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Brian Vastag

@brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy
120 followers 13 following 2.1K posts

Former science reporter. Occasional SCUBA diver. East side, Kaua‘i 🌉 bridged from ⁂ mas.to/@brianvastag, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 14h
That's my senator. #AI www.civilbeat.org/2026/10/schatz-pu…
civilbeat.org
Schatz Pushes AI Oversight As Tech Goes Rogue: ‘Humans In Control’
In an interview with Civil Beat, Hawaiʻi’s senior senator explains why Congress needs to set up AI safety rules now before something “horrifying” happens.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 15h
Airlines are expanding the first-class sections on airliners because they know us plebes enjoy walking past even more smug assholes on the way to the torture seats.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 16h
Here's a spot of good news: An ocean non-profit, Ho'omalue Ke Kai, is using a grant (not sure if it's federal or state) to replant hard corals knocked off their anchors at Koloa Landing, the most popular shore dive site on Kaua'i. Hurricane Lowell tore through the area four weeks ago and the […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 16h
I appreciate that LibreOffice exists, and I think I understand the limitations of FOSS, but whenever I use it I think, THE DREAM OF THE 90s IS STILL ALIVE IN LIBREOFFICE.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 18h
The new field of optogenetics won the Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine. Very cool technique to switch genes on and off with light. I recall I began writing about it sometime around 2004 and had a bunch of conversations with one of its inventors, Karl Deisseroth - now a Nobel winner. I […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026
Flipping through 5 NFL games: Ad, ad, penalty, injury, ad. The product is garbage and people keep watching in huge numbers.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026
Mexico's keeper has made two big mistakes. Dos a cero to the US! 🇺🇸 -🇲🇽 Cavan Sullivan becomes the youngest US men's team player to score at 17 and a few days old. We have a full-blown youth movement. #USvsMX #soccer #futbol
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 04/10/2026
Got an evite from someone who's contacts I would be in but don't have any regular contact with. The event name was plausible...clicking seems risky though. Are evites still, like, a thing?
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2026
Caturday rest day. #cats #caturday
Close up of a gray cat's face. She has green eyes and is lying on a multi-color quilt.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2026
I miss instapaper, which was a great way to send long articles to my e-reader. I mean it still exists but it's now a paid subscription to send articles to an e-reader Anything else out there that doesn't require self-hosting or lots of setup? #reading #ereaders
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2026
Hawaii News Now gave a Japanese fossil fuel company (Jira) an hour of free PR to push their hugely expensive natural gas terminal & electric plant in Hawaii - which we absolutely do not need. Wondering if the supposed news station did this for free or if they got paid for it. Wouldn't be […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 03/10/2026
Welp someone accidentally brought a giant centipede into the infusion center and all of the nurses fled while the guy (husband of a patient) who brought it in stomped on it. He said it was on his neck. In these situations the, uh, centipede carrier usually gets pinched hard. It was absolutely […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026
All of English football and relations between the UAE and the UK are teetering on the edge of madness and collapse because a Portuguese dude sent a phishing email to an executive at Man City Football Club, who clicked the link. That click led to the hacker publishing extensive evidence of the […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026
Welp, looks like PM Burnham is well and truly fucked as he says everyone should please please think of the sheihks and all of the billions they poured into the UK before anyone punishes their sham football club too much. (I paraphrase.) So does he satisfy his UAE paymasters? Or does he see the […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026
I am so happy to not be terminally online or whatever. Hadn't heard about this story that apparently dominated other platforms for a few days. It's about a queer bar that had a strict mask requirement and then dropped it for one night a week. Without social media, what happens to this story? […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026
Years ago after another botched lethal injection, an anesthesiologist friend of mine said based on what he read and his extensive knowledge, he was close to 100% sure the IV was not inserted properly and the drugs were delivered intramuscularly, which he said would cause some of the worst pain […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 02/10/2026
We've had a bit of rain as we get mashed by the tail end of Hurricane/Tropical Storm Nolo. Someone I know went surfing here recently and immediately got sick. Surfers I tells ya...they look at dismal water quality reports, then look at the waves and go...yeah a […] [Original post on mas.to]
National weather service 24-hour rainfall totals for Kauai showing 2-9 inches around the island.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026
