Happy New Year

I just want to wish everyone a happy new year. Is it just me or did 2008 finish too fast ? I was just getting used to 2008 and now 2009 is just a few hours away. Anyway, wishing all of you health, happiness, prosperity and lots of love for the new year and for the resto of your life.

Mystery Oasis found in the Kuwait Desert

While flying back to Kuwait, I came across this mysterious looking Oasis. from the airplane's oval window, it looked like a water park with lots of greenery. There is also a large walled rectangular enclosure right next to it. Does anyone know what that place is? Is that water or an oil spill? and if it was an oil spill, there should be no greenery ?

I am baffled.

Here is the picture I took, click on the picture to see the original size.

If you don't feel suicidal

Watch this and you will:

Japanese banks after the crisis

I've just read that uncertainty has now hit the Japanese banking sector:

In the last 7 days Origami Bank has folded.

Sumo Bank has gone belly up.

Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches.

Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song,
while today shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived.

Samurai Bank is soldiering on following sharp cutbacks,

Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the black.

Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal!

Youtube Commenters are retarded

I uploaded the below video to youtube a long time ago and it has been getting many views. A lot of youtube commenters feel bad for the horse and think the guy trying to climb on the horse is a girl?!?! Are youtube commenters really that stupid ? or are they living in little bubbles and cannot recognize an arab guy in dishdasha?

Guess what this is?

Answer will be given tomorrow if no one guesses right.

East vs West

Here are some cool illustrations showing the difference between East and West. They where done by a chinese guy who lived in Germany but I tend to agree it applies to Kuwaitis also. What do you think? [Link]

The True Value of Friendship

lol

How to get a fully loaded new Macbook Pro for less than the Apple web site

Apple advertises its fully loaded Macbook Pro 15":

• 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
• 4GB 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM
• 320GB Serial ATA @ 5400
• SuperDrive 8x

At $2,499. I got mine for $2,225 and no shipping or cutstoms duties.

How did I pull this off ? Well I was in London Heathrow Airport and bought it off the duty free. It cost me in British Pounds 1,488.47

Converting to dollars, I got a $274 saving. I did my own shipping by carrying it in my hand all the way to Kuwait.

In these hard economic times, every dollar saved, counts.

• 
  

What have you done?

According to QC, this a list going around on the Internet. You are supposed to put in bold the things you have done, so here goes.

All are welcome to copy it and fill out your own stuff:

This meme's going around. The idea is that you bold the things you've done.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band - Does the school band count? I played the triangle.
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland - Disneyland, Disney World, Epcot and Euro disney.
8. Climbed a mountain - more like pulled up on a ski lift.
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo - Singing in the shower does not count, so I will say no.
11. Bungee jumping - No way
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch - Sketching
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning - I eat in all the bad restaurants
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables - I grew a carrot in a glass of water with tooth picks.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill - Yes but technically I was sick of work and needed a day off to get better
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb - Would the 3id 5aroof be considered a lamb?
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person - Yes, even flew over them in a helicopter
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied- I am easily satisfied, so I don't need much money
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa Does Egypt count as being African?
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance - Yes but I was unconcious
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkelling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theatre - sinamat il sayarat on 6th RR, remember that?
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business A few
58. Taken a martial arts class - I am a pacifist, and believe in guns.
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason -I am not a girl, I give flowers.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma- A few times, once for a friend who needed it.
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter - Right over the Niagara Falls
69. Saved a favourite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square - Yes but no during new year.
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job - If I don't like a job, I quit
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone Several bones
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican - Yes, even shook hands with the pope
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper - Yes, and was badly misquoted
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House - I demonstrated outside, does that count as a visit?
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous - Roger Moore, he was going to Paris, I was going to New York, I was standing behind him in the baggage check in.
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone - More like one every 6 months, I am a gadget freak
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day - Yes, several

Dishdasha Dilemma

A problem that is perplexing one half of the Kuwaiti populace is what dishdasha to wear these days. I am not refering to the color but of the material. Should it be cotton meaning a summer dishdsha, or wool meaning a winter dishdasha?

You will really stand out and be odd looking and out of place if you make the mistake of wearing the wrong season's dishdasha. A few rules that you can follow to help you out in this dilemma follow:

1) Watch Kuwait TV, I know it has been ages since you last saw it but watch any way. Look at the Kuwaiti news reader, what dishdasha is he wearing ?

2) Look at the people in uniform, especially the police, did they switch to winter uniform?

3) My favorite rule, and one followed by all brown nosers loyal employees, is look at your superiors at work, the higher his position in the hierarchy the better, what season dishdasha is he wearing ? Follow the leader, as they say, you can't go wrong there because your boss is never wrong.

4) The most important rule is, if you decide to switch, you cannot go back to your old color. You will experience great shame if you do.

I am still wearing a white summer dishdasha for those who are interessted.

Weird Weather in Kuwait

I just came from Shuweikh and it was pouring, going down to 5th ring road and it was dry, and then onto South Surra and just a little drizzle. Extremly weird weather, only in Kuwait.

Just watch this video and get inspired

I hate bureaucracy

We all know how bureaucrats love forms, and sending you from one desk to another, or one building to another. Here is an actual letter from a Canadian about the bureaucracy in renewing his passport, maybe we should all follow his example and write similar letters and possibly have things done more efficiently.

Dear Mr. Minister,

I'm in the process of renewing my passport, and still cannot believe this. How is it that Radio Shack has my address and telephone number and knows that I bought a t.v. cable from them back in 1997, and yet, the Federal Government is still asking me where I was born and on what date. For ----- sakes, do you guys do this by hand?

