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# Espresso Shots 10-18-26
- URL: https://makoism.com/espresso-shots-10-18-26/
- Published: 2026-10-18T12:01:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-18T12:01:00.000Z
- Description: From forgetting the algorithms to Jim Henson’s puppets, a dramatic Ironman win, a view on friendships, thinking like a lab team, and choosing what you attend to.
- Author: Steve Makofsky
- Tags: espresso-shots, life, links, mindset, #newsletter-espresso, storytelling, thinking

It's that time again for my weekly update, which includes a short collection of noteworthy finds, posts that inspire, as well as a few reflections from the past week or two. I'll aim to land these in your inbox by the weekend, in time to pair with your morning coffee (or your preferred cup of inspiration).

## The Latest Drippings ☕️

- [Forget Billionaire Algorithms](https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@grumpygamer/117447812241196966). I've been following [Ron Gilbert](https://grumpygamer.com) for as long as I can remember; [Monkey Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey%5FIsland), released in 1990, is still one of my favorite games of all time. There's real insight that I've enjoyed across [his blog](https://grumpygamer.com) and [fediverse accounts](https://mastodon.gamedev.place/@grumpygamer), and he echoes how I've been [Rethinking Reading](https://makoism.com/rethinking-reading/). '*Forget billionaire algorithms, use RSS. Most sites have them. Both the Thimbleweed Park Blog and Grumpy Gamer do. Full text feeds. I've been using and serving RSS since 2005\. All the cool kids are doing it.*' Really Simple Syndication (RSS) is a tool that almost every website has, though many don't realize it. *(Side note: If you aren't familiar with RSS,* [*The RSS Universe*](https://toolbox.rss.here.now/) *is a great resource to start with.)* **Redefining what is interesting to me** has been a large part of moving away from algorithmic content. Ethan Marcotte's [All Watched Over by Algorithms of Loving Grace](https://ethanmarcotte.com/wrote/all-watched-over-by-algorithms-of-loving-grace/) summarizes the problem really well: '*All this math, all this time, all this work, all this capital, all of it dedicated to *delivering the most predictable, boring, average thing*. We'll take all the data you've given us, and we’ll press it down into the content equivalent of beige, flavorless paste.*' A good mindset to have around this is that instead of pruning someone else's algorithm, you take control back — nothing shows up unless you asked for it.
- [They Take One Look at the UI and Abandon It](https://unsung.aresluna.org/they-take-one-look-at-the-ui-and-abandon-it/). A lovely and simple story of **complexity creep**: '*Simple product is released. Lots of people use it every day. More features are added. It’s now complicated. But most people learned the basics when it was simple, so they don’t notice that it got complicated.*' This is **what** kills products, and, probably, sums up the entire tech industry in 2026.
- [Programming Isn't Special](https://blog.glyph.im/2026/10/programming-isnt-special.html). '*This doesn’t mean that we can't use abstractions, or automation, to make our work easier. Programming is the art of abstraction, of understanding how to compose smaller ideas into bigger ones, of how to understand the automation of a larger system by understanding the rules that automate smaller ones and understanding how to combine them. *When we use AI to eliminate that understanding rather than raise it up to a higher level, to entirely destroy that creative decision-making process, we do a disservice both to ourselves as programmers and to our users.**' A bit of a counterargument to last week's link on [Lex Friedman's authorship post](https://lexontech.org/claude-writes-code-i-author-the-apps). I'm not really sure where I fall on the spectrum with all this; I **certainly** have been building personal tools at an increasingly rapid pace, because I have spent 30 years building the muscles around code and know how to author it. I learned, through the mundane workouts, how to debug issues, spot subtle nuances, and sense when something feels wrong. Without that, I wouldn't be able to use AI effectively as a tool. Maybe it ultimately falls into a 'which came first, the chicken or the egg?' mindset: if you don't train the muscles, you don't know what you’ll get on race day.
- [Taylor Knibb Wins Dramatic 2026 Ironman World Championship After Løvseth Collapse](https://www.220triathlon.com/news/taylor-knibb-wins-dramatic-ironman-world-championship-after-lovseth-collapse). Speaking of race day — the [2026 Ironman World Championship](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z65LtBaqF1c) was held last week in Kona, Hawaii, and had one of the most epic and exciting conclusions to the women's race. As an, err, 'retired' 70.3 Ironman athlete, I always find it **fascinating** to watch the pros go at it on the main stage. To set the stage: last year, Knibb, after leading most of the course and pushing too hard, withdrew in the Energy Lab, and Solveig Løvseth went on to win. This year, with *eerie familiarity* to last year, Knibb also led most of the race, but **heeded the warnings**. She slowed down, started to walk with only 8km left, and (again) was passed by Løvseth. **What happened next was incredible**. Solveig Løvseth completely collapsed within 1km of the finish, and Knibb's backing-off move **turned into the winning strategy**. Løvseth also showed tremendous grit and ended up walking to the end, still finishing in 8th place. [Watch here to see the events unfold](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DeVcUWSiZc3/?xtok=MWp6dmo4NXFrM2txYg==). It was a great reminder [to listen to the warnings](https://interconnected.org/home/2026/09/18/marathon) as I mentioned [a few weeks back](https://makoism.com/espresso-shots-9-20-26/). '*Warnings don't always feel like warnings in the moment. These days, I try to make a conscious effort to listen to the small stuff before it turns into the loud stuff.*'
