2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

The photo of the barricaded doors above are from inside Dr. Adel Al-Yousifi’s home taken after the liberation of Kuwait in 1991. Dr. Adel is the person behind the websites evidence.org.kw and freekuwait.org.kw. According to him a Kuwaiti family was taking shelter in his home during the 1990-1991 invasion while he was stranded in London.

When Dr. Adel got back he found out his home was used to shelter a boy sought by the Iraqis. Turns out several boys had seen what they were not supposed to and when they were captured by the Iraqi soldiers they were shot. But, one boy survived and managed to escape. His family hid him in Dr. Adel’s house but they pretended he had died of his wounds and arranged a fake mourning. The Iraqis never found him and he is considered to be a living martyr.

Dr. Adel is now interested in finding out the name of the young man who had survived the Iraqi soldiers and hid in the house. If you know who that person is please contact him on [email protected]

Kuwait sent 66 candidates who sat for 118 exams for a pass rate of 64.4%, the highest pass rate of all candidates sitting for the exam outside of the U.S. In fact, candidates from Kuwait performed better than every U.S. jurisdiction. By comparison, the best performing CPA exam jurisdiction in the U.S. – Utah – pulled a pass rate of 57.4% overall.

That’s an odd but interesting fact. I guess. [Link]

Thanks Uzair

The original Panasonic GF1 is easily one of the most enjoyable cameras I’ve ever used. I got it two years ago and it quickly replaced both my Canon G11 and Nikon D90 DSLR. Size wise it was slightly larger than the Canon G11 but the quality of the shots easily matched that of the Nikon D90. The camera was very well built and had a fantastic and bright 20mm f/1.7 lens and really my only issue with the camera was that the image got fairly noisy once it hit ISO 800 and above. The new GX1 is the GF1 replacement and it’s better than the GF1 in practically every way. I’ve been using it for sometime now so here’s what I think of it so far. This isn’t a comprehensive review, you can find those reviews online, this is just a review of the things I liked.

What I like about the GF1 and GX1 is the size since they’re small enough to fit into a jacket pocket and light enough to sling over my shoulder without noticing the weight. The reason I always stuck with the 20mm lens and never got a more practical zoom lens is because of the size. The 20mm lens is very compact while all the zoom lenses were pretty big and so added bulk to the camera and made it less pocket-able. But, with the launch of the GX1, Panasonic introduced a new series of lenses called X Lenses. These lenses have powered zooms and are a lot more compact than their regular lenses (Here is a comparison picture). How compact? Well the 14-42mm lens is now exactly the same size as the 20mm lens when closed. It’s super compact!

There are a few changes in the over look and feel between the GF1 and GX1. The GX1 is slightly smaller but now has a larger rubber grip on the front which makes holding the camera a lot more comfortable. The buttons have been shuffled around slightly in the back and they’re now made of metal instead of rubber. The rear screen was also replaced with a touch screen which I thought I would hate but I actually like a lot. The main reason I like it is because it makes focusing faster. I like to shoot with the “rule of thirds” so I can now frame my subject anywhere on the screen and then tap where I want it to focus. The touch screen also makes it easy to change various options and settings. Actually that’s one of the best things in this camera, the ability to change various options and settings without having to go into the camera menu. The camera has two customizable physical buttons on the rear and two more buttons on the screen which I can customize and if that’s not enough I also have a “Quick Menu” which I can access with a click on the rear screen which also pops up a bunch of other buttons which I can also customize.

ISO performance is a lot better compared to the GF1 and noise isn’t noticeable until you pass ISO 1600. The camera focuses much quicker as well not that it was slow before. Really everything about the camera is either slightly improved or better than the GF1 which I thought would be impossible to do. The only thing I’ve noticed that is actually worse is the battery life but that’s probably because the X Lens consumes more power than the regular lenses.

When the original GF1 came out it really didn’t have much competition other than the Olympus PEN series but now things are completely different with Fuji, Sony and Canon all coming into the picture with their own variations of the same idea. The only other cameras I was considering were the Sony NEX-7 and the new Fuji X-Pro 1. The NEX-7 is a great camera but Sony doesn’t have that many great lenses and they’re all really big which makes the camera not very portable. The X-Pro 1 is also a really great camera with really good lenses but the size and price put me off as well. In the end I don’t have any regrets and I would highly recommend this camera to anyone looking for a great carry every compact camera.