My birth date you have on my social insurance card, and it is on all the income tax forms I've filed for the past 30 years. It is on my health insurance card, my driver's license, on the last eight goddamn passports I've had, on all those stupid customs declaration forms I've had to fill out before being allowed off the planes over the last 30 years, and all those insufferable census forms that are done at election times.

Would somebody please take note, once and for all, that my mother's name is Maryanne, my father's name is Robert and I'd be absolutely astounded if that ever changed between now and when I die!!!!!!

SHIT!

I apologize, Mr. Minister. I'm really pissed off this morning. Between you an' me, I've had enough of this bullshit! You send the application to my house, then you ask me for my fuckin' address. What is going on? You have a gang of Neanderthal assholes workin' there??!

Look at my damn picture. Do I look like Bin Laden? I don't want to dig up Yasser Arafat, for shit sakes. I just want to go and park my ass on a sandy beach.

And would someone please tell me, why would you give a shit whether I plan on visiting a farm in the next 15 days? If I ever got the urge to do something weird to a chicken or a goat, believe you me, I'd sure as hell not want to tell anyone!

Well, I have to go now, 'cause I have to go to the other end of the city and get another fuckin' copy of my birth certificate, to the tune of $60!!!

Would it be so complicated to have all the services in the same spot to assist in the issuance of a new passport the same day??

Nooooo, that'd be too damn easy and maybe make sense. You'd rather have us running all over the fuckin' place like chickens with our heads cut off, then find some asshole to confirm that it's really me on the goddamn picture - you know, the one where we're not allowed to smile?! (fuckin' morons)

Hey, you know why we can't smile? We're totally pissed off!

Signed - An Irate fucking Canadian Citizen.

P.S. Remember what I said above about the picture and getting someone to confirm that it's me? Well, my family has been in this country since 1776 when one of my forefathers took up arms against the Americans. I have served in the military for something over 30 years and have had security clearances up the yingyang.

I was aide de camp to the lieutenant governor of our province for ten years and I have been doing volunteer work for the RCMP for about five years.

However, I have to get someone 'important' to verify who I am - you know, someone like my doctor WHO WAS BORN AND RAISED IN COMMUNIST fucking CHINA !!!

Barack "Bollywood" Obama

3ash Bu7sen :-)

Gender Analyzer

Are you a man or a woman ? I am sure you know the answer to this question, and if you don't then you are very confused.

The real question is do you blog like a girl ? or like a guy ? Have no fear, gender analyzer will tell you. [link]

One Trillion

With the bail out of the banks, and the number one trillion dollars being quoted around, can you imagine how much a trillion represents? Well here is a chart to clarify it.

Where is your username registered?

Here is a neat little link that checks your user name across all the social sites and tells you if it is taken or not.

Username check.

Gulf Bank Hacked

Gulf Bank has sent an urgent SMS to some of its customers telling them that their ATM card will no longer work and that they are to replace their cards immediately at their respective branch.

According to sources within the bank, hackers have gained access to customer information and their deposits are now at risk.

Gulf Bank is now conducting a massive campaign to replace all the compromised cards.

More info here from Some Contrast.

Blog Action Day: Poverty

The Subject for today's blog action day is poverty, and here is a little clip about it.

Access your most recent apps / docs / servers from your Dock

Here is a cool hack you can do to access your most recent apps / documents / server / Favorite Items from Mac OS X Dock.

Here is a screen shot for my most recent apps used:



What you need to do it is to start up terminal and copy paste the below two lines:

$ defaults write com.apple.dock persistent-others -array-add '{ "tile-data" = { "list-type" = 1; }; "tile-type" = "recents-tile"; }'
$ killall Dock


Don't copy the $, this represents the prompt.

My First Computer

Here is an ad for my first computer:



They say you never forget your first time, oh wait, they meant something else.

If you want to learn more about the Commodore Vic 20, check it out here.

My mobile powered off

My mobile just powered off. I did not charge it last night and thought it would survive today with the remaining electrons orbiting inside its small battery.
I shook the mobile hoping I might budge some electrons into giving it a little extra shot of electrical adrenalin, but no use. It was as dead as a high tech brick.
My first reaction was a slight panic; I was cut off, isolated, castaway on a desert island.
I felt like I lost one of my five senses. I am not one of those people constantly having their mobile fixed to their ear like an extra appendage but I need to know that I can, on a whim, call anyone, connect to anything, or just have my mobile comfortingly cradling in my hand.
In my isolation I drove home, driving fast, afraid that opportunity might come knocking in the form of a ringtone and the caller will not be able to get through. I rushed in the house, plugged in my mobile and watched patiently as the dark screen lit up. The reassuring battery bar was pulsing like a heart post CPR. I felt whole again.

Trading Blogs and my two new friends, Fannie and Freddy

With the meltdown of the US market, here are some trading blogs that I follow.

I did not lose any money, in fact I made more than I ever did last week, not by shorting stocks because it has been stopped but by buying Fannie Mac [FNM] and Freddie May [FRE] while they where rising during a short squeeze. Extremely risky and stupid but it paid off.





On Tuesday, 23 September I bought FRE @ 0.97 and FNM @ 0.96, and I sold both the next day with FRE @ 1.92 and FNM @ 1.84.

Close to a 100% return, Kaching!

The Stone and the iPhone

Word for Today: Finlandization

Finlandization: is the influence that one powerful country may have on the policies of a smaller neighboring country.

More here.

