iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Specious Reasons

Nathan Rabin @nathanrabin.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

There are fewer than four days left in the BackerKit Printopia campaign for Maniac Pixie Dream Girl, my 11th book, 2nd novel, and the definitive parody of a term I coined nearly 20 years ago that will FINALLY allow me to monetize my ubiquitous brainchild nathanrabin.substack.com/p/there-are-...

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Practicing macro photography this week. These are my favorites, but I had higher hopes. Iron filings in a jar of Karo syrup being suspended by a rare earth magnet. #macrophotography #iron #karo #magnet

Iron filings in a small round glass jar filled with Karo syrup being suspended in the middle of the jar by a rare-earth magnet outside the jar. The magnet can be see as a silver disk near the middle of the picture. The iron filings form an asymmetric shape around the magnet, a loose blob with the filings generally lining up along the magnetic field.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

A big spider hanging out on my wall this week (probably a giant house spider) got wrapped up and eaten by another spider, which left it hanging dead on my wall. I did not try to put this under the microscope — I pulled out a macro lens.

A dead spider on a featureless grey background. I'm mostly certain this was a giant house spider, but not a particularly big one. It's a brown spider that is crumpled up and has spider webbing all around it. It's about 2cm from joint-to-joint as pictured.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Absolutely no guilt whatsoever for stealing the elderly cat’s heated bed. #Caturday #ragamuffin

White, brown and black cat sleeping on her back while curled up in a round cat bed. Her back legs are pointing up and resting against the side of the bed, and she has one front leg hanging over the side of the bed.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Feeling seen by @theonion.com: Dad Spends Entire Vacation 8 Steps Ahead Of Family — theonion.com/dad-spends-e...

theonion.com

Dad Spends Entire Vacation 8 Steps Ahead Of Family

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

The InfoWars elf is giving me evil Tom Baker vibes. #infowars

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

@sobreiro.bsky.social I'm looking at @nathanrabin.bsky.social 's store link (nathans.dashery.com/shop) and I think he just might like the latest work of art you made for him.

nathans.dashery.com

Shop Official Merch by Nathan Rabin's Happy Place

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Reposted by Specious Reasons

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 25/04/2026

HIV drove Zambia's life expectancy down to 37. A program backed by the US helped raise it up to 67, as hundreds of lives were saved. Now cuts to the US HIV program are causing a jump in AIDS deaths, as @stephanienolen.bsky.social reports. Gift link: nyti.ms/41V2Uvq

nyti.ms

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Even though it met it's goal, I increased my pledge for Make Five Nights at Freddy Got Fingered a Ridiculous Reality on @kickstarter.com @nathanrabin.bsky.social Maybe you can actually quit Twitter. www.kickstarter.com/projects/210...

kickstarter.com

Make Five Nights at Freddy Got Fingered a Ridiculous Reality

A Freddy Got Fingered-themed Five Nights at Freddy's parody from the co-author of Weird Al: The Book (with Al Yankovic)

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Nathan Rabin @nathanrabin.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

Only two days left! At 11:59 on Friday, my 50th birthday, it all ends! Get in while you can on the silliest book ever written!

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Reposted by Specious Reasons

Ben Collins @bencollins.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

With the help of the Sandy Hook families, The Onion has reached a long-awaited deal to take over InfoWars. We've enlisted the help of @timheidecker.bsky.social, who will be InfoWars' Creative Director. Please stand by for more.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

I fixed Calrissian's favorite toy (feathers on a wire wand) but I'm still not her favorite person. #ragamuffin

White, black and brown Ragamuffin cat with a blackface lying on the arm of a dark blue couch.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

Latest artwork! Spider, the tarman and Trash from Return of the Living Dead. Artist: @breeschlosser.bsky.social #RotLD #Spider #tarman #Trash

Black and white portraits of three Return of the Living Dead characters, Spider, the tarman and Trash.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 17/02/2026

Nathan is going to embody the “I appreciate The Muppets on a much deeper level than you.” @theonion.com headline.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

