AUTO-BOTS

Inspired by Transformers, Chinese farmers use car parts to make their own models

TRANSFORMING JUNK: Some of the robots are crafted from the grey metal of the evil Decepticons while others are in the red and blue colours of Optimus Prime, the leader of the benevolent Autobots.

A group of farmers in rural China has brought to life the Transformers films, toys and TV series. They have built giant robots out of old car parts.

   The original toys, which were a huge hit with children in the 1980s, could be turned from cars into robots and back again.

   Their popularity spawned a hit television show and a movie franchise.

   In the eastern province of Shandong, they have inspired a range of towering creations, including some in the red and blue colours of Optimus Prime, the leader of the benevolent Autobots.

   Other are in bright yellow, like the famous Bumblebee character adored by young fans.

   Some of the robots are crafted from the grey metal of the evil Decepticons.

   Mr Wang Shizun, one of the farmers, told AFP by phone yesterday: "I watched the movie and learnt (how to make) the models online. So I wanted to make it on my own.

   "We've installed lights in their eyes and some of their arms and legs can move."

   The tallest of creations are 12m high, but flight and the ability to convert themselves back into cars remain elusive.

   Mr Wang and his partner have a staff of 11 farmers, reports said, and OFweek, a website covering China's high-tech industry, said the models fetch from 10,000 to 100,000 yuan apiece.

NOT AT THIS STAGE

Said Mr Wang: "We're thinking about making them transform, but it's hard to make transform into cars at this stage".

   The group has also made other models which seem to take inspiration from various movies and characters, including Aliens, Predator and Star Wars' C-3PO.

   The makers have exercised creative licence, adding their own designs or traditional Chinese elements such as masks.

First you take any random girl that has her period, this is important. Now you fuck her in the pussy, and proceed to fisting her really hard. Dont wipe your arm. Then you turn her over and have hard anal-sex. Then just as you are about to cum, stop and spit on her back. She will turn around and you cum in her face, knock her out cold with your red and bloody fist and then you draw a moustache on her.

Engineering marvel, but at what cost?

World's largest solar plant critised for endangering birds because of the extreme heat it produces

MIRROR-BASED SYSTEM: The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System consists of over 300,000 mirrors.

AWE-INSPIRING: The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, the world's largest solar planet.

COMPONENTS: At the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System, mirrors would reflect sunlight onto boilers housed at the top of three towers.

MAJESTIC: An aerial view of the Ivanpah plant.

It is so hot that birds flying above it are believed to have been scorched to death

The Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System spans 13 sq km in the Mojave Desert, near the California-Nevada border, and it officially opened last month despite strong objections from wildlife activists.

   The US$2.2 billion solar plant, the world's largest, has more than 300,000 mirrors that reflect sunlight onto boilers housed at the top of three towers, each of which is 45m taller than the Statue of Liberty.

   New York City's iconic statue is about 46m from its base to the torch.

   The sunlight hitting the towers can create temperatures of up to 530 deg C, producing steam that drives generator turbines. From a distance, the mirrors - known as heliostats - look like a pristine lake rising from the desert.

   Ivanpah, about four times larger than New York's City's Central Park, is so big that it can even be seen from the International Space Station, orbiting some 360km above the Earth. Although it has the potential to provide green energy to 140,000 homes, it has been criticised for disrupting a thriving habitat for tortoises, coyotes, kit foxes and bobcats, UK daily The Independent reported.

   While measures have been taken to protect these animals - including a fence around the perimeter of the plant - evidence has surfaced which suggests a worrying hazard produced by the plant's extreme heat.

DEAD BIRDS

Biologists producing compliance reports for Ivanpah's developer, Bright-Source Energy, said that at least two dead birds found on the site in November last year were likely to be killed by "scorching".

   They provided images which appeared to show bird carcasses with singed feathers, and while the species involved were blackbirds and warblers, experts have reported sightings of red-tailed hawks and golden eagles above the site in the past.

   Other birds are believed to have died after colliding with mirrors.

   "We're trying to figure out how big the problem is and what we can do to minimise bird mortalities," said Mr Eric Davis, assistant regional director for migratory birds at the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Sacramento office.

   He told the Wall Street journal: "When you have new technologies, you don't know what the impact is going to be."

DOUBT

Though Ivanpah is an engineering marvel, experts doubt more plants like it will be built in Calfornia, Reuters reported.

   This is because other solar technologies are now far less expensive, government guarantees for renewable energy projects have dried up, and natural gas-fired plants are much cheaper to build.

Where does 4chan get its news from?

R.I.P. /pol/ ♥1920 ┼2014

Dressed to party

Brazil is in celebration mode as five-day carnival is under way

STAR POWER: Soccer player Ronaldo waving to the crowds at the Sambadrome in Sao Paulo.

SPIRITED: A reveller of the Aguia de Ouro samba school performing at the Sambadrome in Sao Paulo.

IN THE MOOD: Brazilian model Sabrina Sato from the Gavioes da Fiel samba school takes part in the festivities in Sao Paulo's Sambadrome.

More than a million Rio Carnival revellers put aside bitterness at Brazilain leaders to join the wild festivities on Saturday in what has been dubbed "the greatest show on earth".

Many participants said they had resolved to forget - at least until festivities end tommorrow - issues like corruption and the cost of hosting the World Cup, AFP reported.

   The Rio tourist board said 1.3 million people people joined the fray to cavort as the Marvellous City's oldest bloco, or street party group Cordao da Bola Preta, danced to a raucous samba beat. A total of four million are accepted during the entire five-day event.

