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Back in May I posted about the new digital signs that are popping up all over the place and a local blogger now has a picture of whats looks like a sign undergoing testing. The question still remains what are they going to be used for?

When I was in Munich traveling on the highway they had similar signs with the speed limit on it. The speed limit changed depending on the amount of traffic, when the sign was off I think it meant you had no limit but when the sign was on it meant follow whatever speed limit is displayed until the next sign. I doubt its going to be used like this here but to just display the speed limit like in the picture above which everyone already knows anyway is a waste. Anyone know what these signs are going to be used for or anyone have a theory?

Thanks DLC

Update: I replaced the original picture I posted with a better one I took myself on the Gulf Road.

Matt Harding became famous by accident awhile back when a video of him dancing in front of landmarks in different countries became an overnight success. Now Matt is back with a new video thats been in the making for over a year. This time around he visited and danced in 42 different countries and one them was Kuwait. Its a really cool video thats sure to give you goosebumps. [YouTube]

Thanks Shab!

Update: Here is a link to Matt’s journal when he was in Kuwait. I honestly thought he was a nice guy but after reading his journal I now think he’s a jerk. Watching the video above you get a feeling of world unity and peace but then when you find out the kind of person Matt really is it suddenly makes sense why the world is at war. [Link]

Animal Care is a local online pet shop that sells pet stuff including toys, food and accessories. They even deliver items to your doorstep. I think its a great idea specially since the only place that sells decent stuff is Sultan Center and they always seem to run out of stuff. [Link]

Thanks Rayboy

Two days ago the most beautiful goat in the world contest was held in Saudi Arabia. The goat pictured above won first place in what has to be the strangest beauty contest I’ve ever heard of. If you follow the link you can see more pictures from this event, doesn’t anyone else think these are some of the weirdest looking goats? [Link]

Last month I read on Memoirs of A Kuwaiti-Chick about a version of KitKat called Senses. Today while I was checking out the chocolate corner in Shamiya supermarket I spotted them and decided to take two to try and now I think I found my new favorite chocolate. The taste is a mixture between KitKat and Kinder’s Bueno which also has a hazelnut cream filled chocolate wafer. Downside is they cost 450fils a bar but its worth it. The chocolate section at Shamiya has a lot of imported stuff which is cool and right next to it there is the gourmet section which also has a ton of stuff not available elsewhere. If you don’t know where Shamiya Coop is its near the Sheraton roundabout and here is it on google maps. [MAP]

Q80-Chill Girl just posted on her blog that she spotted a Moleskine stand at The Sultan Center. Judging by her picture above it looks like they have the city guides, hopefully they also have the plain pocket books and other kinds of Moleskines. Its great someone finally thought about bringing them to Kuwait but whats surprising is a supermarket brought them in instead of say a bookshop or an office supply store. Good move Sultan Center, now if only they can get a larger collection of salami… [Link]

My Wrangler’s battery died today while trying to leave the Avenues. Its not the first time this has happened, the first time was two years ago when I was trying to leave Souk Sharq. That same day I posted about it on my blog on how Jeep’s Road Assist was amazing, that was on June 4, 2006. Thats nearly exactly two years later (off by just two days) except this time Jeep’s Road Assist wasn’t there to save me. The Road Assist number wouldn’t connect me to anyone, I would call and it would ring twice then I would get a beep and the line would die. I tried over and over and it wouldn’t work.

I didn’t even have jumper cables so I just walked back into Avenues and headed to Carrefour and bought some cheap ass cables for like KD1.300 (they sucked, need to get a better pair). When I got back to the car I asked the parking security if they had a plan for a situation like this, I figured they might have a tow truck number or maybe an emergency jump starter kit but turned out they didn’t have anything of that sort. Instead the security guard was kind enough to help me find a car that was willing to help me jump start my Jeep.

After jump starting the car it turned out if I removed my foot from the gas pedal the car would die on me instantly so after restarting the car again I had to drive with two feet, one on the brakes and the other constantly holding down the throttle. Luckily I didn’t have to drive too far, I was planning on taking my Jeep to service it at the dealer tomorrow so I just drove the car to the garage which was just 5 minutes away. Once I parked the Jeep outside and removed my foot of the gas pedal the car died again, perfect timing. I found a cab passing by and just took it back home. Tomorrow will pass by the dealer and have them replaced my battery. I am kinda glad I purchased the extended warranty back then. What I now regret is not actually going ahead and purchasing the Emergency Jumper Starter which I posted about in March!

