Winnie Yang
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Articles by Winnie Yang
Secret Strategist Giveaway: Win a Galanter & Jones Kosmos Chair
I first sat on a Galanter & Jones chair in 2018. It was a chilly evening in the Bay Area, but the chair kept me pleasantly warm even though it was made of concrete. That’s because this Helios chair, like other Galanter & Jones seating, was heated: You plug it into an outlet and use the adjustable dial to set it to your ideal temperature.
Secret Strategist Giveaway: Win a USM Haller Side Table
I had first noticed USM Haller shelving in the pages of Architectural Digest in 2017 and loved how industrial the steel panels and chromed tubing looked, the vivid colors the powder-coated steel comes in, and how flexible the modular system could be. That modularity — not to mention USM’s durability — was maybe even better illustrated in a 2023 AD story photographed by my friend Brian W.
The Best Diaper Pail
A dedicated diaper pail can make the hourly task of changing a baby’s diaper easier and conceal the stink of the discard pile. After testing 15 diaper pails, we found that the Munchkin Step Diaper Pail provides the best odor control and is the easiest to use. If you don’t want to have to buy special bags, or you’re looking for something smaller, the Ubbi Steel Diaper Pail is another great choice.
Online LSAT testing option ending in August
Beginning in August, the LSAT will no longer be offered remotely, with limited exceptions for documented medical accommodations and geographic hardships. On Feb. 11, the Law School Admission Council announced the change, stating that it is intended to protect the long-term security and integrity of the Law School Admission Test. The decision follows ongoing concerns over cheating connected to online testing.
Rising river water levels creating safety risk for Londoners
Local officials are urging residents to be cautious near rivers and streams as water levels rise throughout the London region after the weekend’s rainfall and snowmelt. Environment Canada issued a rainfall warning for London, Ont. on Monday morning, which remained in place through Wednesday. In a press release, the Upper Thames River Conservation Authority warned that local streams and rivers remain hazardous and could rise again with weather forecasts calling for 20 to 50 mm of rain this week.
Inside the Closet of a Zwirner Curator Who Owns 50 Black T-Shirts
Ebony Haynes (foreground) and Glenn Ligon at 52 Walker. First reported in Secret Strategist, we noticed Ebony Haynes, David Zwirner’s global head of curatorial projects, tends to dress, strikingly, all in black (with the occasional blue jeans). We reached out to her to talk about the Gildan sweatshirts she buys in bulk, the $120 tuxedo pants she’s been buying for eight years, and the biggest collection of black T-shirts we’ve seen so far.
This $11 Scoopolander Is One of My Most Used Kitchen Tools
This Thing’s Incredible A series where we share products that are so good we would do an entire infomercial about it. (But instead, we published this review.) Read more here. Photo: Winnie Yang When I got married in 2011, one of the wedding gifts I received was a 6.75-quart Le Creuset Dutch oven, and tucked in with it was a plastic perforated scoop. At the time, we oohed and aahed over the Le Creuset and shrugged about the scoop.
This Screen-Free Digital Camera Shoots (Almost) Like Film
This Thing’s Incredible A series where we share products that are so good we would do an entire infomercial about it. (But instead, we published this review.) Read more here. Photo: Winnie Yang I originally got the Camp Snap camera a couple of months ago for my 9-year-old to take to a sleepaway camp that bans devices with screens, but it turns out I’m the one who actually loves using it.
76 Christmas Gift Basket Ideas 2024
Illustration: Clara Kirkpatrick Oft associated with designer pears, artisanal cheeses, and high-end chocolates, holiday gift baskets can be a handy, one-size-fits-all present to check multiple people off your list. But what if holiday gift baskets were tailored exactly to your recipient’s taste and interests? That was the question we posed to the Strategist team as we set out to create 76 hyperspecific gift baskets.
The Strategist Haul: What the Editors Bought in November
Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photos: Retailers Obviously, Strategist staffers are excellent shoppers (it’s why you’re here visiting the site right now). So once a month, we highlight all the things we’ve been buying for ourselves. You’ll notice that it’s both a blessing and a curse to be a Strategist editor; we’re picky, but sometimes we just have to get on with it. (It’s online-shopping expertise meets IRL needs.) Below, what we bought in November.
