Bulletin: New Kuwait Traffic Laws
From today’s Arab Times:
New traffic law enacted: e-mails
KUWAIT : Several people on Monday received e-mails and SMS messages on the new traffic fines allegedly imposed by the Interior Ministry. Sources at the Ministry refused to deny or confirm the messages but said a new traffic law will be implemented soon.
(Comment: Holy Smokes! Did the bloggers and e-mailers get it right???)
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?
One Day, Two Sunrises 11 Feb 2008
I didn’t think we were going to have any kind of photographable sunrise today, and, to my surprise, I got two. It almost looks like two totally different days, but it is just the way the light changed within minutes:
Here is how warm it has become in Kuwait – the Qatteri Cat is not snuggled up next to me at night to absorb every possible ray of emitted heat. 😦
I think the local schools are back from their winter breaks – traffic has once again become frantic and hostile some parts of the day.
StatCounter
A week or so ago, fellow blogger Macaholiq8 mentioned StatCounter in his entry, and how much fun he was having with it. I had a couple minutes, so I took a look, and signed up to give it a try.
Oh, what fun.
It doesn’t work on all WordPress functions – or maybe it would if I knew how to tell it to, but the things it doesn’t do for me – analyze key words, most viewed pages, etc – WordPress does just fine.
UPDATE: THANKS TO YOUSEF at Some Contrast who rescued me with the key key command to take a photo of my visitor map:
What StatCounter does is something else. My very favorite part is looking at where the viewers are coming from, they divide it up, give you percentages. I can see that a lot of schools in the United States follow the blog, but also, people in Australia, China, Iran – oh, it is so much fun to see all the drops show up on the map.
You can get an idea what StatCounter can do for you at their website demo:
And it’s free. You can buy upgraded service that gives you more, but for me, and for right now, the free service is just fine, fascinating, really.
Thanks, Mac, for a great recommendation.
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?
700,000 KD Made His Day
Also from the Arab Times:
700,000 KD cash in bank account surprises Egyptian
Kuwait : An Egyptian man, identified only as Hani, was shocked when he discovered KD 700,000 had been credited to his Visa, reports Al-Rai daily.
Hani, says although he is aware his credit is limited to KD 400, he was certain there was a mistake and informed the concerned bank, although he could have withdrawn the money and left for his home country.
Wheezing
I could feel the weather change as I woke in bed last night with a slight wheeze – and sure enough, this morning when I looked out, there was this thick haze. I don’t know if this is a sandstorm . . . the particles are so fine. Maybe it is a dust storm.
The weather is significantly warmer this week, even though the weather forecast for all of February is unseasonably cold. Yesterday it got up to about 70°F/50°C, and it was delightful. Just warm enough for a lot of people to go picnicking.
I had a yen for Chinese food, and while we normally go to Tang Chow, which I love, this time we headed for Gulf Royal, at the City Center. I knew just how to get there; we took 30 to 5th ring and then headed toward City Center, but I made a mistake and told AdventureMan to exit at Amman Street, and then we got all messed up. Ah well, it was Friday and the streets were still quiet.
AdventureMan said “I know how to get there” so we got out on Gulf Road intending to turn right off the old Bida’a circle – only to find it was totally blocked. We wound our way through Rumaithia until we could find a way to get across 5th ring – quite an adventure.
At the Gulf Royal, we discovered they have a whole section of “cabinets,” the private little dining rooms. We had been there several times before and I never knew they were there! I just didn’t want to be around people who were smoking, and so they showed us to the back, with all the families. I love quiet, private little dining rooms! This is something we only see in the Gulf, something we will miss back in Seattle.
The food was good, City Centre was packed.
Need Exercise . . .
Why is it that rainy cloudy days make you sleepier? It was extra dark this morning, no sunrise to speak of, a great morning just to snuggle back down under the covers for some extra snooze time.
I know this is perfect exercise weather. I just can’t seem to force myself to JUST DO IT!
moar funny pictures
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