Around 5 years ago I posted about fencing courses at the Qadsia Fencing Academy. Since then the academy has gone through an overhaul and they’ve now revamped it with new coaches, management, and a new look. They are open again to anyone who is interested in learning to fence including both males and females, kids and adults.
The fencing academy operates three days a week from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm on Saturdays, Mondays and Wednesdays. They will be introducing private lessons soon but currently, they’re only offering group sessions with the first class being a free trial. The monthly membership is a very reasonable 40KD and they provide all the equipment for you. So if you’re looking for something new and interesting to try, it doesn’t get better than this.
Currently, Kuwait is the cheapest country to mine digital currencies like Bitcoin. As compared to other countries you don’t have to spend huge amounts on crypto mining. If you are thinking of mine Bitcoin then you can move to Kuwait and start your crypto without incurring much expense every month.
Kuwait has a relatively low cost of living which is why services are pretty cheaper as compared to other countries. Also, another reason for cheap electricity is that sunlight is abundant in Arabic countries like Kuwait. Hence, there is an abundance of solar energy that can be converted to electricity. Source
The article doesn’t mention a source but it looks like the conclusion might be based off a research paper published back in November that states:
Kuwait is the most affordable country to mine Bitcoin, with an electricity cost per Bitcoin of $880. Similarly to many other countries in the Middle East, Kuwait has almost limitless oil and gas reserves, and the government is also heavily subsidizing electricity prices.
I never got into bitcoin but I do see a lot of mining rigs going up for sale in the classifieds section all the time. If Kuwait is indeed one of the cheapest places to mine then that would explain why so many people try it out here but I’m having a hard time believing it can be $880 per Bitcoin, that seems super cheap.
There is a very cool retro RV parked on the Gulf Road near Burj Hammam. It’s been there for a few days at least and looks super cool. No idea who its for but really curious to see if the inside is also retro-looking. The exterior makes a great backdrop for a 70s photoshoot.
Aisha Al-Saif, a friend of mine opened up a ceramics design studio last year called From Mud (@frommud) and it recently got featured on ArchDaily. The studio space was designed by Kuwaiti architect Rawan Muqaddas and is located on the first floor of a 1967 Modernist building in Blockat. I was with Aisha when we found the location and I wish I knew where the photos of the space I took were because you wouldn’t recognize it today and would make a great before and after series.
Thanks to climate change, temperatures in Kuwait could become too hot for people and wildlife in decades. How is this rich nation facing an uncomfortable future?
If you want to start your morning with a gloomy article on Kuwait then you’re not going to find a more depressing one than this today. Bloomberg published an article on Kuwait and how we’re basically all doomed here with increasing temperatures and no plan to cut greenhouse gases. The article talks about all our issues from bus stops to the political deadlock so if you’re looking for gloom, here is the link.
Note: If the Bloomberg link doesn’t work for you, the same article is on Yahoo.
It’s been a year now since the DJI Mini 2 got launched but I just got mine a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been wanting the DJI Mini 2 ever since it was released so a few weeks ago I got in touch with Xcite and asked them if I could get one to review. I’m not a drone expert so this review is directed at other people like me, beginners basically. The Mini 2 shoots in 4K, is pretty tiny, and it’s also really light weighing just 249g. If you want more detailed specs of the Mini 2 there are tons of videos on YouTube that do just that. Instead, I’m going to give you my opinion on why I think this is the best drone a beginner can get right now.
Full disclosure, I have a long-standing relationship with Xcite who provided me with this drone. They’ve been very supportive of the blog from the very early days and they’ve lent or given me a number of items over the years to review, as well as hooking me up with discounts. I’m a huge Xcite fan.
I’m not sure where to start this review since I’m really excited about the drone, and I wasn’t expecting to be. If you’ve never owned a drone before it can be a bit intimidating at first and even if you have had a drone before, maybe a basic one like the original Mini 1 or the Spark, then flying probably still intimidates because of certain limitations like the battery life and connection issues. At least those were the two things that kept me from flying my drone often and both those things no longer are an issue with the Mini 2.
The last drone I had was the DJI Spark which was pretty good but most of the time I’d have connection issues once it got to a certain height, distance or if I was flying in an area like Salmiya which caused a lot of interference. It was freaky because I didn’t want to lose the drone and it made me a lot more cautious whenever I wanted to take it out. The DJI Mini 2 on the other hand uses a different connection technology called OcuSync and I think this is my favorite new feature. I haven’t had a single situation, not even for a second where I had a connection problem. I’ve flown it out far and as high as it can get and haven’t had a signal drop or even a low signal warning. It’s made flying the drone so much more enjoyable and it’s given me much more confidence.
The other feature I’ve been loving on the Mini 2 is the battery life which now lasts up to 30 minutes. That’s a lot of time which is great cuz I always felt so rushed with the Spark which only had around 15 minutes of battery life. Last week I headed out to Sulaibikhat to film the flamingos and I actually spent a lot of time just hovering my drone low near the water just watching them on my screen. It would take around 5 minutes to reach them since I was parked pretty far from their location and another 5 minutes to get back but with that, I still had around 20 minutes left of just pure stalking time. It’s enough time to get completely immersed and zoned out, I literally spent all my time just watching flamingos catch their food and eat as if I had my own private National Geographic channel. Whenever the battery was going to die the drone would just let me know and then start flying back to me. Really easy.
