Bu Ziyad from q80economics emailed me to tell me that foreign magazines are currently banned from being imported into Kuwait. It seems a magazine slipped in with a revealing photo and so the sole distributor for foreign magazines in Kuwait is being punished by banning them from importing magazines. By punishing them everyone in Kuwait is getting punished as well. They are now hoping they will be allowed to resume the import of magazines again after Eid.
Personally I’m glad I have an iPad and the Zinio app so I don’t have to deal with issues like this.
After releasing the iPhone and iPad application the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have launched the BlackBerry version. You can download it for free by visiting their website [Here]
According to KUNA an Android version is in the works. [Link]
A reader shared a link to pictures of the making of the Kiswah (the cloth that covers the Kaaba) which I hadn’t seen before. You can check out those pictures by clicking [Here]
Here is also bit of info I found on Wikipedia on the Kiswah:
Every year the old Kiswa is removed, cut into small pieces and gifted to certain individuals, visiting foreign Muslim dignitaries and organizations. Some of them sell their share as souvenirs of Haj. Earlier Umar bin al-Khattab would cut it in to pieces and distribute them among the pilgrims who used them as shelter from the heat of Makkah. The present cost of making the kiswa amounts to SR 17 million [U.S. dollar = 3.75 riyals]. The cover is 658 sq. metres long and is made of 670 kgs of pure silk. For embroidery 15 kilos of gold threads are used. It consists of 47 pieces of cloth and each piece is 14 Mts. long and 101 cms broad. The kiswa is wrapped around the Kaaba and fixed to the ground with copper rings. [Source]
CNN has an article up on adventurer Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje who back in 1885 took pictures and sound recordings of Mecca. Thats 125 years ago! The photos and sound clips are currently being exhibited in Dubai until December 6th so if you’re there or planning to visit Dubai soon this is a great exhibition to check out. For now though you can check out some pictures and a sound clipping on the CNN website [Here]
Update: The Buz Fairy posted a video made up of pictures taken back in 1953. You can check those out by clicking [Here]
Last month I posted about how Americana is bringing Red Lobster to Kuwait. Well I just found out the first location is scheduled to open up in April 2011. No word on when Oliver Garden will be opening up yet.
I was checking out the Desert Biking Club of Kuwait website and spotted two pictures which looked strange. One of the pictures is above while the other below, is that a river in Jahra?
Update: Below is a picture of this “river” taken by Ammar Alothman
Beat Diabetes – Join the Walk is the first ever walkathon to be organized by Landmark Group in Kuwait (under the patronage of the Ministry of Health and Dasman Diabetes Institute). The walkathon will start at the Yacht Club and end at the Green Island on November 27th. To register you need to pass by any Landmark Group outlet (Centrepoint, Max, Home Centre and New Look stores).
Date: Saturday, 27 November, 2010 Kit Collection: 8.00 am Walk Time: 9.00 am Venue: Yacht Club to Green Island
If any cops are watching this I think it might be easy to catch this guy since his username on YouTube is 6025176 and I am taking a wild guess here but that could actually be his phone number. [YouTube]
965 Malls is an interesting new blog that’s basically about all the malls in Kuwait. They post information on the latest shop offers, activities taking place at malls and random tidbits like who shut down, who’s opening up and even about internal mall quarrels. It’s interesting stuff. [Link]
The first professional Kuwaiti racing driver Khaled Al Mudhaf is participating in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge this Saturday and Sunday. I found out about him recently and think what he’s doing is very cool. The GT3 Cup Challenge is the biggest motor sport challenge in the Middle East and Khaled will be representing Kuwait with his black Porsche pictured above. The two rounds of the race will be shown live on Abu Dhabi Sports Channel on both free-to-air Channel 2 and Channel 6. Round 1 will be shown tomorrow (Saturday) at 15:25 while Round 2 will be broadcasted at 14:45 on Sunday. I wish him the best of luck.
