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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press

@vertvoltapress.bsky.social
819 followers 651 following 7.9K posts

Imprints: Extra:Solar, Hinton Publishing. Run by Vlad Verano, Designer/Publisher; part-time bookseller. Moonlights as artist/illustrator/astromech. Latest book; THREE ALARM FIRE (Hinton) vertvolta-design-press.square.site/…

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Reposted by Vlad @ Vertvolta Press
John Picacio @johnpicacio.bsky.social · 4h
🧵 Attention, Fellow SFF Artists and Authors -- here is my response to Must Read Magazines, after they presented an Asimov's art contract expecting me to waive all Moral Rights and Copyright to my art. And, I would strongly advise the following to my fellow pros…. 1/
John Picacio’s response to Must Read Magazine’s request for his waiver of all Moral Rights and Copyright of his commissioned art for an ASIMOV’S assignment. Short version — Picacio says a resounding NOPE.
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Jessica Pishko @jesspish.bsky.social · 2h
Personally, I think people are fed up with Democrats because they have refused to say things are unjust or immoral. They say, it's against the rule of law. Why can't someone just be a person and say, hey, killing children is immoral.
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 1h
This is what’s killing me on a 57 degree cloudy day in Seattle on October 8th… You go to layer, because PNW weather, & forget to check humidity… Not normal
Screenshot from the weather app:
Humidity 
82%

The dew point is 52 degrees right now
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Dan Kaszeta FRHistS @dankaszeta.bsky.social · 7h
OK. This is darn near the coolest footage of anything I've seen.... ever.
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Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 5h
It's not so much that we need to be afraid of AI itself, it's that we are afraid of what most *men* want to do with it -- to us.
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 4h
There’s a SB near where i live that was recently redesigned to look like a wine bistro 😕
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John Scalzi @scalzi.com · 5h
Asimov's trying to grab all the rights to @donatoarts.bsky.social's work is egregious but it's not in isolation, either. Other publishers are attempting other rights grabs and restrictions that they weren't doing a couple of years ago. Why? Because fuck you, that's why. Remember the power of "no."
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 15h
Turns out (eavesdropping at the “dive” bar that he said he thought about buying [on a whim] ) he was dressing down a drunk employee; negging & gaslighting him to get answers on whether other employees talked shit about him (unfortunate staff : desperately denying gossip) 🙃🙃🙃
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 16h
I decided to donate to her campaign.
bgp4az.com
Bernadette for Congress | Arizona's 8th Congressional District
Meet Bernadette, Democratic candidate for Arizona's 8th Congressional District, fighting for working families and a stronger future.
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Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 16h
Glad to see Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) take on surveillance pricing! I just saw this ad on TV. This should be as galvanizing as Flock and data centers this election cycle.
youtu.be
Data Exploitation
YouTube video by Mark Warner For Virginia
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Rebecca Solnit @rebeccasolnit.bsky.social · 16h
Check all boxes relating to violence against women.
Guardian headlines today: 
EpsteinGoldsmith-01
Jeffrey Epstein
British billionaire warned Epstein was a ‘sexual deviant’ decades before FBI closed in on the abuser
USLeon Botstein resigns from Bard roles as key Democrat demands investigation into Epstein links
Black-and-white image of Donald Trump staring sternly at the camera in a corridor
Donald Trump
Democrats sue to stop Trump from using taxpayer funds for self-promoting ads
4h ago
Donald TrumpTrump backs away from top aides who reportedly advised pro-Russia government
Trump administrationEU drops sponsorship of disinformation conference at Trump officials’ request
Pete Hegseth speaks at a presidential podium outdoors in a navy suit
US military
Hegseth tells USS Lincoln sailors controversial deployment ‘wasn’t easy’
8h ago
‘It’s been hard’Families await the return of the USS Abraham Lincoln
a woman stands at a lectern
Arizona
Arizona congressional candidate says she was raped while trying to repair campaign sign
7h ago
Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Texas, on 7 October 2026.
Trump administration
Donald Trump’s Texas rally rocked by repeated protests
49m ago
Patricia Krenwinkel, former Manson follower, granted parole for third time
The 78-year-old has spent nearly six decades in prison and California governor has overturned last two parole grants
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 16h
What’s eerie is that some asshole created a dataset based in this that they fed into some proto-AI, & in 2026 all the ai companies have scraped this thread as truth 😬
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High Priestess, Low Patience @cheriepriest.com · 19h
If you ever read my book THE FAMILY PLOT then you know *precisely* how amazingly shitty this is 👇👎
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 16h
I can firsthand attest to the phenomenon of dirtbag millionaires here in Seattle; shitty rich dudes who dress down, talk money shit & tip badly (& badly run their businesses)
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 16h
So much LOL so much yikes 😬
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 16h
All the atrocities happening during trump 2.0, & most Dems just sat In their offices & made speeches in D.C. when THIS is what we needed (& still do) from everyone who represents us. Front lines or gtfo
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Paolo Bacigalupi @paolobacigalupi.bsky.social · 20h
Worth reading in its entirety. This is why authors need to not just read a contract but think hard about the implications of the language. I myself admit I haven't looked hard at this particular clause in my contracts in quite some time.
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David Dayen @ddayen.bsky.social · 18h
NEWS: A federal judge has ordered DHS to return Ahmed Soliman to the United States, 5 months after he was expelled to Equatorial Guinea, where he has no ties. The decision that could have implications for thousands of others subjected to the Trump administration’s 3rd-country removal scheme.
prospect.org
Federal Judge Rules DHS Must Bring Back Gay Arizona Man Imprisoned in Africa - The American Prospect
A Trump-apppointed judge ordered Ahmed Soliman must be returned to the United States.
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Jessica Ellis @baddestmamajama.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I feel like we don’t talk about millennials in particular, hitting our 40s - in earlier generations many of us would be reaching the peak of our careers, but because of disaster after disaster, locust after locust eating our industries, many of us are on our 3rd or 4th fresh start.
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 17h
Oh, so a paid advertisement? 🤔🫠
Screen shot from the note at the end of the article.
Text: 

