Deductible Junkets
Doors and More
"It rains less in Rome, but Amsterdam has more cafés," reads a municipal slogan. Not the most enticing motto, but it's accurate. So if you're headed to one of the three scintillating conferences in Amsterdam in the coming months, bring a raincoat and a caffeine habit. This beautiful city is a college town, a cultural magnet, and an economic powerhouse, filled with museums, music, and young Eurailers who think they've reached heaven. Perhaps they have.
Explore this small stad by bicycle, joining the thousands of other Amsterdammers who have made cycling the real Dutch mass transit. (Pedestrians beware: you don't want to fool with a pedaling Dutchman.) For a real treat, spend an afternoon afloat, but avoid the organized tours and opt for a water taxi (about US$40 an hour) to guide you through the city's enchanting maze of canals. Bring a bottle of wine and relax as the city silently and dreamily drifts by. Disembark at Café Sas, which looks like a transplanted Jamaican shanty-bar on Marnixstraat. Designed by a deranged Dutch artist, the café boasts a canalside terrace, eclectic music, and cheap food. Brewhounds should order a witbier (white beer) such as Hoegaarden or Dentergems, with a slice of lemon. In addition to the standard café fare, De Balie offers public access to De Digitale Stad, an Internet site founded by the city as an experiment in electronic community.
Back in analog Amsterdam, explore one of the coffee shops, or brown cafés, that have made Amsterdam famous. Grab a cushion at Global Chillage or try High Times.
Then visit the remodeled canal house that serves as home to the Netherlands Design Institute, organizers of the ultrahip Doors of Perception conference. Check out their current exhibit.
Next, reserve a table at the Supper Club, where roller-skating waitresses deliver an imaginative menu as you recline, bacchanal-style, on pillows. For a late bite, try Cantina West in the Westergasfabriek, an old gas factory that's now an arts center. But unless you want to be scrubbing fondue forks late into the night, ask if credit cards are accepted before you order.
Then pay up and move on. Catch hot British or American bands at the famous Paradiso, a converted church complete with spinning cross at the top. Swing by De Nieuwe Silo, an old grain silo west of the Centraal Station, the site of a Thursday-night roller disco and other weekly parties.
As you'll discover, Holland is a nether, nether land of underground culture, individual freedom, and social experimentation. In the '60s, the city purchased thousands of white bicycles as public transportation for Jan Citizen. Alas, the spirit of Detroit prevailed - the bikes were quickly stolen, painted, and sold. Some Wired advice for any like-minded future politicians: Try Pantone 804. It's not as easy to cover up.
Jessie Scanlon
The Current Roundup (see Wired 3.09)
October 19-21
Bionomics in Action: Economy as Ecosystem in Business and Public Policy; San Francisco.
October 22-25
1995 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics; Vancouver, Canada.
October 25-27
Defining the Digital Consumer; New York City.
October 31-November 1
Managing the Privacy Revolution '95; Washington, DC.
November 2-3
Second International Conference on Grey Literature; Washington, DC.
November 7-11
Doors of Perception 3: Info-Eco; Amsterdam
This forum of designers and digerati, sponsored by the Netherlands Design Institute and the Society for Old and New Media, considers how information technology might contribute to environmental sustainability. Registration: approximately US$160 (Dfl850) for the entire conference, other options available. Contact: +011 31 (20) 551 6506, e-mail doors@design-inst.nl.
November 9-11
Fourth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nano-technology; Palo Alto, California
Small is big at this gathering of researchers in nanotechnology, the three-dimensional structural control of materials and devices at the molecular level. Nano bigwig Eric Drexler will discuss directions in nanotechnology and one lucky nanologist will win the coveted 1995 Feynman Prize. Registration: US$400; academics, nonprofits, and government $325; students $125. Contact: +1 (415) 324 2490, fax +1 (415) 324 2497, e-mail foresight@cup.portal.com.
November 13-27
The Third Annual New York Digital Salon; New York City
This international juried competition, sponsored in part by the Institute for Computers in the Arts and NYC ACM/SIGGRAPH, includes a gallery exhibition of computer art at the Visual Arts Museum, screenings of selected animations, and a display of the most dazzling Net sites. Registration: Free. Contact Tim Binkley: +1 (212) 592 2535, e-mail binkley@sva.edu, on the Web at www.sva.edu/salon/info.html.
November 30-December 1
NIMA Marketing Congress '95; Amsterdam
This conference of the Netherlands Institute of Marketing focuses on marketing trends, including the impact of information technology and new media, and the human factor - the media-savvy consumer. Speakers include Douglas Rushkoff, author of The GenX Reader; Anita Roddick, president of The Body Shop; and Wired's own Louis Rossetto. Registration: US$1,000. Contact: +011 31 (20) 697 4821, fax +011 31 (20) 691 3971.
December 4-6 Reasoning with Uncertainty in Robotics; Amsterdam
R2D2 might have had all the answers, but most robotics engineers don't. And uncertain, incomplete, or inconsistent information is a serious obstacle in research. This workshop focuses on the probability theories that have helped artificial-intelligence researchers solve the riddles of uncertainty. Registration: approximately US$260 (Dfl400) before November 1. Contact: +011 31 (20) 525 6060, fax +011 31 (20) 525 5206, e-mail rur@fwi.uva.nl.
Out on the Range
December 3-8
Supercomputing '95; San Diego, California. Contact: +1 (619) 534 5039, e-mail sc95@sdsc.edu
December 11-14
Fourth International World Wide Web Conference; Boston. Contact: on the Web at www.w3.org/hypertext/Conferences/WWW4/.
December 11-15
Eleventh Annual Computer Security Applications Conference; New Orleans. Contact: +1 (205) 890 3323, fax +1 (205) 830 2608, e-mail vreed@mitre.org.
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