vass
@vass.bsky.social
they. vass on dreamwidth, vassraptor on tumblr, vassl formerly on twitter.
Reposted by vass
A (quite) young movie lover said to me recently, "Not everybody can afford a DVD player," and I said "How much do you think a DVD player costs?"
He said, "I don't know, like $500?"
Those of us who advocate physical media are maybe not doing the best job of messaging.
He said, "I don't know, like $500?"
Those of us who advocate physical media are maybe not doing the best job of messaging.
December 13, 2025 at 4:15 AM
A (quite) young movie lover said to me recently, "Not everybody can afford a DVD player," and I said "How much do you think a DVD player costs?"
He said, "I don't know, like $500?"
Those of us who advocate physical media are maybe not doing the best job of messaging.
He said, "I don't know, like $500?"
Those of us who advocate physical media are maybe not doing the best job of messaging.
Reposted by vass
What a great idea! Sign me up.
Full Alt Text of this wonderful idea for 2026 Public Library Treasure Hunt.
December 13, 2025 at 3:31 PM
What a great idea! Sign me up.
Reposted by vass
Australia’s TGA has added the new Comirnaty LP.8.1 COVID-19 vaccine, targeting the LP.8.1 variant.
It’s recommended annually for adults 18–64 who aren’t severely immunocompromised and is free for all residents.
Pfizer says it’s now available.
It’s recommended annually for adults 18–64 who aren’t severely immunocompromised and is free for all residents.
Pfizer says it’s now available.
New jab for new COVID-19 variant: Australians can now access additional vaccine
The federal health department says regular COVID-19 vaccinations are "the best way" to maintain protection.
www.sbs.com.au
December 11, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Australia’s TGA has added the new Comirnaty LP.8.1 COVID-19 vaccine, targeting the LP.8.1 variant.
It’s recommended annually for adults 18–64 who aren’t severely immunocompromised and is free for all residents.
Pfizer says it’s now available.
It’s recommended annually for adults 18–64 who aren’t severely immunocompromised and is free for all residents.
Pfizer says it’s now available.
jill of the jungle (1992). 13yo!vass was puzzled about why the animation of her climbing up a vine in that outfit was so detailed
archive.org/details/msdo...
archive.org/details/msdo...
December 7, 2025 at 12:25 AM
jill of the jungle (1992). 13yo!vass was puzzled about why the animation of her climbing up a vine in that outfit was so detailed
archive.org/details/msdo...
archive.org/details/msdo...
Hi Name,
We’d love you to share your feedback about your recent experience at Shop Location.
yeah? well i'd love if corporations never emailed customers requesting feedback ever again, but we don't always get what we want
We’d love you to share your feedback about your recent experience at Shop Location.
yeah? well i'd love if corporations never emailed customers requesting feedback ever again, but we don't always get what we want
December 6, 2025 at 8:46 AM
Hi Name,
We’d love you to share your feedback about your recent experience at Shop Location.
yeah? well i'd love if corporations never emailed customers requesting feedback ever again, but we don't always get what we want
We’d love you to share your feedback about your recent experience at Shop Location.
yeah? well i'd love if corporations never emailed customers requesting feedback ever again, but we don't always get what we want
Reposted by vass
This hit me straight in the feels
December 6, 2025 at 2:32 AM
This hit me straight in the feels
leopards: "when we originated this policy, we thought *we* would be the ones biting people's faces"
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
‘Making mental health crisis worse’: Young Nationals warn regional children will be cut off from family by social media ban
Exclusive: President of National party’s youth branch says many children in regional and remote areas rely on social media to stay connected
www.theguardian.com
December 4, 2025 at 9:46 PM
leopards: "when we originated this policy, we thought *we* would be the ones biting people's faces"
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
Reposted by vass
h/t @robertfreundlaw.bsky.social
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
December 3, 2025 at 7:51 PM
h/t @robertfreundlaw.bsky.social
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
holy shit, an accurate legal critique of LLMs. LLMs don't reason because they're just stitching together plausible-looking sentences indifferent to the content
i just realised something funny. @rahaeli.bsky.social, i'm sure you already knew this. but. like every other australian who started using dreamwidth the year it went into open beta, i've had my account for exactly 16 years.
December 3, 2025 at 1:59 PM
i just realised something funny. @rahaeli.bsky.social, i'm sure you already knew this. but. like every other australian who started using dreamwidth the year it went into open beta, i've had my account for exactly 16 years.
Reposted by vass
some years ago at a meeting an academic said to me 'in the west, craft has come to mean "hobby"' and it genuinely destroyed my understanding.
until then i simply did not know that in industrialised economies the act of production had become classified simply as 'something we do for fun'
until then i simply did not know that in industrialised economies the act of production had become classified simply as 'something we do for fun'
28:55. Quilting time. Lizard leaps through history with a pretty good set of stepping stones, so that's ok. Having worked in JoAnn's, the square footage argument is fair. The analysis of "for fun" sewing vs "for necessity" sewing is on point. Except that quilts have always been BOTH.
