Monday, December 30, 2019

Eating the Globe: Tanzania


Out of soul-crushing guilt for the workers at Amazon warehouses, we canceled Amazon Prime. So now, we go to the grocery store to shop, just like the Ancient Romans. I was at the local Safeway last night and spotted this generic Tanzanian coffee. It was pre-ground (I am used to grinding the beans myself) so I suspect I used too much coffee this morning when I made it.

Countries tried so far:
Africa: Algeria, Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
Europe: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Vatican City
North America: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, St Kitts & Nevis, Trinidad & Tobago, USA
South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela
Oceania: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga

I want a Suzuki Ignis!

I passed a tiny Suzuki Ignis with Mexican plates on the freeway the other day. It's so cute!


And this car reviewer is great. Is he popular in the UK?

Friday, December 27, 2019

Slapping champion loses for the first time

Skunk ape and mermaids in Florida

Next holiday season, when the kids are a little older, we are going to resume my wife's tradition of spending Christmas in southwest Florida. I am currently reading a book about oddball Florida and I want to check these places out.

First, Skunk Ape Research Headquarters. It's basically Bigfoot in the Everglades.

Second, a mermaid show, straight out of 1950s Florida.

Tuesday, December 24, 2019

Sunday, December 22, 2019

Minivan shopping

We decided to check out minivans today. First up, the Chrysler Pacifica.

The dealer sells Dodges, Jeeps, and Chryslers. It's a weird and quiet showroom. They had a Ram Longhorn, two Chargers, and a four-door Wrangler on display. Apparently, FCA requires every dealership to have a children's area to help with sales.


We are looking at base models. The LX version (second from the bottom) is actually called the Voyager. It's around $31,000. The steering wheel was made of the cheapest plastic known to man. The engine was very quiet. It drove fine. My wife noticed the door handles felt like they were all going to fall off.


Next, we went to the Toyota dealer, The Supra was behind a velvet rope. No markup!


The showroom was odd. The Supra was the only car there. It was packed with employees-- greeters, salespeople, managers.

They didn't have the low spec L or LE in stock. So they showed us the sporty SE. It drove very heavy. It was around $42,000.


Finally, we went to the Honda dealership. This was one of two 2019 Odysseys left. There was a $3,000 discount and it ended up listing for less than the Pacifica/Voyager. The fit and finish and overall packaging was superior to the other two vans. And it sat lower and felt like it handled better too.



There was an old Honda racer in the showroom. It's tiny.




We are going to try a more upscale version of the Pacifica before we make our decision. We really like the looks of the Pacifica.

Car cylinder bingo

Earlier this week, I tweeted this:


And a fellow car nerd made this video in response:

Wednesday, December 18, 2019

Crowd cheering for dart player

I don't know anything about darts as a sport. I thought you're just suppose to hit the middle. This video is hilarious.

Saturday, December 14, 2019

World's highest paid athletes

Sunday, December 08, 2019

Tabasco factory tour

I put hot sauce on nearly everything. And Tabasco remains my favorite. My first taste of red Tabasco sauce was as a child in Japan. A restaurant served spaghetti on one of those fajita skillets and I put Tabasco on it. I didn't try green Tabasco until the late 1990s, when I put it on my omelet at a Wyoming diner with a dirt parking lot.

Saturday, December 07, 2019

Howard Stern interviews Hillary Clinton

This is an incredible interview. She opens up so much. She's even likable. Had she given this interview before the election, she might have won. But then again, she can only be this open because she lost. Intelligent, complicated woman.


Watch the entire 2.5 hour interview here.

Apathy would have been our president

Another election is coming up. I predict he will be re-elected.


Wednesday, December 04, 2019

New Bond film!

I'm excited, although I have zero recollection of the plots of the past Daniel Craig movies.


And here is an analysis of all the cars in the trailer.

Sunday, December 01, 2019

I spotted a Nissan X-Trail

These were never sold here. Perhaps it belonged to Canadians visiting family down here.



Popular tweets over Thanksgiving weekend





Chinese icebreakers

For years, China had Xue Long (snow dragon), a Ukrainian built icebreaker. China just built its own icebreaker, Xue Long 2.


It's pretty impressive, although the narration was definitely written by a non-native English speaker.

Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone

This is a ludicrous place but I kind of want to visit it. It is an area along the border of Thailand, Laos, and Burma. A Chinese businessman controls 80% of it (the Laotian government has the remainder). There is a casino and you can buy all sorts of contraband stuff, from tiger parts to heroin to even more unsavory things. It's sketchy as hell.

