iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 28/06/2025

I have a mastodon.social account from like 2018 I never used and I was going to migrate this account (server is shuttering) to that one but when I logged onto mastodon.social I got this so I guess I won't.

Mastodon mascot saying "We're sorry but something went wrong on our end."

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 27/06/2025

A day with a dip in the ocean is better than one without. Also, this rock says hello.

A bleach in Hawaii with a prominent lava rock in the foreground.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 25/06/2025

She's just trying to spectate a cat fight in the yard below. Pretty good yowly slap fight going on with the neighborhood furballs.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 22/06/2025

Bezos made a perfect Heidi-sized box give him all the world's money.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 22/06/2025

This is like her 12th day in this box, she's never loved a box so much. Thanks Bezos, you deserve a trillion dollars. #cats

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 22/06/2025

Voggy on Kona side of Big Island today. Recent lava fountains of 1000+ feet.

Screenshot from Purple Air showing high PM2.5 readings on wear side of Hawaii island.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 19/06/2025

Airplane ears as an airplane flies over the house. Imitation? #cats

A gray cat lying on a sofa making airplane ears.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 16/06/2025

She's mad because I said this was her new profile pic. #cats

A gray cat sitting up showing lots of belly.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 15/06/2025

The parade was an absolute failure, no EM-50 Urban Assault Vehicle.

The em-50 from "Stripes" with Bill Murray and Harold Ramis sitting against its front tire.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 14/06/2025

Here's the other cat, Heidi, queen of the box.

A gray cat sitting in a small Amazon box.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 14/06/2025

My friend accused me of loving my other cat more than this one. It's true that the other cat has pretty privilege but Lele here will always be a permakitten (6.5 pounds) and gets almost as many pets. #caturday

Lele looking sad because someone said she's not my favorite.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 12/06/2025

Awkward! June 14 is No Kings Day, except here where it is the King's Parade Day. Oops! (The annual parade celebrates Hawaiian monarch King Kamehameha.) www.gohawaii.com/islands/kaua%CA%BB…

Flyer for King's Day parade on Kauai for June 14.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 07/06/2025

I am unimpressed with your non-meat drink. Plants are for losers. #cats #caturday

Gray cat looking unimpressed with my blueberry smoothie.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 03/06/2025

Happy #pride month from the stoplight parrotfish. They're born both male and female but often a female will become male if there aren't enough males around. And some of those males become...SUPERMALE and grow large while maintaining a reproducing harem […] [Original post on sciencemastodon.com]

Photo of a green blue and red stoplight parrotfish (male).

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 31/05/2025

oh, just learned if I click the little recycle icon next to the Eiffel Tower it cycles through other comparisons.... so this is more impressive.

Same screenshot showing the system has produced enough power for 3 months of mobile phone usage.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 31/05/2025

I'm super-chuffed that today my rooftop PV system has produced enough power for three minutes of Eiffel Tower lighting. 😂 There's a bit of a scale mismatch here...if Enphase wanted me to be pumped it should tell me how many years of battery life I've produced for my TV remote. #solar #PV

Screenshot of Enphase solar monitoring app showing my system has produced 8.83 kWh of power today, enough to power the Eiffel Tower for three minutes.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 31/05/2025

My cat Heidi ate a twitching lizard tail...she got a snack, the rest of the lizard escaped, and I didn't have to scoop up a gross thing, so win-win-win? #caturday

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 30/05/2025

Now this is an air quality map I can endorse.

A map of Kauai from Purple Air showing 0 PM 2.5 readings.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 30/05/2025

I am laughing at this listing of a house in my neighborhood being a "hot property." It's been on and off the market for a year, is old and worn, it's way overpriced, and has had several price drops. The only profession with more BS than real estate is politics. #RealEstate

Homes.com listing for a Hawaii vacation rental for $2,199,000.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 28/05/2025

Short hike to a short waterfall (Ho'opi'i). I've been on Kauai almost 11 years and yesterday was my first time on this trail. Before I got sick, hiking was my favorite nature activity so I'm happy to be able to do a bit of it now. #Hawaii #hiking #nature

Lush stream bed with a woman on the trail, back to camera, taking her own photos.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 25/05/2025

I get a monthly prescription delivered on ice and have accumulated a million of these which my friend just pointed out I can use as plant food. I have no idea how she knows this because I didn't notice anything. #gardening

