Peter Houk

Husband, father, entrepreneur, coach, USAF/NVANG veteran, pilot, boxing fan, economics student, bad golfer, cancer survivor, GenX enthusiast

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@OldeWorldOrder @CollinRugg I have no words for what we experienced there other than divine.

I witnessed literally tens of thousands of grown men weeping and nearly one hundred thousand voices raised in concert in prayer while millions looked on around the globe.

Biblical.

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@RayHagarNV Looks like a 5.5 out in Silver Springs

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@sarahsalviander

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@MCCCANM Absolutely! It's part of every pre-flight routine I've ever seen...

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

Whatever the topic may be, I would hope the discourse follows @mikeroweworks example.

Also, I would most certainly welcome more people from the trades to seek leadership positions as I’ve found many to be rock solid, grounded, accountable, and highly capable individuals—which would be a welcome improvement to say the least.

[The Real Mike Rowe @mikeroweworks]

I want to apologize for not responding to any of the 22 thousand comments my last post inspired. I’ve been filming all week and just noticed my observations about Jimmy Kimmel and a former plumber named Markwayne Mullin have gone viral. I've also noticed that many of the comments are from people who genuinely seem to believe that Jimmy wasn’t belittling plumbers at all, but was instead, simply trying to point out that Mullin is not qualified to lead the DHS. Here's a small smattering...

Roger Bicknell...
Mikey stop. Kimmel wasn't making fun of plumbers he was making fun of Mullin.

Rebecca Piatt Gonzalez...
Dearest Mike, it's not anything to do with his being a plumber. It's him NOT being skilled in Homeland Security.

Patrick Wise...
Being a plumber qualifies you to be a plumber. Period. The issue Jimmy and the rest of us at the adult table recognize is that jobs require certain training and experience and being a plumber does not qualify you to be Sec of DHS.

Had Roger, Rebecca, Patrick and all the others who rushed to Jimmy’s Kimmel’s defense actually read what I had written, they would see that I did not suggest - even remotely - that a plumber was inherently qualified to hold a cabinet position. What I said was that being a plumber should not disqualify a person from holding such a position. Big difference. Doctors, lawyers, veterinarians, fireman, and university professors are no more or less qualified to run the DHS than plumbers, electricians, or carpenters – but should they all be dismissed as “unqualified” simply because they made a living in some other vocation?

As I wrote in my original post, credentials and diplomas are great ways to bolster a person’s credibility, especially if we’re talking about mastering a specific skill. I think we can all agree that plumbers, accountants, mechanics, and surgeons should all have to prove themselves competent before hanging out a shingle. But what do their credentials and diplomas have to do with their actual competency? Are we not already surrounded by a legion of perfectly qualified experts who don't know what the hell they're doing? Moreover, what do credentials and experience have to do with wisdom, honesty, common sense, integrity, courage, the ability to lead, or any other virtue we’d like to have in our elected officials?

There are plenty of legitimate reasons to question Mullin’s suitability for this role. But there’s no legitimate reason to disqualify him simply because he used to be a plumber. Just as there was no legitimate reason to dismiss AOC because she used to tend bar. As for the joke itself, here’s an honest question. If Senator Mullin was a retired doctor instead of a retired plumber, do you believe he would have would made the same joke?

Roger, Rebecca, Patrick...be honest. Do you really think Jimmy would have said to his audience, "So, now we have a DOCTOR in charge of protecting us from terrorism? Hey – it worked for Dr. Suess – maybe it’ll work for Markwayne!"

Personally, I don't. Not in a million years. Why? Because no one would have found it funny, that’s why. Even though doctors are no more “qualified” to protect us from terrorists than plumbers are, Jimmy knows that doctors are widely respected in society, and that plumbers are not. He knows that medical degrees and doctorates are aspirational credentials, whereas plumbing certificates are not. The entire premise of his joke was based on a personal bias that he knew his audience shared – a bias that presupposes plumbers are uneducated, one-dimensional workers who never made it to college, and are therefore "unqualified" to do anything but plumb.

Jimmy is entitled to his opinion, along with anyone else who believes that Mullin is unqualified to lead the DHS. The Constitution, however, says otherwise, and so does the Senate. Likewise, reasonable people can disagree as to what is funny and what isn’t. Frankly, I couldn’t care less. What I do care about, is the extraordinary shortage of plumbers and electricians our country is facing, and the longstanding stigmas and stereotypes that continue to discourage people from considering a lucrative career in the skilled trades. Jimmy’s joke – and his audience’s reaction to it – is proof positive that those stigmas and stereotypes are alive and well.

PS. We have a lot of money set aside to help train the next generation of plumbers. Apply for a scholarship at https://t.co/vidLSYXCf6 Who knows? Could be the first step on your road to President..

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@EricLDaugh That’s a great first step…now if they didn’t get to control their own competition, perhaps those prices might come down. 🤷🏻

[80s Nostalgia Channel @80s_channel]

On this day 42 years ago….

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@AuronMacintyre @ThomasEWoods

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@GravityKillsSTL @ThatEricAlper I’m thinking the results may have been….

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@ThomasEWoods @marklevinshow

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

This

[Codie Sanchez @Codie_Sanchez]

The best small businesses of the next decade will run on a barbell:

One side: leverage AI for ruthless speed and scale.

The other side: be aggressively, inconveniently human. Show up in person. Send the note. Remember the name. Do the thing that doesn't scale.

The ones who nail BOTH ends will eat everyone else’s lunch.

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

If you know what this is, you also know I’m going to have an amazingly relaxing time on my front patio right now 😁

Thanks to @countyhwy for all they do!

