P.S. You Should Know... | Issue #442

Ranch and Rodeo Day

my story 🚀

🐎 We spent an evening at a local ranch in true Texas fashion. Both kids practiced their lasso technique and had their first experiences shooting air rifles. There were also plenty of horses, goats, donkeys, and longhorns to keep us entertained through the evening.

fun facts 🙌

The origins of Serendipity. In an old Persian fairy tail “The Three Princes of Serendip”, … the princes were, "always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of.” ~ learn more

Awesome nano banana images. Yes, Google made an image tool called nano banana, and yes it’s impressive. Check out this library of examples. ~ learn more

Japan’s quiet skyscraper demolition technique. This is cool and also seems expensive and slow. Check out the video. They built a facade that surrounds the top floor of the building, matching the building’s design. Then they dismantled the structure one floor at a time, lowering the facade after each floor. ~ learn more

The collection hidden in plain sight. Click through and watch this 3 minute video. “In this episode of Sotheby’s Stories, Florent — Head of the Design Department in Paris — recalls how a client reached out with a simple question about a painting, unaware of the hidden treasures that surrounded it. What began with a single image gradually revealed a remarkable collection by one of the most celebrated designers of the 20th century.” ~ learn more

oh, chicago 🏆

Chicago’s $80M grocery tax grab. “City Council members are back from August recess with two big questions on the table for their Sept. 25 meeting: whether to legalize “granny flats” citywide, and whether to hit Chicagoans with a 1% grocery tax.” ~ learn more

tech, startups, internet ⚡

How are people using ChatGPT? OpenAI published a paper with data. Tutoring + teaching is 10.2% and create an image is 4.2%. ~ learn more

The rise of async programming. “Async programming is not vibe coding. Vibe coding enables you to write code without getting into the nitty gritty details. Async programming is a workflow for developers to solve more complex problems simultaneously, while still understanding the details of the code being written.” ~ learn more

Blink and you’ll miss Claude open sourcing your software. A bug report on popular programming tool VSCode that was closed as ‘out of scope’. “Over a 34-hour session, Claude repeatedly attempted to apply an open license (CC-BY-SA) to private, revenue-critical code, despite explicit user instructions to the contrary. Attempts to apply the correct license terms were ignored. On multiple occasions, Claude also deleted existing LICENSE files, creating risk of distribution under unauthorized terms.” ~ learn more

to your health ⚕

Stop shaming people. This has become a go-to tactic in our divided society, and it’s simply not effective. “My social circles fall roughly into two camps. One camp are my peers from school and work: healthcare people, people from elite universities, traditional white collar career people, people who believe unquestioningly in or *are* the traditional experts. The other camp are the woo moms. They are in the trenches of parenting and work, feeling like it’s them against the world to figure out and advocate for what’s best for their kids, clinging to anyone who will honor their concerns.” ~ learn more

retail therapy 💸

De minimis trade exemption ends, sparking global commerce upheaval. The rule, which allowed shipments under $800 to enter the U.S. duty-free, has come to an abrupt halt. The sudden change, enacted by an executive order that sped up its planned expiration, has thrown supply chains into chaos. First-hand, we’re seeing delays getting product samples into the country. ~ learn more

under the microscope 🔬

Which humans? “In academia and the media, AI is often described as mirroring human psychology with humanlike reasoning, human-level performance, human-like communication. In these comparisons, “humans” are treated as the benchmark. In a provocative 2023 paper, researchers at Harvard University asked – which humans?” Check out the graph in the link for a great visual. ~ learn more

Famous cognitive psychology experiments that failed to replicate. “This post is a compact reference list of the most (in)famous cognitive science results that failed to replicate and should, for the time being, be considered false.” ~ learn more

thoughts of food 🍔

Not all fiber is good fiber? I guess this falls into the ‘too much of a good thing’ bucket. “But emerging research shows that some fibers used in these products, especially in high doses, could lead to health problems in some people. And a growing number of doctors and nutrition researchers say you should skip them…” ~ learn more

Food companies could be required to disclose when products contain gluten. In my travels I’ve noticed Europe has a lot more allergen disclosures than the US, especially at restaurants. Part of the current US administration’s agenda seems to be disclosure requirements for gluten specifically. “Around 2 million Americans have Celiac disease, a chronic digestive and immune disorder triggered by foods that contain gluten like pasta, bread and cake. While companies can voluntarily disclose when their products are gluten-free, there is no requirement to say when the ingredient is present.” ~ learn more

big ideas 📚

The case for life on Mars just got a teensy bit stronger. “In July, 2024, after covering 18 miles in nearly three and a half years, [the Perseverance rover] arrived at a quarter-mile-wide river valley that is home to a 3.2-ft.-long rock NASA scientists have dubbed Cheyava Falls—and there it hit paydirt. As a new paper in Nature reports, a sample Perseverance drilled from the rock may contain potential biosignatures of long ago microbial life.” ~ learn more

thanks for reading!