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Issue #14

Welcome to Pearl Runner issue 14! To kick us off, our favorite GIF of the week.

What is it? It’s a real-time display of a “self organizing map”. Imagine you’re a delivery person who has all those red points to hit along your drive, the image shows an AI creating the most efficient possible route from those points in real-time.

 

In Issue #14:

  • 😎 How to Become an Expert
  • 💌 An Unbelievable A.I. Image generator
  • 👴 A New Stand-out Documentary to Watch
  • 🐣 Another Controversial Food Poll

How to Become an Expert

by Julian Shapiro

I discovered Julian Shapiro’s blog last year, and he’s quickly become one of my favorite writers on the internet. He has a uniquely clear and thorough way of breaking down complex or difficult topics into defined, easy-to-learn steps and concepts.

This article does exactly that, exploring how to consistently generate great work in your field. ​He looks at experts in their creative arenas like Christopher Nolan and Taylor Swift to illustrate his process. A couple notable quotes from the article:

“Counterintuitively, it’s not output that matters most to the craftsperson. Instead, it’s honing a process that generates increasingly good output over time.”
 
“When a craftsperson has a seed of an idea but is unsure where to start, they do not procrastinate by doing more research. They start by making something terrible.

Check out the full article here 👇

Dall-E 2 - Open AI Image Generator

Believe it or not, the image below was generated by a computer based on a simple text input: “A Shiba Inu dog wearing a beret and black turtleneck”

The Dall-E 2 Open AI image generator is one of the most incredible applications of AI I’ve seen to date. How does it work? Simply type in a text description of what you want to see, and the software generates a bunch of different versions of what you described. You can sign up to get on the waiting list, but the program isn’t available to all quite yet.

The software home page shows some of the most impressive images made so far. Here’s a couple more of our favorites:

Description: “A photo of a quaint flower shop storefront with a pastel green and clean white façade and open door and big window”

Description: “A photo of an astronaut riding a horse”



Check out a bunch more examples here 👇

Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off

Documentary

Whether you’re like me and went through a wildly unsuccessful skateboarding phase in middle school or not, this documentary is an incredible watch. See the story of the guy who is Tom Brady of skateboarding from his childhood all the way into his 50’s.

If you know about his story, this movie shows sides of Hawk that you’ve never seen before. He’s unique as someone who got to the top of his sport because it wasn’t based on pure athleticism, but pure insanity-levels of determination and drive. This is a movie I won’t forget for a long time to come.

Check out the official trailer here 👇

Our Other Favorite Newsletters (click the logos to subscribe)

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The Daily Upside: Business news that’s worth you’re time.

Poll Question of the Week:

Last week’s poll results:

Ok I clearly forgot to include some pretty critical genres, but I’ll blame “the algorithms” for keeping me in an internet music bubble. Pretty wide spread here, and I love the user-submitted category of R&B. 90’s R&B is clearly some of the best music ever created.

This Week's Question: 🍜

If I could choose a single food to have the calories magically disappear every time I ate it, I would choose _________.

And that’s a wrap! If you have any comments, suggestions, recommendations, or just general feedback we’d love to hear from you! Email us at brooke@pearlrunner.com and we’ll include our favorite comments in next week’s edition (and maybe in our Instagram feed 🧐). Thanks for reading and have a great week!

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