Search: “sti”

A list of things which do not actually constitue a valid April Fools’ Day joke taken from Anil Dash:

“I changed my stylesheet! To someone else’s!” Why isn’t that funny? Because I still knew it was your site.

“Our tiny company bought/got bought by a giant company. Like Microsoft!” Wow, that’s lame. Neither believable nor surprising enough to be amusing.

“We are embracing this thing we’ve demonized forever!” So you’re a pest removal service that’s getting into the cockroach-raising business? Sigh.

“We have a big announcement today!” No you don’t. It’s Saturday.

“Our new product does the impossible.” You mean like making an April Fool’s joke on the web that’s actually funny.

I was actually planning on changing my stylesheet to something funnier before I read this list. Nibaq already pulled the second one today.

So its final, Arrested Development will not be coming back ever again. Reading this article though made me feel better about it, atleast now we know its over for sure. Actually I am lying, I am still sad about this. [Link]

I am currently trying to see if I can improve safat. I know Nibaq is really busy and since Nat is out of town I have a lot of free time so last night I started working on what I think safat should be like. I don’t really have a major problem with safat I just think the theme should be changed into something neater and that Nibaq should move away from the Drupal software which he currently uses over to WordPress.

The site where I am testing my version of safat is 248pm.com (finally found a use for it). At the moment I just have some of my favorite blogs listed since I am just working on the basic look and layout. Its still beta ofcourse and I am keeping it very simple with a web2.0 feel. Check it out. [Link]

Note: This is what I am recommending for safat, its not sanctioned by Nibaq or the Safat board of directors…

update: just got the full list of bloggers from Nibaq and added them to 248pm feeds. By tomorrow it should be working smoothly like safat. Also it checks for new feeds every 15 minutes so it should be faster then safat.

update 2: so far 248pm.com is getting feeds faster then safat which is what I predicted. I replaced the Store link on the top navigation bar of this blog with 2:48PM since its more practical that way.

I still don’t understand what this page is.. I just know that there are A LOT of MP3s that are being shared freely.. [Link]

If you are looking for a good deal on a Mac I will be posting two ibooks for sale in the next few days. One is a 12inch G3 600mhz the other a 14inch G4 1GHz. I am just waiting to get some pics of the ibooks and their finals specs and I will post everything online. The prices will be very good as usual like everything else I have previously posted for sale on this blog.

I just checked CNN.com and they have redesigned their main page. Looks interesting so far.. although I find it sticking too much to the left hand side, its going to be hard to get used to it. [Link]

I took route 55 to get to the airport from my Kuwait City office and it was my first and last time I take that road to the airport. Too many traffic lights, lots of traffic, and just totally not the right way to get there fast. Anyway I am stuck in traffic and I look to my left and I see two Kuwaiti girls in a car. They look in their 20’s, the one driving looked like a nerd and her friend I guess looked decent. I didn’t think of them much and traffic started moving. We get to the next traffic light and they are still next to me. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed the decent looking girl was doing something, I didn’t turn to look because I didn’t want her to think I was checking her out or anything so I ignore it. Traffic light turns green we start moving and I look to my left and suddenly the decent looking girl is wearing a black hijab and her face is covered and you can just see her eyes. I was like what the fuck is going on here? We each drove off in different directions but I didn’t really understand what happened. Can anyone enlighten me on this? Is this like a normal thing?

Nataly is stuck at the airport, her flight to Dubai on board Emirates was delayed 2 hours and 15 minutes. Last week my sisters flight to Dubai also on board Emirates was delayed an hour and a half. So why are people still flying with Emirates instead of Jazeera I don’t know…

There is a 50 meter running race thats been organized by a few of us here at my agency. I don’t know who’s idea it was but its a silly idea that everyone went a long with for the fuck of it. We will be 6 guys of various sizes and fitness competing in this race. I think I am the most unfit one between them all but I am the tallest between them. Back in elementary and middle school I used to be the fastest 50 meter runner (I have the cups and medals to prove it!) so I have experience or something. The location of the race is unknown but the timing is sometime today. I still think I am fast like I was when I was a kid so I believe I should kick everyones ass… or at-least try my best not to come out last. It should be fun.

