Meetesh Karia

Chief Technology Officer at @meetearnest. Previously CTO at @thezebraco. Opinions are my own.

[Austin Statesman @statesman]

Capital Factory founder Joshua Baer, a visionary force in the Texas technology and start-up ecosystem, died Tuesday night in a private plane crash in Laredo, the organization confirmed to the American-Statesman.

"Joshua was a fearless leader, a brilliant partner, and a dear friend to so many of us," Capital Factory President Bryan Chambers said.

https://t.co/rYhKmYv0Yg

[Meetesh Karia @tesh11]

Hey @Meta someone is using my son’s phone number for their IG account and we can’t figure out any way online to remedy that

[Meetesh Karia @tesh11]

“America isn’t the way it is because he’s president. He’s president because America is the way it is.” - David Cochrane

3/3

[Meetesh Karia @tesh11]

“If, however, Trump is a fascist president, that does not mean that America is a fascist country.”

1/2

https://t.co/bXW4rjGIGa

[Meetesh Karia @tesh11]

What crushes me so completely is how wrong Rauch is here. Trump is a fascist and America is now a fascist country. More than half of the country voted for this and many still support it.

2/3

[Meetesh Karia @tesh11]

@espn this nonsense with espn unlimited to watch the Australian Open is a racket. I have YouTube TV, ESPN+ through a Disney package, and you want more money just to watch the thing I should have been able to anyhow? @australianopen take the rights away @atptour @wta

[Meetesh Karia @tesh11]

@espn this nonsense with espn unlimited to watch the Australian Open is a racket. I have YouTube TV, ESPN+ through a Disney package, and you want more money just to watch the thing I should have been able to anyhow? @australianopen take the rights away @atptour @wta

[Mike (not a) Rothschild @rothschildmd]

Imagine not knowing Sinatra and Martin were both first generation Italian Americans, or that Sinatra was a lifelong civil rights advocate who refused to perform for segregated audiences, and whose best friend was a Black Jew who married a white actress.

[Sheel Mohnot @pitdesi]

Cancun is not my cup of tea, but boy is it an incredible success story of engineering: the Mexican government engineered a tourist hotspot custom-built to attract American dollars, from a place that had nothing in 5 short years.

In the late 60s, Mexico ran a huge trade deficit with the US. They were industrializing rapidly, importing machinery and materials that had to be paid for in dollars. Tourism offered a solution, a way to earn foreign currency using assets Mexico already had: beaches, climate, and ancient ruins.

They actually spent months building a computer model, feeding data to an IBM 360 to analyze Mexico’s entire coastline, evaluating climate, beach quality, accessibility, and development costs. The computer selected Cancun #1, a remote sandbar that had a population of 3 people during the 1970 census. The 2nd option was Ixtapa.

Cancuns location was perfect: turquoise water, white sand, ideal weather, and proximate to all of the eastern seaboard, the largest concentration of Americans enduring brutal winters and seeking affordable beach escapes.

Hawaii was already popular for folks on the west coast but Cancun offered what Hawaii couldn’t: a winter getaway without the 12+ hour flight, and a much cheaper experience.

The Caribbean location and dry season from November to April aligned perfectly with when East Coasters most desperately wanted sun.

The government invested over $100 million in infrastructure, building an international airport, roads, utilities, and dredging lagoons. They built the hotel zone for foreigners and downtown Cancun for workers, all in 5 years

They marketed Cancun aggressively to Americans, positioning it as a safe, convenient Caribbean alternative with better prices than anywhere else. Hotels catered explicitly to American tastes with English-speaking staff, American brands (Hyatt, Hilton etc) familiar food options, and all-inclusive packages.

The genius was creating a place where Americans could feel like they’d “been to Mexico” without experiencing much of Mexico at all - you could go to a Hilton, speak English, eat burgers and hot dogs, pay in dollars, but get to say you went abroad.

At the time, “going abroad" was often seen as something for the wealthy or the adventurous. For many Americans, especially those from the interior who don’t travel internationally often (as you see on the map) a Cancun vacation counts as cultural exploration, a stamp in the passport that feels adventurous while remaining completely comfortable and affordable. You didn’t need a passport to go there until 2007, which was helpful too.

The whole thing worked brilliantly, beyond their expectations. They started the project in 1970 and welcomed the first guest in 1975. By 1980, Cancun had grown to a half million tourists and a population of 34,000 supporting tourism.

Cancun is EXACTLY what Mexico designed it to be: a dollar-extraction machine that turns American desire for easy, safe “foreign” travel into billions of dollars flowing to Mexico.

—-
This story from the New York Times in 1972 was a good read: Mexico had a young Harvard-trained head of INFRATUR spearheading the program

https://t.co/YbcQroXxTP

[Anonymous @YourAnonNews]

ICE raids West Chicago and takes two documented men (for no reason) and then drops them off a block away because they are legal.
Your rights are being violated daily by the Trump administration.

[Meetesh Karia @tesh11]

@Delta I’m on 2886 from ATL to AUS and just had to check my carry-on despite there being tons of overhead space still remaining and being in comfort+. Had to remove half the contents and carry them in my hands. Only reason we couldn’t make our zone was delayed inbound

[scha·den·freu·de  @BlisterPearl]

it's absolutely perfect

[Gavin Newsom @GavinNewsom]

Someone explain the plot to him.

[Pete Buttigieg @PeteButtigieg]

Today they have crossed a deep red line.

We, the people, must hold the president and his appointees accountable for this outrageous abuse against American liberty.

[The Tennis Letter @TheTennisLetter]

Gael Monfils calls out bettors attacking him after his loss in Stuttgart

“Really? You’re still betting on me? You’re writing that I’m sh*t. I know I’m sh*t. We both know I’m sh*t” 😭😭😭😭

(h/t @_endlessfigure8)

[Tom Sharpe @TomSharpe134]

Best one?

[Alan MacLeod @AlanRMacLeod]

What stage of capitalism is this?

[Brian Krassenstein @krassenstein]

BREAKING: Jeffrey Goldberg from The Atlantic @TheAtlantic has just released the FULL Text Message Chain.

I have provided all texts in this post and the thread below:

CHECK MATE! 🧵

[Zion O. @DukeNBA]

Inject this clip into my veins.

This sums up this team. SPECIAL!! ENERGY

[Zion O. @DukeNBA]

LOL. The shot. The mascot reaction: