Cartoonicat

It goes back way further, but I'm not putting that much work into this so Imma start with Sparta. The warrior culture that said shit like "Sparta needs no walls" and "Spartans, what is your profession?!" fought Thebes three times, and three times they got absolutely humiliated by a bunch of guys who would rather just be gay poets together.

Everyone remembers them responding to a threat with "If." No one remembers they immediately got their asses kicked. Everyone remembers Thermopylae, no one remembers they got steamrolled after that, and it was actually a bunch of Athenian philosophers who sent the mighty Persian empire with "so many archers we were fighting in the shade" home with their tail between their legs.

Then Rome thought they were gonna eat everybody's lunch, and a bunch of Celtic farmers kicked their shit in so hard twice that the entire empire literally collapsed because they didn't have enough soldiers left to defend it.

Then the Spanish Conquistadors conquisted exactly nothing because they thought they were great warriors, and 100% of their successes were actually because they were disgusting and disease ridden and so used to making each other sick that they died less from smallpox than the people they were invading who bathed regularly and were (in the case of the Mexica) mostly at that point in history just a bunch of bureaucrats who still repeatedly beat their asses despite having weapons made of wood and stone.

Then the Nazi "master race" as previously established got absolutely owned by British bureaucracy, American teenagers who lied about their age to skip high school classes and shoot Nazis, French exotic dancers and secretaries, and a group of Dutch school girls.

Now the Russian war machine is donating their tanks to Ukrainian farmers and getting curb stomped by knitting circles because (Yakov Smirnoff voice) In soviet Russia, occupied country conquers you.

And the largest and most well funded military force in all of human history recently signed what amounted to a surrender agreement with a country that hasn't been a world power pretty much since they got their asses kicked by Athenian philosophers.

because people will still read the same enemies to lovers or hero beats villain tropes over and over again. when you throw your story in the pot and set it to a boil and throw in the ingredients you want, it's a different taste. your words aren't exactly the same as those who've written that defiant princess trope because you aren't the same. while yes, the same ingredients and experiences exist out there, they were still thrown in at different times or strengths. nobody else is you, despite how similar they may seem.

every writer, especially beginning writers, have a voice. over time you'll curate and grow that voice with specific words you lean on more or tropes you write about more, but that's what makes it so special.

you'll sigh and chide yourself for writing the same thing again, while someone else will light up with delight when they recognize it's you who's writing it and this is exactly what they've been wanting to read to end their day.

some people really don’t realize how privileged they are that they get fanfics for free. imagine having access to something for free because someone is kind enough to share it with you… and then being rude, entitled and an ungrateful pos to that person who was kind enough to share their creation with you for free

“almost 1 year is a lil too much for me” fuck off. fanfic writers don’t owe you anything. one of my favorite fics was updated after 13 years, and what I did is that I thanked the author for choosing to continue the work, I didn’t act like a spoiled toddler by asking why they didn’t update sooner. and even if a writer chooses to abandon their fic permanently with no explanation, that is their choice, their hobby, their decision. they don’t owe your entitled ass anything.

How to create an atmosphere: Coffee Shop

How to create an atmosphere: Library

How to create an atmosphere: Supermarket

How to create an atmosphere: Train Station

How to create an atmosphere: Club

How to create an atmosphere: Forest

How to create an atmosphere: Beach

How to create an atmosphere: Haunted House

How to create an atmosphere: Christmas Market

How to create an atmosphere: Airport

On 23 October last year (2024) the New York Times published an interview with former OpenAI researcher Suchir Balaji who worked on organising and gathering data for OpenAI until 2022 when he begun thinking about the morality of it. He eventually came to the conclusion that what OpenAI is doing blatantly violates copyright law and decided to leave the company altogether in August 2024.

After he came out with this accusation he was set to appear in court to testify against OpenAI’s data-gathering practices, something which had the potential of being a complete disaster for the company and the generative AI industry as a whole.

