If you want the characters to be confused, but not the players, pop in some classic tropes.

Two that spring to mind:

Transporter technology - High pitched noise, swirly patterns, a vague sense of being dissolved, then the reverse.

Impossibly sterile rooms - no obvious furniture, panels on the walls automatically open to provide things, beds rise out of the floor, etc.

The shocking truth is that the US is just one of many, many, many democracies. There’s nothing uniquely American about democracy.

The American system was based on the French implementation, which in turn was based on the British implementation.

What is unique about American democracy is the scale. The biggest issue that America has is that the current incarnation is not fit for purpose - it’s a system that when used like it is, creates massive vote inequality, gives some “elected officials” what amounts to jobs for life and spreads blame so thin that (heaven forbid!) should someone try to create a dictatorship, it would be very hard to stop it.

One of those Bugs Bunny / Yosemite Sam door-after-door-after-door affairs.

Basically have two short stretches of corridor with a door either end. The door at the far end of corridor 1 leads to corridor 2. The door at the far end of corridor 2 leads back to corridor 1.

The mechanisms triggering this are pressure plates along the centre of the corridor 2, skirting along the sides will avoid triggering the plates and allow you to go to the next room.

If a player makes a hole in the door / destroys the door entirely (which I’m pretty sure my players would), they’ll see the distant room magically change to the corridor when they step on the pressure plate.

If you look for acrylic paint sets on Amazon, you’ll find tons of them have reviews testifying whether or not they’re suitable for minis.

I’m talking about the artist tube sets, not the pots, here.

The key factor in suitability for these is the amount of pigment. The consistency can be changed easily with water.

I’d group Audi drivers and BMW drivers into the same class of obvious driving.

Just yesterday I saw an Audi swoop from the slow lane straight into the fast last between two tightly-spaced cars in the middle lane. Without indicating.

From a technical point of view, I’ll admit it was an impressively small gap to sneak through, but it probably gave the second car in the middle lane a heart attack.

How do you know it’s spam, though?

Unknown_email_address@invalid.teams.ms might have nothing but the best intentions.

The big difference between the US and China is that China is often close to the bottom of the supply chain.

America doesn’t have the infrastructure already in place to supply the raw materials and basic essentials to manufacturers.

Until this is the case (and I’m phrasing it optimistically but the reality is it never can be the case), all manufacturers have to pay extra just to have access to the things they need to produce their goods.

This cost is passed on to the consumer.

Like another commenter pointed out, there just isn’t a domestic supplier of many products. Crucial rare earth metals and various other minerals just aren’t available. Heck, to my knowledge, there isn’t even a domestic manufacturer of light bulbs anymore.

Without putting anything in place before implementing these tariffs, he’s guaranteed that prices will go up on almost everything.

I agree with this entirely. I personally use AI to help me do things that I don’t have the time to do “the old fashioned way”.

I can draw, paint, sing, sculpt, etc, and I enjoy doing all these things very much. But I don’t have time any more - I have a full-time job, two kids taking up most of my time, and Long COVID means I’m asleep for almost all of what would be left over.

I’ve used AI to help me bring 2d art, music and 3d models into this world that would otherwise be trapped in my head.

Took me a while to pick it out of the image!

Here’s the deets in case it helps anyone else:

• 4 cans normally £4.35
• 3 cans yellow-stickered to £4.59

FWIW, way back when, I spotted a similar thing in my local Sainsbury’s. A pack of 4 apples cost more than buying four loose apples. I tweeted about it jokingly on a Friday, and to their credit they replied, and when I went in on Monday, the price had been adjusted.

😳😬

Ah, thanks for that!

I was genuinely interested because I used to lecture when the GANs first started appearing. Ironically enough, I used to point out to the students how you could tell photos were generated (mismatching ears shapes, asymmetrical glasses, oddly shaped jewellery etc.).

Seems like I need more exposure to the comic art side of things!

I don’t agree with your take, sorry.

To say that an artist should have exclusive control over a style is dangerous.

Every time there is a big upheaval in an industry, it affects people’s jobs in that sector. Henry Ford’s investments in automation, put a lot of small car manufacturers in a tricky position. It also led to cars being affordable for most American households.

I’m not unsympathetic, in fact I’m more than a little aware that AI will be taking over my sector, the software development jobs, within a couple of years (and unlike art, I can’t see any market for “hand-crafted” code!).

But, the genie can’t be put back in the bottle. There’s no possible positive that comes from “calling out” AI art whenever you see it. It doesn’t help artists - if anything we’ve seen artists having to go out of their way proving their work isn’t AI.

Come on, that’s not true. We just want to “re-educate” you guys

Human artists train using other artists work. Every avenue of human endeavour is based on what came before.

My own default style shares similarities with Barbara Canepa and Rumiko Takahashi. Why? Because, as a teen, I used to copy their stuff, trying to “unlock” the parts of it that I like.

If I was to directly copy an image, and say it was my own, then that crosses over into stealing. But that’s not what has happened here. And unless you get very specific with the prompts, it’s not likely to happen.

Shocking truth:

Humans can make all art made by AI.

Humans can make all calculations made by computers.

People use tools to achieve their goals more efficiently. It’s the way it always has been. It doesn’t mean there’s no value attached to it.

Incidentally, for all of the “this is AI” brigade, what are you picking up on? I’m not picking up on any of the classic tells. Aside from the closed fists in the first and last image, where I’d personally go for an open hand, I don’t see anything obviously amiss.

I don’t know what to tell you. When it comes to school shootings, it’s politics all the way down. There’s a reason that the US is the only developed country selling bullet-proof gear in the back-to-school section.

• Question is about explaining terrorism to kids.

• Kids go to school.

• School shooters famously also target schools.

• Kids are aware of terrorism due to the constant threat of a school shooting.

Sleep. It used to take up nearly a third of my life. Since having Long COVID, it’s closer to half my life.

Honestly, think of what we could get done if we had all that extra time…

Can personally attest to Denmark having loads of English speakers.

I encountered exactly one person in my travels there who did not speak fluent English.

I’d learned a little, so I tried to use Danish to order things, ask directions etc, and everyone replied in perfect English.

Yep - this is the case in the UK too.

It literally took a second to confirm that this is the case in dozens of countries around the world.

Wikipedia: Prohibitory Traffic Sign