Search: “ace”

Ace Hardware surprisingly are selling these wooden LED clocks. I had previously seen them only online and they look pretty cool. They’re priced very reasonably with the small ones for around KD5 and the big ones for KD6.

On Friday morning I went to the junkyards to sell my old beemer wheels. Once I was done I decided to drive around and take pictures since the weather was good and the sky nice and blue. I really love the place, you can find everything there from the old double decker buses to broken down tanks. There was this one place I found which I think was a huge government impound lot that looked really cool. It was surrounded by a barbed wire fence but I managed to sneak inside from a hole in the fence and walk around a bit. The place is amazing, I found a lot of old trucks and cars, it was beautiful. If anyone can help me get in there legally again so I could take pictures that would be great. If not I guess I would have to jump the fence again.

Update: Higher resolution pictures now available [Here]

I passed by Intersport at 360 Mall today. They’ve been open since 360 launched but I only went in a few days ago and really liked the place. The shop feels really cozy and calm because the place is still brand new and there isn’t that much foot traffic. I used to like GoSport when they first opened up but now it feels hectic and the way things are laid out reminds me of Costco.

Intersport is smaller than GoSport but still manages to have a bit of everything. They’ve got sport watches, workout dvd’s, bicycles, skateboards, camping and beach gear, gym equipment, clothes, sneakers, a football section etc.. in addition to a few items here and there you can’t find anywhere else. The staff is also pretty friendly which is always a plus.

Intersport is located on the third floor of 360 Mall.

Note: I am organizing my categories and decided to create a new one called InFocus where I post about random places I find interesting or worth a visit.

Two weeks ago one of the Z4’s wheels developed a crack probably from a pothole and I had an option of either repairing it or getting a new wheel. Since the crack was pretty big repairing it wouldn’t have been a good idea and buying a new wheel would have cost me in excess of KD250. My friends suggested that I order a set of four new wheels directly from TireRack.com. Surprisingly it turned out Tire Rack ship wheels and tires to Kuwait and for a very reasonable price.

K.thekuwaiti gave me the email of a sales specialist he had dealt with before called Gavin and I started searching for my wheels on TireRack.com. They had a huge collection that fit my beemer but I was looking for 18×8’s for the front and 18×9’s for the rear and there were only two models that interested me and were under $400 a wheel. Since I had narrowed down my choices to two, I emailed Gavin asking for a quotation and a few questions. He was very helpful and patient answering all my questions, I even changed my mind twice and he didn’t seem to get annoyed or pissed. I finally got a quotation back and the shipping for four wheels to Kuwait via FedEx economy was just $270. That was around KD18 per wheel which was very reasonable since the total weight of four wheels was 50KG.

I paid via money transfer with NBK online and as soon as they received the amount they shipped me my wheels. It took around a week for the wheels to get to Kuwait and I just installed them today at the Pirelli dealer next to AceHardware. If you’re interested in ordering wheels from TireRack.com you can email Gavin at [email protected].

A week back I posted about how I wanted the HPI Baja 5b, a giant 1/5 scale radio controlled buggy. Well since then I’ve changed my mind. Turns out the buggy is too big to be allowed to race on the new off-road track that’s being built by the Radio Control Car Club of Kuwait near the 360 Mall (29°16’16.34″N 48° 0’10.48″E). The off-road track is going to be one of the largest in the world (they’re checking to see if it’s actually the largest) so it would be a shame if I couldn’t take advantage of it.

The track (pictured above) should be ready in 2 weeks time and anyone will be allowed to use it. Members have to pay KD2 per day of track use while non-members pay KD5. It’s going to be very cool and next year they’re planning on holding the Asian championship here in Kuwait. The picture above is made of multiple pictures combined since my wide camera lens wasn’t enough to fit the whole track. You can see a larger version of that picture [Here]

If I want to compete in the weekly friendly races on the track I need to get a nitro 1/8 scale buggy and I am currently leaning towards a 2009 XRAY XB808 (pictured above). I hadn’t heard of the XRAY up till yesterday but from what I’ve read it’s the Rolls Royce of R/C cars.

If you would like to get more information about the Radio Control Car Club of Kuwait (RCCCK) who are responsible for building this track and setting up all the events then visit their website [Here]

I got the below email from an editor at Al Watan Daily regarding the animals at the Friday Market post:

Hi Mark,
I’m the local editor of Al Watan Daily, and I would like to start off by saying that when I read your post last night, I was livid. No newspaper wants to print misinformation, that is not our goal, least of all mine. Our lead had actually originated from an Arab Times report that came two weeks ago, and we performed a follow up. In today’s Arab Times on page 3, you can see they were confused over the matter as well, because they had not reported that the animals were trapped. [Link] However, they do corroborate our story.

From Arab Times update: “Meanwhile Abu Sulaiman Al-Hadad, one of the shopkeepers, claimed that he, along with other proprietors, have not accessed their shops since these were shut down on Oct 15. “My animals have been imprisoned for more than two weeks and have all died from starvation,” he complained. Asked if he had entered his shop at all during this period he said it’s “impossible”. “If any of us is caught entering a shop we’d be obliged to pay a fine of KD 500, along with other legal action,” Al-Hadad said.”

