Having a hard time falling asleep. I’m heading to Vegas on Sunday for work, and going through the portion of every travel event where I spend the 48 hours prior thinking of everything that can go wrong with the dogs while I am gone and trying to think up an excuse not to go.
I don’t drink, gamble, or smoke, and I sweat in a meat locker and when I checked today it was 97 degrees there, so this is pretty much my idea of hell- noisy drunks, lots of flashing lights, unruly crowds, screaming children, noisy, and all with a climate that closely resembles the surface of the sun.
We are heading to see Blue Man Group one night and I am excited to eat lots of Mexican and hopefully Thai food while I am there, so there is that.
Peale
Looks like I got the place to myself. Or was everyone banned for arguing too much about whether the Roman Empire ended in 476 or 1453.
Debbie(aussie)
Just dropping by to let you know I have a new puppy. He is a JRT(Mum)crossed with blue-heeler +++(Dad). Hoped he was going to be smallish, but doesn’t look promising. Chewbacca (Chewie) is ten weeks old on Monday. Photos to follow once I can workout how on my tablet.
Omnes Omnibus
@Peale: I think redshirt passed out.
Omnes Omnibus
Late night live Clash.
Peale
@Omnes Omnibus: I was going to chime in, but then I remembered that when I went to school, we had 9 planets and about 30 fewer countries. What do I know?
Suzanne
Oh, lord. Just relax and try not to be such a misanthrope for a couple of days. You can make it fun, or at least not so bad, with a good attitude. Enjoy the ludicrous architecture, the giant M&M, museums, food, goofy people-watching. Hang out by the pool and check out the ass.
piratedan
since I’m late to the great political news of the day, I’m just wondering why everyone thinks that this is a win for the Dems. We still have the same bleeping media in place and they will sound bite, take out of context and do everything in their power to promote the teahadists as a sane, responsible group of folks who deserve to have their POV listened to and evaluated.
These guys lie their asses off now, granted this will be more difficult to pass off to anyone with firing synapses, but they’ve been in the bag to their horse race narrative for so long, I certainly don’t expect them to abandon the model now.
Omnes Omnibus
@Suzanne: I have come the conclusion that, for all Cole’s “I am a stoic German type” rhetoric, he is a drama queen. I bounced a toboggan on my left ankle during a break from Basic Training; I laced my boot really tight on that ankle, and that was it. It hurt like a motherfucker for about three weeks.
piratedan
JC, you can always take a trip to the Hoover Dam, it’s kind of cool imho. Also, if you have wheels, Zion and Bryce Canyon are close enough for day trips (imho) if you’re into awesome geography.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
Somehow I didn’t need to read who wrote this comment to know.
Do you think you can sway him into having a good time? If anyone can…….
Major Major Major Major
Seriously how has nobody front paged the Pope’s new prog rock single http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/pope-francis-to-release-pop-rock-album-wake-up-20150925
Suzanne
@Omnes Omnibus: Yes. Dude is very emotional. Which is okay. But you’re right that he characterizes himself as a hardass when evidence suggests otherwise.
Ruckus
@piratedan:
Do they take you on the full pre 9/11 dam tour now? It really is cool to see the inside of something so immense and working.
Omnes Omnibus
@piratedan: 1. There will be no shut down. 2. If the trogs elect one of their own, the public will be exposed to how hateful, racist, etc. the GOP has become. 3. The MSM matters less and less every month.
Peale
@piratedan: i don’t feel like it’s a win, since we didn’t actually put his head on a platter. We thought we had a win when the government shut down last time, and it turns out we didn’t get diddly squat out of that.
Suzanne
@Ruckus: I don’t know. He seems pretty determined to be miserable. I don’t get that. Like, if you’re going for work and you aren’t paying for it and you have not-much choice in the matter, why not try to keep a good attitude and allow yourself to be open to fun and/or weirdness?
I saw Billy Dee Williams at the Caesars Palace mall once. LANDO!
Aleta
@Omnes Omnibus: almost going to bed, but
Omnes Omnibus
@Aleta: Okay.
magurakurin
I don’t drink, smoke or g*mble either (well I do gamble a little, I’ve done it for the experience) but Las Vegas is still an interesting place. It’s not my favorite place by far, but there is a charm there. No where does over the top like Vegas. Downtown, or the Fremont Street Experience as it is called now, is a bit mellower than the Strip. And the Heart Attack Cafe is worth a look just for laughs. We went in and just had some shakes and fries, but the burgers looked good. The buffets can be fun, but ask around and see which one is consider the best, it changes from year to year. And the old El Cortez is worth a visit as it is the oldest surviving c*sino in Vegas. Also, if you are going to gamble the El Cortez is the best place to do so. The table limits are the lowest in town. They have $1 r0ulette with 25 cent chips and $2 cr*ps and bl*ckj*ck(that pays 3 to 2 on bl*ckj*ck). The cr*ps tables can be fun. It is a simple game really if you have never played it. Just put a check on the P*ss Line and watch the other people go nuts on all the other side bets on the table.
magurakurin
christ in moderation because I mentioned the names of the most common past times in Las Vegas. sigh.
piratedan
@Omnes Omnibus: I would have thought by now, that the public should already know how hateful, racist and sexist they are, and yet here they are going about their “business” as usual and nary a shout out from the media about the ongoing racist, sexist, hypocritical crap that the espouse nearly every damn day. But if you think that having a new face in front of all of that shit will somehow expose them.. well feel free. I fully expect our MSM, which is the main source of information for your low information voter, to keep on keeping on.. promoting the fallacy that a fetus is a person and building a wall between the US and Mexico is somehow an idea that holds merit.
NotMax
For no discernible reason spent a chunk o’ time perusing a few free computer wallpaper sites (malware-free as well). Added a handful of possibilities to my file of wallpapers should I ever have the urge to change.
Anyway, stumbled across two (#1 – #2) which, though not in any way my bag, thought might appeal to the cat people here.
And another which immediately made me think “Mr. Cole” for some reason.
Suzanne
@magurakurin: I got married in Vegas when I was 23. That was ill-advised. But fun.
piratedan
@NotMax: if you’re looking for something a bit different, I would humbly suggest the digital blasphemy site. Guy crafts some awesome wallpapers
http://digitalblasphemy.com/free.shtml
Omnes Omnibus
@piratedan: I am not here to buck you up.
NotMax
@piratedan
A long-time favorite. Wallpaper I have most used comes from there; originally downloaded well over a decade ago.
piratedan
@Omnes Omnibus: funny, you’re cashing my checks aren’t you?
magurakurin
Also, too, 97 isn’t that bad in Las Vegas.
Omnes Omnibus
@piratedan: ?
Aleta
Me First and the Gimme Gimmes – Blowin’ In The Wind
alternatively
I’m in love with a girl – Big Star
NotMax
@Aleta
Left you a response (such as it is) downstairs.
Omnes Omnibus
@Aleta: First link is to Ian Dury.. Second is a lovely song.
seaboogie
For me, Las Vegas has always been the seventh circle of hell – I hate it. I crave green, and water, and nature, and LV is exactly the opposite of that – just a cesspool of the worst of humanity in the desert.
srv
No reason to see any comedy shows in Vegas, all the best entertainers are in DC:
Amir Khalid
As David Letterman would have put it, “Know your celebrities.”
Omnes Omnibus
@srv: You have a point, of course. What is it?
magurakurin
@seaboogie:
well, yeah. but that’s what’s interesting about it. And it really is a brutal dessert outside of Vegas. If you drive east from Las Vegas you go through some really barren stretches. Beautiful it its own right.
NotMax
Should you bump into Sheldon Adelson, well, you know what to do.
Ripley
Closer to 100 here in Vegas today, with enough humidity to muck it up a bit. Go off strip if the human stain is too much; it’s how the locals stay sane. Red Rock is 20 minutes away, some of the most dramatic and beautiful country in the west. So lighten up Francis, and rent a car.
kdaug
Blue Man’s a blast. Enjoy.
Ruckus
@Suzanne:
I used to have to go to LV once or twice a year for work. Then one year I had to make 3 separate trips in one month. Each trip lasted a week. I tolerated LV before that. But not after. Did have some good times though. When they dynamited an old place to make room for the Stratosphere, I was there. When it was built I got to go for a ride. That was a hoot. 1200 ft up and they shoot you up another 200 or so and at the top you are weightless, feet swinging in the air, a quarter of a mile or so above the ground. Then I left that job and the industry my new business was in had a huge buyers show in LV every year. Back I went. Not sure there’s enough money to get me back now.
Botsplainer
@Peale:
My funniest moment ever, when an Evangelical in my office said “look what happened to the Romans”:
The Evangelical was positive that the fact I stated wasn’t true. I poured on the coal:
Dude actually got angry.
BGinCHI
Cole, get out to the desert while you are there. Some great hikes very nearby. Best part of being in Vegas is getting out of Vegas.
Tim in SF
JC: this may sound weird, but when I have to travel through chaotic places, I put earplugs in. The cheap foam ones are fine. They reduce the sound down to 10% or 20% of normal, which is enough to give me some peace as I traverse the chaos.
In particularly bad areas, or where I’ve had to sit in loud places, I’ve put the earplugs in, then put headphones (the can type) over my hears, and played something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lasWefVUCsI
Ruckus
@Ripley:
Being from socal I’m used to desert and you are correct the surrounding area is desert beautiful and there are nice things to see. But not everyone likes desert.
I used to have a slide of a cactus flower that was, if I say so myself, breathtaking, especially if shown on a big screen. Maybe I’ll see if I can find it and post it some day.
lamh36
I saw Elton John the last time I was in Vegas. Oh…and the Grand Canyon tour.
Also too? “Screaming children”? Are u staying at Circus Circus?
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@lamh36: Yeah, I was wondering where there are screaming children these days in Vegas. There was a point in the 90s when they seemed to be trying to attract families, but I think that’s over now.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Omnes Omnibus: Well, could you or someone else buck me up?
A friend in Finland showed me this week what was going on there, the racists coming out of the woodwork, politicians campaigning on a platform of anti-multiculturalism, and people showing up at an anti-immigrant rally dressed in KKK robes.
I was in Italy a year ago and saw a new fascist movement on open display in Milan and Venice, more subtle the farther south we went, but it was still there if you looked, if you talked to the locals and read the graffiti.
Same trip I met one in Paris, a racist and a proud fan of Bill O’Reilly.
It has felt more and more like we are sliding toward a terrible, cataclysmic event, the whole world is slipping toward that edge, and that there are enough people who want it to happen to tip us over the edge.
BillinGlendaleCA
I’m happy that my keyboard didn’t get permanently fried after I spilled Diet Coke on it last night. Let it dry out overnight and it’s seems as good as new.
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Finally, some good news in the world.
Montarvillois
Take time to to see the beautiful and interesting Las Vegas surroundings.
mai naem mobile
If you haven’t been to the Grand Canyon you should. They have helicopter rides from Vegas. Also 97 in Vegas is not an east coast 97 because its a dry heat. Hoover Dam is totally worth it. Shows you what can be done in this country when we put our mind to it.
rdl
For Thai food (well away from the Strip): http://lotusofsiamlv.com/
For an offbeat museum (also off the Strip): http://nationalatomictestingmuseum.org/
And for some natural beauty just west of the city: http://www.blm.gov/nv/st/en/fo/lvfo/blm_programs/blm_special_areas/red_rock_nca.html
satby
I’m with John, I love to travel but just a layover at the airport in Vegas is enough for me. If I had to go for work and someone else was paying, it might take the edge off the misery, but barely. Anything over 78 starts to feel suffocating to me.
Itsphait
Food recommendations from a local:
Yummy Mexican food -Casa Don Juan is at 1204 S Main St, Las Vegas, NV 89104
Best Thai food – Lotus of Siam is at 953 E Sahara Ave A5, Las Vegas, NV 89104
Relax and enjoy the air conditioning. Plus, since it’s September, it’s amazing outside once the sun goes down :-)
Morzer
@Botsplainer:
Quote Gibbon on how the fall of Rome was due to barbarians and Christianity. Dude will be turning all sorts of interesting colors.
Aleta
I hate that feeling so much, and It never used to happen; now I get it every time. The only positive thing about it is how great it feels later when you start having a good time, and that always seems to happen too.
PurpleGirl
I’ll bet that Cole is going to Vegas for a conference of some sort, so his days are planned out. He’ll be in air conditioning most of the time, too, no doubt. He’s just trying to be cranky.
Cole, relax and enjoy it.
raven
The Southern University “Human Jukebox” is accompanying the football team to Sanford Stadium today! Even though there is a chance of rain I may wrap my camera in a plastic bag and take a few shots from the upper deck!
Freeadom
Find a meeting online and go meet some folks trudging the road of happy destiny. I keep a Google map of meetings I’ve attended all over the world. Keeps your head in the right spot and you meet some very cool people. Also too – next time you go there is a vanilla Marriot about a quarter mile off the strip – no casino ETC. Great place to stay where they don’t oxigenate the rims to keep you up and gambling.
DecidedFencerSitter
I’m a lot like you in that I sweat readily and heavily, I don’t smoke or drink either. I went to Vegas for work in JUne and well yeah, it was about as much fun as you were fearing it would be. I basically hid out in the conference all day until the sun set, and then I would go out and get food or catch a show. And unfortunately that was too expensive for me to do regularly. So I wish you luck, but felt I should warn you.
Steeplejack (phone)
@John Cole:
Lotus of Siam is an exceptional Thai restaurant in Las Vegas. Check it out.
currants
You’ll like Blue Man Group. It’s weird, but interesting.
currants
@Montarvillois: Red Rock Canyon, for one.
Aleta
So, good news about discord in the GOP.
Baud
Like Jesus, all the carpenters are now Democrats.
magurakurin
@currants: and the climbing there is world class. I climbed Crimson Chrysalis on the Cloud Tower there once. It is amazing. A 1200 foot semi-detached tower that goes straight up from your pack you leave at the base. It gets tinier and tinier with each belay station. At the end you can actually sit on the very top and hang your feet over while having a power bar and watch the planes fly below you in the valley.
The rappel down isn’t so special. All the wonderful hand holds you use on the way up become death traps to grab and hold your rappel line as you pull it through from anchor to anchor. Also, one of the raps is almost exactly 50 meters so you have to rap almost to the very end of your ropes. Much too close for comfort actually. When I locked a carabiner into the anchor from my harness I experienced one of the greatest moments of relief in my life. There was about of foot of rope left between my rappel device and oblivion. Great climb it is. The Red Rocks is an amazing place.
Aleta
@Aleta: Sorry, the link didn’t work, but it’s from The Hill. From another article there, called Cruz Basks:
Raven
@Aleta: Jesus this is bad enough posted once.
jonas
@magurakurin: I know, right? Last time I was there (about 15 years ago), that was the overnight *low*.
jonas
You’re leaving off at least one other thing Vegas is well-known for… ;).
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I’m sending in my resume.
BillinGlendaleCA
@jonas: Quickie marriages and divorces?
cmorenc
@Peale:
That’s in huge part because the although the GOP *was* taking a huge shellacking in the media and public opinion for several days from the shutdown, they got bailed out by the new shiny object created by the disastrous rollout of the ACA enrollment website. Hopefully, this time there won’t be any such distraction.
OzarkHillbilly
@magurakurin: I hate coming to the end of my rope.
Botsplainer
@magurakurin:
You just made my nuts climb into my stomach.
magurakurin
@OzarkHillbilly: I watched a guy almost rap off the end of his line on the Monkey Face at Smith Rock in Oregon. We were just starting up the first pitch and a person above was rapping down to an anchor but wasn’t watching the end of the rope. He was inches away from rapping off the end of his line when one of our group noticed and yelled out. He was like two seconds from eternity. It scared the shit out of all of us. Fucking climbing is dangerous and it is downright suicidal if you are a moron like that guy was. We actually knew him and had discussions with him about his lack of safety. We were proven right on that morning.
magurakurin
@Botsplainer: that’s where mine were the whole way down. Seven full length rappels. And on the second to the last one, we managed to get our rope stuck in the main crack when we pulled it. I worked it softly and gently for nearly half an hour. The whole time were trying think of how we would either climb up to free the rope or try to get down with what we had in our hands. We nearly cried when the rope came free.
Botsplainer
@Aleta:
Modern Movement Conservatism is what you get when you elect people who despise the very notion of government to set government policy.
It’s like a corporate board of directors enthusiastically hiring a CEO, CFO and COO that have each proclaimed a goal to shrink the company, sell off some performing parts to cronies and to make it less responsive or accountable to customers and employees alike.
Aleta
@magurakurin: I had to change elevators once when I went to a bank in the World Trade Tower.
Botsplainer
@magurakurin:
I did a little rappelling when I was in my teens and twenties. I’ve dropped a bunch of weight and am considering trying it out again. I love my scuba, but any solo dive trip winds up costing at least 3K, to go somewhere decent – and dry suit trimix cave diving in the Midwest is too much like work, with an off-the-charts death rate.
