America's largest Maserati collection

In exactly two weeks, I'm gonna visit the Riverside International Automotive Museum.  Its claim to fame is its collection of Maseratis-- it has at least one example of every model sold in the States.  Among the Quattroportes in its inventory-- 2 Quattroporte I's, 1 Quattroporte II (Frua edition), and 4 Quattroporte III's.

Here is the complete inventory:

Ferrari
1977 Ferrari 308 GTB
1984 Ferrari Berlinetta Boxer injected (512 BBi)
2001 Ferrari 360 Modena Spyder

Maserati
1962 Maserati 62 3500 GTI
1963 Maserati 63 3500 GTI
1964 Maserati Quattroporte
1967 Maserati Quattroporte
1965 Maserati Mistrale Spyder
1967 Maserati Mistrale Coupe
1968 Maserati Mexico
1968 Maserati Ghibli Coupe
1970 Maserati Indy
1971 Maserati Quattroporte II, Frua Prototipo
1973 Maserati Bora
1973 Maserati Merak
1974 Maserati Merak
1975 Maserati Khamsin
1980 Maserati Kyalami
1980 Maserati Quattroporte III
1982 Maserati Quattroporte III
1982 Maserati Quattroporte III
1984 Maserati Quattroporte III
1989 Maserati Biturbo Spyder
2002 Maserati Spyder Cambiocorsa
2005 Maserati Spyder 90th Anniverary
2005 Maserati Quattroporte
2006 Maserati Gransport Victory
2006 Maserati MC12 Stradale

Ford
2006 Ford GT

Jaguar
1961 Jaguar MK II Sedan
1967 Jaguar 420 G Sedan
1974 Jaguar XKE Roadster
1994 Jaguar XJ220

Race Cars
1970 Race Car Gurney Olsonite Eagle
1980 Race Car Penske PC-7

1975 production car race

Race fans brought their street cars to race.  Zero safety equipment-- just check out the guy with the Mustang convertible.  I think Ralph Nader's head just exploded.

Via Stipistop, via SSBB.

Delta and Ryanair may buy Sukhoi SuperJet 100

On the upside, the interior was designed by Pininfarina.

Skip to 1:23.

Solar powered light bulbs

This is a great idea-- it's simple, cheap, and environmentally friendly.  But does this give the government an excuse to not electrify poor neighborhoods?

"Until I find that mint Le Car"

Hat tip to rchen and Josh!

9/11 anniversary coming up

Well, the 10th anniversary is coming up.  I asked my friend Steve, who shared with us his memories of that fateful day last year, what he wanted to do.  He offered to share the pictures he took that morning.  Apparently, he documented everything with his camera, from his escape down the stairs of Tower 2 (from the 61st floor) to the chaotic streets of Manhattan.  Hopefully, I'll receive the disk full of pictures in time and share them with you on 9/11.

Mystery solved: Severed feet in sneakers

Apologies for the macabre topic, but this is fascinating.  Remember those severed feet in Nikes that kept washing up onto British Columbian shores a few years ago?

Here is a breakdown of the feet and their shoes:

1. Jedediah Island, August 20, 2007, male, right foot, size 12, Adidas sneaker;
2. Gabriola Island, August 26, 2007, male, right foot, size 12, Reebok sneaker;
3. Valdes Island, February 8, 2008, male, right foot, size 10.5, Nike sneaker;
4. Kirkland Island, Fraser River, May 22, 2008, female, right foot, size 7 New Balance sneaker;
5. Westham Island, near mouth of Fraser River, June 16, 2008, male, left foot, Nike size 10.5 sneaker;
[Hoax: Campbell River, June 18, 2008, apparent foot, size 10, Adidas sneaker.]
6. Juan de Fuca Strait, August 1, 2008;
7. Richmond, November 11, 2008, female, left foot, size 7, New Balance sneaker.

Well, according to the authority on sea trash, Beachcombers Alert!, here is the explanation:

"Where do the feet come from? Most likely from the official tally of 2,400 persons missing in British Columbia. Some of these enter the water where, based on my experience, something like half will sink and half will initially float. Over time, the body separates in a process called disarticulation, at the joints into component parts of arms, legs, torso, hands, fingers and so on for a total of twenty some parts. As the feet bloat they become wedged in the sneaker and if the foot separates from the leg, the sneaker’s buoyance may bring it to the water surface where the shoe-foot becomes a surface drifter that moves around from the combined effects of winds, waves, tides and estuarine currents. Eventually the foot falls out of the shoe, and only the foot-sneaker combination is reported. Single sneakers found on the shore without a foot inside are not newsworthy and thus are not reported.

