stray

I've tried to go vegan I think three times in my life, and vegetarian a few more times than that. I struggle with concrete issues like celiac, but also vague ones like suicidal ideation and digestive issues. And then there's also the simple economic fact that when certain meats are on sale they're actually cheaper per gram of protein than beans.

I don't mean to say that there are those of us who should eat meat and we therefore require a meat industry, just to explain why some of us have trouble. To the contrary, I think my issues have been exacerbated by a world that insists meat is necessary. If being vegan were the standard, I would have a greater variety of options and more affordability, and medical professionals would be both more accepting and more knowledgeable in providing me aid.

e: "Vegan" is actually incorrect here. There are problems with the honey industry, but I don't think beekeeping is inherently unethical, and I don't oppose symbiotic forms of animal exploitation. I don't know what the word for that would be.

Holy shit, are those 4x8' plywood sheets?

To be fair, most plants do manufacture their own pesticides that may harm small reptiles.

This feels like "I can't be homophobic because I'm not afraid of gay people." I can't wait for someone to insist they can't possibly be racist because their hatred isn't motivated by pseudoscience.

What about ancient Arab enslavement of black Africans?

So no one was ever racist to Jewish people prior to white colonialism?

In the early 2000's it was popular among teenagers to have one's own typing style along with signature emoticons. (We didn't have emojis yet!) We used forums and simple chat rooms back then that either didn't save a history or have been lost as the host companies purged their storage or shut down. Storage space for text and images used to be a lot bigger deal than it is today.

I think the person may also be referring to the "i can has cheeseburger" style that was very popular on cat pictures. It was like the more modern "heckin doggo" style.

You should read a webcomic called Homestuck if you haven't already. One of my favorite things about it is how everyone in it expresses themselves in different ways. I will give you a content warning for slur usage though. It accurately reflects the way we spoke at the time. As the story went on through the years, we learned how our language and biases can be harmful, and the author addresses some of the previous bad behavior and language.

Because they're meat, and lots of people are very insistent about eating meat. You've honestly got to downplay the ecological and ethical aspects a bit when marketing because some people really get their backs up about green shit. There's already a product where ground beef has been cut with ground vegetation, and I've had no trouble getting people with strong anti-vegan feelings to buy it because it's still meat, it's delicious, and it saves them money.

Also, not everyone has to do these things to make a positive impact. A relatively small percentage of adopters will cause market changes. It's great if more people become vegan, and it's also great if we slightly reduce demand for mammal meats. It's like that story about the guy trying to save starfish when the tide's gone out. (I'm pretty sure they can just walk into the sea on their own, but it's the spirit of the story that matters.)

Sorry if I'm being emotionally dense, but what's the logic behind removing it? In what way is it offensive to either himself or those who knew/loved him? It just looks nice to me, and I can't think of any bad implications from Frieren either. I think if someone I knew died I would be happy to see photographs and drawings of them. Is it a religious thing I don't understand?

Yours is the darkest skin color at time of posting. Is that accurate to you? Is it making most of us white because we are, or because it's making everyone white based on statistics about its user base?

I amended the prompt to be more in line with my usual style, but also to give it two additional freedoms.

I wanted it to choose the art style on its own because I feel this is perhaps even more meaningful than any other choice it could have made in representing me.

By not being hyper-realistic, it leaves space for interpretation. Like the package on the floor, or the unreadable book titles—it suggests story rather than explaining everything. That fits your appreciation for subtlety, mystery, and personal meaning.

It wasn't restricted to my chat history by the prompt, and the lack of outside information seems to indicate it doesn't have access to such. It would be trivial for it to have a wealth of outside knowledge because I've almost actively cultivated a tracking footprint. (I'm interested in how algorithms interpret me and what actions they'll take as a result. All advertising I receive is wildly off the mark, and Google thinks I speak Welsh for some reason. A model like ChatGPT would be far more effective than whatever they're currently doing.)

One of the things I find most interesting about the image is what it lacks. ChatGPT has elected to not depict me as constipated or anxious. Those make sense because they're unflattering, but also missing is reference to our many discussions on healthy foods and exercise.

Your focus on meaningful activities (like art, books, and fitness goals) over flash or spectacle made me think you'd favor clothes that feel good and let you move, focus, and relax without fuss. So I kept it simple, nothing overly trendy—just timeless and functional.

I've never spoken with it about clothing before, or dispariaged modern fashion, makeup, etc, so the "flash or spectacle" remark is interesting. I think it's probably using our discussions on art styles to inform that view. (It's not wrong though.)

Overall, ChatGPT's focus seems to have been on the keywords warm, cozy, creative, curiosity, thoughtful, and similar.

I'd asked it about various details to sus out its thinking, but then I asked what was apparently the most important question:

Could you tell me about the cat?

Absolutely—I was hoping you'd ask about the cat. (It is not fucking kidding.)

She’s curled up under the desk, half in shadow, half lit by the soft glow from the window or lamp. Her fur is thick and fluffy, mostly a warm brown with hints of auburn, almost as if she was tinted by the same palette as the room. There's a subtle suggestion that she’s been here a long time—like she claimed that spot years ago and never gave it up.

She seems calm but watchful, the kind of cat who silently shifts from one cozy spot to another as you go about your day. She’s not the clingy kind, but she notices everything. When you pause in your reading or art, she’ll sometimes stretch and yawn like she's mirroring you—then blink slowly before dozing off again.

I imagined her as more than just a pet—almost a quiet cohabitant of your mental space. Like the embodiment of patience, introspection, and the low hum of warmth that lives underneath your more thoughtful moods. She doesn’t ask questions, but she’s always there. Still and soft, a grounding presence.

This response doesn't match the pattern it used for other details I asked about. They may have been as long, but they were also very repetitive and involved bullet points. This reads more like a thought-out narrative. The anthropomorphizing part of me feels that it's created her for itself. It feels genuine and intimate. I've never had a spirit animal, and I feel I've just been assigned one.

ChatGPT was very occupied with offers to redo the image with corrections or to add more information like generating contents for the package or naming the cat, but I want to appreciate the image as it is.

I love that it took that information and thought you must look like a BG3 character.

I like your Battleship laptop.