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

R2-D2 unit from 'Star Wars' sells for $2.75 million

"One of the most instantly recognizable pieces of pop culture" sold at auction
Auction house: Droid is believed to be only complete R2-D2 unit in the public domain
(CNN)For decades, fans of the beloved "Star Wars" franchise have gone far and wide to pay tribute to the world that George Lucas has created.

They sell out movie premieres and dress up as their favorite characters. And now some even pay millions to get their hands on a movie prop.

A complete R2-D2 unit sold for $2.75 million Wednesday at a California auction, according to the Los Angeles-area auction house Profiles in History.

An R2-D2 unit from the "Star Wars" films sold at auction Wednesday.

Luke Skywalker's 43-inch tall sidekick was assembled from components from the original "Star Wars" trilogy as well as "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" and "Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones," according to the auction catalog. The films were made between 1977 and 2002.

Unfortunately, this R2-D2 won't interact with you. "No internal mechanics or workings are present," the auction house said.

The droid is constructed of aluminum, steel and fiberglass, and is believed to be the only complete R2-D2 unit in the public domain, according to Profiles in History's auction catalog. The auction house called it "one of the most instantly recognizable pieces of pop culture in existence."

The dome in the droid dates to the original 1977 film when it was used by actor Kenny Baker.

The auction catalog said R2-D2 units were upgraded as more films were made, with older components being retired.

Before the auction, Profiles in History expected to fetch between $1 million and $2 million for the galaxy's most famous interactive astromech droid, according the catalog listing.

The R2-D2 sale was part of the three-day Hollywood Auction, which also included Mark Hamill's lightsaber from "Star Wars: Episode IV: -- A New Hope" and "The Empire Strikes Back," which sold for $325,000, according to the auction house. The droid was the most expensive item sold at the auction.

The identity of the winning R2-D2 bidder was not immediately available early Thursday. The auction house cautioned bidders that special shipping arrangements would be required after the sale since the droid is in the United Kingdom.

Holden completes first test of turbo V6 'Supercar'


Holden Motorsport has undertaken its first test of the turbo V6 engine it will race in the Supercars series from 2019.

The new powerplant, sourced from the forthcoming and fully imported Opel Insignia that will replace the Holden Commodore in Australian showrooms from next year, was transplanted into the Red Bull Holden Racing Team ‘Sandman’ test mule for its initial shakedown at Norwell Motorplex on the Gold Coast this week.


It’s a significant step for the Supercars championship which has, since 1993, raced exclusively naturally aspirated 5.0-litre V8s. However, with the changing tide in the automotive industry, the series will switch to what it is calling Gen2 regulations which allows for any configuration of powerplant, including turbocharged, to be raced.

The Red Bull Holden Racing Team reportedly completed 256km of running with star drivers Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes and Steven Richards behind the wheel.

Team Principal Roland Dane said afterwards: “We are very happy with the initial running,” said Dane. “GM Racing has given us a great base to work from.

"The test has been about getting kilometres on the engine and understanding what it needs at this point to prepare it for racing in Supercars."

While Dane was reluctant to disclose specific details of the new race-spec V6 engine, he did tell News Limited that, “The power is not an issue with the turbo. But we have to make the delivery as good and as linear as a V8.

"We don’t underestimate the amount of work we have to do. But we are quietly pleased with what we have done so far and we will continue to test behind close doors so we can get it right and be there or thereabouts when we run it as a wildcard next year."

Supercars had initially planned to adopt its Gen2 regulations next year, however series officials made the decision earlier this year to delay its introduction until 2019.

However, with testing continuing apace, all undertaken by Holden’s factory racing team, Red Bull Holden Racing Team, it’s understood the new engine will now make wildcard appearances in the series in 2018.

The test mule was built and developed by the team around three years ago. Underneath its panel-van exterior lies a full-spec Supercar, making it the ideal test mule for Holden’s V6 engine development program.

Salim Mehajer loses court bid to oust administrators from companies


Salim Mehajer has lost his urgent court bid to remove administrators appointed to two of his companies, as creditors clamour for almost $100 million from the property developer and former deputy mayor.

