NL36 - Helsinki Christmas Market

Hello from home in Matinkylä! This is NordLetter #36, a weekly newsletter on living and walking in Finland. Each week I share some of the interesting things I found on the web.

Previous editions can be found here. You can reach out to me by replying on this mail or adding a comment on this. I am also posting on Threads.

We visited the Helsinki Christmas Market on Saturday. It is the oldest outdoor Christmas market in Helsinki with thousands expected to visit.

The Christmas Market is arranged at the Senate Square, the Helsinki Cathedral and surrounding buildings serving as a majestic backdrop. Last year, we visited the market on Christmas, and everything was closed on that night. We took a picture with the Christmas tree and that was that.

We were in India when the tree was transported to the Senate Square and lit up. So, we wanted to visit as soon as we could, and it did not disappoint.

There are two yards: deli and restaurant, with a beautiful carousel at the market's heart. There are six entrances, lined with canopied shops, where artisans sell their wares. Some with candles, some selling hot chocolate and glogi, some selling roasted chestnuts!

If you're in Helsinki, be sure to drop in.

/five things to share

1. On captcha and designing trains

A fun set of videos.
Captcha is what you use to tell a website, I am not a robot.
The video goes through the history of captcha: the why of its creation. And then, how it changed over time.
The other video is about train-compartment design. Fun stuff.

2. Seth Godin - Understanding pricing

The money we exchange for a service or item isn’t based on how much it cost to make, how hard it was to produce or how much the producer likes it.

3. Training rats to drive a car

As animals – human or otherwise – navigate the unpredictability of life, anticipating positive experiences helps drive a persistence to keep searching for life's rewards. In a world of immediate gratification, these rats offer insights into the neural principles guiding everyday behaviour. Rather than pushing buttons for instant rewards, they remind us that planning, anticipating and enjoying the ride may be key to a healthy brain.

4. The deterioration of Google

About how ML used by Google does not rate these independent websites highly. Nobody knows why. These websites are not getting any traffic and since they depend on this traffic to make money, they're dying.

Not good.

5. Building LLMs is not a good business

Some wonderful ideas about industry structure and what makes a business successful. Building the models has never seemed like a business with the moat. There does not seem to be anything that separates one model from the other. The techniques are well known and public. This is why OpenAI seems so focused on the product, making sure ChatGPT is everywhere.

If you enjoyed reading this, and know someone else who might, please consider forwarding this to them. It would help this grow and make me happy. 😄

Until next week.