The Pew Research Center does polling on a number of subjects. One is to determine how well-informed people are. Every so often, they send their pollsters forth to administer a simple test of knowledge and report on the results. Their most recent project yielded this sorry testimony to our national knowledge.
Ah, but how would you have done in this survey? That's the real question. Why don't you take the test and find out?
Seymour Hersh interviews Army Major General Antonio M. Taguba, who believes that senior officers and White House officials ordered the torture at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere, and have lied in denying this.
The Frontier Hotel in Vegas, which has sometimes been known as The New Frontier Hotel, closes July 15. Some time in September, it'll be blowed up real good so construction can begin on — surprise of surprises — a luxury mega-resort. These are about as scarce in Vegas as Blackjack dealers who draw to 21 when you're sitting there with two tens and a big bet out.
The only surprise about the Frontier being imploded is that it didn't just fall down on its own. The place has been a shabby presence on the strip for years. It was a dump when I stayed there on my first trip to Las Vegas in the early eighties. From 1991 through 1998, it was crippled by a nasty, messy strike that took it down a few more notches...and since then, it's just kind of been there, waiting for the right deal to go away.
Still, it's a shame to lose a place with such a rich history. It was the second real casino-hotel to open on The Strip and the first venue in town where Elvis played. Howard Hughes owned it for many years but (reportedly) never set foot in the place, though he could see it from his suite in the Desert Inn across the boulevard. Siegfried and Roy became famous when they opened a show there and I believe that was the hotel where George Carlin, as he later put it, was fired for saying "shit" in a town where the big game is called "craps."
I don't have any great anecdotes about the hotel. I happened to be in Vegas when the strike ended in '98 and there was a wonderful celebration in the street outside, and I guess I'd prefer to remember that. I certainly don't want to remember my room there, which made one long for the comparative luxury of a Skid Row flophouse.
Which raises the question: What's the oldest hotel in Vegas? That's not as easy a question to answer as one might think because in many cases, the whole building has been rebuilt at least a couple of times. None of the structures they'll be imploding when the Frontier is demolished later this year were there when the place opened in 1942. The Golden Gate, which is downtown, could be said to be the oldest but it's changed names a few times and it's been completely rebuilt more than once. They claim to have opened in 1905 but that business has a different name and a different building. The El Cortez, which opened in 1941 still incorporates part of the original structure so you might say that's the winner. The Golden Nugget and the Flamingo opened (again, in different buildings from what they now have) in 1946.
But in a lot of cases, it's like the story of George Washington's ax. You know the story. A guy says he has George Washington's ax, which consists of a handle and a blade. He's had to replace the handle a few times and every so often, put a new blade on it. But he still insists it's George Washington's ax.
I'm getting the last bits of art scanned for the forthcoming book on Jack Kirby, Kirby: King of Comics. (That's an Amazon link, hint hint.) I'll tell you more about the book when we get closer to its release but right now, I have a public appeal...and I guess this applies to folks in or around the Los Angeles area. I'm not happy with a few of the art scans that have been done for the book and I'm looking for the best way to redo them. I need to find somewhere or someone with a scanner that can scan artwork around 12" by 18" or even a bit larger and do it at 600 DPI. This would probably have to be a flatbed scanner as several of the pieces are on heavy illustration board so they can't wrap around a drum or bend. I know there are a lot of computer artists who read this site and I'm wondering if one of you has access to a scanner that can do that kind of work or knows a good place where one can take pieces for scanning. Anyone? You can reach me here.
June 18, 2007
