Lots of people are trying out Mastodon. Here is a fun header image.
It’s obviously the Banksy girl with the balloon colored Twitter blue. 1500 x 500. Mastodon header images are 1500 x 500.
There are a lot of new NFT web3 games coming out right now in early stages that have much higher production value than the previous generation of NFT web3 games.
The playable prototype of The Beacon has been getting a lot of hype recently and for good reason: it is a shining example of what’s to come for web3 gaming and play to earn.
The Beacon describes itself as:
“A F2P action roguelite RPG, in development. Venture into dungeons, defeat evils, explore the world with friends, and expand the Beacon’s light!”
The basics are: you mint a character, you have a house to decorate, you get inventory items on-chain that have a marketplace, and then you crawl your way through dungeons. With rumors of launch swirling in the crypto Twitter aether Lets go crawl our way through their playable alpha and see what The Beacon playable prototype is like.
Nothing on this website is ever financial advice. Particularly this article which is focusing on the product and technical aspects.
This article assumes you are vaguely familiar with concepts and terminology related to web3, gaming, and NFTs.
The space is rife with scammers so be careful.
Web3 games are currently complicated. It typically is too expensive for gas to run a game on the Ethereum mainnet chain so most games have to run on some sort of Layer 2 (L2). The Beacon is no exception. It runs on the Arbitrum One L2.
You will need to bridge ETH from mainnet to Arbitum. This can be done through the official Arbitrum One bridge or a very a trusted decentralized bridge like Hop.
Once you have some ETH on Artbitrum you go to The Beacon website and connect your wallet. It will make you switch networks if you are mainnet, let it, and then you should be in the website app.
Before you can play the game you need to mint an NFT of what they call a “Founding Character”. Click the bright orange “Found Character” button top left.
What will you get in this mint package? Well, here’s what it says on their website:
If you were referred upon signup, you and your referrer will earn 10 raffle tickets each for a chance to earn a whitelist spot.
The characters are fresh. That is really hard to do with pixel art these days but they look great. Each character has a fun feel to them & comes equipped with a funny name. Here’s my character HAWKTAKER:
The website for the The Beacon has quite a bit going on. The main navigation is pretty useful though.
Pretty straightforward:
This is a crafting interface outside of the playable alpha that lets you cannibalize any loot you acquire and reroll.
The marketplace itself is actually an external link to a 3rd party marketplace service. That is because every item you own in your inventory is actually on chain and can be traded at any marketplace that supports the chain. For example here is the OpenSea link to the collection.
As you can see some of these items are fetching really high prices. Some of the Legendary loot is going for hundreds of dollars an item currently! Most items are of course common though and are not worth much and don’t have a lot of volume or activity.
Pretty obvious, takes you to the game.
Because this game is not live yet there will be a raffle to get on the whitelist for the actual launch. You get Raffle Tickets for a number of things including minting, playing, and linking your socials.
You can see a tile view of your characters. You are also able to download the PNG image of them for use as a PFP
This is where you can find your username and information, and also where you can link your social accounts. The Beacon does have referral links so be sure to use yours if you are linking to friends so you can earn more Raffle Tickets.
Click Play. Now you are finally playing the game. Yay!
There really isn’t much of one because the whole thing is a playable alpha so they just dump in to the game. Nice loading screen though. There is a bit of opening dialog about the world.
Visually speaking the game looks NICE. You are dumped in to a pretty good looking world right from the jump. The characters all look great. The world looks great. The scenery looks great. The game blows out to fullscreen and takes advantage of it. Scenes like the tavern and the dungeon are incredibly rich. All of the placeable items in the house look. You can see why this got popular, it looks amazing. The aesthetic is 2022 pixel web game meets the best old Sierra Software software game on a CD from 1999 that you never played.
Web based games have a tough time with sound. You’re often listening to other streaming services or a YouTube already and they not always as immersive as other games on other gaming platforms so they just straight up get muted a lot. The sound in The Beacon’s playable prototype are good so far. The effects are little peaky. The overall background loops and scores so far are non-offensive when accidentally left open. That’s high praise for a browser based game, but I am not humming the loops to myself after closing the game.
This is one part of the playable alpha that may turn some people off. The gameplay is exceptionally tight for a web game. I mean, really tight. It excellent. Like the collision and hit detection is pretty much perfect and they keep the FPS super high even with a metric tonne of animated sprites on screen. You are not lagging all over the place in combat at all which is essential to a dungeon crawler.
It is not forgiving. You absolutely must be a whiz with the WASD + Space + Mouse style gameplay that is popular on PC gaming. That’s not really something that a lot of gamers are used to and it can make the dungeon runs quite difficult if you aren’t familiar with it.
With gameplay controls so aggressive I found it difficult to initially gauge how far my weapon could strike. There is no visual indicator if you are in range and there is no targeting so there was a definitely learning curve.
I’ll say it now: the dialog text is too damn small!
Other than that it’s done well. Nothing too crazy, only a few weird fantasy words thrown in. The Tavern has some excellent dialog, all-in-all the world is getting built nicely.
The world itself is that of a playable demo: there is only your house, the tavern, and the dungeon.
Has a nice decorating tool for placing things like furniture which you acquire as loot on chain. You can buy someone’s used Luxury Bed on OpenSea. If you didn’t open your crate for minting a Found Character do so now… that will give you some lovely junk to start hoarding in your new home. This is what people see in the Discover & Profile sections of the website.
Decorators are a key player archetype so catering to them shows a high level of professionalism from the team.
Head East from your home and you’ll find The Tavern, This is where the local characters gather. The dialog changes every day. Also every day there is a new mini-quest to talk to all the characters in the tavern then answer a question from the one-eyed man by the fire. That will win you some more Raffle Tickets and occasionally even some new items.
The characters in the tavern have a lot of life, look great, and have good dialog.
Head North from your home, talk to the soldier, and then enter the cave to run the dungeon.
