It was back in 2019 when Elon Musk unveiled the Cybertuck, and it was an event that did not go as Musk probably envisioned. Since then, there has been disaster after disaster, and here are some hilarious and embarrassing examples.The original d’oh momentOn a brightly lit stage, the Cybertruck was unveiled: a brand-new product in the Tesla line. It was to have space to fit six people, go 0 to 100 kilometers (0 to 60 miles) an hour in less than 3 seconds, and looked a bit like something a child drew. During the presentation, it was also claimed that it was bulletproof to a 9mm handgun. To prove how accurate this claim was, Franz von Holzhausen (Tesla’s chief designer) threw a metal ball at a window of the truck.The ball immediately smashed the window – which was a surprise to everyone involved, and even Musk let out a few naughty words.                                                                  IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.The company still maintains that the Cybertruck is shatter-resistant.Now that the Cybertruck is out and about, there seems to be a new foe, and that is rough terrain – which is a bit awkward for a vehicle that boasts an Off-Road Mode for "steep ascents, descents, uneven terrain, shallow creeks, and other obstacles you may encounter".It seems that the Cybertuck is a bit more suited to the tarmac than what owners were hoping for, as even the mildest of offroading seems to prove a headache and sometimes requires some assistance.It really hates sand                                                                 ... and hills                                                               IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites....and small river banks                          Getting recalledJust last month, there was a recall issued on Cybertrucks that were produced between November 13, 2024 to April 4, 2024 – 3,878 of them, to be exact – due to an issue with the accelerator pedals. The lubricant between the pedal and the covering pad was causing the pad the slip off and lodge itself underneath the interior trim in front of it.                                                               IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from external sites.It seems like Cybertruck has not had the best start.[H/T: Gizmodo]

The black hole information paradox is one of those physics problems that can keep scientists up at night. It strikes at the heart of one of the crucial problems in modern physics: the fact that we can’t reconcile general relativity and quantum mechanics. And it is all black holes’ fault.

Blood and baguettes don’t usually go together in any context, let alone as building materials, yet there’s a palace in West Africa that’s cemented with these bizarre ingredients. Located in the city of Abomey in Benin, the structure is said to have been built using the blood of 41 voodoo sacrifice victims, and a new study indicates that the legend is probably true.As the capital of the ancient kingdom of Dahomey, Abomey was the seat of 12 successive kings who ruled from the 17th to early 20th centuries. The ninth king, Ghezo, held the throne from 1818 to 1858 and was renowned for his power and military brutality.As if to highlight the fact that King Ghezo didn’t mess about, the authors of the new study explain that “the alley leading to his hut was [allegedly] paved with the skulls and jawbones of defeated enemies,” while his throne is said to have “rested on the skulls of four defeated enemy leaders.” Within his palace compound, meanwhile, is a funerary hut built from some unconventional materials.“The binder of the walls is not a standard mortar, but is claimed to be made of red oil and lustral water mixed with the blood of 41 sacrificial victims - 41 being a sacred number in voodoo,” explain the researchers. “The victims were probably slaves or captives of enemy populations.”The blood-red walls of King Ghezo's funerary hut.Image credit: Charlier et al., Proteomics 2024Within the voodoo culture and religion that continues to permeate Beninese life, blood offerings combined with prayers and sacred water can be used to consecrate buildings or animate wooden structures known as fetishes. In this case, the sacrificial tribute was “charged with protecting what remains of the subtle essence of the deceased king.”To determine the exact composition of the mortar, the study authors used high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry, which enabled them to characterize the proteins within the cladding. To their surprise, they detected traces of wheat, which was not grown in sub-Saharan Africa until long after Ghezo’s death.They note, however, that Ghezo was a big fan of the French emperor Napoleon III and often sent diplomatic gifts such as fabrics, weapons, and cowries from Benin to France. It is therefore possible that wheat may have circulated in the other direction, with French baguettes and other baked items being presented to Ghezo and later incorporated into the mortar of his palace as part of a sacrificial offering.Proteomic results also confirmed the presence of hemoglobin and immunoglobulins from both humans and chickens, proving that the wall binder is indeed made of human blood.According to the study authors, the death of Dahomey kings was often marked by the sacrifice of up to 500 victims, in a ritual known as the “Great Customs”. Whether or not the blood found in the walls of Ghezo’s tomb was spilled during such an occasion is currently unclear, although the researchers say further DNA analysis may help to reveal exactly how many people involuntarily offered their lifeblood to consecrate the structure.The study is published in the journal Proteomics.

