P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #429
🏕️ Camping
my story 🚀
🍦 Is it local or not? I had a ride in an Uber the other day, and my driver chose to discuss local suburban ice cream shops. He’s a fellow parent of young children, so this was totally reasonable. He brought up three locally owned shops in neighboring Chicago suburban towns. Wanting to add value (and maybe feed my ego), I decided to bring up a fourth that I knew of a bit further north: La Michoacana. He choked down a scoff, and then remarked that he thought it was a chain because he’d seen them all over the place. That stung, but knowing the spot, it felt off. I turned to the internet to do some research. What I found was pretty neat… It’s not a chain, but rather a Mexican ice cream brand free-for-all. After doing my own research, I had ChatGPT try its hand: “La Michoacana is less a single company and more a cultural‑business phenomenon—rooted in Tocumbo’s shared paleta heritage, but evolving across legal, corporate, and consumer landscapes. Local shops, CPG brands, and grocery chains all tap into the name differently, with varying ownership and protection models.”
fun facts 🙌
Vegetative electron microscopy. “This phrase, which sounds technical but is actually nonsense, has become a "digital fossil" – an error preserved and reinforced in artificial intelligence (AI) systems that is nearly impossible to remove from our knowledge repositories.” ~ learn more
Oldest known mechanical clock. “Here's a brief tour of the oldest known mechanical clock, which is at the Salisbury Cathedral in the UK. It's both simple and elegant, considering what tools and technology were available in 1386!” ~ learn more
Candidates are now using AI to impersonate others during interviews. After watching this video, I can’t wait for my first real life encounter with an AI faker. ~ learn more
tech, startups, internet ⚡
Building Lovable. “Anton Osika is the co-founder and CEO of Lovable, which is building what they call “the last piece of software”—an AI-powered tool that turns descriptions into working products without requiring any coding knowledge. Since launching three months ago, Lovable hit $4 million ARR in the first four weeks and $10 million ARR in two months with a team of just 15 people, making it Europe’s fastest-growing startup ever.” ~ learn more
You should probably pay attention to tokenizers. This gets somewhat technical — in a good way, of course. “Tokenization is the process during which a piece of text is broken down into smaller pieces, tokens, by a tokenizer. These tokens are then assigned integer values (a.k.a. token IDs) which uniquely identify the tokens within the tokenizer vocabulary.” ~ learn more
The power of great brand. An interview with Preston Rutherford, cofounder of Chubbies last decade and a brand marketing tech platform this decade. “Preston also unpacks how metrics and feedback loops can help measure the success of brand-building efforts and shares insights on how Chubbies consistently creates shareable content. “ ~ learn more
better doing 🎯
The neuroscience of achieving your goals. “No matter who you are, and no matter what kind of goal you’re pursuing, there’s a single brain circuit that governs all goal related behavior. The brain circuit that Alexander used to conquer Greece is the exact same one that you use to get to the grocery store!” ~ learn more
Breaking down the infinite workday. Microsoft did some research to discover that people are working a lot more. Not to worry, AI agents (from Microsoft) will be the solution: “There’s a new generation of professionals rising through the chaos—not by working more, but by working smarter. We call them agent bosses.” ~ learn more
under the microscope 🔬
A long break from exercise has little impact on strength. This is very encouraging! “Researchers from the University of Jyväskylä's Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences in Finland found surprising results in their study, which looked into how taking a 10-week break in the middle of a 20-week resistance-training schedule affected muscle size and strength loss.” ~ learn more
thoughts of food 🍔
Ultraprocessed foods may soon be a defined term. “This move is expected to shape everything from food labeling to federal nutrition programs, with wide-reaching implications for food and beverage manufacturers.” ~ learn more
How America became the capital of great pizza. “Since the early 2000s, the variety and quality of pizza made by ambitious chefs all over the country have only gotten better.” ~ learn more
The Soviet people’s car. “Modeled on the Fiat-124, the result was the Lada 2101. But before it could hit Soviet roads, it had to be adapted for local conditions. Engineers reinforced the suspension to handle unpaved roads, strengthened the body to withstand harsh winters, and added extra rust protection to combat road salt. The engine and mechanical components were also simplified so that owners could repair them easily, even in remote areas with no access to service centers.” ~ learn more
teaching the kids 👩🏫
Evaluating AI education tools. “These new platforms are the way that many teachers encounter and use AI in their classrooms. In this episode, we'll describe how they work, tell their story of how they began, and evaluate the evidence (or lack of evidence) on student learning.” ~ learn more
big ideas 📚
Dynamic economics. “Type 1 companies have new ideas: early radio, jet aircraft, semiconductor and internet companies were type 1.Type 2 companies steal ideas; early Facebook or Ali Baba are classic type 2 companies. Type 3 companies are Walmart, and Type 4 are modern day tech monopolies, insurance companies, Boeing and most American banks.” ~ learn more
on the blockchain ⛓
Is this the end for KYC/AML on USD accounts? “Although the [Genius Act] mandates KYC/AML, once stablecoins are on a blockchain and freely transferrable, they become almost impossible to fully identify and control. We have no idea who exactly owns most of the USDT out there. The U.S. has some semblance of control over who owns USDC, the biggest US-regulated stablecoin, because there are only a handful of on/off ramps, but if tens of thousands of businesses are transacting in stablecoins, it becomes almost impossible to seal all the leaks in the system.” ~ learn more
profiles of people 🚶
The Steve Ballmer interview. From the excellent Acquired podcast. “We sit down with Steve Ballmer, the legendary former Microsoft CEO and owner of the LA Clippers, for an epic conversation covering his 34 years at Microsoft. Steve listened to our Microsoft episodes and had some thoughts to share — and boy, did he deliver.” ~ learn more