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David M Willis! @damnyouwillis.bsky.social ⋅ 33min
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if you don’t like Robin’s plans, wait five minutes
Dumbing of Age Book 469: Is That Even Still a Thing?
…wait no
I am in favor of the sentence immediately following.
Or “I’m Going to Wish I’d Been Deported Instead of Having Gotten This Job, Aren’t I?” Pretty sure that’s a solid, catchy title right there!
i think there’s been several long titles
alternately you could stop at “deported”
ADHD, thy name is Robin DeSanto.
We stan an impulsive queen.
I almost beat Ana today but my internet lagged.
How you guys even do it so quickly?
Are they langoliers?
Oh no. I don’t want to be eaten by time-cosmic horror.
I figured out the approximate time it gets posted in my time zone, go to the website then, then mash F5 until the comic updates.
No idea about the others tho, but probably similar.
That’s around 5AM for me. If I’m up, it’s usually the rare occasion I’m rescuing a child (these days, most likely one who’s been unwell)… Sometimes insomnia, but then I’m usually pretending I’m asleep…
It’s about 9:13 pm for me, so it works fine on my end :p
Though I do wonder why the server is about 13 minutes off…
DYW uses time twisting technology to maintain his huge buffer. The 13 minute gaps are a minor side effect.
Just remember where she keeps her cadbury cream eggs
The Cadbury eggs are probably gonna help her write her book. It’s just that she won’t remember the subject of it.
That is if she even remember the subject of it even without the eggs.
You know, I should have expected this to be what would happen, that’s on me.
oh wow, she wasn’t serious after all.
Not quite. Robin is very serious about whatever she’s talking about–in the moment. However, her attention lapses more often and more rapidly than Trump’s marriage vows.
What Jason needs to do is find a good vintage store that has a bunch of old-timey keys he can put on a ring; anytime Robin gives him a bizarro assignment, he can whip out the keys and jangle themn for several seconds before continuing the discussion as if it’d never happened…
she wasn’t being serious at all.
Yeah, you can tell, because she says “Wow, you believed that” rather than “Wow, I completely forgot I said that”.
I know, I know, it’s all part of the gag. As long as Jason has no choice but to never question her because the alternative is being deported, she will keep doubling down on her absurd instructions rather than tell him “Dude, I was kidding.”
I guess I just prefer a Robin whose an erratic narccissist than one who’s an outright sadist.
I read her as someone who doesn’t take herself seriously 95% of the time, not someone who has had a psychotic break.
When a person does a joke that doesn’t land, they have a choice of trying to make the other person feel bad or letting it go.
Welp, easy come, easy go.
Little high, little low.
Let’s be real Robin would just have an AI write her book for her.
Hell, Robin would have an AI teach her class for her, if she weren’t half convinced Jason WAS one.
That thought did occur to me, but I could also see her being the kind of person who had beef with AI, albeit for unusual reasons compared to most people with AI aversion.
If she had to do that herself I feel like she might develop her own very personal beef with AI quite quickly. Then again she might get bored with it, before that happens.
Is Robin an easy boss to work for, or a hard one?
Because on one hand, unrealistic demands… on the other hand, give it five minutes and she’d probably forget what she demanded.
Five more minutes and she demands the head of Alfredo Garcia
I’ve had bosses somewhat like this. Really, it depends on your ability to manage yourself.
The hard part is figuring out what she will want beyond 5 minutes. A coffee she will probably remember asking for. A book, she obviously won’t. You learn the balance and you’re golden.
The correct answer is both, all at once.
She strikes me as exhausting, but manageable, so long as you don’t care too much about any of your job’s normal duties.
Cheer up, Jason. You could have been born to an evil dimension-crossing industrialist who let his native universe die a heat death out of spite.
You did mention your dad had an eye patch?
My personal joke headcanon is that DoA!Dargon is still a dimension hopper, but cannot conquer the world due to the effects of the Sliding Timescale Tag preventing a change that massive lest it throw the Dumbiverse too far out of sync with reality.
Currrses!
Mind you, the absolute value of the sliding timescale is *itself* sliding. I wonder how long before it asymptotes to the vertical.
That will likely coincide with the introduction of whichever villain(s) was/were capable of time travel.
Breaking: Former Congresswoman Robin DeSanto capable of eating non-sweet food. More at 11.
what, you don’t think she’s gonna COVER it with sugar and maple syrup?
