iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Media day at Swordplay LA a few weeks ago! (How many workplaces have you fight your boss for content?)

two epee fencers. I, on the left, miss a heartbreaking flick to the hand

Two epee fencers get distracted by a professional wrestling demo

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Springer Nature has sold Scientific American to LabX. This is genuinely terrible news for the state of science journalism.

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Butt Bumps from Div 1 Men's Epee at the @usafencing.bsky.social NAC this weekend

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 10/11/2025

Photographed the Den Music Festival this weekend

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 08/10/2025

Scenes from Division 1 Men's epee at last weekend's @usafencing.bsky.social North American Cup

Two epee fencers compete in a national tournament. Fencer on the left fleches at his opponent, who recoils like he's doing the iconic matrix dodge. It didn't work.

Two epee fencers compete in a national tournament, running and jumping at each other and barely avoiding a collision. Fencer on the Right's blade is bent to an impossible degree, stuck on Fencer on the Left's hand.

Two epee fencers compete in a national tournament. Fencer on the Left lunges at Fencer on the Right, sending him recoiling in defense.

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

"Mourn, or else" by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

The president of the United States has both direct coercive power of the state and, by and large, indirect power over communication institutions. He has shown how he will use that power. He will punish enemies, yes. And if you agree that teachers, librarians, professors, left-leaning journalists and anyone who isn’t white, conservative and Christian are enemies, you may enjoy this comeuppance. But he has also shown that he will punish people who agree with him — but not enough or not in the right way or just because it is a Tuesday.

The merging of state power and economic power around one man who accepts that power as his due would not be possible without the algorithmic grift that has so all-consumingly captured our attention. The internet and the people who, for all intents and purposes, now own it have excelled at making Trump good at authoritarianism. They commodified information. They quelled regulation. They escaped blame for degrading collective action while raking in profits for spectacles of violence that degradation predictably produces. Now, via their president, they are using it to crush the First Amendment, to supercharge the Second Amendment, to stand up bot armies and real armed militias to defend their ownership of your civil liberties.

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 02/09/2025

Two of my students had to face each other at a tournament last weekend, so here's my top-tier, conflict-of-interest-free coaching

My dumb mug taking a selfie at a fencing tournament, where the two fencers pause to give a thumbs up during a break in the bout.

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

I've got another article in the US Fencing Coaches Association's latest issue of The Swordmaster! I broke down what I saw working for some of our best epee fencers at National Championships, and how coaches can teach their students to do the same. mcusercontent.com/587dec442721...

Screenshot of a magazine article titled "Second Intention Took Fencers to the Top at the Div 1 Men’s Épée National Championships."

Body: "Last month, I had the absolute pleasure of seeing
USA Fencing’s National Championship tournament come to
Los Angeles, where I live and teach. Aside from catching up
with friends and old teammates who I hardly see nowadays (and
seeing my fencing master of many, many years compete in
Vet70s), I had the time of my life hanging out at the convention
center as a spectator, geeking out over and cheering on the highcaliber fencing that had come to my back yard. I caught as many
events as I could, and figured it might be helpful to break down
some of the trends that I saw, in particular during the final
rounds of Division 1 Men’s Épée.
What I saw was a heavy reliance on second intention
among fencers who wanted to add an extra layer of protection
to otherwise aggressive fencing — they were using it to hedge
against the devastating parry-closeout, and to continue attacks beyond their initial tempo — allowing them to
continue fighting for a given touch longer than their opponent assumed they’d have to.
Of course, there were plenty of bouts with the same strong reliance on single-tempo fencing that’s been
heavily documented in recent years (Don’t worry, Damien!) with wins going to the fencer with slightly sharper
feet, better point control, or a keener intuition of tempo and timing. But there was also interesting representation
of multi-tempo fencing, largely built around the ways that a single-tempo attack or counter might fail.
The USFCA’s glossary app describes second intention as “the tactical scenario of making initial
preparations that are a believable opportunity for the opponent to score, but having a planned second action that
takes advantage of the expected response.”
Or, as just about everyone broadly understands it, a compound action where you intend to hit on the
second action. ..."

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 03/06/2025

Finally paid off my lifetime membership to USA Fencing! But uhhhh big assumption on their part about this expiration date

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

Tournament yesterday! It (always) could have gone better, but I'm riding high from a top 8 finish after being out of commission with a bum ankle for the last eight months

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 18/04/2025

More from Day 1 of USA Fencing National Championships

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 17/04/2025

Scenes from @usafencing.bsky.social Division 1 Men's Epee National Championships in Los Angeles

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 03/03/2025

The mission was literally saved by coincidental water cooler chat

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Creativity and adaptive problem-solving are skills that need to be actively trained, in epee fencing or anything else. I wrote about my work-in-progress system for teaching these skills to athletes who haven't had much opportunity to work it out for themselves at tournaments.

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

My first article for The Swordmaster, the US Fencing Coaches Association's magazine, came out yesterday! "Epee in Motion: Teaching Creativity to Beginner and Intermediate Fencers" You can read the full thing at this nightmare of a URL: mcusercontent.com/587dec442721...

Screenshot of the opening text of an article titled "Epee in Motion; Teaching Creativity to Beginner and Intermediate Fencers."

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 29/05/2024

Big news from the ol' "manmade horrors beyond our comprehension" factory! www.tomshardware.com/pc-component...

A screenshot of an article reading: A Swiss biocomputing startup has launched an online platform that provides remote access to 16 human brain organoids. FinalSpark claims its Neuroplatform is the world’s first online platform delivering access to biological neurons in vitro. Moreover, bioprocessors like this “consume a million times less power than traditional digital processors,” the company says.

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 27/02/2024

This headline would be so charming if blue-ear pig disease was just what it sounded like

A press release headline that reads "Using CRISPR gene editing to prevent pigs from getting blue-ear pig disease." Beneath it, a photo of three seemingly-blissful pigs playing in the mud, not a single blue ear in sight.

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Dan Robitzski @danrobitzski.bsky.social · 08/10/2023

Just set up a recurring donation to PCRF - Palestine Children's Relief Fund, which is providing emergency medical support to children trapped in Gaza. Nearly half of Palestine's entire population is under the age of 18. pcrf1.app.neoncrm.com/forms/gaza-r...

receipt for donation to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund

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