John Mesjak
@mesjak.bsky.social
Hi, it’s me, your friendly neighborhood web-swinging, starship-hopping, murder-solving, coffee-drinking, playlist-crafting publishers’ sales rep for indie bookstores @ Abraham Associates.
@ismh86.net I assume other folks have sent you this - but it’s good to see Bill McKibben and the New Yorker on the Memphis xAI energy scam beat alongside your coverage.
apple.news/AxyBmLpnsS3y...
apple.news/AxyBmLpnsS3y...
How Is Elon Musk Powering His Supercomputer? — The New Yorker
Fast and loose in Memphis, as in D.C.
apple.news
May 10, 2025 at 5:20 PM
@ismh86.net I assume other folks have sent you this - but it’s good to see Bill McKibben and the New Yorker on the Memphis xAI energy scam beat alongside your coverage.
apple.news/AxyBmLpnsS3y...
apple.news/AxyBmLpnsS3y...
@gruber.foo re: your piece on Vertu phones, I was amazed by their classy callouts on the ironflip line, in addition to the Elesant Charisma, the “Fortuitous repetition of 'V’ As though in chorus, doth resonate with the mantra of win-win, exuding regal poise much like a monarch's sure stride.”
March 31, 2025 at 1:06 PM
@gruber.foo re: your piece on Vertu phones, I was amazed by their classy callouts on the ironflip line, in addition to the Elesant Charisma, the “Fortuitous repetition of 'V’ As though in chorus, doth resonate with the mantra of win-win, exuding regal poise much like a monarch's sure stride.”
Is it wrong that I see an IG ad for those phony Negronis (which ARE delish) and think, mmmm I could use some gin?
January 16, 2025 at 10:52 PM
Is it wrong that I see an IG ad for those phony Negronis (which ARE delish) and think, mmmm I could use some gin?
Reposted by John Mesjak
Happy Continental Op Is Public Domain Day!
January 1, 2025 at 5:31 AM
Happy Continental Op Is Public Domain Day!
Reposted by John Mesjak
Yo all my life i thought Garcia-Marquez was Mexican but it’s been pointed out to me that he’s actually from Colombia! The only other Colombian author i know is Pilar Quintana but check this LitHub list if you wanna cast the net wider — lithub.com/15-essential...
December 12, 2024 at 7:43 PM
Yo all my life i thought Garcia-Marquez was Mexican but it’s been pointed out to me that he’s actually from Colombia! The only other Colombian author i know is Pilar Quintana but check this LitHub list if you wanna cast the net wider — lithub.com/15-essential...
I’ve reached that point in the prepping-for-next-season process where I say to myself, there are too many ARCs in this house. Time to go to the post office. You know, to send presents to booksellers.
December 7, 2024 at 4:34 PM
I’ve reached that point in the prepping-for-next-season process where I say to myself, there are too many ARCs in this house. Time to go to the post office. You know, to send presents to booksellers.
Reposted by John Mesjak
Another bookstore just added! Hoping to hit the 150-account limit for this starter pack before the holidays so you have as many options for book buying as possible.
go.bsky.app/DZdrHhm
go.bsky.app/DZdrHhm
December 3, 2024 at 1:10 AM
Another bookstore just added! Hoping to hit the 150-account limit for this starter pack before the holidays so you have as many options for book buying as possible.
go.bsky.app/DZdrHhm
go.bsky.app/DZdrHhm
Reposted by John Mesjak
12/1 Spend A DAY WITH MOUSSE from @transitbooks.bsky.social #Children’sEditions "a crystalline ode to uncomplicated delights...the joy of being in the moment ...revel in...the warmth of sunshine through morning windows, making coffee, choosing socks to wear” www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/a-da...
December 1, 2024 at 12:59 PM
12/1 Spend A DAY WITH MOUSSE from @transitbooks.bsky.social #Children’sEditions "a crystalline ode to uncomplicated delights...the joy of being in the moment ...revel in...the warmth of sunshine through morning windows, making coffee, choosing socks to wear” www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/a-da...
Another epic by @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social - and it’s not just grocery stores and food deserts.
1. The conventional explanation for food deserts—that these places are too poor or too rural to generate enough spending on groceries, or too Black to overcome racist corporate redlining — fail to grapple with a key fact: food deserts didn’t used to exist. My new piece in The Atlantic.
