The trial is officially over

It was about time. You know what they say: when a product is free, it's because you are the product, or something like that. We've enjoyed LLMs very much up to this point, and while we were enjoying them, we also helped them learn how to fix the logical and ethical problems that arose in the process, and this post is about that.

Companies like Anthropic introduced the use of AI so elegantly that it became necessary; so now, we're kinda dependent on them, for better and for worse. This update doesn't change whether you have the paid or the free version; everything produced by it will still be watermarked.

This is a way for the company to comply with transparency regulations that are very relevant nowadays. Of course, most of us can tell when something is produced by an AI, but sometimes we can't, and if its use remained unregulated, it could cause a massive crisis in fields like education, investigation, marketing, and so on.

We haven't seen the end [luckily], in my opinion, of the regulations that will be imposed on Language Learning Models, and we, as users, have a long road ahead. In this post, you will see an overview of everything that's about to change and how it works.

Some trend forecasters, after the AI slop invasion in the media, predict that the next big trend will be revaluing human talent for writing and creative ideas, and that AI use will be limited to administrative or repetitive tasks. I still think we have a few years left of AI-generated music, film, and marketing campaigns to get there, if we ever do.

The only thing worse than a lazy coworker is an entitled one.

We've all had days at work when we weren't as productive as we should have been, and perhaps sometimes that has let someone else down. Unless you are a committed workaholic who never has off days, it is simply a part of what it means to have a job. 

However, if those days start happening more often than they should or we do not show a willingness to reflect, then it can start to be a problem. Any decent manager or colleague will be able to tolerate the occasional slip-up or bout of laziness, but it gets to a point where ignoring such an issue is detrimental to the workplace and other people in it. We can't spend the majority of our shifts not making an effort and expect it to go unnoticed.

Unfortunately, most employees have had the displeasure of working with somebody who both doesn't make the effort that they should and isn't interested in making any positive change. This is especially frustrating when you end up picking up the slack. In these scenarios, it is down to management to make the right decision about these kinds of workers.

You learn something new everyday, and today it's that tortie cats are almost always female. 

Every cat breed has their own unique qualities. For tortie cats it's that they're more sassy than other cats, highly independent and unpredictable. It's no wonder they're known for their "tortitude." Their cultural significance varies, but if you're in the United States then they represent financial wealth, but if you're in Japan they're known to ward off evil spirits. Despite their symbolism, they're definitely some beautiful and unique cats and their fur patterns are like a mosaic work of art. In the story here, a couple recently moves to Arizona, and everyone knows how hot it is in Arizona. They find a tortie frequenting their property and laying on their porch. After closer inspection, they think she might be pregnant. They have cats of their own, but didn't know about tortie's being almost all female before this. Because of the heat of the Arizona sun, they figure that they shouldn't leave a stray and potentially pregnant cat outside like this. They promptly make a vet appointment so they can take her in their home and let her live in AC and peace. It's a wholesome story, and it's never too late to learn something new or have a new experience. The cat distribution system strikes again, and with a multitude of kittens from a pregnant cat! 

Even in the darkest hours, you can always find someone willing to lend you a hand (or a leg…)

In nature, it is rare to hear stories of the runt or the weakest member of a family surviving or thriving. Sure, we all grew up with stories like Tarzan and The Jungle Book, where even a human manages to survive in the jungle, but we all know that these stories start and end as a mere fairy tale. In reality, the wild is a rough place to be in, and those who were born without the right "qualification" don't often make it.

So when a kitten is born with a birth defect in her leg, she doesn't stand much of a chance to live a successful life out on the street. There is only so much her mom can do for her, and if she is struggling to keep up with the rest of the litter, she will most likely be left behind.

That seems to be the case for the sweet 3-legged kitten below. She was found in a bush by a lovely couple near their house, and she was all alone in there. Luckily, we humans don't live by the same rules as wild animals in nature, and when we see someone in need, we want to help out and make sure they live a full life despite their limitations. When the couple found the obviously injured kitten in a bush and saw that she was all alone, they knew that the only chance she had at survival was if they took her in.