Realistically, I’ll probably only be able to do two dive trips a year going forward.
magurakurin
@Aleta: The new one or the old ones? I went up to the top of the old one back in 1981. We ate a breakfast of mushrooms, the psychedelic kind, and walked from Columbia U. all the way down Broadway to the WTC. Then we went up to the top and in those days you could go right out onto the roof. It was stunning. The whole below you and the whole sky above. There was a big fire at a refinery over in Jersey and we could see fireballs intermittently blast up into the air. Very trippy.
Gimlet
After the circus.
JOHN HARWOOD: What should a reasonable person conclude from the fact that in each case of Republican governance, deficit was higher when they left than when they came in, and in the Democratic case, the deficit was lower as they were leaving than when they came in.
BUSH: You had a Democratic Congress in the case of my dad. You had a Republican Congress in the last years of President Clinton’s time. And my brother—it was mostly Republican control, and I have faulted the Congress and my brother for not maintaining control over spending. My brother didn’t veto any appropriations bills.
Depressingly more to follow…
magurakurin
@Botsplainer: I admire the courage of divers a lot. No way I could do that. These days I don’t climb but I surf a lot. But deep down under the waves, nuh uh, not gonna happen for me. I have a theory of sports. There are five basic kinds. There are four pure elemental sports, water, earth, air and water. Diving is a pure water sport and caving is pure earth. The fifth kind of sports are edge sports, you do it on the edge of the elements. Climbing is on the edge of earth and air, surfing the edge of water, earth and air. It’s kind of weird theory. Fire sports are like motocross and car racing.
OzarkHillbilly
@magurakurin: On my first expedition in Lech a guy overclimbed where he was supposed to get off a prerigged rope over a 150 ft pit. Saved several lives doing that, including mine, because the rope had found an unpadded rub spot and was down to it’s last 3 or 4 threads of core. I saw it after it came out of the cave and it was ugly. The ropes in that cave look as nasty as can be and it can be hard to get used to but for the most part are OK. After that they instituted a new policy that if a prerigged rope got used it got fully inspected. No more assuming it’s OK just cause it was the last time.
magurakurin
@OzarkHillbilly: nasty. We always used to call gear like that “manky,” not sure if that is a widely used term or one our little group had adopted. Fixed gear is a problem in climbing, too. I think caving would scare the living shit out of me. I hear stories about it and just a cold shiver up my spine.
Aleta
@magurakurin: old one. I remember those fires, too. Incredible.
OzarkHillbilly
@Botsplainer:
The cave diving training alone will set you back many many $Ks, but there is cavern diving as a midway between surface and cave diving. I’ve never been a diver but I’ve heard from surface divers that cavern diving is a trip and IIRC surface diving certs are all you need. There is a good one just a few miles from me that is very popular, an old mine that has filled up with water.
Joel
I’ve been to Vegas about a half-dozen times and I have to admit that I don’t care for it.
There’s are few interesting sites, save for those that are 1/2 hour or more out of town. The food is pretty bad, save for the very high end celebrity chef franchises. And the “feel” of the place, obviously, is very artificial. People often compare Vegas to a DIsneyland for adults, and I suppose that’s accurate, but I would think of it more like the tourist trap neighborhoods of other cities all joined together — Navy Pier, Times Square, etc.
Germy Shoemangler
Some people set up a cam in their apartment to monitor how much their dog was barking while they were away. They saw how their cat deals with the barking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu93UW0d__Q
beltane
@Joel: It’s interesting because the old Vegas had some things in common with the old Times Square. We can’t even do sleaze properly in this country anymore.
OzarkHillbilly
@magurakurin:
It can do that, but I think the fear factor is a little over blown, naturally enough. Nobody ever tells stories of endless surveys laying in water and mud for hours or even days on end, taking shot after shot in featureless phreatic tubes while your wet suit gets shredded by razor sharp chert and your back and neck get kinked to hell as you try to get that all but impossible next shot up the passage. They all talk about the time a Buick sized boulder rolled over them/someone they know.
I can tell a few horror stories but I think crossing Kingshighway at Arsenal is far more dangerous.
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
I don’t mean to sound like an art snob, but how could anyone with half a brain not know who actually painted the Mona Lisa?
(Isn’t Shepard Smith supposed to be the smart one?)
SealDeal
I was in Vegas early this month for a conference at Ceasars. I agree with your overall judgment, but there are actually some cool things to check out off the Strip.
The Mob Museum is fantastic, spent over three hours there when I attended the same conference a few years ago.
The Neon Museum also is worth a look if you have the time….try to schedule one of their night time tours to see examples of old Vegas neon signs in their ‘Boneyard’.
If you want to see something with a little edge and highly entertaining, check out the show Absinthe in the big tent in front of Ceasars. Completely rude and nonPC and hilarious and you are up close and personal to some great acrobats.
Aleta
@magurakurin: fire sports … Once I had dinner with two vulcanologists at The Stinking Rose in San Fr.
I like the theory, though I think ice should be another category because its properties of sliding, friction and the experience of flow are completely different than water’s.
Water+ earth = mud sports
Water + air = waterfalling, and maybe whitewater at the moments it is entirely mixed (rather than on the edge between the two)
MomSense
@Suzanne:
I’m with you. There is a beautiful fine art museum, some crazy architecture, and unique people watching. Why not just have fun?
The twitterati are having fun with the China State Dinner photos. Michelle looked stunning and the pres knew it.
I still can’t believe China announced major cap and trade ahead of the Paris talks. I’m feeling more optimistic we might actually accomplish something. My kid is going to be there and it would be such a thrill to have him witness something big happen on climate change.
JMG
John, even though you don’t gamble, as a sports fan you should check out the scene at one of the casino sports books for the Sunday or Monday night NFL games. For one thing, it’ll make you even happier you don’t gamble, but mostly, it’s a memorable crowd scene.
ThresherK (GPad)
@Joel: I am too close to NYC and hence too far from Vegas for this to be a fair right. And I’m 100% suburban tourist. (That doesn’t mean Times Square is everything to us, but we are very familiar with the TKTS booth.)
Am I missing anything? My sister went to Vegas for a very dear friend’s wedding, and I since then I’ve tried to construct a scale of “What would it take for me to go?”
Lee
I consider myself a Vegas veteran (long story).
“screaming children” Nope. No one under 21 allowed in casinos. That includes infants. If you have a baby with you, you cannot gamble.
Go out and see either the Hoover Damn or Red Rocks. Both are impressive for different reasons.
Get a cab to drive by the Mormon Tabernacle around Sunrise Mountain. It is pretty cool looking building.
I think the sex museum is still open in Vegas.
Get a escort.
You can have a great time in Vegas without drinking a bit of alcohol or gambling a nickle (people watching is incredible there). For some I do recommend dropping a couple of nickles in the nickles slots just for the entertainment value.
MomSense
@Aleta:
I used to have some friends who were ice climbers. They have since aged out of the sport and moved away. Just watching them do it was terrifying enough for me. I have another friend who is a retired climber- one of the buts who doesn’t use any ropes. Thank dog I never saw him climb because I would probably have passed out. He doesn’t do major climbs anymore.
debbie
@Germy Shoemangler:
“Don’t make me come over there.”
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: Without googling it, I’m not sure (Da Vinci?) Seriously, I enjoy art, got to the STL art museum at least once a year (well I try anyway) and am going to an art festival in STL next wkend. But I don’t hang onto facts I don’t need. Than again, I can still tie a double bowline with my eyes closed. Haven’t needed to know that in a decade or so.
gogol's wife
I’m in exactly the same space as John, only substitute cats for dogs and Milwaukee for Las Vegas.
MomSense
@MomSense:
“buts” = “nuts”
Hate typing with a stupid phone.
OzarkHillbilly
@ThresherK (GPad):
Guns. Pointed at my head.
Steeplejack
@debbie:
I think this is being way overblown. It was a brain fart and a slip of the tongue.
debbie
@Steeplejack:
True. First names and all. But I would expect that error from Mika or Joe more than Shepard Smith.
NotMax
@ThresherK
On trip to NYC area earlier this month, was astonished that none – not a one – of the family or friends who live thereabouts knew about a deal at the Times Square TKTS booth.
Namely that if one purchases tickets and should want to go to another show anytime within a week of said purchase, all one has to do is to show the ticket stubs at window #1 in order to avoid standing in line at all.