Quoting from Wikipedia:

During the period of Finlandization freedom of speech was limited. Public libraries removed from circulation books, more than 1,700 titles, that were deemed anti-Soviet and bookstores were given catalogs of banned books.[1] The Finnish Board of Film Classification likewise banned movies that it considered to be anti-Soviet. Banned movies included The Manchurian Candidate, directed by John Frankenheimer in 1962, and Born American by Finnish director Renny Harlin in 1986.

Is history repeating itself? Is Kuwait being gradually Finlandized because of its powerful neighbors?

Hilarious Parrot

This parrot starts all proper and religious, then ends up partying. Funniest thing I ever saw.

Viva - not too original

The new Saudi third mobile operator in Kuwait has named itself VIVA. It chose a bright colored logo with a fun sounding name and you can expect massive ad carpet bombing all over kuwait announcing its arrival on the mobile market.

Here is a picture of the logo (I borrowed this from Some Contrast) :



Quite a few nice comments about the logo, but unfortunality, no originality, just a copy. That logo exists already and is used by an Indonesian mobile operator called Axis. Check it out here.

Kurt Vonnegut Writing Style

Here are some tips from Kurt Vonnegut about how to write. I will keep it short and simple so here are the tips.

Jerry and Bill Ad number 2

Another Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfield ad.



You must admit, they are entertaining. The older ad is here.

3baid explained the first ad in a way that made sense by saying, "It's basically talking about "flexibility" and then Jerry asks if we'll ever see something that "works" the way it should and Bill gives the ok."

Your ATM pin revealed!

Your secret ATM pin that stands between you and your millions, ok maybe a few hundreds, lying in your bank account has now been revealed. It is published on the Internet and now no one is safe.

If you want to see your PIN, or others, you can find it here.

Note: This site is for educational use only, I am not responsible for any criminal or malicious use of the information shown.

Can Someone explain this ad for me ?

It has got Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfield meeting in a mall, after that I don't get it.

Play the Egg

Here is one little fun flash game about bouncing an egg around. Very fun and helps you pass the time as you wait for futoor, or su7oor.

Play the Egg is here.

Modern Day Antiques

This weekend I was clearing up some junk treasures from one of the rooms in the house. I found a lot of things that I threw away like old CDs, VHS movies and dead computers. I also found some modern day antiques that would make any gadget junky proud to have.

Among the finds was this revolutionary Sony Mavica FD88 camera that boasted 1.3 Megapixels in picture resolution. The great thing about this camera was not the resolution but that it used floppy disks as its media to store photos. No fiddling with parallel ports or installing cards on your PC, just slide the floppy in and you can see the pictures. It was also high priced at the time. It cost me over KD 300.



Another camera that I found was the first model for the Casio Exilim, in addition to taking 1 MP pictures, it could also play MP3 files.


Front View


Back View

I also found this mirror silver Nokia Phone that was a big hit when it first came out. In addition to its small size, it had all the features of a larger Nokia phone with a fashionable mirror finish. It cost me 400 KD at the time.

Faith of the Heart

I have been watching a lot of Star Trek:Enterprise recently. What can I say, I love sci-fi.

The Enterprise series is set before Star Trek, just like The Next Generation is set way after the original Star Trek. Usually I fast forward over the title, intros and opening theme song but with Enterprise I watch it every time. The theme song Faith of the Heart sung by Russell Watson (no, it is not by Rod Stewart as a lot of people believed) is amazing. The clip is also excellent showing the beginnings of man's yearning to explore with a Kon Tiki like boat all the way to space exploration.

Watch it, you will see what I mean.

This is so cool

If you like robots and paint ball guns, you will love this:

Two Headed Baby

A two headed baby was born in Bangladesh. He is normal in all aspects except for two heads.

I wonder if each head will have its own personality and character?

Read more here.

Little Things of Much Value

"Push", said the button.
"Never be lead," said the pencil.
"Take pains," said the window.
"Always keep cool," said the ice.
"Be up to date," said the calendar.
"Never lose your head," said the match.
Age is a quality of mind;
If you've left your dreams behind,
If hope is cold,
If you you no longer look ahead,
If your ambition fires are dead,
Then you are dead.
The best things are the nearest:
breath in your nostrils,
light in your eyes,
flowers at your feet,
duties at your hand,
the path of right just before you.
Then do not grasp at the stairs, but
do life's plain, common work as it
comes, certain that daily duties and
daily bread are the sweetest things of life.

Robert Louis Stevenson

ATM in the Jungle

ATMs are a wonderful invention, just slide in your plastic and you get the cash. People stopped carrying cash because of the ubiquitousness of these wonderful devices.

Even primitive places have ATMs, but possibly older models:

Blushing Brides

LMFAO

Tea Time

It is after 4pm, time for tea. Have some tea, or Chai.

Here is the Zain Ad with the hidden code

Ok, not so hidden code, you can see the coordinates at 0:49.

Thanks Mark for the youtube link.

If you don't know what I mean, go to my last post.

Zain TV Ad - or - breaking the Zain Code

I just saw a new Zain ad on MBC4. It showed scenes of different people and places doing things and smiling and raising their hands.

One particular scene showed an elder man behind a counter with some scribbling on the wall with the words "GPS S 33 53 88" and I could not catch the rest.

I loaded my Google Maps and discovered that 33.5388 is the longitude of Beirut. The S was just put there to throw us off, it should have been an N.

Hidden messages in ads, I should pay more attention.

Bangladeshi Workers Leaving Kuwait

Here is a picture of some of the Bangladeshi trouble makers Leaving Kuwait last Wednsday.

Workers of the world unite; you have nothing to lose but your chains.

If you see the garbage being piled up in the street, and no one to take your trolley from the supermarket to the car, no one to serve you tea or coffee at work, no one to sweep the streets, no one to water the road greenery, well it is because the Bengali slaves workers are revolting and do not want to sleep 10 in a room and get 18 KD monthly salary.

