Search: “sti”

The cops have started putting up barricades on the Gulf Road in preparation for the National and Liberation Day celebrations this weekend. Like last year, foam sprays are banned again this year but traffic will still be chaotic on the Gulf Road so avoid it this weekend if you can.

Thanks Roy

I was going through Brett Jordan’s photos on Flickr and checking out some shop names in close up when I found this old Alshaya Construction office. According to the Alshaya website:

Between the 1960s and 1970s we expanded substantially, developing distinct businesses in real estate, construction, hotels, automotive and general trading.

According to Brett Jordan the photo was taken in 1960. I thought that was interesting.

I just found out that one of my readers used to pass by the dogs in the Free Trade Zone and feed the dogs every morning. According to the reader the dogs were very friendly and harmless. He even set up a Facebook page asking people to save food left overs and give it to the dogs. Below is taken from the Facebook page he created for them:

Pooch Help – their fate is in your hands.

A group of friendly dogs stranded; probably left there by the friday market barbarians – are in need of continuous food supply. Me and Mom have started providing them with their essentials on regular basis but unfortunately their numbers have increased and require much more attention. I have noticed recently some traces of additional support from kind individuals which I have not met on site; I thank them greatly for their commendable efforts and would like to encourage anyone who still carries a fraction of mercy and capable of assisting to do so.

All that’s required is that you save food leftovers and get it delivered to them.

It was very sad seeing these dogs dead but it’s even sadder going through all the pictures on Facebook and seeing them when they were alive. [Link]

Update: The blogger American Girl just posted pictures and information on the dogs as well since every weekend she used to pass by her husband to feed them. Check out her pictures and post [Here]

Below are all the winners from the Concours automotive event that was held over the weekend at Marina Crescent.

BEST of SHOW
1938 Talbot Lago T150C SS Figoni & Falaschi Teardrop Coupe Chip Connor Hong Kong

Concours Cars
Class-A : 1910 – 1930
1st A5 1924 Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost Abdulkarim Chhapra Pakistan
2nd A8 1929 Cord L29 Cabriolet Rene Verbiest Belgium
3rd A9 1929 Hupmobile Abdulkarim Chhapra Pakistan

Class-B : 1931 – 1945
1st B9 1938 Talbot Lago T150C SS Figoni & Falaschi Teardrop Coupe Chip Connor Hong Kong
2nd B6 1937 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 B Pescara Berlinetta Pietro Navone Spain
3rd B2 1932 Invicta S-Type Low Chassis Alan Chandler UK

Class-C : 1946 – 1960
1st C4 1951 Maserati A6G 2000 Vignale Body Shigeru Hoshino Japan
2nd C13 1955 Aston Martin DB2/4 Mark I Ali Mustafa Makhseed Kuwait
3rd C13 1948 Delahaya 135 MS Convertible coachwork by Saoutchik Jean Claude Marmier France

Class-D : 1961 – 1975
1st D6 1966 Aston Martin DB6 Volante short chassis Mohammed Rezam AlRoumi Kuwait
2nd D8 1966 Lamborghini 350GT Albert & Rita Spiess Switzerland
3rd D3 1963 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato William Loughran UK

Muscle Cars
1st M17 1972 Oldsmobile 442 Convertible Stanley Kryla USA
2nd M8 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 Abdulla AlQadibi Kuwait
3rd M12 1970 Plymouth Cuda 340 Historical, Vintage & Classic Car Museum Kuwait

Racing Cars
1st R5 1953 Ferrari 375MM Spyder Helmut Ebrlein – Representing the owner Germany
2nd R8 1955 Maserati 250F Bill Pope UK
3rd R3 1927 Salmson Type GSC San Sebastian Camille Bourges France

Most Elegant Open Car
1955 Siata 208S Jim Utaski USA

Most Elegant Closed Cars
1955 Bugatti 57S Atalante Chip Connor Hong Kong

Most Elegance Racing Car
1953 Jaguar C-Type Margaret Jackson & Neil Hadfield UK

Best European Car
1963 Aston Martin DB4GT Zagato William Loughran UK

Best American Car
1954 Plymouth Explorer 195 Coupe by Ghia Petersen Museum USA

Best Preserved Car
1966 Lamborghini 350GT Albert & Rita Spiess Switzerland

Best Restored Car
1937 Alfa Romeo 6C 2300 B Pescara Berlinetta Pietro Navone Spain

Most Innovative Italian Car – Trophy Awarded by ACI – Automobile Club of Italy (Selected by Kuwait Concours Judges)
1971 Lamborghini Miura SV Khalid Abdulrahem Bahrain

Best Rolls-Royce
1964 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III Continantal Mulliner Park Ward Sheikh Ahmad Bin Ali Al-Khalifa Bahrai

via Octane

Is there a reason why gas stations don’t get longer hoses so that cars who have their gas tanks on the left can still fill up from a hose that’s on the right?

