It’s Gonna be one of those posts…..
As many of you know, I’ve been involved in local politics seriously since 2014. I became a local democratic zone leader in 2022. It’s been a big job, but it’s largely akin to running the PTO, but with more far-ranging consequences. You’ve got planning for events, wrangling volunteers, and keeping…
Guide to Gift Giving
It’s close to Christmas, and as we finish up our shopping, it’s worth reflecting on the purpose of gifts in the first place. I read an article this am about how millenial parents are frustrated that their Boomer parents are showering their kids with useless stuff that just ends up…
FFS
We’re living in interesting times. The lead candidate for the republican nomination for presidency just wants everyone to give up and anoint him their candidate now, despite finally starting to face the consequences of years of fraud and treating the legal system as a cudgel to use against anyone he…
AI is Going to Change Everything
Working in digital marketing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and what it can and should be used for is all the rage right now. If you want to understand AI better, the best source is really Chris Penn– who has an excellent set of videos and regularly explains what’s happening in AI…
Podcamp 2023
A small group of us, die hards from Podcamp Philly and Podcamp East, came together this past weekend for Podcamp 2023 in Philadelphia. There were amazing sessions talking about how AI and Chat GPT will pose challenges to those of us who are involved in digital marketing, or looking to…
Glad to Leave Office? I get it.
Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney is getting into trouble because he spoke his truth, saying he’s looking forward to a time when he’s not mayor. As someone who was a Township Supervisor for 6 years, I understand this sentiment perhaps as much as anyone. Being a local elected official may look…
Almost 80 Best Movies of the 80’s
Rolling Stone just put out a post of the 100 best movies of the 1980’s- and there are a lot of obscure movies that as a teenager/college student during the 80’s I never heard of. As a child of divorced parents, I spent a ridiculous amount of time at the…
Losing but not Lost
I lost my bid for re-election as a Township Supervisor. Elections are like the world’s longest job interview. I knocked 946 doors, speaking with friends and neighbors; sending mail out to people about what I stood for, and what I believed. I chose not to attack my opponent, even though…
Running for Office
I am a local Township Supervisor in Pennsylvania, running for re-election this year. Supervisor is a part-time position, and comes with a statutory stipend of $2,500.00 a year. that equates to about $5.20 or less an hour of meeting time, and other work we put in to help guide the…
Dementia
My mother-in-law has dementia. She had been pretty good at hiding her slow cognitive decline for a long time, but gradually, not even those of us who would have preferred to be in denial could avoid the truth. We needed to move Nancy out of her home and into a…
The Real Reason for the Financial Meltdown
This is a Bottom-Up Problem as much as a Top Down problem. It's interesting to blame Wall Street and the exotic derivatives for the economic issues we face, but I see the problem stemming as much from something much more bottom up and basic- fuel costs and high gas...
Niche Politics
I've just started a book called Niche Envy- Marketing Discrimination in the Digital Age by Joseph Turow. Even the introduction has me thinking and generating new ideas and questions I hope will be answered, in some way, as I go further through the book. I wanted...
The Next New Media- We need the Library Shelf Effect
Chris Brogan had an interesting post today on the Next Media Company, talking about what the future in media might look like, or how you might design one from scratch, assuming unlimited funds and what problems currently exist, causing economic problems for media...
What’s Your Friendship Worth?
There's a really interesting article in this past week's Business Week about the value of friendships on Facebook and Twitter in a very economic sense. Companies are looking at everything from whether your friends are more likely to click on ads served to them when...
Understanding People- Understand Motivation Theory
My project, The LD Podcast, is all about learning, and how we can help kids learn better and more effectively. This has meant I’ve done a lot of reading and research on subjects like attention and motivation- because if you can’t capture a kid’s attention, or help...
Naive Question of the Day: National WiFi Project
We were in DC the other day, and a movie in the Capitol Visitor's Center reminded me about the Rural Electrification Project and bill passes by Congress in 1936 as part of the New Deal legislation under Roosevelt. While it turned out that as a Works Project...
Lenscrafters- Change in Plan
Lenscrafters, owned by Italian eyewear company, Luxottica, now also owns Pearle Vision centers. This amounts to almost a monopoly in our local area for eyewear, especially when coupled with their famous one-hour service guarantee. Well, they used to work that way. I...
Reading the Signs
I think we all have proverbial Canaries in the Coal Mine- signs, harbingers of good tidings or doom, indicators of larger trends- things we look to or for to tell us what's happening on a more macro level in the world. I certainly have my own- the things I look to to...
Cafe Cultures and Social Media
Chris Brogan has talked about cafe-shaped conversations, and how conversations between businesses and the public need to become a bit more intimate, like the kind of conversations you might have in a Parisian cafe. Having just come from a trip to Paris, Spain and...
Corporate Apology
I got this email from Comcast today: Dear Comcast Customer, We owe you a big apology. On Saturday, April 4, 2009 we experienced a significant disruption of our email service. While you may or may not have been affected, we want to explain what happened. The problem...
Whitney Hoffman
Hi There! I’m Whitney Hoffman. I currently work for Mingl Marketing and Comfort Media Group in Philadelphia, PA