For more information here is the GT3 Cup Facebook page [Link]
Recently they’ve started putting up new speed cameras on the Gulf Road. They’ve started installing cameras in new locations and they’ve also started replacing some old cameras including the red light cameras and speed cameras with newer models. The new cameras differ from the older ones in that the radar, flash and camera are no longer located all together in one housing (like this) but instead divided into two separate pieces. Currently the large box housing (better pictures below) doesn’t have any openings in the front but I am guessing that’s because the system is still being set up and installed. Judging by the pictures on the manufacturers website, the housing called the TraffiTower can hold all the systems internally including the camera so not sure why they’re installing the camera separately. Also I am guessing there must be something new, a new feature that previously wasn’t available that they will be installing in the housing or else why would they replace the reliable and practical single housing units? I took a few pictures of the new speed cameras which you can check out above and below.
This has to be the greatest find yet, a documentary on Kuwait filmed in 1962. Embedding of the video has been disabled so to watch it you need to click [Here]
The Oil industry in Arab country of Kuwait, Middle East. Film made in 1962, directed by Rodney Giesler.
A young Kuwaiti man visits a typical idyllic English village. The village is Shere in Surrey. Shots of old timber framed houses. He speaks to camera. Another man outside the rear entrance of the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank. Another Kuwaiti man talks seated at an outdoor café in London. They both speak to camera.
Film then switches to Kuwait. Point of view from car of busy Kuwait streets. Construction site and builders. The desert. Gas or oil terminal. Oil tankers. Docks. Arab man with headdress rides in the back of a lorry. Travelling shot of crowded street with American cars. Arab businessman in his office, talks on telephone. Various shops, selling electrical goods, chairs. Shopper plays an accordion. Some stylish modernist buildings. Two men drink from cola bottles. Large American car with fins pulls out and nearly crashes with another (seen from the rear). The ruler of Kuwait at a military parade. Various scenes of doctors, dentists, opticians at work. Small children rushing into school, mainly local but some white children as well. Bottle delivery man helps two schoolboys climb a wall. Children have lessons. School meal. Bakery. Deaf children have lessons at a special school. Little girl learns to speak. Young man writes with a special Braille typewriter. He also reads Braille. The airport, foreign skilled workers arrive, get off Kuwaiti Airlines aircraft. Oil well. Christian church for westerners. Woman in horn rimmed spectacles sits under a hair dryer. Lives of foreigners. Locals learn skills from foreign workers. Pilot lesson. University scenes with students.
Oil industry. Arab men have discussion in a boardroom. Cars drive through a sandstorm. Natural gas. Fresh water plant and delivery lorries being loaded. Delivery to Bedouins. Government experimental farm on land reclaimed from desert. Growing crops, dairy cows. Mosque, man calls to prayer. Grievance settling – men meet with the ruler in an office. Law court. Aerial view of Kuwait city and docks. Busy street scenes. Shots of various people walking in the street. Children play in a school playground.
The documentary is 26 minutes long but really worth it. I love the voice over and music, reminds me of the old Tex Avery cartoons.
Once again, to watch this documentary click [Here]
For those of you who’ve been following the story of the old photographer you will be happy to know he just left to hajj today. As I mentioned in my previous post on the old photographer, a very kind reader offered to help send him to hajj at her expense. Not only did she finance the whole trip but she also helped find a hemla that would take him and she even helped him pack and take him to the airport. I really can’t thank her enough for her kindness, what she did was beyond nice. She sent me a picture of the old man at the airport today dressed in the traditional white cloths with an expression on his face that looks like he can’t believe this is all really happening and not just a dream.
There is another reader I would also like to thank for helping with the Saudi visa. If it wasn’t for his help the old man wouldn’t have been able to get a visa and he wouldn’t have been able to travel. But the old man was lucky since the visa was issued last night which was just in the nick of time because the last group from the old man’s hemla was leaving today.
So thank you to the both of you for making this old man’s wish come true.
