Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Greetings from Brussels Belgium! The 14th International Echinoderm Conference!

As I write this with 2AM jet lagged eyes I'm listening to the unique techno sounds of Brussels' unique nightlife from my hotel room.

If you have been following my twitter feed (on the side bar if you missed it!) I have been tweeting the 14th International Echinoderm Conference   under the tag #14echino
currently being held in Brussels, Belgium at the distinguished Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium!
As I write this, we are on day 3 with 2 more remaining. This is actually the 40th anniversary of Echinoderm Conference meetings, the first of which began in my own Washington DC in 1972. Today the meeting includes 250 participants from 43 countries!

Here are some snapshots of Echinoderm Conference life...

SWAG! Meetings gotta have a t-shirt with a cool logo and a satchel to carry all of those program books and etc.!

One of my colleagues from Japan is a fellow kaiju/kaijin/monster enthusiast!  Here is a little figure he brought me of a Japanese starfish monster!   

The name is HITODANGER..a combination of the Japanese word for starfish... hitode+"danger"!! 
Here is what the orignal looked like from the show...
Brussels, Belgium was a gorgeous venue!  A city known for many things internationally...

Such as its architecture...
 

And for eating mussels! (moules)  Here is a giant example from the park...(tree for scale)
and here we see it compared with some proper mussels from a recent meal...
and of course, CHOCOLATE!   Here is a fountain of it!! Mmmm...
Look forward to more on the Twitter Stream under the tag  #14echino!

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