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

Millionaire businessman John Chardon, 69, charged with the murder of his fifth wife Novy, 34, who vanished three years ago

Police have charged Gold Coast millionaire John Chardon, 69, with the alleged murder of his 34-year-old wife Novy, who disappeared more than three years ago from the Mt Nathan mansion they shared.

Chardon, a multi-millionaire industrial lubricants manufacturer, was handcuffed and taken into police custody after an investigation which included two separate searches for his fifth wife's remains.

He was charged with the murder of the mother of two and was to face the Brisbane Magistrates Court later on Friday.

Detectives and forensic officers searched the Chardon mansion in the Gold Coast hinterland following her February 2013 disappearance and the publication of her last sighting, on CCTV in a Gold Coast service station ten minutes from her home.

The search including unearthing a white vehicle police feared may have been buried below ground with the entombed woman's remains.
In January last year, police divers searched dams on a Gold Coast property at Advancetown belonging to the mother of pop star Rikki Lee Coulter for the body of Ms Chardon.

OJ Simpson says he will take paternity test to see if he's Khloe Kardashian's dad.

It’s been in the rumour mill ever since Khloe Kardashian was thrust into the spot light in 2007, but now we may finally find out if OJ Simpson is Kardashian’s biological father.

Kardashian’s father, Robert Kardashian who died of esophageal cancer in 2003, was Simpson’s close friend and lawyer during his 1994 trial where he was accused of murdering his ex-wife. The allegations of the third youngest Kardashian’s paternity surfaced several years ago, as fans noticed she looked considerably different from her older sisters.

Now, the claims have surfaced again thanks to a new documentary, "The Man Who Saved O.J. Simpson." Simpson's prison guard, Jeffrey Felix has said the 68-year-old has agreed to take a paternity test. On one condition: Kardashian has to visit him in prison.

The Daily Mail has learned Simpson wants Kardashian to make a personal appearance at Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada, where he is serving out 33 years imprisonment for numerous felonies, including armed robbery and kidnapping.

Former prison guard, Felix, who has written a book on Simpson, says OJ has finally consented to taking the test. Jail authorities have also given their permission for the test to go ahead.

"He wants to talk to her about some other things too, but more importantly like her he wants to know if she is his daughter," Felix said.

The news comes just day after Felix said he supposedly heard the 31-year-old Keeping Up With The Kardashian's star 'begging' Simpson for a paternity test. We're not sure how true that claim is, but if this is true, then this has also confirmed another long-speculated rumour, Kris Jenner has an affair with Simpson.

The Kardashian clan has long-denied rumours of Khloe's differing paternity, which were addressed in a 2009 episode of the hit reality show where Kardashian swabbed Jenner's mouth for a DNA test.

Robert Kardashian's ex-wives, Jan Ashley and Ellen Kardashian also claimed Kardashian wasn't a member of the famous family.

Jenner called the theory 'crap' on Good Morning America, while Kardashian tweeted, "The audacity you have to mention my father's name like this! Should be ashamed of urself! I let a lot of things slide but this one is really low."

We guess only time will tell.

4pm, 23 June, 1991: the flag dropped on the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the car that shrieked across the finish line was the one you see in the pictures above. It was the Mazda 787B; the car that marked out Mazda as the first and only Japanese carmaker to have ever won the fabled 24-hour epic.

Of course, as with literally every single Le Mans, victory wasn’t assured. Following a gruelling 21-hour fight with Mercedes-Benz and Jaguar, and only three hours before the end, Johnny Herbert took the lead for the first time… and didn’t surrender it until the end. Which meant that the 250,000 spectators at the event witnessed the rotary-engined monster cross the finish line.

You want some numbers though, right? The R26B rotary engined pumped out over 700bhp at an ear-splitting 9,000rpm (honestly, you have to hear it to believe it - more on that in a tick) and ran absolutely faultlessly across 326 laps - which means flat out for 3,065 miles. Herbert, along with Volker Weidler and Bertrand Gachot, averaged a speed of 127.62mph over the 24 hours.

Three Mazdas raced in 1991 - two 787Bs and a 787 from 1990 - and all of them finished. Herbert’s car in first place, obviously, the other two finishing sixth and eighth overall. No mean feat, considering that of the 38 cars entered in 1991, only nine others officially finished.

And how’s this for reliability? Not only did it run without fault across 24 hours, but on a post-race inspection, Mazda’s engineers reckoned the R26B was in good enough nick to manage another 24 hour race.

