Would I try these? Sure. Do they appeal to me? Not especially. Would I eat them for a week? On a dare, and on someone else’s dime. But I don’t fall within this startup’s target demographics, scattershot as they are.

This has been a bit of an eye-opener.

Nachos.

According to a New Yorker article from several years back, the answer is streamlining and scalability. I still remember it because of the, uh, challenging nature of its author’s premise. Atul Gawande (in a style much like Malcolm Gladwell’s) was looking into the chain's success as a model for health care.

My dinners at home usually include a salad of chopped greens that I always eat with chopsticks, and I didn’t even know how to use chopsticks until I was in my 20s. This habit has become so ingrained that I feel very awkward when trying to eat salad with a fork. I also tend to chop those greens with scissors,…

I can testify that the flavor combo in question worked great in reverse... when I was 10 or so.

Here in California we have a similarly convenient Korean-ish item. The prepped meals section offers a roaster pan of raw ‘bulgogi’: sauced, thin-sliced raw beef topped with white onion slivers. After an hour or so of pushing a month’s supply of dog food and beverages through the aisles, it’s satisfying to just huck…

If I guessed Sacramento, was I right? I just heard that they’re doubling the number of bikes & scooters here and wondered how that could be possible. I've been amazed/appalled at how the sidewalks have filled up with these things in just a year. 

I was expecting a brief web search to turn up a picture of this thing in a Bilstein booth, but no dice.

Heading north to Spokane on the 195 just after dawn. It’s a chilly morning. The cruise control is set at 55, and there are very, very few other cars on the highway, which winds through rolling hills. That country feels both expansive and confining... you can often see for miles, but there’s not much in the way of a…

Definitely check the classifieds on Ih8mud, and spell it everywhichway on Craigslist (LX450 w. & w/o a space, likewise with Landcruiser... even “Lancruiser”). Pricing can get pretty crazy, esp. for one w. F&R lockers (code K294 on the door sticker, K292 if lockerless). It can be more economical to go with aftermarket…

Just took a friend for a comparison drive in the one I got last month; he’s looking at a supercharged one tomorrow. I love it. It does truck stuff well.

The 500e: subtly unsubtle

I saw one of these in that color at the Laguna Seca BMWCCA Festorics in '08. I hate Techno Violet... but not on that car. It looked perfect.

As soon as I saw this post’s headline, I thought, “Hey, Sac’s not too shabby in that department. But the answer will probably be Tucson or some other dry, remote place.” And lo, the 916 was given as the reference point. And that makes sense, because this place has so much going for it in terms of car culture. Cool…

At this point in the discussion, it would be nice to know if the matching flaperon from MH17 is accounted for. Fighting in Ukraine made for sketchy forensics at that crash scene.

Mustang Cobra plus...