Iterative Refinement Stages of Jailbreaks in LLM — LessWrong
Content Warning: This blog post contains examples of harmful language generated by LLM. As models grow increasingly sophisticated, they will surpass human expertise. It is a fundamentally difficult challenge to make sure that those models are robustly alignmed (cite scalable oversight). For example, we might hope to reliably know whether a model is being deceptive in order to achieve an instrumental goal.
Deception and Jailbreak Sequence: 1. Iterative Refinement Stages of Deception in LLMs — LessWrong
As models grow increasingly sophisticated, they will surpass human expertise. It is a fundamentally difficult challenge to make sure that those models are robustly aligned (Bowman et al., 2022). For example, we might hope to reliably know whether a model is being deceptive in order to achieve an instrumental goal. Importantly, deceptive alignment and robust alignment are behaviorally indistinguishable (Hubinger et al., 2024).
Iterative Refinement Stages of Lying in LLMs — LessWrong
As models grow increasingly sophisticated, they will surpass human expertise. It is a fundamentally difficult challenge to make sure that those models are robustly aligned (cite scalable oversight). For example, we might hope to reliably know whether a model is being deceptive in order to achieve an instrumental goal (Hubinger et al., 2024). Importantly, deceptive alignment and robust alignment are behaviorally indistinguishable (Hubinger et al., 2024).
10 of the Very Best Waffle-Makers
Photo: Marcus McDonald In this article Best overall Best Belgian-style Best double Best durable Best big-batch Best for grain-free waffles Best nonelectric Best multipurpose A waffle-maker is, in my mind, a luxury — a piece of kitchen equipment that doesn’t have the multiple uses of, say, a blender, or the everyday nature of a coffee machine.
The 9 Very Best Microplanes, Graters, and Zesters
Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photos: Retailers In this article Best overall Best less-expensive Best higher-end Best hard handle Best coarse Best mini rasp Best rasp-style box grater Best traditional box grater Best oroshigane grater A rasp-style grater, with its short, razor-sharp notches, can not only make short work of grating cheese, chocolate, citrus zest, nutmeg, ginger, and many other ingredients, it’s also easier to grip and store than a traditional box-style grater, sliding...
The 8 Very Best Latex Pillows
Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photos: Retailers In this article Best overall Best firm Best soft Best customizable Best adjustable Best contoured Cards on the table: I love latex pillows. I like how latex is springy, rather than dense and slow-sinking like memory foam (though I can still appreciate a good memory-foam pillow). And I like how it tends to stay cooler than memory foam.
A Huge List of Sales: Cheap COS and Fashion Crocs
39 items in this article 39 items on sale! Yesterday, the Strategist sales Slack was in a frenzy over all the impossibly good deals at Nordstrom Rack: a half-off Cotopaxi backpack, an UGG throw for 75 percent off, and True Botanicals for under $15? We were floored — so scroll on to find everything that caught our eye. In more Nordstrom news, the retailer’s Summer Beauty Event started yesterday, and we had one of our seasoned beauty writers find her top picks from the sale here.
The 12 Best Pregnancy Pillows of 2024
Photo: Marcus McDonald In this article Best overall Best U, J, and C-shaped pregnancy pillows Best microbead pregnancy pillow Best down alternative Best memory foam Best bolster body pillow for pregnancy Best wedge Best for tall people As a pregnant person’s body changes, getting quality rest can be difficult — but sleeping with a pregnancy pillow or body pillow can go a long way toward easing discomfort brought on by loosening joints, added weight, and cramped organs.
The Very Best Booster Seats
Photo-Illustration: The Strategist; Photos: Retailers In this article Best overall Best (less expensive) overall Best high back Best backless Best booster seat for older kids Best adjustable Best lightweight Best for travel Switching from a car seat to a booster seat is a major transition that hinges not just on the age of your child but also their weight, height, and maturity level.
