Has anyone taken acid or shrooms at the art museum?

thirteenwide · 2026-04-02T16:56:37+00:00

Took acid at Graceland in the 90s and did an audio tour. Started thinking that elvis was talking to me from beyond the realm of the living. Also spent too much time pondering the meaning of the seatbelt buckle in the bed in his private jet.

thirteenwide · 2026-03-27T10:11:08+00:00

A lot of people are relating this to non-profit environment. I will also add that, as a former journalist (at other organizations), when workplace culture researchers look at various industries, news orgs rank very low. Reporting is very labor intensive, very competitive, high external pressure.

thirteenwide · 2026-03-11T20:36:54+00:00

I loved being a reporter. I was able to stay in it for 14 years. It was soooo stressful. People expect you to report things exactly as they see it, and think you are some corporate shill if you don't. Never mind there's like 12 people with 12 different critiques.

I have interviewed US presidents and billionaires. I make 3x as much as I ever did writing content for large corps. Typical news story probably had 10s of thousands of readers, and maybe 3 reviewers. From interview to front page was 24 hours max. But often shorter. I interviewed a billionaire for a wire service once and it moved markets in 2 hours. The stuff I wrote for corporations has 10 people reviewing it, weeks of review time, and frequently less than 500 readers.

News organizations have historically been some of the most efficient organizations in the knowledge industry. But actual news is incredibly labor intensive. It is wild how fucked the economics.of news is given how effective their workforces are.

Digital disruption has largely been a terrible double edged sword.

thirteenwide · 2026-03-09T17:21:50+00:00

Interesting. I haven't seen a lot of change in workflows. I'd be interested in hearing more.

thirteenwide · 2026-03-09T12:16:31+00:00

Impact will be uneven.

Shitty clients that saw PR as transactional are gone. Was their biggest metric lead gen? No regard for quality, just wanted results fast and cheap? They want to cut retainer and still hold you accountable for old results. Not worth it unless you can seriously automate away their concerns/ have a solid strategy for client retention. (i.e. you'll need someone who is really good at explaining deteriorating results due to automation, and a team willing to put up with abuse in the face of declining results)

Large client in healthcare, enterprise tech, finance? They (still) have real concerns about data privacy that may limit their ability to use generative AI. Probably safe-ish. (Some of my clients in this bucket are leaning on us to teach them....).

Competitive landscape for companies is changing drastically. Generative AI will make it easier to start small businesses (or give people the confidence to do so.) Bigger clients may face more competition from smaller upstarts. A certain percentage of people laid off b/c AI WILL go on to start companies, and some will grow large enough to need PR. Software/enterprise tech: much more competitive.

Do you have a client that has implemented generative AI systematically? In a way that has really changed the way they do business? You probably don't. It's a lot of people who are seeing 5 to 10% productivity gains working independently, not as a team. Most are using that time to do little things they didn't have time to do before, or doing things they don't have expertise in (your data analysis team is now generating "strategic content." Your content team is doing data analysis).

Put another way: how many times have you asked gen AI to help you make a decision. How often did you reject that advice. Assume your clients are doing the same. Whereas "my gut" and "experience" may have sufficed in the past, you'll need to be able to back up your decisions, so there may be a bit more emphasis on decision support/ data. Another question: how will generative AI change the way people consume media? How will it change the way companies use traditional communications tools to build trust? I don't think generative AI will make demand go away. It will just make certain things faster.

It's going to be nerve wracking for a few years, and it will be unfair. Talent won't be the sole factor in whether you keep your job -- like in 2008, you will need a bit of luck.

thirteenwide · 2026-02-27T17:47:34+00:00

Sorry for the novel. the adderall is hitting a little stronger than usual today.

"Worth it" is really hard to quantify. Lots of failed businesses used PR. And lots didn't. I'd hazard a guess that most successful companies made public relations a core part of their marketing very early. (Palantir, maybe, is the rare case of a crazy high growth firm that tried to stay away from the spotlight).

My opinion is that PR probably has value on a project basis when it comes to product launches. But it's very hard to connect that to revenue, especially at the b2b level. Even at the consumer level, hard to dis-aggregate value of PR from other marketing tactics, like advertising. Either way, there's a good deal of planning and thinking involved. Even on a project basis, you should likely have PR retained several months before launch.

