2026-02-19 23:01:00
For the Bearblog Creation Festival, I drew tiny pixel bears1 inspired by the blog themes and art of fellow Bearbloggers. Can you guess who inspired each of these?
==I welcome others to make these too! Here's a template if you're interested. :)==
I had a lot of fun drawing these and might add more later.
The pixel bears are 48×48 but enlarged to 144×144 here. I think they're more fun to look at big.↩
2026-02-19 16:30:00
You're absolutely right! In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, the way we create and consume content is undergoing a seismic shift — one that represents a pivotal moment in the broader conversation around authenticity. It's not just redefining what it means to write: it's fundamentally reshaping the very fabric of creative expression as we know it.
I'm so sorry you had to read that, but apparently an increasing number of people are not sorry to "write it". AI has brought the effort in manufacturing endless quantities of poetic slop down to nearly zero.
Everywhere you turn now there is another AI slop post to read. At this point we've almost all but removed the humanity from platforms like LinkedIn, if there was ever much there in the first place.
The issue with AI content is not that it inherently reads badly. It's that for all of its ability to produce elegant prose, it does so at the total expense of any actual meaning.
The most offensive part for me as a reader is that someone has produced content they themselves spent less time producing, with less original thought, than the reader they expect to engage. The disrespect of treating your reader to the output of your one-sentence prompt fundamentally undermines the purpose of sharing your thoughts in the first place. If you have something to say, say it. Don't let the AI speak for you. If I wanted to hear Claude's latest opinion, I'd ask it myself.
Of course we know why people resort to producing AI content: it's easy, and the goal is cheap engagement, usually to funnel you into some product or service. The irony is, when something has been so blatantly written with AI it actually just undermines everything you're trying to do. I, like so many others, simply disengage entirely.
The other issue with this, when everyone's feeding prompts into the same few models, you end up with a sea of content that all sounds identical. Millions of people publishing the same voice saying nothing. The whole point of putting your thoughts out there is that they're shaped by your experience, your perspective. Strip that away and what exactly are you contributing?
Now to be clear, I'm not talking about the odd use of AI to help rewrite a sentence or spellcheck - or even just for helping edit a draft. What I am talking about is the near wholesale production of AI slop. These tools are supposed to raise the bar, not lower it. Yes, your post looks beautifully written, but I'd frankly take the typoed, broken English version of a genuine novel insight over ChatGPT's perfectly polished "nothing" any day of the week.
I'm all for AI being used to boost productivity. There is absolutely a time and a place for it, but producing the content that is supposed to represent your thoughts and your expertise? That isn't it. If you've got nothing original to say, no amount of AI is going to fix that. Authenticity is the new order of the day.
2026-02-19 00:09:00
Here’s a song I made for the Bearblog Creation Festival. Calming and optimistic.
Bear-ly Awake by Future Perfect2026-02-18 22:52:17
This week I'm turning 27. To some of you reading this, this might be a shock seeing as I have an almost 2 year-old and all (I get this one surprisingly often). For my entire life, it seem I've flip flopped between being mature for my age or being immature or being told to "act my age" or that I had to grow up too young. What the fuck is an 8 year old supposed to act like? Or a 14 year old? Or, now, a 27 year old?
I feel like once you become old enough to file taxes, it's an expectation to be boring as hell. 21? Your hobbies better be yard work and MAYBE woodworking. 13? Isn't gaming for kids? 8? Act your age! Seriously, when I was 8 I got told on a couple of occasions to 'act my age'. 8! Because I was being immature. What the fuck are you supposed to be at that age besides eating glue and trading pokemon cards? Granted, I got told this a lot by girls at that time, who I feel nobody wants to be an adult more than 8 year old girls. These girls be like 7 years old telling a 6 year old he's being immature. ALL YALL ARE IMMATURE YOU JUST CAME OUT THE WOMB YESTERDAY, YOU'RE BARELY EVEN FULLY COOKED! Where the fuck am I going with this?
I'm at an age now where I can't quite tell what I'm even supposed to be at my age. Like yeah, I'm a family man with a wife and a daughter, but I also like playing games that were my favorite since I was a kid, or nostalgia watching my favorite youtube videos from like 2013, or listening to my favorite bands that have been my favorites since 2009. I will sometimes hear from people that I'm too old to be doing X hobby. What the fuck are my hobbies supposed to be then, Kathy? Alcoholism?
I often think of the song 'What's My Age, Again?' by Blink-182, which shares this sentiment. I'm not buying the fact that once you hit a certain age you all of a sudden need to have all the personality of a cardboard box. I'm mature enough, let me have my immature joys.
I'm gonna act like a dumbass when I'm with my best friend. I'm gonna love my nights eating pizza and playing video games. My sense of humor will probably not change. Just because I'm older doesn't mean I need to all of a sudden wedge a stick up my ass. The only thing maturity has done is give me disposable income to actually be able to get and do the things I want.
We've gaslit ourselves into trying to act a certain way to appease people that we don't even give a shit about. Forcing ourselves to do things we don't want or like things we don't enjoy out of fear of ostracism.
I'd rather relate to my daughter than relate to your grandpa. Kids seem to have more fun with life. And I guess that's really what it is.
You obviously need to get your shit together when you're an adult. Being 35 and living with your mom still is kinda lame. You have responsibilities, and sometimes you're responsible for people who depend on you. The point though isn't to all of a sudden kill your childlike wonder. I think more people are starting to realize how grey life can be when you get older, and now a lot of people are doing things that bring back those child-like qualities, like creativity, and finding more joy in simple things, and finding enjoyment in nonsense.
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I hit the spliff too hard before walking into work. Oh well.
2026-02-18 21:55:00
I published my first post on Bear on February 16, 2023. Since then, there have been close to 500 more.
I’ve never had a specific theme or direction for my blog. I’ve just written about things that interest me or thoughts I wanted to get out of my mind.
Many of the posts circle around blogging and writing, since it’s something I truly enjoy. But it has never been part of any kind of strategy, just a natural development.
It’s easy to get stuck in thoughts like “what should my blog be about” or “who is my audience”.
Polishing a detailed master plan. A folder filled with ideas for blog names, slogans, topics, a thoughtful structure, an impeccable about page... and not a single blog post.
Don’t get stuck doing that. Don’t try to “figure it all out” beforehand. You can’t.
The only real way is to start blogging and figure things out along the way. Chances are you’ll end up with something that a myriad of mind maps never could give birth to.
And most importantly, it’s more fun blogging than thinking about blogging.
2026-02-18 03:08:00
As part of the Grizzly Gazette event, I thought I'd made some buttons, a forum signature, and a little joke graphic. Feel free to use.
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