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violetblue.bsky.social
Violet Blue®
@violetblue.bsky.social
18K followers 160 following 4.6K posts
Awarded author, journalist: cybersecurity, privacy, digital human rights, Covid. WIRED, PopSci, Spinoff, Engadget, FT, IFJ. Visiting Scholar at Stout Research Centre, NZ.

Bio: about.me/violetblue
Pod: linktr.ee/raisedbyhorror
News: patreon.com/violetblue
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violetblue.bsky.social
I will admit to being completely unprepared for "hot pope" memes
crobertcargill.bsky.social C. Robert Cargill @crobertcargill.bsky.social · 6h
What's from Chicago, hates Illinois Nazis, and is holy as fuck?

It's the Pope in 1982.
Exactly what it says on the label: The Pope in 1982. He's wearing a black hat, dark RayBans, and looks like he's a member of the Blues Brothers.
November 13, 2025 at 5:45 AM
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jfruh.bsky.social
incredible alt text on this one
crobertcargill.bsky.social C. Robert Cargill @crobertcargill.bsky.social · 6h
What's from Chicago, hates Illinois Nazis, and is holy as fuck?

It's the Pope in 1982.
Exactly what it says on the label: The Pope in 1982. He's wearing a black hat, dark RayBans, and looks like he's a member of the Blues Brothers.
November 13, 2025 at 2:29 AM
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eedapod.bsky.social
New episode todayyyy!

Homemade Isn’t Holy: Debunking the DIY Superiority Complex

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

eedapod.com/homemade-isn...
Homemade Isn't Holy: Debunking the DIY Superiority Complex
Podcast Episode · Enthusiastic Encouragement & Dubious Advice · 11/12/2025 · 25m
podcasts.apple.com
November 13, 2025 at 12:30 AM
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ericlawrence.com
fuck, security is hard man
November 12, 2025 at 11:04 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
BMA and Royal College of Nursing: "We yet again mark another year where the Government has failed to recognise Long COVID and severe post COVID-19 complications as an occupational disease in healthcare workers."

www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-ce... #LongCovid
‘Unconscionable’ that the Government has not recognised Long COVID as an occupational disease, warns BMA and RCN - BMA media centre - BMA
Press release from the BMA. 
www.bma.org.uk
November 12, 2025 at 10:45 PM
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redsage.bsky.social
Add this to the list of reasons to be uncomfortable with ChatGPT: the New York Times will be reading your chats to determine if you tried to get around their paywall. Just think of the fun ways your conversations can be shared to other potential plaintiffs! arstechnica.com/tech-policy/...
OpenAI slams court order that lets NYT read 20 million complete user chats
OpenAI: NYT wants evidence of ChatGPT users trying to get around news paywall.
arstechnica.com
November 12, 2025 at 8:31 PM
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edrabbit.bsky.social
The aurora was visible in Joshua Tree! You could even see it with your eyes, no camera necessary. I have so many photos to process and share! What a magical night running around the desert with my camera. I cant even begin to explain how happy I am.
A Joshua tree stands in the foreground in the desert with stars and the red glow of the Aurora behind it. Light clouds street the sky and multiple bright stars are seen dotting the sky, including Jupiter.
November 12, 2025 at 9:23 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
"During nighttime auroras you could see hundreds of old ghosts all over Wellington, but it was like they weren’t aware... just echoes of who they used to be.”

According to Ghost Hunter's Guide, if you see the faded tonight, they're "like very faint film images."

➡️ www.patreon.com/posts/chapte...
Mihi distracted me from freaking out by explaining we just needed to give a little scare now and then, or we’d fade away. According to lore passed through generations of the remaining Wellington ghost population, five days was the limit before disappearing completely. Some fades went fast. Some were gradual, over the course of a day or night. There were theories about what happened after that, but no one came back from it. Jun Li said that during nighttime auroras – and only if it was clear skies, which were rare on those nights – you could see hundreds of old ghosts all over Wellington, but it was like they weren’t aware of anything. He described them as very faint film images. Nutmeg said, “I think they’re just like… echoes of who they used to be.”
November 12, 2025 at 6:14 AM
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quarantegan.bsky.social
📣 Nov. 11's #ThreatModelCybersecurity: OpenAi scrapes Google Search, 🤦‍♀️ @ NYT, WaPo cyber-breached, & more 👩‍💻

Read, share, & support 𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙈𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙡 newsletters (𝘛𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴: #infosec, 𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴: #covid) & their author, investigative journalist @violetblue.bsky.social

www.patreon.com/posts/cybers...