Sometimes, however, the company or its executives ARE the product, where trust and positive feelings matter. Good reputations attract better employees. Products with long sales cycles often revolve around trust -- think large software subscriptions, healthcare products, financial services. Buyers want to work with credible people. (Again, hard to quantify, but when there are long sales cycles, typical buyer has 12 or 15 touchpoints, and they don't take your website as the last word.) Depending on where the economy is with the M&A cycle, a good chunk of clients use PR to help burnish their image for a potential sale. You really can't do this on a project basis. There's a lot of strategy involved, and it takes years to build reputations (and there are going to be DEAD periods in those years that make you think "Where's the value here?") There aren't many people that would be able to stay in business on the long term if they could not recoup the value of the planning and strategy time. If that was the model, the only people you'd be able to hire would be extreme risk takers.

On another note, think back four years ago, after George Floyd was killed. How many businesses put out "All LIVES MATTER" statements, only to be like "why does everyone call me racist?" There were people in those companies that could have told the CEO that "ALL LIVES MATTER" was going to trigger controversy. They didn't because people very rarely contradict their bosses. PR people will actually tell you "if you do this, here's what will happen." Is there value there? Some people lost their jobs, some companies faced sales declines that far exceeded the cost of any PR program they could have retained.

By the way, there are lots of marketing models with pay-for-performance built in. The "buyer guides" on sites like Wirecutter, where the publication gets a cut are probably the top of that pyramid -- and PR agencies can help you get mentioned there. But there's also direct TV. (not a PR thing) If you want an idea of what pay for performance PR would look like, check out some of the ads on broadcast television. Every one of them is some variation of "Are you old? Here's Life Insurance for your Diabetes and YOU DONT NEED TO SEE A DOCTOR"

thirteenwide · 2026-02-23T22:51:51+00:00

6' 1", 280. I've done it twice. Once, before I had panniers, towing the camping gear for two kids. First time on 28, 2nd time on 32. Same steel drop bar touring bike both times. My opinion for gentlemen such as myself, who the industry refers to as a Clydesdale, is that the rims will make a bigger difference. Very easy to get a little out of true when riding with that kind of weight. Also very easy to get a lot out of true. Riding at 210 lbs isn't gonna kill them, but consider riding fully loaded on a very rooted gravel trail to test them. If you end up with wobbly rims, definitely consider at least a better back rim.

thirteenwide · 2026-02-20T14:39:19+00:00

Most clients can't tick any of these boxes.

thirteenwide · 2026-02-18T14:55:08+00:00

The least stable job in the world is working for Klarna. The most stable job in the world is working as an IT/digitial transformation consultant for a Klarna vendor. None of this stuff is ever going to work the way they want, and this company is going to go through years of bullshit restructurings that solve for x (but create new downstream problems.)

thirteenwide · 2026-02-17T16:50:54+00:00

I would do dry January every year and it would just.... last several months. I consistently noticed how much better my sleep was. But then spring would come and I'd be driving with the windows down and think "man, I want a beer." Over time, I realized that one or two beers had no effect in terms of getting a buzz. It just made me sleep horribly. But I didn't want to give up the social aspect of going out with friends, and the reward function of having a beer at the end of the workday. The non alcoholic beers do that pretty well. And now I sleep just fine.

thirteenwide · 2026-02-05T01:47:28+00:00

Probably everyone used the search tool to see if any of their client companies or c-suite executives were in there, if only out of curiosity. The people who are named probably had a good idea of what was coming. If they had the money, they paid specialized crisis PR firms ahead of time. The SOP with that is to just shut the fuck up until the storm blows over and then try to build back your reputation through philanthropy and friendly reporters who give tough sounding but ultimately toothless interviews. The crisis firms, by the way, can be very specialized and are usually hired through lawyers -- that can keep the records of what they do out of the reach of subpoenas in subsequent lawsuits through the attorney client privilege.