I think the ABS system should be embodied by a Dalek standing behind the ump. #baseball
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 01/10/2026
It was always going to end with Ronaldo taking his ball and his private jet and going home. 🇵🇹 men's team is better without him anyway. Dude should've called it after the World Cup. #soccer
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026
How exciting. A beisbol team just won a playoff game with a successful challenge of a ball that was actually a strike as decided by a robot. 🙃
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026
Some autoantibodies against neuronal targets found in people with #LongCovid but no specific signature....it's heterogeneous. Not surprised at all by this finding. ME/CFS and long covid have an autoimmune component but they are not classic autoimmune diseases like MS or myasthenia gravis, which […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026
Most impressive US men's soccer players tonight against Chile (game isn't quite over): Sebastian Berhalter & Gio Reyna. Bodes well going forward. They'll be part of the core for this next four years. #USMNT #soccer #sports
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 30/09/2026
There is now a Women in Vertical Media trade group. Is a tall sculpture a vertical medium? I feel like I've seen a lot of women in those. variety.com/2026/biz/news/women-in-…
variety.com
Women in Vertical Media Advocacy Organization Launches in Los Angeles
A group of women working in the microdrama arena have launched Women in Vertical Media, an advocacy organization.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026
I don't really follow Premier League but it looks like Manchester City became a big club by financially cheating to the tune of a billion dollars & while doing so inflated the player transfer market, won some league titles, gobbled up lots of oil state money and then proceeded to try to block […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026
And now the Kaua'i Shrimp Company is out of business because a hurricane damaged their operation and there are no federal funds available for businesses. State and county funds can't make up for that. Lowell was much less damaging than Iniki (1992) but the ongoing economic damage is devastating […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026
Oh no. They're replacing a real actor with James Corden on a show I really like, Dept Q. Haven't we suffered enough?? #TV collider.com/dept-q-netflix-season-…
collider.com
Netflix's 88% RT Crime Thriller Is Officially Changing Its Best Character for Season 2
The absence of a fan-favorite character in Netflix's Dept. Q could redefine the series when it returns for Season 2.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 29/09/2026
Just replied to a post from 344 days ago because what is time anyway.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 28/09/2026
Cool movie poster I saw in a restroom in Portland recently. You may or may not recognize the film. #film #posters #Portland
A red movie poster for "Guerre Stellari" that looks like an old western movie poster.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 27/09/2026
The other day I was on one of those flights with a four-hour sunset. #photos #sunset
A thin line of orange and yellow with dark blue above and darker blue below in a sunset photo from an airliner.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026
Watched "Good Luck Have Fun Don't Die" on a plane yesterday. Knew very little about it going in and absolutely loved it. More films like this please. It wasn't perfect but the writing & acting carried it. #movies
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 26/09/2026
The owner of my go-to coffee shop on Kaua'i says business is about 10-20% of pre-Hurricane Lowell numbers. FEMA did not declare a disaster for the county (I just checked their website) so small businesses don't have any federal aid. So many people are losing their […] [Original post on mas.to]
Screenshot from FEMA website showing two tropical storm-related disaster declarations for Hawaii recently...storms Lala and Noll but not Lowell, which impacted Kauai.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 25/09/2026
Just toured the North American Bigfoot Center in Boring, Oregon. Wasn't boring at all! Can't say my skepticism has diminished but I was impressed by some of the evidence, such as the Sasquatch Pheromone Chip (phewwwweeeeee). 🫈 Eight bucks and an hour well spent. Five big toes up. #Oregon #cryptids
A large hairy cryptid model under a sign saying North American Bigfoot Center.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 24/09/2026
Well clearly I am not a good planner because every Amtrak from Portland to Seattle is sold out tomorrow & Saturday except for late night trains. Didn't think that happened much. #amtrak
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 24/09/2026
I'm sure Alex Gibney's documentary about EM is very good but I can't imagine any circumstance in which I would want to devote four hours of my life to see that asshole's face on a screen. I'll read the summaries. #documentary #Musk
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Reposted by Brian Vastag
George Monbiot @georgemonbiot.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Here's today's column on the astonishing, ongoing mistreatment of people with #ME/CFS. Please spread it far and wide: the only thing which can break the media's wall of indifference is seeing an article about the issue go viral. Thank you. 1/2 www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
