They have a neat, if compact kitchen, a furnished living area, and a bedroom complete with double bed, wardrobe and bookshelf featuring a wide selection including a Frank Sinatra biography and Spanish phrase book.
And they make their money in some of the biggest casinos in the world.
But their life is far from the ordinary.
Because, along with hundreds of others, the couple are part of a secret community living in the dark and dirty underground flood tunnels below the famous strip.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Tonight We Had A Rainbow!
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| I cranked up the saturation on this shot so you could really appreciate the colors! |
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Now For Something Different...
Student work from the University of Lethbridge (Canada), New Media Department.
Sunday, April 15, 2012
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Apple slams Amazon for behaving just like Apple
Apple finally responded on Thursday to the Justice Department’s lawsuit against it and several of the Big Six book publishers — for allegedly colluding to keep e-book prices high — by releasing a statement saying it did nothing wrong.
The Quietest Place on Earth Will Drive You Insane Within 45 Minutes
The quietest place on Earth is a room in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the longest anyone has stayed in the dark there is 45 minutes. The 'anechoic chamber' at Orfield Laboratories absorbs over 99 percent of sound with 3-foot-thick fiberglass wedges and insulated walls, removing virtually every sound except that of people and objects brought into the chamber. In some cases, that's used for simple industrial purposes: it's a way to hear the sounds of switches, motors, or washing machines without outside interference
Why Does Asparagus Make Your Pee Smell Funny?
The asparagus has a long and storied history. It was mentioned in the myths and the scholarly writings of ancient Greece, and its cultivation was the subject of a detailed lesson in Cato the Elder’s treatise, On Agriculture. But it wasn’t until the turn of the 18th century that discussion of the link between asparagus and odorous urine emerged. In 1731, John Arbuthnot, physician to Queen Anne, noted in a book about food that asparagus “affects the urine with a foetid smell…and therefore have been suspected by some physicians as not friendly to the kidneys.” Benjamin Franklin also noticed that eating asparagus “shall give our urine a disagreeable odor.”
Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo
"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo." is a grammatically valid sentence in the English language, used as an example of how homonyms and homophones can be used to create complicated linguistic constructs. It has been discussed in literature since 1972 when the sentence was used by William J. Rapaport, an associate professor at the University at Buffalo.
The Ghost Army of World War II
In the final years of World War II, both the Allied and Axis Powers knew that there was no chance of defeating Hitler without cracking his grasp on Western Europe, and both sides knew that Northern France was the obvious target for an amphibious assault. The German high command also correctly assumed the Allies would plan to land along the coast of Normandy, and bulked up their defenses there accordingly. Normandy as it was could be taken, but if the Germans added to their defense by moving their reserve infantry and panzers to Normandy from their garrison in the Pas-de-Calais region, the invasion would be a disaster.
Success, the Allies decided, would rest on distracting German forces and spreading them too thin across multiple invasion sites. They needed a way to credibly threaten Pas-de-Calais, scaring the Germans into keeping the reserves there and away from the actual battle. The resulting plan, Operation Fortitude, is one of the greatest lies ever told.
Half a Million Secrets
"Secrets can take many forms -- they can be shocking, or silly, or soulful." Frank Warren, the founder of PostSecret.com, shares some of the half-million secrets that strangers have mailed him on postcards.
Saturday, April 14, 2012
The Smoker Strikes Again!
I have just finished cleaning up from yet another attempt to clean my electric smoker. Here is my story.
I read online that a great way to clean the racks and pieces from inside your smoker was to place them inside your oven and then use the self cleaning function. This sounded like a good idea, and this morning I decided to try it. I figured that there would be some smoke since the racks were coated with pork fat and drippings. Oh yes, there was smoke! It began to blow out of the vent in the front of the oven. At first as a small wisp and then it quickly grew to a Tank laying down a defensive smoke screen! I only saw the wisp before I was racing around the house opening windows and setting up a fan blowing out a downstairs window.
I came back into the kitchen after making my rounds of window opening only to be greeted by a wall of smoke that practically obscured the entire downstairs! At this point I decided that this was way over the top and made my way to the front of the oven where I attempted to turn it off. In the thick jet of acrid smoke I pressed buttons while hacking up a lung. No change in the oven. Fan still running. The now dreaded CLN symbol shown through the blast of dark grey stench. Fuck It! I must shut-off the power to this beast! I race to the garage and attempt to figure out which breaker will do the trick.
I enter the house again and it is crazy smokey! I make my way back to the oven and the CLN is now gone and the smoke is only rising from the vent instead of blowing out sideways. I can not open the door and remove the producers of this smoke however because the oven is still auto-locked.