Why in the Strait of Georgia? My view is that the media have focused attention there because of the initial string of right feet — there is a one in sixteen chance that four right would be found in sequence at random — that beachcombers reported. Over the past decades, I’ve collected accounts of human remains stranded round the world. Feet in sneakers have washed up in my home waters of Puget Sound, but they only rated a column inch or so in local newspapers. There is a high population density around the Strait of Georgia. Once the citizenry learned of feet in sneakers they were on the look out and reported more.

Finally, as disarticulation proceeds, the right and left feet separate from the body. The lefts and rights drift in different directions and so fetch up on different shores."

Breaking Bad Dodge Challenger donuts

Watch Walter hoon his son's car.

Midway Island plastic trash

Am reading Moby Duck, which traces the paths plastic toy ducks took around the world's oceans after a container full of them fell into the North Pacific.  The amount of plastic out there boggles the mind.  A dead baby bird on Midway was found to have more than 200 pieces of plastic in its little body.  Clean up crews have collected over 3 million disposable lighters there.

How Osama bin Laden tricked us

Found this at the party supply store today.

Dick Cheney in a bumper car, 1976

Schumacher's gold helmet at Spa

If you've ever built a model plane or car as a kid, you'll appreciate this.

Via Flavio Gomes.

Bruno Senna Spa crash photo

He didn't take into account the full fuel load on the first corner.  Oops.

And what about that incredible start by Rosberg?

Bentley Turbo R on Top Gear

They're cheap to buy AND cheap to maintain?

Carspotting: Lotus Esprit

I saw two Lotus Esprits this week.  I saw the first one last weekend in Mendocino.  It was a later model, probably a V8.  I didn't get a chance to whip out my camera phone.

I saw another one this afternoon.  It was at a European auto shop in Fremont.  It's one of those places where you just know none of the cars have moved for months.  So I went on Google Street View, and what do you know, it's on it.

And we spotted a couple of old American cars once we got on the freeway.

Chilean protestors attacking cop

You can measure the adrenaline by the gallon (liter for those of you outside of the U.S., Myanmar, and Liberia).  Holy crap.

Come on, Hurricane Irene (video)

Heidfeld's salary

Just heard on Speed that Heidfeld was paid 250,000 euros per race.  That works out to around $7.2m for the season!

Picture courtesy Sweet F1.

Photos: Inside Gaddafi's mansion/palace

You've probably heard about the creepy scrapbook the Colonel had of Condoleezza Rice.  Well, here are some more pictures from the Guardian.

Kim looking at things

looking at food package

This simple site ought to take up most of your next coffee break.

Carspotting: 1979 Land Cruiser

Caught this outside Jong Ga House in Oakland.

Video of Jon Huntsman speaking Mandarin Chinese

Not perfect, but very, very, very impressive.  He knows Chinese because he did his Mormon mission in Taiwan.

What is the make and model of Saif Al-Islam's "white limousine"?

Don't war correspondents and photographers understand that 0.001% of their readership need better pictures and descriptions of the vehicles of the newsmakers?

Marauder Top Gear video

Top Gear has been dull for a while now.  This is, however, worth watching.

Top Gear - Marauder 4x4 - Subtitulado español by videoindex

CNN gets an F in geography

Live, from Tripoli!

Mendocino's Skunk Train

Over the weekend, we took the Skunk Train in Mendocino County.  Mendocino is a chilly coastal region north of San Francisco.  Two-thirds of the area's income derives from marijuana cultivation and Murder She Wrote was filmed there.

The Skunk Train follows the route of 19th century lumberjacks.  It connects the coastal town of Fort Bragg with the inland town of Willits via a spectacular coastal redwood forest.

We took the steam train from Fort Bragg to the midpoint of Northspur.  It's 21.3 miles long and the round trip (including a 30 minute stop at Northspur for lunch) took about four to five hours.

The train car with the psychedelic paint scheme is for adults only.  Admission costs more but you get unlimited mimosas and wines.

You can buy souvenirs here as well as lunch, so long as it's a hot dog or burger.

The Northspur to Willits leg is serviced by this lone diesel powered railcar.

The 21.3 mile trip uses 2,000 gallons of water/steam.  Here is our train being reloaded with water for the return trip.

Here is that diesel car.  It's very futuristic looking, in a retro way.