The winning number 55 retired the next year, and went to live a model life in Mazda’s Hiroshima museum. It’s made fleeting appearances at events since, mind, including a particularly noisy one at Le Mans in 2011 for the 20th anniversary of the win.

Which is all well and good telling you about it, but why not click on to the next slide to actually hear it in 2011, at Le Mans, in the hands of Johnny Herbert?

Says Mazda: “Such occasions [like 2011 at Le Mans] have been magnets for those longing to hear that distinct sound live, one more time or for the first time. It’s a sound that still resonates today with an almost cult-like following among racing and especially rotary fans around the world…”

So, enough with the history, time for some NOISE. Turn it up loud, Internet.

EgyptAir flight data recorder is recovered from the sea a day after the cockpit voice messages were discovered

Search teams have recovered the flight data recorder from the Egyptair flight that crashed in the Mediterranean - a day after messages from the cockpit were retrieved.

The second black box, which experts see as a vital part of the probe, was found in several pieces, according to investigators.

It was not immediately clear how much of its data would be useable, but investigators did manage to find the memory unit, which is considered the most important part.

Yesterday, it was revealed that the cockpit voice recorder had been found and pulled from the sea.

Egypt's investigation committee said the black box has been damaged but search crews managed to safely recover the memory unit 'which is the most important (part) in the recorder'.

The voice recorder was retrieved in 'several stages' and is currently being transferred from the vessel to the Egyptian port city of Alexandria.

Once on shore, it will be handed over to the members of the committee who will unload and analyze the data.

The announcement comes after a French research vessel found wreckage from doomed flight 804 which disappeared over the Mediterranean last month.

The Airbus A320 vanished on May 19 with 66 people on board while en route between Paris to Cairo.

The deep ocean search vessel John Lethbridge has identified several main locations according to the Egyptian Investigation Committee.

The committee said late Wednesday that a vessel contracted by the Egyptian government to join the search efforts for the data recorders and the wreckage of the doomed A320 'had identified several main locations of the wreckage, accordingly the first images of the wreckage were provided to the investigation committee'.

Searchers have also found pieces of the missing jet's cabin and fuselage have been found at 'several sites'.

Based on the wreckage locations; The search team and investigators onboard of the vessel will draw a map for the wreckage distribution spots, it added

The plane disappeared from radar en route to Cairo from Paris.

No group has claimed responsibility for an attack.

The search has concentrated on an area between the Greek island of Crete and the Egyptian coast.

Air crash investigators are determined to recover the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder to help determine what happened to the doomed jet.

So far, only small pieces of wreckage and some human remains have been recovered.

Shortly before it vanished, the aircraft had been cruising normally at 38,000 feet when it turned 90 degrees to the left.

Moments later, it turned a full 360 degrees to the right and plummeted to 15,000 feet.

The jet vanished from radar at 10,000 feet.

Experts believe they have located the main wreckage locations, but they have until Friday to find the aircraft's black boxes, when the batteries on an electronic bleeper system are due to run out.

Once the batteries run out, the task of locating the black boxes will be far more difficult, but not impossible.

A French vessel, Laplace, located signals from the ocean bed which could come from the black boxes.

The John Lethbridge has a special side scan sonar that can provide digital images of the seabed and is equipped with a submersible robot capable of diving to 10,000 feet.

The missing jet is believed to be lying in water at the very edge of the robot's capabilities.

While speculation initially centred on a terror attack, a technical fault has also not been ruled out, with automated messages sent by the plane shortly before its demise indicating smoke in the cabin and a fault in the flight control unit.

The crash took place seven months after the bombing of a Russian airliner over Egypt's restive Sinai Peninsula in October that killed all 224 people on board.

ISIS claimed responsibility for that attack. There has been no such claim over the EgyptAir crash.

Leaked flight data indicated a sensor detected smoke in a lavatory and a fault in two of the plane's cockpit windows in the final moments of the flight.

Starsky And Hutch (2004) – Ripper Car Movies


Film adaptations of TV shows are seriously hit-and-miss – often a miss – but director Todd Phillips (Road Trip, Old School) nailed the ‘hit’ option with his 2004 big-screen version of the classic 70s cop show Starsky & Hutch.

Choosing the comedic double act of Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson to play cops David Starsky and Ken Hutchinson respectively was the perfect move, as their proven ‘buddy’ chemistry offered a solid footing for a crime-fighting duo flick.

