New Kuwait Traffic Fines
A new e-mail flying around Kuwait gives the new traffic fines. At first, I thought this was a joke, but it looks pretty serious. Will someone please explain why a Jordanian car would get such a stiff fine?
And I remember a lot of discussion about penalties for talking on a mobile phone while driving, but when did the law pass? Was there any announcement? And babies in the front seat, not allowed, when did that change? All of this is amazing to me, I am still wondering if it is a hoax?
Do you think the police will really enforce these laws?
Kuwait Weirdness
This is such a small thing, but just TOO WEIRD! In the tiny little weather forecast in today’s Kuwait Times, it says that today’s weather will reach a high of 48°C and tonight will reach a low of 32°C. Like Weather Underground says 24°C/14° – that’s very different. It was hot today, but much more like 24° than a summery 48°C (118.4°F.)
More weirdness – isn’t there any warning when a major road is going to close, you know, like GULF ROAD??? I was caught in the quagmire today, trying to get home and not able to get on Gulf Road and seeing all the north-south major roads in total gridlock. What is this??? I never saw a word, not in Arab Times, not in Kuwait Times, not in the blogs – did anyone know this was coming?
Scattered Clouds
At seven this morning, it was already 50°F/10°C – BIG change from last week. At seven in Kuwait, it is 8 PM in Seattle, where the temperature is 49°F/9°C – almost exactly the same, just a little warmer in Kuwait as the day gets started.
Weather Underground Kuwait tells us today we will see scattered clouds, and that right now we have “mist.” I am seeing a while lot of mist. I am a little shocked, because my balcony was all misted this morning; that doesn’t happen often. But “scattered” clouds? Right now, there is a thick cloud cover, but it may dissipate as the day warms up.
This is what the scattered clouds did to the sunrise this morning:
You might wonder why I do this every morning. It all started because I really love sunrises, and every sunrise has something that makes it special from the others. (Well, not every single one; you will see some mornings I miss sunrise or skip it.) Also, my friends and family like being able to see through my eyes, to see a little of the world I live in. As an additional bonus, there are Kuwaitis all over the world who miss home, and who like to see a glimpse of what today looks like in Kuwait. I get e-mails in the background from expats who lived here as children, and are shocked by the changes.
Now you know all the reasons for the morning report.
The clouds are for my blogging buddy Fonzy who photographs clouds the way I photograph sunrises.
Is This News?
Today in the Arab Times I see this announcement:
Ministry monitoring Internet networks to block porn sites
KUWAIT : The Ministry of Communications is monitoring Internet networks to block porn websites and clamp down illegal Internet telephony, Al Seyassah daily quoted the Director of Telephones Monitoring Department at the Ministry of Communications Eng Nasser Al Khandari as saying. The department is also monitoring various areas for such illegal telephone service providers.
Is this news? One time, I was looking for tablecloths, and the site was blocked for inappropriate content. It seems to me that the Ministry of Communication has an ongoing battle, trying to block content providers. As for illegal telephony . . . it appears they are cracking down mostly on large scale telephone service providers, not on the individual VOIP phones. VOIP users complain from time to time about “listeners” and about echos, but I think this is more a result of poor connections than any local actions. Am I wrong?
Which ministry is it that will be/is monitoring bloggers?
Exercise to Counter Mild Depression
Today in BBC Health News something we all knew intuitively, but studies are showing it to be true – if you are depressed, exercise can help deal with the symptoms.
Exercise aids depression, say GPs
Doctors are increasingly prescribing exercise for people with depression, mental health campaigners have found. In a survey of 200 English GPs, the Mental Health Foundation found 22% suggest exercise to help people with milder forms of the condition.
This compares with just 5% in a similar survey three years ago.
The foundation said it was important that doctors did not just prescribe antidepressants for patients, and looked for other options.
Tackling isolation
Research has shown that exercise can help people with mild forms of depression by improving self-esteem – through better body image or achieving goals, and by relieving feelings of isolation which can fuel their depression.
It also releases feel-good brain chemicals such as endorphins.
You can read the entire article HERE>
An Invitation to Bloggers
This is exactly the kind of event I love passing along to bloggers and blog readers in Kuwait. I hope to see you there! 🙂
Digital Prints of the Everyday Life
(Art Exhibition)
From 2-13 February
Dar Al Funoon Gallery
10 AM – 1 PM and 4-8 PM (Sun.-Thu.)
4-8 PM (Sat.) and 10 AM – 1 PM (Thu.)
Digital Prints of Everyday Life by LOAAY
The art work exhibited by the artist LOAAY shows eclectic artistic expression which makes the exhibition more enjoyable. Each piece has its unique visual identity, yet they all revolve around everyday life. ‘Love tree’ is inspired by nature; ‘It starts here´ comes from his urban environment and both ‘Lunchtime by the pier’ and ‘Cold Edinburgh’ that are works evolving from his frequent travels. The twenty eight piece artworks collection has been described as a visual feast.
The artist, LOAAY is a branding consultant who started to express himself artistically after surviving cancer. He is an internationally recognized artist who has exhibited in Connecticut, USA, in Algiers, Algeria, in Helsinki, Finland, and now at Dar Al Funoon in Kuwait.
Dar al Funoon is located at the Behehani Compound, House No. 28, Al Watiah (behind the Church). The exhibition hours are from 10 AM – 1 PM and 4-8 PM (Sun.-Thu.), 4-8 PM (Sat.) and 10 AM – 1 PM (Thu.). Call 243 3138 or visit http://www.LOAAY.com for more details. The artist can often be found at the exhibit during the evening hours.
