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…
Blogging- The Legal Side
Being an attorney, a blogger and podcaster, friends occasionally ask questions about how all these new media tools integrate with business, particularly from a legal front. I usually dish out my lawyerly opinion and leave it at that. But I've done a bunch of...
Ticket Chaos in Beijing for Olympics
I have a close friend who lives and works in Beijing. He wrote me an email about his experience getting tickets for the Olympics today, and he said it would be okay to share this with the rest of you- I thought you would find the contracts between his report and the...
Social Connection
This is a follow up to my recent post on the Social Contract. Humans have a basic need for social connection. The experiments done by Harlow and others in the 50's show that primates need touch and nurturing to do well. In fact, many of the cases of failure to...
What’s happened to the Social Contract?
There's a great blog post over at IT Toolbox, on the Original Thinking blog by Dennis Stevenson on The Myth of Job Security- Employer Version, with a promise for a follow up giving the employee's point of view. I was going to comment, but because my comment was so...
Law of Supply and Demand
In this world, much of it works by the economic theory of supply and demand. This means that typically, when supply is tight, the price will be higher than when a commodity is in abundance, in which case the "equilibrium" price will be lower. (see the graph below.)...
Your Failure to Plan Ahead Is Not My Emergency
As many of you know, I have been involved in the planning and execution of a number of Podcamps to date, and I've also been involved in providing onsite services to people with disabilities at the Super Bowl in the past. Being part of these large events, inevitably...
Here We Go Again
Karl Rove refused to testify today before Congress. Should we be surprised? No. He claims he will talk informally and off the record- that way Congress can have the information they seek, yet Rove cannot be held accountable for what he actually says. The contempt...
Being Smart With Money
One of the things I think we do REALLY poorly in this country is teaching our kids how money works. I didn't get a course in economics until college, but most of the best lessons I learned about money were through various jobs. One was working as a customer service...
Helping Others Out
How do we decide when and how to help other people? We're all asked to donate to different causes daily. Over the past month alone, I have been asked to give to Habitat for Humanity, The Nature Conservancy, Doctors Without Borders, The Smile Train, the local food...
What the Ebay Ruling Means to the Rest Of Us
This morning, Bloomberg news announced the following: "EBay Inc., the world's largest Internet auctioneer, was ordered to pay LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton SA 40 million euros ($63 million) over claims it didn't do enough to stop the sale of counterfeit goods....
Whitney Hoffman
Hi There! I’m Whitney Hoffman. I currently work for Mingl Marketing and Comfort Media Group in Philadelphia, PA
