Search: “sti”

Just found this via waxy, its very scary, you won’t believe it… [Link]

I was googling “Kuwait Blog” and to my surprise our (Rampurple, nibaq and mine) old blog qHate came out as a first result. So I decided to google a variety of words and checked how qHate ranks, below are the results:

Kuwait Blog (Rank 1)
Kuwait Blogs (Rank 10)
Kuwaiti Blogs (Rank 15)
Kuwaiti Bloggers (Rank 3)
Blogs from Kuwait (Rank 12)
Kuwait war blog (Rank 2)
Rampurple Blog (Rank 2)
Nibaq Blog (Rank 5)
Mark Blog (Rank not in top 500)
Wolf Blitzer suspicious of six foot one Arab males (Rank 1)

Someone in the office just told me that they recently have been busting in on pirates in Hawalli and they are broadcasting the busts live on TV. COPS style. Anyone know anything about this or seen it?

I decided to share with everyone the statistics of 2:48AM from the day 1 which was February 19th till the end of April. The list is displayed as Date followed by amount of unique visitors.

Feb 2005 557
Mar 2005 1961
Apr 2005 3144

To see how many visiters have been coming in day by day detail click on more below.

Question: What tips can you give mark regarding domain registration? in terms of url name, company, pricing, and so on..

Answer: I am gonna divide my answer into two parts, Domain Registration and Web Hosting.

Domain Registration
I get my domains from Directnic.com. I have been using them for a couple of years now since they first opened up. They offer domains for 15$ a year. There are other registrars like Joker.com who provide you with domains for $7 a year. I haven’t tried those registrars and I wouldn’t risk it also. There are some unspoken services which are offered and I don’t know if these other registrars offer it. For example with Directnic, incase you forget to renew your domain they will still hold the domain for you for up to 40 days. Then after the 40 days pass they will still hold the domain for you for another 30 days but you will have to pay an extra fee to get it back. Then after that they will let the domain go into public domain. With other registrars they might not hold the domain for you at all, some might even charge you an extra fee if you forget to renew it by 1 day.

Webhosting
There are thousands and thousands of providers to choose from but I will make it easy for you. If you register with Directnic, they provide you with free hosting for your domain but you will have their banner on your site. For a small yearly fee they can provide you with simple bannerless hosting. Now if you need something better then there are two ways you can go. Windows or Linux hosting. For Windows hosting I would recommend Fasthosts. I have a reseller account with them and have been using them for over 5 years now. They are VERY reliable with maybe only 1 down time in 5 years. They have excellent service, and their servers are very fast. I would also recommend Interland as a second option here. They also provide reliable Windows hosting for a decent price. For linux hosting you have a lot more cheaper options. If bandwidth isn’t an issue then I would recommend Interland here again. They are a good hosting provider for newbies. They have a very good “Help & Advice” section with lots of information for beginners. If bandwidth is something you need, then I would recommend Powweb. PowWeb offers 5GB of bandwidth a day for as little as 7$ a month. But the downside to Powweb is that their backdoor where you set your web settings and emails isn’t very easy to use at all. Other providers you might be interested in are: Addr, Dreamhost, Pair, iPowerWeb and LunarPages.

Today morning on my way to work I saw a funny bumper sticker on the car infront of me. Click here to see it.

I keep passing by this sign on my way to the office and I seem to be the only one who gets it. Fist for Security & Safety. Get it? Fist… like in fisting? Urgh.. nevermind…

It’s been a few months since Jar’s, the pizza spot, opened and today marks the start of their next chapter.

I’ve posted about the owner of Jar’s, Abdullah AlJarallah twice so far (here and here). Initially when he was making and delivering pizzas out of a commercial kitchen as a side hobby, and then again when he eventually opened his spot in Hawalli. It was a small cozy hole-in-the-wall that just made pizzas and had a set menu. Now Jar’s is expanding with more seating, a larger menu and they’re making a few other changes as well.

