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violetblue.bsky.social
Violet Blue®
@violetblue.bsky.social
19K followers 170 following 5.3K 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
Happy Lunar New Year everyone 🎠
Photo of white walls and a small dark brown table with a tray, Lunar New Year lego in different shapes and horse decorations in red, two cups of tea, two small pyramids of orange mandarins, and a vase with two gold-red chrysanthemums in it. Photo of white/colorful plates on a black background with dim sum dumplings in green, yellow, white, and black/red. Also little plastic cups of red sauces and an orange and white Lunar New Year cake. All takeaway from Dragons restaurant.
February 18, 2026 at 1:33 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
This is the Hobbit's Hideaway path entrance, it's like this all over the trails.
Photo of a brown dirt path covered with leaves, bark, and small branches. The path curves up to the right into a green tree thicket of precarious looking branches broken and bent downward. A large one in the foreground has bright, exposed ragged wood from being snapped off by wind and the storm, some of its branch is dangling down with caution tape on it.
February 17, 2026 at 6:21 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
Heard a noise from the direction of my Lunar New Year altar 🙄
Photo of a grey carpeted staircase and white walls with a brown wood bannister. At the landing is a small dark brown table with a tray, Lunar New Year lego in different shapes and horse decorations in red, with a vase and two gold-red chrysanthemums in it. On top of the tray is a VERY guilty looking brown and black tabby cat stepping all over everything with a look on his face that tells me he is surprised to be caught in the act
February 17, 2026 at 2:36 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
The storm got scarier so we moved on to a new project, watched some soothing old sci-fi, and I decided it was safer to sleep on the couch/away from windows. Max and Sam know the drill.
White carpet and parts to make a white cat hammock/small tower with sisal scratch poles. A silver tabby stands on the hammock looking at the camera expectantly while a brown and black tabby stands on the base sniffing a box A completed white cat hammock/small tower with sisal scratch poles, on white carpet. A silver tabby stands on his hind legs peering up over the side to observe the hammock A white cat hammock/small tower with sisal scratch poles on a white carpet with a silver tabby laying loaf-shaped happily inside. The view is from the side and he it watching an episode of Star Trek Deep Space Nine. His ears are forward in interest A white cat hammock/small tower with sisal scratch poles next to a black leather couch covered in a white duvet and two blankets in mustard yellow and deep blue. In the hammock are two large tabby cats, silver and brown/black, curled up and snoozing together. A blue/grey thermal top is on the ground near a green bottle of water
February 15, 2026 at 10:43 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
The storm outside is scary for cats, so the boys are working on science experiments tonight
February 15, 2026 at 6:09 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
Still photos are here: www.flickr.com/photos/viole...

From the Eco Fashion Runway Show (sustainable designers; part of NZ Fringe Festival) in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
February 15, 2026 at 2:08 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
She is as awesome as she seems 🥰 -- wait for the next gif...

Still photos are here: www.flickr.com/photos/viole...

From the Eco Fashion Runway Show (sustainable designers; part of NZ Fringe Festival) in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
February 15, 2026 at 2:08 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
There's nothing in the world like Aotearoa fashion. Still photos are here: www.flickr.com/photos/viole...

From the Eco Fashion Runway Show (sustainable designers; part of NZ Fringe Festival) in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
February 15, 2026 at 1:48 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
I helped a friend at the show and made new friends, too 🥰 Still photos are here: www.flickr.com/photos/viole...

From the Eco Fashion Runway Show (sustainable designers; part of NZ Fringe Festival) in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
February 15, 2026 at 1:46 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
I had such a great time and met some amazing artists. Still photos are here: www.flickr.com/photos/viole...

From the Eco Fashion Runway Show (sustainable designers; part of NZ Fringe Festival) in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
February 15, 2026 at 1:42 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
Still photos are here: www.flickr.com/photos/viole...

From the Eco Fashion Runway Show (sustainable designers; part of NZ Fringe Festival) in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
February 15, 2026 at 1:40 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
Still photos are here: www.flickr.com/photos/viole...

From the Eco Fashion Runway Show (sustainable designers; part of NZ Fringe Festival) in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
February 15, 2026 at 1:38 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
Here's a sneak peek from my photos of tonight's Eco Fashion Runway Show (sustainable designers; part of NZ Fringe Festival) in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand. Incredible event.

