Doug Mack
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douglasmack.bsky.social
Doug Mack
@douglasmack.bsky.social
Snacks, Americana, and other curiosities.
📖 The Not-Quite States of America, about the U.S. territories (W. W. Norton).
🍟Agreeably nerdy food history newsletter: https://snackstack.net

He/him, just another dad in Minneapolis.
Pinned
Anyway, if you want to learn about the U.S. territories, read my book!

I traveled more than 30,000 miles to report it. Deep-dive history. Legal analysis. Tons of interviews. Funny travel stories.

Smithsonian said it was one of the 10 best travel books of the year!

wwnorton.com/books/978039...
The Not-Quite States of America
'To truly understand the United States, one must understand the 'not-quite states of America.' &#8212;Mark Stein, best-selling author of <em>How the States Got Their Shapes</em>, The Not-Quite States ...
wwnorton.com
Why do I hear a distant voice going "Remember the Maine"
A quarter of the entire deployed US Navy is now stationed in the Caribbean.

That goes way beyond frighteners.
November 15, 2025 at 11:56 PM
Reposted by Doug Mack
Oh no.

Not Bill Clinton.

Oh no.

What will I do now with my Clinton Crypto, Clinton Bible, Clinton Hat, Clinton Vodka, Clinton University diploma, Clinton Tower lease?

I am nothing without those
November 15, 2025 at 6:51 PM
If anyone needs some sweet new shirts, check out these American Samoan kits (and others from small soccer clubs around the world). Proceeds go directly to the clubs.
Pago Youth FC
Buy the official football jerseys of the fantastic Pago Youth FC from American Samoa. Sangalo produced and sponsored. Available now. Limited quantity. Free shipping on 2+ jerseys. Don't miss out!
sangalo.com
November 15, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Reposted by Doug Mack
October 23, 2025 at 6:31 AM
Reposted by Doug Mack
My mom is pre-planning her own obituary and funeral, and one of the first details she specified was the story that when she was 9 years old her dad told the librarian that she was allowed to read any book she wanted to.
We might make a bibliography for my dad's funeral
November 15, 2025 at 3:17 AM
Reposted by Doug Mack
This wish list is very short and doable! Let’s support this hardworking teacher and her kids with special needs and help clear it out!
**classroom literacy needs**

hey folks,

i have some classroom literacy needs for quarter 2. the range is $6 - $40 (pastel pencil case). this should get us through another Minnesota winter! ❄️✍️🥶

thank u! 🫶🫶
www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/...
Check out my list on Amazon
www.amazon.com
November 15, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by Doug Mack
You know, I keep thinking about this and I do think there should be a restaurant/cookbook based on the concept of Italian Classics But Make Them Super Spicy

Like, I would LOVE a Caprese salad with thin slices of habanero
November 15, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Reposted by Doug Mack
Communion set with Malort and sport peppers. “This is my blood, given to you for the commission of sins….”
I like to imagine there's a room at the Vatican that Leo has converted into a South Side Chicago sports bar, and he hangs all the jerseys on the wall so he can be surrounded by them as he watches the White Sox and sips Old Style
November 15, 2025 at 5:01 PM
Reposted by Doug Mack
A short 🧵: one astounding thing I learned while researching TIGERS BETWEEN EMPIRES was the existence of the Willow Palisade, a 700-km wall made of interlocking trees, an extension of the Great Wall planted in NE China in the 17th century. This map shows approx. Amur tiger range in 1850. 1/9
November 14, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Really good history and analysis here
November 15, 2025 at 2:13 PM
longfellow, did anyone else hear that HUGE boom??
November 15, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Reposted by Doug Mack
November 15, 2025 at 2:57 AM
kids are watching mighty ducks for the first time, which means i get to introduce them to terms like "flying v" and "cake-eater"
November 15, 2025 at 2:13 AM
pizza night
November 15, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Reposted by Doug Mack
One of the coolest fun facts of Bob Marley‘s life story is that, after he become a bonafide pop star in Kingston, he moved to Wilmington, Delaware in 1966 and drove a forklift at a factory while growing weed in his mom‘s backyard
November 15, 2025 at 12:15 AM
Reposted by Doug Mack
I want y'all to know that when Doug pointed this out I went to look at what's on my coffee table and it's
Commander Hadfield's An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth and Five Very Good Reasons to Punch a Dolphin in the Nose by Matthew Inman (of The Oatmeal fame) and I'm changing NOTHING.
"oh, these books? yes, i always have them out and flip through them every day"
November 15, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Reposted by Doug Mack
Every time Covid and learning loss hits the news, people act like the only factor is folk staying home and learning online, rather than… Living through a global mass death event.
November 14, 2025 at 8:51 PM
Reposted by Doug Mack
Today is the 65th anniversary of the day U.S. marshals escorted four Black 1st graders into segregated New Orleans schools. One of them was Ruby Bridges.

But have you heard of the McDonogh 3? Meet them via this @the74.bsky.social story I wrote a year ago.
18 Years, $2 Billion: Inside New Orleans’s Biggest School Recovery Effort in History
Hurricane Katrina destroyed 110 New Orleans school buildings. How to upgrade them while honoring their architectural importance and historic heritage?
www.the74million.org
November 14, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Reposted by Doug Mack
I will no doubt read and enjoy all your very good Nuzzi jokes, but I also want to say earnestly, so many of us (myself included) are on the verge of being pushed out of this industry and it's genuinely so dispiriting to see the worst among us, ethics-wise, get such preferential treatment.
November 14, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Reposted by Doug Mack
Thanks to everyone who shared their pasta opinions for this episode, and extra thanks to @douglasmack.bsky.social for boosting our question. May your plates always be full and topped with extra parm.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/9...
9 Saucy, Savory Facts About Pasta
Podcast Episode · Part-Time Genius · 11/14/2025 · 27m
podcasts.apple.com
November 14, 2025 at 7:41 PM
"oh, these books? yes, i always have them out and flip through them every day"
November 14, 2025 at 6:53 PM
This whole medley is great but you really really need to see Janelle Monáe performing "Hey Ya"

Sound aaalll the way up

youtu.be/LuwI5j0i-v0?...
Outkast Medley | Full Performance | Live @ The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame 2025
YouTube video by RemasterKingdom4K
youtu.be
November 14, 2025 at 4:20 PM
My wokest opinion is that it's deeply offensive to knowingly mispronounce or misspell someone's name (or call them the WRONG name or nickname), or to not put in a good-faith effort to get it right.

Obviously, mistakes happen and not all sounds or spellings translate cleanly. But you've gotta try.
My wokest opinion is that “microaggressions” is far from SJW hyperbole but a conservative way to describe the concept, with the small scale of each incident baked into the name. The point is that they accrue, and that’s correct
my wokest opinion is that land acknowledgements are fine. people knowing a little bit about the land you're on, even if one isn't invested in a land back project, is not particularly worse than the status quo, even if one comes by this info in a way that is somewhat cringe and forced
November 14, 2025 at 3:07 PM
Reposted by Doug Mack
I’m really enjoying drawing drones into classic paintings for my Three Dreams You Need to Make a Drone series

little-flying-robots.ghost.io/the-three-dr...
November 14, 2025 at 6:02 AM
Reposted by Doug Mack
We’ll see. There is a lot involved in running the world. Good luck to them developing the range of sandwiches we have. Or even getting up to the top bunk to sleep.
November 13, 2025 at 6:45 PM