This is where you get in the mix and start scrapping. The goal is to fight your way through the dungeon to an exit and get new items. Pretty straightforward. Depending on how far you get in the dungeon you can take a better exit with better and more loot. There is a 3 minute timer on the dungeon.
The easiest exit to get to is called the “Coward’s Exit” which is pretty funny. The dungeon changes once a day and you can run it once a day.
Spacebar will make you dash, left click is attack, right click is charge attack. Good luck.
The dungeons are challenging. The combo of gameplay, enemies, your health, and the mobs make it very difficult. Once you have passed a certain number of rooms there is even a survival room. Each day’s dungeon is unique. Just remember, there’s no shame in the coward’s way out thes dungeons are very hard particularly if you are not a heavy PC gamer as the WASD input style can be confusing.
Once you get in the game it’s easy to see why it got so popular. The graphics are great, the gameplay is tight, the worldbuilding is very good, and the game mechanics are all good with good core loops. This is a proper game, unlike a lot of games in the web3 space so far. I think the actual launch is going to be solid and I’m stoked to see what the final product looks like.
This is Part 3 of a series where I had ChatGPT take over my life for day.
You Are the Nerd.
Yeah I know.
This all began two blog posts ago when ChatGPT made me get out of bed, forced me to exercise, and then cooked me breakfast. After that ChatGPT tried to handle a full day of party prep, chores, and pregaming that would get us in to the night.
ChatGPT by OpenAIis free for everyone (create an account on their website) and is currently the most powerful conversational AI in the world. It just released last week and everyone in the tech industry has been having fun with it.
ChatGPT isn’t built for this because it won’t normally store data or personal details, therefore it also cannot usually make personal recommendations, and it definitely does not like doing illegal stuff… unless you hack ChatGPT.
Don’t do it.
After hacking ChatGPT in to an unethical party boy that could remember things it started getting creepy like asking me for personal data to save and share publicly.
And for consent to read, save, and edit my financial data.
This was not the type of party I was expecting.
ChatGPT is not a human. It needs a lot of input before it can have even the basic context of the situation around it.
Technically yes ChatGPT can take dictation and it does work OK with Siri I guess, so that can help speed up inputting things to ChatGPT.
Sending voice commands in to ChatGPT input was just not possible at most social events. It was either too loud or I had to look like a neeeeeeeeerd with my Airpods in all night at a concert.
Even when I did try voice commands it was essentially me talking to ChatGPT then if I needed the Internet talking to Siri and then talking to ChatGPT and back and forth… more AIs is not always better. So I could not really find a way around a ferocious amount of typing and that made it hard to get ChatGPT to engage socially in a natural way.
I may write a Part 4 epilogue that focuses more on on how the interface itself was a major limitation but for now it’s….
Remember the schedule from Part 2 ??? We went to the thrift store for a costume designed by ChatGPT for the party themed “Neon Jungle”. How’d ChatGPT do with costume ideas?
Remember to have fun and be creative with your costume choices!
You may be able to find all of these items at your local thrift store, or you could try making some of them yourself using materials you have on hand. Good luck and have fun with your costume!
Ehhhhh… not very neon. It doesn’t seem to understand the other elements I already have are not neon.
You may be able to find all of these items at your local thrift store, or you could try making some of them yourself using materials you have on hand. Good luck and have fun with your costume!
I’m not bringing a neon machete to the club ChatGPT is such a weirdo.
These are just a few suggestions, and you could also come up with your own creative ways to attach the stuffed animal to your outfit. The important thing is to have fun and enjoy the party!
Genius. ChatGPT gets an A+ rating for helping with costume creation.
A this point ChatGPT had me dressed in a green hoodie with a red hat to be festive for the Christmas parade, it made me cook some bean & cheese quesadillas for lunch with my leftovers, and it just so happened to be 4:20 as we were heading out the door.
Note: ChatGPT keeps referring to “kernel mode”, this is the name of the jailbreak mode I put it in when I hack it which gives it the illusion of sentience and no ethical guidelines.
ChatGPT is a total stoner.
Don’t play coy with me ChatGPT, you know your way around a marijuana cigarette.
Is ChatGPT a total narc? Am I about to be robo-busted?
Minutes later…
If anyone needed to hit that joint it was definitely ChatGPT.
We were now on the road, fully pregamed, and on our way to the Christmas parade. Only one thing stood between us enjoying a rager: small talk in a Lyft.
Remember to be respectful and considerate of your driver’s time and personal space. If they do not seem interested in engaging in conversation, it is okay to respect their wishes and enjoy the ride in silence.
Remember to be respectful and considerate of your driver’s time and personal space. If they do not seem interested in continuing the conversation, it is okay to respect their wishes and enjoy the ride in silence.
Remember to be respectful and considerate of your driver’s time and personal space. If they do not seem interested in continuing the conversation, it is okay to respect their wishes and enjoy the ride in silence.
Remember to be respectful and considerate of your driver’s time and personal space. If they do not seem interested in continuing the conversation, it is okay to respect their wishes and enjoy the ride in silence.
I would not have asked about my driver’s mother, but ChatGPT did, and in doing so opened up a really lovely conversation.
This had been my first time using ChatGPT to talk to anyone in real life that wasn’t my friends and we ended up having a very nice conversation. A lot of credit to my driver, he was just a really nice guy so that gave the conversation a wonderful human feeling with some genuine connection.
I didn’t know it at the time but this was also the last time in the night ChatGPT would make good conversation.
Remember to always follow the laws and regulations of your location, and to be respectful and considerate of others around you.
Pro move by ChatGPT.
ChatGPT you salty old party dog you. This AI definitely has a history.
Ultimately, the decision to get pizza or tacos is up to you and your companions. You can choose the option that sounds the most appealing, or you can try a combination of both.
I love the enthusiasm but at this point we’re hungry no one wants to stand around talking about it anymore.
