Full Stack Banana

039 — Meta-anxiété [PAB]

May 26, 202301:02:28Tap to summarize

Cette semaine, on navigue encore une fois les incidents dramatiques dans les transports, jusqu’au paysage changeant de l'emploi, explorant encore une fois les impacts de l’IA. On discute aussi de santé mentale et de “meta-anxiété”, de la sagesse de Buffett et Munger et enfin, l'ornithologie comme passe-temps transformateur?Notes et références[01:00] South Korea detains passenger after Asiana plane door opened mid-air[05:00] Man Is Charged With Shoving Woman’s Head Against Moving Subway Train[10:00] Michelle Go[11:00] The Disappearing White-Collar JobCompanies are rethinking the value of many white-collar roles, in what some experts anticipate will be a permanent shift in labor demand that will disrupt the work life of millions of Americans whose jobs will be lost, diminished or revamped partly through the use of artificial intelligence. [22:00] Uber suspends diversity chief over 'Don’t Call Me Karen’ eventsLee’s suspension, which was first reported by the New York Times, follows mounting internal discontent over two “Don’t Call Me Karen” sessions that she convened on Zoom for up to 500 employees. The events, one in April and the second last week, were billed as “diving into the spectrum of the American white woman’s experience from some of our female colleagues, particularly how they navigate around the ‘Karen’ persona”.[29:00] Andrew Sullivan sur le lancement vertement critiqué de la campagne de Ron DeSantis.[31:00] Musk for president?[35:00] Community notes[41:00] Buffett and Munger on Success, Toxicity and Elon MuskMr. Munger said that success comes from steering clear of toxic people. “The great lesson of life is get them the hell out of your life—and do it fast,” Mr. Munger said. [44:00] Eulogy virtues vs. resume virtues[45:00] Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work[47:00] Why we should not be so anxious about anxiety[50:00] Of boys and men & Is there really a crisis?[55:00] Three Years After a Fateful Day in Central Park, Birding Continues to Change My LifeI believe that birds in the wild are meant to inspire such passions in us all. The wonders they offer are always available, freely given, to anyone willing to partake. All we have to do is step outside, look and listen.[57:00] Merlin This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fullstackbanana.substack.com

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038 — Milton Glaser : 10 leçons de vie (troisième partie)