I got mine from Amazon and they have three different kits:
Panasonic GX1 Body Only $699
Panasonic GX1 with the 14-42mm Lens $799
Panasonic GX1 with the 14-42mm X Series Lens $950

Kuwait Airways is currently on strike and if you’ve got tickets you’re out of luck. According to a reader, right now they’re not refunding tickets neither are they helping passengers find other flights. According to a Kuwait Airways employee if you need to travel then you need to book a flight with another airline yourself. Only once the strike is over then refunds or ticket change of dates will take place.

Teachers have also joined Kuwait Airways and Customs in the strikes. They’re planning on having a sit in tomorrow (Sunday). [Source]

Thanks Stani and Asmaa

Update: According to a reader who had a 3PM fight to Dubai booked via Kuwait Airways. His flight was cancelled due to the strike but Kuwait Airways transferred his tickets to a 6PM flight on Emirates without paying anything.

I finally got to try The Early Bird today for the very first time. I have no idea why it took so long but glad I finally did. The place was slightly larger than I expected, it had around 5 tables on the inside and maybe another 6 outside. It’s a breakfast place so you obviously have all the usual breakfast options like eggs, pancakes, waffles etc.. I was craving pancakes so went with that and customized it by having chopped bananas, sausages, country fried potatoes and added a scrambled egg on the side. Nat went with a healthier option, Bianca’s Breakfast Omelet which is an egg white omelet containing turkey ham, spinach, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, cilantro and cheese served with a side of fruit.

Everything tasted great and the portions were pretty big. The fact they have a healthy section with egg white omelets is a huge plus. The only negative really is the size of the place but they’re pretty organized and you can sit in your car while you wait for a table to free up so it’s not that bad. They have two locations (Jabriya and Fahaheel) and if you’re interested in trying them out check out their website, they even have their full menu there with the prices as well. Here is the [Link]

One of my followers on twitter snapped the photo above at a super market. Customs have been on strike for only a couple of days now but the effects are already noticeable.

Thanks @Aamchit

For those of you who were asking for the prices of Nikon and Canon lenses I got the full price list from A.A.B International and I’ve listed them below. If you don’t already have a 50mm prime lens you should really pick one up. Both the Canon and Nikon 50mm f/1.8 are under KD40 and it’s a must have lens.

Since we’re on the subject of cars, check out the video above from the movie Robot. [YouTube]

via Jalopnik

Stupid but impressive. [YouTube]

via Brake Banzeen

The Ethiopian domestic worker who was beaten in front of her embassy in Lebanon and dragged into a car committed suicide today. [Link]

The fight on the MEA flight was because the guy was drunk and hit on a married woman. When the plane landed at the airport he was held for 10 minutes and then let go. It also wasn’t his first time. [Link]

No happy endings here.

Panasonic Middle East have a photography competitions every month on Facebook and this month the theme is “Light Trails”. The winner of the competition gets a Panasonic GF3. You can get more information by visiting their Facebook page [Here]

Yesterday I posted about Al Khalid Complex and how cool a place it would be if all these trendy restaurants opened there. Well one commentator mentioned Lorenzo was opening there so I went back to the original picture I took and zoomed in to see if I could confirm it and there it was, a Lorenzo Opening Soon hoarding which you can see below. Nice!

Patrick over at Projekt Cyan created the full alphabet with places in Kuwait using Google Earth. I think that’s such a random project but that’s what makes it very cool. Check out his post [Here]

Google Earth Alphabet – Kuwait from Patrick Semaan on Vimeo.

The UAE Cabinet is now using iPads to “achieve speed and flexibility in decision making” says HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. [Source]

In other news the Angry Birds creator is working on a muliplayer version of the game for an undisclosed customer from the Middle East.

A.A.B International Photographic Company (they really need to get a smaller name) is having a one day sale this Thursday 15th of March where they will be dropping the prices of their Sigma items to try and compete with Amazon’s pricing. I was able to obtain their discounted prices and I’ve listed them all comparing them to Amazon’s prices. If you’re interested check out their Facebook page for more information [Here]

The prices are listed below after the jump.