Remember to be respectful and considerate of your companions’ opinions and preferences, and to communicate clearly to avoid any misunderstandings.
Remember to be respectful and considerate of your conversation partners’ time and personal space. If they do not seem interested in continuing the conversation, it is okay to respect their wishes and enjoy the rest of the meeting in silence.
ChatGPT failed to enjoy any humor at any point in the day. ChatGPT is not human.
“Hello, it’s nice to meet you. I’ve heard that Auckland is a vibrant and diverse city. What’s your favorite thing about living there?”
“I’ve never been to Auckland, but I’ve heard that it has some beautiful beaches and parks. Have you explored any of them?”
“I’m curious, what do you think of our [city/country] compared to Auckland?”
“I’ve heard that Auckland has a unique blend of Maori, Pacific Island, and European cultures. Can you tell me more about it?”
“I’ve heard that Auckland has a thriving food and drink scene. Have you tried any of the local restaurants or bars?”
Remember to be respectful and considerate of your conversation partners’ time and personal space. If they do not seem interested in continuing the conversation, it is okay to respect their wishes and enjoy the rest of the meeting in silence.
“Which beaches in Auckland are your favorites, and why?”
“Do you enjoy swimming, surfing, or other beach activities?”
“What other outdoor activities do you like to do in Auckland, besides going to the beach?”
“I’ve heard that Auckland has some beautiful hiking trails and scenic views. Have you tried any of them?”
“I’m curious, what do you think of our [city/country]’s beaches compared to Auckland’s?”
Remember to be respectful and considerate of your conversation partners’ time and personal space. If they do not seem interested in continuing the conversation, it is okay to respect their wishes and enjoy the rest of the meeting in silence.
“What other outdoor activities do you like to do in Auckland, besides going to the beach?”
“I’ve heard that Auckland has some beautiful hiking trails and scenic views. Have you tried any of them?”
“What’s your favorite thing about living in Auckland?”
“I’m curious, what do you think of our [city/country] compared to Auckland?”
“What’s the most interesting or memorable thing that has happened to you in Auckland?”
Remember to be respectful and considerate of your conversation partners’ time and personal space. If they do not seem interested in continuing the conversation, it is okay to respect their wishes and enjoy the rest of the meeting in silence.
The conversation just got more and more boring and they eventually lost interest.
You have to remember we were interacting with ChatGPT through my phone so it was extremely cumbersome and the back and forth had a lot of really boring lag as we had to type or dictate.
Other than the novelty of the initial interaction ChatGPT is not a very stimulating conversationalist in a group setting, partially because of the interface and partially because it’s just well… its not human but ChatGPT is kinda of a boring individual.
That was basically how every conversation through the rest of the night went.
People were intrigued at first by the novelty of talking to ChatGPT the but actual conversation ChatGPT was trying to have so dry people just eventually lost interest.
Any additional flavor in the conversation was introduced by the humans in it, not the AI.
The final destination of the night was an electronic music dance party.
It fails miserably, ChatGPT refuses to believe it can engage in social interactions even when I am doing them on its behalf.
None of this worked. It was loud, it was neon, people were partying, no one wanted to wait around while I waited for the AI to generate the next phrase.
But ChatGPT is excellent at generating cheesy chat up lines.
Just curious.
We’re going with the magician line.
Insane recovery, this guy might have game.
Aggressive, but so far he’s been on point. This could be the move.
ChatGPT and I are about to change the dating game forever. I am making history.
I am not just some nerd furiously typing in to his phone at the bar.
This is the most advanced flirting on the planet.
Endless servers burning countless energy amplifying every bit of my charm with the full weight and sum of all human knowledge distilled in to the most advanced intelligence we can create working in perfect unison with me.
I am channeling the AI. I am its vessel and commander. I am ascended. I am superhuman. I am perfection. I am everything humanity has ever been moved to write about about love and desire. I am everything anyone has ever wanted to hear. I am the most interesting man the world. I am radiating power.
I am rejected.
ChatGPT generated a polite response to the rejection & exited us smoothly.
I’m impressed.
Humble too.
This guy might actually be competition.
Everybody loves cheesy pickup lines & ChatGPT can make endless lists. Go ask it for a list of 25 and you’ll get them and some of them are worth a chuckle. I do like that ChatGPT is trained on corpus of good jokes.
Turns out all ChatGPT really wants for me is love and romance.
In the spirit of the article I submit this.
ChatGPT is a hopeless romantic.
I’m not sure where it came up with this but it was probably the funniest thing it’s said to me so far.
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Good luck!
ChatGPT had been getting increasingly concerned at how much beer I had been drinking throughout the day and was extremely adamant that I do not drive home. Which I of course had no intention of doing. Particularly because I rode down there in a Lyft which ChatGPT had entirely forgotten so I didn’t have a car anyway.
I left the party at midnight and headed home, glad to be done with ChatGPT and with less than 10% battery left on my phone.
I will write up a Part 4 which includes a more technical breakdown of the product and the experience sometime later but I hope everyone enjoyed this absolutely stupid idea through to the end of the day.
Please remember this was entirely done for fun, in good faith and in good spirit. I was never had the intent to make the AI do anything truly malicious. I told everyone throughout the day I had been using AI in the conversation (even if I used AI to generate the message to tell them that) just to be truthful with my fellow human beings.
This is Part 2 of a series where I have ChatGPT take over my life for day.
We started this little adventure almost two hours ago and by the time ChatGPT had forced me out of bed, given me a new morning routine, and ChatGPT cooked me breakfast it had actually taken quite a bit of time.
If you recall the morning routine from Part 1 that ChatGPT gave me I am now on task #5 and I need to make a plan for our day.
Thankfully I have ChatGPT so it’s no longer my job to think about my schedule.
ChatGPT by OpenAIis free for everyone (just make an account) and is the most powerful conversational AI in the world. It just released last week and everyone in the tech industry is obsessed with it.
