A Conference Worth a Thousand Words

Photo, new media and graphic design professionals will gather in Anaheim this week to examine the technological advancements in traditional and digital photography. Photo galleries and exhibits, speeches, seminars and demonstrations are all on tap to aid in the discussion at PhotoPlus Expo West 98.

Conference tracks will include photo techniques and lighting, printing and pre-press, stock photography and digital technology.

For more information about PhotoPlus Expo, to be held Wednesday through Saturday at the Anaheim Convention Center, call (888) 203-9169, or point your browser to https://www.pdn-pix.com/photoplusexpo.

Cyberspace

* Seal of Approval: Here’s something you don’t think about everyday, but you most likely see everyday--the Great Seal of the United States (it’s on our dollar bill, by the way). If you want to see both sides with the English translations from Latin, head over to https://www.article4.com/greatseal.html. There’s also the story of the seal, which was approved on June 20, 1782, as well as Continental Congress Secretary Charles Thomson’s original drawing for the seal. There are even essays, such as “The Once and Future Dream” and “Time Travel . . . for a Dollar.”

* Day of Deliverance: Juneteenth--which originated in Galveston, Texas, in 1865--is considered to be the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery, according to the Juneteenth Web site (https://www.juneteenth.com). Celebrated on June 19, African American Emancipation Day (as it is also known) is “a time for reflection and rejoicing.” At the Juneteenth site, you can read a more detailed history of the day, see how it’s being celebrated across the nation, check out some poems and offer your thoughts on the discussion boards.

* Dad’s Day: Moms had their special day last month, so it’s only fair that it’s now dad’s turn. Father’s Day is just around the corner--on Sunday, in fact. Father’s Day on the Net (https://www.holidays.net/father/) has stories, music, puzzles, games, pictures to color and more. There’s even a place where you can add your own online tribute to Dad. ParentsPlace.com has it’s own Father’s Day section (https://www.parentsplace.com/genobject.cgi/readroom/fathersday/ index.html) just for new or soon-to-be fathers. Check out such features as “Your First Father’s Day,” ’Preparing for Parenthood,” “Nurturing Fathers” and “Daddy’s First Day at School,” or take the interactive baseball quiz, get gift ideas, create a pop-up card, learn to make chocolate-dipped pretzels and read other dads’ birth stories. The site also has lots of men’s health and relationship articles, as well as support forums. Children who have lost their fathers can even participate; there’s a section called “If Dad Has Died.”

* Rights of Passage: This week in 1948, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In honor of the declaration’s 50th birthday, Amnesty International is having the Human Rights Caravan. If you’re more of an armchair caravaner, don’t despair. You can participate online. Read the document, find out how others around the world are celebrating, or take a look at AI’s reports on people who have put their lives on the line to defend others’ rights. Also marking the anniversary online is the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights Web site (https://www.udhr50.org/), with a history, the text of the document, profiles, a timeline of human rights action and an “action agenda.”

* Sun Worship: Can you tell that summer’s in the air? Of course you can--overcast mornings, weekends not fit for beach going but lovely by Monday afternoon. Sunday marks the summer solstice--the longest day of the year. Ritual Hut (https://www.ritualhut.com/f~summ.htm) has an interesting history of the solstice. For a lesson on how ancient civilizations treated the seasons, links to astronomical data, an invocation of summer, a diagram of how the sun moves during the solstice and how the ancients celebrated the solstice, point your browser to https://www.erols.com/tlatham/solst/summer.htm

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