Now, I did not sleep last night, I really didn’t, over your post, and the image it portrays, as well as some of the comments that followed. I planned to come in this morning and set the record straight, by either finding confirmation that our reporter had done their job correctly, or that she had failed in my trust in her. In the case of the latter, I had already informed my General Manager that I would print a retraction.

However, in the case that you were wrong in your citizen journalism, which is the case in my opinion, I feel that you should print an update, and perhaps even slant it towards recognizing that we were not printing misinformation and that perhaps you and the commenters on the post were quick to jump the gun at our expense.

Khaled Al-Ramly
Local Editor
Al Watan Daily

A blog reader also posted the following comment awhile ago:

I went there few hours ago, and the situation is:
All the shops are closed
4 or 5 from the ex employee are sitting there
I asked them about how do they feed the animals inside, and they answered with:
NO WE CANT, The shops are closed by the municipality and there is a sticker attached on each shop’s door and they cant open the door and they cant remove those stickers.
All the dogs inside are whining and barking from being without a food, water, air and also without light.

Its just a big MESS

-Ramez

I’ve contacted K’s Path regarding this issue and I am still waiting for a response. K’s Path are a Kuwaiti non-profit working to improve the lives of animals by protecting and preserving them and the places they live.

Update: I just found this article from todays Arab Times where Ayesha who is responsible for Animal Friend’s and K’s Path said the following:

Ayesha Al-Humaidhi, from Animal Friends League of Kuwait, assured that shopkeepers do have access to the shops and tend to their animals. “They do enter their shops and do conduct their business, but they can’t run their business openly until they settle the rent dispute with the Municipality,” she said. [Source]

Updates2: Ayesha emailed me back stating:

We have investigated the situation and most of the information around is incorrect. The shop keepers are able to enter their stores and care for the animals. We have a volunteer that knows many of the shopkeepers very well and he has visited them multiple times and spoken to them throughout the last two weeks of closure and they are still able to enter their shops. In fact you can even buy things from them they just can’t officially open their doors for business. On the weekends and evening you will see them outside on the road selling so clearly they can get in. Also the area has been closed for two weeks, if it was true that these animals have not been fed then they would all be dead at this point but you can hear them in the shops. Basically the welfare at the Friday Market has always been bad but it is not a whole lot worse at the moment.

We are hoping this rental disagreement with the Baladiya will be resolved soon. We are waiting to see.

A few days ago someone in the forum mentioned that he passed by the animal section of the Friday market and found it closed. I figured that’s great news, they finally did something about the animal cruelty that was taking place there.

Turns out I was very wrong. Today I found out that what really happened was the municipality shutdown all the shops by force and not because of animal cruelty but because of rent issues. Not only that but since the shops were closed down 2 weeks ago they haven’t been allowed to reopen and all the animals were left inside to die!

…the business owners are helpless as the animals howl and cry for food, with every passing day the stench of death growing ever stronger…

…All the animals are inside the stalls, and most of them have died due to lack of water, food and air. These animals have been in cages within the stalls for 15 days and they have not seen any light, nor eaten anything…

Instead of making things better, they killed all the animals. Fantastic. Here is the link to the article on Al Watan Daily. [Link]

Update: A friend of mine passed by the Friday market with his wife today after reading the post to see what they could do. They spoke to a few owners and it turns out the Al Watan Daily’s story is not true. Here is the correct information:

– The municipality did shutdown the shops

– The shop owners ARE allowed to open the shop to clean, feed and air their animals

– Some shop owners were neglecting their animals and it’s NOT the municipality that’s stopping them. Some owners are just insensitive and are just leaving their animals to die

Basically unlike what Al Watan Daily reported, the municipality isn’t stopping any shop owner from taking care of the animals. I don’t know why a leading English newspaper would print misinformation like that. In any case animals are still being left to die by some shop owners who should be fined or prosecuted. For more details you can visit my friends blog where they have more information and pictures [Link]

There is going to be a protest tomorrow (Monday) at 4PM in Mishref to raise awareness about the whole issue with the sewage plant problems and the construction that’s taking forever. The protest which will be more of a walkathon will take place near the sewage plant on the side of the 6th ring road in Mishref. Everyone is invited.

Thanks b19

The Lebanese luxury chains Aïshti and Aïzone have opened up at the Avenues. They’re the equivalent of Villa Moda in Lebanon carrying mostly the same brands which is why I was curious to pass by the Avenues one. I was in a rush so I had a quick walk through and noticed 80% of the store space is dedicated to woman with the rest for men. Here is the link to the Aïshti website [Link]

Qualitynet have updated their block page so if you go to say playboy.com you will get the following message:

And this URL:
https://blocked.qualitynet.net/blocked/index.php?cat=0

Now if you change the last number from 0 to say 1 you get a different message for example go to:
https://blocked.qualitynet.net/blocked/index.php?cat=1
You will notice a message added which is “Category: Pornography”

If you replace it with a 2 you get:
https://blocked.qualitynet.net/blocked/index.php?cat=2
Category: Gambling

Got it? Well this is where it gets interesting, if you replace that number with anything from 4 and up you get LOLCATS!

