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?

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.

Pearl Jam Christmas song

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:

Just realized @rchen’s Honda Beat is a 3-cylinder. So that means I’ve driven cars with 2 (i3 REx), 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, and 12 cylinder engines. Just missing 10 and 16 cylinder cars.

— Tamerlane's Thoughts (@TamerlaneBlog) December 18, 2019

And a fellow car nerd made this video in response:

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.

World's highest paid athletes

The world’s highest paid athletes (1990-2019) pic.twitter.com/0Skp8HuJIe

— Ken Rutkowski (@kenradio) December 12, 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.

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.

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.

Garmin Autoland lands plane by itself during emergency

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

You vs the guy she told you not to worry about. #MacysParade pic.twitter.com/VfNiq6mck4

— Tamerlane's Thoughts (@TamerlaneBlog) November 28, 2019

I am looking for a clean E34 wagon. pic.twitter.com/d7cbWT32Lj

— Tamerlane's Thoughts (@TamerlaneBlog) November 29, 2019

That local white 9-4X is still for sale. What’s the worst thing that can happen if I get it? I had such bad luck with the 9-3 SportCombi, I feel like I have a large reserve of good karma. pic.twitter.com/5ewdzQRZXO

— Tamerlane's Thoughts (@TamerlaneBlog) December 1, 2019

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.