On a more capitalistic note, here is a cool ad from Toyota:

I can ride my bike with no handlebars

Here is a song that starts sounding very trivial but quickly develops into a very deep serious song, it is called Handlebars by the Flobots.



This new version of the video reminds of the the epic Pink Floyd animation in the The Wall movie.

Best Coffee Machine in the World

I was at a meeting held in a hotel and as part of the catering they had a Nespresso machine.

I had machine coffee before it was usually bitter and tasted like puddle water but I did not mind, as long as it had a strong caffeine kick. Nespresso is different. Nespresso comes with these small tin pouches that are colored according to the strength of the coffee you want. You insert the pouch in the slot just aboove the spout and press the button. After you press the button, the rest is magic. Neon lights flash, the machine hums, the pouch is punctured and blasted with a powerful stream of steam, and into your cup pours coffee. Even before you drink your coffee, the smell of freshly made coffee is all over the room, so strong you could taste it. Tasting the coffee, all your senses tingle. The feeling is so good, it probably is banned in a few backward countries.

Words cannot describe it, but here is a picture of this particular Nespresso machine.

The Caffeine Click Test

I woke up extremely early today and rushed to make myself a coffee so I could open my eyes. As the caffeine burnt into my bloodstream, I came across this coffee test.
The results are only for my first cup. I am sure after a few more cups I will reach Delusions of Godhood. Try it and see where you are.


OnePlusYou Quizzes and Widgets

iPhone 3G prices all over the world

Stolen Copied from here.

Want an iPhone 3G?

I got 5087 of them and more on the way. Check it out here.

What is that Tune?

Ever had a tune running around in your head and you where dying to know what it was?

If only you could hum it to google and it would come up with an answer. Well we are not there yet, but getting there. This flash piano allows you to play the tune and searches for the notes you just composed. Try it here.

iPod Touch Upgrade - Success and Amazement

I signed up to the iTunes store after it accepted my Kuwait credit card. Only apps are available for Kuwait currently. I managed to download 2 applications; Twitterific that allows you to tweet from your iPhone or iPod Touch, and Apple Remote which I felt was cool but did not really know how good it was.

I synced my iPod touch and then fingered around my iPod and could not find those apps installed there. I read up and found out that I needed to upgrade my iPod touch to version 2.0 of the firmware. I hit the "check for update" a million times and every time it told me the iTunes store was not available. It appears that after Apple introduced the iPhone 3G yesterday, iTunes could not handle all this traffic hitting its web servers, so I just gave up.

This morning I woke up and before anything, I turned on my comp and hit the upgrade button again. Success! This time I downloaded the new 2.0 firmware via iTunes and installed it. The whole process took just a little short of 1 hour on a 1 Mbps connection.

Twitterific was installed, and Apple Remote. I tweeted in twitter, and started Apple remote.

The Apple Remote app is mindblowingly amazing. What it does is it lists out all your iTunes library on your iPod Touch (and iPhone) and you select the song that you want. That song is played on your PC's speakers and you get to hear it. What is amazing is that as long as both your PC and iPod are both connected you can control the music played anywhere you are.

I got a nice set of speakers for my PC, but with this new capability I am going to buy a monster pair of speakers with trunk sized subwoofers so I can listen to my music anywhere in the house.

iTunes Update

After my last post and after downloading iTunes 7.7, I browsed around the iTunes store and I could not find any music or movies to download, just Applications.

iTunes Accepts Kuwaiti Visa Cards

I just read Loco's post about iTunes Speaking Arabic so I started my iTunes and entered my info including my Kuwait Gulf Bank Visa card. It refused it, saying my secuirty code was wrong, I tried again and got refused again. I reviewed my info and it turns out I entered a few numbers wrong. After fixing it, I tried again and I got an iTunes acount now.

Now I am going to max out my account with all the iTunes goodies.

PS

I tried downloading a game for my iPod Touch and it said I need iTunes 7.7, it sent me to the Apple site but the download thingie would not appear, probably because all these iPhone 3G need it and there are too many people downloading. No Worries, I googled "iTunes 7.7" and found a link on download.com here.

How to Add More Speed Dials in Opera (For Opera 9.5 or greater)

One of the coolest things about Opera is the speed dial where you are presented with a quick shortcut to your favorite destiantions every time you open a new tab or window in Opera. The Speed Dial displays a 3 x 3 mini image of your favorite web sites to allow you to quickly jump to those sites.



I always wanted to include more sites so I found this little tweak that allows you to increase the number of speed dials. like this:



You can do this as follows:

1. Find out where your Opera Directory is located on your computer by going to Help -> About Opera


2. find the Opera directory and open it.


3. Find the speeddial.ini file


4. copy the speedial.ini file to a backup file like speeddial.ini.backup (always back up any settings files just in case something might go wrong)


5. Close your opera browser (very important)


6. Open the speeddial.ini file in and text editor and add the following lines to your speeddial.ini
   
   [Size]
   Rows=4
   Columns=4
   
   save the file of course.


7. Start Opera again and you have more speed dials to add more of your favorite links there.

This hint was taken from Operawatch.com and from Remco's web page

If you want more speed and beauty from your browser, you can get Opera here:

The ABC of Technology

Here is a nice picture of the ABC of Technology today, stolen borrowed from haha.nu

Now what would the Kuwaiti one be ?

I reserve D for Don Veto - Reviews and Words of Wisdom

You can choose any other free letters. Maybe I will make a nice graphics once we complete the whole alphabet.

While Shopping at Amazon.com ...

