2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003

…gun ownership in Kuwait amounts to 24.8 firearms per 100 people, and that there are approximately 630,000 civilian guns in the country… Kuwait’s defense forces possessed roughly 30,000 guns that year, while the police had only 8,358.

I was reading an article about a guy who killed a wolf in Kuwait and thought that bit of information on gun ownership was a bit shocking. The number is based on a 2007 count of civilian firearms published by Cambridge University press. I don’t know but that number seems a bit unreal to me. [Link]

Last year I posted about a house in Salwa that had two wind turbines installed. It seems their little experiment with wind must have went well because they currently have at least 7 wind turbines installed! I wonder if they’re completely off the grid yet?

Thanks Hamad

This has to be the strangest thing ever. What the hell is alcohol free vodka? How is that even possible?

Blue ZERO is specifically targeted for Muslim consumers worldwide since it is Halal approved.

Blue ZERO non alcohol vodka tastes and looks exactly like traditional Canadian Vodka.

They also have alcohol free Tequila, Whisky, Rum and Cognac! It’s gotta be a hoax. Even if it isn’t I highly doubt airport customs would believe you if you told them it was alcohol free. [Link]

[YouTube]

So last night I was trying to go to sleep at around 1:30am when I heard a loud commotion outside. I’m used to fights taking place underneath my building since there is a billiard place next door but this didn’t sound like an ordinary fight since it was pretty loud. So I put on my pants and hoodie and headed downstairs to see what all the commotion was about.

Turns out there were around 30 guys pushing, shoving, shouting and punching over I don’t know what. I thought about taking my phone out and shooting some pictures or video but since no one else was doing it I figured it would probably not be a good idea to do so. I ended up going back up to try and go back to sleep but around 15 minutes later 5 police cars arrive filled with cops.

Now that’s the first time I’ve ever seen cops come to a fight in my block. I’ve actually tried calling the cops myself before when there were guys running around the mall in my building with razor blades trying to cut each other and the cops never came. So my theory is this. I think the cops are starting to take these street fights seriously after the incident that took place at Marina Crescent. Are they waiting for a major incident to take place on the Gulf Road before they start patrolling it?

Pretty fun video by Bianca from the EarlyBird. [YouTube]

According to Desert Girl, the coal plates that used to be served with tea at Souk Mubarakia is now illegal. That’s doesn’t seem to be the only change since she previously posted about Souq Al-Hareem getting dismantled and removed. Not sure what’s going on over there but it seems like everything that is traditional is bit by bit being removed. Sucks. [Link]

I was supposed to start off the weekend by riding out with the Desert Bike Club but couldn’t get myself to wake up at 6:30 in the morning for a 7:15 meetup. But I still managed to save the day by heading down to Bnaider. A friend of mine built an RC track at his chalet so I took two cars, my Tamiya FJ CR-01 crawler, and my Xray 808e buggy.

[YouTube]

The video above should give you an idea about how fun these cars can be. Mine is the pink one that starts off strong and then falls behind.

I like this shot since it captures an interesting moment when 3 off us go airborne but each one heading off to a different direction.

These two aren’t RC cars but they’re still cool toys.

Pawsh is a new local online pet store that sells everything from food to toys for dogs, cats, birds and small pets. The website looks pretty good and is easy to navigate the different categories and find stuff. The prices also seem reasonable and they obviously deliver which is convenient. Check out the website [Here]

Thanks Rayboy

Update: Here is another link to another local online pet store called ePetome. This one also looks pretty good. [Link]

One of the guys brought cheesecake from Firin tonight to the diwaniya and it was pretty good. Like I had two slices good and it’s not even my cheat day. The only reason I actually ate it is because it was wheat free. And yes I’m still on my wheat free diet and I it’s been more than two weeks now.

I actually haven’t had any trouble staying off wheat. The only issue arises on my cheat day when I want to have dessert and end up with a lame chocolate bar from a supermarket because all my favorite desserts contain wheat. I also don’t feel more energetic or more focused like the book says I would feel. Or maybe I’m just not noticing. I don’t know will give this diet some more time and see.

Anyway all of Firin’s products are wheat free and you can check out their website [Here]

Larger version [Here]

A friend of mine here in Kuwait got the Wacom Inkling and has some samples up. If you don’t know what the inkling is, it’s basically a small device you attach to your notebook and whatever you draw in your sketch book or on paper will be transferred as a digital drawing to your computer.

According to him “it’s good for fast sketching but not good enough for tight detail doodling”. He has two examples which explain his comments which you can check out. You’ll notice some of the digital lines are not in the same place as the original drawings as well as some details missing. Check out the two samples [Here] and [Here]

The Inkling isn’t available on Amazon yet. He had a friend in Hong Kong purchase it for him and ship it to his Aramex China mailbox.

Thanks Pinot

The new airport will be completed by 2016. That’s in 4 years time. [Link]

What more can I do? I’ve already complained about the issues that take place on the Gulf Road a million times already on the blog and I haven’t seen any improvement. If anything there are less cops on the Gulf Road now then there have ever been.

Note: Yes I took this picture on the Gulf Road

Turns out when it comes to “Nation Branding”, Kuwait for some odd reason scores really well… like really well. Out of 236 countries, Kuwait came in 13th place for Q3 of the 2011 Brand Perception Index. And it’s not a one time fluke, I checked the 2010 index and Kuwait actually came in 6th place overall last year! I think that’s great but honestly I don’t understand how.

Norway for example is currently at the bottom of the list in 236th place… right behind Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. Pretty weird, I mean they had the bombing incident and the shooting but 236? Here is how they rank the countries:

Our indexes rank all countries and territories based on how they are perceived in leading international media, published quarterly and annually. The indexes are based on analyzing millions of mentions in hundreds of thousands of news articles.

For the full list click [Here]

via BlogBaladi