Search: “cop”

I really hate it when people take my images and use them without permission, so anytime I find someone doing so, I report the post for copyright infringement. The three main platforms I run into these issues is Instagram, Twitter (X), and TikTok but a few days ago someone posted my photos on Reddit so had to file a report there.

The most bizarre thing about all this, somehow, Twitter is the fastest to respond to copyright claims. It’s really weird because I’m not a premium member and don’t have a blue tick, and also because of all the talk about Elon Musk firing so many people and reducing the size of the teams. You’d think they’d be the slowest or even not care about copyright infringements.

The worst are Instagram and TikTok. Maybe TikTok more because they have yet to act on any claim I’ve made. But Instagram is horrible as well since they’re extremely extremely slow and it has a bigger effect on me since I generate my income from my Instagram content.

Here is an approximate timeline

TikTok
Reported on April 25
No response yet
Time: 16 days and counting

Instagram
Reported on April 27
Infringing content removed May 9
Time: 12 Days

Reddit
Reported on May 11
Infringing content removed May 12
Time: 1 Day

Twitter
Reported on May 12
Infringing content removed same day
Time: 7 hours

So if you’ve ever been curious to how long it takes for social media platforms to respond to copyright claims, now you know.

Also just an FYI I always reach out to the people to let them know they’re using my content and to remove it. I only report them when they refuse to. One guy last week told me he didn’t get the images from me but got them from Google so wasn’t going to remove them. So I filed a complaint and had them removed so he blocked me 🤷🏻‍♂️

A couple of weeks ago the Ministry of Interior announced that expats are now able to get a physical driving license printed for a KD 10 fee. A lot of people were asking what the process was, and thanks to the Reddit user InsecureInflux, there are now instructions. Here are the steps he took to get his physical driving license:

• Go to your respective Muroor.
• Visit the typing section and request a physical license.
• Provide your civil ID and license; they’ll type out a form for you (fee: KD 1).
• Take the form to one of the counters inside; they’ll give you a paper with your license details.
• Take both papers to the stamping officer; pay KD 10 for the stamp.
• Obtain the manager’s signature on the stamped papers.
• Submit the signed papers at one of the counters.
• Wait approximately 10–15 minutes to receive your printed license.

Yesterday I started receiving forwards to my @248am account from followers. They were sending me a video created by four content creators (@bukhaleefa,@oalthuwaini,@bo6aleb,@dr_m_alkandari) who had essentially taken my post about the story of Haydo, translated it to Arabic, and then used it as a script for their video on the same subject. It’s basically a word for word copy of my post with no mention of where they got their script from. They even used the exact same footage I had dug out for my post.

The four content creators combined have a total of over 4 million followers so I’m assuming they’re popular although I only recognize one of them. Based on their names I think two of them are doctors? I don’t know, but it’s just so weird that “content creators” seem to think it’s ok to copy someones work and not even credit them. It’s what I posted about recently, we live in a society where copying other peoples work is normalized. I remember watching a video a few months back where a “content creator” was responding to accusations that he was copying other peoples videos by saying its normal to copy and everyone does it. No it’s not normal.

The Haydo story isn’t mine to own obviously, it’s a historical event. But, the story they chose to share is mine. It’s my post, I did the research, I wrote and put the article together picking what I thought were the most important details to share. I edited the article so that it was fun and interesting to read, and then I spent two days looking for videos and photos that I thought were the best to go with it. So to have 4 established “content creators” to just translate my post and turn it into their script two days later because they ran out of their own creative ideas is frustrating.

Anyone that copies my content I usually report straight to Instagram. Sometimes I contact the person directly and ask them to remove the post, other times I just head straight to Instagram. Although Instagram are a bit slow, so far every time they’ve removed the infringing post and given a strike to the person that copied it. I think once they get two strikes they get some restrictions. I’ve already reported their post, but in this case I feel Instagram won’t be able to do anything since their post is in spoken Arabic while my post is written and in English. So it will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Actually, as I wrote the last sentence, I realized a much simpler way for instgram to realize they’ve copied my post. Without going into too much details for now, they essentially used something they could have only gotten from me. So I just submitted a second complaint to Instagram so that way in case the first one doesn’t work, the second one should.

I’ll post an update once I hear back from Instagram.

If you ever need an English copywriter, I’d highly recommend a friend of mine, Naz. Naz has been copywriting for over 20 years and was my editor for our school paper, the Voice of AIS, back in the mid-90s. Speaking of which, I need to try and find copies of those if they still exist.

