Maybe I’m the only one enthused by it all, but the 2020 American Arachnology Society Virtual Summer Symposium starts the day after tomorrow. Online admission is only $10 if you want to see it! A quick summary of the schedule:
- Thursday evening is a keynote recognizing the contributions of Norm Platnick.
- Friday is a Discussion: Impacts of Racism on Recruitment and Retention of Black Arachnologists. Every scientific society is finally trying to pay attention to this issue.
- Saturday, we have a workshop on using iNaturalist for science and outreach.
- Sunday is the online poster session.
- Monday looks like wall-to-wall 15 minute presentations.
A jolly time will be held by all. It’s more spread out than the usual in-person scientific meeting, which means, I hope, it will be low-stress and a little less exhausting than the usual affair.
When the American Arachnology Society votes on something, they do it by a show of hands; they count the hands and then divide by eight.
I’d be interested how they use an online format for the ritual offering of souls to the stygian demands of the octadic miscreation. Google Hangouts?