Bubbles in the Bathtub

When all was said and done 842 people had registered for the 24th sea turtle symposium in Costa Rica. Some unknown number of those did not show up, and there were some unregistered local dignitaries and press in attendance, so the actual number is a bit amorphous.

About 77 countries were represented. The countries with the greatest representation included:
US: 391
Costa Rica: 76
Mexico: 44
UK: 19
Guatemala: 18
Colombia: 17
Spain: 16
Venezuela: 15
Australia: 14
Canada: 14
India: 11
Puerto Rico: 11
Uruguay: 11
Cuba: 10

Overall a rousing success, with a few minor hiccups. Fortunately turtle people tend to be flexible and as far as I could tell everyone just went with the flow.

For some reason the social aspects of the meeting seemed to be emphasized. Perhaps it was because so many people didn't make it last year, but I definitely was able to spend more time chatting with colleagues than usual. So it was easy to catch up. Also easy to make new friends.

Posted by Michael Coyne at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For those of you that hadn't heard yet, Thane Wibbels is president of next year's symposium, to be held in Savannah, Georgia at the Hyatt Regency. I'm not sure a final date has been set yet, but I believe it will be in late January. I'll post an update here if I can get a final date.

All I can say is, it's about time we got back to the water!!!!

Posted by Michael Coyne at 09:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

One night during the symposium in Costa Rica a bunch of us went out for dinner in San Jose. When we got there I needed to go to the little turtler's room and discovered that the urinals (troughs actually) were packed with crushed ice.

I'd never seen such a thing so took the news back to the table. I didn't know if this was something normal or unusual. As it turns out no one else at the table had seen it either. So of course each of the males at the table then needed to "take care of business" in the little turtler's room.

I discovered at least two other bathrooms in Costa Rica with ice in the urinals (one at La Paz Falls), so I figure that there must be a reason for it. There are the obvious possibilities: constant water flow, reduce bacterial growth; but were those really the reasons?

The obvious recourse at that point was to check google when I got home :) Check it out for yourself...

http://metatalk.metafilter.com/mefi/4880
http://www.urinal.net/oreillys/
http://hawk.winshop.com.au/pipermail/fullbore/Week-of-Mon-20021007/ 001516.html

Posted by Michael Coyne at 08:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Don't put 'em in the dishwasher!

They had mugs for sale at the symposium this year. I bought a few. Unfortunately they don't seem to be dishwasher safe. I have already ruined one. Most of the symposium logo peeled off. Upon closer inspection it is no big surprise. The logo appears to just be pressed on, not baked on. I would even be careful washing them by hand.

Posted by Michael Coyne at 01:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)