commit afacb4914078e1a51f9da7add561a2600c955e3a
parent 51048fdabab1ae4293c175f2b226f7a5784cd7ba
Author: Eamon Caddigan <eamon.caddigan@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 30 Apr 2025 21:09:16 -0700
Add weeknote for 2025-W18
Diffstat:
1 file changed, 51 insertions(+), 0 deletions(-)
diff --git a/content/posts/weeknotes/2025-w18/index.md b/content/posts/weeknotes/2025-w18/index.md
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+---
+title: "Weeknote for 2025-W18"
+description: "Histogram legends in R maps, LLMentalism, and paper planes"
+date: 2025-04-30T20:09:31-07:00
+draft: false
+categories:
+- Weeknotes
+tags:
+- R
+- LLMs
+---
+
+## Making more informative maps in R
+
+I love making maps in R---I was the go-to map-maker a couple jobs ago, and I
+believe that making a decent-looking map in a take-home coding assignment
+helped me land my current gig. But the histogram legend showcased in this
+tutorial really kicks things up a notch.
+
+[Andrew Heiss --- How to use a histogram as a legend in
+{ggplot2}](https://www.andrewheiss.com/blog/2025/02/19/ggplot-histogram-legend/)
+
+## How smart people get fooled by LLMs
+
+There’s plenty of grifting behind the current push to squeeze LLMs into
+everything, but I’m surprised when people who I know to be intelligent and
+curious seem blind to the limitations of this technology. In this piece
+(published two years ago, but new to me and still relevant), Baldur Bjarnason
+argues that emergent features of LLM-based chat bots allow them to operate on
+similar principles to “psychic” con-artists.
+
+An important point here (when dealing with chatbots or frauds) is that people
+don’t need to be stupid or gullible to fall for these things. Similar cons have
+been around forever, and debunked countless times, but they still get used
+because they work.
+
+[Baldur Bjarnason --- The LLMentalist
+Effect](https://softwarecrisis.dev/letters/llmentalist/)
+
+## Fold better paper planes
+
+I was a nerdy kid who cycled through hyperfixations, and there was a period in
+middle school when I was obsessed with paper planes. I checked out multiple
+books on the topic from the library, and probably folded hundreds of different
+models. I have long forgotten how to make almost all of them, but when I came
+across this website, the image of the
+[Canard](https://www.foldnfly.com/36.html#Canard) unlocked a flood of memories.
+I folded one up (with help from the instructions) and spent a lovely afternoon
+teaching my three-year-old how to throw a plane.
+
+[Fold ’N Fly Paper Airplane ](https://www.foldnfly.com/)
