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Kuwait: It's Heating Up in Here !

Abdullatif AlOmar · 15:52 · Middle East & North Africa

Summer is coming to Kuwait and with the rising temperatures, people tend to stick to indoor activities.

First up, Ana Filibini tried ~~his~~ her luck at indoor climbing at one of the local malls in Kuwait.

The point is ladies and gentlemen I would like to invite you to drag your ass up the wall as a challenge to yourself at K Climb @ Marina Waves. I promise it will be worth your while. While you were there, look for Lino, he's this not so small Filipino guy with big muscles and a hearty laugh who could cheer you up to the top.

Magical droplets points us to another indoor activity by AWARE (The Advocate for Westerners-Arab Relations Center) - an NGO-based in Kuwait.

This Wednesday, May 9, 2007, the AWARE Center will be showing the Kuwaiti film, “Bas ya Bahaar”. It is a story about a mother who only has one son. Set in the past when all the young men would go to sea, this mother prevented her son from going for fear of losing him.

Another place to view is recommended by yo_ghurt over at stillkuwaiting.

Not Pirates of the Caribbean, but the bridge of Kuwait’s own record-breaking sailing ship, the giant dhow Al Hashemi II. ‘Moored’ between the Radisson and The Palms in Salwa, it’s a testament to one man’s desire to…er…build the world’s largest dhow.

Husain Marafie certainly constructed his ‘Baghlah’ with style. No expense was spared and the detail, down to the last piece of gold leaf, is jaw-dropping.

There is a museum next to it which is quite interesting, but what you’ll really need to do is to talk very nicely to the guards, or the museum curator, to let you wander up and through the huge dhow itself (which isn’t generally open to the public, being used for functions and concerts).

Speaking of indoor activities, Kuwaiti Cosmopolitan talks about the air siren test that he heard while he was in his office.

As usual… the wail of those sirens brings me into a huge discomfort. It's not like I am scared of the sound or anything… but its annoying!I mean Kuwait's been through a number of crises, and those tests well hmmm they are good, but would they ever be effective and used right in case of emergency or crisis??

The Stallion got out and had a busy day!

After waking up and showering I headed directly to my grand ma who wasn’t feeling too good and spent some time with her! After that I headed to AUK for their carnival! I have to admit it reminded me of ASK and Bayan carnivals but I enjoyed it! The vendors that were there were great! I got a smoothie from D.Lush, chicken wings from Pizza Hut, and cookies from the Al-Multaqa booth! Good stuff!

After that I went home to relax a bit before doing some personal stuff, then headed to the Dunkin Donuts by Al-Fanar Mall for the blogger meet-up! Since the meet-up ended at 7, I was forced to show up late at a BBQ amongst close friends

Qais over at io81 shares with us another great business in Kuwait.

Subway came to Kuwait in 1997 some thing like that, at that time it had a small kiosk in Sultan Center, Salmiya, and in the old Salmiya opposite BKME branch. At that time the owner of the leading subs franchise was Sultan Center, hence the kiosk. But at that time, it made little profits, so i guess in 2000 it got sold to Al Mutairy business man and boom! the franchise exploded.

Forzaq8 noticed the new closed circuit camera the Minstiry of Interior installed on the streets and wondered about them.

So I wonder is there a law governing these? Is our privacy safe? Who can access these? Is there a penalty for sharing videos off that camera and when is the first bluetooth shared video is out?

Photo Credit: Intlxpatr

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RSF names Maldives police unit Star Force as predator of press freedom

Nihan Zafar · 08:11 · South Asia

lingua → zht · zhs

Reporters without Borders (RSF) has listed Star Force, an elite unit of Maldives Police Service, as a predator of press freedom. The listing came weeks after a dead body fished out of water in capital Male’ made the public point their fingers at the police, whose torture techniques could be a how-to-manual for any despot. Hussain Salah has now been buried but not before the corpse caused much controversy. The basic disregard for press freedom by the police was confirmed by further arrests of journalists during protests over Salah’s death.

The government of Maldives made much hype about the World Press Freedom Day 2007, something ironic for a government with such a bad record on press freedom. The conference that the government organized to mark the day ended with more embarrassing moments such as when opposition journalists walked out when President Gayoom made his speech. A small protest by women activists outside the conference hall on the street was halted by police, who seized placards and threatened to arrest them if they did not leave the area.

Journalists in the Maldives are harassed and arrested by police during protests. In addition to the police, the judiciary works to suppress press freedom in the Maldives. The editor of most popular opposition daily faces charges which could send her to jail. Another journalist Fahala Saeed is serving a life sentence for allegedly possessing narcotics. As Saeed was summoned to the police station on a different issue, and the police made a check up of his clothes without his presence, and allegedly found the narcotics, it is easy to believe he was framed.