“Because No One Wants to Know”
There is a chilling article on today’s BBC Health News on the silent epidemic of male suicide. Suicide, says the article, is outstripped as the leading cause of death among young men only by road deaths. I have often wondered how many road deaths are also a silent cry of despair?
The silent epidemic of male suicide
By Dan Bell
BBC News
Young men are taught not to talk about their problems
Whatever the individual reasons that drive people to suicide, the one thing that puts you most at risk is being a man under the age of 35.
Of the 13 people who killed themselves in South Wales over the past year, all but one were men aged under 27.
John Hogan, the father who threw himself off a hotel balcony in Greece, was aged 32. When his two brothers Stephen and Paul killed themselves, they were aged 17 and 35.
Suicide is the second most common way for a man between the ages of 15 and 34 to die. It is outstripped, only just, by road deaths.
Suicide ‘epidemic’
About 900 young men take their own lives each year, and they account for about 75% of all suicides in this age group.
“You’ve had what is effectively an epidemic of young male suicide,” says the National Director for Mental Health in England, Professor Louis Appleby. Between 1970 and 1998, the rate more than doubled. At its peak, five men were dying for every woman.
‘It was worse than we knew’
Yet according to Prof Appleby, less than 20% of young men who commit suicide have had any contact with either their GP or mental health services in the previous year. Quite simply, he says, “they don’t seek help when they have problems.”
If suicide is the second most serious public health issue for young men, why don’t we know about it?
According to Jane Powell, coordinator of the Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM), the only national organisation that specifically reaches out to young men at risk of suicide, it is because no-one wants to know.
You can read the rest of the article HERE
“Arab Education Falling Behind”
In a study recently released, the World Bank reports that education in the Arab World is falling behind. You can read the entire article HERE at BBC Middle East News:
The World Bank has said the quality of education in the Arab World is falling behind other regions and needs urgent reform if it is to tackle unemployment.
In a report, Bank officials said Arab states had to make improving education their top priority, because it went hand-in-hand with economic development.
The region had not seen the increasing literacy and school enrolment witnessed in Asia and Latin America, they said.
Djibouti, Yemen, Iraq and Morocco were ranked the worst educational reformers.
The bright spot? Here is one of the concluding paragraphs:
The report concluded that Jordan and Kuwait were the top educational reformers in the region, while Djibouti, Yemen, Iraq and Morocco ranked lowest in terms of access, efficiency and quality of education.
(An editorial Wooooo Hooooooo to Kuwait!)
Beware: Men in Veils
I know y’all think I am just so very creative coming up with all these titles, but the truth is – I don’t have to! This is the exact title from this morning’s Arab Times.
By Muneef Naif
Special to the Arab Times and Agencies
‘Men in veil’ kidnap, rob woman, rape attempted
KUWAIT : Police are looking for three unidentified persons wearing veils — one woman and two men dressed as women — for kidnapping a 33-year-old Kuwaiti woman, stealing her handbag containing KD 130 and a gold chain, reports Al-Anba daily.
The woman in her complaint told the Fahaheel police the trio bundled her in their Suburban and took her to an unidentified location. One of the men also tried to rape her inside the vehicle.
The trio then tied her and kept her in the vehicle, until the woman went sold the chain in a gold market and returned with the money. Then they dumped her at an unidentified location and escaped.
An Asian passerby reportedly untied the woman after she had been struggling to set herself free for over an hour and a half.
Update – I think this is the same story because so many specifics are the same, but this is how the story appears in the Kuwait Times:
Masked Men Rob, Gag Kuwaiti Woman
A 38 year old Kuwaiti woman registered a complaint with Fahaheel police that, at 9pm, as she walked to her car after a shopping trip, three masked man (sic) dragged her forcibly into a four-wheel drive and kidnapped her. She said the men were also accompanied by a woman wearing aveil who, along the way, snatched a gold bracelet from her wrist and sold it at a jewelry shop. The men snatched her handbag, which contained KD 130 and then tied her arms and legs and abandoned her in a dark open area. An asian expatriate passing by spotted the woman and untied her arms. She later reported the matter to police, and the case is under investigation.
“Bookstores, Bathouses, Bars . . . “
I’m following The Shield, a hard-edged detective show I have followed, when I can, ever since Glen Close was the police chief. If you thought Glen Close was tough as Cruella de Ville, wish you could see her as police chief/ 😉
The guy standing next to her is Detective Vic Mackey, a renegade plainclothes cop who plays fast and loose with the system. You know me, Mrs. Law and Order – whoda thunk I would find myself rooting for this guy as he undergoes close scrutiny from the Internal Affairs Division. He’s really a bad guy. He does really bad things. He is a LIAR! He lies to everybody! He kills people, he steals dope and money. And somehow you find yourself pulling for him. I don’t know why.
But the reason I am writing about this is because in yesterday’s episode, a couple guys get their private organs caught in rat traps because they stuck their organ in a place called a “glory hole” for a little excitement and got more than they had bargained for (ouch). See what you can learn from these shows? And this is on during daylight viewing hours?
So the new police chief, a very cool and tough black woman, tells the detectives to go check “bookstores, bathhouses, bars, you know, the places these perverts hang out. . . ” and I am thinking “BOOKSTORES?” BOOKSTORES?? I hang out in bookstores all the time! I never see any perverts at the Barnes and Noble, or Half Price Books!
The things you learn on televison. I hope children are not watching this show!
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