Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Toby Bartels

@tobybartels.bsky.social

560 followers 180 following 3K posts

Probably the only anglophone Toby Bartels. They/them. Mathematics instructor at a community college in Nebraska. Tolstoyan ex-Catholic. 🏴🚩🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ https://mathstodon.xyz/@TobyBartels/

mathstodon.xyz

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 22m

Me too, but public opinion is the aggregate of all of the ‘just some guy’s out there, so it matters.

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 40m

Not at all. Here's their board of directors. A bunch of CEOs and EVPs, not a single journalist. It's not clear from their bios whether any of these has *ever* been a journalist. www.newsmediaalliance.org/about-us/boa...

2024-2026 News/Media Alliance Board of Directors | News/Media Alliance

www.newsmediaalliance.org

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 44m

it's an organization of the *owners* of commercial news media, not the journalists or the readers. I'm sure they're only too happy with someone who defunds the nonprofit alternative.

1 1

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 1h

Yeah, there's probably an argument that this particular prisoner shouldn't have access to this particular app. But tons of ordinary prisoners would be (and in many cases are) devastated to lose access to their friends and family on Facebook.

1 4

Reposted by Toby Bartels

Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 17h

My gosh. After the US bombed multiple boats in the middle of the ocean, murdering people on grounds that they were allegedly "carrying drugs," the US Attorney General says "Just like we did with cartels, we're going to take the same approach, President Trump, with Antifa."

270 1.2K 3.1K

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 11h

According to the ending of Solo A Star Wars Story, he provided funding.

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 13h

… Then knowing the answer, I had the calculator do it directly, and it was correct. This is an app that I did nothing to seek out; Google just preinstalled it. I'm not sure what the lesson here is; maybe it's just that 64-bit floating point is obsolete.

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 13h

I found this using the built-in calculator in my phone. I didn't trust it to do it directly; but since it's happy to handle 23-digit integers (and longer), I used multiplication and subtraction to find the reference angle (and the quadrant) and then took the sine of that. …

1 1

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 13h

I believe Maple 6 is correct.

1 1

Reposted by Toby Bartels

The New Republic @newrepublic.com · 15h

It may be hard for Trump to get convictions, but winning in court isn’t his aim; it never has been in the past. trib.al/zlf5Pde

Trump’s instinct is to follow the money. He will target “individual and institutional funders, and officers and employees of organizations" to scare them into complacency.

How Trump Became the Ringmaster of Left-Wing Violence

He’s goading bad actors on the left to give him a reason to harass his law-abiding critics.

trib.al

11 40 66

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 14h

She's heard that in a congressional hearing. www.npr.org/2025/05/20/n...

DHS secretary misstates meaning of habeas corpus under Senate scrutiny

Facing sharp questioning from Democratic lawmakers, the director of Homeland Security incorrectly described the constitutional right as a presidential authority to deport individuals.

www.npr.org

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 19h

The amendment that they approved last year is the ‘Article 1 Section 36’ that would be repealed here. Not that you would have any idea from the surrounding text!

2 1

Reposted by Toby Bartels

Garnet Henderson @garnethenderson.com · 22h

This is absurd. What the amendment would actually do is ban abortion and youth gender-affirming care. Are you getting that… at all from this ballot language? missouriindependent.com/2025/10/07/m...

“Shall the Missouri Constitution be amended to:

Guarantee women’s medical care for emergencies, ectopic pregnancies, and miscarriages;
Ensure women’s safety during abortions;
Ensure parental consent for minors;
Repeal Article I, section 36, approved in 2024; allow abortions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies, rape, and incest;
and Prohibit sex-change procedures for children?”

3 42 75

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 20h

Certain people will say that the name looks Jewish. (I don't think it is though.)

Reposted by Toby Bartels

Alt CDC (they/them) @altcdc.altgov.info · 1d

It’s flu season! Get your shot today 💉

🔗 getmyflushot.org

💉💚💉

(Remember when “get your flu shot” came with great PSAs instead of conspiracy threads?)

This was SUCH a great campaign from the CDC. It’s the Wild to mild vaccine. This poster shows a tiger and a cute little cat. The wording says “A flu vaccine can take flu from Wild to mild”
More info here about this fabulous campaign: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/whats-new/2023-2024-new-campaign-wild-to-mild.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fflu-resources%2Fphp%2Fshareable-resources%2Findex.html

21 110 460

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 1d

They wouldn't happen to be at Bernie's, would they?

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 1d

And the headline so important they printed it twice!

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 1d

I hope he means it.

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 1d

That's wild. I could completely understand a quiz where you're given *written* words and asked to identify which sound the letter makes (based on the following letter or a cedilla). It's as if she's giving you a quiz that was meant to be done with written words but using spoken words instead.

1 1

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 1d

(By ‘here’ I mean the alt text in Aaron's post, which includes more of Trump's post than is shown in the picture.)

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 1d

Is this the guy who said ‘I served in Vietnam’ when he should have said ‘I served [stateside] during the Vietnam War’? If so, I remember thinking that he was being deliberately deceptive in how he phrased things; but at the same time, if it is the same guy, Trump is wildly exaggerating here.

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 1d

She thinks that people will confuse the sounds because they're both spelt with ⟨c⟩ in Portuguese?

1 1

Reposted by Toby Bartels

Kelly @broadwaybabyto.bsky.social · 1d

It’s all well and good to tell patients they need to speak up.

Again it’s why I always say people need an advocate when they’re in the hospital.

But you can’t put that burden directly on them.

You can’t expect the average patient to know what’s normal & what’s not.

2 2 32

Reposted by Toby Bartels

Rudy wants revolution. @rude1.blacksky.team · 1d

I hear and see your concerns. Over the weekend, a couple users hosted on Blacksky's PDS were banned from the Bluesky app and thus the Bluesky API servers. This was a weakness of our system I've been aware of and hoped we had more time to address before any kind of public incident. 1/11

38 960 3.6K

Toby Bartels @tobybartels.bsky.social · 1d

Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

1 1 27