I was browsing around amazon.com and I always try to fill my orders with stuff that I need desperately, and stuff that would be nice to have, just to save on the shipping. I was looking around Amazon to see what I else I could put in my order cart. To get some ideas I looked at my wishlist that I update from time to time. No inspiration there. There is a special place where you can "Find someone's Wish list", just for fun I put in Kuwait and I got some funny results.

The "kuwait awqaf public foundation" wanted a whole bunch of books about Awqaf, they where mostly unavailble except for some french waqf books.

Somebody called Kuwait wanted an Etienne Aigner A Logo Tote with some Havaianas Women's High Light Flip Flops, I hope its a girl.

Captain Amer T. Almajed (Kuwait airways) wished for the book "Building Safe Systems in Aviation". Hmm, makes me a little nervous about flying on Kuwait Airways.

Jordan Kuwait Bank wished for a long list of books. Books like "What the Hell Do Women Really Want: A Guide for Men in the 90s", "Flirting with Forty", "The Playbook : The Definitive Guide To Dating For Young Professional Men". Ladies, if you are looking for a job don't work for the Kuwait Jordan bank, unless you want to be hit upon.

The Kuwait Science club wished for a "Canon EOS 20Da Digital SLR Astronomical Camera". That sounds reasonable, someone might donate one to them.

Its interesting what people wish for, and more interesting to find out.

To iPhone or not to iPhone

Here is an email converstation I had with my friend MQ who is in Enlgand right now. We where talking about the merits of getting an iPhone or not.

From: MQ
Subject: Question about the iPhone

Hey there,

Before you trash this email, it's me MQ. I have a question about the iPhone. I'm thinking of getting it here in the UK. The problem is that it wouldn't do me any good if I can't use it Kuwait. I know about the jail break thingy, but I was hoping to get the full capabilities via the network.

So what gives?

Thanks.

MQ

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone


. If you are in the UK, jump over to France and get it there. French law forbids SIM locked phones. Apple always tries to break unlocked iPhones (done by something like the jailbreak hack) with each firmware upgrade.


From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

Another question, I need your advice. I'm still kind of hesitant about the iPhone. I watched Job's keynote, and you know that it kind of gets you dazed for a couple of days, but when the hangover wears off, and you get back to reality and things start looking different. I was wondering, if you had a chance to check out the keynote on the new iPhone, what your thoughts are on the device. Cause I am torn between the iPhone and the HTC Diamond. What do you think? Do you have a super geeky opinion on the subject, oh king of all things geeky?

Thanks

MQ

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

I would. Go for the iPhone, but one that is not SIM locked from apple. I don't want any jailbreak bullshit hack.

Also, I would wait a few months so that they get a chance to fix all the bugs that are usually found in a new product.

From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

Why did you choose the iPhone over the HTC Touch Diamond? Do you any particular reason for that?

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

I had an older htc mobile and the battery sucked, especially with push email. I have an ipod touch and the interface is much nicer and usable, even without a keyboard. It is also faster for email attacments. My htc got bricked after I tried downloading a large pdf file from an email.

From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

Since the touch interface is the deal breaker, then I should settle for an iPod touch. As far as the email and email attachments go, I don't think I ever seriously used the email program on my imate, and I'm not sure if I will be using this feature on an iPhone much either. I think since you are in a corporate atmosphere, and having to travel a lot means that you rely on your email a great deal.

Any other reasons why I should get an iPhone?

MQ

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

The Safari browser is excellent and supports all that AJAX stuff and browsing
with your fingers is fun.

From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

So why haven't you jail broken an iPhone, and used its other features as opposed to using the iPod Touch? Also, there is still this other question you didn't answer: why should I get the iPhone, when all the features you had mentioned are in the iPod Touch. I mean I could just skip the phone feature of the iPhone, and get all the other touch, feel, coolness, and emotional relief from the iPod "Caress".

You also mentioned the browser. Opera has just "released" its beta version (hackers actually ripped off the unreleased version from the Diamond) of a super duper browser for the Windows Mobile platform. I have it now, and it rocks. Granted they have copied the coolness from the iPhone's "mini" Safari, added all the other AJAX, Flash, and pretty much all the other important regular browser plug-ins, but they have added something absolutely necessary. They made it so that when you double tap the screen, and get zoomed in, the text within the screen wraps around to the size of the screen. With the iPhone/iPod, you would have to scroll sideways if the text didn't fit the screen.

Sorry for the length of the message, your Geekyness.

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

I don't believe in jail breaking products, especially from apple. If apple does not want us to use the phone, then they can keep it. I will only buy it if it does not put on me restrictions. That's why I'd buy the French iPod because its does not have SIM lock. Also, hacked software might be fun, but one small mistake and your phone is a shiny brick. HTC still has a short battery life. Opera is my browser of choice for the desktop, and its features are always excellent. The problem with Opera on the Mac is that it still does not know how to behave with multi touch. I don't know how it will behave on the iPhone platform. Opera on the Nokia would not run youtube flash, on the htc it might be different. Safari ran all the flash stuff as if you where on a regular Mac, which is expected because the iPhone is really running a slimmed down version of OSX, which has roots in Mach Unix.

From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone


I was searching for information on buying an iPhone from France, and I got the following response in a forum. It should be clear that buying one from France is not worth it all.

-----


Ok well having just returned from France on Wednesday with an iPhone I can help you out here with some details.

It is certainly possible to purchase an unlocked iPhone in France. In fact as of the other day it is no longer possible to buy an unlocked iPhone in Germany leaving France as the only place in the world where this is possible.

Its a relatively involved process but achievable.