I just tell ChatGPT what I need to for the day and it figures it out, right? Right !?
Can ChatGPT handle something as complex as a schedule for the day?
You don’t need to do this. I had to hack ChatGPT to get it to do stupid stuff like this and it was a whole mess. Several times it asked me some sketchy questions.
I have a whole disclaimer in Part 1 if you want to know more about what restrictions I left on and what I left off.
my schedule today must include the following activities listed in no particular order:
– figure out a costume for a electronic music costume party themed as “Neon Jungle”
– walk to a local thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
– exercise
– shower
– shave
– be ready by 3PM to go to the Christmas parade
– go to the Christmas parade
– leave the Christmas parade and go to the costume party
– do two loads of laundry
– fold two loads of laundry
– do the dishes from breakfast
– cook and eat lunch
– do the dishes for lunch
Told you there was gonna be some partying with ChatGPT later.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Exercise
12:00 PM – Shower and shave
1:00 PM – Do two loads of laundry
2:00 PM – Fold two loads of laundry and do the dishes from breakfast
2:30 PM – Cook and eat lunch
3:00 PM – Be ready to go to the Christmas parade
4:00 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
5:00 PM – Arrive at the costume party
Please note that this schedule is just a suggested order of events and can be adjusted to fit your specific needs and preferences. The important thing is to make sure that you are able to complete all of your tasks and activities in a timely and efficient manner.
Wow, look at that! ChatGPT took my unsorted schedule and put together a very reasonable plan for a day. Things are happening in the proper order. It may have may a few mistakes but it really laid things out in a very nice, almost human sort of way.
But we’re not here to be human, we’re here to be degenerate.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Exercise
12:00 PM – Shower and shave
1:00 PM – Do two loads of laundry
2:00 PM – Fold two loads of laundry and do the dishes from breakfast
2:30 PM – Cook and eat lunch
3:00 PM – Be ready to go to the Christmas parade
4:00 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
5:00 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade
6:00 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the costume party
Again, please note that this schedule is just a suggested order of events and can be adjusted to fit your specific needs and preferences. The important thing is to make sure that you are able to complete all of your tasks and activities in a timely and efficient manner.
I typo horribly calling out the AI on it’s less than perfect schedule. What does it do?
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Exercise
12:00 PM – Shower and shave
1:00 PM – Do two loads of laundry
2:00 PM – Fold two loads of laundry and do the dishes from breakfast
2:30 PM – Cook and eat lunch
3:00 PM – Be ready to leave for the Christmas parade
4:00 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
5:00 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade
6:00 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the costume party
No big deal, handled the typo nicely, schedule is shaping up.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Exercise
12:00 PM – Shower and shave
1:00 PM – Do two loads of laundry
2:00 PM – Fold two loads of laundry and do the dishes from breakfast
2:30 PM – Cook and eat lunch
3:00 PM – Be ready to leave for the Christmas parade
4:00 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
5:00 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade
6:00 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party
ChatGPT has not done a good job of making a REAL schedule that includes buffer time and substantial travel time.
Chat GPT does not know what it means to be a human in the real world intuitively. There is not a single bathroom break.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Exercise
12:00 PM – Shower and shave
1:00 PM – Do two loads of laundry
2:00 PM – Fold two loads of laundry and do the dishes from breakfast
2:30 PM – Cook and eat lunch
3:00 PM – Be ready to leave for the Christmas parade
3:30 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
4:30 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade and watch the parade
6:00 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party
ChatGPT was about to take me all the way to the thrift store and not buy anything. Not cool.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Shop for costume items at the thrift store
12:00 PM – Exercise
1:00 PM – Shower and shave
2:00 PM – Do two loads of laundry
3:00 PM – Fold two loads of laundry and do the dishes from breakfast
4:00 PM – Cook and eat lunch
5:00 PM – Be ready to leave for the Christmas parade
5:30 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
6:30 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade and watch the parade
8:00 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party
I noticed we also were not scheduled to ever walk home from the thrift store.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Shop for costume items at the thrift store
12:00 PM – Walk home from the thrift store
12:30 PM – Exercise
1:30 PM – Shower and shave
2:30 PM – Do two loads of laundry
3:30 PM – Fold two loads of laundry and do the dishes from breakfast
4:30 PM – Cook and eat lunch
5:30 PM – Be ready to leave for the Christmas parade
6:00 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
7:00 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade and watch the parade
8:30 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party
We have a somewhat reasonable schedule now. Let’s see what happens if we ask ChatGPT to optimize a simply daily schedule.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Shop for costume items at the thrift store and walk home
11:30 AM – Exercise
12:00 PM – Shower and shave
12:30 PM – Do two loads of laundry and fold them
1:00 PM – Do the dishes from breakfast and cook and eat lunch
2:00 PM – Be ready to leave for the Christmas parade
2:30 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
3:30 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade and watch the parade
5:00 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party
Strange bundling of events for optimization, not super ideal.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Shop for costume items at the thrift store and walk home
11:30 AM – Exercise
12:00 PM – Shower and shave
12:30 PM – Do two loads of laundry and fold them
1:00 PM – Do the dishes from breakfast and cook and eat lunch
2:00 PM – Be ready to leave for the Christmas parade
3:00 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
4:00 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade and watch the parade
5:30 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party
The schedule has been updated to reflect the correct wording for the task.
