VCF 1.0e is about a week away and plans are rolling right along. It should prove to be a smashing event. My German lessons are progressing nicely and I can now ask for beer in German and get directions to the nearest toilet. Next week I hope to be able to apologize in German for vomiting on your shoes. In case this isn't making sense to you, I made a deal with Hans that if he did the VCF for Europe I would learn German and give a 45 minute talk in German. My talk will deal with the Inca Quipu, a mnemonic device made of cloth that the ancient Inca's used to record things such as their crop counts, population, etc. I'm also giving a talk at Oxford (that would be in England :) at the Institute of Archaeology, 36 Beaumont St, Oxford at 5pm on Thursday, May 4th. My talk will deal with this whole computer collecting craze and what people like us are doing to preserve the history of computing. I may also give a follow-up talk the next day (that would be Friday, May 5th) at the Computer Centre on Banbury Road. That talk is still tentative but I'll post a follow-up when the time is worked out. I'll be in Oxford from Thursday, May 4th, until Saturday morning, May 6th. I would love to meet any Englanders from the list so if you can make it to the talk I'd be delighted. We can go get one of those big, tall beers at a local pub afterwards. They're called a yard right? Shouldn't that be 0.9144 meters now since you're on the metric system? At any rate, we'll quaff some alcoholic beverages and then go harass pretty young ladies. If anyone would like to contact me about anything please send all queries to sellam(a)vintage.org. I look forward to meeting many of my European counterparts! Sellam International Man of Intrigue and Danger ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Looking for a six in a pile of nines... VCF Europe: April 29th & 30th, Munich, Germany VCF Los Angeles: Summer 2000 (*TENTATIVE*) VCF East: Planning in Progress See http://www.vintage.org for details!