Update: At the start of our lunch break we all headed down to the underground parking across the street. We decided we would race from one walk to the other wall on the opposite side. I fucking came last two times out of two races! I guess its a good thing, I used to think I was still as fast as I used to be and now I know I am not. It was an awakening.

We usually hear a lot of fire engine sirens outside my office since there is a fire-station 3 buildings away. Today though the sirens sounded really close so I looked outside the window and there were 3 fire trucks outside our office building and a little white smoke coming out of the building across the street. Everyone in my office gathered around the windows excited that they were going to watch the firemen put out the fire live in front of us. 15 minutes later (no bullshit) the firefighters were still downstairs not doing anything. Actually thats not true, there were 2 guys putting on their firemen overalls and boots.. shouldn’t they do that before they get to the fire?

Finally a larger ladder truck arrives and parks in front of the building. 10 minutes later the firemen are still running hoses and setting things up, the little white smoke coming out of the window by now had turned into thick black smoke coming out of many windows and the roof. Many of the employees who had gathered around the windows hoping to see some firefighting action had left out of boredom, it had been 25 minutes since the firemen arrived and not one drop of water had been sprayed onto the fire. 30 minutes after they arrived two firefighters got on the ladder and started spraying through the window. 10 minutes later the fire was put out and they left.

I don’t know if this is normal or what they did was right or wrong but I just find the fact that it took them 30 minutes to start spraying water on a fire that is 2 buildings away from their fire-station a bit too long. Yeah the fire was put out very quickly but after how much damage was done?

Thanks to Arabesque for pointing it out in the Forum, Marina FM have just relaunched their online website and you can now listen to them online and also check out whats going on in their studio using their live webcam. There is also a section on the site called “Blog” which should turn out to be interesting once they start posting. [Link]

[original source of info grafika]

A couple of days ago I was contacted by Bazaar magazine and was offered a chance to have my own “B-Sides” page in the magazine every month where I could post mini reviews on anything related to Kuwait. At first the idea sounded really interesting, combining blog with print sounded like an excellent opportunity. But the more I thought about it the more I realized.. excellent opportunity for what? What could I gain with this?

Increased Readership
Bazaar prints around 25,000 copies a month while 248AM gets more then 3 times that amount of visitors every month and we are still growing. Bazaar readers would only read around 4 mini reviews by me every month while my blog readers would read at least 4 mini posts by me a day. My sites url would be advertised in that Bazaar page but from those 25,000 readers how many would actually think about checking out my site? When was the last time anyone saw a url in a magazine and then checked it out online.. it happens but just not that often.

Digital to Print
At first this sounded interesting, but then I realized isn’t that a step backward? Isn’t print trying to get online? Shouldn’t Bazaar start thinking about getting online instead? WIRED magazine have a small 2 page section where they print interesting posts from the web but I never liked that section but thats besides the point, WIRED can do whatever they want since their whole Magazine is published for free online anyway.

The Money
The first offer I got was KD20 (yes two and one zero) a month. I calculated the amount of time and effort I would have to put extra every month to have at least 4 mini reviews of something interesting to do with Kuwait and I realized KD20 wouldn’t be worth my trouble at all. Bazaar were nice to say they would consider another amount I had in mind but if they had KD20 in their mind to begin with I doubt they would go that much higher.

The Magazine
Do I even like Bazaar? Not really. I do think its the best locally published magazine but thats because their competition is really crap. I pick up Bazaar once a month so I can skim through it quickly and see if there is anything interesting. I mostly don’t find anything worth reading and the magazine ends up in the trash or left on a food court table. I enjoy reading local blogs a lot more then I enjoy reading Bazaar thats for sure.

Who’s the boss?
When someone suggested to Zaydoun that he should hook up with one of the newspapers as a syndicated writer, Zaydoun replied saying “I am my own editor… I can’t imagine being subjected to deadlines and editorial controls!”.

