SCIWAY News, No. 31 – December 2000

This holiday season you can send friends and family a little bit of Charleston by visiting ShopCharleston–http://www.shopcharleston.net - site no longer exists. On this site you'll find everything from detailed Charleston Maps to Lowcountry Cookbooks. Choose from a variety of Gift Baskets, Home Decor, and Art Work. Unique Charleston gifts are just a click away ... at http://www.shopcharleston.net - site no longer exists.

In This Issue

1. SCIway to Sponsor Web Design Contest for South Carolina K12 Students
2. New and Notable South Carolina Web Sites
3. A Good Way to Remember What Really Matters This Holiday Season
4. New SCIway Advertisers
5. Keep Up with the SC General Assembly Wherever You Are
6. Please Check Your Link on SCIWAY
7. Upcoming Festivals and Events
8. My Favorite South Carolina Web Page for 2000

1. SCIway to Sponsor Web Design Contest for South Carolina K12 Students

During the first three months of 2001, SCIway will sponsor a statewide Web design contest that will give South Carolina K12 students a chance to shine ... and to teach the rest of us about South Carolina.

To enter the "Teach South Carolina" contest, student design teams must develop a collection of Web pages about some aspect of South Carolina–a person or event in our history ... a place or community ... a problem we currently face ... or any other South Carolina topic they choose. These pages must be completed and uploaded to SCIway by 5:00 p.m., Saturday, March 31.

Prizes will be awarded in two divisions: grades 9-12 and grades 8 and under. First prize in each division is $500, and second prize is $300. The top four teams will also receive trophies, and their websites will be added to SCIway and featured in the April issue of SCIWAY News.

In addition as many as 16 other student design teams may receive SCIway excellence awards. These will include $100, a plaque, and a place on SCIway.

All South Carolina K12 students are eligible to participate in SCIWAY's Teach South Carolina Contest, regardless of whether they attend a public, private, or home school.

Final rules will be posted on January 1, and additional contest information will be included in the January issue of SCIWAY News.

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2. New and Notable South Carolina Web Sites

Barnwell County Economic Development Commission - a classy site

http://southerncarolina.org/barnwell/EDC

Center for Educator Recruitment, Retention, & Advancement - CERRA

http://www.cerra.org/

Dutch Fork Chapter of the South Carolina Genealogy Society - Midlands

http://dutchforkchapter.org/

Erskine College - Due West, SC - Presbyterian - founded in 1839

http://www.erskine.edu

Santee Cooper Country Visitors Guide - Lake Marion and Lake Murray

http://www.santeecoopercountry.org

SC Shop - lots of interesting South Carolina stores

https://www.sciway.net/shop/

South Carolina Digest Today - a daily roundup of key SC news stories

http://www.strom.clemson.edu/future/scdigest/today/ - page no longer exists

South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce - formed this year

http://www.scsbc.org

South Carolina Tombstone Transcription Project - online cemetery records

http://usgwtombstones.org/southcarolina/scarolina.html

Sparklenet - Spartanburg arts, culture, and education resources

http://www.sparklenet.com - site no longer exists

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3. A Good Way to Remember What Really Matters This Holiday Season

The holidays are hectic at best. There are never-ending presents to buy and parties to attend. Trees must be decorated, cards sent, and if you have children, you will undoubtedly have costumes to sew or cookies to bake. In the midst of all these responsibilities, it becomes so easy to forget why we're celebrating in the first place.

This makes December an especially good time of year to visit SCIWAY's collection of South Carolina religious websites (https://www.sciway.net/org/relig.html). Here you will find many, many reasons to sit back, rest for just a moment, and remember what really matters this season. Our state's online churches and temples abound with holiday "e-spirit"–from Christmas carols in streaming audio to festive photographs of holly wreaths hanging on old wood doors.

These sites are also the perfect place to find out the whens-and-wheres of holiday gatherings and services ... and to learn a good bit about a church's personality.

So if the holidays have you feeling overwhelmed, take some time to enjoy what the religious organizations in your community have to offer online. With over 400 sites, you might just find a little something to help you lighten your soul. Not to mention make you smile!