And so they did. Their first stop was at the vet to see if there was anything that could be done to save the defective leg. The doctor confirmed that the injury was probably something the kitten was born with, but assured the couple that it wouldn't stop the kitten from living a healthy life, as long as they took care of her. The rest of the story, we hope, would not surprise you.

Enough is enough.

In today's economy, which doesn't revolve around company loyalty and pensions, employees can't be expected to stay at the same company for their entire careers. You have two options when it comes to the end of your job: you can wait to get fired/laid off, or you can quit. Many employees who see the writing on the wall decide to quit before their bosses can fire them, and that's the case for many of the professionals in this story.

Cheap managers are always the ones who end up ruining a company…

We all deserve to be paid a salary that goes according to the job we're doing and our years of experience. The concept of "showing up for your company" usually preys on the employee's disposition and makes them work extra hours without offering the corresponding retribution. We don't work because we're bored and want to do something with our free time; we work because we need the salary to pay for our living expenses. Some employers seem not to care or not to understand that, so they keep upping the workload without even hinting at offering a raise. 

That's pretty much what happened to this employee, who works in a marketing company. He was the one handling different responsibilities, including writing, building campaigns, and pitching clients. The company brought on board a new strategy leader, who seemed to be working spectacularly, always on time and finishing everything fast. He seemed so good that he ended up being promoted. Fast forward, they find out he had been using AI for all of his projects and campaigns, which was against company policy. Management pulled him and reassigned him momentarily, while asking their original marketing lead to fix everything the other guy had done. Key part of the story: they wanted him to do everything for free, no promotion, no bonus. They even pulled up the "team cooperation" card.

When you need someone to do a job for you, you pay them. It's as simple as that. Otherwise, whatever you need to fix, you fix it yourself. One employee alone should not be made responsible for another person's mistakes, even less when bringing that person was a decision made by the company's managers. If they want the work fixed, they either fix it themselves or they do the right thing and give this employee what he deserves. Whether that is a raise, a promotion, a bonus, or a mix of all three, they can work it out later. What matters is that no one should work for free. 

If you rent a house, that is your house, period. 

Some people don't understand how the concept of "rent" actually works. When you pay the owner of a house to live there, as long as you do it, you can do whatever you want with it, including letting people in or out. It doesn't matter if the legal owners of the house are your parents, your neighbors, or the king of France. 

A daughter was renting her parents' house for $600 a month. They got another house, and she moved into the old one to keep everything afloat, paying a modest amount of rent and taking care of the property. Meanwhile, her brother lives somewhere else with his girlfriend and their 3 children. One weekend, the girlfriend asked her mother-in-law if she could use the house for a girls' night, but the mother-in-law answered that the house wasn't empty, since her daughter lives there and her boyfriend was coming to visit, and that ultimately she should ask her daughter if they could use the house. The day came, and the boyfriend's flight got delayed, so the daughter went to her parents' house to help them babysit her nephews. He brother called sometime later, complaining that the house was empty, that they could have received her friends there and whatnot. Funny thing, they hadn't even asked her if they could use the house. The brother and girlfriend made such a fuss over it, apparently considering that it wasn't her house, that she wasn't paying real rent, and that they could use it too, that the parents ended up increasing their daughter's rent from $600 to $1500, all to make the brother happy.

In situations like this, we would most likely want to tell the parents to grow a spine. Their son is a fully independent man, with a girlfriend, a house, and three children. He doesn't need to worry about his sister's living arrangements, especially when she takes care of their childhood home without any help. She's not living there for free; she's paying a reasonable amount in rent and keeping the property in good condition. The parents' decision to increase that amount just because their son complained is not fair at all and shows a tremendous lack of authority on their part. If the previous arrangement worked before, and they were all happy with it, there was no actual reason to change it.

Sometimes our gut says no to a friendship, and there's nothing we can do about it

We have to accept it, sometimes, we have oddly specific things that we consider deal breakers that not only are way too niche, but are also a bit frivolous. I'm not sure if everyone has these standards or just these people on Reddit, but of course they have the right to hold them.

I was a bit surprised to hear that minor things that are fixable or have nothing to do whatsoever with the personality traits of the person who has them can be used as reasons to end a friendship, but well, to each their own, right?.

