John Kirby: Biden Is Utterly Incompetent

Mayorkas: Border Security Measures Equal “Violence to our Fundamental Values”

If you've ever had a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan‚ you'll know that they have a strict "no metal" policy. This isn't some arbitrary rule‚ or an ancient radiographer tradition‚ but a necessary safety instruction to stop you being killed by said metal‚ or having your metal butt plug sucked where metal butt plugs shouldn't venture.Unfortunately‚ people aren't quite getting the message. In February this year‚ a man was killed after taking a gun into an MRI machine‚ and now a woman has discovered that a bigger pain in the ass than the "no magnetic objects" rule is getting shot in the buttocks because you insisted on keeping your gun in your pocket.A short "adverse event" report published by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) describes how a patient entered the MRI room with a concealed iron handgun. As she entered the MRI machine‚ the handgun became attracted to the magnet‚ firing a single shot into her "right buttock area". "The patient was examined by a physician at the site who described the entry and exit holes as very small and superficial‚ only penetrating subcutaneous tissue‚" the report reads‚ adding that prior to the exam she had been through a standard screening process for magnetic objects "which includes weapons specifically‚ and answered no to all screening questions".MRI machines work by creating powerful magnetic fields (and radio waves) targeting hydrogen nuclei (protons) in water. As protons are subjected to the magnetic field (about a thousand times stronger than a fridge magnet) their axes line up."This uniform alignment creates a magnetic vector oriented along the axis of the MRI scanner‚" science editor Abi Berger explains in the BMJ."When additional energy (in the form of a radio wave) is added to the magnetic field‚ the magnetic vector is deflected. The radio wave frequency [...] that causes the hydrogen nuclei to resonate is dependent on the element sought (hydrogen in this case) and the strength of the magnetic field.""When the radiofrequency source is switched off the magnetic vector returns to its resting state‚ and this causes a signal (also a radio wave) to be emitted. It is this signal which is used to create the MR images."This may be great for seeing inside the body‚ but is bad news for anybody deciding they want their weapon on hand with them during a medical appointment.[H/T: Gizmodo]

Google has released its new artificial intelligence (AI) model set to rival ChatGPT – and it looks pretty damn impressive. Called Gemini‚ the model was developed by Google DeepMind‚ whose CEO and co-founder Demis Hassabis describes it in a blog post as “the most capable and general model we’ve ever built.”Gemini will power Google’s AI chatbot Bard‚ which had a rocky release earlier this year when its promotional video featured some embarrassing errors.The AI is capable of more than simplifying responding to questions in text form. It’s ingrained with reasoning skills‚ as well as knowledge and information on worldly topics. Furthermore‚ the model is designed to be “multimodal”‚ meaning it can simultaneously process text‚ audio‚ images‚ video‚ and computer code. For instance‚ if you showed it a video of you drawing a car‚ it would be able to quickly recognize what you’re up to and essentially say “yep‚ that’s a car.” You could then draw another car and ask the model which one would theoretically move faster based on its design and aerodynamics. A bunch of other examples of Gemini's intelligence can be seen in the demo videos below.                   Gemini was tested on its problem-solving abilities and knowledge in 57 subject areas – including math‚ physics‚ history‚ law‚ medicine‚ and ethics – and was found to outperform human experts. Google also said Gemini performed at a higher level than other “state-of-the-art” AI models (such as ChatGPT-4) on 30 out of 32 benchmark tests assessing reasoning and image understanding.The first version‚ Gemini 1.0‚ comes in three different sizes – Ultra‚ Pro‚ and Nano – which will be used depending on the needs of the program and user. For instance‚ Ultra will be the most mighty‚ but it will be unnecessarily powerful for most day-to-day needs.                   Bard will start using a version of Gemini Pro from today and Google plans to integrate other forms of the new AI system across other products like Search‚ Ads‚ and Chrome over the coming months. Some of the demonstrations seen in this article won't be accessible to most mortals for the time being‚ but they will eventually be made available to everyone‚ in theory. Google’s announcement was keen to stress that Gemini has been created with responsibility and safety in mind. The recent rush of AI technology has left many people‚ including industry leaders and scientists‚ concerned that we might be opening Pandora’s Box by creating a system so powerful it could run amok. While unveiling Gemini and its omnipotent skills‚ Google attempted to allay some of those fears.“At each stage of development‚ we’re considering potential risks and working to test and mitigate them‚” Google said in the blog post.“Gemini has the most comprehensive safety evaluations of any Google AI model to date‚ including for bias and toxicity [...] We’ll continue partnering with researchers‚ governments and civil society groups around the world as we develop Gemini.”

