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

Ok next years show dates are as follows

ALL JAPANESE CLASSIC DAY 12 FEBRUARY 2017

ALL JAPANESE DAY 4 JUNE 2017

So everybody has plenty of time to book these events into your calendars.

Cheers
Marek

BREAKING NEWS: Two Belgian police officers are wounded by a machete-wielding attacker who shouted Allahu Akbar before being shot

A man wielding a machete and shouting 'Allahu Akbar' attacked two police officers outside a Belgian police station today.

A male and a female officer were injured in the attack in the city of Charleroi, with the female officer suffering significant 'wounds to the face', according to reports.

Local police said they shot and wounded the perpetrator.

The force then tweeted: 'Two police officers injured by machete in front of police by someone shouting Allah Akhkbar. Individual was shot but is alive.'

The incident follows a string of terrorists attacks in Belgium and nearby France by Islamic State operatives using a range of weapons.

Today's victims were a man and woman, and the female officer is thought to have suffered significant 'wounds to the face', according to local reports.
'She was rushed to hospital and is in a particularly bad way,' said an investigating source.

'A third officer shot the attacker, and he in turn was rushed to hospital with serious injuries.'

Charleroi has often been associated with extremist gangs, especially as a place where weapons are kept.

The ISIS unit which attacked Paris last November, killing 130 people in one night, is said to have picked up its AK47 and explosives in the city before heading for the French capital.

A witness told local television RTL he heard gunshots at the scene and saw an ambulance.

The area has been sealed off.

Belgium has a large Muslim minority and was the scene of an attack in March by a group swearing allegiance to ISIS.

The Belgian district of Molenbeek was also the home of several of the Paris attackers.

Charleroi is an industrial city in Wallonia which has fallen on hard times economically after the closure of coal mines and steel works.

It was also the home of Belgian serial killer Marc Dutroux.

When it comes to pickup trucks, you will find that a lot of the drivers are incredibly biased toward their brand of choice and they loyally stick by that brand’s side. We can’t blame them for it, either!

In this scenario, it doesn’t matter what kind of truck you like because they all look about the same when you put them up to speed and introduce them to an immovable wall.

The Ford F-150, Chevrolet Silverado, Toyota Tundra, and Dodge Ram are all put to the test in this one as we get to ride with them when they go on a mission to crash.

Check out the crash testing in the video below as none of these trucks ever stood a chance. You almost get to the point where you feel bad for the dummy behind the wheel.

Ford F-150 pickup beats rivals in key crash test
by Peter Valdes-Dapena @peterdrives
April 12, 2016: 12:13 AM ET


Which pickups performed best in IIHS crash tests?

The all-aluminum Ford F-150 earned a Top Safety Pick award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety after receiving the best rating in a tough front crash test.

Pickup trucks from Toyota and General Motors didn't do quite so well, though, and Fiat Chrysler's Ram 1500 scored worst.

The trucks were put through a series of trials, including the institute's small overlap front crash test. In that test, which was introduced in 2012, a vehicle hits a barrier at 40 miles per hour with just the left quarter of its front bumper, putting the impact right in front of the driver's seat.

The test is designed to mimic a particularly dangerous type of crash.

While only the F-150 earned the top rating of "good" in that test, some trucks by GM (GM) and Toyota ™ earned overall "acceptable" ratings, the second best.

However, Toyota and GM trucks with bigger cabs earned the second-worst rating of "marginal," as did two types of Ram trucks made by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCAM).

Specifically, double cab models of the Toyota Tundra and the Chevrolet Silverado earned the higher "acceptable" rating. Their larger cab versions -- the
Tundra CrewMax and the Silverado Crew Cab -- received the "marginal" rating.

Crash test results for the Silverado trucks also apply to models of the almost identical GMC Sierra. Both are made by GM.

The Quad Cab and Crew Cab versions of the Ram 1500 both earned "marginal" overall ratings, but "poor" ratings for structural integrity.

In the crash test, the door frame, instrument panel and steering column in the Ram trucks were pushed back toward the driver. In the Ram Crew Cab, the steering column also moved to the right, allowing the crash test dummy's head to roll off the left side of the airbag and approach the windshield pillar.

Fiat Chrysler responded to the results by pointing to the limits of the test.
"Our vehicles are designed for real-world performance and no single test determines overall, real-world vehicle safety," the automaker said in a statement. "Every FCA US vehicle meets or exceeds all applicable motor-vehicle safety standards."

The driver's foot space was also crushed inward in all the trucks except the Ford.

"Drivers in these pickups would need help freeing their legs from the wreckage following a small overlap crash," said Raul Arbelaez, vice president of the insurance institute's Vehicle Research Center. "We encourage manufacturers to redesign their pickups to resist intrusion in the lower occupant compartment to safeguard people from serious leg and foot injuries that might require months of rehabilitation."

