Date: Wed, 28 Jun 2000 11:19:46 -0700 (PDT) From: Barry Meyers-Rice <bamrice@ucdavis.edu> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1932$foo@default> Subject: San Francisco ICPS Conference
Hey Folks,
Well, what a conference it was, eh?!
Here are a few of my impressions.
**It was amazing to meet all the friends we've known only as sources of
emails over the years. For example, in the "Nepenthes group" alone there
were people like Andreas Wistuba, Chien Lee, Bob Cantley, Charles Clarke,
and Chris Frazier present, showing amazing photographs and relating
fascinating tales. Looking over the list of attendees, it was definitely a
"Who's who in the carnivorous plant world." I really enjoyed meeting
everyone.
**The talks and presentations were marvelous. They included nonscientific
presentations about engaging students, conservation projects, detailed
reports on plant chemistry, etc. A few of my favorites were:
---Laurent Legendre's lovely french accent, as he demonstrated how "the
little Venus Flytrap Plant" has a memory.
---Jan Schlauer's amazing photographic essay on Triphyophyllum fruit
development: the capsule opens long before the fruit is mature. It is
too weird.
---Robert Gibson showed so many marvelous sundew photographs from around
the world that the effect became hypnotic!
---Chien Lee showed Nepenthes photos that were studio quality, yet taken
in the field. How does he do it??
---Mad Groves showed how much fun she has setting Sarracenia sites on
fire.
---Bob Cantley, Andreas Wistuba, and Charles Clarke took us on
photographic field trips to Nepenthes land.
---The other talks were very interesting, I just don't have time to
describe them all.
**A working group to try to save Nepenthes clipeata from extinction gelled
almost spontaneously. You'll be hearing more about this in the next few
months.
**As for the banquet night, that was also a lot of fun. It has been
reported that I gave a strange talk that night. Perhaps this is true. But
no, I won't make my powerpoint presentation for it available! (I am a
little concerned that Siggi Hartmeyer had his videocamera pointed at me
for the entire thing. I *really* hope he has technical difficulties with
it.)
**The auction after the banquet was hugely fun. I usually don't go for
auctions, but the atmosphere was so happy that it was really great. Peter
D'Amato often supplied insightful comments on the items up for auction
(Example, for a specimen of P. gigantea, Peter noted: "It's Gigantic!").
Art, books, plants were all sold. In a particularly tear-filled moment,
Bob Cantley's bid won out and he was reunited with a specimen of Nepenthes
ampullaria 'Cantley's Red'. The sales night helped the conference very
much because there were a number of people who did not show up for the
conference and pay their balances---this really messed up the budget. :(
**The sales area was humming all the time, and everyone bought very neat
T-Shirts and hats advertising the conference.
**I could not go on any of the post-conference trips because of a business
conflict, but I understand that everyone had a great time seeing redwoods,
carnivorous plants, and Californian natural areas. San Francisco was a
great place for the conference.
I was intrigued and amused that from time to time, people came up to me
and complimented me on how well the conference was going. I even got a few
thanks from speakers. This was great, because I did almost nothing for the
conference! David Gray and Cynthia Slezak put the whole thing together
from start to finish. David has been particularly heroic about the event.
The ICPS elections are coming up soon and I'm very excited that David and
Cynthia are going to be running for board positions. Whoever else you
select for the board, make sure you put a tick by their names first!
Cheers
Barry
------------------------
Dr. Barry A. Meyers-Rice
Carnivorous Plant Newsletter
Conservation Coeditor
barry@carnivorousplants.org
http://www.carnivorousplants.org
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