I was trying to think of one frivolous limit that I have, but I can't think of any. Do I have poor boundaries, or are these people way too superficial? Of course, playing the victim too much or complaining about everything would be attitudes I am not willing to accept, but those are not superficial traits, unlike the one quoted about bad breath.

I get that some limits are irrational, and it's not all right to force them; as long as you are not hurting someone and are just using your free will, it's all right to pick and choose who gets to be your friend.

Do you have one of these aversions? Or do you have one that is unlisted here?

Maybe don't marry someone you don't know how to communicate with.

Seeing couples have extreme communication issues is not news. What is it with people and their lack of communication skills? They all love to talk people's ears off till it has to be about something important. Maybe talk less about what happened on the TikTok video you saw and more about how bothered you are with your couple's attitude. Being a grown-up involves having all the uncomfortable conversations you would rather avoid. You can't do that anymore. As an adult, you have to take responsibility for your relationships and your feelings and manage them appropriately. There is no reason to avoid talking to somebody, especially if you are going to marry them, as the person from the story below. If you have problems with someone, own it, make yourself responsible, and deal with them in an appropriate manner to fix it.

What is sad about this story is that it's showcasing something extremely common. The people who lie to avoid an issue instead of talking openly about it. It always goes worse than it would have if they were open about it in the first place. And with this, I'm not saying that just because you are honest, the other person is not going to get mad at you. They will. But they will be mad just because of that. If you first hide the reason and then they discover it anyway, then they will be mad about two things: about the thing in particular and about the lie to hide it. This is relationship 101: don't hide the bad things. Be honest. They are going to find it out sooner or later.

I really believe that if you are not comfortable enough to tell your fiancé the truth about something, you shouldn't be marrying them. This also applies to the fact of not being able to communicate how something makes you feel and wanting to do things behind their back to avoid having a hard conversation. Maybe don't marry someone you are not comfortable enough with. Whether if this situations are due to a lack of response from the other person or fear of breaking up, you need to end things. Couples are based on honesty, or at least they should be. Hiding things will only make things worse. So maybe really think about it before marrying someone. 

Feeling the subscription fatigue? That makes two of us. But there's one subscription we'll never forgo because it purrvides us with the pawsitivity we need to get through another week, and that subscription is our weekly dose of feel-good feline funnies.

Everything nowadays requires a paid subscription. Even if it's not paid at first, it will become paid after your free trial ends. Your gym. Your streaming service. Your other streaming service. Your phone plan. Your music app. Even your e-book library. At this point, we don't even question it and just hand them our credit card. You know you can't survive without it, and what's another $5 per month? Surely it can't break the bank… but have you ever calculated how much the subscriptions add up to when you pile them all together? Yowza. 

This is where "subscription fatigue" comes in. It's overwhelming to manage your hundreds of monthly subscriptions, let alone remember how much each of them costs, when they are deducted from your account, and stress about when they're going to inevitably raise the price. This is why so many people end up purging some subscriptions because they simply can't handle the burnout from the exhausting process. 

But there are some subscriptions we simply can't live without, and luckily, one of them is free. All it takes is five minutes of our time, a thumb to scroll with, and you're nearly guaranteed to feel better after. It's here - you've already arrived! Congrats!

This is your new and improved weekly subscription of silly cattos to begin the week with funny felines. Nothing but hilarious cat memes and tweets so that you can start the week with all the feel-good feline energy you need. We can't promise it will make you happy throughout the entire week, but the good news is that there are more memes where they came from, so whenever you're feeling down, just come back and get your feline fill until you're all smiles and giggles again. 

Sometimes, the best things in life are free. Simple as that.

What is your definition of 'friend'?

Many people have different definitions for the word, but they usually agree on some basics. A friend is someone who knows you well, who's there for you when you need them, who loves you no matter the distance. You can talk every day, or every three months, but the bond is still intact. The key part is that there is love and trust between each other. 

When you haven't seen someone in ten years, you can still call them a friend. If your bond has a foundation that's strong enough to survive the test of time, ten or twenty years can pass, and you'll still love each other like when you first met. However, if you never had a strong relationship to begin with and you spend 10 years without seeing each other, can you still be friends? According to most of us, and one woman in particular, the answer is no. 