For example I replaced it with 19:
https://blocked.qualitynet.net/blocked/index.php?cat=19

And I got:

An ISP with a sense of humor, pretty cool.

Thanks larogue for discovering this

Update: It no longer works, Qualitynet removed the lolcats 🙁

Today I was lucky enough to be taken on a tour of Infunity which will be one of the largest indoor amusement parks in Kuwait once completed. Three things that grabbed my attention there, the first is they will have a pretty cool indoor roller coaster that’s designed by the same people who build ones for Six Flags. Secondly they will have Go-Kart Drifting which I didn’t know existed but sounds pretty cool. Finally my favorite thing, they will have a huge proper climbing wall! The place will launch early next year and they will be located on the top floor of 360 Mall near the bowling and arcades.

The new A-Team movie is going to get released next year and the picture above is the first picture showing the new team which is made up of Bradley Cooper (Nip/Tuck and The Hangover), Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson (UFC), Sharlto Copley (District 9), Liam Neeson (Taken). Rampage Jackson is actually a pretty cool replacement for Mr. T even though he’s being a dick in this seasons Ultimate Fighter. [Link]

I just got an email from a friend at NBK about this new service they will be trying out in Kuwait which is payment via NFC (near field communication). Instead of paying by cash or plastic cards you could pay by just waving your phone. The service is going to be called Bouky and they’re launching a 6 month pilot which you can sign up to if you’re interested (link at the end of the post).

This service is already used in places like Japan and the Far East but it will be the first time here in the Middle East. Another cool feature will be that you could wave the phone in front of “smart” posters and redeem offers or download free pre-paid visa cards. My friend signed me up for the 6 month trial so I will get to try it out. During the trial period I will be able to pay by waving my phone at some 100 outlets in The Avenues. If you’re interested in trying Bouky out they will be choosing only 500 customers for the trial period. To sign up follow this [Link]

Note: You need to be a Zain mobile user to beta test this service

Most of you know Cinemagic from their weekly rooftop movie nights but it turns out they’ve also got a small movie theater that they rent out. They originally called me because they wanted to participate in the giveaways last month but since I didn’t have any more space left I told them I would post about them anyway because their theater sounded interesting. They’re located near my house so I went to check the place out and was pretty impressed at how cool their set up was. They’re using the $100,000 Sony SRX-R110 4K cinema projector which is very cool, they had a movie playing when I was there and it looked amazing.

The theater has 12 comfortable reclining leather seats and they provide you with free drinks and munchies . You can rent the theater to watch live television so if there is a football match or a UFC fight you could watch it there. You could also rent out the theater to play xbox or PS3 games, they have both consoles just bring your own game. Finally they have both an HD-DVD and Blu-ray player with hundreds of Blu-ray and HD-DVD movies for you to choose from.

They have two rental prices, non peak and peak prices. Non peak price is KD96 for 3 hours while the peak price is KD144 for 3 hours. So if you are 12 guys thats KD8 per person during non peak hours and KD12 per person during peak hours. If you’re interested visit their website [Here].

For those of you who don’t know about their rooftop screenings you could also visit their website for more information on that.

A reader sent me a link to a travel guide about Kuwait which I thought was a bit… strange. Here is the interesting piece which talks about the nightlife:

Well, you may not find any trace of Arabian Nights while visiting Kuwait, however, Nightlife in Kuwait has its own charm to add a different kind of flavor to your vacation at this small constitutional monarchy on the coast of the Persian Gulf. Nightlife in this city does not only mean Nightclubs and Bars in Kuwait, but also stands for lots of other Things to Do in Kuwait.

At the nightclubs and bars in this city, you may find the lack of alcoholic drinks. However, that will not affect by any means the tourists’ entertainment since the staff is specially selected to meet the extreme need for Nightlife in Kuwait. Visit clubs and find there provocative-futuristic style! But it’s true that sometimes the drinks become even more exotic when served by the European ladies-staff.

Nightlife in Kuwait also offers you a royal smoking experience with hubble-bubble available in bars. The smoke is drawn through a syrupy fruity mixture of flavors into a water bowl filled with cold lemon flavored water which cools the smoke before entering the pipe you draw on. Enjoy life in the form of Nightlife in Kuwait. Experience a relaxing atmosphere at any one of the nightclubs.

Nightlife in Kuwait also includes shopping and modest people watching. However, one of the best ways to enjoy the night is having a stroll along the seashore which is moonlit and converting the white sands into silvery in color. For ladies, malls, beaches and restaurants are the options; however, it is advisable not to stay outside after 10 pm without any companions.

In fact, at midnight tourists may enjoy car race by local people in Jahra Road. Besides, you can also go for camping or join the desert gathering tent with local people (Duwaniya).

Enjoy the Nightlife in Kuwait!

Does anyone else see a few issues with this article? Here is the link to the source. [Link]