Espresso Shots 5-11-25

Here's my weekly update with a few interesting random findings that I came across the last week or two. I am going to try to make sure they're here in time for you to enjoy with your morning coffee (or beverage of choice) every Saturday or Sunday, and include some of my thoughts around them.

The Latest Drippings ☕️

• How To Think. Easily the 'read of the week' for me. Put simply: 'I believe that in this age, at a time when we get inundated with information from all directions, the ability to think is the most important skill we have.' Read this one, and if you share anything, this is the one to send to everyone you know.
• Minimum Viable Curiosity. I love the thinking that Michael Lopp put into this piece on infectious curiosity. 'For every task we're asking the robots to perform, there was an essential initial step where the robots were trained on data generated by hard-working humans so the robots could perform the task. It's called machine learning. They need to learn from the hard work of our learning, except it's not learning, it's mimicking and repeating patterns. While it's a joy to sit in the back of Waymo and appreciate the robot doing an effective job, it's a trap and a familiar one. You should be curious to see where his post winds up.
• Framing effect. A good reminder that decisions are often influenced by the way information is presented - The Framing Effect. Super interesting read on how similar information can be more or less attractive depending on what and how things are highlighted.
• Mark Zuckerberg Wants To You Be Lonely And Miserable. I'm sorry if I offend any friends working at Meta, but this sounds like an awful, miserable, and horrible way to think about the world. Do humans need a conversation with a fake, online therapist? Or do we have kids engaging with bots in potentially sexually explicit ways? I say: flip the narrative. Spend quality time with real people, at real gatherings, in the real world. Some of my best conversations and soul searching have come from sitting around a fire pit just talking to people. IMHO, the world needs more of this.
• I'd Rather Read The Prompt. Crap - third post about AI - promise, last one this week. Instead of going down the hole for the 3rd time, I will lean into the idea of 'why do we write?' For me, writing is thinking. Talking is thinking. Experimentation is thinking. Curiosity is thinking. Notice a pattern?
• Why Writing Is the Best Tool for Personal Growth. Woop. Here I am again, discussing how writing is vital for thinking; I also joke that writing is cheaper than therapy.
• Is It Legal To Drink Coffee While Driving?. Not if you're in Greece and Cyprus - 'A fine of 100 euros and removal of driving license of 30 days threaten those who police catches with on hand on the wheel and one hand holding a cup of Greeks' favorite drink.'
• FACT CHECK: Letter Exchange Between Law Firm and Cleveland Browns. I always check out Snopes when I have to see if something is real or not (or at least, fact checked), so I was elated to find out that this response to a (season ticket holder) lawyer, who received this outstanding response after complaining to the Cleveland Browns about fan' throwing paper airplanes during the team's games. 'Attached is a letter that we received on November 19, 1974. I feel that you should be aware that some asshole is signing your name to stupid letters.' Bravo!
• The Offing of What's On. When we are overwhelmed with options on what to watch and consume, Doc Searls has a great piece on the lack of optimization in how individuals manage their viewing and listening experiences.
• Spurious Correlations. This one is super good - self-described as a site in which 'is fun first, and mildly educational second and occasionally break all the rules just to see what happens!', Spurious Correlations looks at where correlation means absolutely nothing, and is purely accidental. For example, how often 'yogurt consumption correlates to google searches for "I can't even"'. Also check out Spurious Scholar, where the author has turned each of these into an academic paper.
• Advice for time management as a manager. Time is a bank - deposits and withdrawals - and it is something I've long thought about. This piece centers on a simple concept: Decide what your one most important thing is and focus on that.
• Stay Right Here.. A good reminder that 'wherever your feet are, keep your head there.'
• What to Say When You Feel Like You Have Nothing to Talk About. I consider myself an extroverted introvert - so I appreciated this one. Here's a secret tip/reveal: I have a very long list of topics I keep in a note, when I get stuck in a conversation. It has some good ones, like 'what's your go-to string of curse words' or 'what is the story behind one of your scars' that I know I can quickly refer to when there's nothing to discuss.
• With His Communal Journal, Southwest Employee Invites Passengers To Let Their Feelings Fly. I caught this one on the news the other night, and as a believer in the power of writing in a journal, I thought this feel-good story was too good not to share.
• Time for Earth Time. This is an interesting proposal for a single Universal Time (UTC) where all locations across the world would share the same time, eliminating the need for clock resets.

Amor Fati ✌🏻