Editor's note: Yoodli is a client of GeekWire's
GeekWork recruiting business.
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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 18h
oh look a company that will help you, the CEO, get rid of human trainers like all "AI" companies, Yoodli (lol fy) underestimates the role of intuition and human relations in so-called low-skilled jobs, and underestimates how much EVERYONE hates having AI wedged into their already soul-sucking jobs
geekwire.com
Yoodli’s next act: AI that can teach workers almost any job skill
The startup known for AI practice sessions for sales pitches and job interviews is launching tools that build training courses, coach employees during meetings and track whether skills improve. The co...
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gamera obscura october edition @ohrobin.bsky.social · 18h
The term “stochastic terrorism” was like background static during Trump’s first term. It was the go-to phrase for every two-bit commentator in the country. But that doesn’t make it less correct, then or now.
scientificamerican.com
How Stochastic Terrorism Uses Disgust to Incite Violence
Pundits are weaponizing disgust to fuel violence, and it’s affecting our humanity
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 17h
This was just recently reissued: bookshop.org/p/books/unde...
bookshop.org
Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See
A muckraking history of San Diego that covers the city’s historically recent shift from politically conservative to politically progressive while also outlining a new cast of right-wing villains and t...
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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 18h
"right now is not the time" to ever, ever, ever try anything different than the one thing we have always, always, always done mynorthwest.com/kiro-opinion...
mynorthwest.com
'Right now is not the time': Ursula rejects shifting Seattle police funds for arts and culture - MyNorthwest.com
More than 115 Seattle arts and cultural organizations have signed an open letter asking the city council to move $8 million of a proposed police budget increase into arts and culture programs.
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Ali Trotta @alwayscoffee.bsky.social · 22h
Darlings, this is predatory behavior. You should not be approached with this kind of ask. It’s red flags all the way down.
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The Spaceshipper 🚀 @thespaceshipper.com · 22h
According to MIT News, Margaret Hamilton died at the age of 90. "A profoundly influential computer scientist best known for leading the software engineering team at MIT’s Instrumentation Lab during NASA’s Apollo program". This famous photo 🔽 inspired the For All Mankind character Margo Madison.
Margaret Hamilton, but the famous 1969 photo that inspired the For All Mankind character Margo Madison is in the quoted post.
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Emily C. Hughes @emilyhughes.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
it was important for me to call this out. King, though I love him, has been getting away with nakedly hateful fatphobia for half a century now and the majority of readers seem to have handwaved it, but I can't. (a shout out to @megelison.bsky.social, though, who's been banging this drum for years)
And King has never created a fat character he didn’t insist on treating as a disgusting spectacle. In “Other Worlds Than These,” there’s a particularly insulting episode concerning a family of fat people; King seems to take perverse pleasure in commenting on their “elephantine thighs” and “huge rolls of flesh.” Jack speculates that the family’s front porch “must have been specially reinforced to take the combined weight of such behemoths,” and when the daughter attempts to rape and kill him in his bed that night, she “lands on him like a truck falling off a jack,” breaking the bed frame. I wonder if it has ever occurred to King that fat people read his books, too.
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Elizabeth Spiers @espiers.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
She’s so stupid but this is grounds for every old school Italian New Yorker to go whadda fuck you talkin about that’s il tricolore!
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Anil Dash @anildash.com · 23h
PUT MORE COPILOT ON IT
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Melissa Gira Grant @melissagiragrant.com · 07/10/2026
reading this, recalling how quickly the killing of Minnesota Rep. Melissa Hortman slipped out of the news
phoenixnewtimes.com
Congressional candidate is raped while repairing her campaign signs
Embarrassed, she initially didn’t want to report attack. Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office's investigation is ongoing.
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 23h
From the classic musical, Nibbler on the Roof
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PacoOnPause @pacoonpause.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
It's 2026 and doctors are recommending handwashing as a way to prevent inhaling airborne viruses.
three panel comic:

panel 1: guy on bike with stick in his hand and the caption says: I'm a doctor

panel 2: guy on bike putting stick into his wheel spokes with the caption: Protect yourself from airborne viruses with lasting health consequences by washing your hands 

panel 3: guy on ground in pain holding his knee because his bike crashed with the caption: Why is my ER full
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⛧ tay ⛧ @neuroticnymph.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
damn we have tokens? would’ve used mine on a cool prize before they “expired” if i had known
bluesky vibe coding fuckin it up screenshot:

“Not Found
Token has expired
9 Try again”more bluesky vibe coding fuckin it up:

=→ Discover feeds
Failed to load feeds preferences
Token has expired
Suggested accounts
For You
Art
Video Games
Failed to load suggested follows
Token has expired
Sports
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
How many Palestinians have died since then, NPR? You can fit that into this post.. c’mon you can do it! 😑
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gamera obscura october edition @ohrobin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The state failed to kill her, critically injured her, and still cannot bring itself to unshackle her. At what point does the barbarism of the retributive punishment outweigh the barbarism of the initial crime? Sorry, rhetorical question. Abolish the death penalty.
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Owen Dennis: Infinity Train/Among Us Show creator @owendennis.com · 07/10/2026
I wish people understood that TV writers: 1. *Have* actually thought more about this than even the most die hard fan. 2. Are beholden to time, money, and owner constraints that fans will never be aware of. 3. Are extremely likely to already be aware of any critiques because (see 1) but (see 2)
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
The most fucked up thing about this is that cop-thug tactics are in line with what’s been taught in the US—European cops used to be a bit less shitty, but now, they are all-in with their tactical gear & surplus war weapons …
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
So much of the every-day was hidden by the secrets act; Foyles war literally couldn’t exist in the 90s. (Ps: Germany had a similar reveal, this BLITZED by Norman Ohler; a must-read)
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
I realized, watching the series for the first time last year, it’s popularity was based heavily on the UK de-classifying the majority of WW2 files around the time this show was made. It’s why it’s still popular to this day; writers like Ben McIntyre (love) also made do of this declassifying
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Looks sexier with alt-text
Weirdly green background with black tect on a grid [why? Being “authentic”? Lol]
Text:

IF YOU EVER FEEL HEAVY
BECAUSE YOU CARE DEEPLY ABOUT INJUSTICE, SUFFERING AND ECOLOGICAL DESTRUCTION, REMEMBER THAT A TRILLION DOLLAR PROPAGANDA MACHINE WAS BUILT TO MAKE YOU NUMB AND IT DIDN'T WORK ON YOU
- [at sign] DEARTHLY GUY
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Victor Marx is going to have trouble with Gravity, one day just out of the blue, deciding that he’s anomalous.
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Whyyyy is Cory Booker?!? Snively McCentrist
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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
God everything is so DUMB.
United States
Attorney's Office
Southern District of New York

PRESS RELEASE
North Carolina Man Sentenced To 18 Months In Prison For Super Intelligence-Assisted
Music Streaming Fraud
Tuesday, October 6, 2026
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 07/10/2026
“The case shows how a car app designed to make drivers' lives more convenient can be turned into a tool of abuse. And too often, car manufacturers haven’t built in protections that would prevent their vehicles from enabling harassment.”
forbes.com
How A Man Used A BMW App To Terrorize His Ex-Wife
A domestic abuse survivor’s ex-husband used his access to her BMW’s connected smartphone app to open car doors and windows, start the engine and track her location. She claims BMW didn’t help.
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Brett Hamil @bretthamil.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Here in Seattle, candidates routinely win when Amazon overplays their hand. In 2019 AMZ dumped $1.5M into city council elections, doubling their PAC $$ from 2015. Progressives screamed about it, fomented a backlash & AMZ ended up losing 5 out of 7 races. & Musk is 1000x more hated than AMZ
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Vlad @ Vertvolta Press @vertvoltapress.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Most watched video on Gornhub
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Mike Nellis @mikenellis.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Brilliant video from Kansas Governor Laura Kelly talking about her "constituent" Zach Lahn, the Republican running for governor of IOWA who actually lives in Kansas. One of the most brutal political owns I've ever seen. Kudos to all involved.
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Matt Binder @mattbinder.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
the tech industry is about to invent books
Andrew Yeung 
@andruyeung
X.com
We created gyms because modern day work no
longer required physical activity. Without exercise,
our muscles atrophy.
I predict we'll need gyms for our brains too, once Al
starts doing our knowledge work.
10:53 PM • 10/4/26 • 1.3M Views
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paulpro @mariopro.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
https://www.instagram.com/goattoself?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&stkn=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
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Denice (Dee), the Red Witch @deetheredwitch.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
You want to see the Nightmare Triptych I spent weeks assembling, and check out the rest of the show featuring a bunch of local maskmaking artists? THE OPENING IS THIS SATURDAY! WHERE: @pushpullseattle.bsky.social 2000 NW Market St, Seattle, WA 98107 When: 10/10, 6-9pm
Promo image with details for the Hide and Seek artistic wearable masks show.A minotaur maskA birdloke skull mask.A mask with brambles bound around the eyes.
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