–Dave, they apparently go wih bacon, after all
Fast food sauces tend to contain copious amounts of sugar, so the ‘non sweet’ is up for debate.
My question is whether or not customizing the “new” item is more expensive than the price at which it will be introduced.
Just in the here-and-now, I know after 6 months they’ll increase the price while removing the custom options on the prior menu that made it possible in the first place.
That’s why I refuse to let myself get attached to anything at Taco Bell except the plain-ol’ regular taco.
Same goes for the other fast food chains, honestly. I’m still mad at McDonalds for discontinuing the Big n’ Tasty, but you know the Whopper isn’t going anywhere any time soon. (RIP to Burger King’s thick, gritty shakes.)
For some reason this puts me in mind of a sub shop I used to frequent back at the turn of the century. You could get a BLT sub or, for about 10% less, you could get a veggie sub add bacon and usually wind up with more bacon than on the otherwise identical BLT. For all I know it’s still true.
Does it come with Frequent Fryer Miles?
Aren’t those reward points that just about every restaurant’s app has?
What I don’t understand is why he took the textbook thing seriously to begin with. I feel like Jason is more savvy than that…
I sense within him this… This desperation. This man wants things to make sense. He wants that, if his professors are going to be “zany” at best and “whimsical, egotistical tyrants” at worse, at least the schemes should last more than 5.4 seconds. He so desperately wants to feel that anything he does matters, if only in a lowly minion way, he’s thrown his lot with Ruth, who’s not exactly in love with him – but making do.
Jason’s is a litany against nihilism. Poor dude.
Sooooo he was looking for Monty Python and got Animaniacs instead. Check.
yeah, if he wants MontyPython extended comedic scenes he neesds to meet Carla
Jason is periodically oblivious like that. Like when he couldn’t figure out why Sal had sex with him. He should be more savvy than that, but he’s not.
I saw a House MD last week, where the “a-ha symptom” was the patient thought everything people said was in earnest, and House, naturally, had been very sarcastic. Does Jason have an artificial hip that’s giving him cobalt poisoning?
I want to argue that he did know and convinced himself otherwise, but I’m not even sure at this point.
It’s the accent, maybe. Americans hear an English accent and think, “golly, they must be smart.” Meanwhile, Piers Morgan.
Yes, Jason never slept with Sal because he was trying to extort sex. He assumed she was overwhelmed with their massive chemistry.
That and the bow-tie.
Dangit now I want to read Become Ungoverningable.
Just read Art of the Deal.
How much are you willing to pay?
I should mention in my head the book is an exhaustive biography of Robin built on Dorothy’s research and Becky doing Robin’s voice.
Chapter I: Bane of the Constitution ‐ The American People
Chapter II: The Five Interdependant Branches of Government
Chapter III: The TriCameral Legislature – Senators, Representatives, and Lobbiests
Chapter IV: Presidential Authority and the Emergancy Powers Acts
Chapter V: The American System of Regulatory Capture
Chapter VI: It’s Good to Be Supreme
Chapter VII: Our Civil Masters
Chapter VIII: Ammendments From the Founding of the Republic to the End of Democracy
Chapter IX: The Importance of Not Seeing the FNORDS
Chapter X: Hacking the Press
Chapter XI Black Ops and the Shadow Government
Chapter XII: A Civil Career and the Opportunities for Perfectly Legal Graft
Chapter XIII: There Is No Chapter XIII
Chapter XIX: Political Parties and a Really Fun Time
Chapter XX: Assembling Coalitions of Convenience
Chapter XXI: Cronie Capitalism and the Finest Government Money Can Buy
Chapter XXII: Your Fundamental Rights as an American Citizen and Other Illusions
Chapter XXIII: The National Debt – Why No-One Actually Cares
Chapter XXIV: The Importance of Political Donations and Pulling the Wool Over Your Own Eyes
Chapter XXV: New Political Movements of the Twenty-First Century
Chapter XXVI: Exit Strategies and Golden Parachutes
Chapter XXVII: On the Importance of Being Robin
INTRODUCTION
Hey peeps. First of all I’d like to thank all the little people who did the hard work of writing this essential textbook. No, really. I didn’t even read the thing. Not even this Introduction…
Saved, for Great Justice.
( and my future political career )
This is brilliant and accurate.
