Orin
@plethorin.bsky.social
A plethora of Orin - chemist, actor, wizard. More interests than I know what to do with: astrobiology, entheogens, comic books, tabletop gaming, dismantling amatonormativity. Utopian dreamer attempting to survive late capitalism. Try to focus.
Apparently, most people did not attend parties as a teenager, where the girls would draw the boys names out of a hat to pair off and dress them in drag, before holding a drag queen beauty pageant.
October 9, 2025 at 2:48 AM
Apparently, most people did not attend parties as a teenager, where the girls would draw the boys names out of a hat to pair off and dress them in drag, before holding a drag queen beauty pageant.
In the absence of any credible external threat, America’s conspiratorial nature has turned inward and we’ve declared war on ourselves.
October 2, 2025 at 1:12 AM
In the absence of any credible external threat, America’s conspiratorial nature has turned inward and we’ve declared war on ourselves.
“We’ve both see war ravaged cities. Sure, you did a tour in Afghanistan, but me, I’m from Portland.”
September 28, 2025 at 1:57 AM
“We’ve both see war ravaged cities. Sure, you did a tour in Afghanistan, but me, I’m from Portland.”
I must confess, I was a Raver type, technolibertarian cyberhippie utopian. Please forgive me, I was a teenager in 90s Silicon Valley. Some of us grew out of it.
4/ Borsook divided the tech ”libertarians” into two main types: the Ravers and the Gilders.
The Ravers are the ones who go to Burning Man and project countercultural ideas. The Gilders are the Peter Thiel types, more overtly focused on money and power.
But they are birds of a feather.
The Ravers are the ones who go to Burning Man and project countercultural ideas. The Gilders are the Peter Thiel types, more overtly focused on money and power.
But they are birds of a feather.
September 24, 2025 at 10:31 PM
I must confess, I was a Raver type, technolibertarian cyberhippie utopian. Please forgive me, I was a teenager in 90s Silicon Valley. Some of us grew out of it.
Excellent thread, providing a peek into how we arrived at our present moment of tech billionaire capture of society.
1/ A longtime Wired editor just wrote a mush-brained essay about how he totally missed the political rot of Silicon Valley (& still doesn't get it).
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
But in the late 1990s, a Wired journalist warned of a toxic ideology bubbling up from tech. Paulina Borsook has largely been erased. Let's change that
September 24, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Excellent thread, providing a peek into how we arrived at our present moment of tech billionaire capture of society.
Pure THCV is weird. A lot of cannabinoid isolates (CBD, CBG, CBN) are just a white powder. THCV is more of a purple tinted glass.
September 24, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Pure THCV is weird. A lot of cannabinoid isolates (CBD, CBG, CBN) are just a white powder. THCV is more of a purple tinted glass.
Excellent analysis of fascisised monarchist hyper neo-liberalism and its convergent rise across the western world.
"The Coming Age of American Putinism".
Putinism and Trumpism share ideological DNA. They are two versions of the same global ideology - a kind of consumerist monarchism that makes might into right.
🎥Watch now on the main YouTube channel
Putinism and Trumpism share ideological DNA. They are two versions of the same global ideology - a kind of consumerist monarchism that makes might into right.
🎥Watch now on the main YouTube channel
September 18, 2025 at 6:07 PM
Excellent analysis of fascisised monarchist hyper neo-liberalism and its convergent rise across the western world.
I kinda wish I was subscribed to Disney+ just so I could cancel my subscription
September 18, 2025 at 5:38 PM
I kinda wish I was subscribed to Disney+ just so I could cancel my subscription
Reposted by Orin
they don't have the capacity to compel obedience by the process of law.
they don't have the capacity to compel obedience by violence.
the only lever by which they can obtain obedience is fear.
do not offer it to them.
they don't have the capacity to compel obedience by violence.
the only lever by which they can obtain obedience is fear.
do not offer it to them.
September 18, 2025 at 1:58 AM
they don't have the capacity to compel obedience by the process of law.
they don't have the capacity to compel obedience by violence.
the only lever by which they can obtain obedience is fear.
do not offer it to them.
they don't have the capacity to compel obedience by violence.
the only lever by which they can obtain obedience is fear.
do not offer it to them.