Sunday, November 24, 2019

World Leaders Cars (20)

181. Liechtenstein: Audi Q5. 2008 car: Audi A8.


182. Monaco: Lexus LS500h. 2007 car: Daimler.


183. Mongolia: Mercedes S-Class. 2007 car: Toyota Land Cruiser.


184. Mozambique: Toyota Land Cruiser. 2008 car: Toyota Land Cruiser.


185. San Marino: Audi A6. 2008 car: Lancia Thesis.


186. Sao Tome e Principe: Toyota Land Cruiser. 2008 car: BMW 7-Series.


187. Saudi Arabia: Mercedes-Maybach S600 Pullman. 2007 car: Maybach 62.


188. Tuvalu: Nissan Note. 2008 car: Mazda truck.


189. Tonga: Humber Super Snipe Pullman. 2007 car: London taxi.


Tally
Mercedes S-Class: 46
Toyota/Lexus Land Cruiser: 39
BMW 7-Series: 16
Lexus LS: 11
Audi A8: 10
Toyota/Lexus Land Cruiser Prado: 10
Mercedes Gelandewagen: 8
Chevy Suburban/GMC Yukon: 7
Audi A6: 2
BMW X5: 2
Jaguar: 2
Land Rover Discovery: 2
Mercedes-Maybach: 2
Range Rover: 2
Toyota Sequoia: 2
Audi Q5: 1Aurus Senat: 1
Cadillac: 1
Chevy: 1
Citroen DS7 Crossback: 1
Hongqi: 1
Honda Accord: 1
Humber Super Snipe Pullman: 1Hyundai Equus: 1
Hyundai Genesis: 1
Hyundai Santa Fe: 1
Isuzu MU-X: 1
Lancia Thema: 1
Land Rover Freelander: 1
Lincoln Navigator: 1
Lincoln Town Car: 1
Mercedes E-Class (old): 1
Mercedes E-Class convertible: 1
Mercedes GL: 1
Mercedes ML/GLE: 1
Nissan Note: 1Proton: 1
Rolls-Royce: 2
Skoda: 1
Toyota 4Runner: 1
Toyota RAV4: 1
VW Touareg: 1
VW Transporter: 1

Thursday, November 21, 2019

Going out with Rich



On February 8, 2009, Rich first commented on my blog. It was about a Peugeot 604 that I spotted and photographed with my Motorola Razr.

We met for lunch soon thereafter and the rest is history. Yesterday, we went out to lunch to celebrate ten years of friendship, in his Honda Beat!




And here's a retrospective of co-piloting with Rich during all those Anti-Football Runs on January 1.

2011(?): Modified BMW E9

2012: Alfa GTV6

2013: M5

2014: 1981 Honda Accord

2015: 1988 Porsche 911

2016: Citroen XM

Thanks, man!


Monday, November 18, 2019

My kidney stone medical bill

2019 Japanese police parade

Breathtaking. H/t @rchen.

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Ed's 1983 Mercedes 300D

This is a wonderful video by KBB's Micah Muzio, going over Ed's fast diesel.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Two top tweets from this week

Both regarding Acuras!



Thursday, November 07, 2019

Eating the Globe: East Timor

Before I bought this coffee, I double checked that the coffee was indeed from East Timor rather than the Indonesian part of Timor.

This coffee, unlike other Teasia's offerings, was actually pretty tasty!




Countries tried so far:
Africa: Algeria, Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
Europe: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Vatican City
North America: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, St Kitts & Nevis, Trinidad & Tobago, USA
South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela
Oceania: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga

Wednesday, November 06, 2019

Monday, November 04, 2019

Sunday, November 03, 2019

Documentary on driving in Papua New Guinea

This series is amazing. I've watched PNG, Congo, and Philippines already today.

Let's see what's going on in Hong Kong

A fireman got mad at the police for firing a tear gas canister at his truck.

Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Tweet of the week

I'm going to try something new. I tweet a lot more than I blog. So every week, I will post here the tweet that got the most interactions. Last weekend, I rented a Velar for a day in Orange County and posted my thoughts. Click on the tweet to see people's responses. And comment here if you wish.


Obama versus Trump speech styles

Now you know I don't often (if ever) post photos or videos of our current president. But this is pretty funny.

I have a kidney stone

During the power outage, at three in the morning, I woke up with the worst pain in my life. I have a kidney stone. I'm going to wait for it to pass. But if it doesn't, the doctor will pulverize it with soundwaves(!).