The cinematic world is abuzz with the latest announcement from Hollywood: the release date for Steven Spielberg’s much-anticipated UFO-themed movie is set. Spielberg, a director synonymous with groundbreaking storytelling, has once again turned his lens toward the extraterrestrial, a theme that has significantly marked his illustrious career. Decades after Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” left indelible marks on the sci-fi genre, the director’s new project promises to reignite the allure of the unknown. While details of the plot remain shrouded in mystery, speculation is rife. Could this be a revival of Spielberg’s abandoned ’70s project “Night Skies”? “Night Skies,” a project that never saw the light of day, was poised to be a chilling horror film inspired by the Kelly-Hopkinsville encounter, where a Kentucky family claimed to have been terrorized by otherworldly visitors. The narrative was set to explore the interactions between alien beings and terrestrial life, delving into themes of communication and confrontation. The original concept for “Night Skies” was bold, featuring a sequence filmed aboard a space shuttle, a testament to Spielberg’s vision and ambition. However, the project was shelved in favor of the more family-friendly “E.T.,” which captured the hearts of audiences worldwide and became a cinematic classic. Now, with a release date of May 15th, 2026, Spielberg’s return to the realm of UFOs. Will this new film pay homage to the director’s earlier works, or will it chart a new course in his exploration of the extraterrestrial narrative? The post Steven Spielberg’s new UFO movie: a nod to the past or a fresh take? appeared first on Anomalien.com.

