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Michael Rosenberg

@mrosenberg.bsky.social

1.3K followers 210 following 1.2K posts

Evolutionary Biologist, Data Scientist, Amateur Fiddler Crab Wrangler I don't so much focus on specific topics as meander randomly through the topical landscape, like a broken adaptive model that doesn't realize downhill isn't supposed to be an option. .. more

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · Apr 29

The entirety of the tournament has been archived in a Google Doc for posterity: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I may try to create a neater PDF version once I’ve caught up on the rest of my life.

#FiddlerCrabBracket #FiddlerCrab 🦀🦑🧪

Fiddler Crab Tournament Archive

docs.google.com

Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 1d

@amalelmohtar.com has been holding out on us. She's going to be part of the 2026 @jococruise.bsky.social lineup!

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 3d

Note that v could be an imaginary number in the imaginary case one actually find the material interesting, in which case time would shrink and the lecture would appear to end faster than it actually does.

Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 3d

Based on this we can determine that the large 1 hour and 20 minute lecture with v = 0.9c, appears to last 3 hours and 4 minutes, the 50 minute seminar with v = 0.75c appears to last 1 hour and 16 minutes, and the 15 minute conference presentation with v = 0.8c appears to last 25 minutes.

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 3d

Since the actual time (dT') is measured by the lecturer, the apparent length of time according to your mental reference frame (dT) dilates and becomes longer than the actual time. According to the relativity formula, dT = dT' / sqrt(1 - v^2/c^2).

Relativity formula, delta T equals delta T prime divided by the square root of 1 - v squared divided by c squared

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 3d

Because your knowledge is remaining relatively stationary while the lecture is shooting ahead astronomically, you view the lecture from a different frame of references than it actually occupies.

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 3d

Large values of v indicate material presented very quickly or which is very boring. Careful empirical analysis has indicated that for large lectures, v is approximately 0.9c (where c is the speed of light). For departmental seminars is is ~0.75c and for conference presentations ~0.8c.

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 3d

The length of a lecture according to your mind is dependent on the confusion-boringness factor, v. This represents the relative speed at which your brain can absorb the material versus the speed at which is presented, corrected by the level of boredom generated by the lecture style and material.

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 3d

Why lectures seem to last forever?
An explanation based on the time dilation principle of Einstein's special theory or relativity (1905).

Note 1: Also applies to many other types of presentations.
Note 2: I originally came up with this idea 35 years ago, after one week as a freshman college student

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Reposted by Michael S. Rosenberg

KStJBirdblog @kstjbirdblog.bsky.social · 7d

What Good is the Fiddle on a Fiddler Crab? www.birdsoutsidemywindow.org/2025/10/03/w...

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 8d

I spot checked a number of additional academic books, including some I wrote chapters for, and found them included as well. I am not personally eligible for a claim on those works, but the editors and publishers are.

Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 8d

Attention Academics: The Anthropic settlement includes many academic works. A book I edited is listed and eligible for a claim. If you've ever written or edited a book, check to see if its part of the settlement and make a claim:
secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com/lookup

Submit a Claim

secure.anthropiccopyrightsettlement.com

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Reposted by Michael S. Rosenberg

John Trumbull @trumbullcomic.bsky.social · 9d

RIP to Jane Goodall, who was cool with this Gary Larson FAR SIDE strip from 1987:

A Gary Larson FAR SIDE cartoon from August 1987, where a glasses-wearing female gorilla is picking a hair off of her mate's back and saying, "Well, well -- another blonde hair. ....Conducting a little more 'research' with that Jane Goodall tramp?"

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 10d

This is true. But also not permanent. Given time and multiple molts, they will eventually regrow a claw as strong as the one that was lost.

Reposted by Michael S. Rosenberg

Harriet Carroll: Long Covid Scientific Consultancy @angryhacademic.bsky.social · 10d

Fun fact: male fiddler crabs have 1 GIANT claw. If the claw gets severed, they can grow a new weaker one. Other crabs cant tell the diff so may surrender to a weaker claw if it looks big
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles...
Watch: youtu.be/hg9WoCwrB10
Easy read: nationalgeographic.com/science/arti...