The film serves as a prequel to the TV series by establishing the origins of the title characters’ partnership, albeit played out with a generous dollop of comedy compared to the original’s dramatic edge.

Starsky is painfully by the book and sees only black and white, while Hutch is lazy and reckless and not averse to dabbling in some petty crime of his own. The high-maintenance work ethic of each has Police Captain Doby (Fred Williamson) at his wits’ end, so he pairs them up, hoping their clashing traits will neutralise one another.

They are soon working a murder investigation, on the trail of alleged drug lord Feldman (Vince Vaughn), his mistress Kitty (Juliette Lewis) and brains guy Kevin (Jason Bateman), who have developed an undetectable style of cocaine that is about to be marketed internationally.

While attempting to connect the murder to Feldman, Starsky and Hutch bond via some funny-arsed experiences with dragon-obsessed jailbird Big Earl (Will Ferrell), street-wise informant Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg) and smokin’-hot love interests Holly (Amy Smart) and Staci (Carmen Electra).

Of course, no 70s re-creation would be complete without the real star of the show: an awesome ride. In this case it’s the iconic red and white Ford Gran Torino, smoking the tyres off its slot mags at any given opportunity. It’s a highlight of a flick that is already fast-paced and fun, with the Stiller-Wilson-Vaughn-Bateman-Ferrell conglomerate in their natural comedic element.

VERDICT: 4/5
Starsky & Hutch is an easy-watching, entertaining film that nails its 70s setting through pedantic set detail and perfect costume, hair and music choices. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, and even though it works as a stand-alone movie, some familiarity with the TV series will help the enjoyment of particular scenes, with throwbacks to certain characters and episodes from the original.


CARS:
1975 Ford Gran Torino
1976 Lincoln Continental
1970 Mercedes 280SE
1975 AMC Pacer
1973 Ford F250
1975 Chevrolet Camaro
1973 Chevrolet Impala
1969 Chevrolet Nova

COOL FLICK FACT:
The Lincoln used for Huggy Bear’s ride is from Snoop Dogg’s personal collection.

raining over at LeMans. safety car goes drifting.



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Man they're ugly.

Hoon gets dose of instant karma

A truck driver has dropped delighted expletives as he laughed raucously at a hoon's "karma" after accidentally drifting past a police vehicle on a Queensland highway.

The truckie captured the scene on his dashcam as he waited at the traffic lights at an intersection of Beaudesert Rd and Hellwell Rd at Acaica Ridge yesterday, according to details published by LiveLeak.com.

As he waits for the lights to change, a car flies across the road in front of him, the tyres screeching as it slides across all three lanes of the road.

As the hoon takes off, a police van on the opposite side of the road to the truck sounds its sirens and gives chase.

The trucker the bursts into uncontrollable laughter at the hoon's instant karma.

"That's f------ karma," he says.

"That's f------ gold."

It is unclear what penalties the driver faced over the incident.

RB26 Powered DATSUN 260z - 650hp CLASSIC!
1320video

Published on Jun 16, 2016
I don’t think this car could have looked ANY cleaner than it already did. From the engine bay to the carpet beneath the seats..this Datsun 260z was PERFECT! Going from a carbureted inline 6 motor to this built Rb26, it’s fair to say this Z is looking and running better than it EVER has in the past!

Check out D2 Production's video on this awesome 260Z:

Authorities ID suspect in viral road rage incident

Justin Hesse, a Missouri man who was visiting family in Northeast Oklahoma, witnessed the collision and recorded the incident on his cellphone after the truck rode close to Wilson’s bumper. He was still recording when the truck driver hit the car, causing it to spin out of control.

Muskogee police officers have identified a Cherokee County man who may have forced a car off of U.S. Highway 62 last month, causing it to crash into a guardrail - and all the action was caught on video that quickly went viral.

The crash was recorded by a witness in a nearby car and the recording was later provided to authorities and the media. As police asked the public to help them identify the suspect, the video was sent to the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation for enhancement.

According to Muskogee Police Officer Mark Campbell's affidavit for a search warrant, 18-year-old Noah Wilson and passenger Gracie Bottger were inside a 1996 Nissan 300ZX on May 28, at about 6:29 p.m. As Wilson was trying to pass another vehicle on the highway, the driver of a maroon Dodge Ram began to tail his car, then attempted to pass on the left-hand shoulder while forcing Wilson's Nissan to spin out and plow into a guardrail.

Campbell said the driver of the truck was "deliberate" in his contact with Wilson's car.