May 19, 202301:00:57Tap to summarize

Dans ce troisième et dernier épisode de la série, on décortique les cinq derniers principes de Glaser : de l’attrait du style à l'influence profonde des expériences de vie sur le cerveau, la vertu du doute, les perspectives sur le vieillissement, et l'importance primordiale de dire la vérité. La première partie se trouve ici et la deuxième, ici.Notes et référencesLe texte dans son intégralité a originalement été publié sur Reading Design.[02:00] Style is not to be trustedI think this idea first occurred to me when I was looking at a marvelous etching of a bull by Picasso. It was an illustration for a story by Balzac called The Hidden Masterpiece. I am sure that you all know it. It is a bull that is expressed in 12 different styles going from a very naturalistic version of a bull to an absolutely reductive single line abstraction and everything else along the way. What is clear just from looking at this single print is that style is irrelevant. In every one of these cases, from extreme abstraction to acute naturalism they are extraordinary regardless of the style. It’s absurd to be loyal to a style. It does not deserve your loyalty. I must say that for old design professionals it is a problem because the field is driven by economic consideration more than anything else. Style change is usually linked to economic factors, as all of you know who have read Marx. Also fatigue occurs when people see too much of the same thing too often. So every ten years or so there is a stylistic shift and things are made to look different. Typefaces go in and out of style and the visual system shifts a little bit. If you are around for a long time as a designer, you have an essential problem of what to do. I mean, after all, you have developed a vocabulary, a form that is your own. It is one of the ways that you distinguish yourself from your peers, and establish your identity in the field. How you maintain your own belief system and preferences becomes a real balancing act. The question of whether you pursue change or whether you maintain your own distinct form becomes difficult. We have all seen the work of illustrious practitioners that suddenly look old-fashioned or, more precisely, belonging to another moment in time. And there are sad stories such as the one about Cassandre, arguably the greatest graphic designer of the twentieth century, who couldn’t make a living at the end of his life and committed suicide. But the point is that anybody who is in this for the long haul has to decide how to respond to change in the zeitgeist. What is it that people now expect that they formerly didn’t want? And how to respond to that desire in a way that doesn’t change your sense of integrity and purpose. [14:00] How to live changes your brainThe brain is the most responsive organ of the body. Actually it is the organ that is most susceptible to change and regeneration of all the organs in the body. I have a friend named Gerald Edelman who was a great scholar of brain studies and he says that the analogy of the brain to a computer is pathetic. The brain is actually more like an overgrown garden that is constantly growing and throwing off seeds, regenerating and so on. And he believes that the brain is susceptible, in a way that we are not fully conscious of, to almost every experience of our life and every encounter we have. I was fascinated by a story in a newspaper a few years ago about the search for perfect pitch. A group of scientists decided that they were going to find out why certain people have perfect pitch. You know certain people hear a note precisely and are able to replicate it at exactly the right pitch. Some people have relative pitch; perfect pitch is rare even among musicians. The scientists discovered – I don’t know how – that among people with perfect pitch the brain was different. Certain lobes of the brain had undergone some change or deformation that was always present with those who had perfect pitch. This was interesting enough in itself. But then they discovered something even more fascinating. If you took a bunch of kids and taught them to play the violin at the age of 4 or 5 after a couple of years some of them developed perfect pitch, and in all of those cases their brain structure had changed. Well what could that mean for the rest of us? We tend to believe that the mind affects the body and the body affects the mind, although we do not generally believe that everything we do affects the brain. I am convinced that if someone was to yell at me from across the street my brain could be affected and my life might changed. That is why your mother always said, ‘Don’t hang out with those bad kids.’ Mama was right. Thought changes our life and our behavior. I also believe that drawing works in the same way. I am a great advocate of drawing, not in order to become an illustrator, but because I believe drawing changes the brain in the same way as the search to create the right note changes the brain of a violinist. Drawing also makes you attentive. It makes you pay attention to what you are looking at, which is not so easy.[26:00] Doubt is better than certaintyEveryone always talks about confidence in believing what you do. I remember once going to a class in yoga where the teacher said that, spirituality speaking, if you believed that you had achieved enlightenment you have merely arrived at your limitation. I think that is also true in a practical sense. Deeply held beliefs of any kind prevent you from being open to experience, which is why I find all firmly held ideological positions questionable. It makes me nervous when someone believes too deeply or too much. I think that being skeptical and questioning all deeply held beliefs is essential. Of course we must know the difference between skepticism and cynicism because cynicism is as much a restriction of one’s openness to the world as passionate belief is. They are sort of twins. And then in a very real way, solving any problem is more important than being right. There is a significant sense of self-righteousness in both the art and design world. Perhaps it begins at school. Art school often begins with the Ayn Rand model of the single personality resisting the ideas of the surrounding culture. The theory of the avant garde is that as an individual who can transform the world, which is true up to a point. One of the signs of a damaged ego is absolute certainty. Schools encourage the idea of not compromising and defending your work at all costs. Well, the issue at work is usually all about the nature of compromise. You just have to know what to compromise. Blind pursuit of your own ends which excludes the possibility that others may be right does not allow for the fact that in design we are always dealing with a triad – the client, the audience and you. Ideally, making everyone win through acts of accommodation is desirable. But self-righteousness is often the enemy. Self-righteousness and narcissism generally come out of some sort of childhood trauma, which we do not have to go into. It is a consistently difficult thing in human affairs. Some years ago I read a most remarkable thing about love, that also applies to the nature of co-existing with others. It was a quotation from Iris Murdoch in her obituary. It read, ‘ Love is the extremely difficult realization that something other than oneself is real.’ Isn’t that fantastic! The best insight on the subject of love that one can imagine.[37:00] On ageingLast year someone gave me a charming book by Roger Rosenblatt called ‘Ageing Gracefully’. I got it on my birthday. I did not appreciate the title at the time but it contains a series of rules for ageing gracefully. The first rule is the best. Rule number one is that ‘it doesn’t matter’. ‘It doesn’t matter what you think. Follow this rule and it will add decades to your life. It does not matter if you are late or early, if you are here or there, if you said it or didn’t say it, if you are clever or if you were stupid. If you were having a bad hair day or a no hair day or if your boss looks at you cockeyed or your boyfriend or girlfriend looks at you cockeyed, if you are cockeyed. If you don’t get that promotion or prize or house or if you do – it doesn’t matter.’ Wisdom at last. Then I heard a marvelous joke that seemed related to rule number 10. A butcher was opening his market one morning and as he did a rabbit popped his head through the door. The butcher was surprised when the rabbit inquired, ‘Got any cabbage?’ The butcher said, ‘This is a meat market – we sell meat, not vegetables.’ The rabbit hopped off. The next day the butcher is opening the shop and sure enough the rabbit pops his head round and says, ‘You got any cabbage?’ The butcher, now irritated, says, ‘Listen you little rodent I told you yesterday we sell meat, we do not sell vegetables and the next time you come here I am going to grab you by the throat and nail those floppy ears to the floor.’ The rabbit disappeared hastily and nothing happened for a week. Then one morning the rabbit popped his head around the corner and said, ‘Got any nails?’ The butcher said ‘No.’ The rabbit said ‘Ok. Got any cabbage?’[52:00] Tell the truthThe rabbit joke is relevant because it occurred to me th...

