Hello Melinda,
I love Chicago. But some stupidity in the US system means that citizens
there are now able to carry concealed guns pretty much anywhere anytime.
I will no longer feel comfortable there next time I visit.
I can respect that, but let's be clear about the issue with
Singapore: relationships between men are criminal offenses.
I think there's a distinction to be drawn between being at
risk from the environment and being at risk from the state.
there is a distinction for sure, but I'm not sure which one is worse. I
have a friend of mine who is in relationship with other man. They went
to Singapore for business reason about a year ago. They felt safer than
in Dallas (being there also for business about three years ago) - I just
verified this findings over e-mail.
All venues have their own issues (including those in the US). Some
issues are "issues" in some brains, some are objective (size of the
meeting, public safety, distance). With full respect to your opinions, I
do not give so much priority to them.
And as I wrote once - we need better solution for virtual meetings, so
anyone can participate effectively from his living room or office. So
lets focus on this topic and try not dance (too much) on meeting venue
selection process.
Michal
P.S: We can put into discussion every meeting from IETF 1 and find
issues in the location.
P.P.S: I see one big issue (or missed opportunity) with meeting
selection in last five years - we did not placed bid for Mistral ships
so France sold them to Egypt. But Brazil has one second hand aircraft
carrier to be decommissioned, so we can jump on this opportunity.