She started dating a guy she had gone to high school with, after ten years of having finished high school. All was well until his ex, who had been a classmate of both of them, blocked her on social media after seeing a photo of them together. At first, she thought that was understandable. But then, while they were at a party, someone close to his ex approached her and told her that the ex and her friends were speaking really negatively about her, saying that she wasn't a "girl's girl" for dating her friend's ex. Of course, that was odd for her to hear since she didn't consider the ex to be a friend. They hadn't spoken in a decade, and for the whole time they went to school together, they weren't friends. They were polite to each other, made small talk sometimes, said hi in the hallways, but they never had a real conversation. They were never close, never became real friends, just acquaintances. This is why it was so weird for her to receive such accusations.

Usually, orange cats have plenty of skull but no brain cells inside to protect. For Otter, it was the opposite.

Even after nearly 6 years of being an editor for I Can Has Cheezburger, cats still surprise me. It's not just the heartwarming rescue stories filled with kind people, or the cats that are born with rare fur patterns and unique colorings, but how resilient felines are that gets me. Indoor cats can survive for years being lost outside and eventually find their way back to their pawrents, never once giving up. They can carry a whole litter of kittens in the scorching summer heat, give birth, and then find a way to bring their kittens to a wholesome hooman to hopefully give them a chance to live their best lives. 

An Instagram page called @General.knowledge.booster posted Otter's story, and we couldn't resist sharing it with you. Otter was born with an incomplete skull, meaning that part of his brain (yes, he did have one despite popular opinion) was left exposed. Acting quickly, volunteers 3D-printed him a custom helmet to purrtect his tiny head. When he was old enough, he was able to get a special procedure that implanted some titanium to close up his head fur good and keep him safe. Now, Otter is helmet-free and is the happiest little guy his pawrents could ask for.

The life of a cat can be heartbreaking, but it doesn't have to be that way if we use our compassion and hooman brains to intervene. We did that for Otter, and look at him now! He's a fully functioning cat (as much as an orange cat can be), and with a titanium skull that makes him the closest thing to Wolverine we'll have anytime soon. A soft, cuddly, and adorable Wolverine… and we think he should be cast in the new X-Men movie. Just saying.

Some people think cents are not money, and I think that's OK

To be fair, in this story, I think the lady was just trying her luck, and I stand by that. The person writing the story is just too angry over something only mildly infuriating, or even not infuriating at all. I don't think the line has been held for half an hour for this or anything; I mean, come on.

Either way, the person writing this has a really strong sense of morality; she could try being a judge in Court, lol. In the end, the lady did what she had to do; maybe in some other store they had covered cents for her before. The lady's greatest sin was making people wait in line for an extra 10 seconds.

I mean, I wouldn't do it, and maybe she was, after all, entitled, but who's to say? If the cashier were able to cover that for her, she wouldn't have paid that extra money out of her own pocket, but from the company's pocket, so… Are we defending companies now?

Honestly, what interests me most about this story is that the person who witnessed this episode was so angry she had to go home and write about it on some subreddit as a rant, but well, I guess you never know who's watching.

Some people think we have to put up with disrespectful relatives just because they are family. We think the opposite.

A bride and her groom were celebrating their engagement party in a garden with both of their families. It was the first time both sides got all together in the same place, and everybody was having a lovely time. At one point, the bride's uncle grabbed the microphone and started giving a whole speech. He mocked the groom and his family, said they didn't exactly have money, and that his niece had never wanted to marry an accountant but wanted a footballer or something like that (not true at all, by the way). She had enough, so she grabbed the mic from him, handed it to her dad, and went inside to cool off and apologize to her In-laws in her uncle's name. The uncle himself never apologized and simply said she was being dramatic. Her mother, instead of supporting her, told her she had made a scene by leaving, and that the uncle just does that and that's how he is. 

There is one easy solution to this problem: tell the uncle he's no longer invited. The family seems to be enabling his bad behavior and never holding him accountable for what he does or says. There's nothing to guarantee he won't ruin the wedding day itself, or that the family will stand up for her against his inconsiderate behavior. The mother of the bride already blamed her for making a scene, when it was in fact his fault. If he is no longer there, there will be no one to ruin the day or make a scene at the actual reception. 

