I was buying books one day from the library we have on campus. The reason I go there is because they sell the randomest books — classics — for close to nothing. I end up leaving the little shop with ten or more books. One of the books I got just so happens to be a gigantic encyclopedia from 1950. I love encyclopedias because whatever you need to know most likely might be written somewhere in there. Now, I know it’s from 1950 but it’s cool to see what certain countries and other things were like back then and how people thought of certain things.

So I looked up Kuwait and this is what I got…(Notice the population)

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Kanye said diamonds are forever; that’s true. But scientists said black gold isn’t very forever. Ever since I started school I immediately got to thinking about what Kuwait would be like after all it oil is gone. I talked to people and most of them simply say, “Why should we even care? We’ll be dead anyway.” Now I know that sounds very selfish and I hate it when they say that. It gets me thinking that Kuwaitis don’t really care about how much oil we really have left.

It is true that we have a huge reserve and it is true that we have untapped underground oil pools but all that is bound to deplete. It seems to me that Kuwaitis don’t really care about alternate fuels. Nor do they care about saving it. All I see in Kuwait is a fuel wasting market. When I sit there comparing the Western world with our beloved Kuwait I immediately notice the effort the West puts into alternate fuels or power sources. Our campus and a few others don’t use “kirby” to shade their cars in the parking lots but instead use solar panels. The hills on the way to San Francisco from LA have a billion electricity generating wind mills.

I’m not saying that Kuwait should pave the country with solar panels (although that would be awesome) nor am I suggesting that we post thousands upon thousands of gigantic wind turbines in our windless country. I’ve been doing some research here and there and some studies suggest that Kuwait’s crude oil production could peak in 2014; years earlier than expected before. What the word “peak” means is simply put, maximum. When ever something reaches it’s peak it is bound to go back down. Picture tossing a little pebble you find in the desert up in the air on a calm day. The stone (production) will keep rising until it reaches its maximum height (peak) then it’ll start to fall back down and eventually hit the ground.

Our electrical power plant in Kuwait is your typical fossil fuel plant where we burn nothing but oil or whatever comes out of oil to heat water to turn it into steam. Why not use nuclear power instead? It obviously eliminates the use of our precious oil. Why not have the dealers bring in hybrids or at least encourage their use?

I personally think that the government should put more effort in educating our upcoming generations about the benefits of alternate sources. Maybe have yearly conventions where people can get together and show off their environmentally friendly ideas. My cousin attempted to build a solar powered vehicle at one of Kuwait’s higher education facilities but his funding wasn’t approved and the project scratched.

I seem to be going in all sorts of directions here but what I’m trying to get at is that we Kuwaitis need to care more about preserving our precious fossil fuel. And we need to be prepared for what lies ahead and we can’t just sit there and lie to ourselves.

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I was Google-ing out of boredom and I read a link that really got my attention. It read:

“28 Sep 2007 … Kuwait Forums: Kuwait suckss, i live in kuwait , and kuwait sucks, but i got no other choice but to live with the kuwaiti selfish community …”

I clicked the link and it was all just review after review of what mostly non-Kuwaitis think of Kuwait; some bad, some good and some just stupid. I’ve mentioned this before and I’ll mention it again. I love Kuwait and I love the culture that I was brought into. Even though it seems distant today, it still exists; maybe not on the streets but in homes, in mosques in the old sectors of Kuwait. Sure, the people on the streets in Kuwait today aren’t everyone’s cup of tea but it saddens me that we stopped caring about others but our selves.

We in Kuwait are very friendly (sometimes) amongst our selves but not as friendly with outsiders and sometimes we’re very ignorant and non-accepting. It saddens me that we have come to this because — we might not know this but — other people, mostly foreigners, don’t like what they see when they visit Kuwait or even live in it. Now, you maybe thinking why should I care? The reason is that if foreigners don’t like what they see then the whole world most likely won’t like what they’re seeing either. How do you want people to respect us when we don’t respect them. It is true that “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” but that doesn’t mean that we degrade people or even judge them on the country they’re from and the color of their skin. For instance read what one anonymous writer on the forum posted (I can tell he’s Kuwaiti and I’m sure you can as well):

f*** you all,you will never stop thinking in our very vert rich comunity…god help you all. every one hate kuwait because we have every thing and you have nothing, and yes life is about money otherwise you didn’t come to earn it her, go and live in your poooooor countries and i will pray for you to find your food to eat.loooooooooool

Who says that?! Another person even replied with this:

if you realy have manners, you wouldnt sit there in ur f***ing chair typing on your old computer bad things about this “golden” country. not all kuwiatee people are rich, and all the rich people are donating money for you poop countries. in the past several years the kuwait government had donated more money than the money consirved to build stuff like dubai. if u hate kuwait this much leaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave. by the way: “kuwaitee citizens are 1 million and the forighners are 2 million, so f***ing shut your mouth and thank god your not kicked out from here. by the way, ihave a pourshe, carrera, are you jeleouse know?! lool in your faces.

Sad. Very sad. (Everything is copy/paste and I didn’t mess with the grammar at all).

Take a second and just think about this. There needs to be awareness for this kind of thing.