Photo of a "nutri ice" gel pack that can be used as plant food.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 19/05/2025

Perpetual motion machine. (Oh god I have to put /s here don't I or else someone will think I'm serious.) These panels might produce 1-2 kw at full power, and the battery on a Lightning is up to 145 kilowatt hours so...yeah that's a real trickling […] [Original post on sciencemastodon.com]

A gray F150 Lightning electric truck outfitted with standard rooftop solar panels.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 16/05/2025

I will wait until tomorrow before sending this to her.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 15/05/2025

Back on the island after 10 days away and even though I've been here a decade+, after every return I feel my body relax. I have this little routine of getting poke and enjoying it with this view. #Hawaii

A bowl of ahi poke with the ocean and southern mountains of Kauai in the background.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 14/05/2025

The building in the back is, I've been told, the tallest timber-built skyscraper in the world. If you zoom in your can see the wooden columns. Milwaukee, Wis. #architecture #building

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 12/05/2025

Today is the #MillionsMissing protest at the Capitol building in DC, with chronically ill & #disabled people demanding that Congress save our support systems. I think there were plans to livestream it but I can't find any broadcasts […] [Original post on sciencemastodon.com]

Beth Mazur wearing a red Millions MIssing shirit and holding up a piece of paper saying she has had myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome for 9 years and it has prevented her from living anything like a full and rich life.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 10/05/2025

awww look they're touching paws during a brief ceasefire

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 10/05/2025

I am traveling and missing these two furballs. Here's a rare pic of them tolerating each other's existence. #caturday

A gray cat and an orange tabby sit on my lap.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 09/05/2025

I'm cleaning out decades of stuff from my parents' house (they're still with us but moving to an apartment) and taking pictures and then tossing most of it. This one is pretty funny. 🧠

A school achievement award for yearbook journalism given to...Brain Vastag

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 08/05/2025

Well this is disappointing. Kobo ebook store seems to have (LLM-generated?) 'summaries' of Erik Larsen's latest book but not the book itself. #books

Screenshot of an ereader showing what I describe in the post.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 07/05/2025

Went to the Atomic Museum in Las Vegas yesterday when I unexpectedly found myself with time there. A smaller museum but I found it interesting...there's a theater that simulates being inside a nuclear blast. Well mildly simulates it I guess.

A photo of a replica of the Trinity gadget (first A bomb) and a quote from J Robert Oppenheimer: "The scientist is free and must be free to ask any question and doubt any assertion, to seek any evidence, to correct any errors."

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 06/05/2025

Found myself in Vegas last night due to flight delays and was shocked to discover it can rain here. Ended up at the former Hard Rock hotel, which no longer rocks. ❌🎸 #travel

rainy view of the Las Vegas strip with palm trees and a pool in the foreground

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 03/05/2025

The Princess and the Penzey's hug (that's the name of the blanket...from the spice company). #caturday

An orange tabby rests on a colorful blanket.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 22/04/2025

Um so I guess one of my microinverters from my PV system exploded? The serial number matches one of mine. The monitoring shows them all working though. Weird. #solar

a fragment of a piece of a solar panel microinverter. it's a black piece of plastic with a barcode and some branding from enphase energy.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 20/04/2025

Heidi when I told her dinner isn't for another 30 minutes. #sad #caturday

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 17/04/2025

Seems bad. (Reddit post says USDA lost access to scientific journals.)

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 16/04/2025

This was fun to see at the library today. I know Amanda a bit but she's not on Mastodon, and she doesn't have her Bluesky bridge turned on so I guess she'll never know the library here has her new book on display. It's about the right to abortion […] [Original post on sciencemastodon.com]

"You Must Stand Up" in hard back on display at a library.

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Brian Vastag @brianvastag.sciencemastodon.com.ap.brid.gy · 14/04/2025

I now pay for a few subs to individual writers instead of subbing to newspapers (where I used to work...well, they had a good run for two centuries) and Ted Gioia is probably my favorite. He's trenchant and draws on a deep well of knowledge of our culture […] [Original post on sciencemastodon.com]

Quote from Ted Gioia: "Can you really eliminate flesh-and-blood contact from every sphere of society without causing intense depersonalization? Can you really replace the human, lived world with data on flat screens without causing a comparable flattening of the users?"

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