The bride and groom deserve to have a beautiful day, with the people who love them and wish them the best, not some crazy dude doing as he pleases and making everybody feel uncomfortable. Dismissing him from the wedding might arouse some conflict with other family members, but at this point, it seems like that is the only solution they have left. 

What about you? What would you do if you had a disrespectful relative at your wedding?

The cat distribution system will always work in mysterious ways. Watch out for the signs and symbols from the universe and remember to keep worshipping cats. 

We can never predict what the universe has in store for us, but what we can do is be aware of our surroundings. There are whispers in the wind, and messages in the sand. It depends what you make of it. Being in the right place at the right time isn't pure luck, it also comes from worldly ponderings and existential questions, a curiosity we can't refuse and a childlike perspective of everything. Believing the impossible means you might experience the impossible in miraculous ways. In this story, a specific little kitty was in the right place at the right time, that being a small Mac repair shop on the narrow streets of Athens, Greece. 

The owner saw the cat outside. It was February 24th, which happens to be Steve Job's birthday. This owner knows a sign from the universe when he sese one. The cat stumbles into the shop, and since it was a Mac shop of Steve Job's birthday, he hired the little fellow and named him Steve. He's the official CEO (cat executive officer) and he's responsible for quality control and the purring department. Here at I Can Has Cheezburger we think he'll be the best CEO there ever was! The cat distribution system strikes again! 

Teenagers can be very dramatic…

A mom was getting ready for her 6-year-old girl's birthday party, so she ordered a cake with a big unicorn (the girl loves them) and her daughter's name from a local bakery a few days in advance. When she went to pick it up, she noticed that her daughter's name had been spelled wrong, so she politely asked the teenage girl at the counter if they could redo it. Having the wrong name on top of the cake is not ideal. Besides, she had already paid for it. The girl said she would check if it could be done, and then, out of nowhere, she started crying! The owner came out and handled the situation: took in the new order and, half an hour later, came back with the right name on the cake. The mom picked it up and left, while the girl was still upset. 

Seems like the girl had been the one to take the order in the first place and spelled the child's name wrong. Apparently, she was mortified by making that mistake, hence her reaction. Still, seems a little exaggerated, considering that the customer didn't make a fuss about it, and all had an easy fix. Perhaps it was the girl's first job or first mistake at the job, and she wasn't sure how to handle it. 

When the mom told everything to her husband, he said she should have left it as it was, that she had only managed to make a girl cry. Excuse you, husband, but she was a perfectly reasonable person. We're sorry that the girl felt bad, but it won't be the last time she makes a mistake at work. She'll eventually need to learn how to handle it. 

The thing is, with teenagers, you never really know. They are at a very vulnerable age, with lots of emotions, and they are usually very volatile. The smallest of things can send them spiraling. They can be overly dramatic, but they grow out of it eventually. It's not the end of the world for that girl; it was a simple mistake that has an easy fix. She will grow up and learn to deal with that kind of frustration eventually.

Honey went from running at the sight of a hooman to running the house.

Reddit user Expert-Nose1893 recently shared Honey's transformation on Reddit's r/catdistributionsystem subreddit, and it all started with a nervous visitor on the porch. Two years ago, Honey wanted absolutely nothing to do with people. The moment she realized a human was nearby, she bolted. She kept coming back, though, and each visit brought her a little closer.

Her future pawrent had plenty of food and even more patience, letting Honey decide when she was ready to trust. Eventually, pets were allowed. Even then, Honey kept her feelings close to her fluffy chest. It took an entire month of petting before she finally let out her little raspy purr. For a formerly feral feline, that was a pretty big vote of confidence.

After Honey was TNR'd, she was released outside, but apparently she had already chosen her territory. She barely left the porch. Naturally, the accommodations started improving. A bed appeared, followed by a heated house, toys, and basically anything else Honey could request. She may have technically been an outdoor cat, but she already had staff.

Then winter arrived. Seeing Honey curled into a ball in her heated house was enough to earn her invitations indoors. One night became another until Honey eventually came inside and simply never left.

We'd say she negotiated that transition beautifully.