This Telephone Water Bottle Is the Talk of Second Grade
Photo: Retailer It all started with a conversation about the Stanley. My 8-year-old had a friend over, and the friend asked me why my daughter doesn’t have one. (Even without phones, second-graders twig instantly to what’s desirable.) We’re an Owala household, I explained, and that seemed to satisfy her. “Everyone at school is into those telephone water bottles anyway,” she said. I of course had to find out what a “telephone water bottle” was, and so I Googled.
Parisian Glassware, Chef-Approved Sneakers and Other Recent Strategist Finds
Photo: Courtesy of La Soufflerie An all-over-the-place assortment of stood-behind products culled from this very website that appears in the most recent February issue of New York Magazine. Best in Class (Still) the Top Hair Dryer Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer $429 $429 When the Dyson Supersonic came out in 2016, we wrote an early, excited review: Never had we seen a hair dryer so lightweight that could dry hair so quickly—without causing heat damage.
This 50-Year-Old Heath Set Has Endured a Decade and a Half of Dinner Parties
Photo: Hugo Yu We asked seven exceptionally tasteful New Yorkers to tell us about an item they bought forever ago — and that they still love (and use) today. Here, Strategist senior editor Winnie Yang on her vintage ceramic Heath plates that have lasted more than 50 years. Around 2008, I was throwing lots of big dinner parties. Once a month, I’d host an underground supper club with anywhere from 15 to 20 people, and more regularly I’d host a separate dinner party with about a dozen folks.
The 5 Best Dish Racks of 2023
Our pick KitchenAid Full Size Dish Rack The best dish rack This steel-framed dish rack holds enough dishes for a four-person household, drains water well, and is sturdy enough to keep your dishes safe. The KitchenAid Full Size Dish Rack performed the best in our most recent tests, unseating our longtime top pick, the Polder 4-Piece Advantage. It’s large enough to hold a variety of dishes, yet it has a reasonably compact footprint—it’s a little smaller than a .
The Best Waffle Maker
Waffle makers range widely in quality and features, not to mention in the waffles they produce. And opinions on what exactly constitutes a great waffle vary enormously: Some people want them brown and crispy, others like them softer and fluffier. So we set out to find the model that could make the most broadly appealing waffles with the least hassle.
The Best Washing Machines (and Their Matching Dryers)
Runner-up GE GFW650 Extra features, but loads take longer GE’s GFW650 does a great job of cleaning clothing and is better at reducing mold issues than any washer we’ve tested. But compared with our LG pick, it’s slower to wash clothes and potentially less reliable. GE GFD65 A matching GE dryer The GE GFW650’s matching dryer worked perfectly well in our tests, although it dried clothes a tad slower than our pick from LG. It’s available in a white or nickel finish, and in a gas or electric version.
The 3 Best Wine Coolers and Fridges of 2023
Upgrade pick EuroCave Premiere S A wine cooler for serious investors Six of the experts we spoke with recommended EuroCave as the top wine-fridge maker. The EuroCave Premiere S is the most basic option from the restaurant-quality line, and it’s freestanding, so you can put it anywhere. If you’re looking for the best-value fridge from a restaurant-quality brand, get the EuroCave Premiere S.
51 Etsy Shopping Tips
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59 items in this article 8 items on sale! Photo-Illustration: Strategist; Photos: Courtesy of Retailers Saving the item also means you’ll get notified if it goes on sale. —E.S. Lady and the Leash makes custom patches that you can iron or sew onto sweatshirts, bags, or whatever else you like (I got one for each of my two cats and stitched them onto Christmas stockings).
By Chris Black, Katherine Gillespie Verified, Brenley Goertzen Verified, Arielle Avila Verified, Winnie Yang Verified
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The Strategist
Verified
The Very Best Saucepans
Photo-Illustration: Courtesy of Amazon A good saucepan should last you a lifetime. As my parents celebrate their 25th anniversary, my mom still regularly cooks with the set of saucepans gifted to her on her wedding day. Smaller and more maneuverable than a pot, with higher, flatter sides than a skillet and a single handle, saucepans are ideal for preparing soups, grains, vegetables and, well, sauces. So it’s safe to say that when you buy an all-rounder like a saucepan, you’re making an investment.
