Search: “kuwait”

TIME Magazine have an article titled “Extreme Heat: 10 Worldwide Spots With Tough Temperatures” and Kuwait was included as the hottest city. That’s not surprising at all considering how everyone has been recording temperatures over 50 degrees.

Here is the [Link]

This is a list of confirmed (or at least 99% confirmed) and unconfirmed international food chains that will be opening in Kuwait. If I’ve missed anything out leave a comment and I’ll add it to the list

Confirmed
– Olive Garden
– Red Lobster
– LongHorn Steakhouse
– IHOP (International House of Pancakes)
– The Hummingbird Bakery
– Pei Wei Asian Diner
– The Cheesecake Factory
– Texas Roadhouse
– Potbelly Sandwich Works
– SNOG Frozen Yogurt
– The Upper Crust Pizzeria
– Tim Hortons

Unconfirmed
– Arby’s [source]
– Wendy’s [source]

Wishlist
– Five Guys
– In-N-Out
– Ben’s Cookies
– Pret A Manger

The Kuwait Scorpions rugby football club is one of the oldest clubs in the Gulf. They were formed back in the 1940s when the Kuwait Oil Company and the British Army played the region’s first ever recorded rugby fixture and they’re still around today and still very active. The pictures below are of the Kuwait Scorpions dating back to the 1950’s.

Here is the link to the clubs website [Link]
Here is a link to the the pictures in high resolution [Link]

Thanks Tron

I can’t believe I forgot to post about this ahead of time but the Worldwide Finals of Imagine Cup 2011 were held yesterday in New York and a team from Kuwait where there competing in the software category. They came up with this idea which they wanted to present to the Ministry of Interior in hopes of having it implemented so we could get a lot of day to day problems solved. I previously posted about them and their idea [Here] if you want to read more on it.

I was just checking the results page and it doesn’t seem they won. Even though I think they must have gained a lot of experience competing at an international level and I’m sure they’re going to be coming back with even more motivation. I really hope the Ministry of Information will still help them bring their idea to life, since it’s an idea that will help make Kuwait a better place. Here is a page from the Imagine Cup 2011 yearbook which has details about the Kuwait team, their project and their intentions. [Yearbook Page]

Picture by @ahamshay

There is a pretty strange/interesting post on Gizmodo by one of their senior reporters about when he lived in Kuwait for a short period right after the 1990 invasion. It’s strange because it’s so random and interesting because it’s a story about his yellow Sony Walkman and his tapes. I always wanted a yellow Walkman but never got one and sadly it’s too late to get one now. I wonder why Sony hasn’t released a yellow waterproof mp3 player yet. Anyway check out his post [Here]

This cool photo was taken by Abdulla Ashkanani and you can see the larger version on his flickr page [Here]

Just found out about this by mistake and thought it was worth sharing. I’m kinda surprised I hadn’t heard of this before.

Pavilion of Kuwait
With its exhibition hall buried approximately 20 feet under a marble dome, the pavilion was designed as a sculpture with flexible wooden arms that open and close to resemble a palm leaf. Through this design, the people of Kuwait expressed their history and life as follows: When the arms are closed like a seashell, it represents the protection of the Kuwaiti people. When the arms are halfway open it resembles a tent, which is a house for the Bedouin people to protect them from the desert storms. When the arms are fully opened, as shown in the photograph, it acts as a ship’s sail which explains Kuwaiti’s lives as traders and explorers of the sea before their blessing with oil. The building is made of poured concrete steel reinforced wooden arms which also provided shade during Seville’s hot summer days.

Inside the pavilion you could see a six minute video of the Kuwaiti people before the Gulf War, art, scale models of ships used for fishing and trading before the discovery of oil, and scenes of their Bedouin life. [source]

This architecture structure was built as part of the 1992 Universal Exposition in Seville, Spain. You can check out some pictures of it [Here]

Corbis has some pictures as well which you can view [Here]

Today I found out the Dubai branch of Red Lobster will be opening up for business on July 20th at Dubai Mall. In Kuwait on the other hand, Red Lobster is expected to open sometime in late December at Arabella.