In 1988‚ an Argentine news story emerged detailing an encounter between four teenagers and a group of short‚ bald humanoids with frog-like skin and a single eye. Whether these entities were aliens‚ interdimensional beings‚ or merely part of a hoax remains unknown. On the night of October 27‚ 1988‚ in Pergamino‚ Argentina‚ the four teenage boys were en route to the Viajantes nightclub when they spotted the unusual creatures in the park. As per their description‚ these creatures were devoid of hair‚ had skin reminiscent of frogs‚ and bore a single‚ large eye on their faces. The beings emitted “guttural sounds‚” causing great distress to the teenagers. The very next morning‚ the story made headlines in the local newspaper La Opinión with the headline “Have aliens landed in Pergamino?” prompting widespread shock and fear across the city. The article‚ spanning two pages‚ featured images of peculiar prints found on the ground‚ eyewitness interviews‚ and notably‚ a drawing portraying the appearance of a one-eyed dwarf‚ sketched by one of the teenage witnesses. The incident’s exact location was pinpointed as “a section of Calle 14 in the Parque General San Martín area‚ bordering the territory of the Club de Viajantes‚ near the National Route 188.” The witnesses included 14-year-old Christian Cassio and three 19-year-olds: Javier Jauregui‚ Silvio Pena‚ and Dario Duran. While three witnesses reported encountering six “green dwarfs‚” one insisted there were five. All four affirmed that‚ alongside the odd sounds‚ the dwarfs gestured with their hands‚ attempting to communicate. According to the teenagers‚ they were walking past the park when the strange creatures suddenly emerged from the bushes‚ causing them to flee in fear. Christian Cassio’s account of the event follows: “There were five of them‚ all of them were without clothes and spoke incomprehensibly. They made something like guttural moans. When they saw me‚ they all immediately pointed their fingers at me. Their height was about 70 centimeters. I immediately made an “Olympic jump” from there. “After that‚ my friends and I went to La Caminera‚ where we told everyone about what we had seen‚ but at first they did not believe us. Later‚ when they concluded that we were sane‚ we all returned to the Club de Viajantes.” In the morning‚ while inspecting the park in the place where a group of dwarfs were allegedly seen‚ strange footprints were discovered on the ground‚ as if human‚ but as if left by small children. In the following days‚ a real “pilgrimage” began to this place; probably all the residents of Pergamino who could walk visited here. When interviewing employees of the Club de Viajantes‚ a strange episode became known that occurred at the same time (00:30) as the sighting of the dwarfs. Here’s employee Alicia Leal’s story. “In the back of the dining room‚ a light appeared‚ illuminating the room. Unidentifiable‚ and someone was trying to open the door. I turned off all the lamps and immediately tried to see if they were thieves. I did not hear any noise or conversations. ” After a few seconds‚ this light began to move and then disappeared. On the street‚ about 100 meters away‚ I saw Hector Juan Martinez and one of my grandchildren‚ who were talking among themselves‚ but they apparently did not see anything unusual here. “I immediately told them what I saw‚ and a police patrol immediately arrived and told us that they had seen a group of “green dwarfs”. Only then did I fully understand the situation. “The young people who said they saw what could be some kind of alien were very excited about what happened. And I was also amazed by the behavior of the dog that lives here with us. The dog never barked even though he was close to the place where I saw the light.” Hector Juan Martinez‚ interviewed by journalists‚ confirmed that he actually did not see or hear anything strange when he was standing next to the club‚ and only found out about what had happened when the police arrived. Alas‚ in subsequent years this case did not go far from the information that appeared in the newspaper‚ although ufologists and police investigators tried to study it. The post One-eyed bald dwarfs scared Argentine teenagers in 1988 appeared first on Anomalien.com.

Mercury may have salt glaciers under its surface‚ according to a groundbreaking new study that hints at the possibility of the planet closest to the Sun having habitable conditions for some extreme life forms‚ reports The Independent. Research on Earth has revealed previously that some salt compounds can create habitable niches even in some of the harshest environments such as the arid Atacama Desert in Chile. The new study‚ published recently in the Planetary Science Journal‚ hints at the possibility of subsurface areas on Mercury that may be much more hospitable than its surface. Such salt glaciers are of “pivotal importance” as they could be signs of volatile compounds such as water‚ carbon dioxide‚ and nitrogen on other worlds‚ say scientists‚ including Alexis Rodriguez from Nasa’s Marshall Space Flight Center. This finding is “groundbreaking” according to scientists as Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun with extremely hot daytime temperatures and yet it has somehow preserved volatile compounds for “over one billion years.” “Our models strongly affirm that salt flow likely produced these glaciers and that after their emplacement they retained volatiles for over 1 billion years‚” study co-author Bryan Travis said. The Mercurian glaciers were revealed by asteroid impacts which exposed this material below the planet’s surface to scientists studying the planet. “These areas could potentially act as depth-dependent ‘Goldilocks zones‚’ analogous to the region around a star where the existence of liquid water on a planet might enable life as we know it‚” Dr Rodriguez said. “But in this case‚ the focus is on the right depth below the planet’s surface rather than the right distance from a star‚” he added. The latest discovery also extends our understanding of the environmental parameters that could sustain life‚ adding a new dimension to the human search for life in other worlds. Since the Earth also has similar extreme salty regions‚ researchers have an idea of such kinds of environments and what life forms – if any – could emerge in these zones. Researchers suspect pits found dotting some of these craters may have been filled with volatile compounds before asteroid impact exposed them to the sun and caused them to sublimate. However‚ it remains unclear how these volatile compounds may have found a home on Mercury in the first place. Scientists suspect they may have likely come from a hot primordial atmosphere early in Mercury’s formation history. The post Alien life forms may be hiding beneath Mercury’s surface appeared first on Anomalien.com.