Half an hour later I have vented the house and I can get the racks out of the oven. I come back and realize that the glass inside the oven door is black. Baked on like a coat of paint, can't see anything through it, like it is no longer glass but a hunk of solid metal kind of BLACK!
I have started the cleaning cycle again in hopes of clearing the glass but I'm thinking I might need some maximum strength oven cleaner to accomplish this sometime later.
The good news is that the smoker racks, once banged against some rocks, shed all of their nasty grease and are really quiet clean!
Was it worth it? HELL NO!
Now you may have noticed in the title of this tale... The Smoker Strikes Again! What happened the first time? Let me tell ya.
Again, the internet. Again, a great idea for cleaning the racks. Put them in the dishwasher they said. They'll come out spotless.
Not only did the the racks come out looking exactly as disgusting as when they went in, every surface inside the dishwasher was coated by a kind of grease I could only describe as "black lard". You could literally write your name in it! It took an hour to wipe it out... and then the inside was only gray with grease!
Let's not forget to mention the smell: Just like a rack of perfectly smoked ribs! And that smell lasted for weeks as each cycle of the dishwasher slowly broke down the grease and odor until it returned to normal.
I tried twice and I am done. A very wise man once told me that Napoleon Dynamite was the dumbest movie ever made. This same wise man told me that you should never clean your smoker. In my opinion, he was dead right both times!
I read online that a great way to clean the racks and pieces from inside your smoker was to place them inside your oven and then use the self cleaning function. This sounded like a good idea, and this morning I decided to try it. I figured that there would be some smoke since the racks were coated with pork fat and drippings. Oh yes, there was smoke! It began to blow out of the vent in the front of the oven. At first as a small wisp and then it quickly grew to a Tank laying down a defensive smoke screen! I only saw the wisp before I was racing around the house opening windows and setting up a fan blowing out a downstairs window.
I came back into the kitchen after making my rounds of window opening only to be greeted by a wall of smoke that practically obscured the entire downstairs! At this point I decided that this was way over the top and made my way to the front of the oven where I attempted to turn it off. In the thick jet of acrid smoke I pressed buttons while hacking up a lung. No change in the oven. Fan still running. The now dreaded CLN symbol shown through the blast of dark grey stench. Fuck It! I must shut-off the power to this beast! I race to the garage and attempt to figure out which breaker will do the trick.
I enter the house again and it is crazy smokey! I make my way back to the oven and the CLN is now gone and the smoke is only rising from the vent instead of blowing out sideways. I can not open the door and remove the producers of this smoke however because the oven is still auto-locked.
Half an hour later I have vented the house and I can get the racks out of the oven. I come back and realize that the glass inside the oven door is black. Baked on like a coat of paint, can't see anything through it, like it is no longer glass but a hunk of solid metal kind of BLACK!
I have started the cleaning cycle again in hopes of clearing the glass but I'm thinking I might need some maximum strength oven cleaner to accomplish this sometime later.
The good news is that the smoker racks, once banged against some rocks, shed all of their nasty grease and are really quiet clean!
Was it worth it? HELL NO!
Now you may have noticed in the title of this tale... The Smoker Strikes Again! What happened the first time? Let me tell ya.
Again, the internet. Again, a great idea for cleaning the racks. Put them in the dishwasher they said. They'll come out spotless.
Not only did the the racks come out looking exactly as disgusting as when they went in, every surface inside the dishwasher was coated by a kind of grease I could only describe as "black lard". You could literally write your name in it! It took an hour to wipe it out... and then the inside was only gray with grease!
Let's not forget to mention the smell: Just like a rack of perfectly smoked ribs! And that smell lasted for weeks as each cycle of the dishwasher slowly broke down the grease and odor until it returned to normal.
I tried twice and I am done. A very wise man once told me that Napoleon Dynamite was the dumbest movie ever made. This same wise man told me that you should never clean your smoker. In my opinion, he was dead right both times!
Friday, April 13, 2012
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Monday, April 09, 2012
Mishra
Sadly, this morning Deb and I lost our friend of 17 years. Mishra lived a fantastic life and brought us nothing but joy! We will miss her greatly!
Mishra Whitten 1995 - 2012
Thursday, April 05, 2012
I Believe It Was The Year 1999...
Bagboy, Deb and I worked together to build a deck at our first house. I had just -purchased a VHS-C Camcorder and I was excited to use it! I set the camera up on a tripod, and every time we worked on the deck I shot time-lapse of our progress.