This is a link to a blog post that contains 70 different business card designs. A lot of nice looking cards, my favorites are the interactive ones like the one pictured above. [Link]

While drinks like Red Bull give you energy, Drank works the other way round. Drank is an anti-energy drink which relaxes you and makes you sleepy. Sounds like my kind of drink! [Link]

A friend just signed up for the Alshaya secret shoppers program. I don’t know if its new or not but the work involved sounds pretty cool. Basically as a secret shopper you are required to shop at Alshaya stores every week and then write about your experience. You also get two meals at Alshaya restaurants every week worth KD14 which you also need to write about. Based on your feedback Alshaya then try and improve their service.

The pay seems pretty decent too once you get more experienced. New shoppers get paid KD75 a month while silver shoppers get paid KD150 and gold shoppers get KD300. I think more bloggers should participate in this since bloggers spend a lot of time writing about their experiences anyway.

How do you sign up for it? You can’t. Its a secret program which not many people are supposed to know about (ooops!). My friend was able to sign up because he knew someone who was already a secret shopper. So ask around I guess or give them a call and try your luck? I think its really great they have a program like this and more companies should do it if they aren’t already.

A video has been circulating by email and blogs showing a rat in the meat fridge in Carrefour Kuwait. Other than the fact there is nothing in the video thats proves its Carrefour or that it is in Kuwait, there are a couple of other copies of the exact same video circulating on YouTube that say the video was shot in Al-Ajman or Dubai.

So basically it definitely didn’t happen in Kuwait and it might not have happened at Carrefour or even in the UAE. [YouTube]

I’ve been hearing a lot of positive stuff about Aramex’s Shop & Ship service lately. K.thekuwaiti keeps telling me how he keeps getting everything really quickly and SomeContrast posted the other day that you can now even pay with Knet on delivery. I had a lot of problems with Aramex before which I made very clear on this blog but it seems they’ve improved a lot since then so I’ve decided to try them out again.

So far the experience has been positive. I called Aramex up on the new hotline number and I was instantly able to get a hold of customer service, something that was impossible to do when I last used them since their lines used to be always busy. I will try them out for my next few shipments and post my experience with them here on the blog. Looks promising so far.

While walking back to my hotel today in Munich I spotted a weird Z4. At first I thought it was very tacky customized Z4 but then I realized it was actually the new unreleased 2010 model. The car was camouflaged pretty well with black body work and tape but as soon as I figured out what the car was I quickly took out my camera and turned it on. By then the traffic light had turned green so I was only able to take two shots.

It was pretty cool seeing an unreleased test car but sadly only a few car freaks will appreciate this! For me this was an amazing experience, I spend soo much time checking car blogs and magazines and seeing “spy shots” just like this all the time. Now that I was able to take these same kind of shots feels pretty great. Below are the two pictures which I managed to shoot, they are in full resolution.

2010 BWW Z4 Rear
2010 BMW Z4 Side

update: This post made Jalopnik, yay!

A reader of the blog sent an email to inform me that Dean & Deluca will be opening in Kuwait before the end of the year. According to the reader the upscale gourmet food grocery store will be brought to Kuwait by Alshaya and that they are working overtime to try and have the place opened by Q4 of this year. I don’t know the accuracy of this information but if its true it would be something to look forward to. Alshaya launched the Dean & Deluca Cafe in Dubai early this year but they haven’t opened their store yet.

Thanks SJM MUKI

Soon I think we will be getting live traffic updates while on the road via these digital signs as pictured above. I also think the camera’s (pictured below and taken from Marzouqs blog) are somehow related to the new traffic monitoring network. Both the cameras and the digital signs use the same style of metal frame and they’ve both appeared at nearly the same time so I am guessing they must be connected somehow. The digital sign above was taken on the istiqlal highway but I’ve seen the same frame being built in a few more locations including the beginning of the 4th ring road in Salmiya, on the Gulf Road heading towards scientific center before Marina Mall and I’ve also seen it across from KFC on the Gulf Road heading towards Salmiya and the beginning of the Istiqlal Highway in Kuwait City.