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037 — Interventions citoyennes [PAB]

May 16, 202301:03:51Tap to summarize

Cette semaine, on discute du cas tragique de Jordan Neely, soulignant la nécessité de réformes systémiques pour gérer la question de la santé mentale et de la sécurité publique. De plus, Snoop Dogg clarifie la pensée de tous sur l'IA lors d'une table ronde, et les préoccupations de Yuval Noah Harari concernant les dangers potentiels de l'IA et la nécessité de la transparence et d’une forme de réglementation. Nous avons également abordé des conseils pour la prévention de l'arthrite, le partenariat innovant entre Apple et Goldman Sachs dans le secteur bancaire, les difficultés auxquelles les hommes modernes sont confrontés et les avancées récentes dans la recherche sur l'anti-vieillissement. Enfin, nous avons célébré le succès surprenant de Mark Zuckerberg lors de son premier tournoi de Jiu-Jitsu!Notes et références[05:00] Affaire Jordan NeelyVoices Politicizing NYC Subway Death Opposed Mayor’s Plan for Severe Mentally IllCharging Daniel Penny, the Subway SamaritanNeely’s death is a tragedy, but the charges against Mr. Penny raise troubling questions about the decline of public order and the way the mentally ill have been left to fend for themselves on our streets and public spaces.And What Would You Have Done? [T]he government’s message to subway passengers is: You’re on your own; there’s just not that much the city will do to keep you out of situations involving homeless people. These situations will sometimes feel dangerous and occasionally be dangerous, but another part of being on your own is that you’ll have to figure out for yourself which situations do and do not pose a genuine threat. To make the challenge even more stimulating, be advised that the world’s most influential newspaper is prepared to denounce you if it believes your response to a particular situation was disproportionate to its true dangers.A Subway Killing Stuns, and Divides, New YorkersPaul Graham on Twitter[19:00] Snoop Dogg & IAYuval Noah Harari argues that AI has hacked the operating system of human civilisationSam Altman: Is AI the End of the World? Or the Dawn of a New One?I think the development of artificial general intelligence, or AGI, should be a government project, not a private company project, in the spirit of something like the Manhattan Project. I really do believe that. But given that I don’t think our government is going to do a competent job of that anytime soon, it is far better for us to go do that than just wait for the Chinese government to go do it.Lire aussi:[32:00] Prévention de l’arthrite[36:00] Reddit vs. GoogleParents: Use Reddit, not Google. Google was once a fantastic collator of the best things the Internet had to offer. Now it’s a cesspool of sponsored content and boring, standard-ass Top 125 websites that all say the exact same things. If you’re a parent and you’re searching for some answers to your medical questions, well, you should probably first talk to the doctor to whom you pay money for just these sorts of things. But if you’re going to go digging on the Internet, don’t use Google. Use Reddit.You know why? Because Reddit at its best is basically the Internet at its finest: pure information, undiluted exchange. It’s full of people just sharing the stuff they know. [37:00] Apple’s New Savings Account Draws Nearly $1 Billion In Deposits In First Four Days[43:00] Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male Is Struggling, Why It Matters, and What to Do about It et Why men are hard to help[46:00] Redshirting[48:00] Zuck does Jiu Jitsu[52:00] My Plan to Slow Down AgingBut his second argument is: we put a lot of time and money into researching cures for cancer, heart disease, stroke, Alzheimers’, et cetera. Progress in these areas is bought dearly: all the low-hanging fruit has been picked, and what’s remaining is a grab bag of different complicated things - lung cancer is different from colon cancer is different from bone cancer.The easiest way to cure cancer, Sinclair says, is to cure aging. Cancer risk per year in your 20s is only 1% what it is in your 80s. Keep everyone’s cells as healthy as they are in a 20-year-old, and you’ll cut cancer 99%, which is so close to a cure it hardly seems worth haggling over the remainder. As a bonus, you’ll get similar reductions in heart disease, stroke, Alzheimers, et cetera.Peter Attia: Outlive This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fullstackbanana.substack.com

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036 — Cinco de Mayo [PAB]