theguardian.com
Abandoned, dismissed and gaslighted: there is no excuse for the way ME sufferers have been betrayed | George Monbiot
Changes in guidance and science seem to have little impact on millions of devastated lives. It’s a social crisis playing out behind closed doors, says Guardian columnist George Monbiot
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026
Banks let you do everything online except cancel a credit card because of course they do. They rightly figure many people will give up on hold as the Toledo Kazoo Orchestra plays "Breezin'" for the sixteenth time.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026
Staying at a hipster hotel in Portland that used to be an elementary school. Every room is named for a book. I got The Stand. It's like they know me. So...Superflu it is. Sorry, everyone. #Portland #StephenKing #TheStand
A painting depicting The Stand. An older Black woman is in foreground on a rocking chair with a guitar. Randall Flagg & Las Vegas lurk behind with a chess board in the middle.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026
Kaua'i-Portland flight I'm finishing up is almost empty. Haven't seen a plane this lightly filled for decades. About a dozen people in coach. First class full of upgraded passengers. All the island's visitors left in the days after Hurricane Lowell. #travel #flying
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 23/09/2026
Thanks to the fine Canadian Mastodonians who encouraged me to watch "North of North." It's the perfect lite & easy show to binge on a long plane ride. Currently watching Walrus Dick Baseball. 😂 #Canada #CBC #TV
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2026
Thirty Meter Telescope rejects Canary Islands site. I'm not surprised...that site is much lower than the preferred site and would allow something like 25% less science. It's Hawai'i or nothing. As a Hawai'i resident, I constantly hear people talking about diversifying the state economy away […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2026
In true Hawaii fashion, the state invested billions in a mass transit system that has been under construction for 13 (I think) years but still hasn't figured out how to build new housing and mixed-use developments around the stations. And many of the stations are ripe for development or […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2026
RE: mstdn.social/@Mediagazer/1173157407… The media blackout lasted a day. Longer than I would've guessed.
mstdn.social
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2026
I will be in an airplane over the Pacific Ocean tomorrow at 5:04pm Pacific Daylight Time, which is when the axis of the Earth will be pointed straight up (perpendicular) in relation to the plane of its orbit around the sun, aka the autumnal (for us northern hemisphereans) equinox. Not saying […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 22/09/2026
I usually watch sportsball with a VPN set to Canada so I get ads for Canuck shows like "North of North," which looks like a wacky Nunavut sitcom with actors I don't recognize and Chloe from "24" and now I want to watch it. #Canada
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2026
Heidi wouldn't eat dry food last night but gobbled up a can of wet food so I figured she had a sore tooth. This morning she crunched up all of the dry food I gave her. WAS SHE PRETENDING TO HAVE A TOOTHACHE JUST TO GET A CAN OF WET FOOD??? (Photo: Said cat hanging […] [Original post on mas.to]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 21/09/2026
Stephen Spielberg was rocking a black KN95 at the opening of the Lucas Museum last night. (Just happens to be my first choice mask for many situations too.)
Screenshot of a video of Stephen Spielberg holding a microphone while wearing a suit and a KN95 mask.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 20/09/2026
Hurricane Lowell knocked a million avocados off trees in Kaua'i so we need help eating them all. kauainownews.com/2026/09/19/kaua%CA…
kauainownews.com
Kauaʻi has been seeing green after Hurricane Lowell knocked down thousands of avocado trees | Kauai Now
But Kauaʻiʻs unexpected agricultural bounty that started as a devastating challenge was turned into a community-wide, guacamole-fueled bonding experience called the Guac-Off.
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 19/09/2026
UPS Second-Day Air is not guaranteed, does not count Saturdays or Sundays (so a Friday ship date = a Tuesday delivery) except that sometimes they deliver these on Saturday, so then that day will count as one of the two days. 🙃
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 18/09/2026
I have so little sympathy for White House political editors and reporters. Some of them do good work. Most of them have helped us get to this moment of extreme peril for our county. Ten thousand stories about Biden's age. Normalizing every broken law and norm. Going about as if everything is […]
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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.mas.to.ap.brid.gy · 18/09/2026
I tried to watch "Ghost in the Machine," on Independent Lens (PBS), about the dangers of LLMs/AI. It looked informative & well-made & features academic folks like Mastodon's Emily Bender. My problem with it is someone decided to label every (or nearly every) scene "AI" or "NO AI" and stamped […]
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