Shuff's General Chat Thread ... #73 - Talk about anything and everything...  

Audi SQ7 debuts with world-first electric turbocharging

Just days after the multiple reveals at the Geneva motor show there has been another global debut

the high-performance Audi SQ7 luxury SUV.

It features numerous firsts for Audi, but also a world first its the first ever S model in the Q7 lineup, and it features the first electric powered compressor to be used in a production vehicle.

Following the success of the SQ5, we are now also applying the concept of a diesel-engined S model to the Q7 lineup,� said Dr Stefan Knirsch, member of the board of management of Audi AG for technical development.

The SQ7 TDI with a V8 TDI engine achieves the consumption as a six-cylinder and the new technology solution of the electric powered compressor in the SQ7 TDI is a world first in the competitive environment, with which Audi once again underscores its claim Vorsprung durch Technik.�

The New Corvette Grand Sport Is The Poor Mans Z06

If you cant afford the $90k that a new Corvette Z06 will cost you, then consider the new Corvette Grand Sport that will be landing in dealerships across the world in 2017. The Grand Sport nameplate hearkens back many years to 1962, when only five Grand Sports were built, and are currently among the most desirable cars in the world. This new Grand Sport will essentially be a Z06, but without that potent supercharged engine. And really, who needs 650 horsepower anyways?

What the hell is the point of that unblown Z06?

Weird.

Former first lady Nancy Reagan dies at 94
Reuters
By Will Dunham

(Reuters) - Nancy Reagan, the former actress who was fiercely protective of husband Ronald Reagan through a Hollywood career, eight years in the White House, an assassination attempt and her husband's Alzheimer's disease, died on Sunday at age 94.

The cause of death was congestive heart failure, said a spokeswoman for the Reagan presidential library. She died at her Los Angeles home.

"She is once again with the man she loved," her stepson Michael Reagan wrote on Twitter.

Erin Andrews awarded $55m in lawsuit over nude video case

A jury awarded Erin Andrews $55m on Monday in her lawsuit against a stalker who bought a hotel room next to her and secretly recorded a video of her that showed her in the nude, finding that the hotel companies and the stalker shared in the blame.

After a full day of deliberations, the panel said the stalker was responsible for 51% of the blame and the two hotel companies would share the rest, which comes out to nearly $27m.

Andrews, a Fox Sports reporter and co-host of the TV show Dancing with the Stars, wept as jurors announced the verdict. She hugged her attorneys and family, who have supported her inside the courtroom throughout the emotional trial.

Jurors heard directly from Andrews, who testified that she was humiliated, shamed and suffers from depression as a result of the video, which has been viewed by millions of people online. Andrews’ parents described for jurors the terror they and their daughter felt after learning of the video but not knowing who took it, where it was shot and if someone was still watching their daughter.

An FBI investigation would later reveal that Michael David Barrett shot videos in hotels in Nashville and Columbus, Ohio, and posted them online. The trial focused on the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt and video.

On Friday, circuit court judge Hamilton Gayden found Barrett at fault. It was only up to jurors to decide if the hotel owner, West End Hotel Partners, and former operator, Windsor Capital Group, should share in the blame. The hotel is a franchise and Marriott is not part of the trial.

Attorneys for the companies argued that while what happened to Andrews was distressing, the convicted stalker should be solely to blame because he was a determined criminal. The attorneys also suggested that Andrews’ rise in her career shows she did not suffer severe and permanent distress.

Andrews said Barrett’s arrest and imprisonment did not make the ordeal end. She broke down on the stand repeatedly, saying she continues to suffer because people are still watching the videos and taunting her about them.

“This happens every day of my life,” Andrews said tearfully. “Either I get a tweet or somebody makes a comment in the paper or somebody sends me a still video to my Twitter or someone screams it at me in the stands and I’m right back to this. I feel so embarrassed and I am so ashamed.”

Barrett pleaded guilty to stalking Andrews, altering hotel room peepholes and taking nude videos of her. He was sentenced to two and a half years in prison.