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

He wouldn’t be able to say it if it weren’t true…

[Cynical Publius @CynicalPublius]

Gen X is the first generation in world history that has extensive, fully-memorialized, fully-accessible audio/visual proof that they were once cooler than cool.

https://t.co/DxuhRBMcdI

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

"Over the past 50 years, our ability to build large construction projects has not just stagnated, it has eroded. We built faster, better, and cheaper in the 1960s than we do today. What a shame."

I'm excited to see where this technology may take the construction industry...

[Alex Modon @alexmodon]

For most of my life, I assumed technology only moved in one direction: Faster, better, cheaper.

Progress felt inevitable.

But if you look at the industry that once embodied American ambition, that's not happening.

Over the past 50 years, our ability to build large construction projects has not just stagnated, it has eroded. We built faster, better, and cheaper in the 1960s than we do today. What a shame.

This is happening at the exact moment we need to build more than ever. More energy to win the AI race, more critical minerals to secure our supply chain, and more advanced manufacturing to reindustrialize.

In the last decade, China built an order of magnitude more energy infrastructure than the US. This is not how we win.

That is why we’re building Unlimited.

We are an AI-native, vertically integrated construction company. We’ve raised a $12M seed round co-led by @a16z (@KTmBoyle) and CIV (Abhijoy Mitra) to redefine how humanity builds. We’re going to automate construction end to end and ensure a future of radical physical abundance. A world where cities rise at the push of a button.

Today we are designing and building $100M+ data centers, power plants, and mining facilities. Our AI platform compresses engineering timelines from months to days and delivers optimized designs that simply are not achievable through manual effort.

The thing I am most proud of is the team we are building. A small, hyper talented group of multidisciplinary builders who work with intensity, care about craft, and genuinely give a shit.

If you want to tackle problems that reshape the physical world and define the new playbook for how civilization builds in the decades ahead, reach out. We are hiring across mechanical, electrical, civil/structural, simulation, and software.

We started the company earlier this year, raised money, built out the core technology and team, and kicked off our first real projects. And we’ve done it all under the radar until today. Excited to continue building the team that will build the future of our physical world.

It's time to build. @unltdindustries

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

To all those small biz people out there who are wondering how to leverage AI:

[a16z @a16z]

Marc Andreessen’s advice to small business owners on how AI can turn them into far more capable operators.

“Here’s my staffing schedule… what do you think of it?”

“Here’s the last hundred emails we’ve gotten from customers… what are the patterns of that?”

“You basically turn the AI into a thought partner.”

“It’s like having the world’s best coach, mentor, therapist, advisor, board member… but it’s infinitely patient.”

Source: @pmarca on @NextUpHalperin
Full episode: https://t.co/n0rRztR9Nh

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@SMB_Attorney Yes, hang in there but also…talk to a friend or two, be vulnerable a wee bit, and share your struggles. You’re not alone and sharing with your brothers forms a bond that fortifies you and them for a lifetime.

Thanks for leading this conversation @SMB_Attorney

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@dklineii Agreed. I ran across this a while back...seems to capture the "sweet spot" rather well.

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

Absolutely wonderful story about encouraging budding entrepreneurs.

This also happens to be EXACTLY how I got my start in business--walking door to door with flyers for any odd jobs that needed to be done. I mowed lawns, chopped wood, picked up dog poop, painted fences, sand-blasted the inside of water tanks.

What I learned in those years is invaluable and I will ALWAYS go out of my way for anyone with the courage to exchange hard work for clean money.

[Crazy Vibes @CrazyVibes_1]

Two kids knocked on my door offering to rake my entire yard for $10 total—and what I did next changed how they'll see hard work forever.
It was a Saturday afternoon when I heard the doorbell. Two boys, probably around 11 or 12, stood on my porch holding rakes that looked almost too big for them. The taller one cleared his throat nervously: "Excuse me, sir. Would you like us to rake your yard? We'll do the whole thing for ten dollars."

I looked past them at my lawn. Leaves everywhere. It was going to be at least two hours of work, maybe three.
"Ten dollars each?" I asked.
They glanced at each other. The shorter one shook his head. "No sir. Ten dollars total. We'll split it."

Five dollars each. For hours of hard labor.
I could have said yes. I could have gotten my entire yard raked for pocket change and called it a teaching moment about negotiation. But something about the way they stood there—hopeful, polite, willing to work—reminded me of myself at that age. Hustling. Trying. Just wanting a chance.

"Alright," I said. "You've got a deal. Get started."
For the next two and a half hours, I watched those kids work. They didn't cut corners. They didn't complain. They raked every section, bagged the leaves, and even swept off my driveway without being asked. When they finally knocked to let me know they were done, they were sweating, exhausted, and smiling.
I walked out with my wallet. "You boys did incredible work," I said, handing them four twenty-dollar bills. "Here's your payment."
The taller one's eyes went wide. "Sir, we said ten—"

"I know what you said. But I also know what two hours of quality work is worth. You earned every dollar of this."
They stared at the money like they couldn't believe it was real. Then the shorter one looked up at me and said quietly, "Thank you. Really. Thank you."
As they walked away, I heard them talking excitedly about what they'd spend it on. And I realized something: we talk a lot about teaching kids the value of hard work, but we don't always show them that hard work actually gets valued.
Those boys didn't ask for a handout. They offered a service. They showed up. They delivered. And in a world that sometimes feels like it punishes effort and rewards shortcuts, I wanted them to walk away knowing that good work doesn't go unnoticed.
If you work hard, if you show up with integrity, if you give your best even when nobody's watching—good people will see it. And they'll bless you for it.
That's not just a lesson for kids. That's a lesson for all of us.

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@Biblicalman

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

This is just cool

[Lana A. @lana_asanin]

🇵🇱 25 year old Polish guitarist,
Marcin Patrzalek 🎸

Incredible talent!

[Peter Houk @peterhouk]

@zeo_gee @Xaraphim Well played!