index.md (2110B)
1 --- 2 title: "Weeknote for 2025-W18" 3 description: "Histogram legends in R maps, LLMentalism, and paper planes" 4 date: 2025-04-30T20:09:31-07:00 5 draft: false 6 categories: 7 - Weeknotes 8 tags: 9 - R 10 - LLMs 11 --- 12 13 ## Making more informative maps in R 14 15 I love making maps in R---I was the go-to map-maker a couple jobs ago, and I 16 believe that making a decent-looking map in a take-home coding assignment 17 helped me land my current gig. But the histogram legend showcased in this 18 tutorial really kicks things up a notch. 19 20 [Andrew Heiss --- How to use a histogram as a legend in 21 {ggplot2}](https://www.andrewheiss.com/blog/2025/02/19/ggplot-histogram-legend/) 22 23 ## How smart people get fooled by LLMs 24 25 There’s plenty of grifting behind the current push to squeeze LLMs into 26 everything, but I’m surprised when people who I know to be intelligent and 27 curious seem blind to the limitations of this technology. In this piece 28 (published two years ago, but new to me and still relevant), Baldur Bjarnason 29 argues that emergent features of LLM-based chat bots allow them to operate on 30 similar principles to “psychic” con-artists. 31 32 An important point here (when dealing with chatbots or frauds) is that people 33 don’t need to be stupid or gullible to fall for these things. Similar cons have 34 been around forever, and debunked countless times, but they still get used 35 because they work. 36 37 [Baldur Bjarnason --- The LLMentalist 38 Effect](https://softwarecrisis.dev/letters/llmentalist/) 39 40 ## Fold better paper planes 41 42 I was a nerdy kid who cycled through hyperfixations, and there was a period in 43 middle school when I was obsessed with paper planes. I checked out multiple 44 books on the topic from the library, and probably folded hundreds of different 45 models. I have long forgotten how to make almost all of them, but when I came 46 across this website, the image of the 47 [Canard](https://www.foldnfly.com/36.html#Canard) unlocked a flood of memories. 48 I folded one up (with help from the instructions) and spent a lovely afternoon 49 teaching my three-year-old how to throw a plane. 50 51 [Fold ’N Fly Paper Airplane ](https://www.foldnfly.com/)