On this day August 29, 2007, a runaway chlorine tank car traveled approximately 22 miles through the heart of Las Vegas. The tank car hit a top speed of 50 mph before stopping in the Northern part of Las Vegas. The tank car was fully-loaded with chlorine, a toxic irritating chemical. The tank care had broken free from a rail yard on the South end of the Las Vegas Valley around 9 a.m. The tanker’s speed reached 50 mph. Fortunately no one was hurt and there was no damage or leak of chlorine during the incident.
Desert Inn Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas Closed on August 28, 2000
The Desert Inn was a hotel/casino that operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. It was the fifth resort to open on the Las Vegas Strip. The property included an 18-hole golf course. Locals nicknamed the resort “The D.I.” or just “D.I.”.
The Desert Inn’s most famous guest, businessman Howard Hughes, arrived on Thanksgiving Day in 1966, renting the hotel’s entire top two floors and then later bought the resort when asked to vacate.
The Desert Inn has appeared in many movies including: The 1960 film version of Ocean’s 11 and last use in the film Rush Hour 2. The hotel served as the primary backdrop for the TV show Vegas which aired on ABC from 1978 to 1981. The lead character, Dan Tanna, was portrayed by Robert Urich.
The D.I. Was imploded on November 16, 2004. to make way for the Wynn and Encore resorts.
SLS Hotel and Casino Las Vegas opened on August 23, 2014
HOTEL
Midnight on August 23, 2014, the former Sahara Hotel, the SLS, re-opened after a $415 million renovation. The Sahara hotel closed on May 16, 2011.
SPORTS
The Mountain Ridge All Stars Little League team loses the championship game, (7-5) to Chicago during the Little League World Series. This was the first time ever that a team from Nevada had made it to the World Series.
GAMING The 20 year old slot machine at the MGM Grand, called the “Lion’s Share”, finally hit its long awaited progressive jackpot of over 2.4 million. The jackpot was hit by Walter and Linda Misco from New Hampshire. The slot machine was install in the 1990’s and had a cult like following as players queued in long lines to play. Now that the machine has paid out its jackpot it will be retired. The MGM Grand is considering letting the Misco’s take the winning machine.
Hitting the Las Vegas Strip is top of many a bucket list, but for those who need to take some time out from gambling to catch up on emails, social media, business, or gaming, it’s important to know where the best internet cafés are located. Luckily, Las Vegas is home to a great selection of places where you can grab good food while enjoying fast connections, so we take a look at some of the best places where you can catch up on your internet admin.
If you’re looking for a social hangout with high quality PCs and powerful internet speed, make sure to check out Evo Café at 3310 S Jones Boulevard. Bargain priced soft drinks and snacks along with super late opening times (they close at 5am) make this a favorite among locals and visitors alike. Gaming sessions are also cheap, costing around $20 for 12 hours plus a free Coke, but asking for a membership account will entitle you to a whole host of other benefits and bonuses. It is worth remembering that smoking is permitted here, so if you are a non-smoker it might not be the place for you.
Another highly rated gamers paradise is PVP Zone at 6250 W Charles Boulevard. A non-smoking establishment, they are open 24 hours a day and offer late night owl specials ($10 from 2am – 10am). Comfy chairs, great service, powerful hardware, and super-fast connection speeds make this one of the most favored internet cafes in the area. The café also offers well-priced smoothies and hot tea as well as a wide selection of Thai food. Prices for internet access start from $4 an hour, however they also run deals such as buy 4 hours get one free (5 hours for $16) which means you can easily forget about the casinos down the road! Nevada were the first state to legalize online gambling in 2013, so you can use these great internet deals to try your hand at online poker on 888poker.com.
Gorilla Café offers the unique opportunity to brush up on your pool, carom, and billiards skills in between internet sessions on their huge range of pool tables. Heavy duty PC hardware and gaming consoles are available in the LAN centre, with rates starting at $4 an hour for non-members, and $3 per hour solo play on PlayStation 3. Located at 1801 E Tropicana Avenue, Gorilla Café offers a wide variety of different snacks and instant noodle bowls, as well as reasonably priced sodas, juice, energy drinks, soju, and raspberry sake. It is also possible to have food delivered to your PC from your favorite restaurant.
For an Instagram-worthy interior, healthy acai bowls, house-crafted juices, and organic superfood smoothies, head to House of Alchemy at 4245 S Grand Canyon Drive. While the café has not provided PCs, there are plenty of outlets and super-fast Wi-Fi for those who like to take their own devices to work from. House of Alchemy also has its own private parking lot and clean gender neutral restrooms. It opens from 8am – 5pm weekdays and 9am – 4pm weekends. A little on the pricey side for food, but the connection is free and the service, coffee, and iced lattes are something to write home about.