I fed this into ChatGPT with some basic background from the previous few strips. ChatGPT suggested this as the first few paragraphs for Chapter 1:
Chapter I: Bane of the Constitution – The American People
Welcome, dear reader, to the twisted tale of American politics. In this riveting saga, we shall embark on a journey through the labyrinth of democracy, a system designed by the people, for the people, but somehow managed by anything but the people. Yes, we are talking about you, the American citizenry, the unwitting protagonists in a tragicomedy of errors, where your votes are counted, your voices heard, and promptly forgotten in the cacophony of bureaucratic banality.
From the hallowed halls of Capitol Hill to the bustling streets of Smalltown, USA, the American people stand as both the bedrock and the bane of the Constitution. With a mixture of fervent patriotism and blissful ignorance, they navigate the treacherous waters of civic duty, armed only with their opinions and the occasional protest sign hastily scrawled on cardboard. But fear not, dear reader, for in these pages, we shall dissect the paradox of American citizenship with surgical precision, exposing the inherent contradictions and absurdities that make it simultaneously noble and utterly confounding.
So, buckle up, my fellow citizens, as we delve into the heart of the American experiment, where the only certainty is uncertainty, and the only constant is change – albeit at a glacial pace. Prepare to be enlightened, amused, and perhaps even a little disheartened as we unravel the enigma wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in red, white, and blue. Welcome to the United States of Irony, where the people reign supreme, except when they don’t.
Chapter 1’s Outline:
I. Introduction to the American People:
A. Brief overview of the American populace as the central actors in the political landscape.
B. Introduce the paradoxical relationship between the people and the Constitution.
II. The Illusion of Democracy:
A. Exploration of the idealized notion of democracy in the American psyche.
B. Discussion on how this ideal often clashes with the reality of political processes.
III. The Tyranny of Apathy:
A. Examination of voter turnout statistics and political engagement levels.
B. Analysis of the factors contributing to political apathy among American citizens.
IV. The Spectacle of Partisanship:
A. Overview of the deeply entrenched partisan divisions within American society.
B. Examination of how partisanship shapes political discourse and decision-making.
V. The Influence of Special Interests:
A. Discussion on the role of special interest groups and lobbyists in American politics.
B. Analysis of how these groups exert influence over policymakers and legislation.
VI. The Cult of Personality:
A. Exploration of the phenomenon of celebrity politics and the cult-like devotion to political figures.
B. Examination of how personality-driven politics can overshadow policy substance.
VII. The Challenges of Political Literacy:
A. Discussion on the importance of political education and literacy.
B. Analysis of the barriers to political understanding and engagement among the populace.
VIII. Conclusion:
A. Recap of the complexities and contradictions inherent in the relationship between the American people and the Constitution.
B. Call to action for greater civic engagement and awareness among citizens.
All right, guys. I’ve lost it.
I always was a little more Joyce/Dorothy than Joyce/Dorothy…
Here’s the start of Becoming Ungoverningable: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-gOKPwRgZt3XwzVweJlArmxPd9ZqPQ0XRbxIms10eok/edit?usp=sharing
Feel free to contribute!
Bravo!
If I were teaching a PolSci course, I would hand this out to my students and invite them to pick a section and expand on it.
I’m sorry to say this is exactly as good as I would have expected from ChatGPT.
Why did you skip Chapter IX?
Keep up the good work.
Look, my region is testing a dipping enchilada. I’m allowed to be excited.
For a moment I thought you said your religion was testing a dipping enchilada, and I too was excited.
Jason’s first mistake was taking that ridiculous request seriously.
I mean she needs a textbook.
….not really?
At the California university I went to, there were plenty of courses where we didn’t have to refer to a formal textbook, but rather multiple books and online PDFs for review. Honestly works out better for everyone, really.
Everyone except the book publishers and the professors selling their own book for their class, of course.
Robin in particular needs a textbook. Or something.
Because she doesn’t actually know anything about the topic in a formal sense and is just teaching through a bunch of cynical anecdotes.
The textbook Nicholson picked is working sufficiently. Her ridiculous “request” was commentary about the textbook grift.
A real request would have been to compile material for the students to read for a future lecture (like the kind of material NGPZ mentioned). And that’s something she’d probably have Barry do. Maybe that’s Jason’s main function as her TA, to take the brunt of ridiculousness so Barry can do work that actually helps the students and his own education, instead of tying Robin’s bow-tie for her.
Jason
Flee now
Before it is too late
Ahhhhh Taco Bell. One thing I do not miss about the US.
Then you were doing it wrong. Even the basic bean burrito can be dressed up with some added ingredients to be a banger.
Jason’s going to have to invent an entirely new subdiscipline of game theory to figure out this job, isn’t he?