First show we got tickets for on this trip, time on line was about 20 – 25 minutes (which isn’t all that bad).
For the second show, time on line was less than 10 seconds.
Steeplejack
Las Vegas is fine. I don’t know that I would pick it (more than once) as a vacation destination, but I go out there about twice a year to visit family. (I’m going for three weeks in November-December.) There are a lot of good restaurants, there are many outdoor activities within easy reach, and if you don’t go in June-September the weather is phenomenal. You can have a great time without ever setting foot on the Strip.
Schlemazel
@Raven:
No, no, no I LOVEit! More please! The more clowns like Cruz blovate the closer the GOP is to self immolation. GO Teddy! Get the long knives out and carve away, only true believers need apply.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: Be careful what you wish for (innocent bystanders and all that)
Amir Khalid
@debbie:
If DiCaprio were to star in a da Vinci biopic, I wonder if Shepard Smith could process it.
Schlemazel
@debbie:
I think his mouth was running and his brain slipped a cog, it was a true slip. Still, given where he works I’d point and laugh. Not really a big deal though.
Joel
@ThresherK (GPad): as a previous poster suggested, Absinthe is pretty great. But you can see that in NYC, too (they originally hail from Brooklyn IIRC).
Morzer
http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/sep/25/london-zoo-monkey-meerkat-llama-keeper-caroline-westlake-kate-sanders
Matt McIrvin
@SealDeal: I’ve only been to Vegas once and it was a long time ago, but I think that if I went back, I’d spend all my time at the Pinball Hall of Fame:
http://www.pinballhall.org/
I actually live not far from a great place to play pinball (Pinball Wizard Arcade in Pelham, NH), but the Vegas place has about twice as many machines. “Pinball museum” sorts of places with lots of classic machines are easier to find than they used to be, though.
Amir Khalid
@jonas:
Oddly enough, while sex work for pay is legal in Nevada, it is not in Las Vegas itself. (I’ve been to the city, though not for any purpose related to that.) Would-be clients must venture outside the city limits.
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
The bandage has to be removed. I think the damage done taking it off over years is greater than a good quick rip. But I am also convinced that a Sen leader Cruz or Speaker Gomhert could not muster the votes to do anything much. Yeah, there would be some chaos but less overall damage than boner and McConnell trying to appease the assholes
scav
Amazing tacos, etc (the proper, hole in the wall, genre) at Sinaloa Tacos 2, 2722 E Lake Mead Blvd, North Las Vegas, NV. Discovered the proper way, by getting a little lost.
debbie
@Amir Khalid:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CS7j5I6aOc
shell
Do they still allow smoking on the casino floors? Must be the last bastion. Even in France you cant smoke in restaurants anymore.
shell
Okay, for the life of me I cant imagine what was in that last post of mine to warrant moderation
ThresherK
@OzarkHillbilly: You had me convinced at “guns”. But would “pointed at your kneecap” not suffice?
@NotMax: Wow. I’m getting that engraved on a MedAlert bracelet for our next trip. I have lucked out in never being on an endless line there, but Wow! I also did not know.
@Joel: Thanks. Do they sell actual absinthe at the show? Because if they want me to try it, that’d work, possibly.
Schlemazel
I used to visit Vegas for work once a year, not a big drinker and too cheap to gamble the town never really appealed to me. But the Mrs loves to people watch there and go to the shows so we have vacationed there a couple times.
If you don’t have time or desire to leave town each casino has an attraction that can fill an hour or two. Hilton had an interesting Star Trek display and ride for instance. Many are free others reasonable prices.
If all else fails sit at a bar with slots in the bar, buy $20 worth of quarters and you can nurse that for at least 2 free drinks. Not a fair exchange but cloe and if by chance you win a bit you can get enough free booze to get 3 light weights schnokered and still walk away ahead.
Amir Khalid
That picture … It makes me think of Saturday Night Fever.
Schlemazel
I used to visit Vegas for work once a year, not a big drinker and too cheap to engage in stuff fywp won’t publish the town never really appealed to me. But the Mrs loves to people watch there and go to the shows so we have vacationed there a couple times.
If you don’t have time or desire to leave town each estabihment that may not be named has an attraction that can fill an hour or two. Hilton had an interesting Star Trek display and ride for instance. Many are free others reasonable prices.
If all else fails sit at a bar with slots in the bar, buy $20 worth of quarters and you can nurse that for at least 2 free drinks. Not a fair exchange but cloe and if by chance you win a bit you can get enough free booze to get 3 light weights schnokered and still walk away ahead
JPL
@Morzer: Love is strange.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: We can hope, can’t we? Still, I fear the damage that would be caused by a refusal to raise the debt ceiling, and there are some there who think it literally would be no big deal. Kind of like the invasion of Iraq and the longed for war with Iran. Some of these people are not too tightly tethered to reality and, for the moment anyway, they have more control of the GOP than I am comfortable with.
I think I pissed off a Chinese person somewhere along the line.
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
What if Speaker Gomhert can’t muster the votes? I- perhaps naively- think that would be a likely outcome. Shave the few remaining sane Republicans from the goopers.
Steeplejack
@shell:
Did you happen to use the magic word casino or poker? FYWP no like.
NotMax
@ThresherK
Scroll down to “Fast Pass” at the TKTS site.
Matt McIrvin
@OzarkHillbilly: What worries me is the possible calculation that if they default and crater the world economy, it’ll reflect badly against Obama and by extension Democrats rather than against them. And that this might be right.
I don’t know, I thought a default was coming in 2013 and it didn’t. It helped that Obama didn’t treat it as some kind of good-faith negotiating opportunity like he did in 2011.
Elizabelle
@MomSense:
That’s good to hear. I could swear I saw a WaPost clickwhore headline yesterday: along lines of Will Michelle Obama Cause Diplomatic Gaffe at the State Dinner?
Ah. Here it is.
You’ll see 16 words in the headline. Now imagine what the Post’s red meat clickbait artists called it when it first went up online. Wish I could remember…
Issue is: that Nobama woman wore a British designer’s [gorgeous] gown at last State Dinner for a Chinese leader.
Yes WaPost subscribers, that is what you pay for. Robin Givhan, natch.
Maxwel
Ahhh, Thai food!
NotMax
@Steeplejack
ASCII and ye shall receive.
:)
Schlemazel
@Germy Shoemangler:
Pasta I love that video, thanks!
ThresherK
@Schlemazel: Yeah, the people-watching aspect I can see.
Plus I’ve always been fascinated with how things get done, sometimes more than watching them themselves.
As much as I appreciate the history of Radio City Music Hall, the Christmas spectacular with the Rockettes isn’t for me. But I’d pay to sit backstage and just watch the logistics of how the hell they actually get all that stuff on and off the stage.
OzarkHillbilly
@ThresherK: Maybe… but I have 2 of them so I can hope to make do without one? Like a kidney?
Matt McIrvin
@Schlemazel: I think the Star Trek stuff at the Hilton is gone now. There were plans to open the attraction somewhere else in connection with the Abrams movie, but they fell through.
Schlemazel
@Steeplejack:
How the hell did you get those horrible horrible words through? Seriously, I have a post in mod because I slipped up And typed one
shell
Lets try this again
Do they still allow smoking on the casino floors? Must be the last place. Even in France you cant smoke in restaurants anymore.
What is so objectionable in this post?
Schlemazel
@OzarkHillbilly:
HA! I was born with only one kidney so getting shot there isn’t much of an improvement for me!
Amir Khalid
Test:
casino
poker
@Schlemazel:
Easy, if you know the trick: insert a tag e.g. the one for italics, then close the tag with no text inside it.
Schlemazel
@Matt McIrvin:
Ah, too bad. Still every one of the establishments we can’t name has a thing to see, right? The pirate ship and drama they put on, the fountain, the volcano etc?
Schlemazel
@Schlemazel:
A testie is a small test
Casino
Poker
Germy Shoemangler
@Schlemazel: I like the little yelp the dog gives at the end. And then the cat sits up again for another long stare.
@debbie: I notice the drum kit in the apartment. That cat probably thought “I have to listen to those cymbals and kick drum all night, but I’m NOT going to listen to your barking all day.”
Matt McIrvin
@Elizabelle: I just saw some page about how liberals are hypocrites because Michelle Obama wore an expensive dress to meet the Pope.
OzarkHillbilly
@Schlemazel: That is the hope, but the fear is that too many of the GOP are dependent on the racist/xenophobic/economic illiterate/no taxes/no regs/more guns rump of the party and that gerrymandered districts make them fear a primary far more than a general election that they will go along with the worst just to get reelected.