I didn't think this would turn out as well as it did. #microscope #focusstacking

An unidentified algae colony, roughly spherical in shape, in the upper left side of the image, floating above some out of focus debris. The sphere is composed of circular cells connected to five or six others. These are yellow-green to green in color. This is retouched focus stack of 8 images at roughly 100X.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 04/01/2026

Starting out the year in microphotography right! #microscope

Two yellow, circular blobs centered vertically, and spaced mostly evenly apart.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

This is not Cinnamon, but the pedestal for his food bowl is enough of a box for Ahsoka to claim. I had to kick her off to feed the poor dog. #catsinboxes #ragamuffin

A white, brown, and black Ragamuffin cat named Ahsoka is sitting in a small square wooden pedestal with raised sides. The box says "Cinnamon." This is where the dog named Cinnamon gets fed, but it's enough of a box for the cat to sit in when the food bowl isn't there.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 25/10/2025

I normally hang this from my rearview mirror during October, but I got distracted. I'm rectifying this now.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 18/10/2025

@amandamarcotte.bsky.social The "Rock That Doesn't Roll" podcast obliquely references your Salon article in their discussion of the music of the Kirk memorial. As fans of the genre, their opinion is much different. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/m...

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

Bumper crop of mushrooms in my backyard this weekend. #mushrooms

A mushroom sprouting between four larger rocks, with a scattering of orange and green cypress leaves.

A mushroom sprouting next to a large rock. The head of the mushroom is conforming to the shape of the rock.

Two clusters of mushrooms, one cluster is in the foreground, next to the base of a small concrete pagoda, another cluster is in the background, by a large blue flower pot.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 09/10/2025

Look at this wonderful little flatworm! #Planarian #flatworm

$A flatworm of the Planarian class. Probably a Dugesia species. This is a darkfield photo, where the subject (the flatworm) is illuminated but the background is dark. The head is basically triangle shape, and its eyespots near the base of the head make the flatworm look cross-eyed. The worm's digestive system is refracting more light, so is readily visible as a branching structure behind the head.$

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

I posted a two new videos! Both are extremely short, audio free, and pretty low effort. One is a boring old rotifer, and the other is this massive ciliate of the Spirostomum genus: youtu.be/sLYNNaYBZUw #Spirostomum #ciliates

youtu.be

A ciliate, probably Spirostomum

YouTube video by speciousreasons

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Rotifer! I generally avoid taking rotifer pictures because they often don't wind up visually interesting. I think this is an exception. On the left side of the picture, there's the body of a worm with long bristles, probably a Stylaria species.

Rotifer in darkfield, approximately 200X. The rotifer looks a bit like a croissant, as it's bent in a C shape.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Testate amoebas are pretty common in lake water. I was having a lot of trouble capturing the full glory of this in brightfield, so I switched to darkfield and I'm so much happier with the results, even if the background detritus is noisier.

A testate amoeba, species unidentified. The "test" - a shell of particles - is dark and out of focus and some translucent tendrils reaching out of the test may be seen by their outline. This is a bright field microscope photo at approximately 100X.

A testate amoeba, species unidentified. The "test" - a shell of particles - can be see as a greenish lightbulb shape. Some translucent tendrils reaching out of the test may be seen stretching out of the test. This is a dark field microscope photo at approximately 100X.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 21/09/2025

Calrissian sees you beneath her and is not impressed.

White, black, and brown ragamuffin cat resting her front paws on a loft railing looking down on the photographer.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 02/08/2025

@nathanrabin.bsky.social "Liam Neeson, towering action grandpa" - brilliant!

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

*looks — I blame holding a kitten while typing.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

@genadoesthings.bsky.social In case you're wondering, I got your last two newsletters, and I didn't do shit, so it look like your move to ghost was a success.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 29/06/2025

Giant house spider. Trying with a handheld 150mm macro lens (manual focus), so the photos didn't come out as I wanted. It's welcome in my office, but don't tell the rest of the family it's here.