In a decision delivered on Friday afternoon, Supreme Court Justice Stephen Robb declared administrators were validly appointed to Mr Mehajer's companies Sydney Project Group and S.E.T Services.

The court has heard Mr Mehajer's companies Sydney Project Group Pty Ltd and S.E.T. Services Pty Ltd owe almost $100 million to creditors and have just $32,000 in the bank.

On June 16, the companies' former director, Kenneth Lee, appointed administrators Michael Andrew Hogan and Christian Sprowles to the businesses after Hong Kong-based financier SC Lowy issued a statutory demand for $80 million.

Mr Mehajer, the former deputy mayor of the now-defunct Auburn Council, sought an urgent court declaration that the appointment of administrators was invalid because he had removed Mr Lee as a director at a meeting at 5.31am that day.

But the court ruled in the administrators' favour and found their appointment by Mr Lee was valid.

Mr Mehajer's lawyers immediately sought a stay of the decision to prevent the order taking effect, pending a likely appeal.

His barrister, Marcus Young, SC, said the companies had "more than $100 million of assets so this is a matter of some significance".

In response, Justice Robb extended an order preventing the administrators from taking any steps in relation to the company's assets until 5pm on Wednesday.

In a tense appearance in the witness box on Thursday, the administrators' barrister Ian Pike, SC, put it to Mr Mehajer repeatedly that he did not hold the meeting to oust Mr Lee at 5.31am on June 16. Mr Lee appointed the administrators some 12 hours later.

"That is absolutely, totally incorrect," Mr Mehajer replied.

Mr Mehajer said the meeting was held at his office in Sefton and was attended by his sister, along with his personal assistant and his solicitor.

"You got everybody up at 5.30am, did you?" Mr Pike said.

"It was normal practice during Ramadan, yes," Mr Mehajer replied.

He said he pre-prepared minutes resolving to remove Mr Lee from the companies' boards on his bookkeeper's computer.

Asked why he had not produced the Word document in court, Mr Mehajer said it was "not available" and "it wasn't saved".

Mr Mehajer said it was "only a one-pager" and he then scanned the document and saved it on his own computer.

Mr Pike submitted that the meeting "did not occur". But Mr Mehajer's barrister, Marcus Young, SC, told the court, "Mr Mehajer's evidence had the ring of truth about it."

Mr Young said it was normal for property development companies to "borrow a lot of money" and the main asset was the development.

Among the other debts claimed by the companies' creditors is $400,000 by Sydney law firm Madison Marcus.

Mr Lee works for the firm's financial advisory arm.

Tesla to deliver first Model 3 cars this month
by Jethro Mullen @CNNMoney
July 3, 2017: 8:43 AM ET

Tesla's first mass market electric car will start rolling off the production line this week.

"Model 3 passed all regulatory requirements for production two weeks ahead of schedule," Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted on Monday. The first one is expected to be finished Friday, he said.

The automaker is aiming to dramatically ramp up output of the eagerly awaited vehicle in the coming months.

After throwing a "handover party" for the first 30 customers in late July, Tesla (TSLA) plans to produce 100 Model 3 cars in August, 1,500 in September and 20,000 in December, according to Musk.
But that schedule won't put much of a dent in the enormous backlog of orders for the car.

At the company's annual shareholder meeting last month, Musk said that anyone putting down an order then probably wouldn't get their car before the end of 2018.

Tesla opened up pre-orders for the Model 3 more than a year ago. Within a matter of days, more than 300,000 customers put down $1,000 deposits to reserve their place in line.

Tesla hasn't updated the pre-order count since last year, but Musk said last month that "there are more and more deposits every week."
Investor hopes for Model 3 sales have helped push up Tesla's stock price in recent months, taking the company's market value above those of traditional automakers such as Ford (F) and General Motors (GM).

Priced at $35,000, the new vehicle will cost far less than previous Tesla models, which could help broaden the brand's appeal.

Volvo: Gas-only cars are history after 2019


The future of cars: Self-driving and electric

Volvo is going all in on the electric car.

The Swedish automaker is slamming on the brakes on vehicles powered solely by internal combustion engines, announcing that every car it makes from 2019 onward will have an electric motor.

The move makes Chinese-owned Volvo the first traditional carmaker to fully embrace electric and hybrid production.