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Cybersecurity: November 11, 2025 | Threat Model
Get more from Threat Model on Patreon
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November 12, 2025 at 5:36 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
The now, Wellington, Aotearoa NZ.
Selfie in front of a concrete wall with graffiti on that that reads Pay Here with an arrow pointing at me, I am wearing all black
November 12, 2025 at 4:11 AM
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paullecomtephoto.nz
As Corporal Jones would say "Don't panic, Mr. Mainwaring"

BUT holly #Aurora Alert Batman!

There's a big fuck off Aurora going off right now & for the next 24hrs. If this keeps up, it will visible from Auckland New Zealand after dark.

Moon doesn't rise till 2:45am tomorrow so no issue.
GOES magnetometer products are an integral part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) space weather operations, providing information on the general level of geomagnetic activity and permitting detection of magnetic storms and substorms. In addition, these measurements will be used to validate large-scale space environment models that will be added to SWPC operations in the future. Historically, the data have been presented in the E (earthward), P (parallel) and N (normal) coordinate system where: Hp: magnetic field vector component, points northward, perpendicular to the orbit plane which for a zero degree inclination orbit is parallel to Earth's spin axis. He: magnetic field vector component, perpendicular to Hp and Hn and points earthward. Hn: magnetic field vector component, perpendicular to Hp and He and points eastward. Ht: the total field. GOES 3-day Hp plot shows the 1-minute averaged parallel component of the magnetic field in nanoTeslas (nT), currently measured at GOES-13 (~75 degrees west geographic longitude) and GOES-15 (~135 degrees west geographic longitude). The longitudes can vary, so for any particular case it is important to check the satellite location. A diurnal variation is observed in these data as a result of magnetospheric currents systems that, at geosynchronous orbit, produce a stronger magnetic field on the dayside of Earth and weaker magnetic fields on the nightside. If these data drop to near zero, or less, when the satellite is on the dayside, it may be due to a compression of the Earth's magnetopause into the geosynchronous orbit boundaries, exposing satellites to negative and/or highly variable magnetic fields. On the nightside, the smaller field values indicate strong currents in the magnetotail that are often associated with the stretching and subsequent release of energy in Earths tail. Aurora Alert iPhone app showing the Aurora is going OFF Bz-33 is BONKERS, absolutely BONKERS Spaceweather live webpage showing the aurora data & forecast model maps. Anything with orange or red in it shows a massively intense storm, anything this size, given you can see aurora 1000km from the edge of the event will be visible across most of New Zealand forecast model showing this aurora is going to go for 2 days
November 12, 2025 at 2:09 AM
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johnmoe.bsky.social
Every element of this is comedic perfection.
antongerashchenko.bsky.social Anton Gerashchenko @antongerashchenko.bsky.social · 1d
Russia presented its human-like AI robot. It fell down as it walked onto the stage.
November 11, 2025 at 7:16 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
From THE GHOST HUNTER'S GUIDE TO THE ALPHABET, the first sentence plus a bonus *second* sentence.

Convincing you to read my novel by the first sentence. Share yours if you want!
A is for ANEMOI It had been every day since the election that I was screaming, screaming, crying and screaming through wet salty snot. On the inside. Right now, I was in a tight spot. I flexed my wrists against thick duct tape. I felt dirt and rocks Read it serialized here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/chapter-one-to-140312103
November 11, 2025 at 10:15 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
Yay, I love this show!
moryan.bsky.social Mo Ryan @moryan.bsky.social · 1d
🚨Deadloch heads: S2 of the Aussie crime satire/drama (it's good!) arrives on Amazon Prime March 20. Many chaotic Aussie weirdos return/debut. But HEADS UP they have added a Hemsworth (Luke)! This is not a drill! Kudos to the hair & costume team for this whole deal. www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/st...
Luke Hemsworth in S2 of the Amazon Prime drama Deadloch, with a lot of hair gel and an outdoorsman type of look -- green short sleeve shirt and logo of a croc hunting company Detectives Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami, left) and Dulcie Collins (Kate Box) are in Australia’s sweltering Top End, aka the Northern Territory, investigating the death of Eddie’s former policing partner, Bushy, in Season 2 of Deadloch. But when the body of a local icon is discovered in a remote town, they are flung into a sweatier, stickier, croc-ier crime case. (Most of this is from the Amazon Prime press release on S2)
November 11, 2025 at 9:45 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
New: OpenAI scraping Google search (wild privacy implications), former Trump lawyer now runs NSO Group (Pegasus spyware), FBI is targeting archive.is, license plate surveillance data used to hunt Texas women who have abortions, and more: www.patreon.com/posts/cybers...
Cybersecurity: November 11, 2025 | Threat Model
Get more from Threat Model on Patreon
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November 11, 2025 at 9:25 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
Right before what's expected to be the worst US flu season to date. Plus Covid. And RSV. And...
sahilkapur.bsky.social Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 2d
UPDATE: The Senate votes 53-47 to shoot down the Baldwin amendment to extend ACA funds for 1 year. A party-line vote with every Republican rejecting it.
sahilkapur.bsky.social Sahil Kapur @sahilkapur.bsky.social · 2d
An important vote in this series: Tammy Baldwin’s proposal to extend ACA expiring funds for 1 year. It’s structured as a motion to table (i.e. scrap it from the amendment tree). But it’ll show the appetite (or lack thereof) in the Senate to address this issue.
November 11, 2025 at 3:02 AM
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bgrueskin.bsky.social
Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...
I Want You to Understand Chicago Politics Chicago 2025-11-08 I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. “We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st. Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…
November 9, 2025 at 8:49 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
This is a five-alarm fire.

