iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

As the father of a former D1 athlete, it is not a silly take. I am proud of him and what he accomplished, but he would have accomplished much more if D1 athletics were not such a powerful dominating force on almost every college campus. D1 athletics exploits our education system and our kids.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Rock made his bones with that early-internet viral "How not to get your ass kicked by the police" bit. The arc of history maybe bends towards justice, but the arc of a comedy career like Rock's always ends up bending towards punching the powerless. Always.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

It is my belief that overthrowing Dem machine politics in Ca and NY is a necessary precondition to saving American Democracy. Many other preconditions of course, defeating the GOP not least. But the power center of dem politics must be the voters, not the machines.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

I hope people have the sense to understand you here.Ssome of us wont vote for Gavin for any reason, ever. Not ever.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Andor is how things went down. A New Hope was a bowldlerized New Republic propaganda film made after the fact.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Shiny object. Upon close inspection, plastic.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Only quibble with this: it has already absolutely ruined lives. But my quibble is dumb, because it will absolutely keep doing so.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Euclids Elements was mostly geometry, but nowadays many mathematicians consider the number theory parts to be more significant. I wonder if we should ditch some of the old geometry and gloss Euclids the number theory stuff (primes, remainder theorem, etc) instead for the kids heading into coding.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

My HS students are always complaining about my math history asides. I'll open a class by showing them the Lebombo Bone (oldest known math artifact) for instance, and ask them to wonder what was being tallied/calculated 40k years ago. They have fun with it, but they chirp at me while they are at it.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

I empathize with the author, but am gonna log off so I can do more grading to work on a Sunday, but also so I dont have to read all the uninformed blather.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

As a mathematician, I will note NYT writers are outliers, and the fact that NYT articles on education drive discourse is demoralizing. I have seen this movie before, and it has a known outicome: more segregation, more consultants, more testing.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

As a public school educator at a (math teacher) who just finished a week that included two ten hour days and who has been grading all weekend: the discourse I see forming around this article is disheartening.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Post preambles like this baffle me. I have listened to Piker few times and I can see how and why he reaches people the dems need to reach. He is well-read, and bases in moral positions and not triangulation. I don't need a parasocial relationship with him. I need the voters he brings to the table.

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Elle Cordova @ellecordova.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Data centers

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 09/08/2026

The Democrats abandoned the liberal arts in public education more than 40 years ago and there is absolutely no sign that they will be reversing course anytime soon: open.substack.com/pub/asheeshk...

open.substack.com

Why the Democrats Probably Won't Save the Humanities

The Republicans are awful, but the other side isn't actually that much better - yet.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

I am a math teacher and scholar of the history of math. The tools of math are some of the most powerful things humans have built over the millennia. There is no fkn way to responsibly teach those tools to kids who arent getting a sound and thorough liberal arts education.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Poor and middle class voters arent stupid, They see through the political and moral cowardice that "the art of the possible" propaganda seeks to hide.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

"the art of the possible" is arrogant propaganda bullshit designed to convince sheep that they must allow wolves to eat them and their children. Because, you know FIGHTING FOR PEOPLES LIVES is outside the realm of the "possible".

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Again, I loved the guy, but Obama absolutely conditioned and abetted the war on the middle class and the poor. The Trumpist GOP was able to sell bullshit populism to low info voters because Obama had no stomach for a real fight with Wall Street and the GOP.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Obama and Larry Summers were not passive victims of Bush's bank bailout. And for all its merits, the aca was a giant subsidy machine that transformed insurers from monsters we could fight into unstoppable Kaiju that we cannot. Obama gave Mitch the Debt ceiling and got next to nothing in return.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I love the guy, but Obama consistently handed unearned power to the gop and to the enemies of the poor and middle class. Low information voters aint all that bright, but they *can* parse a bailout that saves the finance class and punishes homeowners.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

Yeah thats a defenders nightmare. You mark a guy well, give him no space, and he pulls a brilliant first touch out of his ass and blows a fkn hole in the net with his second touch.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Baseball always provides a framework bsky.app/profile/bert...

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Its like baseball. A pitcher cannot win you a game, but they can sure as hell lose it.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

A coupla plants on that and you will be manufacturing your own oxygen

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

you aint beating the rap with these neither

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Jeez. Anti-infinity cranks are the anti-vaxxers of math. You can always find journalists who write pieces on them. The math of infinity is sound. It is not needed for most math work, so the cranks can play their games harmlessly. But the math is sound.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

We actually have some pretty sound theories of infinity. It is ok not to like an idea or feel uncomfortable with it. You dont have to like it, but please dont make stuff up about it.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

No, it isnt. It isnt even the weirdest thing that math students study in an upper division undergraduate class.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Georg Cantor had a mental illness that was unrelated to his work. His collaborators like Weierstrass and Dedekind were notably stable and did as much weird-ass math as he did. It is ok not to like or feel uncomfortable implications of his work, but dont make up bs about him.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

So you are right, but not about democrats getting to 51 or 52. We need progressives and real-ass liberals in those seats. Until then, we are still gonna fkn lose, even when we win.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

The only way to break the "Can't Do What the Base Elected Us For" Kabuki is to elect progressives and real-ass liberals. This is why Primaries are so important in swing election years. They are the only way we are going to break the hold that Wall Street and Corporations have on the Senate.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Before it was Manchin, it was Lieberman or any of a number of Blue Dogs on a rotating basis. That player is ALWAYS found, and that player benefits the other dems in the Senate by keeping the money firehose flowing towards them. So they NEVER discipline the Bad Guy. They need them.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

*Generic* Dem Votes beyond 50 in the Senate Do Not Matter, because Manchin was not some outlier. Every Dem majority I have seen has always had someone to play the Bad Guy in the "This is why we can't do what our Base Voters want, but we can do what Corporate Donors Want" Kabuki theater.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

I am going to come in with hopefully not a contrarian or doomer POV: Electing Democrats matters in the broad sense as *Not Trumpist GOPers*, but it doesnt matter in the way you are saying it does. I have been a Dem for a long damn time, the institutional dem party doesn't work the way you posit.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

If I were the next president, I would just get a list of every one of the silent, submissive journalists in that room. I would ice them out of admin comms and ban them from all WH press events for the duration of my term. Tell their orgs that they can send replacements, but ban those fkrs.

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Peter @notalawyer.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

this issue was just in front of the Supreme Court, and the case was the state of West Virginia against a middle school girl. which side sounds braver to you?

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I do not wish to harm on Israel or Israelis. But the fact that America supports Israel no matter what horrific things the Israeli government and settlers do, is no longer something I can support in any way. Until Israel is held accountable, I will never vote for a pro-Israel candidate or party.

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I have "blued no matter who'd" my entire life. After the 2020/24 cycle, I simply can't do it anymore. I will not ever support a party led by people pro-Israel politicians. Never

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bertwells.bsky.social @bertwells.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

What is driving the national energy for dems like me about this race and ones like it around the country are the stakes. We all know that the next election is going to heavily tilt toward *whoever* the Dem nominee is. So a polarized dem primary like this one has massive implications for dems lke me.

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