Quietest room in the world

12 Sips to Glory

A short documentary about an orange soda enthusiast.

Rotten meat in Venezuela

I don't know how Maduro is able to stay in power.

Scirocco versus Impulse

H/t to Edvin.

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Nearly identical: VW said no to Giorgetto Giugiaro’s design proposal for the Mk2 Scirocco, but made its own update on his Mk1. Giuguaro then sold the design to Isuzu for the Impulse. . . So here we have cars with almost identical silhouettes and similar detailing. But one (ironically with the longer front overhang) is longitudinal RWD, the other transverse FWD. . . One of them is a Mk1 GTI underneath with four wheel discs, more power and a lower center of gravity. The other is a rebodied Chevrolet Chevette. So guess which one drives better... . . Which one aged better? You know I have my answer... . . #VW #Scirocco16v #SciroccoMk2 #Volkswagen #VWClassic #Giugiaro #GiugiaroDesign #ItalDesign #GiorgettoGiuaro #AceOfClubs #isuzu #impulse #isuzuimpulse #impulseturbo #piazza #isuzupiazza #HoldenPiazza #Chevette #1980sCars #identicalcousins

A post shared by Jason Cammisa (@jasoncammisa) on Oct 23, 2018 at 9:18am PDT

Huell Howser interviews random park goers in early 1990s Los Angeles

The single mom at the end seemed stressed out.

Kyrgyz woman sings feminist song, receives death threats

More info here.

Ugly new Audi

#TBT The Audi S8 on the left, iconic not least because of its thrilling car chase performance in the 1998 film Ronin. On the right and 20 years later stands the first ever #AudiQ8 - just as thrilling.

📸 @auditography pic.twitter.com/zoxBTgldxb

— Audi (@AudiOfficial) October 18, 2018

I'm in Autoweek!

Hey @TamerlaneBlog you’re famous cc @hoonable @AutoweekUSA @Rory_Carroll pic.twitter.com/BgYuNqfVBt

— Tyson Jominy (@tyson_jominy) October 19, 2018

rchen's 300ZX

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Finally drove past a @bayroadsap corner on the road to Canepa, had to turn back and say thanks. A big asset to the Bay Area car community! #nissan300zx #300zxtt #z32 #bayroadsap

A post shared by Crazy Rich Chen (@rchen) on Oct 18, 2018 at 7:15am PDT

1995 CHP ride-along

Fun watching Handsome Cop in a Caprice pulling over mid-90s California cars.

Three birds with one stone

Three of the four counties I still need to visit (Trinity, Modoc, Lassen) are in extreme northern California. Originally, I thought I would visit them by visiting their county seats. Weaverville for Trinity (to the west of Redding), Alturas for Modoc (to the northeast of Adin), and Susanville for Lassen (to the southeast of Adin).

I intend to take these trips with my toddler son, and keeping him in the car for that long is not fun. So I've changed my route. I'll just step over the border and head back. No need to visit the county seats. I would save a lot of time taking this "shortcut".

So for Trinity, the border is just over the first D in Redding on the map.

For Modoc, Adin is right on the border.

And best of all, in order to reach Adin, I have to drive through Lassen County!

Huell Howser visited the 5 corners of California

I am on another Huell Howser kick. He was a TV personality who visited every obscure place in California over two decades. While doing research for my road trips, I found videos of him visiting the five corners of the state.

1. Northeast corner in Modoc County. It's on a lava field bed.

2. Northwest corner. On the beach next to Oregon.

3. Tahoe corner. On Lake Tahoe.

4. Southeast corner. Along the Colorado River next to Mexico and Yuma, Arizona.

5. Southwest corner. On the beach next to Mexico.

Toru Iwatani shows his original drafts for Pac-Man

Irish Republican Army sign

Remember when the world just worried about the IRA, Basque separatists, and the PLO?

I visited three counties today

I had yet to visit seven counties in California. Yesterday, I decided to visit the three closest counties today with my son. This was my route.

I got gas at a tiny town called Knight's Landing. That Bank of America logo was from 1980-98. I was also trying to change my son's diaper at the gas station, but a bunch of sketchy people were milling about so I got out of town ASAP. I was going to have to change him somewhere else.

Just across the border of Knight's Landing was Sutter County. I was on my way to the Sikh Temple in Yuba City. 20% of the population there is Sikh. Along the way, I spotted this Nissan Axxess! It was only sold as a 1990 model (18,000+ were sold). When I took auto shop in high school, Nissan corporate donated a new Axxess and a new Sentra for us to tear apart.

We finally ended up at the Sikh Temple. Once I entered the gate, I felt safe again. It was like a refuge. Whenever I am in the rural American backcountry and afraid for my safety, I always have a sense of relief when I see other minorities. There was a playground adjacent to the temple, where children played. The parents there welcomed us. The park was donated by a Sikh-owned trucking company. There are over 150,000 Sikh truck drivers in America now.

We stopped by at a Mexican restaurant for a late lunch. The homemade salsa was perfect.

Next stop, Marysville. Confusingly, Yuba City is in Sutter County and Marysville (across the river from Yuba City) is in Yuba County. There used to be a large Chinese population there and there is still a Chinatown.

The building to the left is a synagogue.

Next stop, Oroville in Butte County. Oroville is famous for its dam, which is the tallest in America. During recent rainstorms, the dam was badly damaged and the town was temporarily evacuated. You can see the giant cranes in the background repairing the dam.

Like Marysville, there was a Chinese community in Oroville as well.

The trip was a success. The boy and I had a blast. Now, we have to visit Trinity, Modoc, Lassen, and Alpine Counties. B said if I visit Alpine, I can grab a Basque meal with him across the border in Nevada.

Eating the Globe: Kenya

I'm running out of local restaurants and I am getting desperate. I ordered some Kenyan potato chips online. It cost over $10 and tasted like spicy tree bark. I threw it away after a few bites.

Countries tried so far:
Africa: Algeria, Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Somalia, South Africa, Sudan, Tunisia, 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, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen
Europe: Albania, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine
North America: Belize, Canada, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Trinidad & Tobago, USA
South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela
Oceania: Australia, Fiji, Samoa, Tonga

Red Bull F1 in Colorado and Miami

@F1O: You have lived in both places. Which is better?

Mercator versus true size

Animating the Mercator projection to the true size of each country in relation to all the others. [OC] from r/dataisbeautiful

Hot Wheels Boom Car

My mother bought this for my son and I still don't understand what it is.

211mph in a Jetta

Traveling hair stylist in rural Russia

If I'm not researching the Darien Gap, I'm researching the Russian Far East.

Visiting the last seven counties of California

California is a large state with 58 counties. Through the decades of living here, I have visited 51 counties. I have seven to go. I used Route XL to figure out the shortest route.

The counties left are Sutter, Yuba, Butte, Trinity, Modoc, Lassen, and Alpine.

If I was really ambitious, I can do it in two days.

Saving the planet with rotor sails

Cargo ships pollute a lot. Here is a simple (partial) solution.

Dokdo belongs to Korea

As far as East Asian propaganda goes, the visual graphics are top notch.

Mercedes F1 control center back home

I'm bidding on this 1993 Toyota Century

Here is the auction. So far, I am competing with someone called "SuperCarnitas" and "2018trackhawk".

In a genius marketing move, the car was recently featured by Jay Leno.

How to screenshot in 1983

Driving the Dalton Highway by Sam Smith

Great article and amazing photos.