Giant house spider, roughly 5cm total length. It is on a light green wall next to a white ceiling.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 14/06/2025

Watched "Friday the 13th Part III" with the @killbykill.bsky.social commentary for my Friday the 13th viewing. Especially with the commentary, this watch was much more amusing than scary.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 10/05/2025

Ahsoka is a photogenic cat when she’s willing to stay still. #caturday #ragamuffin

Ahsoka, a white, brown and black kitten rests sideways on a stool.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 15/03/2025

I fumbled these lichen (maybe Cladonia cariosa, but probably a Cladonia species) and got a bunch of detritus on the cover glass, ruining a whole bunch of photos, but I may be able to fix some of it. In the meantime, these picture didn't suck. #microscope #microphotography #lichen

Part of a stalk of lichen (maybe Cladonia cariosa, but probably a Cladonia species) wholemount approximately 40X magnification. The stalk is light green and bumpy, with brown spots.

Part of a stalk of lichen (maybe Cladonia cariosa, but probably a Cladonia species) wholemount approximately 100X magnification. The stalk is light green and bumpy, with brown spots. There a two small white unidentified objects buried in the folds of the stalk's surface next to a hole.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 22/02/2025

It took me a while to catch up with Flop House TV season 2, but @dankmccoy.bsky.social 's "Special Report on Scotland" during the Highlander 2 episode is the funniest thing I've seen in while. Made me want to drink too much Scotch.

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 19/02/2025

Posting this picture for no particular reason:

High magnification picture of the word "liberty" from a penny, but the penny is old and very corroded.

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Reposted by Specious Reasons

Dr. Raven the Science Maven @ravenscimaven.bsky.social · 11/02/2025

Melanin is the most common pigment in the animal kingdom, but plants, bacteria and fungi also contain versions of melanin – in fact, the brown color of over-ripe bananas is due to melanin produced by oxidation in the skin. Share if you learned something new!

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 24/01/2025

How I planned it, how it really looks: The top 2 cyanotype prints are from @whalefern.bsky.social, the lower 2 prints are from Crystal Worl and Hallie Packard, and the centerpiece is from Stephanie Krimmel.

Digital composition of a wall with various works of art superimposed on it.

Picture of a wall with 5 works of art on the wall. In the center of the wall is a tall and narrow mixed media work consisting of multicolor prints assembled into pyramid shapes and arranged by color to look like a 3D image. The top left and top right pictures are landscape cyanotype prints of wildlife. The bottom left is an orca print and the bottom right is a surrealist painting of a forest.

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Reposted by Specious Reasons

The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 08/01/2025

🥁 Announcing the Public Domain Image Archive! 🥁 We are v excited to share our new sister-project, the Public Domain Image Archive (PDIA), a curated collection of 10k+ out-of-copyright historical images, all free to explore and reuse: pdimagearchive.org @pdimagearchive

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Reposted by Specious Reasons

Amanda Marcotte @amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

Due to the Texas abortion ban, newborns are being abandoned to die in dumpsters. Republicans could take measures to prevent this, even without legalizing abortion. They refuse to do so. They would rather arrest women than save babies. www.salon.com/2025/01/02/n...

salon.com

Newborns are being left in dumpsters in Texas, but Republicans don't care

The GOP would rather arrest women than save their babies

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Reposted by Specious Reasons

Amanda Marcotte @amandamarcotte.bsky.social · 27/11/2024

In the bargaining stage of grief, some Democrats — from the Pod Save crew to Jared Polis — are wondering if it's time to indulge conspiracy theorists instead of holding the line on the truth. The answer is "hell no." Here's why. www.salon.com/2024/11/27/n...

salon.com

No, progressives should not embrace conspiracy theories to win elections

RFK and Joe Rogan fans won't like Democrats better if they join the war on empirical reality

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Specious Reasons @speciousreasons.bsky.social · 21/11/2024

Your work keeps getting better & better!

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