Valerie Cowan Surfs the Net

NO-ONE is arguing with the fact that Everest is the highest mountain in the world. But exactly how high is a matter of some dispute.

The last official measurement was 29,028 feet or 8,848 metres. But more accurate measuring equipment has been developed which might just give a different reading.

A team of scientists, climbers and Sherpas are currently making their way up the mountain to get an accurate height using a high-tech global positioning system.

National Geographic have come up with a great website about the expedition, which lasts until June 1. There are regular dispatches from the team, which includes English ex-pat Charles Corfield, who caught the climbing bug on the Pennines and now lives in California.

The website can be found at http://www.nationalgeographic

.com/everest/

Andrew makes a surprise visit

ALTHORP, home of the Spencer family and Princess Diana's final resting place, is opening to the public again this summer to raise money for the Princess's memorial fund.

The estate's official website (http://www.althorp-house.co.uk) has plenty of practical information for people thinking of visiting as well as a history and virtual tour of the site.

You can check availability of tickets online and although there have been reports that tickets have not been selling as fast as they might for this year's opening, a few days have already sold out.

Still on a Royal theme, the Duke of York joined an international community of web surfers when he launched a new Royal internet site at a London cyber-cafe.

Australian and American visitors could not believe their eyes when the Prince sat down beside them at Cafe Internet in Buckingham Palace Road and started surfing through the pages of Royal Insight, an online news magazine which is linked to the existing British Monarchy web site

(http://www.royal.gov.uk).

One astonished web user was so impressed he thought he had better tell the folks back home.

"You won't believe who I'm sitting next to while I'm typing this," he wrote in an e-mail to a pal, while the Duke sat two seats down, checking out the contents of the latest Royal website to hit cyberspace.

Ancient bug trouble

APPARENTLY we're not the first people to face technological trouble from a millennium bug.

One website at least claims the ancient Egyptians had a spot of bother too.

Find out more at Minus Y2K - The Bug That Toppled Egypt

(http://www.athenet.net/jlindsay/my2k.shtml).

Let your PC do the working

WHY carry a diary or Filofax when your PC can do the work for you?

A growing number of websites allow you to keep an online calendar.

The idea is simple - you post details of things you have to remember - appointments, birthdays and the like - on screen, and then access your calendar from any PC with a web link. They will also send you e-mail reminders of forthcoming calendar entries.

My Global Assistant (http://www.myga.com/), Remember It (http://www.rememberit.com/), Yahoo! (http://calendar.yahoo.com/) and the Daily Drill (http://www.dailydrill.com/) are among the services available.

Inspect the gadgets

GADGET freaks will enjoy browsing through All Net Devices (http://www.allnetdevices.com/).

The site is dedicated to those gadgets which link to the internet, such as handheld computers and smart phones which can receive e-mail and browse the web.

It is an American site so all the prices are in dollars but it gives you a good idea of what's available and what's on the way.

Bag collection's sick

IT is not a great surprise to find out that Steven J Silberberg, curator of the Air Sickness Bag Virtual Museum

(http://www.airsicknessbags.com) is single.

Still, his collection of those little paper bags distributed by airlines is quite impressive - and becomes even more so when you learn Steven has never been outside North America.

KEEP up-to-date with all the latest East Lancashire news and sport at http://www.thisislancashire.co.uk.

SEEN something interesting on the internet? Let me know. Send an e-mail to vcowan@lancashire.newsquest.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.