Andrews has maintained that someone at the hotel gave out her room number to Barrett and honored his request to be placed near her. She said no one ever told her that he asked to be in an adjoining or connecting room. Had she known that, she said she would have called police.

Barrett was a Chicago-area insurance company executive who frequently traveled around the country when he took the video of Andrews at the Nashville hotel in September 2008. He shot nearly five minutes of video of her while she was nude inside her room.

Barrett didn’t show up for the trial. In his videotaped deposition, he said that he alone was to blame. He said he correctly guessed that she would be at the hotel — it was the closest one to the Vanderbilt football game Andrews was covering — by calling and pretending to be in a group with Andrews and asking for confirmation of the reservations. He said he used an in-house employee phone to learn her room number, and made a request to be in the room next to Andrews.

During closing arguments, one of Andrews’ lawyers said Barrett tried to take all of the blame because he holds a grudge against her over his conviction and doesn’t want her to win any money.

Barrett said he posted the recordings online after celebrity gossip website TMZ refused to buy them. The only reason he picked Andrews, he said, was because she was popular and he saw that she was trending on Yahoo.

Going to look at a 1980 mazda 323 hatch tomorrow, all original so he says and asking $4000.. thinking if i do get it might drop a 12a rotary in for abit of fun

VK134 -Awesome guy in person,i stopped on my way through and had a rough window of 30mins or so to catch up and here we are 2 hours later still chatting. Most certainly will miss John,i shall be giving my condolences with the rest of the forum tomorrow morning.

Going to look at a 1980 mazda 323 hatch tomorrow, all original so he says and asking $4000.. thinking if i do get it might drop a 12a rotary in for abit of fun

In a series of images captured by photographer Christopher Horner of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, you can see the barrel of a bat flying directly at an eight-year-old’s face. Luckily, CBS Pittsburgh reports the kid had a guardian angel in the form of his dad, Shaun Cunningham, who reached out and used his seriously impressive arm muscles to shield his son.

Baseball bats in the major leagues can weigh upwards of two pounds, so this dad who spared his kid a bat to the head actually performed a pretty impressive feat. Of course, the only thing the internet has noticed about the photos is that the kid is holding a smart phone in his hands.

In the discussion on Facebook, dozens of people were quick to point out that the kid “wasn’t paying attention” and should be “looking at the game instead of his phone.” Presumably, if you dare to divert your eyes from home plate for even a second, you deserve to get hit in the head with a block of wood flying at an incredibly high speed. Here’s just a taste of the vitriol being hurled at this little boy:

“Good lookin out. But I think the real lesson here is that if you spend too much time with your eyes fixated on the miniature idiot box, life WILL smack you in the face.”

“To All Imbecile Fans that use a Ball Park as their Personal Phone Booth… You Ruin the Game for the Rest of Us and Foul Line Drives and Flying Bats are Baseball’s Retribution ! LEAVE THE PHONES AT HOME !!!”

“Why is he even at the game if he’s going to play on his phone?”

“Kids these days. Back in my day it was a treat to attend a game.”

Yes, some guy actually used the phrase “kids these days,” and they were being completely serious. I guess back in his day, he never got bored at a baseball game like pretty much any young kid would. I’m sure he also never stopped to bite a hot dog, glance at the scoreboard, or even just look over at the third baseman for a split second while the ball was in play — all things that could be equally as dangerous as glancing at a cell phone.

As a hardcore, life-long baseball fan, I can attest that bats and balls come flying at you pretty fast, and it always pays to be on alert. That said, it’s a dick move to shame a little kid based on a snapshot of a single second. Maybe he was just texting his mom, or maybe he wanted to take a picture — there’s no way of knowing. Either way, let’s applaud both the dad who prevented a terrible accident and the photographer who captured a once-in-a-lifetime shot, and let’s please leave this poor kid alone.