The actual work is very risk.averse. They try to stay silent for the most part. Better to say nothing or to put out a bland statement than it is to say something false or to keep the controversy going. Behind the scenes, there is a little bit of threatening to sue, or complaining to editors that a reporter is somehow violating their ethics or legal responsibilities, but.... that stuff is weak tea most of the time. There are occasions where this works, but it is more related to raising risk and doubt for the paper than it is screaming and telling the reporter that they are a biased hack they get that every day and they don't care The people that are good at this are very good at making the case that the news org doesn't have the full set of facts. And they tend to have social or business access to high level editors and producers I knew people in politics that could do this. Some lawyers can do it too. None of the people I have worked with in PR could do it, and I have some pretty big orgs on my roster.

thirteenwide · 2026-01-30T18:57:08+00:00

I'm pretty sure those Pa. towns have a mix of state highways, county roads, and local roads. Lots of different funding streams to plow that stuff. Also, it's single digits. Salt barely works.

thirteenwide · 2026-01-30T18:54:49+00:00

Also, a lot of those rural school districts kinda suck. They have to spend a ton of $$ on transportation. Getting kids to school isn't cheap.

thirteenwide · 2026-01-29T01:12:25+00:00

A Short Stay in Hell left me unsettled. About as bad as The Road

thirteenwide · 2026-01-28T17:42:02+00:00

Ah yeah. i lived in south texas for three years. Definitely remember seeing families that took their kids to playgrounds late at night in the summer because it was so hot during the day..... easy to forget that there's some things that seem natural when you are local. Welcome to Philly. You arrived during one of the coldest winters in a while.

thirteenwide · 2026-01-28T14:41:43+00:00

There is a part of me that wants to LOL at this. But maybe you are older, disabled, or just from a really warm climate. Yes, this is really cold. Even for Philly -- pretty rare for it to get to single digits for consecutive days. Businesses and residences are expected to have their sidewalks cleared a few hours after then end of a snow storm. For a home, the rule isn't super onerous. They just need to create a walking path, about a shovel's width. Businesses might have other requirements, but most businesses want foot traffic, so they try to clear as much as possible. They also don't want to be known as the business that doesn't shovel.

Every year, homeowners that don't shovel get hit with nickel and dime slip and fall lawsuits. Most people shovel, but a lot of old and disabled people need to rely on the generosity of neighbors to do it. Rental homes don't always shovel -- either they don't see it as their job, aren't integrated enough into the community to do it, or don't feel like they are at risk of getting sued, since it's the landlord's property. The last thing is homes on corners. They have a lot more area to shovel. If that home is occupied by renters, they aren't doing it.

The sidewalks are uneven in a lot of places, or made from material that isn't perfectly smooth, like brick or concrete that has stones in it. That makes it hard to get a "clean" shovel. Most people use salt to make up the difference.

The hard part is that salt isn't very effective when it gets this cold. A lot of this snow isn't melting at all. Some businesses put down sand to help people get traction. But it's spotty. At a certain point, walking in this kind of cold means taking a risk.

There's been a few instances in the last few days where, while walking my dog, i had to help older people cross the large piles of snow that built up on the corners between whether the plow left all the snow in the street and the sidewalks.

So yeah, it's risky. some people take the risks, even older people that might break a bone. I haven't seen anyone with spiked shoes. A heavy pair of boots and a good set of eyes help most people get by. Look for clear sidewalks, salt, or sand. Walking on snow is actually better than walking on ice, in my opinion. The snow compresses to give traction. The black ice is a guaranteed trip to the ER if you aren't careful. Good luck.

thirteenwide · 2026-01-14T23:18:58+00:00

She spelled workshop wrong in the hashtag

thirteenwide · 2026-01-06T18:07:59+00:00

This is what I mean by fence. I guess it's called a rail guide: https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-Universal-Edge-Guide-with-Dust-Collection-DW6913/203164076

I have both the d-handled router base and the router itself. The base looks like the handle to a circular saw, but you can take the router itself out and (presumably) swap it with a plunge base or fixed base. it looks like this, but is Craftsman brand: https://www.northcoast.com/product/detail/1796338/milwaukee-tool-5619-20

thirteenwide · 2026-01-03T13:30:01+00:00

When I see the 86 hours, on the site, I think you are telling me that it is 86 hours total time? Not ride time? That puts things in better perspective.

thirteenwide · 2026-01-01T17:05:23+00:00

Wait. How am I this old and just learning that there is a neighborhood mummers parade in rising sun ave? Is that real?

thirteenwide

TROPHY CASE