(He actually might be halfway qualified for that part of polisci, depending on what type of math he was focused on in his grad school research.)
I feel like the lesson is if Robin gives you an insane request just. Wait. Hell if she doesn’t forget about it you could probably buy some time by reminding her about a discontinued candy.
I’m not sure Jason’ll learn that lesson, though. He’s not really astute, or good with people. He’s just kinda. Starched.
When Robin says “Five minutes ago” she means she dismissed it four minutes ago, right?
“what kind of superhero do you think I _am_, anyway?”
“So I went to some length to find out if this thing you wanted was even possible, and f it were, I would have been prepared to get it for you. …And now you never wanted it at all and say no thnk you?”
“Yep! Now, class, which of the parties currently in Congress is this behavior stolen almost directly from? Justify your answer with at least three examples from the current year, and two more from the current decade.”
If it’s a natural trait for her I heard that large amounts of caffeine can simulate ADHD in people…
Depends on the ADHDer,
Caffeine is often used as self-medication for those of us who can’t access it for whatever reason, in my case it acts as a kind of “control rod” for the brain
Ah sorry I didn’t explain it properly. What I meant is that it can simulate ADHD in neurotypical people.
I assume what you mean by “simulating ADHD”, that it tends to make them hyper?
Kinda comes off as reductive whether or not you mean it that way? ADHD is a whole collection of neurodivergent stripes that can occur with or without each other all described under a single label, for instance we often have periods of executive dysfunction where we can’t really start any task whatsoever, even fun stuff, and it’s agonizing T_T
Not to mention that what caffeine does to a neurotypicals works on a single, well-understood mechanism of action (as an adenosine receptor agonist), a far cry from the highly diverse pathological contributors to ADHD which are still not completely understood.
Well it was mostly a “sharing a fun fact” kind of thing.
That being said from a very personal experience I feel it’s true. I’ve been badly addicted to caffeine for years and I certainly match the symptoms you describe when I’m on caffeine. On the other side of things when I actually manage to break free of caffeine for a couple of weeks my ability to do stuff sky-rockets.
I think that there are two types of caffeine consumers. Those who get a boost from it and become hyper like you describe and those who get anxious from it (like me) who just get anxious and get ADHD-like symptoms like you described.
It’s really just a personal theory though.
Also you mentioned adenosine but caffeine also causes the release of dopamine and adrenaline I believe. Essentially prolonged caffeine use has the same effects as using dopamine-oriented drugs. With time the body adjusts to it and much like with drugs you can no longer enjoy stuff because the dopamine level requirement is too high and you can’t feel good without caffeine.
No.
Becky knows how to do the job. Which is to hijack Robin’s account and occasionally poke a stick in her spokes.
this is The Way
Robin exhausts me when she appears in a handful of consecutive strips. I can’t imagine being her TA.
don’t try so hard, jason
she certainly isn’t going to reward it
I’m so confused by Jason. He’s a T.A., but usually that means the person is also taking classes. You don’t just get a job as a T.A. without also being a student. Yet, I have no impression that he’s a student at this school or has any involvement in his own life beyond serving the rest of the cast (sometimes literally).
What’s his deal beyond being British and hooking up with undergrad ladies?
I want to see him run into his advisor, who is also confused what Jason’s doing there.
He’s a math grad student, but we only see him when he’s interacting with the main cast, so we don’t see any of that.
I wonder if Jason will try and get his old job back by taking Sal to the Dean’s office and try to follow up on their trick process for challenging rulings. “In order to dispute sex with students, you must bring the student affected…”
It would at least get him out of Robin’s service.
That’s not even ADHD. That’s just…Robin.
This website is becoming ungovernable. It’s been loading slowly and lately, timing out.
… not on my end it aint?
Yet again I do have a VPN and uBlock Origin when viewing the majority of sites on my PC, so yeah…
probably the metric fuckton of ads. thank god ublock origin works here or I’d have been out ages ago, there are less ads on a buzzfeed listicle
fewer? fewer ads.
correct; ads, so far, are discrete and countable objects
It loads fine for me with noscript (on firefox). I’ve been meaning to also get ublock origin, but noscript is simple enough and it seems to work ok.
As any website currently. I don’t know if is really because web server prices are rising or it’s a really lousy way to get money. But it’s a issue for a long time.
Are there Twelve Step Programs for websites?
I love robin but if I were in Jason’s position I’d just deport myself
Jason has been poli-psyched.