J.K. Rowling Offers a Fascinating History of Magic in North America in 4 New Stories

The upcoming film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will open up the Wizarding World of Harry Potter even more as it will take audiences on their first adventure to America and the wizards that reside there. Before that movie is released, though, J.K. Rowling will be releasing four new stories on Pottermore that will be published under the title "History of Magic in North America."

These stories will explore some fascinating history that will include topics such as The wizard school of the United States, which is called Ilvermorny; the Skin-walkers, which is a Native American legend of shapeshifting people; the Salem witch trials, a formative event for the country’s national magical identity; and the US version of the Ministry of Magic, which is the Magical Congress of the United States of America.

These are all exciting things to learn about, but I'm most interested in learning how the Skin-walkers and Salem witch trials fit into the Wizarding World that Rowling has created. Just the ideas behind those would make a whole new series of awesome novels that I hope Rowling writes one day.

The first “History of Magic in North America” story will be released tomorrow, March 8th, at 9 a.m., and we will get a new story every day until Friday, March 11th. You can watch a trailer that was released for these new stories below thanks to EW .

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them will be released in theaters on November 18th.

Australia Navy Finds 2,000 Weapons on Somalia-Bound Fishing Dhow

More than 2,000 weapons including assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and mortar tubes were found hidden under nets aboard a small fishing boat bound for Somalia, American and Australian officials said Monday.

Image: Thousands of weapons were found on a fishing boat bound for Somalia
The weapons are pictured having been seized last month. Royal Canadian Navy
A team from Australian frigate HMAS Darwin discovered the cache last month some 195 miles off the coast of Oman.

The U.S. Navy believes the boat had set off from Iran and that the crew were Iranian, Lt. Ian McConnaughey, a spokesman for U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, told NBC News in an email.

McConnaughey said an initial assessment indicated the weapons were destined for Yemen to be used by Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels in the country's civil war.

The weapons were discovered aboard a dhow on Feb. 27 but the find was only announced Monday.

The guns were seized under United Nations sanctions the prohibit the delivery of illegal arms to Somalia. They are expected to be transferred to U.S. custody for further analysis and disposal, McConnaughey added.

The Australian ship that found the hoard was part of Combined Task Force 150 - an anti-terror, piracy, and smuggling operation whose membership include the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and others.

It uncovered 1,989 AK-47 assault rifles, 100 rocket-propelled grenade launchers, 49 PKM machine guns, 39 PKM spare barrels and 20 mortar tubes, according to a statement from the Australian Navy.

Image: Thousands of weapons were found on a fishing boat bound for Somalia
Weapons including AK-47 assault rifles and rocket launchers were found aboard a small stateless fishing boat bound for Somalia on February 27. Royal Australian Navy
The task force does not have authority to detain traffickers in international waters and the crew of the dhow was released after the weapons were seized.

Yemen is locked in conflict between the Shiite Houthi rebels, who are allied with Iran, and the internationally recognized government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia said in October that it had intercepted another fishing boat laden with weapons destined to be used by the Houthis, according to Reuters.

Hardcore Henry | Official Trailer | STX Entertainment
STX Entertainment

Published on Feb 10, 2016
Strap in. HARDCORE HENRY is one of the most unflinchingly original wild-rides to hit the big screen in a long time: You remember nothing. Mainly because you’ve just been brought back from the dead by your wife (Haley Bennett). She tells you that your name is Henry. Five minutes later, you are being shot at, your wife has been kidnapped, and you should probably go get her back. Who’s got her? His name’s Akan (Danila Kozlovsky); he’s a powerful warlord with an army of mercenaries, and a plan for world domination. You’re also in an unfamiliar city of Moscow, and everyone wants you dead. Everyone except for a mysterious British fellow called Jimmy (Sharlto Copley). He may be on your side, but you aren’t sure. If you can survive the insanity, and solve the mystery, you might just discover your purpose and the truth behind your identity. Good luck, Henry. You’re likely going to need it…

It was an absolute honour to meet Joel today for Shuff's funeral and hearing about how he lived his life and what mischief he got up to. It has been a pleasure knowing John and he will be forever involved in my life. Doesn't help the fact i got lost today as the bike doesn't have a gps lol. Thank you once again Joel for allowing me to attend,i wish you and the family the best and my condolences. Could you let me know where he is buried so i could leave flowers on my way through?.