Link: sustaintrust.org.nz/our-events/e...
February 14, 2026 at 9:45 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
Here's the fit 😊
Selfie in a white hallway, I am in a black suit jacket with blue and purple roses all around the collar. I have black hair that's up in two buns
February 14, 2026 at 6:31 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
Despite more "help" and the design team's critiques about flavor and crunch, the jacket is coming along nicely
Photo of a black chair with two dark purple plastic roses and an extremely mischievous-looking striped silver tabby cat creeping over from a nearby chair, balanced on his little front paws, glaring intensely with large pupils at the flowers, as if they make him angry Photo, view from the back of a black suit jacket with dark and light blue roses of various sizes circling the collar. The jacket is on a hangar held in my hand
February 14, 2026 at 2:10 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
I ceased work when they teamed up against me
February 13, 2026 at 10:14 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
My attempts at crafting were later misdirected by a second cat
Photo of a gorgeous brown and black striped tabby cat with enlarged pupils on a white carpet. He is laying on a pile of plastic blue and purple flowers, with only one blue rose visible under a paw. There is a light blue rose on his head, which I placed there because he is in brat mode. Photo of a blurry streak of brown and black striped tabby cat leaping at the camera from a white carpet and pile of plastic blue and purple flowers. The rose on his head was not appreciated
February 13, 2026 at 10:10 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
Postcards from Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, earlier today across from the waterfront skate park.

Note the purple sign above the city's yellow CCTV sign: the purple one reads "DANCE LIKE AI IS WATCHING"
Photo of a street and parked blue car. Behind it is a wall covered in beautiful street art writing in blues and greens. Across the top it reads in blue: THE RICH MAKE POOR DECISIONS. In the middle ground is a light pole with a yellow sign with a CCTV symbol warning "cameras recording." Above it, a purple sign reads DANCE LIKE AI IS WATCHING, also with a little CCTV symbol
February 13, 2026 at 8:33 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
Yep, that's what was under him
Photo. White carpet with pink lighting. A pile of 15 plastic roses in blue and purple is on the ground with greens stems and leaves. We see the butt and tail of a large silver tabby cat who has stood and flopped over to grab a nearby yellow catnip banana. He is content.
February 13, 2026 at 8:14 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
I was working on a new costume project with a lot of fake flowers. (Dishonored: Brigmore Witches.)

There are easily 8-9 flowers under there now, not counting the ones you can see.
Photo. White carpet with a large silver tabby nesting on a pile of plastic roses, blue and purple with green stems and leaves. We can see 5 flowers but there are many under Sam now. His pupils are large, his tongue is slightly sticking out in a blep.
February 13, 2026 at 8:12 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
Video postcard from the Mount Street Cemetery, at Victoria University of Wellington today. It's practically next to my office 🥰
February 10, 2026 at 2:31 AM
violetblue.bsky.social
TFW you remember you did some stock photo work during high school for catnip money
Photo of an unopened white cat food bag with a happy tabby cat on it sitting on a gray carpet. Next to the bag is an adorable chonky grey and white tabby cat near the cat on the bag, they look similar, including the same color eyes. The tabby cat, Sam, is looking to the side like he's about to remember something.
February 9, 2026 at 9:45 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
Happy birthday!!!! 🖤
Photo of a breathtakingly attractive fish ("Sexiest Fish Alive 2026" --Rolling Stone) in deep purples and blood reds with hints of pink and blue, absolutely glamorous fins like a burlesque dancer's fans. He is floating casually in a leafy green environment, wearing a tiny pink and yellow/green striped bitrhday hat, with a tiny half-smoked cigarette in the corner of his mouth.
February 8, 2026 at 11:27 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
"Advice For Coping With 2026: Webworm gets a trauma & bereavement counselor to weigh in."

Link: www.webworm.co/coping/
Black text on white background. The excerpt reads: I reflect on this in early 2026, when so many of us are grieving. Grieving the loss of a future we had hoped would exist but that is being trampled on by billionaires, fossil fuel companies, death squads on suburban streets. Grieving people we know, and those we don’t, who have been killed in landslides, at the side of the road, in overstretched hospitals from preventable diseases. The sense of loss is compounded by seeing those close enough to the levers of power that they could stop this, any of it, choosing to instead ask for yet more donations and saying that someone else should do something, but only in the right way, a way that will hopefully not upset anyone. We’re told over and over again that we must carry on as normal, that everything is fine, that the sirens are a false alarm or a false flag and that all we need to do is ignore it, someone will find the off switch soon, get back to work. When grief becomes forbidden and transgressive as much as it is all-pervasive and overwhelming, it makes sense that so many of us become trapped in the zone between. That sense of paralysis, of the old Soviet concept of hypernormalisation. What is the point of doing the goddamn dishes when the house is burning down.
February 8, 2026 at 9:35 PM
violetblue.bsky.social
Max woke up to say hi
Photo of an armless padded black pleather chair on a gray carpet. There are books on the ground. A very attractive brown and black striped tabby cat lays on the chair, a slight 3/4 turn with belly up and one little arm curled in. One ear is smushed sideways and one eye is partly open. His soft belly beckons you Photo of an armless padded black pleather chair on a gray carpet. There are books on the ground. A very attractive brown and black striped tabby cat lays on the chair, a slight 3/4 turn with belly up and one little arm curled in. Max has thrown his head back and thrust out one open paw to the viewer. You can't help yourself from adoring him
February 8, 2026 at 4:55 AM