(\__/)
(>'.'<)
(")_(")
I liked last week’s format, let’s try it for another week!
Question I’m pondering:
“If you were given $1 billion, but you had the flu for the rest of your life, would you take it?”
Absolutely not. No way. Which means I value my health as priceless. And yet, in my day to day activities… I really don’t treat my body or health that way at all.
What I’m doing…
Being a tourist in my town. The other day I spent a day in LA, but like if I didn’t live here. Avocado Toast at a vegetarian place in the Arts District, taking calls outside the Spotify office, bouldering at a gym, working from a new coffee shop even though I’d been to that area countless times but I had never noticed. A glass of wine at a new wine bar. Mexican food on a rooftop. By the end of the day I felt full of adventure in a way I normally only feel when traveling. I want to do this more, as there are hundreds of places within driving distance where I could have completely new days.
Pondering the important of absences. Occasional absences make everything better. People miss each other, get new opportunities to interact, and, hopefully — and if it’s long enough — miss each other a lil bit.
What I’m reading:
What do I think about Community Notes? by Vitalik Buterin. You know, the guy who created Ethereum. I was curious how the community notes algorithm works on X / Twitter and for a note to appear it needs both “sides” to upvote it. So only non-polarizing notes will be shown. While a pretty clever system, it could still be manipulated with simple database edits since the service is centralized.
Get a rabbit by John Lanchester. Two quotes:
“Single best tip: ‘up to’ is always a fib. It means somebody did a range of tests and has artfully chosen the most flattering number.“
“If people are arguing about your numbers, you’re winning.”
Cool things:
Tokyo building miniatures. “Christopher Robin Nordström constructs highly detailed miniatures of Tokyo buildings… He’s never actually visited any of the buildings he constructs in real life. Instead, he spends hours browsing through Google Street View.”
Also proof you can’t please everyone, the top comment is “it would be far more compelling if it all was truly hand cut.”
Pass the Mic. A browser extension to visualize how much each person is talking in Google Meet.
Callie Mc’s resume is the first one I’ve seen with blackouts and footnotes. Fitting since they worked for the CIA.
EmojiGen. An open source emoji generator using stable diffusion, surprisingly good!
OpenAI DALL-3. A nice leap forward, and looks to be able to do some text! The hand-picked examples are impressive. I can’t wait for millions of people to flood Etsy with t-shirts using this. “Will be available to ChatGPT Plus and Enterprise customers in October, via the API and in Labs later this fall.”
Slack Canvas. I stumbled on this the other day, you can make collaborative notes anyone can edit. I used this to make a long checklist for Abraham so already I’m loving it.
What I’m watching:
YouTube: The NEW Price is Right Episode 1: Aired September 4, 1972 the first episode of The Price is Right has INCREDIBLE commercials. I got bored pretty fast with the rest though.
YouTube: AI frame generation is coming and it will change everything. Personally I don’t care too much about raytracing, it feels like technicalities not worth the compute cycles for my eyes, but frame generation… the ability to make a beautiful detailed image from 256 square blocks… it’s like the ultimate compression while at the same time allowing for uniqueness. The details on this new NVIDIA release are stunning. It’s also an example of NVIDIA being able to focus on chip design, not manufacturing, and I don’t think this would be possible if they were splitting their time between the two things.
What I’m listening to:
Stable Audio. AI generated audio is getting better… no, it’s not GREAT but sometimes it’s GOOD ENOUGH for when you need something to throw in a video. Prompt tips for if you want to try it. (via Web Curios)
Pinhead Gunpowder: Life During Wartime. A Billie Joe Armstrong pop punk band from the early 90’s. I also learned that Green Day has secret shows under names like Foxboro Hot Tubs. "The only similarity between Foxboro Hot Tubs and Green Day is that we are the same band.”
Randomness:
Overheard: “Last night I went to another ampersand place”
btw does anyone actually say “ampersand” or do they say “ampersTand”
Not what you want to hear. “I understand the needs of pets as far as interaction and their survival needs” said a pet care profile … ChatGPT wrote that, right? In any case, I’m a pass.
Tesla wipers. While the state of AI is impressive, my Tesla wipers just went off in my garage and it wasn’t raining inside or out. So there’s room for improvement.
Photos Fix for iOS 17. In iOS 17 it feels clumsy and slow to open Photos in Message (wtf Apple) BUT this is a lot easier/faster … if you can remember this completely non-intuitive hidden feature: Long-press on the “+” icon and the Photos interface will automatically appear.
If you stumble on anything in your internet wanderings, please send them my way!
// Josh