Wilson and Bottger were able to escape the incident with minor injuries, including scratches and bruises, though authorities have said the damage could have been much worse.

Campbell's affidavit shows the OSBI successfully enhanced the witness' video of the crash and could see the suspect's vehicle was a maroon quad-cab Dodge pickup with a painted rear bumper and a Lincoln-brand welder. It also had an Oklahoma tag.

According to Campbell, the suspect was identified because of an April crash. Campbell said police officers investigated a hit-and-run crash April 28. The victim in that incident was a man who was driving a maroon Dodge truck, which was struck on North Country Club Road and the Shawnee Bypass in Muskogee County.

In video of an officer's body camera from the April 28 crash, Campbell was able to spot a welder in the back of the maroon Dodge truck. The officer reported the truck involved in the April crash was similar to the pickup that crashed into Wilson in May. Campbell also said the description of the driver from the May incident - a white man who "appeared to be in his 40s, overweight with a beard" - was the same as the victim involved in April's incident.

"[The suspect] called in sick to work two minutes late on the day of the [May] incident," Campbell reported. "[He] is employed at the VA hospital in Muskogee ... and was supposed to be at work at [6:30 p.m.]. The accident occurred at [6:29 p.m. and the suspect] called in sick at work at approximately [6:32 p.m.]. [He] also called into work the next day, advising he was still sick."

Officers learned when the suspect arrived at work June 3, he had "changed his appearance drastically by having his hair cut and shaving his beard."

Campbell said that at the time of his investigation, the man and his wife were listed as the registered owners of a 2012 Dodge truck, though the man's wife said she did not know where it was located when she was questioned.

Officers also found out the suspect is no longer driving the maroon Dodge to work, Campbell reported in his search warrant affidavit.

Campbell requested a search warrant to process property and buildings for evidence, including documents that would detail whether the Dodge truck has been sold. District Judge Mike Norman granted Campbell's request, and the officer on Monday seized two cellular phones, a Lincoln Ranger welder and a Dodge Ram key.

The suspect had not been charged as of Thursday afternoon; a police report identifies the May crash as an assault with a deadly weapon.

Porsche win dramatic Le Mans, Toyota heartache

Porsche snatched their 18th Le Mans 24 Hour Race victory in the most dramatic of circumstances after Toyota suffered engine failure with just three minutes left on Sunday.

Neel Jani took the Porsche 919 Hybrid over the line, to elation and tears of joy in their garage, after Kazuki Nakajima's Toyota TS050 stuttered to a halt when looking nailed-on to win the endurance race for the Japanese team for the first time in three decades of trying.

Jani, Romain Dumas and Marc Lieb, drivers of the Porsche number two car, celebrated wildly in front of a crowd that swelled to 263,500 over the 84th edition of the gruelling showpiece, which began on Saturday under driving rain and behind a safety car.

In contrast, Toyota saw their Le Mans jinx strike at the worst possible time.

The Toyota garage looked on aghast as Nakajima's car suddenly began slowing with only five minutes of the 24 hours to go.

He had been as much as 90 seconds ahead at one point, but suddenly it all went wrong and he began to lose power, allowing Jani to close fast.

Nakajima came to an agonising stop on the straight as Jani sped past to victory.

"Heartbroken," was the simple tweet from the devastated Toyota team.

Toyota's number six car with Stephane Sarrazin at the wheel crossed the line in second with an Audi third.

Among the stunned crowd was Brad Pitt, part of the usual colourful cast of professional drivers and Hollywood royalty who turned out to see one of motor racing's A-list events.

Pitt flagged the race off 24 hours earlier, when heavy downpours ensured a soaking start to the occasion and saw the first seven laps take place behind the safety car as torrential rain lashed the track and the 60 cars on the grid.

The drenched crowd were kept on their toes by over 30 changes of lead during the night and several safety car appearances.

By the closing stages it became a straight fight between Porsche and Toyota, with the two playing cat and mouse for the lead.

By the time the cars crossed the line -- under altogether more forgiving weather -- they had covered a similar distance to a round trip from Le Mans to Moscow.

Star Trek Actor Anton Yelchin Dies Aged 27

Anton Yelchin, who played Chekov in recently released Star Trek films, has died in a car accident at the age of 27.
The actor had risen to prominence with several blockbuster films in recent years - and has a starring role in Star Trek Beyond, which is due to be released in July.

