[net.general] World's Fair

cja (06/02/82)

Has anyone out there attended the World's Fair yet?  It might be instructive
to get people's reactions on the net;  the scattering of reports I've received
from other sources indicate the Fair is overpriced, overcrowded, disappointing
and dull.  Anybody got any good news?
		Chuck Antonelli   BTL/IW   ihnss!ihuxg!cja

lambert (06/03/82)

I haven't been to the fair personally, but in the most recent issue of
the New Yorker, there is an article about the fair which gives that
same impression, i.e., that the fair is disappointing and dull,
and that room prices have been tripled or quadrupled for the fair.

wjb (06/03/82)

I have recently returned from spending three days in Knoxville, out of
which I spent less than 10 hours at the Fair.  The lines were long,
the weather was hot (except for the daily hour-long thunder storm!).
Luckily, the Smokies and Gatlinburg were nearby so the trip wasn't a
total loss.

wm (06/07/82)

I just got back a half hour ago.  I'm a sucker for a world's fair, and
since Knoxville is only a 7 hour drive from here, I felt sort of
obligated.  It wasn't great, but it had its high points.  Top among
them is the China exhibit.  Very nice.  I didn't find the fair any more
overpriced than anything else these days.  It was sort of crowded, but
there were always things to do without lines.  The main problem with it
is that there is only so much you can say about energy at a world's
fair.  The best exhibits were the ones that ignored the theme of the
fair.  It's funny, but the kind of things that you would think that
they would do about energy that would be interesting, they didn't do.
One thing that I found interesting from a Computer Science standpoint
was in the USA pavilion.  They had color tv's hooked up with
touchscreens to apple computers, along with an AED 512 graphics
generator, and two or three video disk players.  There were about 6 of
these setups in all.  They had all the electronics set up behind a
glass wall.  The whole thing was so you could interact with the TV and
(you guessed it) ask it questions about ENERGY.

pat@ih1ap.UUCP (Patrick A. Fargo) (02/15/84)

To all those people who responded, I wish to say thanks. The replies
I got ranged from:

	A Fair is held:	    Whenever somebody with enough money approaches
			    the Fair committee. Therefore, irregular intervals

	A Fair is held:	    Every 4 years with interim years having smaller
			    expositions concerning a single topic (Energy)

	A Fair is held:     Every 10 years with interim years having smaller
		            subjects.

It was also said that 2*4 + 1984 = 1992 Chicago. Therefore, New Orleans
is in the mold of every four years. From memory, I thought there was
a 1933 Worlds Fair in New York and Seattle in the 60's. I also know
that Knoxville had an exposition last year and am not sure if they
were originally opened in 1982. Oh well, looks like the Fair people
want the public to keep guessing.

Thanks again to all those who responded.

P. A. Fargo AT&T Bell Laboratories IH