If you’re a business, Naz can help you with your website content, write press releases for you and even help you come up with a name and slogan for your new business. To get in touch with her, send her a message on instagram @nazwriteswell

Last month I did a road trip from Amsterdam to Copenhagen and below is a quick guide of all my favorite spots in Copenhagen. They are not touristic, nor are they TikToky, so you won’t find long lines, although some of the places do require booking ahead of time:

Eat
Krogs Fiskerestaurant and Kodbyens Fiskebar were my favorite seafood spots. I might have actually had the best fish dish I’ve ever had at Krogs (it was their catch of the day). Tokyo Restaurant for authentic Shabu-shabu, it’s also the oldest Japanese restaurant in Scandinavia. Jah Izakaya & Sake Bar for a less traditional and more hip Japanese spot. Oysters & Grill and Rouge Oysters for your more typical seafood and lots of oysters. Andersen & Maillard and Skipper Bageri for your baked goods and pastries. Slurp for Ramen, although it might be a bit TikToky, and finally, Osterberg for delicious ice cream.

Drink
Prolog was by far my favorite coffee spot and their bread, butter and cheese sandwich is top notch as well. Bread, butter and cheese was my favorite thing about Copenhagen, it’s like a staple over there. Orsa was my second favorite coffee shop and it also happens to be in a very cool neighborhood. HANS was also good and the more accessible coffee shop since they have multiple locations.

See
For furniture and accessories you have to visit Frama, Ferm Living and HAY House. For fashion, Another Aspect, Samsøe Samsøe and The Girl & The Diamond. For art supplies (don’t ask) Tutein & Koch. For a day trip out of the city, head to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art followed by Frederiksborg Castle and exploring the nature around it.

Sleep
I had a few hotels I looked at but eventually booked at Zuko. It’s a new hotel and their rooms looked like one of those small apartments in an episode of “Never too small”. It was very practical, spacious and the location was great, right outside the city center with the metro a 2 minute walk away. The hotel rooftop was a nice spot to chill at the end of the day and there was underground parking which I needed for my rental. Audo Residence and Manon les Suites were my plan B’s.

To see my previous lists, click here.

This has to be the most bizarre story to come out so far this year. I first heard about it a couple of days ago but then yesterday Associated Press published the story and so got picked up by the international media.

An Egyptian expat posted a video on TikTok during the dust storm last week complaining about the weather. That video caused him to get arrested and legal action will be taken against him. Arrested over a video complaining about the dust storm!

I just watched the video and can’t figure out what in it would cause him to get arrested. There isn’t anything in the video that should get him in trouble, the worst thing the guy said is that it was a shitty morning. I’m not gonna embed the video here because I don’t know anymore what can get someone arrested or deported, but here is a link to it, it’s still up on his TikTok account @ahmed_krombo. The guy seems like a chill dude based on his tiktok videos so whats going on? Why all this drama? I’m so confused.

The photo above got leaked online showing what potentially are new cop cars based on the recently facelifted Chevy Tahoes. Keep in mind that similar to the Volvo and Patrol cop cars I previously posted, these could just be samples and not eventually go into service. But, since the current cop cars are Chevy Tahoes, I wouldn’t be surprised if their fleet did get updated with the new facelifted versions.

Thanks Fahad

Recently there have been photos circulating of what looks like new cop cars. Usually, this happens when the Ministry of Interior are looking for new cars for their fleet and different dealers provide them with test units. So far the two models I’ve seen are the Volvos (above) and the new Nissan Patrols (below). Not that crazy about the Patrols but the Volvos look hot.

Update: Here are better shots of the Patrol

I was out on the balcony awhile ago during the curfew because there was a loud noise down the street. A large group of people were yelling Allahu Akbar (out their windows I’m guessing) so I took out my phone to try and record it when I noticed an undercover cop car coming down the street. I had seen three guys standing under their building so I knew things might get interesting and decided to record the cops. As expected they ended up spotting and then catching the guys.

They didn’t arrest them, they let them go but not sure if they gave them a warning or took their ID cards or something. It’s pretty cool to see my back streets being patrolled during the curfew and with unmarked vehicles which is pretty smart.

Around a decade ago, maybe more, there used to be a store in Muthana Complex that used to just sell telescopes. That store closed down ages ago and after that, the only other place I knew of that sold good telescopes was Xcite in Avenues. But, they no longer seem to carry them anymore so right now if you’re looking for a telescope, your best option is the Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre (ASCC).

Inside the space museum at ASCC there is a gift shop that sells Celestron brand of telescopes. Below are the models I spotted along with their prices and a comparison to Amazon.