CNN came out of the NewsNation Republican debate with a typical flourish: Republicans are seriously evil. Analyst Van Jones‚ who had a cup of coffee in the White House in the earliest days of President Obama‚ compared Nikki Haley to "Wonder Woman fighting off like a mob of like‚ supervillains." CNN host Kaitlan Collins thought DeSantis had a good debate‚ but there was a lot of yelling crosstalk‚ and "I think the most notable point was Chris Christie at the end saying picture Election Day and saying Donald Trump will not be someone who's voting on that day because he is going to be a convicted felon." CNN has been savoring that idea for five years now. VAN JONES‚ CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I thought like Wonder Woman fighting off like a whole mob of like supervillains. I mean‚ Nikki Haley had to defend herself every second of that debate performance. And she did well. She actually held up well. She was actually able to pull it off.And even when Vivek was saying that she didn't know the provinces‚ she knew the provinces. So‚ you know‚ Nikki Haley did a great job. But I was very proud of Chris Christie. Chris Christie was a scholar and a gentleman tonight. It's an interesting take‚ since Christie ended by suggesting "Trump's going to jail." Alyssa Farah Griffin offered her usual preference: "Nikki Haley proved once again that she is a political heavyweight. She's arguably won all of the debates‚ or at least performed exceptionally well in them." Abby Phillip added Christie "probably did a better job defending her on the stage than doing anything necessarily for his own campaign." David Urban signaled he's a Christie fan: "I think he did a great job tonight. Unfortunately‚ his numbers haven't moved since day one." Scott Jennings said the four candidates show the split between pre-Trump GOP (Christie‚ Haley) and post-Trump GOP (DeSantis‚ Ramaswamy). He said Trump hasn't been heard by skipping all these debates: "He's gone from 55 to 61 in the national polling averages. It's hard to argue that his strategy of sitting this out has been "anything but genius." Dana Bash interviewed Christie‚ praising him as a "savvy pol" (um‚ he's dead last in the polls in this group)‚ and Christie called Ramaswamy the "drunk driver on the debate stage." Cooper grasped on that: "The drunk driver on the debate stage." Urban said "That was great. That's the best line of the night."

It’s been a wild‚ weird few weeks in the world of Cult of the Lamb. The beloved Steam roguelike from Massive Monster and Devolver Digital recently announced a huge free update‚ Sins of the Flesh‚ which is set to arrive early next year with “new features‚ stories‚ and more.” Then‚ the indie game’s developer confirmed it “will add sex” following a social media campaign from players. Now‚ your camp cultists are preparing to bare it all‚ and it seems that all these salacious crumbs have only served to boost the game’s Steam rating to new heights. Continue reading Cult of the Lamb update bares it all for Sins of the Flesh MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Upcoming PC Games‚ Cult of the Lamb beginners guide‚ How to get lumber and stone in Cult of the Lamb

What is the best XRK Stalker loadout? Although sniping has never quite reached the heights it did back in Verdansk‚ we were treated to a new rifle with the release of the new Warzone season that just might change everything. The XRK Stalker doesn’t look especially menacing at first‚ but with our loadout‚ you can out-range and out-damage anything else that WZ has to offer. With the Warzone new season now in full swing‚ we got a chance to nail down the XRK Stalker‚ and it easily drops into the category of best Warzone sniper rifles. Our loadout focuses on extending the range‚ and increasing bullet velocity so the explosive rounds can do their destructive work. Here is the best Warzone XRK Stalker loadout. Continue reading The best XRK Stalker loadout for Warzone MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Warzone loadouts‚ Best AR in Warzone ‚ The best guns in Warzone

Back at TennoCon 2023 (that seems like a lifetime ago)‚ Warframe creative director Rebecca Ford and I bonded over our love of Baldur's Gate 3's Astarion - and‚ of course‚ our subsequent rejection. So imagine my face when I saw images of Ford and Neil Newbon‚ Astarion's voice actor‚ on her Twitter‚ accompanying the announcement that everyone's favorite vampire will join Final Fantasy 16's Ben Starr as part of Whispers in the Wall's cast. Continue reading Baldur’s Gate 3’s Astarion joins Warframe Whispers in the Walls MORE FROM PCGAMESN: Warframe 1999‚ Warframe builds‚ Warframe system requirements