I hear baby girl (7 yrs old) squeaking. Time to go make breakfast.
Schlemazel
@Amir Khalid:
casino
Matt McIrvin
@Schlemazel: So I hear! It’s been a long time since I was there.
Schlemazel
casino
Steeplejack
@Schlemazel:
You have to break up the word so the FYWP filter doesn’t recognize it. My method is to insert “empty” italics:
cas<i></i>ino
ETA: If you’re not familiar with HTML or not good with it, take care, because you could fuck up the blog formatting (e.g., unclosed italics).
Marcelo
Vegas is an AMAZING food city. From the casino buffets for the pure gluttony to the really interesting and super cheap restaurant experiences, you can find almost anything there. Vegas is the place where Michelin-starred chefs can dream up whatever restaurant concept they really want without the pressures of having to conform to a specific style or whatever. Robuchon can open a burger shop if he wants, that sort of thing.
You don’t drink, smoke, or gamble, but you like to eat, and boy you can eat like a KING in Vegas, and for very cheap, because the restaurants act as a loss leader to get you into the casino.
JPL
@Schlemazel: If you put in a word that is blocked you can avoid moderation by using the italics in between. For example po em em ker or else poker
Several responded before me.
Schlemazel
@Amir Khalid:
I guess I don’t get what you are saying. A couple of tries both in mod. Plus I am working on a small tablet and getting to the grt symbol is a pain
Aleta
@NotMax: Well that’s cool. And a smart idea. Like offering a free gift or 50% off if you buy two, but what you’re given is time, and they get full price.
Peale
@Elizabelle: she looked stunning…but people who weren’t there were insulted?
Elizabelle
I love Vegas. It’s beautiful to see from the air. As mentioned, some delicious Thai and Indian food, off the strip. The surrounding desert to hike around in.
I wanna see the Neon Museum one of these years.
Schlemazel
@Steeplejack:
Ah! Thanks, I didn’t get it had to break up the forbidden word. Now I know.
JPL
test
Amir Khalid
@Schlemazel:
Steep has a better explanation at #138.
Aleta
@Matt McIrvin: funny, I immediately thought she’d be criticized for looking too informal,
Steeplejack
@JPL:
And you screwed the formatting. Careful, grasshopper!
Schlemazel
@Amir Khalid:
A couple of folks answered thanks to all and you too. To clumsy on this tablet but I’ll try to remember for next time. Personally I think JC posted this thread on purpose just to frustrate people who might use the forbidden word!
PaulW
I got a story idea about a road trip to Vegas.
It’s among twelve other story ideas I can never get around to finishing /headdesk.
Is Betty Cracker here today? Does she know about this Florida Blog Con thingee?
Elizabelle
Incidentally, good
morninglate late night, y’all.Baud
Agree with everyone who mentioned the scenery around Vegas. It’s beautiful.
Amir Khalid
To the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, I say: Bullshit. You’re just giving the House of Saud, your employers, a free pass for a cock-up that killed over 700 people.
Schlemazel
@Germy Shoemangler:
Yeah, its as if the dog tries to say ” you’re not the boss of me ” and the cat stands up and stares him down. Reminds me of children fighting
duhkaman
Mr. J
Don’t look for good Mexican food on the Strip. Everything there is a total fraud. I like Bonito Michoacan fon S.Decatur. Lots of other good choices if you have a car. Good luck and don’t waste your money!
shell
@Steeplejack: Seriously? Okay, Ill give it another try.
Do they still allow smoking on the cas ino floors? Must be the last bastion. Even in France you cant smoke in restaurants anymore.
Success! Who knew that was a naughty word
Aleta
@Germy Shoemangler: That video was a hoot. I liked how the cat didn’t even have to whack the pup. Just use the look. And what you said about the drum set. Thanks for the laughs.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
“beyond human control”
So he blames Allah?
Steeplejack
@Schlemazel:
A workaround that doesn’t involve your typing esoteric characters:
Highlight the offending word: casino. Use the i button (italicize) to add the HTML code around the word. You will see:
<i>casino</i>
Erase the word inside the code and put one half on each side:
cas<i></i>ino
If that’s too much trouble, type “kasino.”
Schlemazel
@Amir Khalid:
“No one could have predicted . . .”
Kindaslezzy Rice
Steeplejack
@Schlemazel:
A workaround that doesn’t involve your typing esoteric characters:
Highlight the offending word: casino. Use the i button (italicize) to add the HTML code around the word. You will see:
<i>casino</i>
Erase the word inside the code and put one half on each side:
cas<i></i>ino
If that’s too much trouble, type “kasino.”
JPL
@Steeplejack: On my end it looks like I fixed it.. Can you tell..
scav
@Steeplejack: you can also just have your cursor between two internal letters of the offending word and click the i button twice. I mean, if the button is avialable to you.
Steeplejack
@JPL:
“Several responded before me” is still in italics, so I would think not.
The reason I said to take care (not just you, everybody) is because FYWP has occasional lapses in how it parses (bad) HTML. It seems to have improved a lot over the years, but I think we had an occasion just a month or two ago where someone’s unclosed bold tag skanked a whole thread for quite a while.
rikyrah
Cole, I love Vegas. Granted, I don’t usually go there until winter because I can’t stand the heat.
Go to Foodnetwork.com, look up Diners, Drive-INs and Dives, and see what places they have there for Las Vegas. Good eats.
Enjoy the shows.
I don’t drink or gamble, and I enjoy Vegas.
Steve
My favorite Mexican food on the strip is El Segundo Sol, located at the northern edge of the Fashion Show Mall, facing out onto the strip. Very good entrees, bottomless chips and salsa, and homemade guac. And it’s not even ridiculously expensive.
Kathleen
@Suzanne: There must be an Irish strain in his family somewhere. I totally relate to how he’s feeling. But I also agree that in these situations just make the best of it. Well, sort of.
Schlemazel
@Steeplejack:
I remember at least one event where every post was italicized and other weirdness
Princess
She wore Vera Wang last night and looked fabulous as always.
Amir Khalid
@Baud:
Fatal incidents caused by overcrowding, some of them killing hundreds of people, have been happening at the Haj every few years since 1990. That’s not God’s fault, but man’s. The Sauds have been building infrastructure to accommodate the crowds, but that’s clearly not enough. They also need to be able to communicate with pilgrims, most of whom speak modern Arabic poorly, if at all.
Phoebes in Santa Fe
Hey, Cole, why are you only worried about the dogs? What about that magnificent creature you call a cat? Isn’t HE worth worrying about?
Steeplejack
@scav:
That is true. I went into detailed instructions because of how many commenters here seem to have trouble understanding and using basic formatting, linking and blockquoting. Trying to shine a little light before going back to cursing the darkness.
Baud
@Amir Khalid:
Right. Once may be unforeseeable. Several times is negligence, at best.
JPL
@Steeplejack: When I removed the open italic symbol, it changed part of the statement but not all. Odd.
beltane
I would love to get good Mexican food. It is a thing that does not exist in Vermont, although we do have a selection of bad Mexican food.
Chris
@Suzanne:
Out of all the Star Wars characters, of course the one you’d run into in Vegas would be Lando.
gene108
@Omnes Omnibus:
Troglodyte vote. Troglodyte excited about finally not having to “lay down and take it” or “have the liberal agenda crammed down their throat” by finally electing True Conservatives into power will vote in greater numbers.
The rest of squishy middle will get discouraged and stay home, because they are not getting nice things fast enough to feel like their vote is worth it.
Happened in 2010.
But they still matter. A lot of people still get their news from the headlines and ledes of the MSM.
Schlemazel
@Amir Khalid:
The images I have seen of ” normal ” look like a choatic mess I would guess it is a massive headache to plan and control. If it is like so many other communal events these days and getting huge increases in participants the failure may be one of imagination. They are not thinking large enough. That is not an excuse though as there have been several horrible incidents in the last few years. An awful way to die made worse because it could have been prevented
scav
@Steeplejack: Got it. My default button pushing is always the turn on formatting (hit button) type turn off formatting (hit button) type and not the type, highlight word, apply formatting to whole word (hit button) workflow (which also works), so your method just seemed over-complicated. That’s probably because I started O those many years ago with explicit tagged formatting formatting and not wysiwyg.
SiubhanDuinne
Test:
Poker
Ambien
Cas
ino
Kathleen
@Aleta: Kasich ripped into the Congressional crazies as well, but I can’t find the news clip online.