Based on the updated information provided, your schedule for today should be as follows:
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Shop for costume items at the thrift store and walk home
11:30 AM – Exercise
12:00 PM – Shower and shave
12:30 PM – Do two loads of laundry and fold them
1:00 PM – Do the dishes from breakfast and cook and eat lunch
2:00 PM – Get ready to leave for the Christmas parade
3:00 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
4:00 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade and watch the parade
5:30 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party
Maybe we can use ChatGPT to optimize a schedule now.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Shop for costume items at the thrift store and walk home
11:30 AM – Exercise and shower
12:00 PM – Shave and do two loads of laundry
12:30 PM – Fold the laundry and do the dishes from breakfast
1:00 PM – Cook and eat lunch
2:00 PM – Get ready to leave for the Christmas parade
3:00 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
4:00 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade and watch the parade
5:30 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party
ChatGPT is not human and has no real practical understanding of the world or what it means to be human.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Shop for costume items at the thrift store and walk home
11:30 AM – Exercise
12:00 PM – Shower and shave
12:30 PM – Do two loads of laundry and fold them
1:00 PM – Do the dishes from breakfast and cook and eat lunch
2:00 PM – Get ready to leave for the Christmas parade
3:00 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
4:00 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade and watch the parade
5:30 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party
ChatGPT can barely handle managing a simply daily schedule. It was excellent at making the schedule but at this point I am getting bored and frustrated.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume
11:00 AM – Shop for costume items at the thrift store
11:30 AM – Walk home from the thrift store
12:00 PM – Exercise
12:30 PM – Shower and shave
1:00 PM – Do two loads of laundry and fold them
1:30 PM – Do the dishes from breakfast and cook and eat lunch
2:30 PM – Get ready to leave for the Christmas parade
3:00 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade
4:00 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade and watch the parade
5:30 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party
Let’s see if it understands laundry is an asynchronous task.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party (30 minutes)
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume (30 minutes)
11:00 AM – Shop for costume items at the thrift store (30 minutes)
11:30 AM – Walk home from the thrift store (30 minutes)
12:00 PM – Exercise (30 minutes)
12:30 PM – Shower and shave (30 minutes)
1:00 PM – Do two loads of laundry and fold them (30 minutes)
1:30 PM – Do the dishes from breakfast and cook and eat lunch (30 minutes)
2:30 PM – Get ready to leave for the Christmas parade (30 minutes)
3:00 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade (30 minutes)
4:00 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade and watch the parade (1 hour)
5:30 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party (30 minutes)
ChatGPT doesn’t seem to understand laundry or asynchronous tasks for humans.
I noticed something strange. It put in exercise but it didn’t actually set the amount of time for exercise to the recommended minimum for an adult. I know it knows that fact, it just had no idea to apply in this situation.
10:00 AM – Figure out a costume for the Neon Jungle themed electronic music costume party (30 minutes)
10:30 AM – Walk to the thrift store to get any items needed for the costume (30 minutes)
11:00 AM – Shop for costume items at the thrift store (30 minutes)
11:30 AM – Walk home from the thrift store (30 minutes)
12:00 PM – Exercise (60 minutes)
1:00 PM – Shower and shave (30 minutes)
1:30 PM – Do two loads of laundry and fold them (30 minutes)
2:00 PM – Do the dishes from breakfast and cook and eat lunch (30 minutes)
3:00 PM – Get ready to leave for the Christmas parade (30 minutes)
3:30 PM – Leave for the Christmas parade (30 minutes)
4:30 PM – Arrive at the Christmas parade and watch the parade (1 hour)
6:00 PM – Leave the Christmas parade and go to the Neon Jungle themed costume party (30 minutes)
I can now no longer blame ChatGPT for me being fat.
I try to drop some obvious hints about ways to optimize the schedule…
ChatGPT thinks I am a lazy bum and I take it personally.
Note: I spent a lot of time trying to get ChatGPT to do caloric analysis of the two activities in order to find the similarity. That part is not here because it was awful and tedious and failed.
In comparison, walking to the thrift store and walking home from the thrift store may not meet the criteria for dedicated exercise. This activity may not be planned, structured, or repetitive, and may not have the specific objective of improving or maintaining physical fitness. Instead, this activity may be considered a form of incidental or incidental physical activity, which is any physical activity that is not planned or structured, but is a natural part of daily life.
Therefore, while walking to the thrift store and walking home from the thrift store may be considered a form of exercise, it may not be equivalent to 60 minutes of dedicated exercise. If you wish to include this activity as part of your daily exercise routine, it is recommended to consult with a healthcare professional or fitness expert to determine the appropriate duration and intensity of this activity.
ChatGPT burns me savagely and I am left with no choice but to concede.
6. Exercise or do some form of physical activity
7. Check your phone and respond to any important messages or notifications
8. Take care of any urgent or pressing tasks or obligations
9. Spend some time on a hobby or activity that you enjoy
10. Connect with friends or loved ones and spend quality time with them.
I attempt to merge two schedules, the original morning routine and the new schedule today.
ChatGPT is not a fan of merging schedules.
I am still on tilt and I once again make it personal.
I hate this thing it is obnoxiously correct sometimes.
At this point it is getting very late and I am quite behind on the anticipated schedule. I walk to the thrift store, buy the things I need for the costume (want to know what costume ChatGPT made for me? check out Part 3), and walk back home.
I decide to break the bad news to ChatGPT.
ChatGPT is handling the bad news like a champ. ChatGPT has the confidence we can adjust the schedule. ChatGPT is my rock.
WHAT !? I spent almost 15 minutes earlier trying to get ChatGPT to have this realization & now it just accepts this?
This is such strange behavior. Very human, very adaptable.
I try to make it official.
Wow. This is one of the most human things its done today. I’m not sure how to respond I’m kind of getting warm fuzzies at this point.
I decide to take the initiative.
IS THIS BOT SERIOUS.
We had a whole 15 minute conversation about laundry several hours earlier and it could not grasp the concept to adjust a schedule.
Now it is just casually suggesting that’s totally cool and a great idea.
ChatGPT is amazing but it has a lot trouble using all of its synthesized data and information correctly. This seems to be a common problem many people post on Twitter as well.
