Read Online Pirates to Pyramids: Las Vegas Taxi Tales by JJ Carlson, George Bunescu, Sylvia Carlson - Free Book Online Page A
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Even taxicab drivers don't go very fast on the Strip. His next brainstorm was to crossover lanes to the other side into oncoming traffic. Not good thinking, again.
One of the oncoming cars was a cop car. He pulled a hard turn and slid right into the black and white. This meant that an ambulance would soon join us. Since no ambulance here can be called without the fire department being called, too, it being the law, we now had the street crowded with police cars, ambulances and big fire trucks.
That was especially unkind of the felon, since the Strip was now hopelessly blocked and every car had to be moved to accommodate emergency vehicles and a police investigation.
Thanks a lot, Mr. Felon.
Can you tell I was one of those trapped in the traffic/crime scene.
THE LUXOR GHOSTS
There are no stories about the lights on the Strip stranger than what occurred one spring at the Luxor Hotel. Visitors and locals alike were spooked by the arrival of the "little ghosts" on top of the pyramid. There was something very odd going on in the world famous laser light. Little "Casper the ghosts" were floating in the light beam.
They appeared and then disappeared in a weird dance, around the most powerful light on earth. This laser is the light that is visible from outer space. This is the same beam that is run at only half strength because airline pilots fear blindness from flying directly over it.
I marveled at the dreamlike performance of the little guys. I liked watching them very much but I had to drive and answer my rider's questions about what is going on. Some riders were so amused they had me circle the building so they could continue to watch. It was intoxicating in a whole new way for Vegas visitors. A controversy was born: what the heck was it?
The solution to the puzzle starts with gypsy moths. These gypsy moths are big and pop out of the desert floor every several years, similar to, but not to be confused with, cicadas. Just like other moths, they hang around lights, too. Since Las Vegas has millions of lights we saw millions of these guys at night. And where was the most powerful light in the whole world, at the Luxor.
Birds delighted in this phenomenon because they eat moths. Birds go after moths wherever they are, and since moths were in the light, the birds went to the light. The birds circled the light beam, rising higher and higher. I am sure they were in the euphoria caused by the presence of countless meals. I heard that some birds ate so much that they could no longer fly.
Grounded by buffet belly, I know the feeling.
So when the little "ghosts" turned out to be happy birds we suddenly understood. They appeared when they flew on the opposite side of the light from view, and then they disappeared from view when they went between us and the light. This happened again and again.
I never tired of looking at them, especially with the meter running.
OFF A PERFECTLY GOOD BUILDING
The Palms Hotel opened with one of its most exciting venues, the Ghost Bar nightclub, 60 stories up. The view of the Strip from one block away is awesome and unobstructed. One evening just before dark a waitress got a bad vibration from a customer. He sat alone and while he wasn’t being rude he was acting weirdly. She couldn't cheer him up with a drink or a smile; he just kept staring into space.
Finally, she went to her supervisor who watched the customer's peculiar behavior for a few minutes. He agreed with her and called security. Security listened closely and did what they do, took him to the back room with his things. They were polite but found his answers too vague to be legitimate. So they searched his stuff and found a parachute!
This man was a base jumper. He was going to jump off of a perfectly good building. In order to jump he had to measure his leap over the side of a very tricky glass wall. His obvious concern over the first step slowed down his
One of the oncoming cars was a cop car. He pulled a hard turn and slid right into the black and white. This meant that an ambulance would soon join us. Since no ambulance here can be called without the fire department being called, too, it being the law, we now had the street crowded with police cars, ambulances and big fire trucks.
That was especially unkind of the felon, since the Strip was now hopelessly blocked and every car had to be moved to accommodate emergency vehicles and a police investigation.
Thanks a lot, Mr. Felon.
Can you tell I was one of those trapped in the traffic/crime scene.
THE LUXOR GHOSTS
There are no stories about the lights on the Strip stranger than what occurred one spring at the Luxor Hotel. Visitors and locals alike were spooked by the arrival of the "little ghosts" on top of the pyramid. There was something very odd going on in the world famous laser light. Little "Casper the ghosts" were floating in the light beam.
They appeared and then disappeared in a weird dance, around the most powerful light on earth. This laser is the light that is visible from outer space. This is the same beam that is run at only half strength because airline pilots fear blindness from flying directly over it.
I marveled at the dreamlike performance of the little guys. I liked watching them very much but I had to drive and answer my rider's questions about what is going on. Some riders were so amused they had me circle the building so they could continue to watch. It was intoxicating in a whole new way for Vegas visitors. A controversy was born: what the heck was it?
The solution to the puzzle starts with gypsy moths. These gypsy moths are big and pop out of the desert floor every several years, similar to, but not to be confused with, cicadas. Just like other moths, they hang around lights, too. Since Las Vegas has millions of lights we saw millions of these guys at night. And where was the most powerful light in the whole world, at the Luxor.
Birds delighted in this phenomenon because they eat moths. Birds go after moths wherever they are, and since moths were in the light, the birds went to the light. The birds circled the light beam, rising higher and higher. I am sure they were in the euphoria caused by the presence of countless meals. I heard that some birds ate so much that they could no longer fly.
Grounded by buffet belly, I know the feeling.
So when the little "ghosts" turned out to be happy birds we suddenly understood. They appeared when they flew on the opposite side of the light from view, and then they disappeared from view when they went between us and the light. This happened again and again.
I never tired of looking at them, especially with the meter running.
OFF A PERFECTLY GOOD BUILDING
The Palms Hotel opened with one of its most exciting venues, the Ghost Bar nightclub, 60 stories up. The view of the Strip from one block away is awesome and unobstructed. One evening just before dark a waitress got a bad vibration from a customer. He sat alone and while he wasn’t being rude he was acting weirdly. She couldn't cheer him up with a drink or a smile; he just kept staring into space.
Finally, she went to her supervisor who watched the customer's peculiar behavior for a few minutes. He agreed with her and called security. Security listened closely and did what they do, took him to the back room with his things. They were polite but found his answers too vague to be legitimate. So they searched his stuff and found a parachute!
This man was a base jumper. He was going to jump off of a perfectly good building. In order to jump he had to measure his leap over the side of a very tricky glass wall. His obvious concern over the first step slowed down his
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