Cartoonist Ahmed Abbas has been recently released after serving six months in jail for comments he made to Minivan Daily. The state alleged that the comments incited violence.

An International Press Freedom Mission to the Maldives including ARTICLE 19, international Federation of journalists (IFJ), Reporters without Borders (RSF), South Asia Media Commission (SAMC) and International Media Support (IMS), which visited the country in May 2006, issued an open letter on this year’s World Press Freedom Day, expressing concerns over the state of media freedom in the Maldives.

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Korea: AIDS and single mothers in Korea and the power of soap operas

Hyejin Kim · 03:44 · East Asia

AIDS and single mothers are not easy topics in Korean society. Single mothers mean sex before the marriage and are not moral. AIDS is regarded as the result of dangerous and inappropriate sex relations. These prejudices generate social taboos. And a brave Korean soap opera, “Thanks,” has taken on these two main themes and has been popular unlike anyone expected. It has created more open discussion of these issues.

A blogger, naisuli, said how much her perspectives have changed about AIDS after this soap opera,

에이즈 편견… 깨줘서 고마워
드라마보믄서… 공부해보긴… 오랫만이네.
하긴… 에이즈보담…더 무서운 전염병도 있을텐데…
우리한테 알려질 때…에이즈에 걸린 사람들의 처음과 마지막만 보여줘서
편견이…더 심한건지도 모르거따. 다른 병…보다는 좀 남다른…게 있자네.

Thanks for breaking the prejudice about AIDS.
It was the first time in many years to study hard through a soap opera.
Indeed, there might be scarier epidemics than AIDS in this world.
Having chances to see the disease, we usually observe the HIV positive people’s changes in the beginning and the end. Maybe that’s why we have more extreme prejudice about this disease.

A blogger, springdream, concentrated on differences

드라마의 힘

power of drama

세상에는 참 다른 것들이 많다.
다른 사람도 많고, 다른 생각도 많고, 다른 물건도 많고, 다른 장소도 많고….기타 등등 참 많다.
다른 것들을 열거하자면 지구를 몇 바퀴를 돌려도 모자랄 것이다.
세상에는 정말 다른 것 투성인데, 그런데 이상하게도 그것을 인정하는 사람은 많지 않다.
실상 한국만 봐도 그렇다.
꼭 크게 우리 나라를 보지 않아도 우리의 주변만 살펴봐도 그렇다.
공부를 잘 하는 사람이 있고 공부를 못 하는 사람이 있지만 그 둘은 다르게 여겨지지 않는다.
공부를 잘 하는 사람은 옳은 것이고 공부를 못 하는 사람은 옳지 않은 것이다.
돈을 잘 버는 사람이 있고 돈을 잘 못 버는 사람이 있어도,
돈을 잘 버는 사람은 옳은 사람이고 돈을 못 버는 사람은 한심한 사람이다.

There are so many different things.
Different people, different thoughts, different things, different places… there are so many.
If we start listing different things, we should go around this earth several times.
Even though there are so many different things, there are a few people who acknowledge them. Just look at Korea. Just look at your surroundings.
There must be people who are good at studying or not. The former is considered right and the latter is not right. There are people who earn money well or not. The former is regarded right and the latter is pitiful.

‘고맙습니다.'를 봐도 그렇다.
에이즈에 걸린 봄이는 그저 남들과 다를 뿐인데 병균을 옮기는 더러운 사람이다.
미혼모인 영신은 그저 남들과 조금 다를 뿐인데 사람들은 그녀가 무언가 부족한 사람이라고 생각한다.
남들과 다르다는 것은 옳고 그름, 맞고 틀림이라는 잣대로 판단할 수 없는 것인데, 우리는 무의식적이든 의식적이든 쉽게 그것들을 판단한다.
그리고 그러한 다수의 판단은 매우 절대적인 기준으로 둔갑한다. 소수의 의견은 묵살된 채 말이다.

Look at the soap opera, “Thanks”
The girl, Bomi, having AIDS is just different from others, but is regarded as the filthy human.
Youngsin, a single mother, is a little bit different from others, but people take her as an insufficient human.
The difference is not the measuring stick to be right or not, but we easily use it to make judgment unconsciously and consciously. And the judgment of the majority turns to be the absolute standard. The opinion of the minority is ignored.

Copying parts of scripts seems a fad in the internet, like a blogger, happily.

“봄이가 에이즈에 걸린건 나쁜게 아니라
이상한게 아니라 다른거죠? 내가 미혼모인건 나쁜게 아니라 이상한게 아니라 미안한게 아니라 다른거죠?” 이대사 머리속에 박혔다.

“Doesn’t the fact that Bomi got AIDS make her different? Not bad, not weird? Doesn’t the fact that I’m a single mother make me different? Not bad, not weird, not feeling sorry?”
These lines are nailed in my mind.

Another blog has some snap shots and lines from the drama.

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