October 8, 2023
The plastic eating bacteria that could change the world
Cognitive Bias, Situations Matter, Pick a Noun, and other dead ends
Gino's work has been cited over 33,000 times, and Ariely's work has been cited over 66,000 times. They both got tenured professorships at elite universities. They wrote books, some of which became bestsellers. They gave big TED talks and lots of people watched them. By every conventional metric of success, these folks were killing it. Now let's imagine every allegation of fraud is true, and everything Ariely and Gino ever did gets removed from the scientific record, It's a Wonderful Life-style. What would change? Not much.I’m So Sorry for Psychology’s Loss, Whatever It Is: an essay by psychologist Adam Mastroianni on academic fraud, the replication crisis, and the questionable paradigms underlying a still-adolescent field [more inside]
Scrap the ‘fiesta’ fonts.
LA Times arts columnist Carolina Miranda suggests hitting Ctrl-Alt-Delete for the cliched Hispanic Heritage aesthetics. Naturally, there is even a font called “Taco Fiesta” — because I guess Latinos are one big taco party? For culturally rooted but not cliche fonts, typographer Juan Villanueva recommends Beatriz Lozano's font Aguas (shifts in width and curvature inspired by hand painted signs in Mexican food markets) and Miguel Angel Contreras Cruz's Cemita fonts: Cemita Milanesa (breaded steak) is a sans fat face with convex forms; Cemita Quesillo is a script inspired by quesillo (cheese from Oaxaca). [more inside]
The Scrap Heap of History
Making an 1830s Patchwork Dressing Gown (Vincent Briggs) - "The Victorian man carefully managed his appearance to reflect a dignified, businesslike demeanor. However, decorative waistcoats and gowns offered the chance for personal expression." This particular project took 4 years, 371 hours, and 7018 tiny triangles. For a slightly more achievable (but no less gorgeous) patchwork robe, try Shannon Makes’ One Robe To Rule Them All: Making Bilbo's Housecoat. [more inside]
It's totally reasonable to be able to say, ‘Hey, don't use my stuff'
While Presser sees Books3 as a contribution to science, others view his data set in a far less flattering light, and see him as sincere but deeply misguided. For critics, Books3 isn’t a boon to society—instead, it’s emblematic of everything wrong with generative AI, a glaring example of how both the rights and preferences of artists are disregarded and disrespected by the AI industry’s main players, and something that straight-up shouldn’t exist. from The Battle Over Books3 Could Change AI Forever [more inside]
Busting myths about daddy-long-legs spiders
Busting myths about daddy-long-legs spiders. You probably have a daddy-long-legs in your house right now, but there's so much about them that is commonly misunderstood.
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