Why Your Catan Metropolis Is a Paper Tiger: Hard Truths from the Knights-in-the-City Playbook | Deep Dive AI Why Your Catan Metropolis Is a Paper Tiger: Hard Truths from the Knights-in-the-City Playbook There’s a very specific sound Cities & Knights makes right before it ruins your evening. It’s not the barbarians. It’s not the dice. It’s not even your buddy saying, “I’m just going to do a quick trade,” and then hosting a full United Nations summit over one grain. It’s the quiet little internal voice that says: “I’m doing a lot… so I must be winning.” At Deep Dive AI—specifically during Team Jellie’s famously catastrophic Tuesday sessions —we call that Productivity Theater : you’re busy, you’re building, your board state looks “developed”… and you are absolutely getting cooked. Cities & Knights is a stochastic, multi-agent nightmare that masquerades as a board game. If you want to stop being a victim of the dice (and your own optimism), you don’t “take turns.”...

Knights in the City: Tournament Strategy Cheat Sheet (Cities & Knights) | Deep Dive AI Knights in the City: Tournament Strategy Cheat Sheet There’s a moment in every Cities & Knights game where the table gets quiet—not because anyone is thinking, but because everyone just realized the barbarians are two ships away and the guy across from you has been hoarding grain like it’s a pension fund. This post is the “stop panicking, start piloting” version of tournament play. It’s not a vibe. It’s a checklist. A tempo plan. A way to win without accidentally building a beautiful engine that dies the instant the ships land. 1) The Core Meta: Mastering the Three Clocks Competitive dominance comes from syncing three interlocking timelines. Great players don’t “react to dice.” They manage tempo by playing the Expected Value of the game’s three clocks. Clock A: Barbarians (The Threat Clock) Event die: 3 ship faces = 50% chance per turn of advancement. Golden Rati...

The $0 Broadcast Revolution: Engineering Professional Documentaries that Kill the AI Slideshow The $0 Broadcast Revolution: Engineering Professional Documentaries that Kill the AI Slideshow A practical roadmap for replacing “AI junk” slideshows with source-grounded, professional-feel documentary workflows on a $0 budget. Affiliate disclosure: Some links may be affiliate links. If you buy through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. (That support helps keep the lights on and the experiments running.) 1. Introduction: The World Changed Under Your Feet The last year didn’t just add “new tools.” It quietly changed what audiences will tolerate. The old “AI slideshow” format—static images, robotic pacing, vague claims—now reads like a substitute teacher wheeling in a TV cart. People click, recognize the pattern, and leave. Meanwhile, a differe...

The First Google Paycheck: Why $101.62 Changes Everything | Deep Dive AI The First Google Paycheck: Why $101.62 Changes Everything There’s a moment in every long project where you stop asking, “Is this working?” and start asking, “Oh… this is real, isn’t it?” For me, that moment showed up as an ACH deposit from Google. Not a life-changing number. Not fireworks. Not confetti cannons. Just $101.62 quietly landing in the account like it had always belonged there. And somehow, that small, almost laughable number felt bigger than any viral video ever could. Fourteen Months Ago, This Was Just an Idea A year and two months ago, Deep Dive AI wasn’t a business. It was a late-night experiment. A microphone on a desk. A blog that mostly talked back to me. A YouTube channel with more optimism than subscribers. A growing suspicion that AI wasn’t going away—and that normal people were going to need someone who could translate it without sounding ...

1100 Isn’t Viral. It’s Real. (All-Time High) | Deep Dive AI 1100 Isn’t Viral. It’s Real. There’s a strange moment when the number flips. You’re staring at YouTube Studio like it’s a microwave timer. 1,098 . Refresh. 1,099 . Refresh. And then it happens. 1,100. Not 11,000. Not 110,000. Just eleven hundred very real humans who decided, at some point, “Yeah… I’ll stick around.” And I’ll be honest with you — that felt bigger than I expected. The Long Middle Nobody Applauds What people see is the screenshot. “1100 subscribers! All-time high!” What they don’t see is: Uploading when views stall at 38. Editing late when the house is quiet and the coffee is not. Publishing something you believe in… and watching it sit there like a polite guest at a party. The middle is quiet. It’s not glamorous. It’s not viral. It’s not algorithm-approved. But it’s honest. And here’s what I’ve learned — small success doesn’t come from chasing attention. It ...

4 “Wait, What?” Insights That Might Rethink Your Reality | Deep Dive AI 4 “Wait, What?” Insights That Might Rethink Your Reality If you’ve ever stared at your life like it’s a loading screen stuck at 99%, welcome. Here are four counter-intuitive ideas that don’t just make you smarter — they make you slightly more suspicious of your own brain (which is honestly healthy). Clean + scannable Slightly sarcastic Oddly comforting Russian Blue cat-approved 🐈‍⬛ 1) Stress Doesn’t Always Hurt Performance We’ve been taught to treat stress like a villain in a medical drama: ominous music, dramatic lighting, and someone yelling “We’re losing them!” while I spill coffee on my calendar. But stress isn’t always a wrecking ball. In smaller doses, stress can act like a spotlight — it narrows focus, adds urgency, and helps your brain prioritize what matters. The twist is that it often depends on how you frame it: “This is dangerous” vs. “This is important.” “It’...

MRI Calm — Week 04 • Day 06 (Soft Interval / Calm Sequence / Quiet Returnline) | Deep Dive AI Deep Dive AI • MRI Calm Series MRI Calm — Week 04 • Day 06 Three low-stimulation ambient tracks designed for MRI comfort and long listening: Soft Interval , Calm Sequence , and Quiet Returnline . About the MRI Calm Project MRI Calm is a structured ambient library built for MRI environments and other low-stimulation settings. Every track follows strict guardrails: steady pacing (60–80 BPM), no percussion, no vocals, consonant harmony, and stable dynamics. The goal isn’t entertainment. The goal is predictability —music that stays steady when everything else feels loud. Quick Links 📖 Full blog post (tracklist + breakdown + comfort links) 🎧 Watch / Listen (Album Video) — Week 03 compilation ▶ Week 03 daily sessions (Blog + YouTub...