destroying this once magnificent ship. Upon inspection she was considered a total loss. Many of her machinery spares, which somehow remained in perfect order were sold and were used for her sister ship, the ex Santa Rosa by Regency Cruises as she was being rebuilt as the SS Regent Rainbow. Today this fine totally rebuilt ship continues to sail on as the SS “The Emerald.” The “Ramada al Salaam Hotel,” ex Santa Paula was scrapped in 2002, however it is said that parts of the ship are still visible at her final resting place. [Source]

I wonder if it’s true that some of the ship parts are still visible. I never thought of going and checking it out.

Here are pictures of the hotel before it’s destruction:

Here are pictures of the hotel after it’s destruction:

Pictures collected from various sources online.

I was planning on doing something special for my 10,000th post on the blog but I just realized today that I passed that marker a few months back without even realizing it. As of this post I’ve published exactly 10,329 posts on the blog and since it launched around 11 years ago, that averages to more than 3 posts a day if you ignore the weekends. Considering this is Kuwait where very little goes on I still surprise myself on a daily basis that I’m still finding stuff to write about.

The blog back in 2005

I used to think I was lucky that I was finding content on a daily basis and it was only a couple of years back did I realize that hold on a second, maybe this isn’t luck, maybe I just have a skill that allows me to discover stuff. I think it’s probably a combination of my creative side, mixed in with my extreme curiosity for things and probably a bit of ADHD and OCD on the side to top it all off.

The blog back in 2006

Another interesting figure, 199,363 comments have been posted so far, this doesn’t include deleted spam which is amounts to around 2.5 million.

The blog started off as a side project to another blog I had and was never meant to last this long. I have no idea when I’m going to stop blogging, but that day will most likely be sooner than later. For now I’m still here.