OcuSync and the battery life together have made me want to take out the drone more often and not have to worry about anything which is why I think it’s the perfect beginner’s drone. I can just focus on shooting and not worry about the other things. When the weather was misty this past weekend I just parked next to the Kuwait Towers and casually took the drone out to see if I can capture the towers coming out through the fog. It’s such an easy thing to do now and it’s because I’m no longer worried about flying the drone. After reaching a height taller than the towers I realized the fog was too high and had completely engulfed it, so I decided instead to fly towards the city to see if I could capture Hamra Tower. I didn’t end up getting a good shot but just the fact that I was able to on a whim head into the city with my drone is something I’d never have done with the Spark.
The DJI Mini 2 is really everything I’ve wanted into a drone. Something small, light, have a long battery life, and no connection issues. It’s made me want to fly the drone much more and given me the confidence to do so. If you want to get into drone photography, this has to be the best drone to start off with. I got the DJI Mini 2 “Fly More Combo” pack which comes with three batteries, a charging hub, extra propellers, and even a nice carrying case. The price of the full package is 175KD and you can get one from Xcite.
Yesterday I was stuck in traffic on the First Ring Road due to an accident and I had to watch a fire truck struggle to get through on their way to the accident. Unlike some other highways, the First Ring Road still has an emergency lane on the left side with the rumble strips but people were on the lane preventing the emergency vehicles from getting to the scene of the accident.
I know most of the emergency lanes in Kuwait have been removed but I’m curious to know if hospitals, police and firefighters have voiced their concerns with this decision. They can’t be ok with this can they?
The other day I passed by SoMu (South of Mubarakiya) on my way to Bait Ahmed and to my surprise, most of the restaurants and cafes there had closed down including 12 Chutney and Caffeine.
I’m assuming they were all hit hard because of the pandemic and the whole block is deserted now. Pretty sad especially since this time of year it would have been super busy at night.
Back in the early days of the pandemic and lockdowns, I bought an espresso machine online. Everyone locally had sold out of coffee machines and I barely was able to find one online to order as well. Fast forward to last month and my coffee machine stopped producing steam, instead, the steamer was squirting out hot water. Originally I was planning to repair the thing myself but since I already had too many do-it-yourself projects going on I decided to reach out to the local coffee shop StockRoom. I knew they sold Rocket machines, but wasn’t sure if they also serviced them or not. Turns out they did since they’re actually an authorized Rocket dealer!
I ended up dropping the machine off to them and a few hours later I got a call telling me the issue was scale build-up due to lack of descaling. The scale was covering my steamer sensor causing the unit to stop producing steam. An interesting fact, turns out even if you use bottled water (I use Arwa) you need to descale your coffee machine periodically. I didn’t know that. I gave them the go-ahead to clean the sensor and descale my machine and now it’s working perfectly again.
So if you’re looking to pick up a prosumer coffee machine I previously highly recommended Rocket and now I’m doubling down on that recommendation since we have a local dealer. Here is a link to my review on my machine and check out StockRoom on Instagram at @stockroomcoffee and stockroomcoffee.shop
Forbes Middle East posted about Yarmouk Park few days ago. Yarmouk Park is recognized as being the first environmentally friendly park based on recycled materials and waste. If you haven’t been to the park before you can check out some more photos of is @forbesmiddleeast
“When the Sheikh Met the King” is a new investigative ebook by Kuwaiti Award-winning journalist Motez Bishara. Not sure if some of you remember but at one point Michael Jackson moved to Bahrain and lived there for some time. It was all really bizarre and I mostly remember photos of Michael Jackson going around Bahrain dressed in an abaya.
The ebook which comes out today digs into:
The fate of the Jackson / Sheikh Abdulla co-written song “I Have This Dream,” recorded at London’s Metropolis Studios for $2.2 million
Jackson’s battle with depression, brought on by his unpayable $270 million personal loan and custody battle with ex-wife Debbie Rowe
A drug-induced near-suicidal incident on a hotel room balcony in Oman
Details of Jackson’s $7 million expenses; the Sheikh provided everything from a flashy recording studio to a Ferrari
Jackson’s contractual break from the sheikh that led to his demise; AEG Live’s buyout resulted in the fatal O2 concert dates
If you want to get the eBook, it’s available for 3 KD on Amazon. Link
I was at the Kuwait Airways terminal a few days ago and I spotted a robot called Airporter that is there to help carry your luggage. I couldn’t use the robot because when I touched the screen to wake it up, the robot had a message on it saying it only worked from 9:30AM to 12:30PM. But I did find a video on Youtube of a similar robot which you can watch in action below.
There were instructions on how to operate the robot which you can see here but simply put, you let the robot scan your boarding pass, put your carry-on bags onto it and press go. The robot then follows you to your gate.
There was only 1 robot that I saw so definitely just there for show and fun.