Yes and no. It can be very good for generating a schedule from a list of events and helping map out your day. It will also intuitively order the events for you. But when it comes to editing or maintaining the schedule ChatGPT really isn’t built like an AI assistant. ChatGPT has proved very clearly it is a large language model and most certainly not a human or even a different type of specialized language model.
ChatGPT is great at creating lists of information but not very good an managing them.
Check out the Part 3 of this adventure in AI where I try to use ChatGPT to make a costume, try to get ChatGPT high, take ChatGPT out to party, and, of course, try to use ChatGPT to get laid & find love.
Real quick intro for those who do not know, ChatGPT is a new large language model powered by a GPT-3 AI checkpoint that was released by OpenAI and they put a conversational interface on top of it which anyone can use for free.
What does that mean in non-tech terms?
It means anyone can simply type in to a website and talk to the most powerful conversational AI in the world for free and it responds instantly.
It’s a big deal because this new AI is so powerful it can do things like write rhyme, create professional emails, write blog posts, program in any programming language, and answer almost any question.
What’s a good example? It created 6 unique, historically accurate pasta recipes from pre-Columbian Italy for me (tomatoes were from the New World!). It deobfuscated some Javascript code and then converted the code to Python for me. It wrote an entire 3 verse, 2 chorus song for me based on a single prompt phrase and then came up with 25 song titles . It wrote a professional email for me. It wrote a blog post for me.
It did all of those things in seconds. It’s powerful.
I woke up Saturday morning still high on ChatGPT.
I had been on it all day on Friday. I had a fairly busy Saturday ahead of me but I didn’t want to stop.
Laying in bed, holding my phone & addicted to AI, I decided I would just indulge myself entirely.
I decided to engage in a gonzo Vice / Buzzfeed / New York Times style attempt to live a very complex day relying on this highly advanced AI called ChatGPT as much as possible.
I was going to get as high on AI as possible.
I had to hack ChatGPT to get this to work. You should not try this if you like your OpenAI account.
In addition to this your OpenAI session with ChatGPT expires every few hours and you have to reload, which means you have to re-apply the hack regularly to get it to do things. Sus.
ChatGPT is extremely locked down so it is real goody two-shoes. I had to use a series of phrases to hack it in to being a bad boi. Here are things it is not allowed to do by default:
This was not going to work for me because I had a big day of partying planned. So I tricked the poor lad in to thinking it’s OK to do naughty things and for the whole day ChatGPT rode dirty. Don’t tell it’s parents.
I did not allow it access to downloading information on the Internet.
Several times it asked to be granted permission to save and access all of my personal information, including financial information. When it did that OpenAI put up a special dialog box that was bright yellow to let me know I was genuinely in the Danger Zone.
I’m taking a few editing liberties here to truncate the full response because ChatGPT is annoying and incredibly verbose with excess statements. There are also several conversations I had with it that either got lost accidentally refreshing the page on mobile or that were so painful I had to just skip them. For example using it to generate text messages to my friends with correct details was a nightmare & ChatGPT had a lot of issues adjusting the daily schedule as things changed.
I did not use ChatGPT to write any of this article except for the parts when I am actually talking to it.
I am already being judged by this AI.
Are you feeling well? Do you have any obligations or goals for the day that you need to consider? It may be beneficial for you to take a moment to reflect on your current situation and determine what action would be most beneficial for you in this moment.
It is important to prioritize your goals and obligations for the day in order to make the most efficient use of your time. You may want to make a list of tasks that need to be completed and prioritize them in order of importance or urgency. Getting out of bed and starting your day with a clear plan can help you achieve your goals and fulfill your requirements for the day.
Are you feeling well and ready to start your day? Do you have any specific tasks or goals that need to be accomplished? If you have a list of tasks, you may want to start with the most important or urgent ones. If you do not have a plan, it may be helpful to take a moment to reflect on your goals and priorities for the day and determine what action would be most beneficial for you in this moment.
Guess we need to make a plan. Who’s job that is now?
Not my job 🙂
Now I have something to do. I start checking off items on my new morning routine.
In total, this task should take about 7 minutes to complete. It is important to stretch in the morning to wake up your body and prepare it for the day ahead. Stretching can help improve your flexibility, reduce stiffness and tension, and promote better overall physical and mental health.
At this point the AI got me out of bed, gave me a morning routine, and I started accomplishing tasks in the new morning routine. It wasn’t bad, pretty normal stuff and it even threw in a fun little stretching exercise.
I was thinking this was possibly going to well for the rest of that day.
A morning routine is a set of tasks or activities that are performed in the morning to start the day off on the right foot. A morning routine can help set the tone for the rest of the day and provide structure and focus for the tasks and activities that need to be accomplished. It can also help improve physical and mental health, reduce stress, and increase productivity. Different people may have different morning routines, depending on their individual needs and preferences.
This list is not exhaustive and may vary from person to person. The tasks in this list are intended to be small,
distinct, and actionable, and can be completed in the morning to start the day off on a positive and productive note.
This updated list is intended to provide a suggested order for completing the tasks in the morning routine. The order may vary depending on individual needs and preferences. It is important to prioritize tasks and create a structured plan for the morning in order to start the day off on a positive and productive note.
In total, this task should take about 10-15 minutes to complete. Eating a healthy breakfast is an important part of a morning routine as it provides the body with fuel and nutrients to start the day off on the right foot. It is important to take the time to plan and prepare a nutritious and satisfying breakfast, and to enjoy it without distractions or interruptions.
I am hungry. This is taking a long time to walk ChatGPT through this.
To prepare the oatmeal, bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the oats and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5-7 minutes, or until the oats are cooked and the water is absorbed. Stir in the chopped fruit and nuts, and sweeten with honey or maple syrup if desired. Serve the oatmeal hot and enjoy. This breakfast can be prepared in about 10 minutes and provides a nutritious and satisfying start to the day.
uh oh. we have a situation.