The Prerequisites:
1) Speaking French (Pretty difficult to go through the process without)
2) A French address (a friend living in France is fine)
3) A French credit card (you need this to create a French iTunes account to activate it)
4) Un ordinateur (French for computer :p)
5) Patience :)

The Process:
1) Walk into an Orange store and ask to buy an iPhone with a prepaid sim (mobicarte is their product name). This will cost you 649eur. Provide them with your valid French address (this is important). Oh, and most likely you will need to do this all in French :)
2) Purchase 100eur pre-paid credit for you mobicarte.
3) This brings the purchase price up to 749eur.
4) Wait around 4 hours for the mobicarte to become active on the network.
5) Call the mobicarte recharge number and load the 100eur credit you purchased in the store. (Simply key in the code number on the paper they give you) (Prompts are in French)
6) Fire up iTunes on your computer and create a new iTunes store account using the French address (must match the one you gave Orange when you bought the phone) and your French credit card.
7) Once you have your French iTunes account you can now activate your iPhone (this will make it fully usable as a phone/ipod/device with the Orange prepaid SIM. Just connect the iPhone to your PC via the USB cable supplied and follow the prompts in French to activate it using your iTunes account.
8) Ok so now you have an activated but still locked French iPhone. If your PC was Australian then the iPhone will be in English and it will be using the QWERTY keyboard layout. Otherwise you will need to go into the settings on the iPhone and change this from French and AZERTY (easy process).
9) Now you need to make a couple of phone calls from the iPhone to announce the IMEI (hardware phone serial number) to the Orange phone network.
10) Wait a couple more hours (2?) or the Orange call centre will not see your iPhone on the network yet.
11) Call the Orange support centre and request "desimblockage" (unlocking). This is where the 100eur credit comes into it. They deduct the 100eur unlocking fee from the prepaid phone credit you loaded. Its also worth noting here that when you buy 100eur credit you get a little extra, like 125eur due to a bonus system they have. This is useful because you dont want your test phone calls/data usage to drop the credit below 100eur or they wont unlock it for you - if in doubt or you want to play more, just buy more credit when you get the phone or at the petrol station etc.
12) Now the waiting begins.
13) Orange will send the unlock code to your French address via snail mail.
14) Once you have this code I presume you connect up the iPhone to your PC, visit the iTunes store, click a link and type the code in and voila - desimblockage!!

I say presume with step 14 because this is as far as I am up to in this process as I only bought mine last Sunday (2nd of December) and got back to Australia on Tuesday. My buddy in France emailed me today to say he called the Orange support line today and they said they mailed out the code yesterday. Unfortunately for me hes out of France for a week so I have to wait another week before my iPhone is unlocked :(

Another worthwhile tip is if you wont be in France the whole time required (7 days is the end-to-end process i believe) then call the Orange service line and ask to turn on International/Global roaming on your mobicarte so that the SIM still works in Aus, just roams as if you were visiting here from France. Not sure if this is technically necessary but it costs nothing and I wanted to guard against activation SMS's or similar that would have required the iPhone to still remain in France.

Anyways, that's enough of a post. My apologies if it is somewhat unclear but im tired :)

If you have any questions or require clarification on anything just ask.

Alex.
----

This is the website

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/873516.html

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

Vive La France


I thought it would be easier, if you are willing to wait, then the French iPhones will be gradually getting in the grey market through eBay. I hate hacking an iPhone, then having Apple zapping all my fixes/hacks through a firmware upgrade.

From: MQ
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

Now I'm thinking of getting an iPod touch. It seems more logical since I can upgrade the software to 2.0 in July, and get all the software features of the iPhone. Of course, with exception to those features that uses hardware available only to the iPhone.

It seems that getting an iPhone to work as it should either requires that I go through the hassle of jail breaking it, or get setup properly through UK's O2 carrier and have an iPhone that functions as an iPod in Kuwait.

I'm definitely not liking this situation.

MQ

From: DV
Subject: Re: Question about the iPhone

That's business, that's why I got an iPod touch with 32 GB, I get all the connectivity I need through wifi, and for a Mobile I got a blackberry, which is not the best mobile, but good for doing work. I hate the blackberry but I can't live without it. :-(

Long Busy Week

It has been a long busy week and I have not updated my blog as much as I would like to. I hope to get a good night sleep today and update it tommorow with some interesting posts. I bought an HTC Touch Diamond and have been trying it out for the last week. I also had a lot of interesting email conversation with my friend MQ about the Diamond versus the iPhone. I will post these emails after I edit all the typos and make it readable.

Here is a short clip of the HTC Diamond being used for sending a text message:

Kids Look Before You Eat

Check out this cute video called look before you eat. Hilarious.

My Macbook Air got eGO

Earth as seen from Mars

This is how Earth looks from Mars, just a small speck of dust in a huge dark sky. I always thought we would look much bigger.



For more information, have a look at NASA's Site.

NBK Scam Phising - Investigated

MY K, from MY K Blog wrote about a National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) Phishing scam.

The scam works by sending you an email telling you to go to a seemingly valid banking site and update your account number and PIN code. That site would be a fraudulent site and what it does is send to the fraudsters your personal information that you just entered. Later they will log on to your account and try to transfer money out of it.

I did a little investigation and read the source code of the NBK fraudulent site. I found some clues such as the signature niarB, which is Brain in reverse. Searching around I found some more information about this elusive Brain. It turns out that Brain is a group of Morrocan fraudsters calling themselves Mr. Brain. They offer phishing/scam kits on the Internet that allow you to set up a fraudulent site that looks like a popular bank's page. When the poor victim enters his information, that information is sent to the fraudsters who used Mr. Brain's tools. A copy is also sent to the Morrocan Mr. Brain team. More information about this scheme can be found at Trend Micro's Site and also at Netcraft's Site.

