Why you shouldn't smile in passport photos

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Wonder why you’re told not to show those pearly whites? Here’s what you need to know about getting your passport ready, including a quick renewal option.


🤖 Kim’s new BFF: Nope, not me Kim — the other Kim K.! Kim Kardashian’s showing off her new butt Tesla robot on X and Instagram. In one clip, she makes half of a heart with her hand and the bot completes it. In another, she teaches it to blow a kiss and tries the game Rock, Paper, Scissors. Optimus goes into full production by 2026 for $20,000 to $30,000 a pop. I wonder if this Kim K. can get a freebie …

Kim Kardashian hangs out with $30K Tesla robot

🤖 Kim’s new BFF: Kim Kardashian’s showing off her new Tesla robot on X and Instagram. In one clip, she makes half of a heart with her hand and the bot completes it. In another, she teaches it to blow a kiss and tries the game Rock, Paper, Scissors. Optimus goes into full production by 2026 for $20,000 to $30,000 a pop. I wonder if another Kim K. can get a freebie …

470,000 feet

Altitude reached by the University of Southern California’s student-built rocket. Aftershock II broke the previous record of 380,000 feet, becoming the first non-governmental or private-company-owned rocket to reach this far into space. Oh, space is a vacuum, but it doesn’t suck.

🚦 Cop-out behavior: Two Missouri police officers got busted using traffic stops as a way to see naked pics of women. One former officer reportedly searched 20 different phones last year. He told the victims he was looking at their phones for insurance info, then, if he found racy pics on their devices, he snapped photos of them with his own phone. He and another trooper pleaded not guilty.

Kyiv’s cheap drones: Ukraine’s suppliers are ramping up production of super-cheap computer-guided drones. Startup Vyriy’s under-$50 models hop between frequencies and use a digital video link (paywall link). Others let one person control a swarm of drones at once. I hope this war doesn’t drone on for much longer.

Major lawsuit incoming: A student at a private school in Pennsylvania made AI-generated naked pics of 50 female classmates. It took nearly a year to arrest the creep. Jeez, almost a year … The head of the school and the board’s president resigned. They should’ve been fired.

50 doctors and ChatGPT 

Were tasked with diagnosing illnesses from medical case histories. When graded on their diagnoses and reasoning, ChatGPT scored 90%, and the doctors alone scored 74%. Docs using ChatGPT? 76%. If something’s medically wrong with you, redact your personal info and ask “Dr. AI” what it thinks. Remember, though — it can make crap up.

🐻 Wild bear chase: Drones (hit this link for the video) are chasing grizzly bears and other predators from ranches in Montana. They’re proving a safer and more humane option than firing rubber bullets, which require you to get too close for comfort. I know this firsthand. A huge bear was right behind me on the Snake River years ago. People were screaming, “Bear! Bear! Bear!” I grabbed my son, Ian, like a football and ran up the hill. Only when I reached the top did I turn around. It scared the crap out of me! Well, not really, but you get my drift.

“I took it personally”: When cybersecurity expert Grant Smith’s wife was tricked by a phony U.S. Postal Service text, he made it his mission to get justice. A few months later, he’d cracked the case, recovering over 390,000 stolen credit cards. He handed the info over to authorities. And they say chivalry is dead!

$0.99 a month

Hulu’s Black Friday deal … maybe. They offered that promo last year and have slashed prices to between $1 and $3 a month every Black Friday since 2018. They said last year it won’t happen again, but we all know how that goes. I’ll drop a link if they do.