Archive for May, 2012

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Our reader has a point of view!

Thursday, May 31st, 2012

one of our loyal readers, "FkwtRM", sent us this story he spotted in arab times which basically teaches the reader how to take care of a marijuana at home, unintentionally of course - at first, we took the story with a pinch of suspicion, but when we read the full story, we found that he has a strong point of view!

the paper could have told the story of the young man without details, but instead it describes every single aspect of how he grew the plants in-house, from the lighting and ventilation, to temperature, placement, etc.. then it continues with a few words on the drying and the mix with tobacco!

way to go arab times! next article how to make home wine?

you can read the full article here.

thanks for the story FkwtRM.

Posted in News, Weird | 9 Comments »

1st aircraft branding goes to VIVA

Wednesday, May 30th, 2012

in a bold branding move, viva telecom decided to be the first company to brand jazeera airways' aircraft - looks pretty nice, i like it a lot! sources say the printing of the stickers has been done in turkey and the installation in jordan where maintenance work usually happens - i also heard that it costs close to 1 million dollar a year to brand an aircraft... i bet the financial guys at jazeera are smiling as this will have profound repercussions on their balance sheets!!

Posted in News | 11 Comments »

Air freshener & travel insurance

Tuesday, May 29th, 2012

it is that time of the year where your plans for travel are almost set, the countdown begins and you're anxiously waiting for "d" day, or shall i say "p" day? - "p" for porters, airport porters whom you still need to deal with while you leave and as you come back, the sticky-stinky-turned-snitches & thieves airport porters!

why thieves? well, according to kuwait times, three workers were recently arrested for stealing items from luggage they opened at the airport - so no, it is not enough that you have to put up with their attitude and poor hygiene, now you have to be extra careful if you're traveling with some valuable goods, like laptops or electronics.

so at the end of the day, the two items you need not to forget as you travel out of kuwait are air freshener, to tame the odor of the stinky porters and travel insurance!

thanks mary for the post.

related stories:

those cheeky airport porters

Posted in News, Quickies | 5 Comments »

Call me snob, but what’s the S3 hype all about?

Monday, May 28th, 2012

ok, since when a korean brand like samsung suddenly becomes the talk of town, appearing on every newspaper, billboard and blog? since when the brand became this precursor standing at the cutting edge of technology?

excuse my language, but i am not one of those people to be carried away by copycats who still have to wow me with something unique and out-of-the-box - all they have done so far is offering me a variation of the revolutionary iphone and ipad, did they make the revolution? no, they are simply riding the wave and for that i give them no credit and refuse to buy iphone wannabes...

as a brand, samsung still has a long road ahead in order to convince me that it is a badge worth carrying! are you proud to carry a samsung? for me, not in a million years!

Posted in News, Technology | 29 Comments »

Is this worth an exhibition?

Sunday, May 27th, 2012

how can you tell if an exhibition is a success or not? well if you manage to make it under 10 minutes then it is certainly a fail! i don't want to discourage the people behind the "scenography" exhibition at 360, i am sure there was serious and hard effort put behind it, but frankly from a professional point of view, i was not impressed.. not for a bit, and most importantly, i was lost!

the paintings were pathetic at large, may be the above picture is one of the better ones in my opinion, very few are actually worth mentioning, but was it a painting exhibition? not sure - seriously, i was not sure what i was looking at, i mean this whole exhibition, there was no one to explain, i had to read through the brochure to figure out part of the story - it seems this was the first exhibition of the stage design department of the higher institute of dramatic arts.

then there was some stage designs, not sure what the theme was or for which play, just mock-ups to look at - a section for green art, some furniture made of steel, painted in green and again no one to explain and not sure where do they fit in the story..

forgive me, but i am not sure what was that! i appreciate the efforts but that is so not worth exhibiting for the general public, certainly not without a story and someone to explain.

Posted in 360, Events | 4 Comments »

Milk business champions

Saturday, May 26th, 2012

opposite popcornopolis at the other side of the parking entrance, lies a new kiosk called haleeb hail, or cardamom milk - the kiosk is filled with yummy sweets with some kuwaiti specialties like darabeel & kahek in addition to cheese molten, rahesh and various cakes - i tried cinnamon milk and it was excellent, but not as good as milk khana, as the latter was much thicker & richer.

though we wish haleeb hail all the best, i believe that marina have now milked every single space available at the mall till the last drop! what next, kisosks on the escalators??

apparently, when it comes to the milk business, marina mall is better than haleeb hail & milk khana combined!