In addition to the Mr. Brain's signature found in the source code, there is also a coded string that represents the email address. The string is "245616c647881696e30384067617761622e636f6d". It probably is the email address of the fraudster.

I did not bother to decode it, but if NBK wants to, they can always catch the Mr. Brain team and they can explain everything to them.

De-Motivational Posters

Plenty more here, be sure to print them out and hang them in your work cubicle.

Share the Love

Here is a little love for anyone who needs it. Love Pictures.

Kuwait and Egypt

While reading a news article from AFP about the new parliament and the Emir's speech I noticed the little map in the sidebar showing where Kuwait is located in the world.



Notice that Kuwait is located right on top of Alexandria, Egypt.

I know it is holiday season and half the Kuwaitis will be vacationing in Egpyt, and the other half somewhere in Europe, but I don't remember the country moving there. Could it be the large Egyptian Expat population in Kuwait has decided to make us part of Egypt, since they are running the goverment sector anyway?


News Article is here.

Dwwen Dead

Dwwen, the blog aggregator for Arab blogs is closing down on 15 June 2008 because they could not make enough money to support themselves.

I feel bad for those guys, it was a decent site. I don't know how popular it got but I passed by from time to time.

Dear Dwwen,

Please don't die, just release your server code into the wild and let some enterprising hacker maintain it.

All the best.

Don Veto

Mars Looks Like Kuwait

Kuwait



Mars



No, this is not the Kuwait desert, this is a picture of Mars recently taken by the Phoenix Mars Lander. More informtation from NASA can be found here.

That got me thinking, what is the difference between Mars and Kuwait.

Mars is mostly desert, so is Kuwait.
Men are from Mars, Kuwait has got men also.
The Mars landscape looks a lot like Kuwait, Kuwait looks like Kuwait.
Scientists suspect the possibilty of life in Mars, I am still looking for life in Kuwait.
Walking around Mars without a space suit can kill you. Walking outside in Kuwait for extended periods under the hot sun can kill you.
Mars has dust storms, Kuwait has dust storms.


Note to NASA, save yourself some money and come look at Kuwait instead of going all the way to Mars.

Intlxpatr went to Google, and all I got was this lousy postcard

Intlxpatr, our dear blogging friend, had breakfast at Google in Cupertino this morning and all I got from Google was this lousy postcard:

.

It was not a post card from Sergey saying to me, "wishing you where here", but rather it had a PIN that I needed to enter into my AdSense account to confirm my Kuwait Address.

Welll at least I was remembered. I hope.

Mac OS X Under the hood

While browsing around the Terminal on the Macbook, I "discovered" that the Mac OSX has pre-installed:

perl
Ruby
python,
Apache,
X11

stuff I thought you could only find in Unix boxes, and Linux, I knew the engine underneath was Unix, but I thought it might have been sanitized so average users would not hurt themselves or their systems. One thing that is missing is a C complier that allows you to compile open source software, but that can easily be downloaded from the Apple Developers Connection. You need to register first, and I am not sure if you need to pay or it is free.

Bluetooth Eavesdropping

Now that everyone in Kuwait is rushing to get a bluetooth headset so that they can drive and talk on their mobile while driving, here is a little hack that allows you to listen in on people talking on their mobile when using bluetooth headsets.



So be careful, don't reveal any dark sinister secrets when you talk on your bluetooth.

PS

to be fair, some Linux know how is needed, a little bit of IP background and a some knowledge of Antennas, so maybe not everyone will try that hack.

Annoying Web Sites

Sites that have flash animations as intros when you first visit them annoy me. Sites that have music playing in the background make me hit the mute button or the close window key. It is generally considered bad design if your site has these unnecessary embelishments. One site that breaks these good design rules but I though was really cool is clustarack.com .

Check it out here. I am sure you will agree.

About Horses

A Dog looks up to a man, a cat looks down on a man, but a patient horse looks a man in the eye and sees him as an equal.

unknown

Um Ali's predictions for 2008

I just read this article about Um Ali's predictions for 2008 which I found in the side margin of Jewaira's blog. It seems she is notoriously famous, although I never heard of her before.

Here are Um Ali's predictions with my comments:

Political/Social
* Condolezza Rice will get married

Of course she will, after leaving the white house, she will write a book, go on a tour, be much richer, and find herself a toy boy and get married.

* Most of the parliament's members will be new faces

Come on Um Ali, even our Indian driver could have predicted that.

* An increase in the number of females in the government

Go to the ministries complex, its filled with women, there are no boys there.

* Instability in Kuwait's security, in the city and on the borders with Iraq

Is that new news? There is a war just a few kilometers away, what do you expect?
* Terrorist attempts in Kuwait, ending peacefully

There are crazies everywhere, but there is nowhere to run in Kuwait, so they will quickly get caught.

* The spread of a contagious disease in Kuwait in the coming few days

Summer is here, dust is here, air conditioners are on full blast. People are going to catch something.


* An earthquake will hit Kuwait

Already happened, sorry Um Ali, your prediction is backdated.

* A blackout in Kuwait

That's obvious, now what would impress me is if you gave us a date and time.

* Disputes between Iraq and Kuwait

Obvious also.

* Deputy Prime Minister of a GCC country will not last in office

Power positions always change.


* Two GCC ministers (Interior and Foreign) will not stay in office

That's not a prediction, that's a rumor going around.

* Unusual instability in Saudi Arabia's security

Something new?

