Trump speaking from a garbage truck President-elect Donald Trump faced four criminal cases during the 2024 election, but his risk of imprisonment has vanished after securing the presidency, confirming…

In the final days and weeks of the 2024 presidential election, it often seemed as if a motley crew of characters came together to help Donald Trump solidify his win. One of the most unusual election influencers…

A sad situation getting even harder. Kyle Jacobs, the singer-songwriter husband of American Idol star and country singer Kellie Pickler, was found dead at the couple's Nashville home on February 12, 2023 after a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The 49-year old songwriter, originally from Bloomington, Minnesota, had written hits like "More Than a Memory," which was recorded by Garth Brooks, and Lee Brice's "Rumor," along with songs that have been recorded by Tim McGraw, Jo Dee Messina, Clay Walker, Trace Adkins and many others. Jacobs married Pickler in 2011, and the couple starred together in the CMT reality show I Love Kellie Pickler. Since his death, Pickler has kept a low profile, making only one public appearance at a tribute to Patsy Cline earlier this year, where she honored her late husband before performing her song "The Woman I Am." "I'd be lying if I didn't say I was not incredible nervous right now. It's been the first time I've been up on stage in a while.  I will say that I am incredibly honored to be a part of honoring Ms. Patsy Cline. She is a huge reason why I fell in love with music. My husband and I actually wrote this song together, gosh, over a decade ago. The last time I was here in the Ryman Auditorium was with him on a date night. And I know he is here with us tonight." But unfortunately, it seems that things have gotten messy behind the scenes as Kellie and Kyle's family deal with his estate. According to In Touch, Pickler has filed a lawsuit against Kyle's parents, Reed and Sharon Jacobs, over a dispute that has arisen regarding the late songwriter's property. Reed and Sharon were appointed co-administrators of their son's estate after Kellie declined to serve as administrator, but Pickler alleges that her in-laws entered her house and took various items without her consent, and have refused to provide her with a list of what was removed from the home. She also claims that the parents have served her with a subpoena for items to be delivered to them, items which Pickler claims are either not in her possession or whose ownership is in dispute. The items include Kyle's gun collection, swords, a Rolex watch, multiple guitars, baseball cards and a piano, among other things. In response, Reed and Sharon claim that Pickler is in violation of the subpoena by refusing to turn over items that belong to the estate, while admitting that they visited the home to collect items but that it was at the invitation of Pickler and her counsel. They claim that the only items taken were selected by Kellie, and therefore they should not have to provide an inventory of the property that they removed from the home. The parents also claim that Kyle and Kellie entered into a prenup prior to their marriage that laid out ownership of the property. Kyle's parents are asking that Pickler's petition be dismissed. It's obviously a sad situation for all involved. Kellie lost her husband and the parents lost their son, so I'm sure this isn't making anything any easier for anybody.

Optical illusions are wild. The way our brains perceive what our eyes see can be way off base, even when we're sure about what we're seeing. Plenty of famous optical illusions have been created purposefully, from the Ames window that appears to be moving back and forth when it's actually rotating 360 degrees to the spiral image that makes Van Gogh's "Starry Night" look like it's moving.But sometimes optical illusions happen by accident. Those ones are even more fun because we know they aren't a result of someone trying to trick our brains. Our brains do the tricking all by themselves.The popular Massimo account on X shared a photo that appears to be a person and two dogs in the snow. The more you look at it, the more you see just that—two dogs and someone who is presumably their owner. But there are not two dogs in this picture: This is how optical illusions mess with your mind. \n\nFirst you see two dogs and their owner, and then... — (@) There are three dogs in this picture. Can you see the third? Full confession time: I didn't see it at first. Not even when someone explained that the "human" is actually a dog. My brain couldn't see anything but a person with two legs, dressed all in black, with a furry hat and some kind of furry stole or jacket. My brain definitely did not see a black poodle, which is what the person actually is.Are you looking at the photo and trying to see it, totally frustrated?The big hint is that the poodle is looking toward the camera. The "hat" on the "person" is the poodle's poofy tail, and the "scarf/stole" is the poodle's head. Once you see it, it fairly clear, but for many of us, our brains did not process it until it was explicitly drawn out. @Rainmaker1973 That one took me AGES to see. \nOwner is is a 3rd dog closer to the camera. The black fur hides the contours. — (@) As one person explained, the black fur hides the contours and shadows, so all our brains take in is the outline, which looks very much like a person facing away from us. People's reactions to the optical illusion were hilarious. One person wrote, "10 years later: I still see two dogs and a man." 10 years later:I still see two dogs and a man— Farhad (@farhadge) January 8, 2024 Another person wrote, "I agree with ChatGPT :)" and shared a screenshot of the infamous AI chatbot describing the photo as having a person in the foreground. Even when asked, "Could the 'person' be another dog?" ChatGPT said it's possible, but not likely. Ha. @Rainmaker1973 I agree with ChatGPT :) — (@) One reason we love optical illusions is that they remind us just how very human we are. Unlike a machine that takes in and spits out data, our brains perceive and interpret what our senses bring in—a quality that has helped us through our evolution. But the way our brains piece things together isn't perfect. Even ChatGPT's response is merely a reflection of our human imperfections at perception being mirrored back at us.Sure is fun to play with how our brains work, though. This article originally appeared in January.

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