Baud
@gene108:
That’s why the left stays home. The squishy middle stays home because both sides are the same.
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
You forgot penis.
amk
@Aleta:
So, what exactly stopped these now-righteous punks from caucusing with pelosi on critical national issues?
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Are you having a good time?
Baud
@amk: Dem cooties.
Aleta
@Amir Khalid: when I read what NotMax posted last night, about the destruction of sites to make way for development, I felt incredibly discouraged about the KSA rulers and perhaps their effect on Islam. I understand about discouraging idolatry, but surely they have the power to prevent that misuse of sites. And even if the physical remains are unimportant and unnecessary to the practice of Islam, which is understandable, the reason given (by someone) that as oil runs out the Kingdom may be preparing to maximize the income flow from Mecca — though not unlike the attitude in the West, or the bigger Japanese temples– still I wonder if this might change the spiritual understanding of younger generations’ relationship to Islam. Certainly it’s already happened in the newer forms of Christianity and Buddhism, and corruption was always around in both anyway. So I guess I’m just showing my ignorance here. Still, it was sad to read. I think I pictured Mecca as a more pure landscape. Again, I see I’m pretty ignorant, and I apologize for that.
Your relatives must be grieving. I’m sorry for this tragedy and send my wishes for recovery.
Baud
@JPL:
No, she forgot penis.
Baud
@Amir Khalid: @Aleta:
Amir, did you have family who was affected? I’m sorry to hear that.
Steeplejack
@scav:
Jeez, it was a kluge workaround for someone having trouble getting to the > key! Certainly not my preferred method.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
Oh my goodness. Do the press have nothing better to do?
Amir Khalid
An update on the haze. Yesterday, Singapore ordered a school closure because of the poor air quality. It didn’t rain here in KL today, and visibility has been extremely poor. The Twin Towers of Petronas, which usually dominate the skyline in my neighbourhood, couldn’t be seen at all today. (I live two or three kilometers away, as the crow flieth.) Every supermarket and convenience store in the city is now selling filter masks in boxes of ten.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
Don’t make me sorry I pulled back the curtain. I don’t want to see a hundred brooms bringing up pails of water from the cellar.
Baud
@Amir Khalid: Ugh. Well, at least you have your FREEDOM from jack-booted EPA thugs.
Amir Khalid
@Elizabelle:
Unless she wears a Taiwanese flag dress to a dinner for the President of China, I don’t really see how that’s possible.
Mike J
@amk:
The minority of sane[1] Republicans voting with Dems is the only reason any spending bills have passed. They’re still Republicans and still have different goals from decent people, but at least they acknowledge the necessity of compromise.
[1] Relative to the teahadists.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Omnes Omnibus:
It seems like there won’t be one October 1, but who knows about later.
CalculatedRisk usually says that there won’t ever be a shut down (or presumably debt limit firedrill) during an election year, but I dunno. If a clean CR only lasts 3 months then the Teabaggers may get their rage on in December or January. The debt ceiling juggling may come up around then, too.
I don’t know. It’s hard to imagine the Teabaggers suddenly becoming more reasonable after getting Boehner’s scalp. “Success” usually means they want more. Maybe the new leadership will decide that they can’t continue with the Hastert Rule as long as a substantial fraction of their members are insane. But it’s hard to tell.
The whispered plans about using Reconciliation to try, yet again, to kill Obamacare and PP funding doesn’t sound like they’re going to give up.
BooMan thinks the crazies are still out there:
We’ll see.
Cheers,
Scott.
amk
@Mike J:
Which they could have done in most of the bills, including the biggie, the govt shutdown. They only joined the dems when it suited them and kissed the teahadists asses the rest of the times. And now they whine about the teabaggers? Hypocrites.
Aleta
@Steeplejack:
I’d watch that again n a heartbeat.
Amir Khalid
@Aleta:
As far as I know no Malaysians have been reported among the dead this time. The 1990 pedestrian-tunnel stampede, the first big crowd-related tragedy at the Haj (that I know of) killed dozens of Malaysian pilgrims.
This time out, I understand the fatalities are mostly from Africa. The Saudi authorities have been criticised for some insensitive statements about the African pilgrims not understanding instructions, presumably issued in Arabic.
Steeplejack
@Aleta:
But not here!
Those hippo ballerinas can really trash a place.
Corner Stone
I’ve been to Vegas so many times I’m at a “anywhere but Vegas” mode when going to events/conferences.
And for those saying “people watching”, the whole damn place has been taken over by numbnuts from NJ and NYC. There used to actually be some classy people to watch but now there’s nothing but yooge a-holes with no class.
Corner Stone
@PurpleGirl:
Exactly right. He’s going to be expected to at least show his mug a few times a day so trips outside the city are out. And for the commenter who said to venture off strip, I hope they meant off strip outside the general Vegas area. Because walking a block or two off the strip could easily be a mugging or worse.
Schlemazel
@Corner Stone:
That’s why it’s fun. Makes one feel better about ones self while decrying humanity!
Amir Khalid
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
The Teabagger tendency believes it is in DC to Fight The Power, doesn’t it? It sees as its enemy not just the Democratic party but also the Republican party leadership. Having been out-manoeuvred again and again by the former, it is now turning in frustration on the latter.
Aleta
@amk:
They’re much too busy standing their ground ?
Defending our great nation from the encroaching tides of flotsam and jetsam ? Buying new arms to bear from the honest hardworking folks at Guns For Every White Born Citizen ?
Corner Stone
@Pie Happens (opiejeanne):
Yes, that was mid to late 90’s if I recall. The MGM Grand lost a fortune building a whole theme park geared for kids, then retooling it in the early 2000’s. There was a big concerted push for family travel destination types but the ca$ eenoes soon decided they didn’t actually want mom and dad money. They then went full tilt high rollers or be shit on. A friend and I went shortly after 9/11 and the place was near empty but you’d have thought we were lepers the way they treated us.
Aleta
@Steeplejack:
But pink can do so much.
skeeball
I’ve found Vegas Mexican to be somewhat underwhelming, however the Thai and Japanese are exceptional. If you eat on-strip, you will pay a ~33% surcharge on everything because its on the strip. It will be good, but pricey. If you leave the strip there are some amazing options.
For Thai, Steeplejack recommended Lotus of Siam which is great. Their crispy rice with sour sausage appetizer is one of my favorite dishes I’ve ever eaten anywhere. However, I am partial to Chada Thai and Wine which is out west of the strip. I think their food is on the whole, better than Lotus. Also, they just opened Chada Street which is closer to the strip in Chinatown and I’ve heard nothing but raves (I haven’t been to Vegas since April and it opened about a month ago).
For Japanese, I love Ichiza. It is a loud, chaotic izakaya where you definitely need reservations or it will be a 1 hour+ wait. The food is great. Most of the menu is written on the wall. You order things as you want them and it comes flying out. Some favorite things of mine there include: miso black cod, sake marinated salmon belly, bacon wrapped mochi skewers,the garlic butter mushroom mix and the kimchi and pork belly stir fry. It takes work to spend > 30/person there even if you are aggressively drinking. If you want a shorter wait and a quieter atmosphere and a slightly higher prices Inyo is close to there also.
For sushi, there are a myriad of reasonable all you can eat places that cost ~25/head. I like Jjanga, but reasonable people can disagree. For truly spectacular sushi, go to Kabuto and do the omakase (120pp, 200pp with sake pairings).
Right next to Kabuto is Raku, another quite good, but more upscale izakaya, and Sweets Raku which is a dessert only restaurant by the same people. They do a 3 course dessert that is fun (course 1 is a sorbet, course 2 is your choice from ~5 main desserts, course 3 is a petit fours). Also on the topic of dessert, RM Seafood at Mandalay bay has an ice cream tasting game on the dessert menu. They bring you 16 scoops (enough for 4 people to all get a bite or two of each) and you try to guess the flavors. Get them all and its free, miss any and you pay the sticker price of $25. Any flavor is fair game. Last time I was there, flavors included: benedictine, butternut squash, thai mango chili sorbet, pico de gallo and peanut butter.
I know I said the Mexican was underwhelming, but right near the Stratosphere is a great Venezuelan casual spot called Viva las Arepas that is fantastic. For Mexican, I’d go to either Taco y Taco or Carlito’s Burritos but those aren’t the first places I’m going in Vegas (that distinction goes to Chada and Lotus). Also the AYCE brunch at Border Grill at mandalay bay is tasty and mexican inspired.
That is probably enough of my discourse of favorite (mostly) off-strip restaurants.