* A severe earthquake will hit Egypt causing the collapse of several buildings and a high death toll

Egypt does not need an earthquake for buildings to collapse, just someone sneezing indoors With the multitude of unauthorized floors being built on top of building there, they are bound to collapse.

* Next US President will not be better than the previous one and will hold the worst for the world

Obviously.

* A terrorist attack on the US

Obviously again.

.
.
.
.

Um Ali lists out more obvious statements. What would impress me is if she gave details like the date, time, place and the name of a person with a specific prediction. No charlatan managed to do that, not even Nostradamus.

All Clear today, no dust

Today the weather in Kuwait is all clear and no dust. I just hope it lasts. In case you miss the dust, here is a picture of the Water Towers set against a dusty sky which I took last night.

I love the world

Makes you feel all lovey, doesn't it. Much better than boom chika wawa.

What does Google think of your city?

Google has a variant of its search engine, that gives suggestion after you type a few words listing out the most popular search terms. You can find it as Google Suggest.

I tried, just for fun, a few cities and see what people where looking for in these cities. Here are a few results.

Starting with Kuwait:



Five air travel related sites, seems like a lot of people want to leave and / or come to Kuwait.



Riyadh has a lot of people looking for the latest news followed by banks and commerce.



Dubai is really becoming a second home with people looking up properties and holidays there.



Baghdad is not very appealing with Baghdad burning one of the top searches, with green zone and curfew coming close.



Paris, well known as the City of Love, has got paris je t'aime as one of the most popular searches. Other results include museums and Paris by night.



San Francisco with silicon valley right next door, has its state university listed, and the public library also. Lots of smart people there.

Here are a few other search results, or try your own on Google Suggest to see what google thinks.

MAC PC

Matt Farrell: You just killed a helicopter with a car!

John McClane: I was out of bullets.

Morning Cool Stuff

Visit this website and wait for 10 seconds. (Safe for children and adults).

Crack Cocaine Corporation

Here is a 22 minute video by Steven Levitt, famed economist and author of Freakonomics. He talks about the economics of being in a crack cocaine gang and, surprisingly, it is very similar to being in a regular corporation. If you see the full video, you will understand why the big boys are paid so much, compensating differential and marketing concepts very quickly.

Election Time – Money Time

Elections for the Kuwait Parliament are scheduled in a month’s time. The candidates are out in full force. Even though they have been allowed only two campaign headquarters, they are busy renting tents, organizing their campaigns, ordering sumptuous buffets and advertising any which way they can to capture the confused voters. The serious candidate needs to invest between one to two million Kuwaiti Dinars if he is to have a significant presence in the election. Kuwaiti voters are allowed four votes for the four parliament members they want in their respective district.


There is also an underworld of vote buying from some morally challenged candidates. These candidates have perfected vote buying from the voters into an art form. A vote at today’s price is one thousand Kuwait Dinars.

You are approached by the candidate’s representatives and paid KD 1,000 for your vote. Some business minded candidates will also buy your remaining three votes which the candidate will use to barter for additional votes from other candidates. Some nascent entrepreneurs are also buying votes in bulk and approaching different candidates with these collected votes selling them to the highest bidder.

A lot of intellectuals might think of this as a problem and will result in candidates going to parliament on the strength of their wallets rather than their beliefs. I see this as an opportunity.

Vote buying should be legalized and taxed with the shiny silver sticker stamps that the government loves to use in all the government transactions. Voters will receive around four thousand KD to vote for the different candidates who paid them, helping alleviate their debt and salary problems that they have been crying about for so long. The government can charge 200 KD per vote and get some income also.

Once the Members of Parliament are elected and life is back to normal, it will be business as usual, passing laws and grillings for the ministers as soon as one MP disagrees with one of the Ministers. The government, to avoid embarrassment can dissolve parliament and have elections all over again.

There will again be more vote buying, more money for the people, more income for the government, more side business like tent rentals, advertising and restaurants. Everybody is happy. Once again, parliament is in session and ministers will be called for questioning. Once again parliament will be dissolved. In one year we could have five elections and five different parliaments. The Kuwaiti voters will end up making around an average of twenty thousand KD.


At the end of this fun election year most of the corrupt candidates would have gone broke after spending over 10 Million KD for five consecutive elections. The candidates who will survive are the ones who got votes on their vision and convictions for Kuwait. The voters would have made money and we will end up with a clean serious work oriented parliament.

Everyone is a winner.

Two strikes you are out

According to Gulf Daily News:


Kuwait to deport expats for second traffic offence

KUWAIT CITY: Kuwait is to get tough with expatriates who fail to respect the rules of the road and will even deport repeat offenders.

"The interior minister (Sheikh Jaber Khaled Al Sabah) has ordered that expatriates who jump a red light and have a previous conviction for a traffic offence should be deported," a senior interior ministry official said yesterday. He said his department will implement the order strictly in a bid to promote road safety.


Please don't apply these rules, not because we do not want to lose our guest workers but because the roads are already slow because of overcautious expat drivers driving at the speed of snails and holding the traffic back behind them. Put more cameras instead and make more money from the exorbitant fines.

How Much Money Does Kuwait Have ?

According to the CIA, link here, Kuwait has $ 51,490,000,000 as part of its current account. I don't know if this number represents money sitting in the bank or a total of Kuwait's liquid assets. We are number 9 in the list. China is the first in the list and has 7 times more cash than us. Japan follows next with 3.8 times more cash than Kuwait. Among Arab countries, Kuwait is second to Saudi Arabia with the Saudis having 1.73 times more money than Kuwait. Out of 164 countries, 103 countries have negative balances and 61 have positive balances. The United States has a deficit of $747,100,000,000.