   But there was a reminder of some of Brazil's social problems as festivities in the northern city of Salvador were tainted by the fatal shooting of a young man. The 27-year-old victim was shot six times.

   Military police unit also used tear gas to disperse a group of "garis", or carnival cleaners, who are demanding better pay and conditions.

   Rio police 117 people for urinating in public, local media reported.

   Otherwise, relative calm reigned as throngs of locals and foreigners continue to swarm the city centre where 12 elite samba schools will bid for the annual Carnival crown at the city's famed Sambadrome.

   One reveller, who gave her name only as Rosana, said that Brazilians can be optimistic in a World Cup year, despite the country struggling with its preparations.

   "Brazil is getting better. We are a united people who maybe have to break a few things in the system. But not windows," said the 27-year-old, speaking for most Brazilians who are horrified at how anarchists latched onto the recent protests to spark clashes with military police.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/mchenry_woodstock_huntley/ct-woodstock-cop-sexual-text-message-met-20131127,0,2419660.story

Not a big story, but it should be. Maybe it will be picked up and this sick fuck will get his.

Bishop took part in orgy

NABBED: A video of former Bishop Boris, seen in a TV screengrab, showed him having sex with four women.

Bulgaria's church authorities have been hit by another scandal.

A bishop has been forced to step down from his post afteor a video emerged of him taking part in an orgy with four women, reported Britain's Daily Mail.

   The man, refereed to only as Bishop Boris in Bulgarian media, was filmed at a sex party with four women. The video was leaked online and then to the media.

   The former bishop, who headed the second largest monastery in Bulgaria, was forced to leave after being found guilty of acts "incompatible with his office", a statement from the Holy Synod, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church's supreme clerical body, said.

   The former church leader, who was known for his love of cars, women and fine wine, risks excommunication.

GAY ORGIES

The case must now be examined by the ecclesiastical court.

   The report also said that the Holy Synod is expected to rule on the case of the monastery of Troyan, central Bulgaria, where the monks were caught having gay orgies.

   Bishop Boris headed Bachkovski Monastery, which is located about 190km from the Bulgarian capital Sofia. It is one of the oldest in the country and is considered one of the main tourist attractions in the area, drawing thousands of visitors every year. It was founded in 1083 as a Byzantine Iberian Orthodox monastery.

   The report added that the orgy is the latest scandal to hit the Bulgarian church, which counts 80 per cent of the population as followers.

   There were revelations last year that senior clergy had been agents of the former communist regime.

US teens' sex 'secrets' out on Twitter

The tweets are extremely vulgar and graphic.

   But what is more shocking is that they come from high school students in Clark County, Washington State, in the US.

   The Twitter account has become such a hit among students that many parents and teachers are concerned, Seattle news website King5.com reported.

   The account showcases hundreds of raunchy and downright shocking misdeeds involving sex, drugs and even teachers.

   It has been gaining popularity, thanks to the users' anonymity during submission, the New York Daily News reported.

   "It's like the news of the school right now," said a high school senior who did not want to be named.

   "Teenagers use it as a way to give out their dirty little secrets."

   School officials are worried that identifying the students will create more interest in the site.

   Said Ms Debbie Tschirgi, director of the Digital Learning Services programme in one of the districts: "They are thinking about what's happening now, they aren't thinking of the implications. It's all about them being anonymous.

   "Teenagers can write whatever they want to write without being identified, especially in a situation like this on the Twitter account where they can say something and don't have their names published.

   "That's not uncommon. That make them (feel) all the more brave."

   She said parents should make students understand that the Internet is not the place to share stories about sex.

   Said Ms Tschirgi: "It boils down to teaching kids to make good decisions about their own behaviour, their own ethics and their own personal safety."

   Students from one school, La Center, popped up often in the thread, in a contest to see which school is "ratchet", meaning the nastiest or most promiscuous, a local news website katsu.com reported.

   Samantha Adams, a student from that school, said she was concerned.

   "It's really vulgar stuff," she said.

   She said she was worried what the comments can do to people's reputations, including her own.

   "They don't name names, but with the tagging and retweeting, everybody knows who the tweets are about."

   Meanwhile, other students said they were not too concerned by the lurid nature of the feed.

   Said a student: "If it was more of people adding names (it would be a) bigger deal.

   "Now that people post things that are anonymous, you can't even tell if they are true or not."

European teens unfriending Facebook

Facebook is losing its appeal to teenagers.

This is happening as more and more parents start using it to keep tabs on them, researchers have discovered, UK's Daily Mail reported on Friday.

   The researchers said youngsters now consider the social networking site "dead and buried" and are too embarrassed to post intimate details in case their parents find out, the report said.

   The research, which covered eight European countries including the UK, found many young Facebook users were switching to alternatives such as Snapchat and WhatsApp.

   Professor Daniel Miller of University College London, who worked on the Global Social Media Impact Study, said British youngsters were "embarrassed even to be associated with it", the report added.

   He said: "Young people are turning away in droves and adopting other social networks instead, while the worst people of all, their parents, continue to use the service."

   Professor Miller said teenagers now regarded Facebook as "so uncool", adding: "You can't be young and free if you know your parents can access your every indiscretion.

   "Where once parents worried about their children joining Facebook, the children now say it is their family that insists they stay there to post about their lives.

   "Parents have worked out how to use the site and they see it as a way for the family to remain connected.

   "What appears to be the most seminal moment in a young person's decision to leave Facebook was surely that dreaded day that your mum sends you a friend request."