The Land of Redwoods and Conferences
Education Stuff: Technology educators are gathering in Seattle this week for the 18th annual National Educational Computing Conference. The event, which runs today through Wednesday, will host more than 610 exhibitions of educational technology products and services for the K-12 and higher education communities. Keynote speakers at NECC97 include Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and cultural anthropologist Jennifer James. For more information, call (800) 280-6218 or check out https://www.wce.wwu.edu/necc97
More Education Stuff: The American Library Assn.’s annual conference continues through Wednesday in San Francisco. “Enterprise the Web: Doing Business on the Internet” and “Warm Places in Cyberspace” are among the programs that will focus on technology. For more information, call (312) 280-3225 or go to https://www.ala.org/alaevents/annual97. The Library & Information Technology Assn., a division of ALA, is also gathering in San Francisco. Program topics include “Facing the Web Transition” and “Children, Literacy and the Computer.” For more information, call (800) 545-2433, Ext. 4270 or visit https://www.lita.org
Corporate Computing: CEOs of some of the technology industry’s top firms will be on hand at the Future of Intranet Computing conference today and Tuesday in San Francisco. Those executives and other attendees will be addressing topics such as the next generation of intranet tools and enterprise software. For more information, call (212) 343-1900 or visit https://www.tpsite.com
CYBERSPACE
* OK, so it’s a little late to check out Web sites’ countdown to the Hong Kong handover (it’s today), but many of the sites will tell you everything you need to know about what exactly is going on. At https://www.hongkong.com, there are handover documents, background information, a forecast of what the future might hold and a Hong Kong encyclopedia. The Hong Kong Handover Web Guide (https://www.intel.com/hk/eng/hk1997/index.htm) features panoramic pictures of the province, news and links to Hong Kong-related sites. You can also hear people in Hong Kong talking about its lifestyle. Even if you can’t be there, you might want to read about Unity, the Great Hong Kong Handover Party (https://www.sabai.com/space/handover.htm). Grace Jones and Boy George are among the performers scheduled to take the stage.
* If you’re short on Fourth of July picnics to attend, there are plenty of sites on the Web to help you pass the time. Check out the Declaration of Independence from the National Archives and Records Administration at https://www.nara.gov/exhall/charters/declaration/decmain.html. You can read about John Philip Sousa, who composed “Stars and Stripes Forever,” at https://www.dws.org/sousa. Or why not visit the Betsy Ross Homepage (https://libertynet.org/iha/betsy)? A history of fireworks is at https://www.discovery.com/area/technology/fireworks/fireworks1.html. And just in case you decide at the last minute to attend a Fourth fest, be sure to spend a moment of two at https://www.Fireworks-Safety.com
* With the trial of legendary Mafia figure Vincent “the Chin” Gigante underway in New York, now’s a good time to stop by the Web site of New York Daily News Gang Land reporter Jerry Capeci. His gossip-style column on the Big Apple’s wise guys is updated frequently, and has all sorts of interesting information about guys like the Chin. He has anecdotes, sound clips and his ongoing chronicle of gangster antics. Capeci’s series about the five New York Mafia families is also available. At https://www-leland.stanford.edu/~jercap
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