A red and black crab with one giant and completely out of proportion orange claw

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Reposted by Michael S. Rosenberg

The lime of Doom @thelimeofdoom.bsky.social · 16d

Fiddler crabs are so cool. We don't have them in NZ! I'm in Fiji atm

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Reposted by Michael S. Rosenberg

Granite Man @granitedhuine.bsky.social · 17d

A quick guide on "How to fall downstairs":

Step 1

Step 6

Step 8, 9, 10, 11.

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Reposted by Michael S. Rosenberg

Michelle @aveclesplumes.bsky.social · 18d

Here's a closer look.

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Reposted by Dorothy Bishop, Richard E. Lenski, Peter Thorne , and 10 more Dorothy Bishop, Richard E. Lenski, Peter Thorne, Michael S. Rosenberg, John R. Hutchinson, Nicole Dubilier, Iain Davidson, Rosemary A. Joyce, Dawn J. Wright, Margaret Johnston, Elizabeth Stevenson, Zen Faulkes, Aviel Roshwald

Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 21d

I wanted to get a video of this ghost crab but every time I got close to their hole they scuttled back in, so I tried getting clever with it. I made a little sandcastle and shoved my phone into it, hit record, and walked away. Crab was VERY suspicious of this addition to their environment.

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Reposted by Michael S. Rosenberg

Brenda Hiles @beehiles.bsky.social · 22d

Fiddler crabs gathering at low tide at Croatan National Forest in North Carolina.

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Reposted by Michael S. Rosenberg

Chris Miller @chrismiller.science · 22d

When you want to do reproducible analysis in R, some packages require you to set a RNG seed. I'm not sure I trust anyone who doesn't immediately run `set.seed(42)`

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 22d

Great photos of Minuca pugnax

Reposted by Michael S. Rosenberg

Defector @defector.com · 25d

Fox Sports uses AI to achieve the impossible: make Aaron Rodgers look deader inside. defector.com/fox-sports-a...

Fox Sports Uses AI To Achieve The Impossible: Make Aaron Rodgers Look Deader Inside | Defector

They said it couldn’t be done. They said Aaron Rodgers surely couldn’t look as bereft of an inner life and the spark of humanity as he already does. Well, some truly awful technology has proven the…

defector.com

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 26d

Steelers rookie RB Kaleb Williams lets a kickoff bounce past him into the endzone and ignores it, giving up a TD to Seattle. 35 years ago, Steelers rookie RB Barry Foster does essentially the exact same thing vs SF.

Rules are a bit different now. Was one worse than the other? Discuss #NFL #Steelers

Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · 26d

It's Barry Foster all over again

Reposted by Michael S. Rosenberg

Charlie Stross @cstross.bsky.social · Sep 9

And now for something completely different: the 2025 AI Darwin Award nominees!

https://aidarwinawards.org/nominees-2025.html

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Reposted by Michael S. Rosenberg, Clark Gray

Craig Kaplan @triggerloop.bsky.social · Sep 3

Look at this crazy thing!
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants - Nature

In a case of obligate cross-species cloning, female ants of Messor ibericus need to clone males of Messor structor to obtain sperm for producing the worker caste, resulting in males from the same moth...

www.nature.com

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · Sep 2

They should be there year round, although rare in winter, only active during low tide (when the tide is out). General weather and temp have an affect on their activity as well (they like hotter sunny days more than cooler cloudy ones). It's unlikely they are no longer there at all

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · Sep 2

That's the Atlantic Sand Fiddler Crab, Leptuca pugilator

Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · Sep 2

There should be two species there, Leptuca pugilator and Minuca pugnax. A guide to telling them apart can be found here: www.fiddlercrab.info/field_guides... (the third species is unlikely to be found in Jamaica Bay, although there is one obs of it on @inaturalist.bsky.social near JFK)

Fiddler Crab Field Guide: Atlantic Coast of the USA

Fiddler Crabs

www.fiddlercrab.info

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Michael Rosenberg @mrosenberg.bsky.social · Aug 26

Given that the waving is a form of communication, perhaps the fiddler crab was expressing its feelings about artificial intelligence.