We like things that are similar to ourselves. Humanity has always sought company in the darkest of nights. Anthropormising things makes them less scary.

They’ll ask ChatGPT something—even something that has a simple, definitive answer that doesn’t really need further explanation—rather than just looking it up on a search engine.

To me, that’s a no brainer. Chatgpt will give me the answer I’m looking for much quicker and more efficiently than clicking half a dozen links and wading through a crapload of adverts and SEO weighted nonsense.

I remember some wild story about a guy who was killed by some other guys, and then buried in a cave with a big rock and who came back to life, but nobody saw it, but somehow became two other guys as well.

There was another mad story about the whole world and everything on it being built by magic over six days too, but I think they were joking about that.

The sticker book was kinda cool though, and getting a sticker for every lesson and service I attended. Not completing that before I walked out aged eight, saying “But this is all wrong” is my only regret.

I get that it works, but the side effects are sometimes worse than the disease.

There are better methods.

It deters humans far more than bots.

Humans feel unwelcome and are much less likely to stick around.

Overly restricting and subjective deletions and bans for low quality. (Eg: /r/casualuk)

Hear me out - restricting based on low quality sounds great, right? Until it’s your post that’s blocked. And you know it isn’t low quality, is unique and offers a new perspective. Some mods have genuinely forgotten that it’s (mostly) humans at the other end of their actions, or haven’t forgotten and enjoy being dicks.

True, could be an environmental reason.

Choose from:

1. You have an undiagnosed medical issue that is making you feel something unusual when you lie down. Inner ear infection sounds possible.
2. You have an undiagnosed psychological issue that makes you think you are under attack when you are not.
3. You’re correct and your neighbours are using something unknown to common science.

3 is unlikely to the point of impossibility. Anyone telling you different, perhaps in your DMs, will be seeking to manipulate you, or are also unwell themselves.

1 could be paired with 2, so there is a genuine feeling, but you are misidentifying its cause. Go see a doctor.

Religion isn’t a club?

It’s only prohibited if you choose to let it be. All religion is about people controlling other people.

Have you entertained the idea she may have made the right choice and that perhaps you should consider the benefits also?

Always about money. It’s a shame it draws attention away from the 50 million living people who exist in modern slavery today.

Europe kind of had its own grave “crime against humanity” thanks to Mr Hitler, so perhaps that has a bearing?

Or perhaps not - I’m not sure what scoring such things really achieves.

How can I wear a skirt at work

Wear skirt. Go to work.

I don’t know what I’m missing here. Unless there’s a safety reason to the job or a mandatory uniform, why would anyone care? Maybe you’re in a particularly repressive country and I don’t understand the nature of the problem, or why religion comes into it.

The companies make too much money, and the same companies dictate policy to the government.

The USA is not a democracy.

I’m sure education is a big part of it, but also, and perhaps linked, a lot seem… terrified?

In the examples you give, that pure blast of hate can be driven by fear. That sort of person (not exclusively American) is scared of anyone who’s different to them. Thats why they like guns, to make themselves feel safer (ignoring the irony that having a gun makes someone statistically less safe), why they’re so chest-thumpingly desparate to show the world they’re strong and fearless.

That sounds pretty grim and I’m sorry it happened to you. Having to be strong for other people is damned tiring.

I’m no psychologist, but that sounds a lot like depression and if so, would explain why there’s little passion to be found at such a time. Certainly when I’ve had periods of clinical depression, life was pretty damned bleak for a while. As you say, you can’t chase happiness or force it to happen. Anti depressants helped me, but I found that they certainly didn’t encourage passion or enjoyment in anything as they takes away the highs as well as the lows.

Sounds like you’ve got a good partner and that’s half the battle. I hope things improve for you soon.

Interesting, thanks for sharing.

My father was also an amateur photographer who went professional - doing lots of weddings and events. He got quite frustrated with that too, even though this was back in the 70s. Even then, the customer usually had a strong view about what they wanted, which gave him little leeway to be creative - much as you describe. He also found getting paid at the end of the job really difficult, so much so the combination forced him to give it up, and that pretty much killed his love too. Sold most of his cameras and lenses and all his darkroom equipment.

I can understand that. I’ve always coded for fun (Basic, Turbo C, lots of psuedo languages, then perl, sql, php, python and so on) - learning that stuff is hard for me but very rewarding when I do. I actually find it harder to learn stuff at work, but it’s great to do at work too. I transfer skills between the two schools - and each has enough variation that whilst there’s technical and skill crossover, the headspace is very different - at least for me. But yes, if I’ve been doing that all day, I’ll do something else in the evening. I restored a car as a distraction from work once, but that was when I was in a job that I really hated.

High five for factorio mention. Incredible game, although I’m playing more Captain of Industry lately. Different but similar brain scratching.

Oh, that sounds brutal. Sorry.

That’s sad to hear.