ONLINE GAMBLING AND CASINO GUIDE

One of the nice things about living in Washington DC prior to 2008 was our zone system for cabs. For those who never used the DC taxi system, this was the way it used to work: Each part of the city was in a "zone", and the amount of cab fare you paid depended on how many zones you travelled through.  A cab ride that crossed X amount of zones was $X, and a ride within a zone cost $X ... each and every trip.  There were surcharges for rush hour trips, radio dispatches, etc ... but for the most part, if you knew where you were going, you also knew exactly what the fare would be. While the fare system worked for everyone who lived and worked within Zone 1, it could be unfair for those who lived on the edge of a zone.  For instance, at one ... Read the full blog post...

Well, I tried to be a "green" citizen. I tried to prevent global warming. I tried to save trees, plants, and baby dinosaurs. Despite my best efforts, however, the Las Vegas Regional Transit Authority told me to go fornicate myself with a sharp stick ... although not in those exact words. You see, shortly after 1pm today, I walked over to the Stratosphere ACE stop with the full intent to buy a one-way pass (which the RTC calls a "2 hour all access pass") to go to the Tropicana. Why was I buying only a one-way pass? Because the person with whom I was meeting with at the Trop had rented a car for the week, and I anticipated returning home not on the ACE, but in a private vehicle. Sounds reasonable, no? Apparently this was not reasonable at all, because when I got to the ACE ticket machine, I quickly learned that the RTC had completely eliminated ... Read the full blog post...

I’ve been utilizing the ACE Bus quite a bit lately. This is especially true during off-peak times when I find it to be fast and efficient. There are, however, some rough edges that still need to be smoothed out. For instance, on Saturday, I walked over to the Stratosphere ACE Station, tried to put my fare into the machine, and ... nothing.  It would not accept my money.  The bill feeder was completely dead. This was a problem. The ACE has something called a "proof of payment" system where transit cops randomly roam the bus, fining people who do not have a ticket.  In a way, the fare system is like speeding enforcement.  It provides a mechanism by which people can flout the law by playing the odds, and only be forced to pay up when they get caught. Personally, I am not a fan of fare systems which rely 100% on law enforcement.  This ... Read the full blog post...

Last night, I headed to the south end of The Strip to take care of some bidness and to get my game working a little bit. Perhaps I will expound upon that later, but the real story of the night was not my anemic wins nor the atmosphere in the casinos ... it was the trip home. On the way back to Rexville, we sailed past City Center, flew by Planet Hollywood, then out of nowhere ... got stuck in the mother of all traffic jams. Jesus Leaping Christ on a pogo stick, it has been a long time since I have encountered such abominable traffic on a non-holiday Sunday night. Who let the dogs out?  Who?  Who?  Who?  Who?  Who I ask you? Even in this most dismal of economies, Las Vegas Boulevard is still buckling under the load, and if things get any "better" in this town -- it's only going ... Read the full blog post...

Speaking of new transportation options in Las Vegas. Environmental approvals for the proposed $4 billion DesertXpress high-speed rail project between Las Vegas and Southern California are taking longer than expected, but executives with the project said Thursday they expect construction to begin this year. "It's all just process and working through the details," DesertXpress Enterprises President Tom Stone said in a media briefing on the project. "No environmental showstoppers have been identified." Last year, developers of the 185-mile rail line that would link Las Vegas with Victorville, Calif., said they hoped they would get final environmental approvals by the end of the first quarter of 2010 and that they would be able to break ground by summer. But Stone said the process is running three to four months behind what they had hoped, although they still expect a groundbreaking before the end of the year. Construction is expected to take four years, meaning that ... Read the full blog post...

I spent the majority of the day doing what few people would consider fun. Riding the bus. Today was the very first day of operation for the new ACE ... a new type of bus transit that is supposed to revolutionize Las Vegas transportation ... at least on some level. Ever since the ACE was announced, I have more or less been counting the days until its arrival. People have been giving me a hard time over my level of excitement for a stupid bus, but I don't think they understand why it is such a big deal for me. The ACE is damn-near the municipal equivalent of a personal chauffeur for yours truly.  It stops very near my home, bisects Rexville almost perfectly, goes to Fremont Street, goes to the Convention Center, goes to the Strip, goes to Town Square, goes to the Government Center, goes to both outlet malls, and everywhere in ... Read the full blog post...