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4. New SCIway Advertisers

Gardenia Gifts - Columbia - santas, angels, teddy bears, ornaments

http://www.gardenia-gifts.com - page no longer exists

The Ghosts of Charleston - new book - goes on sale today!

http://www.tourcharleston.com/The_Ghosts_of_Charleston_Book.htm - page no longer exists

South Carolina Bookstore - Columbia - books plus great gear for USC fans

http://www.neebo.com/sc - page no longer exists

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5. Keep Up with the SC General Assembly Wherever You Are

Starting January 9, you can follow the work of South Carolina's General Assembly almost anywhere you go ... if you have a Palm Pilot or Palm Pilot compatible that has Internet access.

This new wireless service from the South Carolina State House Network (http://www.scstatehouse.gov) will enable Palm Pilot users to view weekly House and Senate schedules, daily committee meeting schedules, and contact information for House and Senate members and committees. To learn how to use this service, go to http://www.scstatehouse.gov/fall2000.htm - page no longer exists.

Palm Pilot users can also subscribe to the State House Network's email tracking service, which notifies you when an action is taken concerning a particular bill or other legislative document you're interested in. For more information, see http://www.scstatehouse.gov/maintrk.htm - page no longer exists.

Both of these services are free, and both can be accessed by wired computers as well as Palm Pilots.

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6. Please Check Your Link on SCIWAY

One of the most challenging parts of managing the SCIway Web site (https://www.sciway.net) is keeping its 10,000+ unique links working correctly. We use an Australian link checking service to help us do this, and it does an excellent job. But its software can't detect pages that have been redirected to a valid new address or to a page that has nothing to do with the original page.

This is where we could use some help from you. If your business, organization, or government agency has one or more links on SCIway, please search for them and make sure they're working correctly. This will help everyone, especially the more than 100,000 people who use SCIway each month.

If you find something we need to change, please write us at service@sciway.net. We will definitely appreciate your help.

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7. Upcoming Festivals and Events

For the latest information on upcoming South Carolina events, please see https://www.sciway.net/calendar.html.

Holiday Festival of Lights - James Island - Nov 10-Jan 1

Carolina Piedmont Christmas Tours - Historic Brattonsville - Dec 4-31

The Butterfingers Angel, Mary & Joseph, Herod the Nut, & The Slaughter of 12 Hit Carols in a Pear Tree - Beaufort - Dec 7-22

Christmas in Hopelands - Aiken - Dec 9-26

First Night Charleston - Charleston - Dec 31

First Night Varnville - Varnville - Dec 31

It's Murder on New Year's Eve! - Columbia - Dec 31

The Lion in Winter - Newberry and Charleston - Jan 6 and 11

Chefs' Feast - North Charleston - Jan 21

Learning Holiday at the Beach - Litchfield Beach - Feb 4-9

Tidelands Birding Festival - Huntington Beach St Park - Feb 23-25

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8. My Favorite South Carolina Web Page for 2000

During the course of a year, I look at thousands of South Carolina Web pages, and I learn something useful or interesting from most of them. But every once in a while I find a page that I enjoy so much that I return to it from time to time just for the pleasure of it.

The South Carolina Web page I've enjoyed the most this year is Companion HealthCare's home page. Companion is an HMO owned by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina, and its home page complements its advertising theme: "From the mountains to the sea, Companion HealthCare is South Carolina's health plan."

As you can see by taking a quick trip to http://www.companionhealthcare.com - site no longer exists, Companion's home page communicates this message vividly. (Don't click the Enter button at the bottom of the page. The short wait will be worth it.)

This page was designed by Harvey Galloway (Companion's chief operating officer) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield's Corporate Communications department. It was produced by Companion's web development team. The mountain is Table Rock, located in northern Pickens County ... the beach is on the Isle of Palms, north of Charleston ... and the music was composed for Companion by Josef Patchen of Augusta, Georgia.

To see and hear this 30-second performance, your computer must have Macromedia's Flash plug-in (version 4 or higher) ... Netscape or Internet Explorer 4.0 or above ... and, of course, a sound card. It also looks and works best if your monitor resolution is set at 800x600.

I hope you like this page as much as I do. It really celebrates South Carolina!

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Copyright © 2000 SCIway, LLC. SCIWAY News^™ is written by Rod Welch and Robin Welch of James Island, South Carolina–with a lot of help from people throughout South Carolina. ISSN: 1527-3903. Direct circulation: 38,000+

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