The institute tested two different body styles of each of the trucks. It began doing this after finding in crash tests last summer that the Ford F-150 SuperCab performed poorly in this test even though the larger crew cab version did well. That was because the smaller truck, at that time, lacked crash-protecting structures the bigger truck had.

Those structures have since been added to the SuperCab, as well, so it did better when subjected to the small overlap test this time.

All the trucks earned "good" ratings in the institute's front, side and whiplash protection tests. However, not all of them did well in tests of roof strength, with the Ram 1500 trucks rated as "marginal" in that area.

Roof strength is particularly important for pickups, according to the institute, as 44% of deaths in pickups involve rollovers.

Besides helping keep occupants from being crushed when the roof caves in, stronger roofs can also help keep occupants from being thrown out of the vehicle through broken windows.

Pickup occupants are less likely to use seatbelts than occupants of cars, vans and SUVs, according to a 2014 study by the institute, making ejection from the vehicle more likely.

FORZA HORIZON 3 IS MIND-BLOWING IN 4K

Share. Thanks to Playground Games, Turn 10, and DirectX 12
BY ALANAH PEARCE

Driving through the iconic red dirt of the Australian outback, I watched intently as my BMW spun up the dust behind it, scattering it unevenly across the screen. Surely, at some point, those pixelated dust clouds suddenly grew in density, or repeated a formation, or even disappeared, but I couldn’t spot those changes. The dust seemed to move as unnaturally and unpredictably as if it were real, individual particles, not purposefully crafted effects, while it slowly coated the back of my car.

I looked for a specific moment where the dust had finally stuck to my car, too - like how a crash used to automatically result in the same scratches and dents in older racing games - expecting to see predictable patterns emerging on the trunk as it accumulated that red dirt. I couldn’t spot that moment, nor could I spot when it all came off. It was gradual, and subtle, and in that, Forza Horizon 3 - running in 4K on PC - somehow managed to make even dust seem impossibly beautiful.

The same applies to the water droplets that scatter across your windshield while it rains, and the clouds that roll in to signal a change of weather, and the coastal skyscrapers that slowly light up, room by room, as Australia’s Surfer’s Paradise transitions into night time. Those meticulous details surely exist in the console version of the game, too, but in 4K, almost every visual detail of Forza Horizon 3 looks sharp, clear, and consistently engaging. I look forward to drifting my way through the game’s new drift challenges, or flying over one of the new GTA-style jumps that are scattered across the map, or pushing a Supercar to its top-speed on a straight, just to see the difference.

The glimpse of the game that I was able to see was a treat to look at, and that’s made even more appealing by the addition of the new “Drone Mode”. In-game photography has existed in racing games since the early 2000s, and the Forza community has produced some beautiful images already, but the drone mode functions in real-time, in online multiplayer, letting you park your car down by a beautiful beach at Byron Bay and chase your friends through the vineyards at Yarra Valley, all in a drone-like perspective. It’s a game that seems to be begging to be photographed, and Drone Mode, assuming it works the way it’s promised to, paves way for more creative, social ‘Forzatography’, all in 4K.

This wasn’t all an easy treat to put together, though, and Forza Horizon 3 is still over a month away from release. A new era for Forza Motorsport has begun, with Forza Motorsport 6: Apex heralding the franchise’s expansion into PC, on Windows 10. Apex has combined the power and performance of DirectX 12 with Playground Games's and Turn 10’s racing game experience, and in turn, paved the way for Forza Horizon 3 to exist on PC. That isn’t anywhere as easy as it might sound, and requires a whole lot of bizarre testing - like finding some truly awfully built PCs, and seeing how the game runs on the lowest, least recommended settings.

The result is shaping up to be something that’s so satisfying to look at that driving across the expansive map of Australia, and experiencing environmental density far beyond previous games in the Forza series, might be worth trying the game out for by itself. Congratulations, PC players, it looks like you’ve got yourself one beautiful introduction to a great series of racers.

1955 Chevrolet Nomad Wagon "Gone Mad 55" 2016 NSRA Street Rod Nationals
ScottieDTV

Published on Aug 8, 2016
The 1955 Chevrolet Nomad Wagon "Gone Mad 55" built by Classic Car Studio.. I caught up with this way cool Nomad Wagon at the 2016 NSRA Street Rod Nationals in Louisville Ky....Setting on a Roadster Shop Chassis with just the right stance....A custom interior that will have you feeling like you are setting in a very nice Cigar Bar....Big Block under the hood...One very cool wagon...Check it out!!....Please Subscribe to this channel and Visit www.ScottieDTV.com The Coolest Cars On The Web!!! For more cool content!!

Thugs steal woman’s groceries inside Coles

7News Brisbane Published 7 hrs, 20 mins ago

Footage has surfaced of the moment a woman was knocked to the ground and had her groceries stolen, by a group of young thugs in a Brisbane Coles.

It's actually the oldest residential building in QLD. Basically an old mansion that a few years ago was reno'd and had a brand new house stuck on the front. Sure is a lot of stuff to get done here...