Lost Heaven, 7 Yan’an Dong Lu
Lost Heaven, 7 Yan’an Dong Lu: 31.232840, 121.491200 near Sichuan Nan Lu, 延安东路17号甲近四川南路, Tel. +86 21 6330 0967, Hours: 11:30am-3pm, 5:30pm-midnight (Directions)
Şahin Lokantası - Culinary Backstreets
Şahin Lokantası: 41.030570, 28.974780 Orhan Adlı Apaydın Sk 11, Asmalı Mescit Mh., Tel. +90 212 244 2543 (Directions)
Friggitoria Masardona - Culinary Backstreets
Via Giulio Cesare Capaccio 27, Tel. +39 081 281057 - 081 267919, Hours: Mon.-Fri. 7am-4pm; Sat. 7am-4pm and 7pm-midnigh (Directions)
TAF - Culinary Backstreets
Metamatic: TAF: 37.976560, 23.724360 Normanou 5, Monastiraki, Tel. +30 210 323 8757, Hours: 10am until late (Directions)
In & Out - Culinary Backstreets
150 Hubin Lu, inside Hubin Dadao near Taiping Lake Park, 湖滨路150号湖滨道购物中心三楼(太平湖公园), Tel. +86 21 6333 2698, Menu: English & Chinese (Directions)
Vinos Martinez - Culinary Backstreets
Vinos Martinez: 43.324075, -1.984395 Calle Narrica 29, San Sebastián, Tel. +34 943 42 0870 (Directions)
Siirt Şeref Büryan Kebap Salonu
Siirt Şeref Büryan Kebap Salonu: 41.017208, 28.953523 Serdap Sokak 34, Fatih, Tel. +90 212 525 3581, Hours: 9:30am-10pm (Directions)
Forn Baltà (sells coca year-round)
Forn Baltà (sells coca year-round): 41.375340, 2.134560 Carrer de Sants 117-119, Sants, Tel. +34 93 339 5485, Hours: Mon.-Sat. 9am-9pm; Sun. 9am-4pm (Directions)
Pastisseria Fàbrega - Culinary Backstreets
Pastisseria Fàbrega: 41.379380, 2.165710 Carrer de Sant Antoni Abat 3, Raval, Tel. +34 93 441 0905 Hours: Mon.-Sat. 7am-9pm; Sun. 7am-6pm (Directions)
Gleba Moagem & Padaria
Gleba Moagem & Padaria: 38.707184, -9.172767 Rua Maria Pia 24, Tel. +351 96 606 4697, Hours: Mon.-Sat. 9am-8pm; Sun. 9am-3pm (Directions)
Bar Etxeberria - Culinary Backstreets
Bar Etxeberria: 43.324006, -1.983945 Iñigo Kalea 8, Donostia-San Sebastián, Tel. +34 94 342 3491 (Directions)
Paco Bueno - Culinary Backstreets
Paco Bueno: 43.322625, -1.985717 Calle Mayor 6, San Sebastián, Tel. +34 94 342 4495 (Directions)
Lost Heaven, 38 Gaoyou Lu
near Fuxing Xi Lu, 高邮路38号近复兴西路, Tel: +86 21 64335126, Hours: 11:30am-2pm, 5:30-10:30pm, Menu: English & Chinese (Directions)
Gathering Clouds - Culinary Backstreets
Bldg 8, Room E105, 381 Panyu Lu, near Fahuazhen Lu (inside Xingfu Li), 幸福里，番禺路381号近法华镇路，8号楼E105室, Tel. +86 21 6271 7162, Hours: 11am-11pm, Menu: Chinese & English (Directions)
Kanaat - Culinary Backstreets
Kanaat: 41.025760, 29.016570 Selmani Pak Cd 9 Tembel Hacı Mehmet Mh., Tel. +90 216 341 5444 (Directions)
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