Deductible Junkets
If You're Headed to Chicago...
The Windy City, the Second City, the Dark City - call it what you will, Chicago is the economic and cultural capital of the Midwest. And though an infinite number of ethnic neighborhoods divide the city, true Chicagoans are united by a love of professional sports, blues music, and Gortex jackets.
The metropolitan area is a textbook example of 20th-century urban architecture, from the elegance of Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House to the triumphant engineering of the Sears Tower to the violent despair of the Cabrini Green projects. A drive through the South Side is an important socioeconomic reality check.
For a technological reality check, visit the Chicago Mercantile Exchange galleries: a mess of squirming traders cry out going prices at the top of their lungs. Forget the information superhighway - this is information rush hour. The same goes for the whirring printing presses viewable in the lobby of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Sunny times? Hah! - this is Chicago in the spring, so pack a rain coat and some alternate plans. And when lightning strikes over Lake Michigan, watch the show from the Sears Tower Skydeck, 1,353 feet above street level. Acrophobics may prefer to visit John G. Shedd Aquarium, though locals believe the true Chicago fish collection is the Old Town Aquarium, a tropical fish store in the Gold Coast. Sports lovers and marketing reps shouldn't miss Niketown, a five-story Church of Nike filled with sports relics and merchandise. And by all means go to the Museum of Science and Industry, a nirvana of all things cool and nerdy.
Both the cool and the nerdy love the stuffed spinach pie at Eduardo's Natural Pizza Restaurant, in the Gold Coast, but Chicago cuisine goes much deeper than its pizza. Reza's, in an old brewery downtown, will satisfy the Persian palate, while the Busy Bee, in Wicker Park, purportedly prepares the best potato pancakes west of Warsaw. Also in Wicker Park, an area filled with cozy corner bars and live music clubs, enjoy the eclectic Eat Your Hearts Out, a soothing spot with flavors of Asia and wines from down under. The spirit of latinoamérica, not to mention the music, fills the small Mambo Grill, in River North, while Marché is pure New York - a loud bistro with a funky attitude, where the regulars eat late and drink martinis.
Although the cool rhythms and smoky culture of jazz and blues have spread across the country, the Chicago club scene of the '20s still thrives, from The Green Mill, an old gangster hangout, to the hole-in-the-wall Get Me High Lounge. Not to mention the local bring-your-own-beer-and-sit-on-couches theater culture, which has produced some hilariously successful troupes, including The Annoyance and the Neo-Futurists.
Take in a flick (or two) for only US$3 at the Brew and View at the Vic, a campy cinema showing second-run and cult films. Thursday is triple-feature night, when beers are only 25 cents.
It doesn't take a banker to know that's the best deal around.
Jessie Scanlon
March 23-24Commerce and Banking on the Information Superhighway; Chicago
Better quicken that thinking. Personal computer sales average 200,000 a week, and more than 50 percent of the hosts on the Internet are commercial. Leaders of Citibank and other big suits will join with cyber-entrepreneurs to examine the future of banking. Keynote speaker Tim Jones, chief executive of Mondex, will discuss the company's digital cash project, scheduled to launch in the UK this year. Registration: US$1,195. Contact: Gregory White, +1 (312) 540 3010, fax +1 (312) 540 3015.
March 28-30ETHICOMP95; Leicester, England
This year marks the maiden voyage of ETHICOMP, an academic and industry forum to discuss the ethical questions raised by information technology: viruses, hacking, the existence of accounting and medical databases, and other digital dilemmas. Planners hope ETHICOMP will become a biannual event, alternating between England and the US. Registration: around US$350. Contact: Simon Rogerson, +44 (533) 577 475, fax +44 (533) 541 891, e-mail srog@dmu.ac.uk.
March 28-31Fifth Conference on Computers, Freedom and Privacy; Burlingame, California
New computer and telecommunications technologies have thrown a virtual wrench into the Bill of Rights. Accepted concepts of speech, assembly, and property must be redefined for the digital age. CFP '95 will consider these and other issues, such as commercial life on the Net, universal access, telecommuting (tele-exploitation?), and netiquette. Registration: price unknown at press time. Contact: fax +1 (415) 725 1861 or e-mail cfp95@forsythe.stanford.edu.
March 28-30Computing in Aerospace 10; San Antonio, Texas
Gravity aside, the aerospace industry faces many challenges today - this year's event looks at "Re-utilization in the '90s." Sponsored by the Artificial Intelligence Association of America, the event is geared toward engineering professionals. John Muratore, chief of the Control Centers Systems Division for NASA's Johnson Space Center, will keynote; a panel of industry wizards analyze "Trends and Directions in High Performance Computing." Registration: US$585, students $10. Contact: +1 (202) 646 7464.
April 5-8Global Village Schools National Conference; Atlanta
The American high school will soon go the way of the one-room school house, but what will replace it? What is the school of the global village? At this forum, educators, computer engineers, and state officials design the schools of the information age, focusing on the educational role of the Internet. So what's the punishment of the future? To sit in AOL for a day? Registration: US$480. Contact: +1 (405) 325 1567, fax +1 (405) 325 1824, e-mail gvs@uoknor.edu.
April 22-25Computer Game Developers Conference; Santa Clara, California
Bring plenty of batteries to this three-day gaming extravaganza. Gaming and the Internet, the psychology of children's software, and 2-D and 3-D production techniques are among the topics covered. But the general sessions are child's play compared to the networking that takes place in the halls and at the job fair. They're not trading Monopoly money. Registration: US$500 before March 1, $660 after. Contact: +1 (415) 948 CGDC, fax +1 (415) 948 2744.
Windy thanks to Anne Singleton, Jeffery Wardell, the Sotkiewicz connection, and Justin Hall. World-wide thanks to Jill Atkinson and the trolls at .