Publicist Jennifer Allen confirmed Yelchin was killed early on Sunday morning.

According to TMZ, the star died in a "freak accident" after getting pinned between his car and a brick mailbox at his home.

Yelchin was discovered after concerned friends visited his home in San Fernando Valley, California, because he had failed to attend a rehearsal hours earlier.

An only child, Yelchin was born in Russia and moved to the US as a baby with his parents, who were professional figure skaters.

Fellow TV and film stars, as well as fans, have begun paying tribute to Yelchin on Twitter.

British comedian Matt Lucas wrote: "Dreadful news about Anton Yelchin. I thought he was an amazing actor."

Actress Anna Kendrick described Yelchin's death as "unreal" and a "huge loss".

sad to see it go wolfie?

Fiat Chrysler to investigate crash that killed 'Star Trek' actor


Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV said Monday it will investigate a crash that killed Star Trek actor Anton Yelchin in his recalled 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Yelchin was killed when the SUV rolled away and pinned him against a fence in Los Angeles, police said Sunday. Fiat Chrysler in April recalled more than 1.1 million cars and SUVs worldwide because vehicles may roll away after drivers exit, an issue linked to 41 injuries, 212 crashes and 308 reports of property damage.

In a May 24 letter to dealers, Fiat Chrysler said it anticipated having the software updates required to fix the vehicles no later than July or August. The company previously had told owners it hoped to come up with a "permanent" remedy by the fourth quarter.

Fiat Chrysler spokesman Eric Mayne said the company would conduct a "thorough investigation" of Yelchin's accident. "It is premature to speculate on its cause at this time," he added.

The company said in April that the recall was linked to 700 incidents because drivers mistakenly believed they had placed the vehicles in park before exiting. Fiat Chrysler said some drivers might have been confused by the electronic gearshift system, which moves more like a joystick than along a gate path like conventional gear selectors.

The company said in April that it planned to update the vehicles to automatically prevent them from moving, under certain circumstances, even if the driver fails to put the vehicle in park.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which upgraded a probe into the rollaway injuries and complaints in February, said in April that the shifter was "clearly a safety issue" leading to hundreds of crashes and dozens of injuries.

A NHTSA spokeswoman had no immediate comment on Monday.

Los Angeles Police Department spokeswoman Jane Kim said in a phone interview Monday that investigators were aware of the recall issue with the Jeep and were looking at whether that played any role in the fatality, among other possible factors.

Fiat Chrysler sent a letter to vehicle owners after announcing the recall in April, warning them to make sure the vehicles are in park.

NHTSA said in April that testing of the shifter found it was "not intuitive and provides poor tactile and visual feedback to the driver, increasing the potential for unintended gear selection."

Many of the crashes occurred soon after the vehicles were purchased. One complaint said that in September, a new Grand Cherokee in Leonardtown, Maryland, rolled forward and struck headstones in a cemetery.

Also last year, a Michigan owner put his 2015 Jeep SUV into park to go into a gas station. The SUV began rolling backwards and hit another parked vehicle, injuring a passenger.

Warcraft Breaks Record For Most Commercially Successful Video Game Movie

Video game movies tend to be commercial successes but critical bombs. Despite mixed reviews from critics, moviegoers have propelled Warcraft to the top. The movie officially became the top video game movie of all time, raking in $377 million as of this writing (including $200 million from Chinese cinemas alone). This is an impressive feat, given that China’s film industry only allows a certain number of foreign films to be screened every year in the country. However, the success of the movie in China could cause the Chinese film industry to open up more foreign films.

The movie beat out previous record-holder Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, which brought in $336 million in 2010. The movie adaptation of the 2003 video game brought back popularity to the Prince of Persia series, which had a memorable debut in 1989, but floundered before the release of The Sands of Time.

Some other financially successful film series based on video game series include Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. However, all were considered critical flops. The two highest rated film adaptations of a video game are the 2001 CGI movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which tops out at 44% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the 1995 Mortal Kombat film which topped out at 58/100 on Metacritic. The Spirits Within was one of the most expensive CGI movies made at the time, and the failure to recoup the costs of the movie destroyed Square Pictures, the film production division of SquareSoft (now Square Enix).

However, the release of the Warcraft film has a downside: poor reviews have led it to drop significantly in its second week in theaters. It pulled in only $6.5 million in the second week to the tune of a 73 percent drop over the first week. While sequels have been teased by various sources including director Duncan Jones himself, it will be interesting to see the direction that the franchise takes.