Posted in Marina Mall, News | 1 Comment »

Khabary replacing Al Manchar?

Friday, May 25th, 2012

i read on his & hers about this new mall replacing almanshar - the mall is called khabary, and is more like a small complex with residential & office towers, a hospital, a hotel, business & conference centers - looks like a very ambitious project, though i still like al manshar's current theme, simpler with a traditional touch.

you can watch a video about khabary here.

related posts

Al Manshar mall to be demolished

Posted in News, Quickies | No Comments »

Batman & Joker

Thursday, May 24th, 2012

there are several stories on the net about batman coming out of the closet in the june issue of dc comics - why not superman? he has super powers all over... or is it because of batman's name? it's gonna be interesting to read that issue, will batman finally fall for joker? remember, joker is joker...

you can read the full story here.

Posted in News, Quickies | 2 Comments »

Laugh hard, as hard as you can

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012

two days ago, i asked you to pray hard, as hard as you can, today i ask you to laugh hard, as hard as you can..

it seems that the head of the airport navigation department mr fawzi almarshoud is not on the same page with his air controllers and doesn't believe in this whole radar drama - he thinks that the passengers are completely safe to travel and that his staff are perfectly able to work with the spare radar - however the same day he released this statement to alqabas (page 6 yesterday), an air controller writes a memo warning that relying on this very same radar is very very dangerous (verbatim picture above) - it seems that there is a discrepancy of 2000 ft in altitude between the two radars when it comes to the same airplane approaching the airport... not a big deal!! what's 2000 feet anyways??

the main radar has put back to service in some of the shifts, but the spare one is still in service on others, however according to almarshoud, an air controller can do the job without a radar in case of an emergency, relying on paper maps and some regional contacts... he also denied any issues with the spare radar saying it only has a smaller screen.

almarchoud added that there is a difference of opinion with 11 of the 75 air controllers and that they have already worked on this radar before so why complain now?

i don't know what to say here or whom to believe... is it a drama, a comedy, i think the appropriate term is dramedy...

related posts:

Pray hard, as hard as you can

It seems that walking into a disaster is only a question of time

The cherry on top!

Posted in Drama, News | 9 Comments »

Changing Boots

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

i was at boots the other day, the one facing digits, and i noticed that the place has shrunk drastically - so i asked the attendants and it seems that the store closing down on this side of the mall, but moving to the other side, down h&m - it will be interesting to see which new brands are coming in as alshaya changes boots...

Posted in Marina Mall, News | 1 Comment »

Bader library moving to AG Mart

Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012

for those of you who know bader library in salmiya, (facing sultan center) it is worth noting that it is moving out at the end of the month - bader is known for his french stationary and students from the french school basically buy most of their stuff from that place.

bader will not move far from that place, it seems that it will open in AG Mart down salem almubarak street, next to galleria 2000.

Posted in News, Quickies | No Comments »

Pray hard, as hard as you can…

Monday, May 21st, 2012

more on that blind radar at kuwait airport, it seems that we all have to join our prayers for the next 4 days and hope that the mighty lord spares kuwait a disaster in the making.

according to alqabas daily, page 5 of yesterday’s issue, kuwait airport has entered a critical & dangerous phase in the next 4 days, as 2 planes can collide at any given moment due to some maintenance work on the main radar with a total reliance on the spare blind radar (FPS)! a recipe for certain failure.

however, things are getting even worse as a group of air controllers refused to work on this radar and basically informed their superiors that they cannot assume any responsibilities in case of an accident.

needless to remind you of the radar’s defects, but here they are again translated to the best of my knowledge:

  1. objects suddenly disappear from the screen
  2. sudden appearance of virtual objects disturbing the air controller’s concentration
  3. no early detection alarm system
  4. screen is far from headphones & speaker
  5. screen still shows old navigation points of reference that have changed with time
  6. landing line is  inaccurate
  7. air map is incorrect
  8. small screen in comparison to international standards

sources confirm that working in such conditions is considered to be a crime under international laws & regulations - pray with us guys, and avoid traveling in the next four days - kuwait needs a serious miracle as the authorities are simply turning a blind eye n this matter, quite like our radar!

picture courtesy of alqabas daily.

related posts:

It seems that walking into a disaster is only a question of time

The cherry on top!

Posted in Drama, News | 16 Comments »

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