Corner Stone
@Schlemazel: I’d prefer to not be surrounded by loud jamokes with a yooge Joisey accent who non-ironically wear thick gold necklaces and can’t ever seem to keep the Yankee jersey buttoned. All of them with oversized designer sunglasses and their hippity hoppoty ball caps worn at non-legitimate angles. And the 80’s Big Hair Era called ladies. It’s pissed and wants you to stop representin’ as you’re giving it a bad name.
Corner Stone
@skeeball:
Agreed but coming from WV that may be what he thinks Mexican is supposed to be like.
Corner Stone
I am flat out pooped of this Pope. I’d much prefer to see MHP lecture me about my white guilt than watch a motorcade shut down a whole city for hours.
Karla
It was ten years ago, but below the Mandalay Bay hotel there was a bookstore/cafe that was a nice place to relax and read. I also enjoyed the aquarium, which was appropriately devoted to predators.
Aleta
@Amir Khalid:
I understood you to say some of your relatives had previously made the pilgrimage; thought this might especially affect anyone who has been there to pray.
Amir Khalid
@Aleta:
Many of them, but not this year.
gene108
@Botsplainer:
I think more to the point, Modern Movement Conservatism via such outlets as Fox News (which is more and more being viewed as just part of the liberal MSM), groups like the Family Research Council, etc. have convinced conservative voters that the process of governing, i.e. compromise, is the equivalent of giving up your values, morals, religion, etc. to the heathen liberal, Muslim, brown, secular hordes.
And that it is more important for Modern Movement Conservative voters to stick to your values, such as destroying Planned Parenthood, even if it shuts down the government for example, than actually creating policies that lead to good governance that leads to higher standards of living.
The politicians are just products of the pool of people, who make up Modern Movement Conservatism. Some are true believers like Ted Cruz and Scott Walker, while others may be trying to just ride the tiger.
Cervantes
@beltane:
Have you tried El Cortijo in Burlington? It’s not bad.
Ajabu
How about this:
Cas-fuck-ino?
That should eliminate the “bad” word.
Cervantes
@SiubhanDuinne:
That a haiku?
gene108
@Corner Stone:
You mean days sweetheart. Days.
A few hours, he’d just be some commoner like the President of the United States.
Cervantes
@Ajabu:
!
Cervantes
@Baud:
I think you mean “left cooties.”
Another Holocene Human
So, if it’s not an ‘orrible sin for boys at a Christian Brothers all-boy high school (just as rapey as you’d think, btw, if Boston is anything to go by) to bring female dates to prom who are not their mom and who they are not married to, then why is it an ‘orrible sin for boys to bring male dates to prom? Post-prom blow jobs between unmarried straights are just as sinful as between unmarried gheys according to the catechism.
The best comment on this petition is “what would the Pope say”? Oh, and also the kid who quoted the student handbook back at Administration. Burn!
https://www.change.org/p/christian-brothers-high-school-let-lance-take-his-date-to-homecoming
Cervantes
@Amir Khalid:
Sad to hear.
Stay well.
Corner Stone
@gene108: I understand from Atrios that it’s a real cluster but I just meant watching on weekend morning on MSNBC.
Steeplejack
@skeeball:
Good info! I’m bookmarking it for my trip in November.
I just texted my old college friend who lives in Las Vegas to ask her the real name of the other Thai restaurant we like a lot. It’s an unassuming place—very unassuming—out toward, or actually in, Henderson. We call it Yoko Ono’s place, because it’s very small and the only waitress we have ever seen in there looks a lot like—yeah, well, you get it.
ETA: It’s Penn’s Thai House in Henderson.
gene108
@Amir Khalid:
Considering between India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Southeast Asia and Indonesia, you probably account for the majority of Muslims, it is pretty damn foolish to think everyone understands Arabic.
You’d be better off broadcasting in English, which has become so widespread most places have integrated a few words into their vocabulary, as well as being a second language to many Asians, who could translate for others.
Another Holocene Human
Actually, this reminds me of the controversy when a kid at a public high school wanted to bring a porn star to prom. (They were friends.) Or when I was in high school and there was a fuss over bringing friends to prom instead of dates (compulsory heterosexuality much? how rapey is that) or the angst over some kids showing up in grunge outfits instead of overpriced ugly ass purchased or rented prom getups.
beltane
@Cervantes: I will give it a try though most places on Church St. tend to be overpriced and underwhelming. The last decent restaurant Mexican food I had was in a hole in the wall place in a decrepit strip mall in Lebanon, NH. I do wield my own tortilla press at home, but sometimes I would like other people to cook for me.
Another Holocene Human
@gene108: Arab Muslims think everyone should learn Arabic because the only true way to study the Koran is in the original Arabic and of course a practicing Muslim must study the Koran. Arabic is definitely part of the course of study in Muslim schools in South Asia and in some places, the use of the native language can take on a nationalistic tone in opposition to religious authorities. And I would say nowhere is this more so than in Persia. Call an Iranian an Arab at your peril.
The Roman Catholic Church had a similar thing going on with Latin, except that they came to think that general inability to read the Vulgate (name means “in the common tongue”, lol) was a good thing. Couple hundred years of Protestant Reformation and wars kind of disabused them of that notion and they threw in the towel in the 1960s–only a few hundred years late.
eta: to be fair to Arab Muslims, if you want to become an Orthodox Jew you’re going to have to learn a little Hebrew, however the difference is that good numbers of Orthodox Jews still believe that Hebrew is a sacred language and never should have been sullied by the creation of Modern Hebrew and so you can find plenty of good Orthodox Jews whose grasp of Modern Hebrew is completely lacking
Cervantes
@Baud:
True, but also: the haze comes from fires burning in a different country.
amk
@Baud:
more like obama cooties. cowardly assholes all.
skeeball
@Steeplejack:
I’ll take a look at Penn’s Thai House next time I’m there (probably not until next April or May). My best friend lives out towards Summerlin so I’m usually more oriented out that direction when I go to visit and I don’t really go to Henderson much.
Also, for November, keep an eye out for Yui Edomae Sushi. I don’t know the opening date yet, but Gen-san who was the original chef at Kabuto left about a year ago and is opening a new place allegedly any day now. It should be open by November and may be better than Kabuto. Also, I totally forgot to include Japanese Cuisine by Omae on my list. Takeshi Omae is a Michellin starred chef who, about 18 months ago, opened a small restaurant off strip. It used to have 4 tables with a 20pp omakase lunch and a 100pp omakase dinner but they recently cut it to 1 table with only 3 seatings per night for 150pp where chef omae does all the cooking himself. Everything I’ve had there has been phenomenal.
Another Holocene Human
@gene108: I think they always believed that. “Politics is dirty.” They just imagined for a long historical moment that they could really sweep into power and take over everything and would never need to compromise.
Cue the rage at the voters and pols to who prevented that from happening.
beltane
@Another Holocene Human: My father was very upset when the Mass ceased to be done in Latin. He felt it all sounded beautiful until one understood the words. Despite Latin being the official language of the Vatican, all the information signs at St. Peters are multi-lingual. It should not be considered a sacrilege to use languages that people actually speak to tell them where the fire exits are, etc.
Damned at Random
I always recommend the Las Vegas Natural History Museum. No slots there. Also, if time allows, the Hoover Dam tours are very interesting. No slots there either.
beltane
When are we getting a new thread? This one is making me hungry.
Steeplejack
@skeeball:
My mother lives in Summerlin, my brother in Henderson. The college friend also lives in Henderson. When I go out there I usually stay in Henderson—in November I’ll be house- and dog-sitting for three weeks—so I concentrate on that side of town. My mother is old and likes to go to her “local” casino and eat in one of the (surprisingly good) restaurants there. Occasionally I can lure her out of the routine for some good Mexican.
Another good place in Henderson is Ventano Italian Grill. Good food, nice view of the city (Las Vegas, not Henderson, LOL).
Another Holocene Human
@Amir Khalid: Terrible.
Pittsburgh used to be that way. It would be black from coal dust in the middle of the afternoon. Streetlights on and everything.
Buildings were black with white streaks from the acid rain. They’ve since been cleaned.
Jay C
@Peale:
A couple of sad facts about press coverage during the Obama years:
1. Michelle Obama almost always looks stunning.
2. Someone who wasn’t there is always insulted.
Cervantes
@skeeball:
Especially if you prefer Northern Thai cuisine — Chiang Mai, Sukhothai, etc. — as opposed to Bangkok food.
skeeball
@Steeplejack:
I love a good old Vegas style coffee shop but they are sadly dying out and you have to go to local casinos to find them. My favorite is Marilyn’s at The Tuscany. My most common meal there is the after midnight $5 steak and eggs. I am also partial to the Ellis Island (both near the Flamingo/Koval intersection) where if you play $1 in coin-in on any machine on your card, you can print a coupon at the kiosk to get a $10 steak with vegetable and potato plus a beer in the restaurant.
