Promiscuous Penguins, etc.

A good friend of mine who sometimes is called Miss Fyn, sometimes Fynnilicious, and occasionally Francesca de Argentina sent me an interesting tidbit. Apparently Dr. Hunter, a professor at Cambridge University (she is no relation to me as far as I know – and que lastima too, I want to visit Antarctica!) did some observation of penguins and has recorded numerous cases of penguin prostitution! Yes, sex for pebbles. Apparently some of the males seem to realize what is going on, while others think they are courting legitimately only to end up short a few stones and singing the blues. What an odd world we live in.
Also I went for a little bike ride with Isaac and Kristen tonight. We were only out for an hour, but rode 15 miles over some fairly hilly terrain so it was a nice workout. On one particularly steep downhill spot I hit 31+mph, a new personal record (and kinda scary on a bicycle). The uphill spots went a bit more slowly. Bicycling is certainly easier on the old joints than jogging however, and one goes SO much faster.
A new release of Firefox (0.9.3) has come out to fix a few bugs. If it seems like a nuisance keeping up with the updates, don't give up hope. Apparently there is an auto-update feature in the works, maybe for version 1.0. Plus, it is better to have an update to install, than to surf unprotected.
And finally, I am headed off to a conference at ISU this Sunday which has me all excited. Apparently there will be some heavy hitters there however, so I might be a bit out of my depth (at least in the bio and chem stuff). I am looking forward to trying to hob-nob with serious scientists, and especially to making a long list of all the cool computer stuff a certain college near me needs to acquire. I will take my laptop and try to look professional. On the down side, this means I won't be here for the next two inventories, I will have my cell, but I am really hoping that late night calls won't be necessary.