May 6, 202300:47:46Tap to summarize

Cette semaine on parle falsification des préférences, du (manque de) courage dans la paternité, l'énigme qui s’étire autour de Jeffrey Epstein, les faux diamants, l'héritage musical de Gordon Lightfoot, les défis des nouvelles entreprises de médias avec la faillite anticipée de Vice Media, l'augmentation des décès dus au Fentanyl, la théorie du fer à cheval en politique et les défis de criminalité, de consommation de drogues et d’itinérance à San Francisco. Notes et références[02:00] Cinco de mayo, per ChatGPTCinco de Mayo, or the 5th of May, is a celebration that commemorates the Mexican Army's unexpected victory over the French Empire at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. Though it is not Mexico's Independence Day (which is on September 16th), it is a significant day in Mexican history and has become a popular cultural event, especially in the United States, where it is celebrated with parades, food, music, and festivities that showcase Mexican heritage and pride.[03:00] Nefarious[04:00] Preference falsification is the act of misrepresenting our wants under perceived social pressures[06:00] Navy — In Court, Hunter Biden Cries Poor to Reduce Child Support PaymentsBiden has retained "some of the most expensive attorneys on planet Earth," according to a motion filed by Roberts last Thursday, including former Arkansas attorney general Dustin McDaniel, Lowell, and Morris.[14:00] WSJ — Epstein, la liste s’allonge[20:00] Les faux diamants sont éternels, et moins chers[23:00] AI makes Paul McCartney’s voice youthful[26:00] Gordon Lightfoot [30:00] Vice Is Said to Be Headed for Bankruptcy[35:00] Estimates of Drug Overdose Deaths Involving Fentanyl, Methamphetamine, Cocaine, Heroin, and Oxycodone: United States, 2021[37:00] Illinois high school offers racially segregated math classesThe high school’s move to offer separate math classes for students of certain racial groups echoes actions taken by colleges across the United States, which have started to offer graduation ceremonies separated by race in recent years.[38:00] Horseshoe theory[41:00] San FranciscoNordstrom’s Exit From San Francisco Calls Downtown Mall’s Future Into QuestionPolice Tell San Francisco Homeowner To Hire Private Security After Suffering 8 Break-InsChicago Police recommend Riot Glass to prevent smash-and-grab crimesOregon bill would decriminalize homeless encampments and propose penalties if unhoused people are harassed or ordered to leave This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fullstackbanana.substack.com

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035 — Milton Glaser : 10 leçons de vie (deuxième partie)

May 2, 202300:54:38Tap to summarize

Dans la deuxième partie de notre série sur la sagesse de Milton Glaser, on explore trois leçons clés : identifier les relations toxiques grâce à un test énergisant, reconnaître les limites du professionnalisme et remettre en question le mantra "less is more" en adoptant "juste assez c'est plus" comme une approche plus appropriée.La première partie se trouve ici.Notes et références[05:00] SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.This is a subtext of number one. There was in the sixties a man named Fritz Perls who was a gestalt therapist. Gestalt therapy derives from art history, it proposes you must understand the ‘whole’ before you can understand the details. What you have to look at is the entire culture, the entire family and community and so on. Perls proposed that in all relationships people could be either toxic or nourishing towards one another. It is not necessarily true that the same person will be toxic or nourishing in every relationship, but the combination of any two people in a relationship produces toxic or nourishing consequences. And the important thing that I can tell you is that there is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them. Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energized or less energized. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life.[25:00] PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.Early in my career I wanted to be professional, that was my complete aspiration in my early life because professionals seemed to know everything - not to mention they got paid for it. Later I discovered after working for a while that professionalism itself was a limitation. After all, what professionalism means in most cases is diminishing risks. So if you want to get your car fixed you go to a mechanic who knows how to deal with transmission problems in the same way each time. I suppose if you needed brain surgery you wouldn’t want the doctor to fool around and invent a new way of connecting your nerve endings. Please do it in the way that has worked in the past. Unfortunately in our field, in the so-called creative – I hate that word because it is misused so often. I also hate the fact that it is used as a noun. Can you imagine calling someone a creative? Anyhow, when you are doing something in a recurring way to diminish risk or doing it in the same way as you have done it before, it is clear why professionalism is not enough. After all, what is required in our field, more than anything else, is the continuous transgression. Professionalism does not allow for that because transgression has to encompass the possibility of failure and if you are professional your instinct is not to fail, it is to repeat success. So professionalism as a lifetime aspiration is a limited goal.[37:00] LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MOREBeing a child of modernism I have heard this mantra all my life. Less is more. One morning upon awakening I realized that it was total nonsense, it is an absurd proposition and also fairly meaningless. But it sounds great because it contains within it a paradox that is resistant to understanding. But it simply does not obtain when you think about the visual of the history of the world. If you look at a Persian rug, you cannot say that less is more because you realize that every part of that rug, every change of colour, every shift in form is absolutely essential for its aesthetic success. You cannot prove to me that a solid blue rug is in any way superior. That also goes for the work of Gaudi, Persian miniatures, art nouveau and everything else. However, I have an alternative to the proposition that I believe is more appropriate. ‘Just enough is more.’ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fullstackbanana.substack.com