That was until 26 November, just days before he was due to appear in court, when he suddenly and mysteriously was found dead inside his own apartment. Investigators concluded that the death was self-inflicted, something which his family has disputed.

There was also “sign of struggle in the bathroom and looks like someone hit him in the bathroom based on blood spots”, and his apartment showed signs of having been ransacked for evidence: “The pin drive is missing. His computer was messed up.”.

Overall it feels pretty clear-cut what happened, that is to say that OpenAI had him killed because he was a legitimate threat to their business, indicating that they are fully aware that the way they’re gathering data is completely illegal.

Sources:

Alys Davies, 14.12.2024, OpenAI whistleblower found dead in San Francisco apartment. BBC News

Barney Davis, 16.1.2025, Suchir Balaji’s family demand outside investigation into OpenAI whistleblower’s death. The Independent

Shoutout to everyone who’s been valiantly escaping the AI-riddled hellworlds of Google Docs and Microsoft Word, hauling hundreds of thousands of docs over to Ellipsus with Markdown import (or good ol’ copypaste).

But now, you can make your exit from the LLM-industrial-productivity-complex a lot faster.

Introducing…

.docx import and export!

Import your your docs quickly (one by one, or a bunch at once!), or export your Ellipsus docs to .docx whenever you want. Keep your formatting and images as they are! (Note: Tables won’t carry over yet; stay tuned for that!)

Keep on writing like humans!! <3 - the Ellipsus Team xo

So today I’ve seen posts on multiple platforms from those living in Latin America saying the news and social media is suddenly discussing therians a lot, in a very negative way.

Something I need y’all to know, based on my experience living as trans for 10 years and being a furry for several as well: DO NOT TALK TO THE MEDIA. You can speak to TRUSTED, preferably independent journalists. Previously center and liberal news media like CNN and the New York Times have taken a steep rightwing shift. Do not go on podcasts, do not talk to tv reporters, etc. It will put you in harms way. You will be taken out of context. They will attack you with premeditated questions to make you look bad, knowing you are not prepared to debate/justify your existence. I repeat,

I am a disabled transgender woman of color, otherkin, pagan clergy member, and civil rights organizer. I have been active in these communities (often in some kind of organizing capacity) since 2005-2010.

I have done numerous TV, radio/podcast, and newspaper interviews. All of them went well because I communicated with more experienced organizers with experience interacting with the media, and because I carefully vetted everyone I spoke to.

A legitimate journalist with good intentions will do research, find community leaders and organizers, and reach out to them directly to request an interview. Which is what happened for every interview I have ever done.

If someone puts out a general call for volunteers, it is almost always because they have bad intentions and they want someone who does not have expertise or experience with the media, whom they can easily make a fool of. No matter who you are or how charismatic or good at speaking you are, it is absolutely impossible to do an interview which cannot be edited to make you look like an idiot. The only way to look good in an interview is if the interviewer wants you to look good. No exceptions.

I have seen it happen numerous times both in the alterhuman community and elsewhere. Not only do people who agree to such interviews always get made a fool of by the media. They also usually get labeled by the community as clout chasing embarrassments who don't have the community's best interests in mind. I won't name names, but those who've been around for a while will be able to think of examples.

The only time it's not a completely terrible idea to agree to an interview is if:

A) The interviewer contacted you specifically because you are a leader/organizer/academic who represents the community.

B) You've done research on the interviewer to find out who they are and what kind of work they've done in the past.

C) This interviewer is a serious journalist who has never done sensationalist media or published an interview with someone who looked silly or incompetent (because if they interviewed someone who looked bad, it is always on purpose. They can make anyone look bad and they can make anyone look good).

D) The interviewer does not work for a media outlet that ever does sensationalist media, or which has any connections to conservative interests (which eliminates all mainstream media outlets).

E) You have spoken to other community leadership who also think you should do the interview.