Celestron AstroMaster 70 EQ
Amazon: KD40
ASCC: KD50

Celestron AstroMaster 90 EQ
Amazon: KD67
ASCC: KD80

Celestron AstroMaster 114 EQ
Amazon: KD55
ASCC: KD80

Celestron Ultima 65
Amazon: KD40
ASCC: KD70

The pricing seems pretty decent on most of them especially when you consider the Amazon prices I’ve listed don’t include any taxes or shipping costs. So if you’re looking for a telescope, you should head to the space museum gift shop.

Update: If you want to buy a telescope or get into astronomy then check out this local website called Ikarus Tech.

At Qout Market this weekend, the local ice cream brand Moo Milk Bar had a very creative kiosk that resembled a sketch. It proved to be really popular with Instagrammers with lots of people taking photos of the kiosk and posting it on their accounts. But, word started spreading around that the creative kiosk idea was actually a copy of the work by the artist Joshua Vides. People started leaving comments that they had stolen the idea and Moo Milk Bar started deleting those comments.

Then yesterday, Moo Milk Bar posted that their kiosk was in fact a homage to Joshua Vides and not a copy. Thats clearly still causing controversy because it opens a lot of doors. Is it ok to copy something as long as you call it a homage? Some people think it is, others think it isn’t and I can understand the arguments for both sides, but I’m curious to what you think?

Here are more pictures to Moo Milk Bars kiosk [Link]
Here is a link to more of Joshua Vides work [Link]

[poll id=”8″]

If you’re part of any local whatsapp group, you’ve most likely seen videos similar to the one above. The videos usually show a bunch of guys performing dangerous stunts with their cars, and then a cop car shows up to stop the whole thing and arrest the drivers, but instead, they end up getting attacked or bullied around by the crowd.

Why don’t cops have partners in Kuwait? Instead of one cop per police car why aren’t they two cops per car. That way one has the other persons back. Is it because there aren’t enough cops? Also, are cops here not allowed to use violent force? By violent force I mean shoot the perps because from these videos it looks like the cops aren’t really feared…

Looking at the picture above you’d assume it was the VOL.1 location in Shuwaikh (pictured below), but in reality, it’s a new coffee shop in Saudi called 8oz. They basically just copy pasted the VOL.1 interior and opened up in Dammam. It’s funny and sad at the same time.

As someone who interacts with cops on what seems like a weekly basis, I don’t have an issue with the cops being strict, I have an issue with their inconsistency. Either punish illegal parkers all year round and punish them wherever they might be around Kuwait not just the downtown area, or don’t. These short campaigns don’t do anything in the long run. I liked their idea of taking license plates off since it seemed like less work for them when compared to towing a car, and so something they could do on the long run. But even that they weren’t doing consistently.

I got pulled over last month for not using my turn signal but this morning for example I saw a car drive the wrong way down the street and even though she passed a cop car, the cop didn’t pull her over or anything. Why is it ok to break the law sometimes? I love driving in Lebanon because its complete anarchy, you do whatever you want and nobody cares. But I’m also perfectly fine driving in the States or any European country where the rules are pretty strict and everyone follows them. I just don’t like being in this grey area right now where sometimes we’re punished and sometimes we aren’t.

Funny story, a few weeks ago some person cut in front of my friends car while I was with him and a cop happened to be behind us when it happened. The cop pulled both of our cars over and then the cop came up to my friends window and told him to come down and beat up the other driver who cut him off. NO JOKE. My friend told him he had a broken toe and had a cast on so he couldn’t go down so the cop told him ok he could drive off.

The other day on my way to the gym I saw police cars and tow trucks removing illegally parked cars in the downtown area. An hour later after leaving my gym, that same strip had cars illegally parked again. So I don’t think towing illegally parked cars is gonna solve the issue, not unless this is something they’re willing to pursue all day long and all year round. Thats just my opinion though…

Last week police arrested a man who stabbed his wife at least seven times and the video of the arrest went viral. I just got to watch the video now and found it a bit confusing since in the video it looks like civilians are arresting the murderer, while the cop is on his phone the whole time.

The video starts off with a police officer ordering a man to surrender while he had his Apple earbuds on and the phone in his hand recording the whole incident. While he is recording the video, two men in civilian clothing get closer to the man, one of them looks to be carrying a police baton. Once the man surrenders and lies down on his stomach, the two civilians proceed to secure the man down and then one of them goes to get handcuffs before coming back and handcuffing the man. Finally a second policeman comes into the video and hands something over to one of the civilians.

Now my educated guess is at least one of the civilians is actually a cop himself, probably off duty or undercover, but its still weird that the first cop was on his phone the whole time. Check out the video above to get an idea of what I’m talking about.