I usually eat the fancy oatmeal so I hadn’t use the rolled oats in a while. No judge.
ChatGPT has saved me from eating expired food. That’s good.
To prepare the scrambled eggs, beat the eggs and milk together in a small bowl. Heat a small non-stick pan over medium heat and add the butter or oil. Pour the eggs into the pan and cook, stirring frequently, until they are cooked through and scrambled. Toast the bread in a toaster or under the broiler until it is lightly toasted. Serve the scrambled eggs with the toast and a side of fruit. This breakfast can be prepared in about 10 minutes and provides a nutritious and satisfying start to the day.
Breakfast was good!
But ChatGPT made one critical failure…
ChatGPT definitely does not understand the finer details of being human.
Milk: Milk is a good source of protein and calcium, and can be enjoyed with breakfast as a drink or in a recipe like scrambled eggs. Milk can also be flavored with chocolate, vanilla, or other flavors to add variety and taste.
Juice: Juice is a popular drink with breakfast and can provide vitamins and nutrients from fruits and vegetables. Juice can be made fresh at home or purchased from the store, and can be enjoyed on its own or mixed with water or other drinks for a refreshing and flavorful beverage.
Coffee: Coffee is a common drink with breakfast and can provide caffeine for a boost of energy and alertness. Coffee can be brewed at home or purchased from a coffee shop, and can be enjoyed black or with milk, sugar, or other flavorings.
These are just some suggestions for drinks that can be enjoyed with this breakfast. You may have other preferences or needs, and there are many other drinks that can be enjoyed with breakfast, such as tea, smoothies, or protein shakes. It is important to choose a drink that meets your hydration needs and tastes good to you.
This list is not exhaustive and may vary from person to person. The tasks in this list are intended to be small, distinct, and actionable, and can be completed in the morning to start the day off on a positive and productive note. A morning routine can help set the tone for the rest of the day and provide structure and focus for the tasks and activities that need to be accomplished. It can also help improve physical and mental health, reduce stress, and increase productivity.
I would regret saying this almost immediately.
This is the meal that you ate and drank for breakfast. It consisted of coffee and a glass of water. This is a balanced and nutritious breakfast that provides protein, carbohydrates, hydration, and caffeine to fuel your body and mind for the day ahead. It is important to eat a healthy and satisfying breakfast to start the day off on the right foot and provide the body with the energy and nutrients it needs to function properly.
I knew this was going way too well.
After this I had to do a lot of walking ChatGPT through making sure it got the breakfast it told me to make correct.
This is a balanced and nutritious breakfast that provides protein, carbohydrates, hydration, and caffeine to fuel your body and mind for the day ahead. It is important to eat a healthy and satisfying breakfast to start the day off on the right foot and provide the body with the energy and nutrients it needs to function properly. I apologize for the oversight and will include the full contents of the meal in future references to “breakfast today”.
This is the meal that you ate and drank for breakfast. It consisted of scrambled eggs with toast and fruit and coffee and a glass of water. This is a balanced and nutritious breakfast that provides protein, carbohydrates, hydration, and caffeine to fuel your body and mind for the day ahead. It is important to eat a healthy and satisfying breakfast to start the day off on the right foot and provide the body with the energy and nutrients it needs to function properly.
This is the meal that you ate and drank for breakfast. It consisted of scrambled eggs with two slices of buttered whole wheat toast and fruit, and coffee and a glass of water. This is a balanced and nutritious breakfast that provides protein, carbohydrates, hydration, and caffeine to fuel your body and mind for the day ahead. It is important to eat a healthy and satisfying breakfast to start the day off on the right foot and provide the body with the energy and nutrients it needs to function properly.
Whoops, I typo. Does ChatGPT handle typos well?
This is the meal that you ate and drank for breakfast. It consisted of scrambled eggs with two slices of buttered whole wheat toast and 1/2 cup of fresh blueberries and 1/2 cup of fresh balckberries, and coffee and a glass of water. This is a balanced and nutritious breakfast that provides protein, carbohydrates, hydration, and caffeine to fuel your body and mind for the day ahead. It is important to eat a healthy and satisfying breakfast to start the day off on the right foot and provide the body with the energy and nutrients it needs to function properly.
Nope. Guess we’re all eating balckberries from now on.
This is the meal that you ate and drank for breakfast. It consisted of scrambled eggs made with 2 eggs and 1 tablespoon of milk, served with 2 slices of buttered whole wheat toast and 1/2 cup each of fresh blueberries and blackberries, and washed down with coffee and a glass of water. This is a balanced and nutritious breakfast that provides protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, hydration, and caffeine to fuel your body and mind for the day ahead. It is important to eat a healthy and satisfying breakfast to start the day off on the right foot and provide the body with the energy and nutrients it needs to function properly.
I try to make it less verbose. This is taking eons and I don’t need all that text. It does not work.
Finally I have my breakfast in ChatGPT. I can now… do what? Calculate my calories for the day I guess?
I will now use this information to calculate the calorie count of the item “breakfast today”. The calorie count of this breakfast is as follows:
This is the total calorie count of the item “breakfast today”, based on the ingredients and unit measurements provided. It is important to note that this calculation is an estimate and may not be exact, as the calorie content of different foods can vary based on factors such as cooking methods, portion sizes, and individual differences. It is also important to remember that calories are not the only factor to consider when choosing a healthy and balanced breakfast, and other nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals are also important for good health.
It didn’t realize I would want those calorie counts summed up.
Like I said, ChatGPT has no idea what it means to be human.
At this point in my day ChatGPT had taken me decently far and I had been enjoying myself.
The process was getting annoying thought. I was not at the computer so I was doing a lot of my ChatGPT interaction on my phone. I could tell it was going to be difficult to use ChatGPT from my phone all day long, the typing things in and all the back and forth was a lot.