These days, Honey is making up for lost time by living like absolute feline royalty. It's a pretty impressive career change for a former feral cat who once wouldn't even stick around for pets.

From scared porch visitor to spoiled house cat, Honey took her time getting there, but she definitely picked the right person to trust.

Were they entitled, or were they raised in a world with less individualism and more flexibility around seats in a flipping movie theater?

Yes, I'm going to play devil's advocate in this story posted in the subreddit called /boomersbeingfools. Look, to me, if you are alone at the movies, and they're not asking you to separate from your friends or your partner, is it really that horrible to move to another seat that is not that far away?

I get it, there were more people sitting around the other seat, and they were teenagers; I mean, he is allowed to say no, but the question doesn't sound wild at all. I don't know if I'm projecting right now, but I think we've come to a degree of selfishness around silly things like seats in a movie theater that I can't comprehend.

These types of scenarios haven't ceased to be something we go to collectively, and no matter if we don't talk to each other during the films, we're all there, enjoying something together. I don't see the point of being so capricious over a seat, honestly.  

In my opinion, this person lost the opportunity to make the day brighter for an elderly couple who probably didn't know how to pick their seats properly, because we all know the trouble our elders go through when using computers and the internet.

The couple probably trusted people more than machines, which is a characteristic of their generation, and they were clearly disappointed; times have, in fact, changed.

Cats decide where their home is, not the humans. 

When we talk about the CDS being real, we're not just saying things. We believe in this. If our own stories weren't enough… if my cat following me on Independence Day and then never having another day of independence in her life is not a sign of the CDS existing, then I don't know what is. If my husband's cat following him home on his birthday, him putting her back out and saying that if she comes in one more time, he's not letting her go, and then her coming in once again is not a sign of the CDS… then same thing. But if that's not enough, there are certainly more than enough stories online to prove our point, including the story of Gilgamesh, which was shared on Reddit by user sn000by. 

On one very hot sunny day, sn000by found a kitten on their roof. They were going through a tough period in their life, and this felt like a sign. A meowgical moment. A CDS delivery, straight home. They rescued the kitten and instantly fell in love and wanted to keep her. But they did their due diligence first and posted about the kitten online. A few hours later, kids showed up at their door, thanking them for finding their cat. And the kitten was reunited with her owners. And so, the dream remained a dream. 

Except, the kitten kept coming back. Again and again, she would escape the neighbor's home and make her way to this other human. They, of course, kept returning her. Until one day, the neighbors came over and made that dream come true. The neighbors asked them if they could adopt their kitten. Because it's not us who get to choose our cats. Our cats choose us. 

If you are going to bother your employees during their PTO time, they should take time off during work time.

Why is it so difficult for bosses to understand that during out-of-office time, employees no longer have to work? If you decide to take time off, it's obvious to anybody with a brain that you are not going to work. That is the main reason to take time off, not work. If a boss takes time off, they wouldn't want an employee to be bothering them with work stuff. But when an employee is the one with PTO, they don't seem to care about the fact that they shouldn't be working. They see it as if they were remote. They aren't. They are OFF WORK. The sad thing is that they know this. They just act dumb about it because they do not care at all. For them, it doesn't matter if the employee is in another country with their family. They still deem it appropriate to call them to ask about an Excel sheet that isn't even a priority.

Turning off your phone as u/Business_Interest283 did is exactly what you should be doing. Is your right to take PTO time and not respond to work during said time. Is crazy to me the fact that this is a corporate job we are talking about, not some job at urgent care or in the health department. So there is no reason at all to be calling an employee during their vacations. Nothing is that urgent. And even if it were, I'm sure most employees leave everything in order before leaving for time off to avoid having to come back to a mess. Corporate sometimes acts as if they were saving lives, when in reality nothing is that serious. Of course you have to take care of your job and be professional with it, but there are no real emergencies, not really. So missing an employee would never be THAT bad.

So, if you are a boss, I have two main reasons for you not to bother an employee during their PTO time. Number one, you wouldn't like for them to be bothering you during your time off. Be mindful of somebody else's vacations. And secondly, nothing is really that urgent. No lives are hanging by a thread. Jobs are important, but not the most important thing. So being delayed on a spreadsheet for a week is not going to end the company or you.