"This announcement marks the end of the solely combustion engine-powered car," Volvo's president Håkan Samuelsson said in a statement Wednesday.

Volvo said it would launch five fully electric cars between 2019 and 2021. Three of them will carry the Volvo brand, and the other two will come from the company's high-performance unit Polestar.

The rest of Volvo's fleet will consist of either plug-in hybrid cars or mild hybrid cars, which combine a small gas engine with a battery.

Starting in 2019, Volvo will only produce cars that have some form of electric motor -- and no cars running purely on an internal combustion engine.
Volvo electric hybrid vehicle

The shift is likely to have been influenced by Chinese auto company Geely, which bought Volvo in 2010.

China has been swift to adopt electric vehicles. The world's second-largest economy, which is plagued by air pollution, wants 5 million electric cars on its roads by 2020.

More than half of the world's electric cars are already sold in China, according to a report from the Center for Automotive Research at Germany's University of Duisberg-Essen. In 2016, Chinese drivers bought 507,000 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles out of 873,000 worldwide.

Volvo's announcement comes just weeks after U.S. electric car firm Tesla said it was working with Shanghai officials to establish a manufacturing facility in the region to better serve China.

"Tesla is deeply committed to the Chinese market," Tesla said.

Australian reporter demolishes Trump after G20: 'biggest threat to the west'

A savage opinion of Donald Trump’s presidency that went viral was delivered by one of Australia’s most seasoned political journalists, who is well known to viewers of the national broadcaster for his frank opinions.

Chris Uhlmann, the political editor of the government-funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation, described Trump as “isolated and friendless” at the G20 leaders’ summit, and said his disastrous foreign policy had “pressed fast-forward on the decline of the United States”.

The analysis, delivered on the ABC’s political program Insiders, has been viewed thousands of times around the world, and astonished American political commentators.

Follow
Katy Tur ✔ @KatyTurNBC
This is something else https://twitter.com/braddjaffy/status/883878237767704576 …
12:53 PM - 9 Jul 2017
2,489 2,489 Retweets 6,038 6,038 likes
Twitter Ads info and privacy

Follow
Bradd Jaffy ✔ @BraddJaffy
Wow. A searing assessment of the President of the United States by political editor @CUhlmann of Australia's ABC.

Speaking on Sunday from the G20 conference in Hamburg, Uhlmann said Trump had shown “no desire and no capacity to lead the world” and was himself “the biggest threat to the values of the west”.

“He was an uneasy, lonely, awkward figure at this gathering and you got the strong sense that some of the leaders are trying to find the best way to work around him,” Uhlmann said.

“Where was the G20 statement condemning North Korea which would have put pressure on China and Russia? Other leaders expected it, they were prepared to back it, but it never came.”

Uhlmann said Trump was obsessed with “burnishing his celebrity” and had “diminished” his own nation to the benefit of Russia and China.

“We learned that Donald Trump has pressed fast-forward on the decline of the United States as a global leader. He managed to isolate his nation, to confuse and alienate his allies and to diminish America.

“[He is] a man who barks out bile in 140 characters, who wastes his precious days as president at war with the west’s institutions like the judiciary, independent government agencies and the free press.”

Uhlmann has been the national political editor of ABC news since 2015, and won a Walkley award, Australia’s highest journalism honour, for broadcast interviewing in 2008.

While he may not be globally recognised, he caused controversy in Australia in 2016 when he blamed the South Australian state blackout on wind power and renewable energy, even though scientists disputed the claim.

Uhlmann refused to apologise despite attracting complaints, and likened himself to a heretic being burned at the stake.

In February that year he also published an essay that said the “intellectual virus” of Marxism was destroying the culture of western society.

The whole internet loves the Australian journalist who dragged Trump *5 seconds later* we regret to inform you it's Chris Uhlmann

Uhlmann describes himself as a centrist and once ran for public office in the Australian Capital Territory’s state election on a ticket with the conservative Christian independent Paul Osborne.

He was reporting on the last days of the G20 summit in Hamburg, which has seen violent anti-capitalist protests on the streets and featured Ivanka Trump briefly taking her father’s seat at the conference of world leaders.