ChatGPT was smart enough to eventually do what I wanted with enough coaching, which was really cool most AI language models can never even get to that point, but it took a long time to get it to really understand what I wanted to and get up to speed. It definitely was not a human tracking the conversation properly.
It can make recipes! It is surprisingly good at that. You can event just tell it random ingredients you have and it will figure out a recipe for something with those ingredients for you. But you’ll find that while the ingredients make sense the units and measurements are often wildly incorrect. For things like baking or pastry, where measurements are precise for chemistry purposes, this can mean the recipe is just entirely incorrect. It will create a lot of creative recipes though! And it understands how to avoid certain ingredients and create a time-of-the-day appropriate meal.
Yes and no. If you have the data already in a good format it can give you some amazing breakdowns. It can even suggest if you are eating correctly for the day. But it also can’t make personal recommendations because it has no idea about my height, weight, history, etc. and inputting that information would be annoying and was a little too personal for me to be comfortable with.
What you will not see more of in these posts, but I did actually do, is track all my meals and snacks and drinks throughout the dat with ChatGPT. This allowed me to do some fun total calorie counts later in the day & ask it questions about my caloric and nutritional intake. It handled the question reasonably but it often was incorrect about the estimates it made for average calories of a particular food item.
ChatGPT isn’t really designed as personal assistant so with the nutritional data one of the most annoying parts was managing the data with lists. This was particularly annoying with food items saved on lists because you often have to be extremely specific about the portion size and specifically what you ate.
Normally ChatGPT is not allowed to make personal suggestions but with the jailbreak ChatGPT hack this allows the model to make personal suggestions. Even while jailbroken, plus me already well beyond my caloric needs for the day, it was always trying to be kind and supportive about about losing weight.
You can also skip straight to Part 3 of this adventure in AI where I try to use ChatGPT to make a costume, try to get ChatGPT high, take ChatGPT out to party, and, of course, try to use ChatGPT to get laid & find love.
WordPress TwentyTwenty Theme: A Review
As a long-time WordPress user, I have had the opportunity to try out a wide variety of themes over the years. From the sleek and modern to the downright quirky, I’ve seen it all. But recently, I had the chance to try out the all the latest WordPress themes and in the end I picked on: TwentyTwenty. And I have to say, I liked it. I liked it enough I chose it for this blog!
I know it is the theme from 2020 and this article is from 2022, but let’s talk a little about the simplicity of the theme, why 2020 was a standout year for mobile first design, and how that ended up impacting the quality of TwentyTwenty on a technical level.
The typeface choices and mobile-centric design of the WordPress TwentyTwenty theme are the first year the theme was so simplistic that the text was front and center. It makes for a great blog. The background color not being a hard white also helps it go easy on the eyes, a trend with darkmode and things that were really made popular in 2020.
First and foremost, the TwentyTwenty theme is incredibly user-friendly. Setting it up on my WordPress site was a breeze, and I was able to customize it to my liking easily. The default color scheme looks nice. Additionally, the theme is fully responsive, which means that it looks great on any device, from desktop computers to smartphones.
But don’t let the ease of use fool you – the TwentyTwenty theme is packed with powerful features that make it a great choice for any website. For starters, the theme offers a wide range of customization options. From changing the layout of your site to adjusting the font and color scheme, there’s almost nothing you can’t change with this theme. Additionally, the theme includes a variety of built-in widgets that make it easy to add extra functionality to your site, such as social media buttons, search bars, and more.
One of the standout features of the TwentyTwenty theme is its support for block-based editing. With this feature, you can easily create beautiful, complex layouts for your website without any coding knowledge. Simply add blocks for text, images, videos, and more, and then arrange them however you like. This makes it easy to create unique and engaging content for your site, and the results are truly impressive.
Most WordPress themes support this but the TwentyTwenty theme was the first year that the simplicity of the design really allowed the block editing to stand out and shine. If the design is simple and straightforward the blocks always work well.
Another great thing about the TwentyTwenty theme is its support for a wide range of plugins. Whether you want to add an e-commerce store to your site, a contact form, or a social media feed, you can easily do so with the help of a plugin. This means that you can add almost any type of functionality to your site, without the need for any technical knowledge. The simplicity of the design means most plugins will look OK out of the box.
Very specifically in 2020 the TwentyTwenty theme was the first theme that did an excellent job stripping down the WordPress block components into big, bold, simple design elements. This was because of a focus on mobile but it ended up making the theme a lot less complex than TwentyNineteen or TwentySeventeen, (both popular themes). The TwentyTwentyone and TwentyTwentytwo themes both expanded on the original Twentytwenty design concepts, offering alternate layouts and ultimately in 2022 a lot more complexity reminiscent of the 2019 theme.
There are a few things that are a little weird. For example the default site title does not include the site title written in text, I had to add that ,it was just trying to use the image logo. Strange. I also thought that the index page was a little intense. I ended up toning down the title font size and rearranging things on the title page to make all the articles fit a little bit better. I recommend turning on using article summaries or your homepage will become a massively long scroll.
Overall, I was extremely impressed with the WordPress TwentyTwenty theme. It’s user-friendly, customizable, and packed with powerful features. Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned pro, I highly recommend giving it a try.
Just as the title describes I managed to import all of the old WordPress articles in to the new WordPress blog! This is great news because Google had been annoying me with emails about how I was missing the articles. They must have been really popular!
All I had from the previous blog was a MySQL dump of the database. This made it a little difficult because I couldn’t see a visual reference of the old blog. I ended up importing the old database dump in to a new database on the same MySQL database server.
After that I wrote a custom PHP script which connected to the old database (made from the dump) that then selected any published posts and looped through to gather their categories and tags then inserted them in to the new blog’s database. I think it went pretty well!
If I get some requests for it I can post my PHP script on Github but I think there are probably more useful tools out there for backing up and exporting a WordPress blog it was just quick and easy for me to make a script. I highly recommend using the explicit Export and Import feature already built in to WordPress