Earlier tonight I passed by Ubon, the new trendy Thai restaurant that opened up in Kuwait City. I’m not a big fan of Thai food but the place is located in my office tower and the interior looks amazing so I had to try it. Below is what I ended up ordering.

Tom Yum Goong Soup (KD2.400) It’s a hot and sour prawn soup with mushroom and vegetables. I asked mine to be made medium spicy which turned out to be too spicy for my liking.

Chicken Satay Sticks (KD2.200) These were really great. I kinda wish the peanut sauce was a bit thicker but that’s an issue I have with Thai food in general.

Green Curry Chicken (KD3.000) + Jasmine Steamed Rice (KD1.000) I loved this dish but next time I’m ordering it without the veggies.

Sticky Rice with Mango (KD2.800) This was the biggest surprise. I ordered it unwillingly since I didn’t find anything else on the small dessert list. It didn’t sound great (rice dessert?) and when it came it didn’t look that appetizing either. But after scooping up a bit of rice with mango and taking a bite I fell in love with it. 99% of the desserts I have involve chocolate so it was extremely refreshing to finally find a chocolate free dessert that I can really enjoy.

Fried Banana with Honey (complimentary) I originally wanted to order this for dessert but was told it wasn’t available. After my Sticky Rice with Mango arrived they told me that the Fried Banana was available and they would serve it to me after the Sticky Rice. I’m honestly glad they had originally told me it wasn’t available or else I wouldn’t have discovered the Sticky Rice. The Fried Banana is a very safe option and wasn’t that exciting. My recommendation would be to go with the Sticky Rice.

I had a good experience tonight and I can’t wait until they start opening for lunch since it would be very convenient for me. Right now they’re open from 6 to 11pm. Price wise they’re very reasonable and the portions are pretty good. I’m glad someone decided to open something other than a burger or frozen yogurt place. Now if someone would open a small trendy Chinese restaurant.

To find out more about Ubon visit their website [Here]

This new school is designed to promote experimental teaching, to branch away from the rote memorization model of learning that ensures that most Kuwaitis have zero knowledge of their agricultural history. To implement a more hands on approach, the designer created plenty of outdoor space at grade and even on the school’s roof.

An interesting project designed by Perkins + Will but like all the other cool projects popping up I hope this one gets built as well. Note the sheep on the roof. [Link]

Run Kuwait is a 240KM run from the very north of Kuwait to the very south. It’s taking place on the 25th of this month and is estimated to take 50 hours. Six runners are taking part an effort to promote the Aymstrong message of empowerment by creating a sense of determination, and unity within local society and amongst Kuwait’s youth. For more information click [Here]

Yesterday there was a very depressing article in Kuwait Times about how dogs are being poisoned to death in Kuwait deliberately. The poison isn’t killing only stray dogs but it’s also killing peoples pets since the poison is being placed all around the parks without any warning to pet owners. Here are some excerpts from the article:

“After a walk in the local park, my dog began foaming at the mouth and shaking. I remembered that he had run towards something that had taken his interest in the park, and realized he had ingested poison,” recalls a French expatriate. “His legs were dragging on the way home and for once he was not pulling on the leash, but I did not realize what was wrong. By the time we realized it was too late, but there is no emergency animal hospital here so there was nothing I could do but watch him die,” she added.

“I cannot let my dog run freely around the park anymore because of this. I caught him eating a pellet of poisoned food, and luckily it was not enough to harm him,” said Khaldi. “Since they are unwilling to stop placing poison in the parks, I asked that they at least put up signs to warn pet owners. They even refused that, insisting that it would be too much effort to place a sign every time they planted poison.” Unknowing pet owners have suffered the consequences as a result. “My friend’s dog ate the poisoned food and died because of it. It’s not even humane euthanasia: the dog died over the period of an hour, foaming at the mouth. It is a slow, painful death.”

