No, centrists who are against the genocide are over here thinking, you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face. The president isn’t a dictator, the country isn’t a monolith, and you don’t understand how the three chambers of US government works.

But hey maybe that’s the point, you’d rather destroy the system and get a dictator. I love having the freedom I have and it’s served me pretty well these years. I support the cause, but I’m not willing to walk with you if it means the end of democracy.

It’s a bold move. I suppose if you let in the guy who 100% supports the genocide and they go through in full with it, then you no longer have the problem 🤷‍♂️

Focus that stress energy and go volunteer!

I see, so you’re letting somebody else decide on what you eat for breakfast.

And what you’re gonna eat tomorrow And what you’re going eat the next day And the next day…. For four years, and possibly longer.

Hope you like garbage chicken.🍗 🍗 🍗

This is exactly how I found out my refrigerator was running.

As someone who doesn’t necessarily consider himself a progressive, I couldn’t fucking agree more. This is the way we get back to a strong middle class, not giving up all of our tax dollars to billionaires.

And below was my prompt, took me appx 5 minutes to write from my phone. I like that the AI thought that Elias would recall secret passages from his youth, which I’m thinking could help the adventures bypass some of the guard. I definitely would want to workshop that highwaymen twist, I mean what kind of party would be willing to return a relic of shadows back when they perceive a ruler as being corrupt? It needs something a bit more convincing.

——

Provide me a framework for a DND campaign that will contain the following story arcs. A lord of a small fiefdom seeks a group of traveling adventures to return a relic (you choose the relic, it must have magical powers) that was stolen from him by a group of highwaymen. The story must include a twist about the highwaymen. When returned, the lord becomes corrupted and throws the party in a far off dungeon. The adventures must work their way back to the lord and seek their revenge, with the assistance of a self exiled hermit who formerly knew the lord in his youth that they encounter along the way. If the hermit dies, the party loses insight into the lord’s intentions and it makes it much more challenging to win the campaign.

For those interested, I just asked it to generate a campaign with a quick prompt and this is what it spit out. Not perfect, but a good basis to build from:

Campaign Framework: The Relic of Shadows Introduction: The Call to Adventure Setting: The campaign begins in the small, picturesque fiefdom of Ravenwood, ruled by the benevolent Lord Alaric. Known for his wisdom and kindness, Lord Alaric’s peace is shattered when a relic of immense power, the Amulet of Shadows, is stolen by a band of notorious highwaymen. Hook: Lord Alaric seeks the help of the adventurers, promising wealth and favor in return for the retrieval of the Amulet of Shadows. The relic is said to possess the ability to manipulate shadows, providing its bearer with unparalleled stealth and the power to traverse through the Shadow Realm. Act 1: The Journey Begins Initial Quest: The adventurers set off to track down the highwaymen, following clues and engaging in minor skirmishes along the way. They learn that the highwaymen are more than simple thieves—they are a fragmented faction of former soldiers who turned to banditry after being betrayed by a corrupt noble. Twist: Upon confronting the highwaymen, the adventurers discover that Lord Alaric had once wronged them in his past. The highwaymen had stolen the Amulet of Shadows not out of greed, but to prevent Alaric from using its dark powers. They reveal that Alaric’s benevolent facade hides his darker ambitions. Act 2: The Corrupted Lord Return and Betrayal: Despite the highwaymen’s revelations, the adventurers decide to return the Amulet of Shadows to Lord Alaric, hoping to resolve the situation peacefully. However, upon returning the relic, Lord Alaric’s true nature is revealed. Corrupted by the power of the amulet, he becomes malevolent and orders the adventurers imprisoned in a distant, forgotten dungeon. Dungeon Escape: The adventurers must navigate the treacherous dungeon, facing traps, monsters, and puzzles. During their imprisonment, they encounter an exiled hermit named Elias, a former friend of Lord Alaric who was cast out due to discovering the lord’s dark ambitions. Act 3: The Path of Vengeance The Hermit’s Guidance: Elias offers to guide the adventurers back to Ravenwood and reveals crucial insights into Lord Alaric’s plans. He explains that Alaric seeks to use the Amulet of Shadows to control the Shadow Realm and extend his dominion. Elias knows secret paths and hidden truths that can aid the adventurers. Critical Choice: The adventurers must protect Elias throughout their journey. If Elias perishes, they lose his valuable knowledge, making their mission significantly harder. Without Elias, they will face additional challenges and must uncover Alaric’s weaknesses through other means. Act 4: The Final Confrontation Return to Ravenwood: The adventurers, now armed with the knowledge provided by Elias (or through their own investigations if Elias is lost), must confront Lord Alaric. They rally allies, face Alaric’s corrupted forces, and uncover the hidden vulnerabilities in Alaric’s plans. Climactic Battle: The campaign culminates in an epic showdown with Lord Alaric in his fortified castle. The adventurers must disable the Amulet of Shadows, overcome Alaric’s dark magic, and ultimately restore peace to Ravenwood. Resolution Victory or Defeat: Depending on the adventurers’ actions, they may emerge victorious, freeing Ravenwood from Alaric’s tyrannical grasp, or they might succumb to the shadows, leaving the fiefdom to its dark fate. Their choices throughout the campaign will determine the final outcome and the legacy they leave behind. Feel free to add or adjust details to fit your players’ preferences and playstyle! This framework should give you a solid foundation for a thrilling and complex campaign. Happy adventuring! 🐉⚔️