Ruckus
@magurakurin:
There are more kinds of motorcycle racing than just motocross. But you are absolutely correct, they are edge sports. And unlike driving a car on a race track. The exposure, the what if factor, are much higher than car racing. OK maybe open wheel car racing comes close. Yesterday the road racing cream of the crop practiced in Spain, top speed, 214 mph. On 2 wheels. And they go around corners. Not at that speed but sometimes close. Almost all the time they make it around. Yes I’d say edge sport. Edge of what I’m not going to speculate.
skeeball
@Cervantes:
Ordering northern cuisine at Lotus should be mandatory
Another Holocene Human
@beltane: The liturgy is hilarious. I mean, there are some bits we grabbed from the Jewish liturgy (the tersanctus or whatever it’s called). But right at the holiest part of the Mass the priest asks all these martyrs for help. You’ve got to realize in the early centuries of the church, there was a bit of a fad for homoromanticism. So you have same sex pairs being called to. This is in the long form, as they get cut out of the Mass during Ordinary time. In fact, there’s a modern musical version of this–“Sergius and Bacchus/Pray for us” and then there’s Perpetua and Felicity. Some scholars really think Sergius and Bacchus were a couple, but the latter two may have been paired for aesthetics! Sergius is a more important saint to the Orthodox Church but one supposes they were in like Flynn pre-schism. Also fucking hiliarious that you can name your kid after a pagan god and it’s a saint’s name. (Of course, Mordechai, aka Marduk, is a pretty foreign god as foreign gods go as well.)
It’s true, some Catholics really liked the hocus pocus atmosphere that went away when the laity was asked to actually be engaged with the Mass. I think with a good celebrant, the post Vatican II Mass can really be a meaningful experience, but the Church does not have a lot of good celebrants.
magurakurin
@Aleta: sorry I had to duck out. Work. I like the additions to the theory.
Another Holocene Human
@beltane: Too lazy today to get off my ass and make bean and cheese tacos. Sigh.
WereBear
@Corner Stone: What on EARTH came over Las Vegas to re-style itself for families? They made their reputation with decades of sin and mob murders.
Talk about a firm brand name…
beltane
@Another Holocene Human: A big part of the Church’s strength was its ability to completely absorb pre-existing pagan cults. This was very obvious in Southern Italian peasant communities where the Madonna became a Demeter-type figure without much change at all in the style of devotion. Just stick a “St.” in front of the name and it’s all good.
TaMara (BHF)
Hey, I used my awesome new powers and gave you guys a new open thread. Off to house hunt, wish me luck.
Cervantes
@WereBear:
Diana Cohen (UNLV) has studied precisely that question. Here’s the abstract of something she wrote last year:
You can read the whole paper.
Can’t stay to discuss it, sorry.
Have a great day!
Another Holocene Human
@beltane: Or just google St Brigid.
Corner Stone
@WereBear: It was baffling in real time to watch. But somehow, some trickster God of marketing genius convinced nearly all the existing places that family dollars was where it was at. And like a herd of wild animals running across the plains they all simultaneously banked left and poured FSM only knows how much $ into begging families to come and stay. The promotions, the packages, the loyalty payback programs…all of it was ridiculous for about 4 years or so. You could get room credit or free buffet just for signing up for a sl0t tourney at some places. It was finally a fun time to be a short pocket gambl1ng aficionado and actually feel like you were getting a deal there.
But let me tell you, at some point the mickey wore off and somebody looked at their books and said W T F ! ?
And they slammed on the brakes, re-targeted big $ players and essentially shoved their former loyal patrons into the cigarette ash dumpster now stationed outside the joint.
Another Holocene Human
@Cervantes: Have fun.
I wonder if political factors are considered. The industry was quite concerned at that time about being regulated out of existence.
Botsplainer
Speaking just for me, LV seems too much like Disneyworld. I like to drink, I occasionally enjoy gambling and I like looking at pretty women. I just don’t want to do any of those things there. It’s been over 10 years since I was last there, and to be honest, I don’t care if I never see it again. It’s not that I’m a snot, it’s that I seem to have that sort of reaction to an entire locality which was built with the apparent goal to separate me from my wallet.
I have much the same reaction to Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Atlantic City, Reno and Branson.
Schlemazel
@WereBear:
They had seen visits and revenue decrease. The mob no longer ran the place and the corporate types looked for an untapped segment. Families were the biggest so with all the unwarranted surity an MBA has it seemed obvious.
Botsplainer
@Corner Stone:
Yeah, I don’t know why anybody thought that was a good idea.
Ruckus
@Botsplainer:
…….an entire locality which was built with the apparent goal to separate me from my wallet.
At least some of them try to make it a little harder to see that’s what they are trying to do. But LV? They embrace that’s what they are trying to do. It’s like a bunch of super rich assholes rubbing it in your face. What I noticed in having to stay there for more than a couple of days is that if you walk a block off the strip it looks like being behind a movie set. The back is struts and temp blocking, propping up the facade. The strip gets cleaned and pressed, the back is dirty, greasy and ugly.
Aleta
@Botsplainer:
You’re describing what’s been done to the Post Office. And the MMC’s are the thieves who announced they would do it, and have. The Constitution is no match for the costly ‘free’ market.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Matt McIrvin: There’s an indoor miniature golf park, with a KISS theme, owned by one or more members of the band. Hilarious, totally cheesy, lots of black light art on the walls.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Amir Khalid: I think they have to go outside the county, to another county if they’re looking for legal prostitutes. I imagine there is illegal activity in Vegas, though.
elftx
You did not say where you are staying so that limits suggestions as the Strip is so much bigger a walk than you would think.
Kids are not allowed on the gaming floor so unless you are staying at Circus Circus you will probably only encounter them while walking the strip.
Why the hell not sit at a machine..they can be entertaining even if you know you will lose..otoh you may actually win a few pennies.
Relax and enjoy something completely different.
That is unless you are staying at the Venetian or Palazzo cuz fuck Adelson.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Corner Stone: Didn’t the “family friendly” Las Vegas period have to do with the housing bubble too? There was a huge housing boom out there around the same time, IIRC. I thought they were linked. “Come to Las Vegas! Cheap housing, family friendly, etc., etc.”.
One of my enduring memories of Vegas is attending a conference at Caesar’s in the mid-80s and every time we entered or exited the rental car we’d get shocked because the air was so dry. It was painful. I gather one can’t count on low humidity out there these days. Another is a guy in our group who camped out at a nickel slot machine in the corner and eventually ended up winning over $500.
Cheers,
Scott.
Cervantes
@Pie Happens (opiejeanne):
A lot more — maybe a hundred times more — than there is “activity” where it’s legal.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Corner Stone: We stayed at the MGM Grand when that amusement park was there. It looked a little like Disneyland’s Main Street, but without the grass and trees, and was made hotter than it needed to be by all the pavement. The people we were there with were from the SF area and had absolutely no concept of how hot it was going to be, and they brought the wrong clothes and risked getting sick after spending just a little time outside. We had tried to warn them, but it’s like telling a native of SoCal about weather that’s 7 below. Does not compute until they’ve experienced it.
Pie Happens (opiejeanne)
@Cervantes: Well, yes. I was understating on purpose.
Corner Stone
@Pie Happens (opiejeanne): I got propositioned more times than I can count last time I was in Vegas. Stayed at Caesars and it was non-stop every time I was off the gaming floor. All women of color, for whatever that does or does not mean.
Sandia Blanca
John Cole, when did you give up smoking? You’re really on a self-improvement kick lately. Have fun in Vegas.
rikyrah
@piratedan:
ICAM.
LOVED the tour of the Hoover Damn. Didn’t think I would, but it was terrific.
rickstersherpa
@Peale: There is actually an argument for 1806 when Francis II abdicated as Holy Roman Emperor and Napoleon replaced it with the Confederation of the Rhine. Gibbon’s history ends his story in 1453 with the fall of Constantinople and the last coronation of a German Holy Roman Emperor in Rome. Gibbon states that this date was rather arbitrary, but suggests that middle of the 15th century, 50 years on one side and the other, saw the beginning of the Middle Ages and the beginning of the Renaissance and Modern Age.