So taking everything above into consideration, I sent an email back to Bazaar today morning thanking them for their kind offer but that I wasn’t interested. I think I made the right decision.

I got a phone call yesterday from the owner of Choowy Goowy cookies, he wanted to reply to my post titled “Choowy Goowy Waiting List“. Basically it turns out the reason why I was told it would need two days for the cookies to get delivered was because the Choowy Goowy bakery was being renovated and they had stopped all orders for 1 week. The day I called asking for cookies they had just started delivery again and they had a long list of backorders they needed to complete. Part of the reason for the renovation is so they could accept customers who want to pick up the cookies themselves.

I then asked him about the fact that the person who I spoke to on the phone told me that I couldn’t order just 1 jar. He replied telling me that VIP customers could order 1 jar if they wanted to but new customers would have to order more. He told me they currently have only 1 delivery car and its difficult and time consuming to go deliver 1 jar in Fahaheel for example and another 1 jar in Kuwait City. He told me they are still a small bakery and they are growing slowly but steadily and they would get another car in the near future but for now they only have just one.

On another note I will soon be trying their Sorbet icecream, the owners of Choowy Goowy also have Boozah Boozah and they are working on some new receipes at the moment but once they are done they will send me a batch of their icecream to try out. Cookies in the winter, Icecream in the summer.. I can’t wait.

If you would like to place an order for cookies call 2626559

I was trying to find out if carrots were healthy for Geo our dog and I found the following list helpful and interesting.

* Apples (they contain potassium, which stimulates the immune system, and pepsin, which helps the stomach)
* Broccoli (rich in vitamins)
* Carrots (rich in vitamins, great treats to substitute for biscuits)
* Cabbage (rich in vitamins, good for digestive system and skin)
* Cucumber (good for teeth and bones due to potassium content; can combine with carrots to promote a healthy liver and kidneys; in juice form, a good diuretic … peel cucumbers unless organically grown)
* Celery (chopped or juiced; can help with arthritis)
* Garlic (removes waste from blood, can help repel fleas; use fresh garlic finely minced)
* Green beans (lightly steamed; healthy and low-cal treat)
* Parsley (can reduce allergy symptoms and aid kidney function; chop finely or boil parsley and add the juice over food)
* Kale (rich in antioxidants and can help reduce allergy symptoms)
* Spinach (very healthy; serve chopped)
* Bananas (in small quantity; a coveted treat)
* Olive oil (a tablespoon a day is good for skin and fur)

* Preparation suggestions: Many veggies can be served raw, lightly steamed or in juice form. For most vegetables such as broccoli and carrots, it is far better to steam them instead of serving raw for improved digestibility and nutritional value. Also, since dogs have small digestive tracts, you can puree vegetables to enable your pet to digest more. If you use canned vegetables, get the salt-free kinds.

* Organically grown benefits: Due to their smaller size and more compact body systems, pets can be more prone to the toxic effects of pesticide contamination than are people. So it is best to feed them produce that is organically certified, which also has higher nutritional value for everyone.

[source]

I was just reading Zaydoun’s post on how he has been blogging for three years and it really brought back some good memories. You see, before it was just Zaydoun’s “Kuwait Unplugged” blog and qHate which was made up of me, Rampurple and Nibaq. qHate originally was Nibaqs idea and it started off as a blog about life in Kuwait but when the US decided to invade Iraq, qHate quickly turned into a war blog. We were posting on things that were going on in Kuwait like the sirens, the panics and the gas masks we even got the chance to stalk meet Wolf Blitzer and John Vause. It was a lot of interesting little things that showed people how everyone in Kuwait was living during this uncertain time. Checking my first post (2-2-03) now though I realized it was actually related to the war.. so now I am wondering if war blogging was part of the original plan… It was cool how me, Rampurple and Nibaq used to blog together in one blog and now we all have our own separate blogs. I keep telling Nibaq we were like a rock band that split up and all the members went solo.

In the end the site ended after we hit our peak, the war was over, there was barely anything to post about and only Rampurple was left posting and she finally also said goodbye. Maybe one day we will all be back together again, like a reunion..