I’ve used it to fill in the gaps for DND storyline. I’ll give it a prompt and a couple of story arcs then I’ll tell it to write in a certain style, say a cowardly king or dogmatic paladin. From there it will spit out a story. If I don’t like certain affects, I’ll tell it to rewrite a section with some other detail in mind. It does a fantastic job and saves me some of the guesswork.

You had me up until friends.

Leaving this here for you: https://communications.yale.edu/sites/default/files/4-7-18_what_monkeys_can_teach_us_about_money_bbc.pdf

And that’s the problem right there. The fewer kids with mommy and daddy issues, the fewer kids these “elders” can “take under their wing.”

Funny but not so funny story. I was at the Playhouse in Cleveland, Ohio about 15 years back and my stepdad really wanted to take us to Finnegan’s Wake. It was an improv show where the actors would take suggestions from the audience in what would happen next. A few of us were trying to to be playful with the context, but the vast majority of the meatheads in the audience just kept shouting out lewd suggestions like the reverend fucking the widow. Over and over and over again. The lead guy (reverend) got so tired of it that he said “is this all you want to see!” and humped the actress a few times then ended the show. Simultaneously the best and saddest anti joke I’ve ever experienced.

Take it as you will, but these are the kind of people we are now hinging our democracy on.

Not so fast. David Duke was saying the quiet part out loud and he was only a fringe candidate. There’s something else going on here, I don’t know what it is exactly, that makes Trump more marketable.

The only things I can think of is that he has had decades in the public eye, and he’s been presented as smart and successful for most of that time. And bizarrely enough, he reflects a bygone era in America where blue collar union guys had pensions, which were blown away by billionaires like him. And yet, this billionaire known for grift and stiffing his workers, somehow became their champion.

The whole process has opened my eyes to just how much marketing works with a certain demographic.

No. Language is dynamic by design. If þey/þem wish to be diacritical fluid, who are we to deny freedom of speech?

Democracy Dies in Darkness indeed.

Hmm. I recommend you don’t Google that on Bing.

What kind of MF watches the Harry Potter movies and thinks “you know, that Voldemort guy, he had a point.”

But don’t just vote. Get out there. Volunteer. Recruit.

I think I follow US politics pretty closely for the most part. Obviously every presidential election is important. However, there have been a few that have been critically so in my lifetime. I’ll leave it up to you to determine which ones were most important to you.

• 1992 was the first election post Cold War. It was also a referendum on how Bush handled the first Iraq war, and how he increased taxes after saying he wouldn’t. It was the first time in a while that we had a viable 3rd party candidate. It was also a watershed moment for NAFTA which would have unlikely been passed under a republican president. Gay rights also made huge strides due to this election.

• 1996 saw the rise of the religious right, and laid the foundation for the political theater that we experience today.

• 2000 was a referendum on how important the climate was to the average American. I’m sad to say that the fossils won that one. To me this was one of the most important races of our lifetimes.

• 2004 was a referendum on the handling of the second Iraq War and the continuation of torture as an interrogation device. This one to me is the one where we started to lose a lot of our standing and respect around the world .

• 2008 was critical in that we finally got some semblance of a national healthcare plan

• 2012 was a referendum on that Healthcare plan. This one is yet another critical juncture in the vision for America. The loss here made the right rabid. It also didn’t help that the 24 hour news cycle was no longer hamstrung to report the, you know, actual news.

• 2016 was a referendum on electing a black man to the highest office twice. It was also about healthcare, but most importantly it was when the right finally got war fatigue while the left got globalization fatigue. It was important in that the US started to return back to its isolationist roots.

• 2020 was a referendum on democracy. We hadn’t experienced such a vital threat to democracy since the era when the atomic bomb gave us near total control over the world. If trump had won, I fear we would ceased to function as a democracy at the national level.

• And now onto 2024 - yet another referendum on democracy, but with the added twist that everyone is spurned by high inflation. The economy simply isn’t working for about 40% of the population. In any other normal year, this would be a shoo in for the change candidate, unfortunately for us that change candidate is a fascist dictator.

So, is 2024 the most important election of our lifetimes? Well, I suppose that depends on whether you value living in a democracy. For me, that is a resounding yes.