Less than two weeks after George Floyd died in the custody of Minneapolis police in May 2020, prominent city council members gathered in front of activists and pledged to start dismantling the Minneapolis Police Department."Decades of police reform efforts have proved that the Minneapolis Police Department cannot be reformed and will never be accountable for its actions," the council members stated, according to the Star Tribune. "We are here today to begin the process of ending the Minneapolis Police Department and creating a new, transformative model for cultivating safety in Minneapolis."In addition to cutting police budgets and doing away with many officers, numerous police departments also were decimated after frustrated, abused, and unsupported cops simply turned in their badges.The "defund the police" movement was born.And in the same way rioting commenced in Minneapolis in the wake of Floyd's death and spread across America, so did the notion of defunding and dismantling police departments. Other cities such as Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Oakland, and Chicago got into the act.It was a bad idea.So much so that voters in Minneapolis a year and half later rejected the idea of removing the city's police department and replacing it with "a Department of Public Safety that employs a comprehensive public health approach ..."In addition to cutting police budgets and doing away with many officers, numerous police departments also were decimated after frustrated, abused, and unsupported cops simply turned in their badges.Law enforcement officials in 2022 called it a "crisis." A perfect storm of spiking crime and violence in the streets — along with police getting defunded or quitting — led not only to staffing shortages, but also new cops weren't signing up."What they're doing now is vilifying the job, and they're connecting with our state's attorney and our chief judge, letting all these prisoners out and all these offenders out immediately," former Chicago police officer Anthony Napolitano said. "And it makes cops throw their hands up in the air and say, 'I'm not going to do this job any more.'"Here are 10 times when "defund the police" backfired spectacularly.Boy, 13, forced to watch his dad die after delayed response by Seattle cops; family sues, blames 'defund the police' movementThe family of a man who died after a delayed police response to his medical emergency filed a $10 million wrongful death lawsuit against the city of Seattle in December 2022. A year prior, 46-year-old William Yurek's son, 13, called 911 while his father was having chest pains and difficulty breathing. Yurek soon after died of cardiac arrest in front of his son. The lawsuit stated that the Seattle police department "was severely understaffed at the time of this incident due to fallout from the abandonment of the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, a.k.a. 'CHOP,' a perceived lack of support from the city, vaccine mandates, and other factors, including city mismanagement." Seattle last year settled the lawsuit for $1.86 million.Progressive Vermont city regrets its 'defund the police' effort; Democrat mayor says 'a lot of damage' has been doneBurlington's "defund the police" movement failed so dramatically that even the progressive council member who pushed it admitted the city messed up, NBC News reported in December 2021. About 18 months prior, a resolution passed that slashed the police force by 30%, removed resource officers from schools, and shifted police funding to social justice initiatives. Instead cops felt attacked, and they left the department in droves. The city, with its 44,000 residents, went from a police force of 95 to 64 — resulting in only about five officers available to patrol at night. The city's Democratic mayor, Miro Weinberger, didn’t support cutting the force and wasn't happy with the defunding efforts: “There’s a lot of damage that has been done in the last 16 months."Soon after its 'defund the police' efforts, Minneapolis tells crime victims to cooperate with criminals, turn over their propertyThe city circulated a letter in late July 2020 telling residents in the third police precinct that due to the overwhelming violent crime wave, they should "be prepared to give up your cell phone and purse/wallet" — and if confronted by a violent robber "do as they say." The letter added that "robberies and Carjacking's have increased in our precinct. Cell phones, purses, and vehicles are being targeted. Some victims have been maced, dragged, assaulted, and threatened with a gun." In addition, "100 robberies and 20 carjackings have been reported to the 3rd Precinct Police in July alone." Just days after George Floyd's death, violent protesters breached the police department's 3rd precinct building and set a fire inside the station. In November, carjackings were up 537% compared to the previous year.Minneapolis city council's 'defund the police' initiative inspires residents of left-wing neighborhood to stop calling cops. Boy, are they sorry.After the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, the city council dreamed of a "transformative new model" of public safety in which community social workers — not armed police officers — enforced the law. So a neighborhood the New York Times described as "a haven to leftist activists and bohemian artists" vowed — as a way to protest racial injustice — not to call police. But within a month, their tree-lined neighborhood became a haven for crime and hundreds of homeless people. Resident Shari Albers organized "her mostly white neighbors" to "help tackle long-standing issues with crime," but instead she was kept awake at night by the "Powderhorn Park Sanctuary." The Times reported that the homeless community "has drawn heavy car traffic into the neighborhood, some from drug dealers." Albers admitted to the paper, "I am afraid. I know my neighbors are around, but I'm not feeling grounded in my city at all. Anything could happen."Days after Oakland cuts police budget, armed robbers run up on city's woke 'violence prevention chief' and reporters amid discussion on rising crimeA KNTV-TV news crew was interviewing Oakland's violence prevention director on the steps of City Hall in June 2021 when two armed robbers approached the group with guns and tried to steal camera equipment. An armed security officer drove away the would-be burglars, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, but news of the scuffle broke out on social media — and it was called the perfect example of what inevitably happens when a local government cuts its police budget. A few days earlier, Oakland's City Council voted to reallocate $18 million of police funding to community violence prevention programs. Later in 2021, amazingly Oakland's liberal Mayor Libby Schaaf blamed "defund rhetoric" for a lack of police recruits amid a surge in violent crime.LA school district cuts police force by 33% — then middle school girl is brutally beaten by 2 females while male teacher watches, not knowing how to handle itA KCAL-TV report last summer linked defunding police with the brutal, two-against-one beating at Sun Valley Middle School in the Los Angeles Unified School District. A teacher tried to stop it but soon gave up and watched the attackers punch the victim as many as 35 times. The victim's mother told KCAL that the teacher admitted to her that he didn't know what to do when the girls became violent: "He said, 'I tried to do what I could, I cannot touch the students, and I would like more training on how to restrain a child, or what can I do in this situation?'" The report documented how the district defunded and reduced its police force beginning in 2020. In 2021, then-L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva blamed "defund the police" and progressive policies for a violent crime wave.Minneapolis' 'defund the police' zeal leads to increased crime — and city actually moves to pay for temporary cops at a hefty priceThe outsourced police work was to cost Minneapolis $500,000 over six weeks at the end of 2020. The desperate move came after the city and anti-cop activists went after officers, about 100 of whom simply left the force. As crime was spiking, members of the city council In September 2020 — all of whom backed defunding the police force — actually demanded to know, "Where are the police?" What's more, in October 2020, several residents sued the city over insufficient policing, claiming there were fewer officers than what the city charter requires. A year later, a judge ordered the city to hire more police officers, and Mayor Jacob Frey admitted that calls to "defund the police" led to a spike in crime.In the wake of Portland's 'defund the police' failure — and soaring crime that resulted — city restores gun violence prevention unitPortland — not surprisingly falling in line with other woke cities — cut its police budget in the summer of George Floyd by $15 million. But by early 2021, Portland moved to reintroduce a gun violence task force within the city's police department after tons of violence. Many community members blamed budget cuts, and specifically the dissolution of the Gun Violence Reduction Team, for the spike in crime. Many within the police department warned that cutting the police budget would only lead to more crime. "I'd say they're more emboldened, maybe, to be out with guns," Portland Police Chief Chuck Lovell said. "They know there's not someone watching. There's no real deterrent there." Later in 2021, Portland was having a tough time finding officers to fill the revamped gun violence task force.Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is a 'defund the police' champion after George Floyd's death — a year later, she completely reverses herself amid violent crime waveIn October 2020, the mayor announced cuts to the police department's budget in response to Black Lives Matter activists' demands. More than 600 police jobs would be eliminated. Lightfoot said police have played a "complicit role" in "brutally enforcing racist, Jim Crow laws, depriving Black and Brown people" of their "full rights as citizens." That Christmas holiday, at least eight people were killed and 30 more were wounded in citywide shootings. Chicago Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara called the "historic levels" of violence amid police cuts "ridiculous." A year later, according to the Chicago Tribune, "Lightfoot unveiled a $16.7 billion spending plan ... that boosts funding for police ..."Far-left San Francisco mayor pushed for $120 million in police funding cuts after George Floyd's death; just a year later she wants cops to fight 'bulls**t' crime 'that's destroyed our city'Mayor London Breed — who jumped on the "defund the police" bandwagon in 2020 — just a year later launched an emergency police intervention in the city's high-crime Tenderloin neighborhood over rampant drug use and related gun violence, KPIX-TV reported. "It’s time, the reign of criminals who are destroying our city, it is time for it come to an end," Breed said with an angry tone at a press conference, the station said. "And it comes to an end when we take the steps to be more aggressive with law enforcement. More aggressive with the changes in our policies and less tolerant of all the bulls**t that has destroyed our city." Like Blaze News? 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One of the most common complaints about America in 2024 is that our elected leaders no longer represent the will of the people. Instead, they are implementing a stealth agenda leading us to ruin. There are numerous instances of this, but perhaps none is clearer than the mayors of our largest cities and their obsession with illegal aliens. Sanctuary mayors, those who welcome people here illegally and refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, are a strange breed. They purportedly hold office to serve as shepherds of their communities, charged with protecting their residents and acting in the best interests of their cities. Instead, they prioritize illegal aliens, many of whom have committed violent crimes, over the needs and interests of citizens and those lawfully here with a reasonable expectation of safety and opportunity. Until Americans begin to prioritize secure borders and demand more from those in charge, nothing will change. The examples of this bait-and-switch are abundant. New York City, the most prominent metropolis in financial crisis because of its sanctuary policies, is apparently willing to become insolvent to appease its illegal immigrant community. New York earlier this year finalized a nearly $77 million contract with the city’s hotel association to house migrants in 15 properties across Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. This comes after a previous $275 million deal with the hotel association to shelter more than 5,000 illegal aliens. Meanwhile, the city’s native-born homeless sleep on sidewalks while the shelters meant for them have been repurposed for noncitizens. In Denver, Mayor Mike Johnston announced his city would reduce funding for its police force by $8.4 million to accommodate the needs of its surging alien population. The fire department and other public services would also see budget cuts, freeing up roughly $45 million for noncitizens. The Mile High City has also begun its “Asylum Seekers Program,” which will provide those here illegally with assistance for housing, a work skills program, and a work permit. Given the lavish welcome wagon that sanctuary mayors have rolled out for those here illegally, one would expect the recipients to be grateful and humble. The love, strangely enough, only flows in one direction in this relationship. In response to Denver’s largesse, migrant groups submitted a list of 13 demands that must be met before they would agree to leave an encampment and move into shelters. The demands included that they could “cook their own food with fresh, culturally appropriate ingredients provided by the City instead of premade meals.” Other demands included access to free immigration lawyers and no law enforcement officials allowed to monitor shelters. “We are not criminals and won’t be treated as such,” the demand letter read, ignoring the fact that illegally entering the United States is indeed a crime. New York’s massive expenditures on migrant housing have been rewarded with the arrival of the violent Tren de Aragua gang from Venezuela, which has masterminded a crime ring that steals New Yorkers' smart phones, uses the financial data on them to plunder victims’ bank accounts, and then sells the phones in South America. The gang has also used the migrant hotels as a fertile recruiting ground for new members. While such behavior puts the lie to bumper sticker slogans like “Immigration Makes Us Stronger,” the same sanctuary mayors and other politicians respond by fetishizing illegal aliens as somehow possessing more admirable qualities than native-born U.S. citizens. New York Mayor Eric Adams recently suggested that the city’s lifeguard shortage could be filled by illegal migrants because “they’re excellent swimmers.” Why would that be, other than that the mayor was engaging in tropes about migrants wading across the Rio Grande that anti-borders activists would otherwise consider to be racist? When Donald Trump in 2018 called out the blood-soaked drug gang MS-13 that has come into the country from south of the border, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) seemed to defend the gang, talking about the “spark of divinity” that those who come here illegally possess. Despite the nation’s current 3.9% unemployment rate, more than 6.5 million Americans jobless and more than 1.9 million unemployment insurance claims filed, more than 40 sanctuary mayors recently signed a letter asking the White House to expedite work permits for millions of illegal aliens. All this unrequited love for those who broke our immigration laws makes many wonder why sanctuary mayors are engaging in this courtship. Do they really care that much for noncitizens over citizens, or is it the aforementioned stealth agenda? The answer is this: It’s probably both, but it doesn’t matter. The bottom line is that hardworking, law-abiding Americans are being neglected and abused by sanctuary mayors. Until Americans begin to prioritize secure borders and demand more from those in charge, nothing will change.

If Xi is motivated to avoid further Chinese humiliation, the West should help him recognize the magnitude of the crises he faces rather than treating him as a superpower in waiting.

Justices unanimously ruled against efforts by a New York anti-gun zealot to leverage her regulatory power to target gun-rights advocacy.

David Weiss’s strategic procrastination didn’t kill the gun case, set to begin on Monday, but it helps Hunter.