Kinan’s Tag
1. Last movie you saw in a theater?
Pirates of the Caribbean 2
2. What book are you reading?
Currently: Donna Leon, Through a Glass Darkly
3. Favorite board game?
Board games are too slow. Hearts. Bridge. Poker!
4.Favorite magazine?
New Yorker
5. Favorite smell?
Jet fuel
6. Favorite food?
Italian and Japanese
7. Favorite sound?
Call to prayer
8. Worst feeling in the world?
Making a careless decision that causes harm to others
9. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
Gahwa!
10. Favorite fast food place?
Ivar’s (seafood chain in the Pacific Northwest)
11. Future child’s name?
Morgan. Douglas. Megan.
12. Finish this statement. If I had a lot of money:
I’d join Bill Gates Foundation and find ways to make the money work hard making the world a better place.
13. Do you drive fast?
Yeh.
14. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
Husband? Cat?
15. Storms cool or scary?
Very cool.
16. What was your first car?
An ancient Mercedes
17. Favorite drink?
Bordeaux
18. Finish this statement, “If I had the time I would…”:
I have the time . . .
19. Do you eat the stems on broccoli?
In soup.
20. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?
Red
21. Name all the different cities/ towns you have lived in?
Alaska, Seattle, Heidelberg, Kaiserslautern, Mannheim, Wiesbaden, Tampa, Tunis, Monterey, Amman, Riyadh, Leavenworth, Doha, Kuwait
22. Half empty or half full?
Mostly Full
23. Favorite sports to watch?
College football
25. Morning person, or night owl?
Morning
26. Over easy, or sunny side-up?
3 minute
27. Favorite place to relax?
Zanzibar
28. Favorite pie?
Blueberry or rhubarb
I tag Fluent Thoughts, Magical Droplets, Skunk, Swair and Little Diamond.
Souk Mubarakiyya Art Fun
It’s no secret. I love the Souk Mubarakiyya, and I love all the handicrafts shops, the jewelry shops (it’s no sin! It’s also a handicraft!) and the food stalls. I even love the fish market, and the dark, seedy shisha place that looks like it is out of some bad movie.
Here is one of my favorite pieces of public art in the market. Not because it’s good, it isn’t. but it is a lot of fun. When you take guests to the souk, you can position one of your guests in front of the woman, and it looks like he/she is part of the market scene.
Magical Droplets says she is inspired, and has grabbed her camera to start shooting.
It’s summer. Not a lot going on . . . so here is my challenge to you, Kuwait Bloggers. Grap your camera. Show us the beauty you see, the beauty of your community, show us the beauty of Kuwait, even in the scorching, crispy heat of a Kuwait summer.
And please come back here and tell us when you’ve posted, so my non-Kuwaiti readers can also click through to take a look at what you see. Keep your camera handy – you never know when a perfect photo will come up.
Kuwait Beauty (2)
Public art in the Souk Mubarakiyya parking:
Mubarakiyya Market:
The Marina Crescent:
FBI Tries to Fight Zombie Hoards
The title got my attention. This is from BBC News and you can read the whole story here.
FBI tries to fight zombie hordes
The FBI is contacting more than one million PC owners who have had their computers hijacked by cyber criminals.
The initiative is part of an ongoing project to thwart the use of hijacked home computers, or zombies, as launch platforms for hi-tech crimes.
The FBI has found networks of zombie computers being used to spread spam, steal IDs and attack websites.
The agency said the zombies or bots were “a growing threat to national security”.
Signs of trouble
The FBI has been trying to tackle networks of zombies for some time as part of an initiative it has dubbed Operation Bot Roast.
This operation recently passed a significant milestone as it racked up more than one million individually identifiable computers known to be part of one bot net or another.
The law enforcement organisation said that part of the operation involved notifying people who owned PCs it knew were part of zombie or bot networks. In this way it said it expected to find more evidence of how they are being used by criminals.
“The majority of victims are not even aware that their computer has been compromised or their personal information exploited,” said James Finch, assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division.
Many people fall victim by opening an attachment on an e-mail message containing a virus or by visiting a booby-trapped webpage.
Many hi-tech criminals are now trying to subvert innocent webpages to act as proxies for their malicious programs.
Many bots are used to send out junk mail or spam
Once hijacked, PCs can be used to send out spam, spread spyware or as repositories for illegal content such as pirated movies or pornography.
Those in charge of botnets, called botherders, can have tens of thousands of machines under their control.
Operation Bot Roast has resulted in the arrest of three people known to have used bot nets for criminal ends.
Check Your Labels
On May 24, BBC reported on fake toothpastes found in Panama and the Dominican Republic. Today’s news has them found in four states in the United States. The boxes LOOK like Colgate, but have spelling mistakes that give them away. They claim to be made in South Africa, but they include diethylene glycol, the same compound found in the fakes earlier, and it is believed to be coming out of China. This is one time you REALLY REALLY want to be sure you are not buying a knock-off.
Colgate finds fake toothpaste in 4 states
Company says counterfeit products may contain poisonous chemical; fake products can be identified by misspellings on label.
