Monday, July 24, 2006
Me on cold medication, II
In the directory where I keep draft versions of entries, I found one
labled cold.medication dated July 7th which
contained the following:
I've been coming down with a cold so I ended up going to bed early last night. At about 3:30 am I found myself unable to sleep so I took some cold medication that's a cheap knockoff of Ny-Quill in a pill formulation, and then drifted off to sleep.
At 6:30 I found myself wide awake in a red convertible doing about 130 out of Barstow conversing with Hunter S. Thompson about the finer points of wumpus hunting as a swarm of bats trailed behind us.
Yes, when it comes to drugs I am such a lightweight that what some people pay hundreds, nay, thousands of dollars for better living through chemistry I can experience with cheap OTC stuff meant to fight off a cold.
And hating every moment of it.
There is no way I'm making it in to work today.
Funny, I thought. I don't recall writing that. But I must have, since it was written when I was sick. And I am a lightweight when it comes to OTC medication.
Then I noticed that the file was dated June 7th, not July 7th. Which was odd, since I wasn't sick on June 7th. It was then I noticed that it was June 7th 2005 and it all made sense. Yes, I was sick then so that's when I must have written it.
Imminent death of Las Vegas is a bit premature
Fifty years ago a Life magazine cover asked—“Las Vegas—Is Boom Overextended?” After all, three hotels had opened in the spring of that year costing a total of $15 million and two more were opening that summer including the $5 million Dunes. “Had Las Vegas pushed its luck too far?” Life wondered.
Nearly 30 years later, Malcolm Baldrige, while serving as Secretary of Commerce in 1984 was quoted as saying, “the current boom in Las Vegas could last four more years.”
But, of course here we are 20 years later, and Sin City continues to boom.
What Life Magazine and Poor Malcolm failed to grasp is what really makes Las Vegas—Las Vegas. The town is ground zero for high time preference. People go to Las Vegas to have a good time, blow their money and maybe be a little bit naughty. After all, “what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas (or according to the Palms casino “didn't happen at all”)”. Let's face it you don't go to Vegas to be civilized or prudent, just the opposite. As Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman told the Denver Post: "People don't come here from the Midwest to go to an AA meeting.”
via ThoughtStor ms: Las Vegas, High Rises and High Time Preferences
An interesting article about Las Vegas and the seemingly perpetual prediction of its demise and how it never comes about. Although the article does go into depth into the real estate slowdown happening in Las Vegas even as it continues to grow.