In addition to pizzas, Jar’s is now introducing two highly requested items, steaks and pastas. With these new additions, they’re moving away from the set menu, so you can now order freely without limitations. Like with their pizzas, they’re using top quality ingredients and making as much as possible in house. So fresh tomatoes, and plenty of good aged cheeses. All your favorite pizzas are still there as well.

The second biggest change is the addition of more chairs and tables. Jar’s outgrew the small space, so what used to be indoor seating is now a larger kitchen with a small gourmet merch section, while a new seating area was built outside. With the addition of more seating, you no longer need a reservation, you can just walk in.

Since I’ve been posting about Abdullah and his pizzas from the very start, it feels like I’ve become his official documentarian along the way, and it’s been fun watching Jar’s grow. Swipe left to check out some photos of the new items and then make sure you head over to his Instagram account @atjars

There’s an interesting variety of events taking place this weekend, here are my favorites. As always, double check the event details with the organizers.

Thursday, September 18
The IMPROV Show
Miami Show 3.0
Al Hamra Career Fair
Korean Movie Night: Along With The Gods

Friday, September 19
John Achkar Standup Comedy
Welcome Lunch Potluck
Miami Show 3.0

Saturday, September 20
Stretch for a Cause
Floral Workshop: Contemporary Design
World Cleanup Day
Trios by Haydn, Mozart & More
Miami Show 3.0
Morning Paddle Cleanup Edition
Denim Charms Workshop
Soof Wool Mill Tours

If you’re looking for something different to add to your Friday rituals, Altitude Roasters have a weekly event dedicated to crafted cocktails.

Altitude Roasters started out as a roastery back in 2020, and one of the things that set them apart from much of the local coffee market was their approach to roasting. They leaned toward lighter profiles at a time when that wasn’t common in Kuwait, and that quickly became their signature. They carried that same approach over to their coffee shop when they eventually opened it last year.

Their coffee shop is one I’ve been meaning to feature under my design highlights. It was designed in collaboration with the local creative Studio Nesef and has a retro-futurist, 70s-inspired aesthetic. That 70s vibe is also what inspired their Cocktail Fridays.

Cocktail Fridays is their way of creating and introducing new altered coffee drinks. The menu changes slightly week to week, but three of their most popular drinks are The Marlon, The Jetson, and The Ron.

The Marlon: a refreshing sparkly coffee cocktail with mixed berries and cold brewed coffee.

The Jetson: a seasonal latte made with a Kuwaiti farm produce infusion.

The Ron: a deep burgundy shot of espresso paired with the juice of the best red grapes.

If you’re into experimenting with coffee or just want something new to do on a Friday, Cocktail Fridays at Altitude are worth checking out. They’re located in LOT 90 in Shuwaikh and are open 7AM to 10PM on weekdays, and 9AM to 10PM on weekends. @altituderoasterscafe

Sealed is a Kuwaiti dessert brand that specializes in molten cakes. They’ve been operational for only seven months, but they’ve been doing extremely well, to the point of having sold over one million molten cakes since launch. That’s pretty crazy.

They have two kinds of molten cakes, the Chocolate Molten and the Cookie Molten. Both are really good, but the Chocolate Molten is my personal favorite. Last month they also launched a new item, the Molten Ice Cream. They had the launch event in Spain, popping up inside the trendy lifestyle store Homiés Marbella. They are now working on another pop-up project, but they wouldn’t tell me which country it’s in. If someone knows, mention it in the comments.

The coolest thing about Sealed, besides their desserts, is their packaging. I think they have some of the best looking delivery packaging in the market right now. The desserts all arrive inside silver metallic boxes that are enclosed in silver pouches that look like shipping parcels. The whole look fits perfectly with my apartment, which has concrete floors and silver aluminum furniture. It’s a very futuristic vibe.

If you want to try their molten cakes, Sealed is available on all the major delivery platforms and they’re open 24/7. Check them out @sealed.kwt or head over to their website and order directly sealedkwt.com

Last night Apple announced the new iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Air, and the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, and according to a contact of mine, Kuwait already has a launch date.