Kuwait will be facing Philippines in the second first leg of the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifiers later this month. If you’re interested to go watch the match here are some details:

Date: Saturday, July 23
Time: 7:00pm – 10:00pm
Location: Mohammad Al Hamad Stadium, Qadsia
Tickets: Available at the entrance or at the Kuwait Football Association Headquarters in Adiliya between Kazma (former FILBACK gym) & Adiliya Coop.
Price: KD1, KD2 or KD3

Thanks Abdullah

One of the forum users put the video above together. Super funny. [YouTube]

Thanks بو _ جاسم

Think the beaches need cleaning up? Well now there’s something you can do about it. Al Yaal is a nationwide marine conservation initiative and through preventive and reactive measures such as clean-up activities, education, advocacy and community ownership, they hope to preserve Kuwait’s coastal environment. So if you’re interested in volunteering visit the Al Yaal website and sign up [Here]

For more information on Al Yaal click [Here]

Kuwaitism (yes he’s back) posted a BBC report he found on Kuwaiti entrepreneurs. It’s a very short piece which is disappointing since it’s a very interesting topic. I really couldn’t figure out what BBC was trying to say with this piece, all I understood was that the Kuwaiti government helps Kuwaitis set up their businesses, so why aren’t there more entrepreneurs? That’s fine as an intro but they spoke to just 2 entrepreneurs and one government official and we’re really left with no investigation or conclusion. For example I’m sure laziness isn’t the only reason for lack of entrepreneurship, what about the fact that the market is flooded with international chains? Maybe rents are too high as well? I’m not sure since I am just guessing here which is why I would have liked BBC to really dig into this subject. If you can’t see the video above for some reason here is the [Link]

Not sure how accurate this information is but I heard that Kim Kardashian will be coming to Kuwait this October to launch her new perfume. My source wouldn’t tell me which cosmetic place would be launching it but my guess is that it’s going to be Sephora. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

I am not a huge fan of art unless it’s something really strange or different and I think this painting fits into that category easily. Kuwaiti artisit Nawaf Al-Hmeli has two oil paintings based on two Kuwaiti horrifying mythical creatures the Tantal and Hemarat Algayla. I honestly had never heard of these two creatures but this is what the artist says about them:

Hemarat Algayla (painting pictured above)
Half Woman/Half Donkey creature which hunts children and feeds on them “ONLY” at noon when the sun is blazing hot. It used to be the elders way of preventing children from wandering about at noon and keeping them safe so they’re not subject to neither heat strokes nor kidnapping.

Tantal
Tantal is a myth created by the elders in order to keep children from going out at night and ensuring their well-being. More like the Kuwaiti version of the Boogeyman if you like. The stories coincided with the disappearance of a young boy at that time who went out to sea at night and never came back. People immediately blamed it on Mr. Tantal here and the myth grew. 20 years later, this man comes along looking for his family and told everyone his story of how he was kidnapped and sold to a Persian man as a slave when he was a kid.

I really love the artist for bringing these two mythical creatures into focus since it allows me to share it with everyone. I’m not sure if there are any more myths but if there are would love to hear about them as well. I don’t have any information on the size of the paintings or if they are for sale but you can check out the artists deviantART page [Here], the Hmarat Algayla painting by clicking [Here] and Tantal by clicking [Here]

Thanks Safaa

Remember back in May I posted about how Paris HIlton’s show My New BFF was being filmed in Dubai? Well the show ended a couple of days back and the contestant that won the competition is Kuwait’s very own Reem Al Alnezi (pictured above). She’s now Paris Hilton’s new best friend which I have no idea what that means. I guess they’ll go shopping together and partying together every time Paris comes to the Middle East? Not really sure… [Link]

Thanks Fatemah