- [How to Become a Great Conversationalist](https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/p/how-to-become-a-great-conversationalist). Back in 2023, [I wrote](https://makoism.com/you-arent-listening/) that '*listening, is to hear something with thoughtful attention, to give consideration. To absorb the sounds and give them meaning. It's an optional task that you need to decide to do.*' What sparked my interest in this post is that it dives into a 2022 study which challenges that a bit — perhaps we've gone *too* far into shutting up and listening. '*By randomly assigning people to talk for anywhere from 30% to 70% of a conversation with a stranger. Contrary to what people had predicted, the researchers reported that the more participants spoke, the more their conversation partners liked them. The trade-off didn’t show up: The people they liked were also the people they found interesting.*' More to think on here. 🤔
- [Adam Grant on How to Vibe](https://davidepstein.substack.com/p/adam-grant-on-how-to-vibe). [Adam Grant's](https://adamgrant.net) latest book, [Vibe](https://adamgrant.net/book/vibe/), was released this past week. Hat tip to David Epstein's post, which reviewed it. So far, it's been an interesting read, especially [around friendships](https://adamgrant.substack.com/p/having-friends-doesnt-always-prevent). '*If you make a list of people you consider friends, only about half of those people will list you as a friend.*' He goes on to explain, '*Friend is so broad that it's almost a meaningless term. Some people use it to describe anyone who’s more than an acquaintance. Others reserve it for their inner circle. When we're not on the same page, we don't know what to expect from each other. We have more rewarding relationships when we figure out what role different kinds of friends play in our lives. I've found that we need three kinds of people: *allies, pals, and companions*.*' It's been a good mind-exercise to shift some of the buckets I used to sort folks into (work colleagues, random acquaintances, [a personal board](https://makoism.com/a-personal-board-of-directors/), etc.) toward the different *needs* the book describes.
- [Neuroscience of Gratitude](https://blog.mikebowler.ca/2026/10/10/neuroscience-of-gratitude/). A simple reminder on showing gratitude. '*Put down the list. Pick one person, think about one specific thing they did, and tell them.*'
- ["I'm Ready to Throw Up at Any Moment"](https://unsung.aresluna.org/im-ready-to-throw-up-at-any-moment/). This post takes a look at [The Storytelling Genius of Steve Jobs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t34AgVI1%5FFE) and examines what made him such an effective presenter. '*In the end, at some point, slides are just like any other kind of craft. You design the slides, you revise them, you practice, you let the practice influence the content, you get feedback, you kill your darlings, you revise again, and repeat all that so many times you get sick of it all.*' Like anything, [making something look effortless takes time and effort](https://unsung.aresluna.org/they-take-time-put-in-the-time/). **Put in the work**.
- [Why Every Company Now Needs to Think and Operate Like a Lab Team](https://youtu.be/3I6QYkccd3o). A good interview with the head of Google Labs, Josh Woodward, who also oversees one of the more interesting tools that [I've written about previously](https://makoism.com/espresso-shots-9-22-24/), NotebookLM. His philosophy augments what I've been thinking around curiosity and exploration since the tech is changing so fast **that the winning skill is figuring out what just became possible**. And while the best ideas come '*from small, obsessed groups hacking on weekends and over breaks — people who can't stop themselves*', I've seen way too many 'lab' groups fail. I like the idea that '*You need people who can say: That looks like a toy today; it'll be essential in five years.*' Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me. 🏴‍☠️
- [Magic, Made by Hand: Inside the World-First Exhibition Revealing How Jim Henson's Puppets Came to Life](https://www.itsnicethat.com/features/make-believe-magic-jim-henson-company-exhibition-creative-industry-121026). Another one who **put in the work** is Jim Henson. I definitely need to put visiting [this exhibit at GOMA](https://www.qagoma.qld.gov.au/exhibition/make-believe-magic-the-worlds-of-the-jim-henson-company) on the list of must-sees. '*Yet it’s hard to stay entirely composed while standing in front of Oscar the Grouch – which might be exactly the point. Puppetry, she says, is a kind of magical realism: everything around it can be completely ordinary. You’re not being tricked by a person behind a puppet; you’re simply being asked if you believe in what might be possible.*' Henson's motto was '*simple is good*,' but his work also shows that nothing that looks effortless got made by accident.
- [How to Start Journaling When You Don't Know What to Write](https://youtube.com/watch?v=4Nq99I4ySqw). In a follow-up to Peter McKinnon's [90-day journaling video](https://youtu.be/K2jD5m1xAJ8), McKinnon talked about his process to split apart notebooks and his decision to go with smaller Field Notes (my personal favorite) instead of larger A5 books. If you're a notebook or journaling nerd, it's a fun watch with lots of great ideas on how to get more out of writing.
- [Choosing What You Attend to Is Choosing Your Life](https://jeroensangers.com/2026/10/13/choosing-what-you-attend-to.html). '*Your experience is whatever you pay attention to. What fills your attention fills your days, and your days add up to your life. So deciding where your attention goes is, in practice, deciding how you live.*' Wow, this is a powerful mindset that bears further reflection. I have spent a lot of time thinking about what's important to me and what I value filling the days with. But how I spend my time often differs. Could it be an attention problem? I'm going to try taking a step back every Friday afternoon and asking '*What did I give my best attention to this week?*'

**Amor Fati** ✌🏻