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Brian Vastag

@brianvastag@mas.to
mastodon 4.5.7

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on #Kauai #Hawaii. Sometimes SCUBA diver.

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Joined June 29, 2025
Remembering Beth Mazur (1976-2023):
https://virology.ws/2024/01/12/trial-by-error-obituary-for-beth-mazur/
May 2020: Coronavirus may cause post-viral syndrome:
https://wapo.st/48pPWGK
She wrote to a scientist about her fatigue. It inspired a breakthrough:
https://wapo.st/4l8I0Rx

Posts

brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Mar 09, 2026

Looks like spotify is now generating AI music & attaching it to the names of real jazz artists like Nat Adderley & other musicians, deceased and living.

Friggin' nightmare for artists. Kill it with fire, please....

#music #AI #fake #jazz

https://www.honest-broker.com/p/is-spotify-enabling-massive-impersonation

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Mar 06, 2026

Found a new pet for @tayfonay@beige.party

#pigs

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Mar 02, 2026

Sade at Live Aid will set you straight.

(The official Live Aid channel posted most of the performances in recent years....a goldmine of greatness.)

https://youtu.be/bFgv8Jq4xN0

#music

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Mar 01, 2026

Stolen from some other social media: Seen at today's Minnesota United FC soccer game.

#MLS #soccer #Andor

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Parent @brianvastag@mas.to Open
on mas.to
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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 28, 2026
The best repository of FOIAed documents on this topic and other once-secret stuff is the Black Vault, run by FOIA madman John Greenwald Jr. The other day he said on Reddit the whole site had been deleted from its host but he had backups... John is the real deal ...he FOIAs like crazy, doesn't take no for an answer, and delivers whatever the gov't coughs up. https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/
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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 25, 2026

Just watched a video about a lady who went scuba diving in all 7 oceans and the reporter said she didn't "mind" swimming with whales and sharks. Seeing the large pelagic animals is a goal, bruh.

#scuba

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 25, 2026

My raspberry pi5 Plex media server is working exactly as intended - I never have to think about it or touch it. This is how computering should be.

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 24, 2026

Really good reporting from Richard Stone in Science magazine - lays out the evidence for and possibly against Trump admin claims of a Chinese nuclear test in 2020.

Tl;dr - Monitoring shows small blast at Chinese test site but impossible to determine if it was nuclear without more evidence (which the US govt may have).

#USpol #China #nuclear

https://www.science.org/content/article/allegations-chinese-nuclear-blast-may-reignite-weapons-testing?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 24, 2026

Someone added a giant Buc-eeeeee's to Cities Skylines II and now it's possible to accurately model an Interstate interchange in Kansas. Hey, I don't kink shame.

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 24, 2026

Comment period is open for NIH-funded long covid clinical trials in their RECOVER-TLC program.

Of special interest to me is the stellate ganglion nerve block. Luke Liu, a pain medicine doc in Anchorage, pioneered SGBs (injection of lidocaine in the neck) for long covid. My late partner Beth Mazur & I traveled to Alaska in 2022 & worked with Luke. 1/2

#LongCovid #medicine #MEcfs #research

https://fnih.org/our-programs/recover-tlc-will-advance-long-covid-research/recover-tlc-clinical-trials/

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 24, 2026

Gotta hand it to Ian McEwan, who wrote two of the most vile characters I can recall in recent fiction in his latest, "What We Can Know."

#books #bookstodon

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 23, 2026

Did any public health officials during the early pandemic point out that state & local governments have the power to restrict movement/travel during severe weather for the safety of everyone? 'Cause a pandemic is severe weather for everyone's health.

https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/blizzard-travel-conditions-pennsylvania-new-jersey-delaware/

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 23, 2026

Notorious socialists Goldman Sachs estimates AI investment contributed absolutely nothing to US economic growth.

https://wapo.st/4kT3oLl (gift link)

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 23, 2026

Not many trombone players get major newspaper obituaries...godspeed Willie Colon. (I used to play a bit...it is the most charismatic instrument lol.)

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/feb/23/willie-colon-was-an-explosive-energy-source-who-took-salsa-into-the-stratosphere

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 22, 2026

Oh look, there's a Hawaii group on Lemmy.

Exciting.

Oh. Zero comments on nearly every post. Well kudos to the posters who soldier on.

https://lemmy.ml/c/hawaii

#Hawaii

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 22, 2026

I have a friend who is really caught up in needing to know the political views of the (US) athletes he watches and that is a recipe for being constantly enraged or disappointed.

I gently suggested maybe he should just not watch sports but apparently that is not an option.

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 22, 2026

PBS/Passport is showing an American Masters documentary on Sun Ra.

Good stuff. Tune your streaming devices to Saturn...

Interesting to contrast Sun Ra's Afrofuturism, which was asexual or maybe post-sexual, with Fela Kuti's Afrobeat movement, which was hypersexual.

Sun Ra: Do The Impossible - About the Documentary | American Masters | PBS

https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/sun-ra-do-the-impossible-documentary/37455/

#jazz #music

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 22, 2026

I'm sure US automakers backing off from EVs while a fossil fuel industry handmaid is in charge for now will work out great for them in the long run.

They're gonna ask for another trillion dollar bailout in a few years, right?

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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 19, 2026

I guess I have to read about this in Al Jazeera...FBI agent* wrote that Epstein was a "Mossad agent" and someone offered him the opportunity to buy expensive buildings used by DOD and the FBI.

The rabbit hole is deeper than that ice core from Antarctica that holds 23 million years of climate history.

Edit: FBI informant, not agent.

#Epstein

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/2/19/files-reveal-epstein-was-offered-chance-to-buy-us-pentagon-fbi-buildings

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Parent @PhilipCJames@mas.to Open
@PhilipCJames@mas.to
The geology of chocolate bars... It's more than 50 years since we left the Moon and, as far as I can see, we still have no equivalent for the prefix in the word 'Geology', the science of the physical
Current reply
brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Feb 02, 2026
@PhilipCJames@mas.to why doesn't 'exo-geology' work?
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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Jan 28, 2026
My friend Michelle Nijhuis writes about another crisis in Minnesota...Republicans trying to destroy the wonderful Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness on the Canadian border by opening it to mining. Gross. #Minnesota #conservation #USpol https://conservationworks.substack.com/p/the-other-crisis-in-minnesota
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brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Jan 28, 2026
Five things at risk if the regime shutters the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, including safe air travel. Good piece explaining why it would hurt everyone. #USpol #weather #climate #science https://eos.org/opinions/what-americans-lose-if-their-national-center-for-atmospheric-research-is-dismantled
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Boosted by CM Harrington @octothorpe@mastodon.online
brianvastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
Brian Vastag
Brian Vastag
@brianvastag@mas.to

Occasional science reporter at The Washington Post and elsewhere. Disabled by complex chronic post-viral illness. Living on # Kauai # Hawaii . Sometimes SCUBA diver.

mas.to
@brianvastag@mas.to · Dec 31, 2025
Folks interested in science should be interested in Retraction Watch, which is now 15 years old. Started by medical journalists Ivan Oransky & Adam Marcus, the site is the only one (that I know of, anyway) that uncovers and tracks scientific retractions, errors, and other controversies. My best friend of 27 years happens to work there too, but that's besides the point! They do vital work no one else is doing. Their year-end summary is impressive. #science https://retractionwatch.com/
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