"Even as more Americans see armed military personnel in their neighborhoods... the administration has not sufficiently explained why."

"Some state National Guards have more firepower than the militaries of entire nations."

www.lawfaremedia.org/article/coun...
Counting the Boots: Tracking Domestic Deployments, One Missing Report at a Time
A monthlong effort to track domestic deployments revealed a troubling lack of transparency on why and how military forces are used on U.S. soil.
www.lawfaremedia.org
November 10, 2025 at 10:55 PM
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pjacobs.bsky.social
The sneering about "socially distanced" is the real tell here. As NYC was suffering through the worst of the pandemic, Silver was whining that he couldn't go out to bars and restaurants. People rightly called out his ghoulish self centered views at the time and he'll never let that go.
jakemgrumbach.bsky.social Jake Grumbach @jakemgrumbach.bsky.social · 2d
the hipsters, they’re ordering double frufru mocha soy frappuccino. doesn’t anybody order a black coffee anymore
Jarvis @jarvis_best -14h What's the mood on Bluesky? 236 t797 2.6K Ill 402K On the Edge Nate Silver Nate Silver v @NateSilver538 X.com They're too busy burning American Eagle jeans at socially distanced bonfires to have noticed that the shutdown ended. 6:43 PM • 11/9/25 • 402K Views
November 10, 2025 at 7:02 PM
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atrupar.com
Q: So Dr Oz said that--

JEFFRIES: Who? Nobody who is serious in this country takes Dr Oz seriously.
November 10, 2025 at 5:15 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
Hyperventilating watching US news and trying not to scream
November 10, 2025 at 2:41 AM
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quarantegan.bsky.social
📣 Nov. 6's #ThreatModelCovid: vax cuts teen LC risk by ⅓, Covid in pregnancy raises autism risk, & more 🦠

Read, share, & support 𝙏𝙝𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩 𝙈𝙤𝙙𝙚𝙡 newsletters (Tuesdays: #infosec, Thursdays: #covid) & their creator, investigative journalist @violetblue.bsky.social

www.patreon.com/posts/covid-...

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Covid: November 6, 2025 | Threat Model
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November 10, 2025 at 12:39 AM
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katemessner.com
Loving today's news that the mysterious "fedora man" outside the Louvre heist was actually a 15-year-old museum visitor who dresses like a 1940s French detective all the time, just because. apnews.com/article/louv...
Fedora man unmasked: Meet the teen behind the Louvre mystery photo
Fifteen-year-old Pedro Elias Garzon Delvaux has become an internet sensation after an Associated Press photo captured him outside the Louvre on the day of a crown jewels heist.
apnews.com
November 9, 2025 at 12:16 PM
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tairawhitidoc.bsky.social
Also from this morning’s beach walk: kororā (Little Blue Penguin) tracks headed out to sea.
November 9, 2025 at 5:04 PM
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franciscoblaha.bsky.social
Palm Beach, Waiheke. Right now
Nerd fact (I’m a marine biologist after all), when luciferin and luciferase (gotta love the biblical names) join together, they react with the oxygen in the air to make an oxidised complex. After that, luciferin emits a photon, and that is what you see when it breaks
November 9, 2025 at 8:20 AM