You can read the full article [Here]

I find this news extremely disturbing. I have a dog myself which I take to the park every so often but there is no way on earth I would take him again. The fact they’re placing poison in parks without any warning is very dangerous. How safe is it to come in contact with these poisons considering people have picnics there? I’m gonna end this rant with a video of a puppy being saved after being trapped in a pipe overnight. Hopefully someone from the Public Authority for Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources watches it.

[YouTube]

According to the website Box News, the Ministry of Health is withdrawing the smoking ban a day after the law got passed because it would be impossible implement. This has to be a joke. Why don’t they give it a shot and try it out for more than half a day before giving up? [Link]

I’m upset. Can we also cancel the ban on running red lights and the ban on speeding since those two seem impossible to implement as well…

Update: I just found two things: 1) I shouldn’t rely on Google Translate and 2) it’s not actually a complete withdrawal of the ban as I had understood from the article. The ban is still in place for public places like airports, malls, restaurants etc.. but now does not apply to shisha cafe’s, hotels and other designated areas. This actually makes more sense since I was actually against the idea of banning smoking at shisha cafes. I’ve gone ahead and amended the post title. I am no longer upset.

Wonderland from Zero Film Festival on Vimeo.

Looks like a Kuwaiti version of Alice in Wonderland. I’m intrigued.

I finally got my GX1 camera. I originally ordered it at the beginning of December but the camera with the specific lens I wanted started shipping end of January and Aramex just dropped it off to my office earlier today. The GX1 is a replacement for my Panasonic GF1 which was (and still is) one of the most enjoyable cameras I’ve ever used. So far the GX1 seems exactly like the GF1 except better although it’s still too early to get a first impression. I’ll be posting my view on it after using it for awhile.

I ordered the Panasonic GX1 with the 14-42mm x power lens from [Amazon]

After trying out WiMD with unlimited speed I finally had to decide on what connection I was going to subscribe to and I decided to go with the 10Mbps. I originally wanted to go with 15Mbps but decided KD72 a month is more than what I was willing to pay. 10Mbps is KD523 a year which works out to KD43.5 a month and to me is a much more reasonable amount.

I’ve had this connection for 2 days now which is enough time to get a first impression. Browsing is still super fast and I managed to download torrents at speeds of around 1.3MB/s to 1.5MB/s which is pretty fast. I imagine with a 15Mbps connection you would get around 2MB/s to 2.3MB/s speeds. The best part is that even if I’m downloading torrents at full speed it doesn’t hinder my browsing experience. Not sure how that is possible but with all my previous connections I always had to limit my torrents download speed so I could still have some bandwidth left to browse with. With WiMD on the other hand I’ve got my torrents set to download at full speed and I browse with no slowdown.

Below are speedtest results. This isn’t very accurate because for example you have various speedtest servers in London and when testing one would give me a very low ping rate of under a 100 but the download rate would be around 4Mbps while another would give me a higher ping rate in the 300’s but with a higher download speed. Thats why I decided I would perform the test on all the servers and post the ones with the highest download speeds.

I really hope the connection doesn’t suffer in the long run once more and more users sign up. That’s actually my only concern but I’ll post an update 6 months down the line and let you guys now how things turned out. If you want to get a second opinion Marzouq over at zDistrict just signed up to a 20Mbps connection and posted about it [Here]

Madonna is going to be hold a concert in Abu Dhabi on June 3rd. It’s still months away but they’re going to start selling tickets on February 27th and they’re most likely going to get sold out right away or at least the best seats. So if you’re interested in getting tickets, set a reminder and bookmark the following [Link]

I spotted the garbage bin above while in London. It has a built-in LCD screen on the side that broadcasts the latest news. My question is this. If London can afford to install cool looking garbage bins like this, then why are we getting extremely cheap and horrible looking Big Bird yellow trash bins instead?

Update: Here’s more information on the bins

– It displays market moves, weather forecasts and breaking news
– The rubbish bins also come with Wi-Fi connectivity
– Costs $1,800 each and orders are expected from New York, Singapore and Tokyo

[Source]