iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

jackheathwriter 📚 @jackheathwriter.bsky.social · 14h

As a non-American, frat houses always struck me as ghoulish—and the knowledge that almost all US legislators and business leaders emerged from them is *dystopian*

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 13h

RE: Cornell, thinking of what I went through to see friends at Smith ca. 1988: At door: "Who are you here to see?" Cooling heels in common room: "I'll take you up to x floor." On x floor: Name & ID written down Friend comes to get me. This made me HAPPY, because I worried about my friends less.

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 14h

FOUR NEW SONGS from the "Songs in the Key of Life" sessions! boingboing.net/2026/09/28/s... What's "Songs in the Key of Life"? Something you should fucking MEMORIZE before listening to whatever dumbass shit the 23-year-olds who rule the internet are talking about.

boingboing.net

Stevie Wonder finally releases four unheard songs from Songs in the Key of Life

Stevie Wonder released four unheard songs from his Songs in the Key of Life sessions to mark the album's 50th

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

It is extremely encouraging to know the Youngs understand Bookshop Girl is an erotic icon. Some things *are* eternal.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

A.R. Moxon @juliusgoat.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Hard to imagine what that would be like

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I think Hurts is concussed. He’s played worse since that big hit.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Winter @mswinterrrr.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Who your Governor is, who holds your State legislature, city council, county level positions really do matter. They are the ones who can check the federal Government. Your local elections matter just as much as federal elections. In fact, my local Government helped me more than federal.

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

...and at that point, conservatives looked at the antiwar movement, and the various liberation movements, all closely connected with students, and thought: "We need Americans to be as uneducated as possible."

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

The Pope reminds me of a version of Catholicism I knew growing up as a young man attending anti-war and anti-death penalty protests, where I met elderly Catholics who shared their version of faith with me. I learned that Catholicism was about love and mercy for the weak, the condemned, and the poor.

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I resurrected Yale's ancient college humor magazine, and was Mr. Alumnus for 35 years. What happened at Cornell was criminal activity by those young men, but it also had to rhyme with the culture of that frat. Which, to some degree, was determined over decades by alums.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Art Of Coop @artofcoop.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

maybe I haven't heard that song because I have better taste than you do

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

I wonder what it would be like if laws were actually applied to Trump? I guess we'll never know.

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

My traumatized brain thought of this immediately: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_...

en.wikipedia.org

Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 - Wikipedia

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The New York Times has now run two prominently placed stories about Zohran Mamdani's comms department coordinating with unpaid influencers as if it is a huge scandal. Will they cover Trump using our tax dollars to buy literal campaign ads as if it is equivalent scandalous? If not why not?

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

It is entirely possible to be leftist without valorizing the Soviet Union OR Josef Stalin.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Dante Atkins @danteatkins.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

At a certain point, leftists are going to have to contend with the fact that colonialist expansionist imperialism has been foundational to Russian self-perception and the Russian mindset since before the US even existed. Doesn't matter whether it's the czars, the Soviets, or Putin. Same shit.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Covering Climate Now @coveringclimatenow.org · 27/09/2026

“The day is coming when our momentum will overtake the resistance. We’re getting very close now. I think we are going to win this. The remaining question is whether we will win it in time to avoid those negative tipping points I talked about.” – Al Gore in an interview with Al Roker at Climate Week

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

"Online Rent-a-Sage" Bret Devereaux @bretdevereaux.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

This strikes me is a common misunderstanding of the argument for humanities education, which is not that it serves as some sort of individual inoculation, but rather than it produces a citizenry more capable of self-governance when distributed widely, especially for decision-makers of every kind.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Geneva 🇨🇦 @geneva1111.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

RoseMarie @rosesbloom24.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

House Democrats are preparing a vast oversight agenda, with investigations of Donald Trump, his family and his administration if the party sweeps control of the chamber from Republicans in the November elections. www.huffpost.com/entry/electi...

huffpost.com

House Democrats Plan Vast Oversight Of Trump Administration. Impeachment Is An Option.