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034 — Day-O [PAB]

Apr 30, 202300:53:45Tap to summarize

Dans cet épisode, nous rendons hommage à feu Harry Belafonte et Jerry Springer, explorons le départ controversé de Tucker Carlson et célébrons la diversité de Costco. On découvre les best-sellers repensés d'IKEA, on visite le « Disneyland des épiceries » et on discute des trophées de participation dans les sports pour les jeunes. De plus, nous examinons l'évolution vers une «notation équitable» dans les écoles.Notes et références[01:00] Dignité, beauté, grace, principes, justice, personnifiés: Harry BelafonteWork all night on a drink of rumDaylight come and we want go homeStack banana 'til the morning comeDaylight come and we want go homeCome Mister tally man, tally me bananaDaylight come and we want go homeLift six foot, seven foot, eight foot bunchDaylight come and we want go homeA beautiful bunch of ripe bananaDaylight come and we want go homeHide the deadly black tarantulaDaylight come and we want go home[06:00] Fake reality TV: Jerry Springer“I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy a comfortable measure of success in my various careers,” he added, “but let’s be honest, I’ve been virtually everything you can’t respect: a lawyer, a mayor, a major-market news anchor and a talk-show host. Pray for me. If I get to heaven, we’re all going.”[11:00] Tucker Carlson—willing to report stories no one else would touch (City Journal) et The Smuggest Man On Air (American Prospect)That look of smirking disbelief is deliberately theatrical. But Carlson’s insistent distrust of his powerful guests acts as a solvent to authority, frequently making larger-than-life figures of the political establishment defend arguments they otherwise treat as self-evident.Tucker’s willingness to challenge and mock ruling elites went alongside an obsessively nativist message that alienated viewers who might otherwise have embraced his populist perspective. His popularity with a wide audience begs the question why other nightly news shows that attacked him didn’t raise the same critiques, without the nativism.[19:00] CostcoVenture into a Costco warehouse – a more diverse place than many a university or legislature – and you will see shoppers from all walks of life gathered together in the pursuit of consumer goods. Here, people of various faiths and backgrounds peruse the aisles, in search of the latest giant screen television sets, buckets of ice cream, and rotisserie chickens, treating one another with respect, regardless of their beliefs. The only judgement passed is reserved for those who bump carts or try to skip the line. Upon departing this peacful and lively consumer’s paradise, some may venture to their respective places of worship, while others linger and indulge in a beverage and a $1.50 hot dog with friends. One family may commemorate a milestone with a baptism, another might celebrate a traditional rite of passage, while still others head to the ballpark in the comfort of their spacious SUVs. And as this diverse tapestry of personal journeys is woven, everyone finds contentment.[29:00] IKEA Redesigns Its Bestsellers, Starting With the Billy BookcaseOne of the company’s chief weapons in its fight to cut costs is the Billy bookcase, a bestseller considered the “heart of IKEA,” said Jesper Samuelsson, the product’s manager. Over 140 million units have been sold since it first appeared in the 1979 edition of the IKEA catalog. The company says someone, somewhere buys a Billy every five seconds—which comes out to around 6.3 million sales a year.[33:00] Stew Leonard's is called the 'Disneyland of dairy stores' — and after one visit, I totally get the hype et Stew Leonard Sr. Dies at 93[37:00] Die with zero (entretien avec Peter Attia)I hope my message has at least jarred you into rethinking the standard and conventional approaches to living one’s life—get a good job, work hard through endless hours, and then retire in your sixties or seventies and live out your days in your so-called golden years. But I still ask you: Why wait until your health and life energy have begun to wane? Rather than just focusing on saving up for a big pot full of money that you will most likely not be able to spend in your lifetime, live your life to the fullest now: Chase memorable life experiences, give money to your kids when they can best use it, donate money to charity while you’re still alive. That’s the way to live life. Remember: In the end, the business of life is the acquisition of memories. So what are you waiting for?[43:00] ‘Participation Trophies’ Are a Fake Crisis. Here’s the Real Problem for Youth Sports.The argument is basically this: Participation trophies are a gateway to sloth and entitlement, since they teach children that they will be rewarded not for effort or accomplishment, but simply for showing up. How is a child supposed to withstand the fickle winds of a harsh world, with clear winners and losers, if they are treated to shiny hardware for attendance? The fear is that giving a child a trophy for wandering through a three-month “season” is to instill a need for constant, unearned approval. Though the “participation trophy” debate is many decades old, it’s routinely portrayed as an example of modern coddling, and it’s only a matter of time before that trophy-hoarding 9-year-old is standing in an office asking for a promotion, a raise and a snowboarding sabbatical. As a current youth sports parent, with the highway miles and Coleman folding chairs to prove it, I am afraid to say I haven’t detected an epidemic. I have two children, ages 8 and 10, and I calculated the other day that over 15 or so youth sports seasons played, across multiple sports, in two different states, we have received a grand total of one participation trophy, which was awarded when my son participated in a shaggy local T-ball league when he was 5.These were pre-kindergarteners who couldn’t tell time or tie their own cleats, much less hit a baseball, so nobody objected to the idea of them getting a $3 piece of tin for showing up to a crabgrass field once a week and trying to remember if they were left or right handed. If that makes me a facilitator of unhinged youth entitlement, then guilty as charged! As always, the attention-seeking outrage obscures a genuine issue. The problem with youth team sports isn’t that they’re giving out too many trophies to participants. It’s that participation is down, worrisomely. [46:00] Schools Are Ditching Homework, Deadlines in Favor of ‘Equitable Grading’“They’re relying on children having intrinsic motivation, and that is the furthest thing from the truth for this age group,” said Ms. Penrod, a teacher for 17 years.[50:00] “As an AI language model” This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fullstackbanana.substack.com

