Fifteen years ago there was an exciting paper about bacteria that could use Arsenic instead of Phosphorous, which was thitherto thought to be an essential ingredient to life and DNA.

Via Periodic Videos I just watched this fascinating interview with one of the authors about the recent retraction of the paper - not because there was misconduct or a major error, but because it turned out to be "likely wrong" and "exaggerated" in the interpretation of the data.

I think the authors are right in protesting this new, impossible to meet, retroactive standard. It is part of the scientific process to be wrong. Going back and retracting parts of the history is counterproductive.

Much more info and nuance in the interview - highly recommended!

Quoting Patrick Boyle:

For AI users, this frenzy is a gift. Competition has meant that the models improve rapidly and their prices stay low. There is no reason not to use these products while they are free or almost free.

I fully agree and get lots of value from my 20$ Claude subscription, mostly via ClaudeCode. More on that later, but I am happy to take investors' money by buying a product that is sold under break-even price. May it last as long as possible. But to continue the quote:

For AI investors, the economics are unforgiving. Better chips make models faster—and make yesterday’s chips worthless. Every leap forward accelerates depreciation on the collateral lenders are asked to finance. That is why banks refuse to lend, they prefer assets that last longer than a news cycle.

If you are even remotely interested in the war on Ukraine, and don't know about Danish analyst Anders Puck Nielsen yet, make sure to check out his Youtube channel where he does an excellent job of explaining context and presenting his view on things. No fluff videos that will leave you more informed that following the news.

Start with the latest video on the current situation with the "peace plan".

The latest video by Kurzgesagt is about the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs, and is brilliant as usual. This frame made me pause and ponder on a side-track:

Doesn't the Burj Khalifa tower look surprisingly large compared to mount everest? It isn't even a fair picture, because the mountain does not rise 8.8km out of the ocean, but "only" about 3.5km above the surrounding valleys.

Thus, climbing Burj Khalifa (which is a thing people do) just five times is the same height as climbing Everest from base camp. Disregarding the lack of oxygen at high altitudes and that the tower is much steeper.

Human-made structures start to approach the size of mountains, pointing up, not only down.

Holy shit! I just realized that the Kurgan in Highlander is played by the same actor as the asshole sergeant in Starship Troopers! Clancy Brown.

The Critical Drinker does a good job in his videos of explaining why the latter film is great satire and why Highlander does not need a remake.

I spent most of the day planting trees in the forest and I'll do the same tomorrow. This video (in Swedish) shows how it's done.

Three more YouTube-videos I enjoyed recently:

• xkcd's "Map Projections", animated
• Duct tape space suit
• Robin Hanson discusses his model of grabby aliens with folks from FHI, including Nick Bostrom.

Wanna watch me chopping wood for ten minutes? Here you go!

My tool shed and workshop is rather narrow, so when I borrowed my neighbour's table saw the other day, the first thing I did was to build a cart on wheels/castors for it, to be able to rasily move it out of the way. At the same time I made my workbench mobile the same way and ensured that the height of the two matched, so that the bench can serve as an outfeed-table for long pieces from the saw.

This Video served as the main inspiration for the cart, but I simplified it even more and skipped the drawers for a plain storage shelf underneath the saw. I can recommend Steve Ramsey's Youtube channel throughout; I have watched quite a few of his videos and found them both instructive and entertaining.

I love this kind of trick. It's non-obvious, at least to me, and such a nice illustration of the cleverness that craftsmen and DIY-folks have.

The only time I tried tiling myself was last summer, around our old kitchen stove. It came out quite ok, but not perfect.

This presentation is quite mind-blowing. The full title is What Bodies Think About: Bioelectric Computation Outside the Nervous System and it shows almost incredible results of what happens when you influence the communication between cells, notably not neurons. Limb regeneration, double-headed worms, memory remaining after the brain was cut off!