An inexpensive place to access Wi-Fi is Café Darak, at 8665 W Flamingo Road. The quirky bohemian décor of this unique establishment makes it a huge favorite among locals, particularly as it is open until 2am – perfect for those late study nights. Bring your own device to take advantage of the free Wi-fi, set up in the cool VW bus tent, order the Oreo cheesecake, or check out the range of art and jewelry on sale.
For years, Las Vegas was the world’s most prosperous gambling city. The desert town was only founded in 1905, but by 1950 it was recognized as a haven for high stakes gambling. Thanks to celebrities like Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, along with repeated representation in Hollywood blockbusters like Ocean’s Eleven, Sin City became world famous. But recently, it has been overtaken by Macao, China, which raked in an astonishing $45.27 billion in 2013. Vegas is still an iconic place for all things gambling, but to get back on top it may need to evolve. One way to do this would be to become the virtual reality capital of the world.
Virtual Reality – the Potential
Although it hasn’t really taken off yet, many people are expecting big things for virtual reality. Mark Zuckerberg has given the new technology his full backing, and Facebook bought the Oculus Rift for the whopping sum of $2 billion back in 2014. The founder of the social network giant wants everyone to be using the site in VR in the future, but so far sales of the headset have been poor. As of reports from March 2017, there were only 243,000 Oculus Rift sales by the end of 2016, while the HTC Vive moved 420,000 units. The low sales could be due to the fact that the headsets are still quite expensive, with the Rift and Vive retailing at around $599 and $799 respectively. On top of that outlay, users also need to own expensive computer equipment to run the devices. Despite the slow start, projections for VR are strong, and the market is expected to grow to $21.5 billion by the year 2020. To put that in perspective, it was worth $2.5 billion last year. These market predictions are down to the fact that there is a lot of belief in the technology, and more developers are seeking to add VR elements to their games. PlayStation is leading the way in this regard, with recent titles like Resident Evil 7: Biohazard featuring VR elements. In fact, Sony had already sold more than 1 million units of its headset by June this year.
VR Adventures in Vegas
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Las Vegas has now begun to embrace VR. VR Adventures is a recently opened VR experience which plunges guests into a three-dimensional virtual world. Players are required to make use of hand movements, and also walk, sidestep, and jump to move or fly through the virtual environment. It is open until 12am every day, and can be found on Las Vegas Boulevard. Some of the options to choose from include Screaming Skydive, Soaring Superhero, House of Horrors, and Fly N’ Shoot. It is an innovative idea, and provides another entertainment option in the city that has everything. If this becomes a major hit, more things that incorporate VR could soon crop up in Vegas. There has already been a movement towards creating virtual casino games, and Microgaming is leading the way with its VR Roulette which was showcased at the ICE Totally Gaming Expo in 2016. Roulette was an obvious choice for the developers who created the first online casino software in 1994, as the world famous game that first came about in Paris in 1796 has gone through many different variants in the internet age. At Betway Casino, for instance, there are European, French, multiplayer, and live versions of the spinning wheel, and players are increasingly looking to vary their casino games experience by choosing such titles. The Microgaming VR game utilises the diverse nature of roulette and transports players to a space scene, in which there is a roulette wheel operated by a robot croupier. Games like this could certainly be a hit in Vegas, where casinos are constantly striving to provide customers with unique and memorable experiences.
Vegas Could Help Boost VR Sales Not only could the use of VR help to attract more visitors to Vegas each year, the famous gambling hub could also assist sales of VR headsets and push the new platform into the mainstream. Sin City has been setting trends for decades, and was the first place to have mega-casinos when Steve Wynn opened the Mirage in 1989. The massive complexes featured everything from gambling, to restaurants and swanky hotel rooms. Macao clearly took inspiration from Vegas here, and built the Venetian Macao which is the seventh-largest building on the planet at 10.5 million square-feet. If Vegas becomes the VR capital of the world, it would be wise to assume that other gambling hubs like Macao and Atlantic City will swiftly follow suit. For people who are yet to make their minds up on a holiday to Vegas, there is the Vegas VR app for Google Cardboard which transports users to the bright lights of the Nevada-based city. This should serve to attract even more VR users to Vegas in the near future.
It’s still early days, but Las Vegas has shown throughout its history how open it is to change. It has constantly evolved and grown over the years, and VR could well be the next big thing in the timeline. VR certainly needs an iconic city like Vegas on board, and if it takes off there is no reason why it can’t become the VR capital of the world.
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