Viva Las Vegas

Politicians have amnesia for as long as they can remember.

Hillary ducks questions, not bullets: Ok, perhaps those paragons of media outlets CNN and FOX News have not shown the clip of Hillary taking flowers from the little Bosnian girl as often as they have shown the Wrong Reverend Wright, but it is now clear that the former First Lady’s recollection of the events surrounding her visit were, uh, not consistent with film of the event. The term, “I misspoke,” now has another definition – “Dang, you caught me.”

Las Vegas Whoopee: Remember Monte Carlo? No, not the one with Grace Kelly that was the setting of romantic movies in the 1950s but the one whose motto in January became, “You burn me up.” The façade burned. The only thing that was hurt was the pride of the workers who accidently started the fire. Turns out those workers were welders who neglected to get the proper permits for their job. The result was 6,000 guests displaced and $ 100,000,000 in damage and lost revenue to the hotel. But the fire chief took a line from the NBA and said, “No harm no foul.” Translated that means no charges will be filed against the miscreants. That makes it the world’s most expensive weenie roast.

Are local high school students “Dumb, da, da dumb?” It is often said of some of the more promiscuous dropouts, “They can’t add or subtract, but Lord, can they multiply!” Recent tests taken by nearly all local high school students seem to support the adage. 91% of Algebra I students, 87% of Algebra II students, and 88% of Geometry students who took the January exams flunked them. I guess they don’t know if pi r squared or pies are round.

Why Math is important: In a town that likes to keep the acne off its face, it is interesting to see local publicists embrace the new film “21.” The movie is based on the true story of an MIT math wizard who decided that if numbers are predictable, he should be able to win at the casino tables. And did they ever… well, I don’t want to spoil it for you. Perhaps the movie should be shown to those struggling students so demonstrate how good math skills can be helpful.

Could that thump you hear be the Real Estate bottom: Real estate markets across the country have been taking a beating. The news media loves to cite Las Vegas to be one of the worst hit. But to quote that famous Vegas philosopher, Francis Albert Sinatra of song, “The higher the top, the longer the drop.” Real estate prices went meteoric for a few years just like tech stocks had a decade earlier. As we pointed out I a previous post, had you bought a house for $ 200,000 in 2000, it would have appreciated to well over $ 400,000 before the market slide. That same house is now priced at well over $ 300,000. See the big picture?

A little blogging music Maestro… Johnny Cash, “Home of the Blues.”

Dr. Forgot