ignatz@ihuxx.UUCP (Dave Ihnat, Chicago, IL) (05/24/84)
I'd like to suggest that Chicago be the site of the next USENIX. Why? (Aside from the fact that I live here, so I wouldn't have to consider hareing off to some place K-miles away for a change...) Good drinking laws. A normal bar license is good to 2AM *every day of the week*. Many bars have purchased the *4AM* license. And Saturday nights, all licenses are extended by an hour. Yes, folks, you can fry your cerebral cortex until 5AM Sunday morning. Granted, bars can't open until after noon on Sunday, but then, seven hours of sleep will do you good... On the dark side, watch out for the Dram Shop law. This is a little-known law (outside of Illinois) that covers everything about anything to do with liquor, apparently. (I have yet to see anyone who's got a copy and knows exactly everything in it...) It's most obvious effect on you, the serious imbiber, is to make the possesion of an opened 'container' of liquor risky in a vehicle. Specifically, while within 'convenient reach' of the driver or any passenger in a motor vehicle, no bottle can have a broken seal; no six-pack or case can be broken or opened; no can may be opened or tab-top popped if the container has alcoholic beverages. Also, if someone gets hurt by a drunk in an auto accident, then all aggrieved parties may sue each and every bar that may be shown to have served that person after they were intoxicated. (Exciting to prove? Yes; but it does wonders for the bar insurance racket, and does make owners toss out the really aphasic blottos.) To you, the convention goer, this means naught. Come to the Windy City, and drink with me... Dave Ihnat ihuxx!ignatz