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033 — Love all, serve all [PAB]

Apr 25, 202301:25:31Tap to summarize

Notes et références[05:00] Trust the process, Trust the soupWhen we say “Trust the soup” we mean the Muse, the unconscious, the Quantum Soup. The sailor hoists his canvas, trusting that the wind (which is invisible and which he can neither see nor control) will appear and power him upon his voyage. — Steven Pressfield[10:00] Fossil Future[12:00] Innovex — Oil boss criticizes fleece-maker North Face for ‘virtue signalling’[20:00] Barbara Lynch[28:00] Ménage du printemps — An Unopened 2007 iPhone Can Be Yours (for $32,000 or More) ; Yes, People Will Pay $27,500 for an Old ‘Rocky’ Tape. Here’s Why.; Atari buys up classic games[35:00] Stallone on making Rocky (BBC, 1977)[38:00] Orson Wells[42:00] Promptography is done with prompts. Photography is done with light[46:00] Replication crisis et l’affaire Sokal[51:00] Fake Drake[57:00] Three billion Africans[1:02:00] How 90 Became the New 60; When Will I Retire? How About Never[1:14:00] Bud light; Top 40 under 40[1:00:00] RBC[1:20:00] Pickleball, Air (le film), et Air Jordan This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fullstackbanana.substack.com

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032 — Milton Glaser : 10 leçons de vie

Apr 12, 202300:36:00Tap to summarize

Bienvenue dans cette nouvelle série de podcasts où nous plongeons dans la sagesse de Milton Glaser, le graphiste emblématique décédé en 2020. Glaser, mieux connu pour son logo "I ❤️ NY", a partagé ses dix principales leçons de vie lors d'une conférence d’AIGA à Londres en 2001. En plusieurs épisodes, nous explorerons ces idées, que nous avons découvertes grâce à Reading Design (readingdesign.org), une archive en ligne de pensées critiques sur le design. Rejoignez-nous alors que nous déballons les précieuses leçons de vie et de créativité de Glaser, un épisode à la fois.Notes et références[01:00] Milton Glaser — TEN THINGS I HAVE LEARNED[08:00] YOU CAN ONLY WORK FOR PEOPLE THAT YOU LIKE.This is a curious rule and it took me a long time to learn because in fact at the beginning of my practice I felt the opposite. Professionalism required that you didn’t particularly like the people that you worked for or at least maintained an arms length relationship to them, which meant that I never had lunch with a client or saw them socially. Then some years ago I realized that the opposite was true. I discovered that all the work I had done that was meaningful and significant came out of an affectionate relationship with a client. And I am not talking about professionalism; I am talking about affection; I am talking about a client and you sharing some common ground. That in fact your view of life is someway congruent with the client, otherwise it is a bitter and hopeless struggle.[21:00] IF YOU HAVE A CHOICE, NEVER HAVE A JOB.One night I was sitting in my car outside Columbia University where my wife Shirley was studying Anthropology. While I was waiting I was listening to the radio and heard an interviewer ask ‘Now that you have reached 75 have you any advice for our audience about how to prepare for your old age?’ An irritated voice said ‘Why is everyone asking me about old age these days?’ I recognized the voice as John Cage. I am sure that many of you know who he was – the composer and philosopher who influenced people like Jasper Johns and Merce Cunningham as well as the music world in general. I knew him slightly and admired his contribution to our times. ‘You know, I do know how to prepare for old age’ he said. ‘Never have a job, because if you have a job someday someone will take it away from you and then you will be unprepared for your old age. For me, it has always been the same every since the age of 12. I wake up in the morning and I try to figure out how am I going to put bread on the table today? It is the same at 75, I wake up every morning and I think how am I going to put bread on the table today? I am exceedingly well prepared for my old age’ he said.[25:00] Pour avoir une idée des pensées de Taleb sur les chauffeurs de taxiLet’s take one small example of a dubious claim: on pages 83 – 84, Taleb tells a parable about two men, one a banker and one a taxi driver. In that parable the taxi driver differs from the banker:Because of the variability of his income, [the taxi driver]” keeps moaning that he does not have the job security of his brother—but in fact this is an illusion, for he has a bit more. [. . .] Artisans, say, taxi drivers, prostitutes (a very, very old profession), carpenters, plumbers, tailors, and dentists, have some volatility in their income but they are rather robust to a minor professional Black Swan, one that would bring their income to a complete halt.Dans les prochains épisodes, on poursuivra l’exploration des autres leçons:SOME PEOPLE ARE TOXIC AVOID THEM.PROFESSIONALISM IS NOT ENOUGH or THE GOOD IS THE ENEMY OF THE GREAT.LESS IS NOT NECESSARILY MORE.STYLE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED.HOW YOU LIVE CHANGES YOUR BRAIN.DOUBT IS BETTER THAN CERTAINTY.ON AGEING.TELL THE TRUTH. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fullstackbanana.substack.com

