Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer)
@peterjwagner3.bsky.social
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.
Pinned
Peter Wagner (a Real Dr., not a surgeon-barber/body-tech/golfer)
@peterjwagner3.bsky.social
· Nov 10
From Darwins' Day 2019:
(((🦈((🐟,(🐡,🐠)),(🐸,(((((((👩🎓🦍),🙉),🐒),(🐰,(🐿️🐀))),(🦔,(🦇,(((((🐅🐈),(🐻🦊)),🦡),(🦏🦓)),((🦙🐫),((🐖🐗),((🦛,(🐋🐬)),(🦒,(🦌,(🐮🐐))))))))),🐘),(🐨🦘)),(🐢((🦎🐍),(🐊,(🦕,(((🦆,(🐓🦃)),(🕊,(🐧,(🐦,(🦉🦅)))),🦖))))))),⭐️),((🕷️🦂),(((🦀🦞),🦐),(🦗,(🐞🦋),(🐜🐝))))),(🐙🐌)))
(((🦈((🐟,(🐡,🐠)),(🐸,(((((((👩🎓🦍),🙉),🐒),(🐰,(🐿️🐀))),(🦔,(🦇,(((((🐅🐈),(🐻🦊)),🦡),(🦏🦓)),((🦙🐫),((🐖🐗),((🦛,(🐋🐬)),(🦒,(🦌,(🐮🐐))))))))),🐘),(🐨🦘)),(🐢((🦎🐍),(🐊,(🦕,(((🦆,(🐓🦃)),(🕊,(🐧,(🐦,(🦉🦅)))),🦖))))))),⭐️),((🕷️🦂),(((🦀🦞),🦐),(🦗,(🐞🦋),(🐜🐝))))),(🐙🐌)))
Wow, that's tough: 1980 had a lot of great music, both from "our" New Wave & Punk Bands, and "their" old guard '60s musicians. At the very top, I'd probably put Zenyattà Mondatta. It's probably the Police's worst album, but it's still great. Don't Stand So Close to Me is one of the all-time great…
November 17, 2025 at 4:43 AM
Wow, that's tough: 1980 had a lot of great music, both from "our" New Wave & Punk Bands, and "their" old guard '60s musicians. At the very top, I'd probably put Zenyattà Mondatta. It's probably the Police's worst album, but it's still great. Don't Stand So Close to Me is one of the all-time great…
It always impresses me just how much different the earliest Triassic is from the latest Permian. We very suddenly go from late Paleozoic faunas & ecosystems to Mesozoic ones. I have often wondered if Late Permian - Early Triassic geography facilitated this, as it was relatively easy for marine taxa…
A massive Arctic fossil haul from Spitsbergen is unveiling a 249-million-year-old marine world filled with ancient reptiles, amphibians, fish, and sharks.
interestingengineering.com/science/3000...
#fossils #paleontology
interestingengineering.com/science/3000...
#fossils #paleontology
November 17, 2025 at 4:27 AM
It always impresses me just how much different the earliest Triassic is from the latest Permian. We very suddenly go from late Paleozoic faunas & ecosystems to Mesozoic ones. I have often wondered if Late Permian - Early Triassic geography facilitated this, as it was relatively easy for marine taxa…
If I had a nickel for every time I heard or read that, I'd have a... well, lot of nickels.
(And I'd be expecting to quite a few more in the future.)
(And I'd be expecting to quite a few more in the future.)
November 16, 2025 at 8:21 PM
If I had a nickel for every time I heard or read that, I'd have a... well, lot of nickels.
(And I'd be expecting to quite a few more in the future.)
(And I'd be expecting to quite a few more in the future.)
If nothing else, then why doesn’t someone (anyone) with the GOP work on getting Trump’s people to *look* less insane? I mean, if SNL did a skit involving crazy conspiracy theorists, they would rehearse looking/acting like Patel!
Kash Patel: "Russiagate -- I lived it. I was weaponized as a victim against a weaponization, politicization of law enforcement, including at the FBI by former senior leadership there. I was the one that ran and uncovered the Russiagate hoax and conspiracy."
November 16, 2025 at 4:14 PM
If nothing else, then why doesn’t someone (anyone) with the GOP work on getting Trump’s people to *look* less insane? I mean, if SNL did a skit involving crazy conspiracy theorists, they would rehearse looking/acting like Patel!
“Current,” not “modern”: this SCOTUS wants to undo the Renaissance.
Joan Biskupic on the Roberts court and Brown v Board.
www.cnn.com/2025/11/14/p...
www.cnn.com/2025/11/14/p...