June 14 2007: 6:19 AM EDT
LONDON (CNNMoney.com) — Fake “Colgate” toothpaste that may contain a poisonous chemical has been found in four states, Colgate-Palmolive said Thursday.
Colgate said the fake toothpaste may contain diethylene glycol, which the company never uses in its toothpaste. The company said it is working with the FDA to locate the source of the counterfeiting.
The fake toothpaste has been found in discount stores in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland, the company said.
The fake products aren’t manufactured or distributed by Colgate-Palmolive (Charts, Fortune 500) and can be identified because they say they are manufactured in South Africa or have misspellings on the label.
Comment: If this is happening in the US, where the Food and Drug Administration is careful about what is allowed to be sold, then we had better be doubly careful in Kuwait, where so much is imported from China. China appears to be cutting corners on quality across the board, and their short cuts could kill us.
Kuwait Beauty
“If you but have the eyes to see . . .”
There is great beauty in Kuwait. Here is the spire of a mosque I found in Hawalli when I got lost. (Yes, people look at me like I am out of my mind when I stop and take photos of these things they see everyday.)
Here is detail from the spire:
Here is an old-fashioned meshrabiyya window at the home standing over the Tarek Rajab Museum. Who can believe that such a museum treasure is open to the public for free, thanks to the graciousness of a private family, who sees the beauty in the Gulf Heritage, collects and preserves it.
Here is the globe near the entrance to Kuwait University, reminding us always that we are all connected in this world:
Dusk is my favorite time in Kuwait – the glare of the sun softens, and the colors glow:
Power Stations in Kuwait
I love public art. My little village in the US holds an annual Arts Festival, and part of the proceeds from this highly successful festival goes to fund public art. You can see some examples here: Public Art – October
Kuwait also has public art. I believe these squatty, square, non-descript buildings are power relay stations – and look what they have become! Once you start seeing them, you see them everywhere, and every one is different.
I love it that they are whimsical, and that some artist gets paid to design and paint all these stations! They reflect a respect and reminder for Kuwaiti traditions.
Kuwait Skyline (1)
Kuwait in the 1970’s was called the Paris of the Gulf. People who lived here then talk about it with great nostalgia, they call it paradise. Kuwait was an old trading city, full of merchants and traders. Kuwaiti men went out on fishing boats, and pearling boats, and the love of the sea is still deep in the Kuwaiti soul. The women were strong and adventurous, and took care of all the family business while the men were out to sea.
Kuwait had a tradition of tolerance and sophistication found nowhere else in the Gulf.
So many changes since then, and so much building since the capture of Saddam Hussein. I will try to post photos of some of the changes for distant viewers:
An old favorite:
Changing skyline:
Halal?
From Kuwait Times, 9 June 2007
Bull Goes on Rampage
A number of citizens and expatriates were frightened after a raging bull escaped from a slaughterhouse and rushed to the streets of Jleeb al-Shayoukh. Meanwhile, passersby reported the matter to the Farwaniya police and the police moved to the spot and shot the bull. The bull was then transferred to the slaughterhouse.
My comment / question: To be halal, doesn’t an animal have to be slaughtered in a certain way, having it’s throat slit while hearing verses of the Qu’ran, without fear?
Isn’t a bull that has been shot on the street like carrion?
How could they transfer this bull to the slaughterhouse? How can this bull be made into meat?
Signs of the Times
Sent by a good friend, some oldies but goodies, and some new ones. Even though I had seen some before, they still gave me a good grin, and I hope they give you a good grin too.
Sign over a Gynecologist’s Office:
Dr. Jones, at your cervix.”
******************************
In a Podiatrist’s office:
“Time wounds all heels.”
**************************
On a Septic Tank Truck in Oregon:
“Yesterday’s Meals on Wheels”
*********************** ***
At a Proctologist’s door:
“To expedite your visit please back in.”
**************************
On a Plumber’s truck:
“Don’t sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.”
***************** *********
At a Tire Shop in Milwaukee:
“Invite us to your next blowout.”
**************************
At a Towing company:
“We don’t charge an arm and a leg. We want tows.”
**************************
On an Electrician’s truck:
“Let us remove your shorts.”
**************************
On a Maternity Room door:
“Push. Push. Push.”
******* *******************
At an Optometrist’s Office
“If you don’t see what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place.”
**************************
On a Taxidermist’s window:
“We really know our stuff.”
**************************
On a Fence:
“Salesmen welcome! Dog food is expensive.”
**************************
At a Car Dealership:
“The best way to get back on your feet — miss a car payment.”
**************************
Outside a Muffler Shop:
“No appointment necessary. We hear you coming.”
**************************
In a Veterinarian’s waiting room:
“Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!”
**************************
At the Electric Company:
“We would be delighted if you send in your payment. However, if you don’t, you will be. ”
**************************
In a Restaurant window:
“Don’t stand there and be hungry,
Come on in and get fed up.”
*********************** ***
In the front yard of a Funeral Home:
“Drive carefully. We’ll wait.”
**************************
At a Propane Filling Station,
“Thank heaven for little grills”
**************************
Chicago Radiator Shop:
“Best place in town to take a leak.”
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