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Mike Wiser

@drmikewiser.bsky.social

4.6K followers 620 following 26K posts

Evolutionary biologist, teaching-track professor (knowledge transmitter), board game and cat enthusiast, budding archer, teller of Dad jokes. Sarcasm doesn't have to be mean. Also a "damn greenblooded hobgoblin". Ursula said I'm cool. I read a lot. 🏳️‍🌈🧫 👨

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Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · Nov 11

Since I seem to suddenly have a bunch of new followers: Hello!

I'm a full time, non tenure track, teaching-focused biology faculty member. (There are some non abusive options here; it isn't all just adjuncting) My PhD is in evolutionary biology, but half the time I'm teaching molecular biology.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 10h

It seems more plausible than some use cases I've seen people wax rhapsodic about.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 10h

She looked at the photo again and said "I don't own that blouse, do I?"

No, she did not. That was Mary Claire.

You know it's a strong resemblance when the individuals themselves mix up who it is in a photo.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 10h

* An oft-repeated family story: My mother, looking through photos with my dad of the first weekend he spent with her extended family, commented that one picture was a great picture of her. My dad replied that it would be if it was of her.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 10h

Anyway, Sharon's youngest kid went through a phase where he was really attached to her. Except that when my mom visited, the kid would accept being held by my mother instead.

Until, that is, he saw Sharon across the room, and realized that he was NOT being held by his mother. Then: the screaming.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 10h

My mother and two of her cousins -- also cousins of each other, not sisters -- *very* strongly resembled each other. As in, my mother and Mary Claire could have been identical twins*, and Sharon their sister.

It was basically something out of the Patty Duke show.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 10h

I imagine you are picked up by a being 17x your size rather less often than he is.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 11h

I find it similarly hard to not finish a book, and it is *painful*

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 11h

It's because you're traveling so fast.

This is also why everything looks a little bluer than it should.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 11h

Is this an INT or a WIS?

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 12h

Hobbes here will be 17 in about a month. So if he stands at my feet and whines while I’m sitting, I pick him up and put him on the couch.

Literally every time, he flails his legs as if he has never been picked up before and doesn’t understand why his paws aren’t pressing into the ground.

A tabby and white cat lounging on a brown couch, looking toward the camera.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 14h

Reasons for Ethan to work at the pet store:

- Pay the bills
- Be slightly less anxious
- Acquire new creatures

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 15h

(Tomorrow's class is intro to phylogenetics. For the non-biologists, basically scaling up family trees to cover a bunch of related species. I have taught some version of this lesson at least 10 times by now)

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 15h

The problem with prepping my slides the day before I intend to teach with them is that I don't quite believe myself when I say I'm done. And so I keep thinking about them much longer than needed for a thing I've taught many times before.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 15h

Grant proposal not discussed

Joshua B. Hoe @joshuabhoe.bsky.social · 19h

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

"New Manhattan Institute article"

Corey Rayburn Yung @coreyryung.bsky.social · 19h

In honor of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand:

New LMS platform adopted

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 16h

www.smbc-comics.com/comic/gif

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Gif

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - Gif

www.smbc-comics.com

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 16h

But not always.

I know a Gemma who pronounces her name as Hemma.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 17h

Congrats!

I still am, for reasons I do not know. (I never interacted with her)

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 19h

Not bad ... for a team playing baseball.

Reposted by Mike Wiser

Folk Puritan Mary Jane Watson @bettybitter.bsky.social · 20h

Ready to feel old? When Alexander of Macedon gazed upon the Great Pyramid in Giza he was closer in time to its construction than we are to him today! Only 490s kids will remember.

Reposted by Mike Wiser

Kelsey J.R.P. Byers @plantpollinator.bsky.social · 21h

It was a real pleasure to speak with Sofie as part of the @disabledscientists.com podcast series!

Disabled Scientists @disabledscientists.com · 4d

In this episode, I interview Dr Kelsey Byers - @plantpollinator.bsky.social.

It was a joy to record and I hope you enjoy listening to this edit focusing on disability, advocacy, and research into pollinators and floral scents.

🐝 Norfolk bees!

www.disabledscientists.com/2437552/epis...

3. Dr Kelsey Byers - Disabled Scientists

What do EDS, POTS, and floral scents have in common? In this episode, Sofie speaks with Dr Kelsey Byers, a disabled evolutionary chemical ecologist, about developing identity as a disabled person...

www.disabledscientists.com

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 21h

If you make one of them a lawyer, you open up some good just(ice) puns.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 21h

Well, it's been burning for a while now, so my choices are based on what I'm looking for.

But this month, my default is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNMz...

Saint-Saëns – Danse Macabre, Dance of Death Op. 40 Malgorzata Kobierska & Kamerton Orchestra

YouTube video by Akademia Filmu i Telewizji

www.youtube.com

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 23h

I was expecting a hibernation joke after the overeating.

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 23h

"Because you agreed to moderate a session..."

Mike Wiser @drmikewiser.bsky.social · 1d

The current shutdown is a weird balance of being glad that it limits how much damage the current regime can do with feeling bad for the affected workers who are now in far more limbo than was the case in past shutdowns.