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Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer)

@peterjwagner3.bsky.social

1.6K followers 2.3K following 3.5K posts

Computational Paleobiologist, Lord of Chaos & Entropy, Cubs Fan, Estranged Lover of 🐌 & self-proclaimed Bilbo Baggins of Paleontology. Opinions & sarcasm mine & mine alone, but model-based. I block apologists for the South, MAGA, etc. He/Him.

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Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · Nov 10

From Darwins' Day 2019:
(((🦈((🐟,(🐡,🐠)),(🐸,(((((((👩‍🎓🦍),🙉),🐒),(🐰,(🐿️🐀))),(🦔,(🦇,(((((🐅🐈),(🐻🦊)),🦡),(🦏🦓)),((🦙🐫),((🐖🐗),((🦛,(🐋🐬)),(🦒,(🦌,(🐮🐐))))))))),🐘),(🐨🦘)),(🐢((🦎🐍),(🐊,(🦕,(((🦆,(🐓🦃)),(🕊,(🐧,(🐦,(🦉🦅)))),🦖))))))),⭐️),((🕷️🦂),(((🦀🦞),🦐),(🦗,(🐞🦋),(🐜🐝))))),(🐙🐌)))

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Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 3h

Yeah: his reflexes said “don’t go until he’s actually caught the ball.” He realized his mistake afterwards once he had time to think about it, but humans don’t think fast enough for that situation.

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 14h

Bregman generated less than 0.5 WAR more than Nazi boy, so: no.

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 14h

Well, a non-Nazi one would be nice. (Of course, Bregman probably is MAGA, too...)

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 14h

I am very unconvinced that IQ is even a thing.

Eric Turkheimer @ent3c.bsky.social · 2d

In 2018, Charles Murray challenged me to a bet: "We will understand IQ genetically—I think most of the picture will have been filled in by 2025—there will still be blanks—but we’ll know basically what’s going on." It's now 2025, and I claim a win. I write about it in The Atlantic.

Your Genes Are Simply Not Enough to Explain How Smart You Are

Seven years ago, I took a bet with Charles Murray about whether we’d basically understand the genetics of intelligence by now.

www.theatlantic.com

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 22h

And he actually *liked* Lord of the RIngs.

Make of that what you will...

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

You cannot watch all of that at once during a game, not unless you are an arthropod. We can only focus on one thing at a time. Now, you might want a greater variety of things to watch at that one time: but if you don’t keep your eye on the ball from windup to homeplate, you’ll miss the real action.

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

(My bet is that even the former ball players wouldn’t be able to spot what the current batters are spotting….)

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

In all seriousness: does Johnson consider this branch Catholicism to be a “genuine” religion? Most Southern Baptists thoroughly believe that their beliefs are the only genuine Christian beliefs. (And that the Founders shared those particular beliefs, woke nonsense about “Deists” notwithstanding…)

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

I suspect that this would be way too distracting for most viewers. 99% of the action is around the pitch: and if you want to see how pitchers are tipping their pitches, then you need to focus on them.

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

I agree: although if MLB teams drop all the MAGA, then Ian Happ probably will be the only American-born white guy in MLB!

(Note: I’d be 100% fine with this…)

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

Most players do not reflexively know that you can tag as soon as the fielder touches the ball. (Umps below college level never know this, so it probably gets imprinted early that you have to wait for the juggling to stop to go.) That probably cost the Dodgers a big inning.

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Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

But are they really obeying? For all intents and purposes, Fox News is the eminence gris of the Trump administrations.

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

I still can remember many of my middle & high school friends’ numbers.

bleary @bleary.off-the-records.com · 1d

If anyone needs me I will be in the museum, lying down next to the bog bodies.

Did people really memorize phone numbers before cell phones, or is that just a movie thing?
2? Questions
I was watching some old shows from the 90s and noticed people would just dial numbers from memory - like they'd call their friends or family without looking anything up.
Made me wonder if that was actually normal back then? Did people genuinely have all their important numbers memorized, or did most folks keep a little address book or written list nearby?

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

They probably administered the pledge.

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Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

Alas: the fastest thinking humans alive would still need to think 5X as fast to make that decision!

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

lol, Trump would invite the US team and declare them the actual winners.

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

… what do I know…)

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 1d

Ironically, his post-season performance will probably elevate his contract: he clearly was playing while badly hurt, but the mentality of sports is that this shows "character" and "grit" beyond the statistics. (Personally, I think it shows as much grit as cavarly charges against machine guns, but…

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 2d

Huh, is it on anywhere in the US? It’s weird how that used to be “the” channel, but that hasn’t been true since the ‘90s.

Euronews @euronews.com · 2d

A sign of changing times... And a business decision that represents a cultural moment, signalling the death of communal music discovery and prompting a reflection on how we consume music in the digital age.

MTV music channels to be switched off across Europe by end of 2025

l.euronews.com

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 2d

(Biology humor: it's probably not for everyone...)

Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 2d

It's a bit of a biologist joke: we (vertebrates, starfish, etc.) get the anus from the initial blastopore opening whereas bugs, molluscs, worms, etc. get the mouth from that initial opening. Thus, some of them can evolve multiple anuses: which I suppose means that they get multiple opinions?

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Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 2d

The problem is that too many people today genuinely believe the foolish football coach aphorism of "That which does not kill you makes you stronger" whereas people used to understand "that which does not kill you just makes the job a little easier for the next thing that tries to kill you."

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Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 2d

But... but... didn't that mean that most of the weaklings were weeded out and all humans would have been immune to everything by ~2000 if vaccines hadn't weakened our immune system????

(I swear that they must think something like this.)

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Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 2d

That might be: but probabilities exist with or without humans to recognize them!

(And I’m a deuterostome, for what’s worth! 😎)

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Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer) @peterjwagner3.bsky.social · 2d

(And, duh, because they go back to the old rules in the postseason, the Brewers would have had a 55% chance of winning a tied Game 1. It's a little weird how the Home Field advantage in extra innings has totally evaporated with the Ghost Runner, but there you have it.)