Examining Brown v. Board, race and ‘equal protection’ through the eyes of the modern Supreme Court | CNN Politics
As the Supreme Court heard arguments in a racially charged Louisiana voting rights case last month, down on its ground floor a special exhibit was running a continual loop of commentary from Chief Jus...
www.cnn.com
November 15, 2025 at 4:33 PM
“Current,” not “modern”: this SCOTUS wants to undo the Renaissance.
Oddly, I like his priorities… 😎
Jeremy Clarkson has suddenly discovered the inherent issues in capitalism...
November 15, 2025 at 4:28 PM
Oddly, I like his priorities… 😎
In some ways, this does make more sense than ctenophores as the outgroup to all other animals because it allows for the developmental programming for *some* sort of symmetry to be a synapomorphy of non-sponge animals.
November 13, 2025 at 8:42 PM
In some ways, this does make more sense than ctenophores as the outgroup to all other animals because it allows for the developmental programming for *some* sort of symmetry to be a synapomorphy of non-sponge animals.
Spoiler: 5 years from now, the majority of Americans will still think that the media has a strong liberal bias…
The question everyone is asking right now is this: NYT had deep access into all of this in real time and reported none of it. Why? In consequence, no NYT reporting on this subject is trustworthy.
After Trump Split, Epstein Said He Could ‘Take Him Down’
www.nytimes.com
November 13, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Spoiler: 5 years from now, the majority of Americans will still think that the media has a strong liberal bias…
Why not just excommunicate Vance?
BREAKING: At Pope Leo XIV’s urging, U.S. Catholic bishops just delivered the strongest rebuke of a sitting president in Church history — condemning Trump-Vance raids as “inhumane” and “dehumanizing” in a 216–5 vote.
NEW: At Pope Leo’s Urging, Bishops Issue Historic Rebuke of Trump’s Raids
Nearly all U.S. Catholic bishops united in Baltimore to denounce the Trump administration’s “inhumane” deportation campaign — a near-unanimous, unprecedented moral stand against a sitting president.
www.thelettersfromleo.com
November 13, 2025 at 4:16 AM
Why not just excommunicate Vance?
November 12, 2025 at 3:09 AM
I assumed that was the online edition of Fox News…
OMG. The site is literally called the Dunning Kruger Times.
With a “WOW!,” President Trump posts a claim about DOGE and “royalties linked to Obamacare” that originated on a satirical website. That site’s own About section reads: “Everything on this website is fiction… If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined.”
November 9, 2025 at 5:27 PM
I assumed that was the online edition of Fox News…
Coupland weeps.
Or laughs.
Or laughs.
Why Nikki Haley’s son went radical: His generation inherited insecurity.
I profile Nalin Haley, a fascinating young man, who I believe will likely play an important role in conservative politics in years to come.
unherd.com/2025/11/why-...
I profile Nalin Haley, a fascinating young man, who I believe will likely play an important role in conservative politics in years to come.
unherd.com/2025/11/why-...
Why Nikki Haley’s son went radical
unherd.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:21 AM
Coupland weeps.
Or laughs.
Or laughs.
My snowblower died 4-5 years ago, but there have been only a couple of occasions where I missed it. Even when we do get enough snow to merit clearing the driveway, it melts within a couple of days.
Today is an important day in the turning of the seasons: I'm gonna swap the garage positions of the snowblower and the lawnmower.
November 8, 2025 at 2:54 PM
My snowblower died 4-5 years ago, but there have been only a couple of occasions where I missed it. Even when we do get enough snow to merit clearing the driveway, it melts within a couple of days.
Glad to have this one out! As some of you might remember, I'd kicked around the idea for some time, but the inestimable @wrightam.bsky.social got it all pulled together properly. It's a first step - we still need to include likelihoods of stasis between first & … www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
Distinguishing punctuated and continuous-time models of character evolution for discrete characters and the implications for macroevolutionary theory | Paleobiology | Cambridge Core
Distinguishing punctuated and continuous-time models of character evolution for discrete characters and the implications for macroevolutionary theory
www.cambridge.org
November 8, 2025 at 6:07 AM
Glad to have this one out! As some of you might remember, I'd kicked around the idea for some time, but the inestimable @wrightam.bsky.social got it all pulled together properly. It's a first step - we still need to include likelihoods of stasis between first & … www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
What is nuts is how much “vibe” there is: in the time between elections and inaugurations, people feel “less bad” about the economy, but as soon as a new administration starts, it’s getting worse again!