The Mystery of Food Deserts
They didn’t materialize around the country for no reason. Something happened.
www.theatlantic.com
December 2, 2024 at 1:19 PM
Another epic by @stacyfmitchell.bsky.social - and it’s not just grocery stores and food deserts.
Reposted by John Mesjak
This is pure joy, and their absolute refusal to break is everything.
Mary Tyler Moore accidentally nailed a perfect trick shot in *The Dick Van Dyke Show* (1962)—on the FIRST take.
It was supposed to be done by a pro, but she shocked everyone and pulled it off herself. Absolute legend. 🎱✨
#ClassicTV #FunFacts
It was supposed to be done by a pro, but she shocked everyone and pulled it off herself. Absolute legend. 🎱✨
#ClassicTV #FunFacts
November 30, 2024 at 6:07 PM
This is pure joy, and their absolute refusal to break is everything.
Reposted by John Mesjak
Don’t order, don’t cross the picket lines, support the strike and fuck Jeff Bezos in his wallet
Amazons workers across 20 countries, including the United States, are striking against what the organizing labor union calls anti-worker and anti-democratic practices.
Amazon workers on strike from Black Friday to Cyber Monday
(WFXR) – Amazons workers across 20 countries, including the United States, are striking against what the organizing labor union calls anti-worker and anti-democratic practices.
www.cbs42.com
November 29, 2024 at 2:24 AM
Don’t order, don’t cross the picket lines, support the strike and fuck Jeff Bezos in his wallet
I love Murderbot. This is a great profile - filled with the kinds of details about Martha Wells’ career to give any struggling author hope. Be true to you, find your family, keep working.
November 26, 2024 at 3:02 PM
I love Murderbot. This is a great profile - filled with the kinds of details about Martha Wells’ career to give any struggling author hope. Be true to you, find your family, keep working.
Reposted by John Mesjak
Easy marker for news outlets "Obeying in Advance," as T Snyder puts it:
If any of them refer, as if it were real, to a "Dept of Gov Efficiency" (DOGE), they are pre-obeying.
A real-world dept needs to be created through actual laws, by Congress. DOGE is a donor-humoring move, to placate Musk.
If any of them refer, as if it were real, to a "Dept of Gov Efficiency" (DOGE), they are pre-obeying.
A real-world dept needs to be created through actual laws, by Congress. DOGE is a donor-humoring move, to placate Musk.
November 24, 2024 at 11:50 PM
Easy marker for news outlets "Obeying in Advance," as T Snyder puts it:
If any of them refer, as if it were real, to a "Dept of Gov Efficiency" (DOGE), they are pre-obeying.
A real-world dept needs to be created through actual laws, by Congress. DOGE is a donor-humoring move, to placate Musk.
If any of them refer, as if it were real, to a "Dept of Gov Efficiency" (DOGE), they are pre-obeying.
A real-world dept needs to be created through actual laws, by Congress. DOGE is a donor-humoring move, to placate Musk.
Reposted by John Mesjak
Hear me out: stop sanewashing RFK immediately www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/11/hear...
Hear me out: stop sanewashing RFK immediately - Lawyers, Guns & Money
Why does virtually every major media outlet feel compelled to publish one of these monuments to credulous idiocy: The “the party that has provided healthcare to tens of millions of people and the part...
www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com
November 23, 2024 at 8:10 PM
Hear me out: stop sanewashing RFK immediately www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/11/hear...
@ismh86.net in connected 526, you mentioned getting the new iPad mini for media and reading. Is there a case you’re using? I just got one too and while I’ve got the official Apple case, I wonder if there’s another option for media consumption times?!
November 23, 2024 at 7:07 PM
@ismh86.net in connected 526, you mentioned getting the new iPad mini for media and reading. Is there a case you’re using? I just got one too and while I’ve got the official Apple case, I wonder if there’s another option for media consumption times?!
Reposted by John Mesjak
The problem with pieces like this, which are countless, is the prevailing media assumption that left-of-center Americans need constant corrective instruction about how to be in and engage with the world, whereas right-of-center Americans are simply to be observed in awe, like rainbows or mountains.
Opinion - The problem with Bluesky: It won’t broaden our horizons: In the wake of Donald Trump’s election win, the social-media platform has enjoyed a surge of new users looking for an alternative to Elon Musk’s X. But will it be useful, if it just creates an echo chamber for the left?