This footage sat on my shelf for 10+ years until one day I decided to clean it up and post it to YouTube.
I called it: How to Build a Deck in 10 Minutes! - Watch the creation of a multi-level deck through the magic of time-lapse. It sat there and had a couple hundred viewings as do all the rest of my videos.
That was until a year ago. It started picking up. People started to comment on it. One year later it has over 110,000 views! Bagboy, Deb and I... we've gone viral!
This footage sat on my shelf for 10+ years until one day I decided to clean it up and post it to YouTube.
I called it: How to Build a Deck in 10 Minutes! - Watch the creation of a multi-level deck through the magic of time-lapse. It sat there and had a couple hundred viewings as do all the rest of my videos.
That was until a year ago. It started picking up. People started to comment on it. One year later it has over 110,000 views! Bagboy, Deb and I... we've gone viral!
Wednesday, April 04, 2012
Essential Apps March 2012
iPhones. iPads. Android. We've updated all of our essential apps lists to include a few forgotten favorites, some long awaited arrivals and, as always, even more amazing apps. Check them out!
Cheese Doodles!
This is Aleksander Gamme, a Norwegian man who had been wandering the South Pole for 86 days when he found his last cache hidden in the snow—one he left on his way in. He didn't take notes and he couldn't remember what was in it.
Witness his absolute happiness as he discovers Cheese Doodles and chocolate and candy. It makes me happy just to watch his absolute joy.
Now that you've watched it, do it again with Closed Captioning ON!
Witness his absolute happiness as he discovers Cheese Doodles and chocolate and candy. It makes me happy just to watch his absolute joy.
Now that you've watched it, do it again with Closed Captioning ON!
Building Titanic
Jack and Rose aren't the only ones taking a ride on the Titanic again. National Geographic has hopped aboard the unsinkable ship with the release of its iPad app, Building Titanic.
Music Give You 'Chills'? It's Called 'Musical Frisson'
Scientists have found that the pleasurable experience of listening to music releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain important for more tangible pleasures associated with rewards such as food, drugs and sex. The new study from The Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital -- The Neuro at McGill University also reveals that even the anticipation of pleasurable music induces dopamine release [as is the case with food, drug, and sex cues].
Published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the results suggest why music, which has no obvious survival value, is so significant across human society.
Published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the results suggest why music, which has no obvious survival value, is so significant across human society.
McDonald's Land, Sea and Air Burger?
Mention "secret menus" and many people think of hidden functions on Blackberries or Xbox games. Actually, secret menus refers to items you can special order at restaurants that aren't mentioned on standard menus.
Some places, like Chipotle Mexican Grills, have a whole secret menu that's limited only by your imagination. On the other hand, In-N-Out Burger's secret menu" is so unsecret it's posted on their Web site. Kind of takes the cool factor out of having the inside scoop, doesn't it?
If you're looking to impress a date or just like that feeling of "knowing the chef," here are 24 restaurants that offer secret menus. Remember, not all may participate in the hidden menu. However, if you try to order something and the server looks at you with a blank look, don't give up. Describe the dish and usually they'll make it for you anyway.
Birth of a Book: how a hardback book is made
Slightly Foxed have stepped aside from the ebook stampede to publish beautifully bound hardbacks that recall a bygone age -- and sell like hot cakes.
Watch Smith Settle bookbinders near Leeds bring one of their hardback books to life. Mesmerising.
Anniversary Dinner At The Blue Moon Yurt
We headed up to McCall Idaho for our 20 year wedding anniversary dinner! The place? The Blue Moon Yurt!
It was great! If you ever get a chance to try it you should!
It was great! If you ever get a chance to try it you should!
Tuesday, April 03, 2012
Titanic and Survivors - Genuine 1912 Footage
Titanic - Genuine 1912 Footage. This newsreel (without the music) would have been shown in the cinemas at the time of the disaster. Footage includes the Titanic leaving Belfast Lough for Southampton on April 2nd, 1912. Captain Smith on the Bridge of the Titanic. The video also shows various ships such the Carparthia returning from rescuing survivors. Journalists interviewing survivors. Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of long distance radio transmission and who was credited with saving those who were saved because of his marvelous invention. Although it says this was shot on April 2nd, 2012, British Pathe think it was probably earlier.
The ship still looks like work is being done to it with lots of workmen still around. The Titanic's name is in black as is other parts of the ship which ultimately ended up as white. There is also a workman's loo which can clearly be seen dangling off the left hand side of the ship - this surely would have been removed before setting sail.
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