Albania Is Auctioning Off Soviet-Era Fighter Jets Starting at $9,000

It's tough to find a good deal on a fighter jet these days. But if you're willing to put a little time and money into a restoration project, the formerly communist republic of Albania has a deal for you.
In an effort to modernize its decidedly not-modern military, Albania is preparing to auction off a few dozen early Cold War, vintage fighter jets--most of which date back to the late 1940s or 1950s--at prices starting at just around $8,600.

A rush of interest surrounding the auction has already pushed Albanian authorities to push back the event once as well as to consider raising the starting bids for the 40 aircraft up for grabs. It turns out museums and collectors of Cold War and aviation memorabilia from across Europe and the United States have expressed overwhelming interest in the ancient fleet of fighter jets in particular--some of which Albania kept flying up until 2005.

Those aircraft include MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-19, and MiG-21 fighter jets as well as Yak-18 trainer aircraft and four Mi-4 transport helicopters. Some were procured from the Soviet Union until Albania broke ties with the USSR in 1962. After that, Albania's communist (and increasingly paranoid) regime continued to procure Soviet aircraft and spare parts from China for another 15 years or so, when relations with that country also deteriorated.

Increasingly friendless and isolated during the remainder of the Cold War, Albania's regime continued to keep its aging fleet in the air as concerns of invasion by an encroaching Soviet Union continually rattled Balkan States throughout the 1970s and 1980s. At the end of the Cold War, Albania had something like 200 jets and 40 helicopters on hand, not to mention very little money with which to maintain them.

Twenty-five years on, Albania--now a NATO member and an official candidate for EU membership--is still trying to modernize its military. Its aerial defenses have already been bolstered by the purchase of several far more fuel-efficient, Western-built helicopters. The sale of its antique, fixed-wing fleet will fund further improvements to its armed forces.
Albanian Defense Minister Mimi Kodheli tells the Associated Press that the auction--the date of which has not yet been set--will be something of a market test. If it does well, Albania has another 100 ancient aircraft it plans to unload at some point in the future.

The MythBusters Finale - Still Untitled: The Adam Savage Project - 3/08/16
Tested

Published on Mar 8, 2016
We're in the cave this week to talk about the recent airing of the MythBusters series finale. Adam goes in-depth about the planning and filming of the last episode, the incredible footage captured from the explosions, and how he and the MythBusters team watched the finale together. Plus, we hear about Adam's appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert!

Street Outlaws BoostedGT @ Outlaw Armageddon!
1320video

Published on Mar 8, 2016
BoostedGT's turbocharged small block Ford powered new edge Mustang is no stranger to No Prep racing - and you all know him from our previous video and Discovery Channel’s Street Outlaws! The sound that emits from this car is bliss, and this thing can get DOWN on these No Prep surfaces! BoostedGT is not stranger to the street racing scene and it shows! Big names such as Big Chief in The Crow, Daddy Dave, Murder Nova, Monza, and Chuck made appearances at Outlaw Armageddon’s No Prep race this past year!

QUICKEST Nitrous Car in the WORLD - Al Anabi Performance!!
1320video

Published on Mar 8, 2016
We had NO idea that we would come across so many record-breaking cars on our trip to Al Anabi Performance (AAP) in Qatar. Here we have the worlds quickest nitrous car, which happens to be a Gen-5 Promod Camaro, packed with a 903 cubic inch v8, and 4-stages of no2! This combination makes for a 5.75 second pass at 248mph! What an impressive build!!

Tilting Motor Works Leaning Trikes - Jay Leno's Garage
Jay Leno's Garage

Published on Mar 6, 2016
Engineer Bob Mighell's three-wheelers give you all the big hp motorcycle feel you crave with a whole lotta stability. Designed and made in America!