So great to rediscover a band you haven’t thought of in 20 years or so. Blasting Switchblade Symphony tonight!
September 18, 2025 at 2:05 AM
So great to rediscover a band you haven’t thought of in 20 years or so. Blasting Switchblade Symphony tonight!
ALH84001 loomed large over my undergraduate research project. “Morphology is not a sufficient indicator of biogenicity,” was the sentence drilled into me by my professor.
The debates in the 1990s and early 2000s over the famous Martian meteorite ALH84001 and over when life first arose on Earth both drove the field to treat evidence for life in that way. As a result, we now know a lot more about how different processes can mimic things that organisms do...
September 16, 2025 at 7:55 AM
ALH84001 loomed large over my undergraduate research project. “Morphology is not a sufficient indicator of biogenicity,” was the sentence drilled into me by my professor.
Reposted by Orin
I've been asked a few times over the last few days what I think the chances are that the "leopard spots and poppy seeds" on Mars will turn out to be actual evidence of life. People are naturally skeptical given the history of possible signs of life on other planets. Strap in: long thread ahead...
September 16, 2025 at 5:10 AM
I've been asked a few times over the last few days what I think the chances are that the "leopard spots and poppy seeds" on Mars will turn out to be actual evidence of life. People are naturally skeptical given the history of possible signs of life on other planets. Strap in: long thread ahead...
I was not involved in the research, but here’s some of the cool stuff that happens in the lab where I work.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Active Constituents of Psilocybin Mushroom Edibles
This case series evaluates the active constituents of unregulated psilocybin mushroom edibles.
jamanetwork.com
September 12, 2025 at 5:37 AM
I was not involved in the research, but here’s some of the cool stuff that happens in the lab where I work.
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...
Reposted by Orin
If there's one thing I wish I could get every earnest liberal to understand, it's that, from the point of view of an authoritarian psychology, efforts to persuade, to "reach out" & "find common ground," are *viewed as evidence of weakness*.
September 11, 2025 at 8:27 PM
If there's one thing I wish I could get every earnest liberal to understand, it's that, from the point of view of an authoritarian psychology, efforts to persuade, to "reach out" & "find common ground," are *viewed as evidence of weakness*.
Reposted by Orin
NASA Says Mars Rover Discovered Potential Biosignature Last Year
astrobiology.com/2025/09/nasa... #NASA #Mars #Astrobiology
astrobiology.com/2025/09/nasa... #NASA #Mars #Astrobiology
NASA Says Mars Rover Discovered Potential Biosignature Last Year - Astrobiology
A sample collected by NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover from an ancient dry riverbed in Jezero Crater could preserve evidence of ancient microbial life
astrobiology.com
September 10, 2025 at 3:51 PM
NASA Says Mars Rover Discovered Potential Biosignature Last Year
astrobiology.com/2025/09/nasa... #NASA #Mars #Astrobiology
astrobiology.com/2025/09/nasa... #NASA #Mars #Astrobiology
Great discussion on the exercise and expansion of Presidential power. I’m only about halfway thru, but recommend it to anyone seeking historical context for our present moment.
Couldn't have timed yesterday's livestream about executive power better. Here's the link to that: youtube.com/live/K15hR1n...
August 27, 2025 at 12:48 AM
Great discussion on the exercise and expansion of Presidential power. I’m only about halfway thru, but recommend it to anyone seeking historical context for our present moment.
This is why I continue to have hope for finding life on Mars. If life did manage to get started on Mars (granted, a big if), it is likely still there buried beneath the surface, safe from sterilizing solar radiation.
"The scientific community has now accepted that bacteria and archaea thrive in the subsurface, representing a massive biome that collectively outweighs more than 200 million blue whales, according to Lloyd’s calculations."
www.quantamagazine.org/the-pursuit-...
www.quantamagazine.org/the-pursuit-...