House Democrats are preparing a vast oversight agenda if the party sweeps control in the November elections.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

SpryOldLorax @spryoldlorax.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

We are living in 1984. This is a great explainer on how it works, how the propaganda tactics of 1984 are being used by Republicans and the Trump Administration to paper over cuts that are killing rural healthcare (and also trying to take credit for things Biden did). Please watch and share this:

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

So much of what we are confronting today is best understood by the actions undertaken by white communities in response to integration orders. White supremacy is a form of democratic nihilism. Every institution, norm, and value of democracy will be sacrificed for it. calendar.eji.org/racial-injus...

calendar.eji.org

Sep. 27, 1958 | White Little Rock Voters Choose to Close Public Schools Rather Than Integrate

Learn more about our history of racial injustice

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Alex Gibney @alexgibneyfilm.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

The trailer for my new film, "Musk," has just been released.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

On this day in 1994, the Clinton administration's heathcare reform plan was declared "dead" by Congress. Over 30 years later, the US is still the only industrialized country without universal healthcare. This should be a national outrage.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I find it fascinating that so many estranged parents view the estrangement as an incident, not as a process. So it's forums full of Boomers going "She stopped talking to me because I said her haircut was bad! She's so UNREASONABLE!", when, in reality, they've been shitting on their kid for decades.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Hope For The Planet @h4tp.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

We now have rigorous pooled data showing that even without active restoration efforts, cleared rainforest can rebound to 75% of their former species composition and 90% of species diversity within just thirty years. #goodnews

optimistdaily.com

Rainforest biodiversity rebounds within a single generation | The Optimist Daily

A major Ecuador study finds cleared rainforests can recover 90 percent of their species diversity in just 30 years, as long as humans leave the land alone.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

ellie lockhart (she/they) @eleanor.lockhart.contact · 27/09/2026

I'm a liberal not because I think that socialist revolution is impossible, but because I *know* that socialist revolution WILL involve the total destruction of public queer existence, because most people (the people who would take power in socialism) hate queer people

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Chick Gone Bad 🐸🐱🦖🏳️‍🌈♀️🇺🇦 @chickgonebad.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

You know what’s more dangerous than a trans athlete? 7 Frat boys at Cornell University.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

People aren’t faking their disabilities, they’re faking being well. We know society hates us. We know we will be judged for using assistive devices. Many of us take years to get the courage to lean in to accommodations. Stop judging. Help us build a more inclusive world.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Dan O’Sullivan @osullyville.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

Today I saw the new 4 hour documentary Musk, directed by Alex Gibney. There were too many times to count that a sold out theater burst out laughing at Elon Musk, something he said or did, even sometimes just how he looked. I believe that is his worst nightmare come to life.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Igor Brodsky @brodskyigorlab.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The power of funding fundamental discovery in driving unexpected benefits for humankind are unmatched. We should be funding more basic research not less

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Erin Biba @erinbiba.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Nor’Easter is heading towards the east coast so reminder that if you have any other option DO NOT put your body in flood water. It has raw sewage, gasoline, chemicals, medical waste, radiological waste and more — anything the water touches. People die from infections after contact with it.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Mo Ryan @moryan.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

we need chicago pope to step in and say "you will follow the rules or you will get a visit from [pulls down sunglasses] the Batican"

Pope Leo with a black baseball bat. Do not mess with Chicago Pope!

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I have a weird autoimmune disease (caused by Cipro in 1991) that makes me very susceptible to food-borne illness. Food safety is, for me, a matter of life and death. There is a moral rot afoot in this country that must be arrested, or we will all likely perish.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Ezra Klein asked Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang about AI making kids worse at math and reading. Huang’s reply: “Does it matter?” Then he said he doesn’t know his own address or phone number. “We’re going to lose some fine intellectual dexterity.” www.nytimes.com/2026/09/23/o...

So the message of this research out of China, where you were seeing a lot of kids using A.I. to help them, was that when they were using the A.I., they were getting things done faster. But it turned out that the skills they were learning were not holding, that their actual personal performance, at least in the way we traditionally measure it, was degrading.

What do you think when you hear that?

The last part — I completely agree. Try to get a kid to do long division right now. The multiplication table is starting to be forgotten. Doing square roots, my goodness. Basic math is being forgotten. Does it matter?

That’s my question for you.

Yeah. I don’t think it does. I don’t think it does.

But there must be some set of skills that matter.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But maybe not those. We’re going to discover new ones. Just maybe not those.

There are a lot of skills that don’t matter. My first confession, I actually don’t know my address.

And I ——

I don’t really believe that to be true.

