KZBlog is going down (2)
After some thought, I have decided not to renew KZBLog’s lease. As you may have noticed, I don’t do a lot of posting here anymore. I don’t have time to blog regularly. Thus I am taking the site down–it does generate some ad revenue but not as much as it costs to keep it up. […]
Culture
- Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
2011-12-05 - Apples, Sure. But THC is from Kazakhstan too?
2011-10-05 - Naked Man Pot
2011-09-23
- Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
Resources
- Oh, CNN
2012-07-21 - What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
2012-07-19 - Books for Kazakh Students
2011-11-06
- Oh, CNN
Politics
- Image
2011-07-28 - Sub Rosa Endorsement
2011-07-26 - The Naked Truth
2011-06-12
- Image
News
- KZBlog is going down
2013-09-10 - Oh, CNN
2012-07-21 - Repentence
2012-07-15
- KZBlog is going down
Fun
- What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
2012-07-19 - Yurts Are High Fashion and Slum Fashion Too
2011-12-05 - House Hunters Bishkek
2011-12-02
- What Do You Know About Kazakhstan?
Tourism
- Asian Games Torch
2011-01-12 - Wikitravel
2010-08-07 - ALZHIR, the Soviets and Democracy
2010-07-30
- Asian Games Torch
Life in KZ
- Photo Gallery: Almaty Subway
2011-12-07 - Healthcare and the Private Sector
2011-11-30 - Naked Man Pot
2011-09-23
- Photo Gallery: Almaty Subway
Redbubble
Coins for Gagarin and the SCO (1)
The National Bank of Kazakhstan recently issued two new silver coins, one commemorating the 40th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space. The other is in honor of the tenth anniversary of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. They look pretty nice; you can click on the gallery images below to get a better look at them. Interestingly the coin in honor of the first man in space has a face value of only 50 tenge (30 cents) and the SCO coin is 500 tenge (a value that doesn’t exist in general circulation).
I’ve never been one to buy silver coins, but I kind of like the Gagarin coin.
Handmade Computers (1)
As other people smarter in technology than I have noted, computer shops in Astana leave much to be desired. IT and tech service people tend to be better than other services here, mainly I suspect because you do have to actually know something to be an IT person. And good IT people (or any other professional that deals in manual labor) tend to get satisfaction out of solving problems and have a more scientific and ordered mindset (Can’t wait to see the comments I get on this one given that I know at least 3 regular readers work in IT). But that doesn’t stop the shops from suffering from the same issues that other shops do–low inventory, salespeople who don’t know the products they sell, and the attitude that customers are interrupting them from doing important stuff like neatening the shelves.
Interestingly, one of the better shops for both service and buying, Liner, actually builds its own computers for the most part. I don’t think you can get a custom laptop, but desktop models are assembled here in Kazakhstan. So while you do have to know something about computers to make sure you get a machine where all the bits work together well, it is kind of cool to get your own personal edition customized computer.
RT @TheBugPit: No One Rigs an … (Comments Off on RT @TheBugPit: No One Rigs an …)
RT @TheBugPit: No One Rigs an Election Quite Like Kazakhstan — my piece at @TheAtlantic http://bit.ly/feKRXA
RT @centralasia: Turkmenistan:… (Comments Off on RT @centralasia: Turkmenistan:…)
RT @centralasia: Turkmenistan: customers storm offices of the only national mobile provider http://bit.ly/i6wrYZ > Wow
By rounding up students and pe… (Comments Off on By rounding up students and pe…)
By rounding up students and pensioners in nursing home one hour before polls opened they flew under monitors radar http://bit.ly/fIoh33
RT @joshuakucera: I like to th… (Comments Off on RT @joshuakucera: I like to th…)
RT @joshuakucera: I like to think as time goes on I understand the world better and then I read something like this: http://bit.ly/dV6qNe
Malaysia (4)
For some reason, Kazakhstan’s government looks to Malaysia. Studying in Malaysia is very popular and highly promoted by the Bolashak Scholarship Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is viewed as a role model and books on great leaders published here never fail to mention his name. The architecture of Astana has surely been influenced by Kuala Lumpur. And now Kazakhstan is actively seeking Malaysian investments. And one big area they’re putting on the table is construction.
While buildings in Astana and the new ones in Almaty are pretty fanciful looking from the outside, most of them are concrete or bricks, no matter how tall they get. Wood is in short supply so even houses are concrete and Metal buildings are virtually unheard of except for functional spaces like garages, hangars and military bases. Steel skyscrapers are non-existent. I believe Bayterek is the only metal structure of any significance in the country.
So it’ll be interesting if in addition to a funky modern fusion, Malaysian construction firms can bring some diversity of materials and construction methods to Kazakhstan.
Preliminary Results Are In (Comments Off on Preliminary Results Are In)
It’s Nazarbayev with 95.5% of the vote
Gani Kasymov 1.9%
Zhambyl Akhmetbekov 1.4%
Mels Yeleusizova 1.2%
If you remember, exit polls had Nazarbayev with 95% and the others with 2.1%, 1.57%, and 1.44%, which has to be one of the most accurate exit polls ever.
Official results will apparently be ready on the 9th of April, as dictated by law. No idea where the press was getting the idea that the 12th was the deadline for official results. That’ll teach me not to go to the source.
If you’re looking for a really good summary of how the election process works and how it went yesterday, the OSCE International Observation report released earlier today is a good start.
Museum to Nazarbayev (Comments Off on Museum to Nazarbayev)
In his home village of Chemolgan in Almaty oblast, there is a museum dedicated to Nursultan Nazarbayev, set up in the same school where he once studied. The BBC has a short video taking you inside this shrine to the first president, which includes photos of him through life and objects decorated with his face including carpets, vases, and what looks like a beer stein.
Some schmuk prattlin on about … (Comments Off on Some schmuk prattlin on about …)
Some schmuk prattlin on about Kazakhstan elections http://t.co/oqdTiCY
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