The problem with Bluesky: It won’t broaden our horizons
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election win, the social-media platform has enjoyed a surge of new users looking for an alternative to Elon Musk’s X. But will it be useful, if it just creates an echo chamber for the left?
www.theglobeandmail.com
November 22, 2024 at 4:41 PM
The problem with pieces like this, which are countless, is the prevailing media assumption that left-of-center Americans need constant corrective instruction about how to be in and engage with the world, whereas right-of-center Americans are simply to be observed in awe, like rainbows or mountains.
Reposted by John Mesjak
This is the rallying call that I've needed to hear since November 6th. From Roxane Gay in today's New York Times www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/o...
November 17, 2024 at 7:43 PM
This is the rallying call that I've needed to hear since November 6th. From Roxane Gay in today's New York Times www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/o...
Reposted by John Mesjak
This list is all extremely good and I encourage you to read and perhaps memorize it. And also send it to every academic, public servant, journalist and doctor you know. They are going to feel all of this first.
NEW: The great Trump-Musk crackdown is coming. And it will hit hard & fast. Journalists will be first. But everyone else is next.
I urge you to read my 20 lessons in How to Survive the Broligarchy, inspired by & featuring the great @timothysnyder.bsky.social
1/
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
I urge you to read my 20 lessons in How to Survive the Broligarchy, inspired by & featuring the great @timothysnyder.bsky.social
1/
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
How to survive the broligarchy: 20 lessons for the post-truth world | Carole Cadwalladr
In the wake of Trump’s unnerving appointees, the investigative journalist and veteran of the libel court offers pointers on coping in an age of surveillance
www.theguardian.com
November 18, 2024 at 1:07 PM
This list is all extremely good and I encourage you to read and perhaps memorize it. And also send it to every academic, public servant, journalist and doctor you know. They are going to feel all of this first.
Reposted by John Mesjak
mpls/mn has @racketmn.bsky.social and @sahanjournal.bsky.social
Reminder: please support local media. For my NYC brothers and sisters, have a look at @hellgateny.bsky.social and the @thecity.bsky.social. Please feel free to call others to my attention!
November 10, 2024 at 10:10 PM
mpls/mn has @racketmn.bsky.social and @sahanjournal.bsky.social
Reposted by John Mesjak
It's the Racism, Stupid.
My new post: Do not listen to pundits' pat explanations or to polls that veil the truth. Do not listen to me. Listen to those who experience the nation as it is.
medium.com/whither-news...
My new post: Do not listen to pundits' pat explanations or to polls that veil the truth. Do not listen to me. Listen to those who experience the nation as it is.
medium.com/whither-news...
It’s the Racism, Stupid
We did this, white America. Trump is our reflection.
medium.com
November 9, 2024 at 5:37 PM
It's the Racism, Stupid.
My new post: Do not listen to pundits' pat explanations or to polls that veil the truth. Do not listen to me. Listen to those who experience the nation as it is.
medium.com/whither-news...
My new post: Do not listen to pundits' pat explanations or to polls that veil the truth. Do not listen to me. Listen to those who experience the nation as it is.
medium.com/whither-news...
Reposted by John Mesjak
speaking of “is it worth it to unsubscribe from the Washington Post and will anyone there actually care”
from friends in WaPo newsroom, they lost enough subscriptions yday for it to be immediately noticeable and discussed and have an impact on a visibly panicky management.
October 26, 2024 at 6:08 PM
speaking of “is it worth it to unsubscribe from the Washington Post and will anyone there actually care”
Dumped the Post.
And of course, I recommend shopping for books locally.
And of course, I recommend shopping for books locally.
For those seeking a way to divest from Bezos, I would recommend that you stop using Amazon. For non-book items, try to shop locally. For books, switch your allegiance to the fabulous Bookshop.org. In both my personal and professional lives I've done so, and it's been great.
Bookshop: Buy books online. Support local bookstores.
An online bookstore that financially supports local independent bookstores and gives back to the book community.
Bookshop.org
October 26, 2024 at 1:37 PM
Dumped the Post.
And of course, I recommend shopping for books locally.
And of course, I recommend shopping for books locally.
@racketmn.bsky.social hello, dearly beloved Racket tip line, this news sucks.
www.theverge.com/2024/10/22/2...
www.theverge.com/2024/10/22/2...
Microsoft and OpenAI are giving news outlets $10 million to use AI tools
Several media giants are still suing the pair.
www.theverge.com
October 22, 2024 at 6:06 PM
@racketmn.bsky.social hello, dearly beloved Racket tip line, this news sucks.
www.theverge.com/2024/10/22/2...
www.theverge.com/2024/10/22/2...