Beaches and Scientific Work (NOMS 2008)

I am just returning from NOMS 2008, which took place this year in Salvador da Bahia in Brazil. While the location is very close to some nice beaches and the location almost guarantees sunshine, it seems that technically interested people end up spending almost a whole week in those stereotype hotel meeting rooms without windows, cooled down to a level that it sometimes feels like entering a refrigerator. I am now wondering if it is possible to exchange scientific ideas effectively at beaches. If the answer would be yes, we should start doing so and stop spending a week in hotel fridges. If the answer is no, we might question the need to have locations with lots of sunshine and beaches for scientific events like NOMS. But anyway, people should really mark MANWEEK 2008 in their calendar; it takes place on the Samos island…