This article talks about Japan ignoring human rights (and doling out money) in the hopes of garnering support for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Oct. 22-24, Turkmenistan: Will help build gas processing plants.
Oct. 24, Tajikistan: Grants for agriculture and infrastructure.
Oct. 24-26, Uzbekistan: Loans and grants for upgrade of power facilities.
Oct. 26, Kyrgyzstan: Will repair major road and equip airport.
Oct. 26-28, Kazakhstan: Will support building nuclear plants.
Saw this last night. It's a low budget independent-style movie. It's worth watching if you are a Chris Rock fan. On a sad note, it was during the shooting of this movie that Rock left his wife of almost 20 years to date his co-star, Rosario Dawson.
A week or two after the driver's side LED taillight assembly was replaced, I started getting a message on my dashboard that said something like "REAR FOGLIGHT FAILURE". The message appeared some time between one to 30 minutes after I started the engine. But without fail, on every trip, I would get the message along with a ding-dong chime.
After looking on the Saab boards, it appears the rear fog light is just on the driver's side. This may be obvious to you Europeans, but we Americans do not use rear fog lights.
I'm taking the car in on Monday for an oil change and wanted my Saab guy to check the light issue. But I tried something simple today. I checked the owner's manual to see where the rear foglight button was, turned the light on and off, and the message has not appeared since. I think I "fixed" it!
Thankfully, Hurricane Patricia ended up being relatively benign. Next week, a big storm is coming this way. The ocean water has been extremely warm. All sorts of fish from Mexico are showing up here. This El Nino is going to be crazy. I am sort of glad I'm not doing my South America (Pacific Coast) bus trip next month.
We took Cooper for a little hike today before everything turns into mud and mush. It has been too dry for too long.
Sanchez sent me a photo of an RZ spotted in Belarus. Naturally, I went down a Saturday morning wormhole of Alfa Romeo SZ/RZ googling. I found this review. It's excellent. I'm afraid I'm going to be watching all of this Davide guy's reviews on YouTube for the rest of the weekend. Thank goodness for the subtitles.
I'd be lying to you if I said I've never daydreamed about fame and a small fortune from millions of devoted fans. However, the one thing I enjoy about this blog's low profile is that all of the readers and commenters are civil and sane. I mean, just look at one of the comments to that Barnfinds' post about the Russian factory. Good lord.
Tibet is virtually impossible for the non-Chinese press to see. But NHK was allowed in and made this wonderful documentary. It's not necessarily what was said that's interesting, but the "progress" that can be seen.
One of the people highlighted is this Han Chinese businessman from Fujian who is supposedly making a fortune as a commercial real estate developer. I can't tell if it's his haircut, his suit, his Jaguar XJ L, or his accent (I know, I'm terrible), but I feel like he's just a small town huckster.
I was walking in Oakland yesterday when I passed by a 55ish year old guy checking the engine bay of his street parked car. I assumed it was an ordinary Crown Victoria, but the engine looked funny. And when I saw the tiny trunk lid spoiler, I circled back and asked if it was a Marauder. I guess what really got me confused was that it wasn't black.
The enthusiastic owner told me that it was indeed a Marauder. It's his second one, in fact. His first one had died. He described it as a street legal Nascar.
As for colors:
2003 – Total: 7838 (328 Dark Pearl Blue, 417 Silver Birch, 7093 Black)
The overriding theme here is that although the cars on display are mundane, ordinary, and ever-present, they all played a part in our lives.
My friend Andy had a truck like the mustard yellow one in the foreground and he taught me how to drive a stickshift in it one cool evening.
Camrys!
A lady I went out with in college had a gray Camry like this one. I probably put 10,000 miles on it.
Remember the FX16 commercials?
This Crown was one of the first Toyotas sold in America.
This old fuel cell powered Highlander leased for $10,000 a month.
The highlights for me were these all-original old Lexuses.
Evolution of the Celica bumper.
Mister Two.
Other than the period correct chrome wheels, this Supra is perfect.
1975 Long Beach Grand Prix (Formula 5000) pace car.
A Southern California tradition is the annual celebrity race at Long Beach. The stars du jour competed with each other for charity. Here is Tony Danza's Celica.
Group C racer.
IMSA GTO Celica.
Twiggy's 2000GT in the background.
2000GT engine.
I rented an Echo to see my grandmother on Maui in the hospital just before she died.