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031 — Timeout [PAB]

Mar 31, 202301:20:26Tap to summarize

Cette semaine on évoque la fusillade de l'école Covenant de Nashville, l'acte d'accusation de Trump. Nous couvrons également le grand débat sur l'IA, et on en profite pour faire un bref retour sur la vie de Gordon Moore, en plus de parler de “courtcore” avec l'escapade en ski de Gwyneth; Aussi: crises en Israel et en France et, les assouplissements des lois sur le travail des enfants sont-elles justifiables? Aussi: l'ascension étrange d'Andrew Tate et la décision de mettre le Narcan en vente libre rappelle l’ampleur de la crise des opioïdes. Notes et références[02:00] Tragédie et courage à Nashville — Rex Engelbert et Michael Collazo : Qui sont les officiers de Nashville qui ont abattu le tireur de l'école Covenant ?Katherine Koonce, la directrice de l'école, a également couru vers le tireur selon des témoins. Elle est morte en essayant de sauver ses élèves.Aussi: CBS News reportedly barring staff from using term 'transgender' to reference Nashville shooter.[07:00] Trump inculpé — “America’s Banana Republic Era Is Here: Manhattan Grand Jury Votes To Indict Trump”[10:00] 6 janvier 2021 (et non 2020, correction faite) — Select January 6th Committee Final Report and Supporting Materials Collection et les images publiées récemment par Tucker Carlson et Fox.[18:00] “Courtcore” — Gwyneth aurait pu aisément régler ça pour une chandelle.“Gwyneth Paltrow, wellness guru, entrepreneur and actress, has given the world many things: conscious uncoupling, rectal ozone therapy and, now, a week and a half into that limited series officially known as Sanderson v. Paltrow and unofficially as the Gwyneth Paltrow Ski Crash Trial that is taking place in Park City, Utah, and streaming on the Law & Crime network, a new style subgenre that ought henceforth to be known as courtcore” (NYT)L’affaire est désormais réglée mais, une demie-journée de ski a quand-même été perdue [23:00] Pause AI* La lettre ouverte du FLI* Au nom du progrès, AI development should continueThe reality is that no one at the beginning of the printing press had any real idea of the changes it would bring. No one at the beginning of the fossil fuel era had much of an idea of the changes it would bring. No one is good at predicting the longer-term or even medium-term outcomes of these radical technological changes (we can do the short term, albeit imperfectly). No one. Not you, not Eliezer, not Sam Altman, and not your next door neighbor.How well did people predict the final impacts of the printing press? How well did people predict the final impacts of fire? We even have an expression “playing with fire.” Yet it is, on net, a good thing we proceeded with the deployment of fire (“Fire? You can’t do that! Everything will burn! You can kill people with fire! All of them! What if someone yells “fire” in a crowded theater!?”).* Au nom du risque, AI development should stop — Pausing AI Developments Isn't Enough. We Need to Shut it All Down (Eliezer Yudkowsky). The key issue is not “human-competitive” intelligence (as the open letter puts it); it’s what happens after AI gets to smarter-than-human intelligence. Key thresholds there may not be obvious, we definitely can’t calculate in advance what happens when, and it currently seems imaginable that a research lab would cross critical lines without noticing.Many researchers steeped in these issues, including myself, expect that the most likely result of building a superhumanly smart AI, under anything remotely like the current circumstances, is that literally everyone on Earth will die.* Voir aussi Scott Alexander ou les résumés de Zvi.* LessWrong[28:00] Bostrom et Thomas Midgley [32:00] Ben Evans — Trois façons de penser à ChatGPT[34:00] Gordon Moore[42:00] Bremmer — Israel’s political crisis, explained[45:00] Mouvements sociaux en France [49:00] “The Dangerous Race to Put More Children to Work” ; In the past two years, at least 10 states have introduced or passed laws rolling back child labor protections. A bill signed by Gov. Chris Sununu lowers the age limit for students to bus tables where alcohol is served from 15 to 14 years old. It also increases the hours most 16- and 17-year-olds can work when they’re in school (source)[57:00] The Dangerous Rise of Andrew Tate[1:08:00] I used AI to bet on horse-racing. Here’s what happened[1:12:00] F.D.A. Approves Narcan for Over-the-Counter Sales[1:18:00] Tesla cars lose value faster than rival models after price cuts, data showsThe value of a new Model 3 with a long-range battery bought in January this year in the UK for £57,435 is forecast to fall 46 per cent to £31,300 by January 2024, according to industry pricing agency CAP HPI. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fullstackbanana.substack.com