The Pursuit of Life Where It Seems Unimaginable | Quanta Magazine
A decade ago, Karen Lloyd discovered single-celled microbes living beneath the seafloor. Now she studies how they can survive in Earth’s crust, possibly for hundreds or thousands of years, and push li...
www.quantamagazine.org
August 22, 2025 at 3:04 AM
This is why I continue to have hope for finding life on Mars. If life did manage to get started on Mars (granted, a big if), it is likely still there buried beneath the surface, safe from sterilizing solar radiation.
Reposted by Orin
As long as socially constructed gender norms have existed, there have been people who refuse to be constrained by them, and those people have been a force for liberation.
We have prepared a new poster drawing on centuries-old art and poetry to celebrate this.
crimethinc.com/posters/for-...
🏴🏳️⚧️
We have prepared a new poster drawing on centuries-old art and poetry to celebrate this.
crimethinc.com/posters/for-...
🏴🏳️⚧️
August 18, 2025 at 6:41 PM
As long as socially constructed gender norms have existed, there have been people who refuse to be constrained by them, and those people have been a force for liberation.
We have prepared a new poster drawing on centuries-old art and poetry to celebrate this.
crimethinc.com/posters/for-...
🏴🏳️⚧️
We have prepared a new poster drawing on centuries-old art and poetry to celebrate this.
crimethinc.com/posters/for-...
🏴🏳️⚧️
Social media algorithms are designed to keep us angry all the time, because anger drives engagement, which fuels advertising and increases profits. But I’m tired of anger.
What do you love? What are you building? What makes you come alive?
What do you love? What are you building? What makes you come alive?
August 19, 2025 at 5:09 AM
Social media algorithms are designed to keep us angry all the time, because anger drives engagement, which fuels advertising and increases profits. But I’m tired of anger.
What do you love? What are you building? What makes you come alive?
What do you love? What are you building? What makes you come alive?
Opposing something is easy, but doesn’t seem to accomplish much. You might be able to tear down a bad system, but without plans for something to replace it, that bad system tends to reform itself with new faces in charge.
I’m much more interested in what you stand for than what you stand against.
I’m much more interested in what you stand for than what you stand against.
August 19, 2025 at 2:57 AM
Opposing something is easy, but doesn’t seem to accomplish much. You might be able to tear down a bad system, but without plans for something to replace it, that bad system tends to reform itself with new faces in charge.
I’m much more interested in what you stand for than what you stand against.
I’m much more interested in what you stand for than what you stand against.
The ideological battle of the 21st century seems to be shaping up to be “acid communism” vs “acid fascism”
Yes, these are real belief systems discussed by academic philosophers, and not the midnight musings of stoned college students.
Yes, these are real belief systems discussed by academic philosophers, and not the midnight musings of stoned college students.
August 10, 2025 at 10:57 PM
The ideological battle of the 21st century seems to be shaping up to be “acid communism” vs “acid fascism”
Yes, these are real belief systems discussed by academic philosophers, and not the midnight musings of stoned college students.
Yes, these are real belief systems discussed by academic philosophers, and not the midnight musings of stoned college students.
What if crashing the economy and destroying faith in government is not an accident, but all part of the plan? As a prelude to billionaire oligarchs buying up essential services for pennies on the dollar to privatize all existence.
August 6, 2025 at 4:01 AM
What if crashing the economy and destroying faith in government is not an accident, but all part of the plan? As a prelude to billionaire oligarchs buying up essential services for pennies on the dollar to privatize all existence.
Reposted by Orin
I am begging journalists to stop platforming him. These objects are SO EXCITING and there are people doing really good science on them and he is not one of them.
Loeb: we must stick to the facts, not judge things based on public opinion.
Also Loeb: Look at how many likes and messages my ideas get! I must be doing it right.
Also Loeb: Look at how many likes and messages my ideas get! I must be doing it right.
August 2, 2025 at 7:01 PM
I am begging journalists to stop platforming him. These objects are SO EXCITING and there are people doing really good science on them and he is not one of them.
I spotted an anglerfish. Didn’t think they lived this close to the surface.
August 3, 2025 at 7:55 PM
I spotted an anglerfish. Didn’t think they lived this close to the surface.