The weekend is here — AND it’s New Year’s Eve! Pour yourself a mug of Porto Rico Importing coffee, grab a seat by the fire, and get ready for our longer-form weekend reads:
• The Backstory of ChatGPT Creator OpenAI: Behind ChatGPT and other AI breakthroughs was Sam Altman’s fundraising—but skeptics remain. (Wall Street Journal)
• 52 things I learned in 2022: This year I worked on fascinating projects in energy, media and health* at Magnetic, and learned many learnings. (Medium) see also The 100 greatest innovations of 2022: The 35th annual Best of What’s New awards: Every year since 1988, Popular Science has highlighted the innovations that make living on Earth even a tiny bit better. And this year—our 35th—has been remarkable, thanks to the successful deployment of the JWST, which earned our highest honor as the Innovation of the Year. But it’s just one item out of the 100 stellar technological accomplishments our editors have selected to recognize. (Popular Science)
• A Kansas City family created Wish-Bone Italian Dressing. It became an American obsession: In 1948, Phillip Sollomi debuted an Italian vinaigrette at his Kansas City fried chicken restaurant, the Wishbone. An immediate hit, the salad dressing formed the foundation for an empire: You can find that iconic Wish-Bone bottle in nearly every supermarket in the country. Decades after Sollomi left the company, his family has returned to the city to reclaim their legacy. (KCUR)
• What Would It Take to Turn More Offices Into Housing? Vast amounts of empty real estate are a crisis for building owners. But some politicians and business leaders hope they can be converted into something new — and transform downtown neighborhoods. (New York Times)
• Alan MacMasters: How the great online toaster hoax was exposed: For more than a decade, a prankster spun a web of deception about the inventor of the electric toaster. His lies fooled newspapers, teachers and officials. Then a teenager flagged up something that everyone else had missed. (BBC)
• Physicists Rewrite a Quantum Rule That Clashes With Our Universe: The past and future are tightly linked in conventional quantum mechanics. A tweak could let quantum possibilities increase as space expands. (Quanta Magazine)
• The Clitoris Has Been Lost to Science for Centuries, but It’s Making a Comeback: The vulva has long been ignored in anatomical study. But scientists and doctors are making strides in mapping its pleasure center, the clitoris, and improving sensation for survivors of genital cutting. (Scientific American)
• Celebrating Pele, the greatest player in World Cup history: It is a matter of opinion whether Edson Arantes do Nascimento was the greatest footballer in the history of the world, but there’s little doubt he was the greatest footballer in the history of the World Cup. One simple fact concisely demonstrates that: Pele won it three times. No one else in history, man or woman, can match that. (The Athletic)
• Live and let fly: the tall tale of Paul McCartney’s 007 theme song is revealed: Newly discovered archive material shows former Beatle was always producers’ choice to sing during credits for Live and Let Die. (The Guardian)
Be sure to check out our Masters in Business interview this weekend with Michael Lewis. We discuss Season 3 of his podcast Against the Rules. We also delve into the 30th anniversary of Liar’s Poker: Rising Through the Wreckage on Wall Street, and his new audio recording of the book. He is also the author of Undoing Project, Moneyball, Flashboys, The Big Short, and so many others.
65% recession chance seen
Source: @MikeZaccardi
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