54% of Americans say the U.S. economy is getting worse, up from 37% at the start of President Trump's second term.
(Economist/@today.yougov.com)
More, via Opinion Today:
opiniontoday.substack.com/p/251105-top...
(Economist/@today.yougov.com)
More, via Opinion Today:
opiniontoday.substack.com/p/251105-top...
November 6, 2025 at 10:40 PM
What is nuts is how much “vibe” there is: in the time between elections and inaugurations, people feel “less bad” about the economy, but as soon as a new administration starts, it’s getting worse again!
Well, after last night's election results, I have a smidgen of hope again. On a scale of 0 to 10 Polyannas, I'm up to 2 nannoPolyannas.
November 6, 2025 at 2:15 AM
Well, after last night's election results, I have a smidgen of hope again. On a scale of 0 to 10 Polyannas, I'm up to 2 nannoPolyannas.
In my lecture on early insect evolution, I showed them remipedes including the "Creature Report!" remipede from Octonauts. I'm not sure if that made very "hip" or very "dated" to the students...
November 5, 2025 at 10:50 PM
In my lecture on early insect evolution, I showed them remipedes including the "Creature Report!" remipede from Octonauts. I'm not sure if that made very "hip" or very "dated" to the students...
And yet I still suck at German…
November 3, 2025 at 1:22 AM
And yet I still suck at German…
This is equivalent to asking if the Blue Jays were losing Game 7 a microsecond before Betts grabbed Kirk’s grounder in the 10th…
November 2, 2025 at 4:13 PM
This is equivalent to asking if the Blue Jays were losing Game 7 a microsecond before Betts grabbed Kirk’s grounder in the 10th…
Remember: chimps really *can* do better than this!
BREAM: Schumer says Republicans are weaponizing hunger
MIKE JOHNSON: Absolutely absurd. Remember -- don't get lost in the facts
MIKE JOHNSON: Absolutely absurd. Remember -- don't get lost in the facts
November 2, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Remember: chimps really *can* do better than this!
Mixing Catholics & Southern Baptists/Evangelicals was never going to generate an enduring alliance.
seems like there was an internal civil war brewing within Heritage, which is why Kevin Roberts issued that statement:
October 31, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Mixing Catholics & Southern Baptists/Evangelicals was never going to generate an enduring alliance.
Another intellectual tool chimps have that MAGA doesn’t…
Are humans really the only rational animals? Our NEW PAPER 🎉 out in @science.org suggests otherwise! In a large collaboration led with my joint first author @hanna-schleihauf.bsky.social, we show that “Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs” 🧵
Chimpanzees rationally revise their beliefs
The selective revision of beliefs in light of new evidence has been considered one of the hallmarks of human-level rationality. However, tests of this ability in other species are lacking. We examined...
www.science.org
October 31, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Another intellectual tool chimps have that MAGA doesn’t…
How long until Trump announces that Andrew is the rightful King if England?
Lot happening in the world but this is truly a remarkable, and damming, development: www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/w...
Prince Andrew to Be Stripped of His Royal Title
www.nytimes.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:51 AM
How long until Trump announces that Andrew is the rightful King if England?
I went to be in the 17th inning (1:30 AM here!) but had the game on my iPhone. I was still awake when the bottom of the 18th began, drifted off, and awoke shortly after the fact.
Before zombie runners, managers would say that the hardest thing about 13+ inning games was making sure that they…
Before zombie runners, managers would say that the hardest thing about 13+ inning games was making sure that they…
October 28, 2025 at 3:05 PM
I went to be in the 17th inning (1:30 AM here!) but had the game on my iPhone. I was still awake when the bottom of the 18th began, drifted off, and awoke shortly after the fact.
Before zombie runners, managers would say that the hardest thing about 13+ inning games was making sure that they…
Before zombie runners, managers would say that the hardest thing about 13+ inning games was making sure that they…
Someone’s got to hit a homer or at least a ball on which all the fielders literally fall asleep.
Of course, the batter will probably see that big beautiful pillow that is second base and just “rest his eyes” for a moment…
Of course, the batter will probably see that big beautiful pillow that is second base and just “rest his eyes” for a moment…
October 28, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Someone’s got to hit a homer or at least a ball on which all the fielders literally fall asleep.
Of course, the batter will probably see that big beautiful pillow that is second base and just “rest his eyes” for a moment…
Of course, the batter will probably see that big beautiful pillow that is second base and just “rest his eyes” for a moment…