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030 — Grandir grâce au feedback

Mar 28, 202300:51:05Tap to summarize

Épisode #30 (née ‘28’) 🎉. Introduction à l’épineuse question du feedback et de la critique, avec comme point de départ la maxime populaire de Warren Buffett: “praise by name, criticize by category”. On explore les différentes facettes de ce sujet complexe et on se demande comment il est possible d’exploiter le pouvoir de la rétroaction directe pour stimuler la croissance personnelle tout en maintenant une une culture d'ouverture, de sécurité psychologique et de confort pour tout ceux qui sont impliqués.Notes et références[01:00] Warren Buffet — “Praise by name, criticize by category”. Principe qui consiste à éviter de critiquer des individus en public, car ça peut avoir des effets néfastes. De telles critiques peuvent amener la personne critiquée à se mettre sur la défensive, l'empêchant d'apprendre de ses erreurs.[16:00] “Shame” et l’importance du contexte dans la livraison du feedback.[21:00] “Praise in Public, Criticize in Private” is Bad AdviceWhether it’s criticism or praise, ask yourself: What will best help people perform better in the future? Praise how people are comfortable. Criticize and correct early.[24:00] Feedback pour leaders et organisations — Three feedback models par Jacob Kaplan-Moss[25:00] Radical candor model (Kim Scott)[28:00] Le sh*t sandwich est l'un des moyens les plus populaires - et les plus inutiles - de donner des commentaires aux employés. [34:00] Protocols — Ex. “Working backwards” chez Amazon. La méthode du mémorandum de six pages qui est lu avant un meeting. Pas de PowerPoint. Pour en savoir plus, lire ou écouter le livre du même titre.We use a thing we call the “working backwards process,” where we don’t use PowerPoint, or Keynote, that much inside of our business. We write narratives. And the narratives are six pages long, and a new product, any new product inside of Amazon, the first page of that product, that narrative is a press release, as if you were launching the product tomorrow. And then the next five pages are frequently asked questions; how is this going to be differentiated? How would it be priced? What invention do you have to solve to be able to do this, etc., etc. And there’s a bunch of those questions that go in. [42:00] Le dilemme du feedback — L'un des principaux dilemmes auxquels les dirigeants sont confrontés lorsqu'ils pensent à la rétroaction est de trouver le juste équilibre entre la promotion d'une communication efficace et claire qui renforce la confiance et le maintien d'une culture d'ouverture, de sécurité psychologique et de confort pour tous les employés.[44:00] Une variation au dicton de Buffett, par Naval Ravikant dans le contexte spécifique de comment se comporter sur Twitter.[49:00] Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now de Dr. Gordon Livingston. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit fullstackbanana.substack.com

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All episodes

039 — Meta-anxiété [PAB]

038 — Milton Glaser : 10 leçons de vie (troisième partie)

037 — Interventions citoyennes [PAB]

036 — Cinco de Mayo [PAB]

035 — Milton Glaser : 10 leçons de vie (deuxième partie)

034 — Day-O [PAB]

033 — Love all, serve all [PAB]

032 — Milton Glaser : 10 leçons de vie

031 — Timeout [PAB]

030 — Grandir grâce au feedback