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Daily one-pagers about AI, leadership, technology, and being human.

johnmaconline

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October 21, 2026 2 minute read

Can You Go Back?

HumanThe250

I never drank coffee.

College didn’t get me interested. Coffee breaks during summer jobs on the road crew didn’t either. Not even the last-nights-game-talk of colleagues milling around the industrial coffee pot, fancy espresso machine, or Keurig in the break room.

Until I did.

About 10 years ago, I found myself curious about the well-marketed health benefits of “clean” coffee plus brain-enhancing additives such as MCT oil or other healthy fats. I dove in. At first, it was a choke-it-down scenario. But the habit-cycle did its job.

Now I drink coffee.

Not with the fats anymore because I’ve moved on, but my first cup of the day does include a scoop of protein powder. And, of course, I’m also a coffee-snob. I’m not ordering a coffee from the server running around with the hopelessly burned-out pot. Nor from any pinky-peachy themed drive-throughs. I’m probably not having one from your Keurig. For sure, I don’t drink any brand that used to come in a metal can.

Starbucks? Ugh.

I do love a good latte or cappuccino. And much to my Italian friend’s horror, I will order one after 11 am if I’m in the mood. I’m a dumb American cliche.

I often wonder if I was better off before I drank coffee.

But can I go back? Is it a one-way valve?

This isn’t about coffee.

October 20, 2026 1 minute read

Who’ll Stop the Rain

HumanThe250

When it rains, it pours.

More bad news. More heavy stuff. More monkeys on the back.

Sometimes all you need to do to help is provide a little shelter.

Stopping the rain, even for a few minutes, can brighten anybody’s day.

October 19, 2026 1 minute read

The Winding Road

HumanLeadershipThe250

I try to run about 20 miles a week.

We live in the country, and the roads are winding and hilly, and often have no shoulder, and for the most part, have little traffic. I know all of these roads within 10 miles of my house like the back of my hand. I could navigate you through each turn, hill, dip, and scary traffic section with my eyes closed.

Yet sometimes, I’m still surprised. I’m still not ready.

Just yesterday, a mile and a half from my driveway, I was surprised (and scared) on a blind corner by a rather large box truck barreling around the corner as it hugged the road’s edge. I had to jump out of the way.

I hadn’t been paying attention. Neither was the driver.

That made for a close call and a wake-up call.

That’s the thing about the winding road. It can lull you. It can seem long and boring. It can be frustrating.

But take your eyes off of it at your own peril.

October 18, 2026 1 minute read

Boom or Bust

HumanLeadershipThe250

Sudden prosperity. Sudden failure.

Substantial upside. Substantial risk.

Either/or.

Or both.

Or maybe boom at the cost of bust.

When you create something, take on work, or choose a direction, you make a bet. You decide what you’re willing to put into it. Time. Money. Reputation.

You imagine what success might bring.

How much time do you spend considering what the cost of a boom might be?

October 17, 2026 1 minute read

Bubbling

AITechnologyThe250

My brain is bubbling right now.

It’s AI’s fault. A million ideas plus a million windows working on those ideas. The minions are hard at work spending tokens.

But bubbling can also signal trouble ahead. Consider a market bubble. A bubble happens when excitement and speculation push prices up until confidence fades, And then it bursts.

Maybe all these ideas are a bubble, too. Or maybe one of them is the next big thing. For now, the minions keep bubbling away.

October 16, 2026 2 minute read

Photographer’s Light

HumanThe250

One of the first things a photographer learns about is lighting.

Lighting makes all the difference because the same object can look totally different depending on the lighting. Morning, noon, or evening. Diffused or direct. A lamp from behind or from above.

Also true for the feelings the photo invokes.

Photography isn’t really about photographing objects. It’s about photographing the light that objects reflect. Here’s some of what they learn:

  • Direction changes meaning. Front light flattens. Side light reveals texture. Backlight separates. Light from below feels unnatural because we rarely see it in nature, but it can be specifically interesting.
  • Size controls softness. A large light source relative to the subject gives soft-edged shadows. A small source gives hard ones.
  • Distance changes both brightness and character. Move a light closer, and it gets dramatically brighter,
  • Contrast matters more than brightness. Care less about how much light rather than the ratio between light and shadows.
  • Color has emotional weight. Warm light can feel intimate. Cool light can feel sterile, distant, or nocturnal. Natural light feels different than artificial.
  • Reflected light matters constantly. Walls, ceilings, pavement, snow, grass, even clothing can become secondary light sources.

Light determines how you see it. How you feel about it.

It’s helpful to purposely look at things in a different light. Even things you’re sure of.

October 15, 2026 1 minute read

Unfinished Business

HumanThe250

I start many of these articles/blurbs/anecdotes and let them hang for a bit.

I can’t quite finish it in one go. Usually because my thoughts aren’t complete yet. What am I trying to say (to myself)? What do I think or feel? Is this even worth continuing?

Then I come back to one and finish it. Sometimes change it completely from where it started. Finshing it might mean just deleting it.

Unfinished business often needs to percolate. Not everything needs an immediate reaction, reply, or resolution.

Sometimes I think we need a little more unfinished business in our culture.

October 14, 2026 1 minute read

On Camera Tickets

HumanTechnologyThe250

I’ve received two traffic tickets in the mail over the last couple of months.

Both from other states. Both remote camera speeding violations. One was a warning, and the other wasn’t.

Not long ago, I was shooting the crap with a friend about self-driving cars. I, of course, am a self-driving car apologist. He, of course, is not. He had many reasons, but his fundamental argument was, “I like to go my own speed.”

Fair enough. So do I.

But self-driving or not, it looks like we’re moving toward a world in which if your speed doesn’t match the posted speed, you’re getting fined.

So will it make a difference?

Maybe we’re moving more toward self-driving, whether you’re in control or not.

October 13, 2026 1 minute read

Value of Laziness

HumanThe250

“I hate doing this. Over and over. There’s gotta be a better way.”

Listen to that. Pursue that.

Paradoxically, laziness can be a great motivator for producing value.

October 12, 2026 1 minute read

No More Flow State

AIHumanTechnology

Do you know the flow state?

Flow is one of the most magical parts of coding. Like other creative endeavors, when coding goes well, you drop into that flow state. Time vanishes. The ideas keep coming. The solutions present themselves. The code flows out of your fingertips.

But we don’t write the code anymore. The agents do.

I haven’t felt that flow state since. Now, I get way more of that frantic state managing all of the tasks that the agents do for me.

I don’t like that part.

Do agents get into the flow state?

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