November 30, 2025 at 5:51 PM
some years ago at a meeting an academic said to me 'in the west, craft has come to mean "hobby"' and it genuinely destroyed my understanding.
until then i simply did not know that in industrialised economies the act of production had become classified simply as 'something we do for fun'
until then i simply did not know that in industrialised economies the act of production had become classified simply as 'something we do for fun'
Introduce yourself with five animals you have seen in the wild
zaglossus bruijnii (echidna)
macropus giganteus (roo)
vanellus miles (plover)
gymnorhina tibicen tyrannica (magpie)
isopedella victorialis (huntsman)
all in the last couple of years, all locally
zaglossus bruijnii (echidna)
macropus giganteus (roo)
vanellus miles (plover)
gymnorhina tibicen tyrannica (magpie)
isopedella victorialis (huntsman)
all in the last couple of years, all locally
Introduce yourself with five animals you have seen in the wild
Snowflake moray eel
Velvet ant
Chincoteague ponies and foals
Harbor seals
Ring necked duck
Snowflake moray eel
Velvet ant
Chincoteague ponies and foals
Harbor seals
Ring necked duck
Introduce yourself with five animals you have seen in the wild
Moose
Wolves
Pikas
Puffins
Grizzlies
Moose
Wolves
Pikas
Puffins
Grizzlies
November 29, 2025 at 3:07 AM
Introduce yourself with five animals you have seen in the wild
zaglossus bruijnii (echidna)
macropus giganteus (roo)
vanellus miles (plover)
gymnorhina tibicen tyrannica (magpie)
isopedella victorialis (huntsman)
all in the last couple of years, all locally
zaglossus bruijnii (echidna)
macropus giganteus (roo)
vanellus miles (plover)
gymnorhina tibicen tyrannica (magpie)
isopedella victorialis (huntsman)
all in the last couple of years, all locally
Reposted by vass
I am amazingly proud to have inspired this
November 24, 2025 at 3:47 AM
I am amazingly proud to have inspired this
found poetry
NEW AO3 CANONICAL TAGS!!!! tag yourself i’m identity crisis
November 25, 2025 at 12:28 PM
found poetry
rfk jr has personally instructed the cdc to acknowled that studies have not ruled out the possibility that between the earth and mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit
November 22, 2025 at 2:52 AM
rfk jr has personally instructed the cdc to acknowled that studies have not ruled out the possibility that between the earth and mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit
Reposted by vass
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
November 20, 2025 at 5:32 PM
If you use GMail, AI (Gemini) was turned on yesterday by default and now scans all of your content for machine learning. To turn off, go to Settings>General and scroll down. Uncheck the box for "Smart features."
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
There's other "Smart" add-ons as well, but that's the one that reads your content.
Reposted by vass
It always cheers me up to contemplate the fact that least-worst member of the Golden Dawn, W.B. Yeats, threw Aleister Crowley down the stairs once.
He had it coming.
He had it coming.
Man, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
November 21, 2025 at 9:15 AM
It always cheers me up to contemplate the fact that least-worst member of the Golden Dawn, W.B. Yeats, threw Aleister Crowley down the stairs once.
He had it coming.
He had it coming.
Reposted by vass
I've been using poetry based jailbreaks for years now and am mostly just upset that someone blew up my spot. One of those things that only works until foundation labs start trying to train for refusals to poetic prompt-hacking
November 20, 2025 at 7:06 PM
I've been using poetry based jailbreaks for years now and am mostly just upset that someone blew up my spot. One of those things that only works until foundation labs start trying to train for refusals to poetic prompt-hacking
Reposted by vass
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
November 20, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Looks like LLMs are *very* vulnerable to attack via poetic allusion: "curated poetic prompts yielded high attack-success rates (ASR), with some providers exceeding 90% ..."
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
https://arxiv.org/html/2511.15304v1
Reposted by vass
They're also responsible for one of the best emails I've ever received, when the college office sent out a plea for sightings of Professor Biscuit while conveniently forgetting to mention that he was a cat...(I won't comment on how often a similar email might have gone out about human Professors...)
November 21, 2025 at 1:01 PM
They're also responsible for one of the best emails I've ever received, when the college office sent out a plea for sightings of Professor Biscuit while conveniently forgetting to mention that he was a cat...(I won't comment on how often a similar email might have gone out about human Professors...)
Reposted by vass
My favorite piece of content today.
November 21, 2025 at 8:28 PM
My favorite piece of content today.
Reposted by vass
Cows have rough tongues like a cat's but way longer and more prehensile. They can open locks/pens with them and steal stuff out of your pockets. A curious cow can get into a LOT of things with their tongue which is why cow-proofing things is important in science ^^ But it's also adorable 🥰
Man, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
November 21, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Cows have rough tongues like a cat's but way longer and more prehensile. They can open locks/pens with them and steal stuff out of your pockets. A curious cow can get into a LOT of things with their tongue which is why cow-proofing things is important in science ^^ But it's also adorable 🥰
Reposted by vass
I have a fun hypothetical for the technical among us! (For certain values of fun, heh.) The scenario: You run a website. It doesn't have a mobile app: the only way to access it is in-browser. You are deeply, morally opposed to any form of invasive tracking or data-gathering on your users.
November 20, 2025 at 11:47 PM
I have a fun hypothetical for the technical among us! (For certain values of fun, heh.) The scenario: You run a website. It doesn't have a mobile app: the only way to access it is in-browser. You are deeply, morally opposed to any form of invasive tracking or data-gathering on your users.
Reposted by vass
This is incredibly informative. If you don’t know what Makaton is: it’s a “system” that steals, breaks, copyrights, and sells signs from various sign languages. But it’s also a lot worse than that.
I will not fight with people on Threads about Makaton. I will not fight with people on Threads about Makaton. I will not thebaffler.com/outbursts/si...
Signed Away | Sara Nović
The hearing world continues to pillage and caricature the deaf community—most recently with the proprietary, sign-based system Makaton.
thebaffler.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:24 AM
This is incredibly informative. If you don’t know what Makaton is: it’s a “system” that steals, breaks, copyrights, and sells signs from various sign languages. But it’s also a lot worse than that.
Reposted by vass
some guys at the turn of the 20th century felt bad that economists didn't do calculus like the physicists did and we've all been paying for it since
November 18, 2025 at 11:51 AM
some guys at the turn of the 20th century felt bad that economists didn't do calculus like the physicists did and we've all been paying for it since