Starting this Friday, September 12th, pre-orders will open up in Kuwait, while the phones themselves will be available a week later on September 19th. This is the exact same pre-order and launch date as the US.

Out of the four new devices, I think the iPhone Air is the most interesting. I don’t really need a thinner phone, but it does look pretty cool. The one I’ll most likely get is the iPhone 17 Pro. I currently have the 15 Pro, and since I take a lot of photos for the blog using the phone, the updated camera system will be very useful. The cameras are usually the main reason I keep upgrading my phone, otherwise I don’t think I would bother.

Tonight Kuwait will get to witness a lunar eclipse, that’s when the moon passes into the earth’s shadow. During the deepest part of the eclipse the moon turns a reddish color, and that’s exactly what we’ll be able to catch tonight.

You can catch the lunar eclipse from anywhere in Kuwait, but if you’d rather watch it with a crowd, there are a couple of viewing events happening tonight that I know of.

Kuwait University
The Kuwait University Faculty of Sciences Physics Club is hosting a viewing on campus (North Park). They’ll have activities lined up and 45 telescopes for the public to use. If you’ve got your own telescope, there’s also a private observation area where you can set up. @physcku @ikarustechnolog

Abdullah Al Salem Cultural Centre
If you don’t feel like heading to Kuwait University, ASCC is also hosting a viewing tonight. They’ll have an outdoor setup by the Space Museum with telescopes also available for everyone to use. @ascckw

The Kuwait University event is free, while the ASCC one needs a museum entry ticket. The eclipse will take place from 6:28PM until 11:55PM tonight.

I am sooo pissed off right now, I don’t know if I can write this post up without swearing too much. After YEARS of searching, like YEARS, I finally found a boxed Philips Moving Sound portable cassette player. I had one in the 80s and they’re very very difficult to find, and they’re IMPOSSIBLE to find boxed, like I’ve been on the lookout of for these for like 10 years now maybe? In the past 10 years 3 Walkmans have popped up on eBay, and I bought all three. Finally, last month a boxed one in excellent condition popped up and I bid on it and I won it. I had it shipped to my Shop & Ship mailbox and it just arrived now. When I opened the box I was fucking shocked.

For some reason, Aramex decided to wrap the walkman box with their Aramex tape. Just like that, they destroyed what might be one of the very last boxes that are remaining still in tact.

I don’t understand, like I’m trying not to use any expletives but it’s hard. The walkman box was inside another box, why the fuck would you tape the walkman box up with your tape??? wtf Aramex?? I can’t believe you did this, I’m so upset and it’s not even about the money, it’s an unobtainium, even if they paid me back all the money I paid for this there wouldn’t be a way I could buy one again.

Just last week my friend told me about how he got screwed over by them. They sent him a bill for KD57 for a package that weighs 0.85KG. The value of the 4 items inside was KD150 in total. When he confronted them, turned out they made a mistake and valued each item inside the box as 150KD instead of all the items being 150. So 150×4=600KD value for the shipment. They charged him 28KD insurance for the item being high value and then customs on the value of 600KD.

Even though they made a mistake, they had submitted the paperwork to customs like that and so couldn’t change it anymore and wanted my friend to pay for the wrong shipment value even though they messed up. And now this happened to me. I’m so pissed off.

Update: I just realized they also ripped the box, the photo on the right is what I bought, the photo on the left is how I got it.

Kuwaiti visual artist Monira Al Qadiri just unveiled her latest work, a large-scale public sculpture in Central Park, New York. Standing nearly 5 meters tall, the piece is titled FIRST SUN and takes the form of a giant burgundy bust with a face concealed by a flat iridescent beetle. I’ve always found Monira’s work interesting and weird, and this sculpture, inspired by her research into ancient Egyptian history, is no different.

If you’re in New York anytime over the next year, the sculpture will be on display in Central Park from September until August 2, 2026. It’s a very cool achievement, and if you want to see more photos of this sculpture or her work, head over to @moniraism

Thanks Zaydoun!