Fleeing Kyiv by train

Eating the Globe: Estonia

I ordered these white chocolate bars with blueberries and rice crisps online. I had no idea they would be sent via priority mail from Lithuania! They're not too sweet and the little pieces of blueberries are real.

Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, 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, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

Europe: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, 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: Barbados, 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, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela

Oceania: Australia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga

Shelter Cove and Avenue of the Giants photos

I took a 1.5 day solo trip up to Humboldt County and had a relaxing time. Here are some photos I took with my Canon PowerShot.

I stayed at Inn of the Lost Coast. Room 304 again. It's the top corner room in the photo.

If I ever live on the coast north of San Francisco, I would want a house like this one.

The next morning, I took a long walk on the black sand beach. With the cliffs behind me and the black sand, the lighting was awful. And the white on top of those peaks was indeed snow. It had been a cold night.

Andrew Zimmern eating hot wings

Whenever someone interesting (to me) is on this series, I watch it. Zimmern looks very different with the white beard. And the Travel Channel was definitely a small powerhouse when it had Zimmern, Bourdain, and Richman on at the same time.

Eating the Globe: Guinea-Bissau

Cafe Touba! Other than local Ethiopian and Nigerian restaurants, crossing the rest of Africa off my list has been and will be tough. So I got some herbs and spices from a Georgia specialty shop.

With these grains of selim, I made cafe Touba. It's a Senegalese concoction that is huge in Guinea-Bissau. 

You basically grind 20% grains of selim with 80% whole coffee beans. I did not use a scale, so I mixed five sticks with two heaping tablespoons of coffee together. The flavor was peppery and root-y. I'm going to throw more sticks in for tomorrow morning's brew.

I'm on a roll! I have Estonian cookies coming and when I finish my current jar of honey, I will be buying a jar from Moldova. There's always Vanuatu kava at the kava bar in Berkeley. And a friend has something special from Eswatini.

Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, 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, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

Europe: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, 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: Barbados, 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, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela

Oceania: Australia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga

Eating the Globe: Cameroon

I found an African spice business online so I bought some Cameroonian peppers. They are very spicy. I put it on some fried rice that I made for dinner tonight. I can only describe it as smoking a menthol cigarette through a rubber tire filter.

Africa: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Burundi, Cameroon, DR Congo, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, 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, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, North Korea, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Yemen

Europe: Albania, Andorra, Austria, Belarus, 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: Barbados, 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, Suriname, Uruguay, Venezuela

Oceania: Australia, Fiji, Marshall Islands, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Tonga

Taj Mahal from a different perspective

Martian crater filled with water ice

More info here.

Redwood Trail

I decided to get off my ass today and do a short hike. The trailhead is less than two miles from my house and goes through a thick redwood grove. Its highest point is at 1,052 feet where it meets the East Ridge Trail. I did it around noon so the lighting is weird. I took the photos with a new-in-box Canon PowerShot G15 that we found during Chinese New Year cleaning. Apparently, my wife bought it in 2012 for a field trip for work but got her first iPhone at the same time. So she never opened the box!

1988 Chevy Footlockers

I was not expecting the nunchaks.

I'm going to break/set a BART record

With Omicron quickly declining, I need to do something. Something big.

You may recall that in 2012, I rode to all 44 BART stations in 5h37m and set a record. I know it was a record because no one else had actually attempted it.

Since 2012, BART has added at least three new stations. I say at least three because I do not know for sure. As I write this blog post, I am researching it. So this is what BART looked like in 2012:

In 2012, I started at the northeast corner on the yellow line in Pittsburg. I went to SFO and Millbrae, doubled back on the red line to Richmond, where I peed, and then went south to Fremont, and then took the blue spur to Dublin/Pleasanton.

Below is the current map:

First, I have to start all the way in Antioch and take a Diesel Multiple Unit vehicle like this:

In order to save money (I assume), BART uses these new vehicles for the Antioch to Pittsburg portion. Just east of Pittsburg, I will have to transfer to one of the older, traditional BART trains.

The other change is the three new stations south of Fremont, i.e. Warm Springs, Milpitas, and Berryessa. That means there are a total of five new stations since my 2012 record setting run.

I'm not going to spend the time finding the optimum schedule. Since the record has never been set before, I will just go on a Saturday morning and do it. Let me do a hypothetical run now:

8:18 am Start at Antioch

9:58 am Arrive at SFO

Pee here?

10:26 am Leave SFO

10:30 am Arrive at Millbrae

10:35 am Leave Millbrae

11:41 am Arrive at Richmond

I have to pee here.

11:50 am Leave Richmond

1:11 pm Arrive at Berryessa

I can pee here.

1:44 pm Leave Berryessa

2:20 pm Arrive at Bay Fair

I can pee again.

2:41 pm Leave Bay Fair

2:58 pm Arrive at Dublin

Total: 6h40m. That's a long time. First, weekend schedules are already wonky. Second, BART is operating trains less frequently because of Covid. Its ridership is currently 25% of normal.

Let's do it!

Ferrari 412 truck conversion

Read more about it here. Hat tip to @maaronweber.

Where were/are Americans born

What a neat graphic!

Quantum of Solace movie review

The second Daniel Craig movie. What do we think?

Dave's review: What's cool about Quantum of Solace is that it's the first direct sequel of a Bond movie. It picks up literally minutes after the end of Casino Royale. This movie is better than most people give it credit for. Yes it is dark and brooding but it is consistent with Bond's character following the betrayal he suffered at the end of the last movie. The action sequence during the Turandot performance is thrilling as is the chase scene after Mr. Green escapes from M16 custody. Both Olga Kurylenko and Mathieu Amalric are weak as the leading female and villain. Gemma Arterton though shines as Strawberry Fields, one of the best names for a Bond girl in a while! The climax of the movie was also a bit lackluster but it was always going to be hard to follow the greatest Bond film ever made.

Dave's grade: B-

TT's review: Most Bond fans dislike this installment and believe it is the worst of the Craig series. I agree that it's not the best but it has a lot going for it. The opening car chase was phenomenal. Mathis may be my favorite side character. The scenes at his villa and in Bond's arms were standouts. The film was very 2008-- digital cameras instead of smartphones, America going to war for oil, extraordinary renditions to black sites. I dug the geopolitical intrigue, which harkened back to the Connery Cold War films.

A minor detail that I really enjoyed was the typography used to denote every new exotic locale.

After Mathis died though, the movie was a dud.

TT's grade: B

Dave's reaction: Interesting observation about the timely themes. That was one of the more appealing aspects of the film. And Mathis is to be missed. 

TT's reaction: It's impossible to follow Casino Royale. As the late great Louie Anderson told Marc Maron, nobody wants to follow Sam Kinison. 

Rate Quantum of Solace.

— Tamerlane's Thoughts (@TamerlaneBlog) November 23, 2021