I once asked a classmate of mine who was from India studying to be an engineer. And I asked him, “What do Indian people think of them selves?”. I explained further as to what I meant by the question and he replied, “We see ourselves to be very strong and decent but without the money.” By decent he meant, very polite and respectful. And he truly lives up to his word. Thanks Sidhu.

Read the thread for yourself and see more of what I’m talking about. Link

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directdaily.com

Wataniya wants you to drive safely. For some reason this campaign made it to Gizmodo and the question they’re arising is, is it safe to use a cellphone in the car whether you’re using a headset or not?

I personally  like this campaign not only because it’s for an excellent cause which I think Kuwaitis should really consider but also because the way they’re marketing the campaign is extremely new and simply different. It’s not your usual Kuwaiti billboard ad. For the agency behind this ad, click Direct Daily.

Via Gizmodo.com and Directdaily.com.

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When ever I watch an American TV commercial I always end up feeling something. They make an impact whether they be humorous, serious or meaningful. They are almost all well made and quite worth the watch. Sometimes I actually find myself enjoying the commercials more than the tv show or movie it self. If you “youtube” super bowl tv spots or commercials you’ll get a feel of what I’m talking about. For example, the commercials below are just some of the commercials that I love.

Now, compare that ad with your typical Kuwaiti tv commercial. You end up noticing how cheesy our commercials really are in Kuwait. You’ll see that they’re all pretty routine and generic sometimes. Very tacky lines followed by poor acting skills. I feel like they try to squeeze a story line where there shouldn’t be. Like the Philadelphia cream cheese commercial where the father tells his son to get him some cheese or he won’t get his allowance. I couldn’t find the commercial but when I do I’ll update. I feel like it’s very…I don’t know…80s? Maybe early 90s? Are you catching my drift? Do you know what I mean.

However, we do have some outstanding commercials, like the ones for Zain. Where they film on location in many different locations around the world, with the latest being in India. I found out about this commercial during the closing ceremony at the NUKS USA conference just a few days back and I was simply amazed at what Kuwait has achieved and whereit’s beginning to stand in the commercial industry. I loved the ad and it proved to me that we are changing the way products are placed on tv.

I think that other major product companies in Kuwait should follow the path that Zain has started in the tv commercial world. Almost all their tv spots are interesting and quite captivating. And they aren’t your typical mom-on-the-phone-talking-to-her-friend-about-something-she-just-bought commercials.

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According to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) of 2009, Kuwait ranked 66 in the world. The number one spot being the less corrupt went to New Zealand, to the last place being the most corrupt went to Somalia. Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE and Qatar are all less corrupt than Kuwait is according to this index. To add more good news, Kuwait is becoming more corrupt as the years go by. In 2004, Kuwait was ranked 45. In two years, Kuwait managed to to fall almost 20 ranks.
Link to the complete ranking table

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Banged Up Abroad is a show that talks about the disastrous adventures or the frightening experiences that people had in foreign countries. While youtubing I stumbled upon this episode about a Briton who used to live in Kuwait with his father and when he was young he got caught up in a drug and alcohol bust.

It’s a pretty interesting story, a unique and an incredibly frightening experience. I can’t imagine having to go through what he did. While watching the videos keep in mind that the reenactments were not shot in Kuwait and they are just what they are — reenactments. All I have to say is that when in Rome, do what the Romans do; no matter how weird it seems and how wrong it seems. Just follow them laws. And I really hope that he learned his lesson…

Click more to see the rest of the episode. |more…|

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More than a couple of years ago I built a 3 dimensional model of the Kuwaiti House of Parliament which is locally known as Majlis Al-Umma. I used the free version of Google SketchUp which integrates maps from Google Earth. You can crop the piece of land you want to construct on and then upload the model on Google’s 3D warehouse and if you’re lucky you might get your model posted on Google Earth for the world to see. 

Sadly, all the blood, sweat and frickin’ TIME I put into the creation of the model it didn’t seem to meet Google standards. Maybe if you rate it they’ll post it.

I also attempted a few other models; feel free to skim through them. Oh and I forgot to mention that you can download the model and view it on your version of Google Earth (make sure you have 3d buildings activated).

Link

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This video is the highlights of Jassim Yaqoub’s career playing for Kuwait and Al-Qadsia. This video has been around for a long time, so I’m sure a lot of people watched this. Its just very hard to believe this video was part of Kuwait’s football history, considering the team we have now.

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Arizona was awesome! And the people behind NUKS really made it worthwhile. The traffic caused by the burning RV and the 7 hour road trip to and from Scottsdale, Arizona was totally worth it. 

The Hyatt Regency Resort we stayed at was beyond expectations. There was a lake on the back lawn with gondolas and gondoliers who sing to you. Three pools to choose from. And last but not least, amazing food!

NUKS set up various activities over the weekend; starting with a go-cart tournament on Friday (I couldn’t make it due to the fact we got to the hotel late), the volley ball tournament, the horseback riding trip and the Al-Qurain Treasure Hunt on Saturday.

I put up some pictures I managed to snap at the event but you can view more just by clicking here.

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