It’s completely true. Janine will tell you and Lori will tell you.

One day I had to pump gas — it was a few years ago. They needed my ZIP code, and I panicked. I didn’t know my ZIP code. I don’t know my telephone number. I forget these things. I can live with it.

But let me take the other side because I don’t want to fall into a thing where, because some skills can be safely offloaded ——

Yeah.

I also can’t get anywhere without a mapping system now. Never could, frankly. But I’m a big reader. And one of the skills I really value, one of the capacities I have that I really value is an attention span formed on physical books.

You’re a big reader. I’ve read about the kind of reading you do. And there is, prior to A.I., a lot of concern and noticing among college professors and others that the way people use the internet has probably shortened attention spans.
Some skills can be safely given away. Others are valuable. They are capacities that are needed for that flexibility, for that creative thinking, for that focus. It can’t be the case that everything can be traded off.

Some skills can be safely given away. Others are valuable. They are capacities that are needed for that flexibility, for that creative thinking, for that focus. It can’t be the case that everything can be traded off.

Yeah. Well, I think that we’re going to lose some finer intellectual dexterity, but we’re going to be better systems thinkers.

Today’s engineers are far better systems thinkers than I was when I graduated from school. But I was a much better transistor thinker.

What do you mean by systems thinker?

They think of large systems. Today’s computers have trillions, hundreds of trillions of transistors in them. When I first graduated from school, the first chip I worked on had 200 transistors. I knew every one of them by name. No engineer does that today. Most engineers now work well above the transistor, well above the functionality, and they’re cobbling things together to do things.

So you need to think much more about systems and interactions of systems. So some of the lower-level knowledge is gone.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Ian Malcolm @ianmalcolm.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Another quick read; 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' by that Rev. Dodgson fellow. Each time I re-read this (prob every 10 years) I'm always struck by how glorious the writing is, contrasted with the paper thin plot. 😉 The Tenniel illustrations (esp. my Cheshire boy) remain a delight! 💙📚

The first appearance of the Cheshire Cat, inside the Duchess' house as sh'e nursing a baby.

Second illustrated appearance of the Cheshire Cat, grinning in classic style from up a tree..

Third illustration of the Cheshire Cat - still up that tree but fading from view.

Fourth illustration of the Cheshire Cat, as a large disembodied head floating over the arguing royals at the Queen's croquet game.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Jake Anbinder @jakeanbinder.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

can't believe the car that runs on millions of tiny explosions transmitting energy through a complex series of oily metal parts doesn't last as long as the one that's four wheels attached to a battery

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Big deal, when I was a kid in StL in the 1970s, they beatified Lou Brock

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

David Kaye @davidakaye.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

to be clear, the admin is alleged to have deported AT LEAST 25,447 individuals TO COUNTRIES THAT ARE NOT THEIR OWN with, evidently, ZERO PROTECTIONS. this is a scandal and crime of historic proportions.

forbiddenstories.org

The Deportation Project Map

Between 2025 and August 2026, the Trump administration deported over 25,000 people to countries other than their country of origin. Very few of these removals were publicly announced by the US. The De...

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Jay Edidin @edidin.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

One of my favorite cases of someone being Wrong on the Internet was a very earnest, very confused vegan who was telling people how cruel honey is; and it eventually turned out they thought honey was made by putting bees in a centrifuge and spinning them around until they threw up.

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Michael Warburton @michaelwarburton.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

They were called RECORD STORES - and back in the day you could meet your favourite Artist and they’d sign your album or single. PRINCE at Sam Goody - NYC in 1988

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Not only are there conservative faculty, they’ve created whole shadow-universities beginning in the mid-80s, where conservative students can get the same degree without having their dogma challenged. Saw it at Yale, 1987-91, and sure it’s everywhere else too.

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Looking forward to the vitamins and workout regimen RFK Jr recommends for this

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Michael Gerber, bon vivant @michaelgerber.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

I have been watching right-wingers try to be funny for over fifty years and can I please be excused now

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Reposted by Michael Gerber, bon vivant

Matt Zoller Seitz @mattzollerseitz.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

The Batman pilot was on tonight. Hard to explain how radical this was when it premiered. The counterculture humor, the wild visuals, the tilted camera, and that theme song! This may have been the first TV series where the style drove everything else.

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