Sunday, October 20, 2019

Cool 8 minute piece about Chukotka

Economist article about Russia's Chukotka

Though I don't agree with the politics of The Economist, I do enjoy its stories about faraway places. Like this story. Chukotka is about as remote as it gets.

AOC endorses Bernie

AOC is the new voice of The Left. It's incredible to think that in May 2018, nobody had heard of her. This was her campaign ad to unseat an incumbent, out-of-touch, Democrat:


Yesterday, AOC endorsed Bernie in front of a record crowd (for this election cycle so far):

The evolution of Taco Bell hot sauce packets


Tuesday, October 15, 2019

Wednesday, October 09, 2019

Food tour: Lhasa under Chinese rule

Recently, I've been watching Mark Wiens eat his way around the world. He just visited Lhasa, under Chinese government supervision. I've never seen footage like this before. It's quite disconcerting to see a fully loaded Range Rover in front of the Potala Palace. And every store sign has Chinese words and red flags. I think it's safe to say the Tibetan spirit has been completely broken.

i3 being charged by a Honda generator

As you may know by now, we are going through some pre-emptive power shutdowns. This tweet is making the rounds, and it's actually from 2014 in LA. H/t to Dogs!



Sunday, October 06, 2019

Tristan da Cunha's Inaccessible Island

I was reading an article about plastic garbage and came upon a place called Inaccessible Island. It's a part of Tristan da Cunha.

Here is the island:

Here is Tristan da Cunha:

Foreign troops marching in China's 70th National Day parade

The list of countries is telling. The leaders who showed up is telling. And Xi pressured a lot of them to wear goofy baseball caps.



Afghanistan
Belarus
Cambodia
Cuba: The new leader looks so modern and young compared to the Castro brothers.
Egypt: Sisi showed up.
Fiji
Kazakhstan: Nazarbayev showed up. I thought he retired.
Kyrgyzstan
Laos: The first lady has Imelda Marcos sunglasses.
Mexico: So neutral.
Mongolia: No mounted archers.
Pakistan
Serbia: Remember when NATO "accidentally" bombed the Chinese embassy in Belgrade?
Tajikistan
Vanuatu: !
Venezuela: Maduro dared to leave his country.
Russia: But Russia is not last alphabetically.

1982 Seiko TV watch


Wednesday, October 02, 2019

Tuesday, October 01, 2019

Hongqi speeding on the freeway

This is supposedly the model that carried Xi during the China National Day parade yesterday. H/t SanchezF40 and Ramon.

Monday, September 30, 2019

Saturday, September 21, 2019

More Darien Gap news coverage

It seems a lot of Africans and South Asians continue to cross the Darien Gap. Here is a piece by the BBC.


And here's one by a Christian network.


The piece shows the Medellin bus station where I boarded, along with the drive to Turbo. As you may recall, I was on the bus with a small group of South Asian men, but I didn't have the guts to talk to them. Here they were, at a meal stop. I wonder where they are now.


Let's talk FD RX-7

It all started with this example I spotted in traffic earlier this week. Hands down, it's the most beautiful car of the 1990s.



Then, I saw this video on Jalopnik. Orlove and his boss drove one at the Duncan Collection in rural Virginia.


Then I read up about it on BAT. I assume you wrote this, Alan?

Finally, another video of the RX-7. Funny (not funny) story about the presenter. I met Mike Schlee at the only car launch event I have ever attended, for the 2014 Corolla in San Diego. I bumped into him at the bar and he was super nice and welcoming (he's Canadian, after all). He works for Subaru Canada now.

Jaguar XJ220 racing in America

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I have a love-hate relationship with DeMuro's videos. He has access to some pretty rad and rare cars and spends a lot of time on obscure bits like the door switches and rear view mirror. But something about the presentation just rubs me the wrong way.

Well, when I saw that he reviewed an XJ220, I HAD to watch it.


But what's even more fascinating is that there was a racing series in America in the early 1990s to promote the car. Retired racers were invited to drive them, and many of them got wrecked!


I know I've seen four in real life, maybe more. At Vijay Mallya's private collection, the Imperial Palace (Las Vegas) museum, the Marconi down in Orange County, and the Maserati museum in Riverside.

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Eating the Globe: Rwanda

I continue to try coffee from around the world. The Rwanda coffee was meh.



Countries tried so far:
Africa: Algeria, Burundi, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Asia: Afghanistan, Armenia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
Europe: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Vatican City
North America: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, St Kitts & Nevis, Trinidad & Tobago, USA
South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela
Oceania: Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga