Are you happy now?
Assuming you’re reading this issue right away, it’s the post-Christmas lull: that weird interregnum between Christmas and New Year’s when nobody knows what to do with themselves (unless they’re keen shoppers, in which case the January sales have you covered). ).
However, Feedback recently learned something new about Christmas. This excerpt came from freelance writer Michael Marshall, who wrote a story about an investigation looking forward to Christmas when children are better behaved. If you haven’t read it, the short answer is “no, they don’t”. Parents, take it easy because one of your best levers for grief is apparently doing nothing. We will add that the data suggest that certain types of behavior improved if children were exposed to many Christmas rituals, such as putting up a tree and going caroling, and that these rituals may be a kind of social glue that encourages children to be. friendly and cooperative. Maybe try doing more? But we wouldn’t count on a miraculous transformation.
That was not new, however. Mikel, we understand, had to leave something out of the story due to lack of space. So since we’re in the post-Christmas season, let’s take the leftovers.
The study found that parents became more stressed as Christmas approached. Going forward, they often worried that it was going to be a disaster, that the key gifts wouldn’t show up, or that Uncle and Grandma Ted would get drunk and say some elves at the dinner table. This got worse during Christmas week, perhaps because they were so busy preparing that they couldn’t relax and enjoy themselves.
Apparently, it’s common for people to see major rituals only as positive experiences when they’re over. It’s certainly true of weddings, when people look back on it as the happiest day of their lives, but if you ask them on the day, they’ll say they’re so nervous they want to throw up. Feedback and Mrs Feedback can both attest that yes, that was their wedding day (an opinion reinforced by a bacon and egg sandwich eaten in the bath and a whiskey stout).
It’s a strange thing to do something you absolutely hate at the same time and while it’s happening, and then declare it the best thing you’ve ever done. Feedback doesn’t know what to make of this, but this morning we saw Feedback’s felines sleeping peacefully in warm spots around the house, and we thought they might be smarter than us.
Fake fake syndrome
Speaking of not being very smart, Feedback is launching a new recurring segment. We call it “generative EAs say the dumbest things”. We suspect it will be a bottomless pool of material, the equivalent of nominative determinism, and we hereby invite reader submissions to the usual address.
To kick things off, the anonymous neuroscience blogger Neurosceptic Recently noticed something strange in the “AI Overview” that now appears at the top of Google Search. For readers unfamiliar with Neuroskepticism, he has written about the limitations of functional brain imaging – especially when it is over-interpreted as “revealing people’s thoughts” – and about bad practices in scientific publishing.
He was neurosceptic surprised For an AI Overview that describes “kylo syndrome”: “a disease caused by mutations in mitochondrial DNA” that is “often passed from a force-sensitive woman to her children.” This is immediately and obviously nonsense: Kylo Ren is evil Star Wars sequel trilogy, and “force-sentients” only exist in fiction Star Wars the universe
But the truth is worse than that. The neuroskeptic coined Kylo’s syndrome in 2017, a the sting exposing predatory scientific journals that do not adequately review studies. They wrote a complete fake paper full Star Wars references, attributed to Lucas McGeorge and Annette Kin, and submitted to nine journals. Three of them published, and another accepted but did not publish because Neuroskeptic refused to pay the $360 fee.
It seems that the creator of Google’s AI has not fully understood the concept of “context”.
Swiftquakes
It’s sad to see the end of Taylor Swift’s worldwide Eras tour. That’s partly because we didn’t go, didn’t use our understanding of probability, and only registered interest in one gig, greatly limiting our chances of reaching the top of the voting. Maybe Feedback isn’t as smart as a creative AI.
But also, the concerts have been so large that they have produced detectable seismic events. In June, geophysicists at University College London installed nine seismometers He recorded the tremors near and after London’s Wembley Stadium. Love Story produced the largest earthquake, although, to be clear, it was a magnitude of 0.8, so it was quite small, followed, appropriately enough, by shake it.
Now that Taylor has gone home to (supposedly) work on another surprise album, Feedback is hoping for ground movements caused by other tours. We can’t help but think that the upcoming Oasis reunion tour might be worth a seismometer or two to spot the exact moment Liam Gallagher loses his cool and stomps offstage, if not ever to return.
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