Month: September 2007

Yellowstone: Get Out of Jail Free?

Yellowstone National Park’s 260 square miles in Montana and 50 square miles in Idaho beckon with recreation, rugged terrain and wildlife.
But as the only place where a federal court district extends beyond state lines, it offers visitors and criminals a potential legal no man’s land.
Closing the loophole would be fairly simple, but the law professor who first analyzed the problem said it will require the political will to act while the crimes are still minor, like poaching elk, before someone tries to get away with murder.

An interesting theory for those not as rich as, say, OJ (was).
Read the full article here: The perfect place for the perfect crime?

1971 Toyota “Kujira” Crown S60

I need another car – just a reliable beater to convey me around town – since I want Nam to drive the Cefiro (and its newfangled safety features) when we move to the new house. The new house is within walking distance of my university, but I need something for rainy days and whatnot. I think I’ve found a good candidate:

Behold the Kuj

 


That’s an honest-to-god classic car (4th generation S60), with prices to match both in Japan and the states. I think I can get this one for about a thousand USD. There are a lot of classic Japanese cars being driven around on a daily basis in Thailand. One of the reasons is that maintenance and repairs are so cheap. Another is that they often aren’t considered classic here, just old – which is a shame for the cars, but great for people who love them.
The Toyota “Kujira” Crown was apparently not very popular in Japan when it was released, except among Osaka taxi drivers (according to one of the links above). It also got some airtime on TV shows at the time, but the avant garde looks were just too kick-ass for that stiff-upper-lip generation of Japanese sheeple, I guess. Oh, well.
This particular specimen has a secret under the hood that should make it anything but a whale (kujira = “whale”) on the road: A “silvertop” Nissan RB20DE !!! That’s the non-turbo powerplant for a type 32 Skyline!
It also has the matching drivetrain and 5 speed manual gearbox.
I promised myself I would think about it for at least a day, but I’m having a hard time waiting until tomorrow… The first thing I’m going to do is put the wing mirrors out on the hood like they oughtta be… Then I’ll have the body restored (there’s a bit of rust in places, the owner says) to look something like… this.
What say you?

UPDATE: I’ve just talked to the owner and it sounds like he’s taken very good care of it. I told him I want it; now it’s just a question of enacting the sale and slogging through any related paperwork, which I have no idea about. Yay!

UPDATE: This is what my MS-60 Kujira Crown looks like now: http://cosmicbuddha.com/2012/03/the-toyota-kujira-crown-reborn/

Onani is my life – subtitled by C. Buddha

Don’t watch this video if you have trouble admitting to masturbation:

This has to be one of the best drunk co-translations on the back of a moist towelette I’ve ever done (see how we stayed faithful to the original and got the message across? – of course, we somehow got the very first line wrong, but don’t hold that against us). Certainly one of the proudest moments, posting it here.
/////////////////////////////////////
Band info:
Formation Date: 01 January 2002
Record Label: CHINPOCHINPO?????
Label Type: Independent
Band Members: ?????????????????????????????
Influences: ??
Sounds Like: ???70???????????
Country: Japan
Classic!
(thx t)