Social Slave

No one could have known that when a Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire in a public square, it would incite protests that would topple dictators and start a global wave of dissent. In 2011, protesters didn’t just voice their complaints; they changed the world.

Time magazine chose The Protester as its person of the year as a tribute to the demonstrations that defined 2011 starting with the Arab Spring, moving on to Spain and Greece, Russia and Congo to Occupy Wall Street.

A lot of people expected that Steve Jobs would make the cover but the magazine selects the person that had the greatest impact during the past year, for better or for worse. He has been mentioned in the Fond Farewells section though.

This year’s choice actually makes sense since all the mass protests were very shocking and really shook the world, and the Time honored all of those who were brave enough to speak their minds and change the mentalities.

The Runners-Up are:

• William McRaven: The Admiral
• Ai Weiwei: The Dissident
• Paul Ryan: The Prophet
• Kate Middleton: The Princess

[Link]

The local news making the rounds is that the Kuwait Municipality will possibly ban Shisha smoking in public places including the restaurants and cafes. Apparently the Minister of Public Works and State Minister for Municipal Affairs Dr Fadhel Safar recommended this action and the Higher Committee for Planning instructed the Municipality authorities to increase the penalty for smoking shisha in public places and take steps to ban it completely. The reason being – it is a negative phenomenon in the society.

I can think of a lot of other negative phenomenons doing the rounds in society for that matter, shisha smoking is more like a part of the Arab culture and tradition. But then again, I guess what brought this on is the large number of shisha cafes sprouting up in every area and the clouds of smoke all around. The news article isn’t very clear about whether the ban is on indoor or outdoor smoking, and unless we see it implemented, it would just add to the list of all the other bans that are never really followed through.

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Now this is one collection that I’d love to own each piece of! H&M teamed up with the costume designer for the new ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ movie, Trish Summerville, to create a fashionable version of Lisbeth Salander’s dark edgy look. So there’s going to be ‘leather jackets and trousers, torn jeans and slouchy hoodies in industrial shades of black, grey, worn white or dark red’. The collection will have an exclusive debut at the boutique Colette in Paris on 28th November and will then be available in stores worldwide on 14th December.

Hash & I loved the original movie that was dubbed in English and Lisbeth’s character, and now the David Fincher’s version comes out on December 26th. Roonie Mara got a whole new makeover for this movie but we personally prefer Noomi Rapace’s look from the 2009 version.

For those who are not already following the site, go to Mouth Taped Shut which is like an insider production blog of the new movie to engage the audience.

I just read in the news that the HSBC Bank in Kuwait informed its customers that they should move their accounts either to other local banks or to other HSBC branches since they might be closing down their branch in Kuwait.

They’re saying that it could be because of HSBC’s global restructuring program they announced couple of months ago that would include laying off 30,000 employees and closing down some branches over the next 10 years, including its operations in Lebanon.

I’m not sure how far this is true but I guess their customers should find out and take action soon enough.

[Source]

Update:
HSBC will only be closing down their retail banking operations in Kuwait at the end of the year and focus only on their global banking and markets, commercial banking and private banking businesses. They have posted an announcement on their [Website].

Surprisingly Alshaya has come up with a new policy of offering an Alshaya Gift Card instead of refunds for returned items. Even though the gift card will give the buyers 12 months to use their store credit, this policy is basically forcing them to use their money on Alshaya stores.

I read about it on Arabian Business this morning but I first came to know about this a few days ago when I was out shopping for a gift and they told me at the counter that there is no refund anymore and instead they will give a gift card. I found that to be a bit annoying because there are times when you need to return something you bought and getting store credit instead just doesn’t feel right in terms of consumer rights, that’s if we have any here. Although I appreciate that Alshaya brings a lot of good brands to Kuwait and they basically control a large portion of the retail market here, but forcing buyers to spend only at their stores is a little extreme don’t you think?

This is a bit of a surprise. I just read online that one of the investment companies in Kuwait is close to a deal for bringing the Swedish Ice Hotel to Kuwait. If you’ve seen any of the Ice Hotels in Sweden or Finland, you’ll see that they’re completely made of ice inside out with blankets of reindeer hide and they have to rebuild it every year. The temperature inside these hotels usually ranges between -5 to -20 degrees. I have no idea how they are planning to pull it off in Kuwait but if they do, it will be the first ice structure in the GCC. I guess regular hotels are just not cutting it anymore.

[Source]

Well they’re finally planning to open a part of the 1st Ring Road tomorrow morning. As part of their plans, the Ministry of Public Works and the Traffic Department will be coordinating to open the higher level Bridge No. 1 which is the southern part on Jamal Abdulnasser Street that heads towards the First Ring Road. It will also include the sideways on Bridge No. 10 on Al-Shuhada Street as well as the minor streets behind the Palace of Justice, and the Bridges No. 4 and 5 by Al-Jahra Roundabout.

[Source]

Here is the first look at the images of Kuwait Airport’s new design from Architecture of Kuwait. Looks like the new airport is going to be super massive compared to the current one, check out the enlarged [Image] of the top view which shows both the current and proposed airports.

Foster + Partners are the project designers of the new airport and I really like the simple and minimalist design.

[Link]

The Al-Farsi family from Kuwait participated at the Bristol International Kite Festival to break their own record to fly the world’s biggest kite. Their kite is in the shape of a manta ray and is bigger than a full sized football pitch measuring 180 ft wide, 130 ft long with a 260ft tail. It had to fly in the air for 20 minutes to set the new record but unfortunately it tore yesterday within a minute. They were going to repair it last night to try again today, let’s hope they get successful.

[YouTube via Source]

Update: They called off the attempt to break the kite world record because it was too windy.

I just read on BananaQ8 that the Ministry of Electricity and Water will be installing solar panels on the roof of government building to utilize solar power instead of regular electricity which will help save 10% of the power consumption.

We had posted about a solar powered traffic monitor earlier and now this seems to be a good start in the right direction. If more people and organizations begin to use solar power for their homes and companies it can make a big difference on the whole.