Bruce Spotleson
VEGAS INC Coverage
It’s a new year, which means it’s time to clear out the files. So let’s see how many unconnected topics we can cover in 750 words:
Call it a pound sign, or call it a hash or a number sign if you so desire, but if you want the technical word for that symbol, it’s an “octothorpe.”
More and more people are going vegetarian or even vegan, so I’m fascinated by how many all-the-meat-you-can-eat restaurants we have in town now. We even just added another one, Fogo de Chao, in the Hughes Center. Part of the reason for their popularity, of course, is that a high percentage of business travelers with expense accounts are males — most of whom still want their meat.
Sure, some sportswriters felt that Boise State University deserved to be playing “somewhere else” this holiday bowl season, but give Tina Kunzer-Murphy and her team loads of credit both for landing Boise State and for putting on another incredible December event.
I know you’re wondering about this: the first UPC scanner was installed at a supermarket in Troy, Ohio, in June 1974. And the first product to have a bar code included on it was a packet of Wrigley’s Gum.
Speaking of which, cash registers were initially developed to help curb employee theft and embezzlement. But another benefit was the creation of receipts. Can you imagine the holidays without them?
Thanks to the emphasis on brevity on mobile devices and social media, and their subsequent influence on our attention spans, the art of the written memo seems to be fading. This will limit the flow of information to some company CEOs, since important operational details often require more than 140 characters.
Ted and Doris Lee and their family did a wonderful thing in donating $15 million to the business college at UNLV. The business school needs to stay strong, and the timing could not have been better.
The Voodoo Lounge at the Rio opened 15 years ago with a heavy emphasis on black lights and a rooftop view. Looking back now, didn’t it introduce the modern club era?
Even more holiday cards went electronic this year, but the old-fashioned ones still seem more personal and special. And more expensive, I guess.
Sorry, but I’m not a fan of “The Rant,” that nightly segment on Fox’s Channel 5 news program, which allows anonymous callers to vent on almost anything they can think of. I’ve spent too many years around journalists, who attach their names to the things they complain about. Although now that I think about it, I just ranted about “The Rant.”
As if there wasn’t enough drama at the gym: 24-Hour Fitness has been fighting overtime lawsuits filed by former trainers, including some who worked here in southern Nevada.
David Cooper sent me a note about a company called Keyport, Inc., a business start-up that he says is replacing the traditional keychain with a streamlined device that consolidates keys and other personal items and organizes them into a single device. The company has received international publicity and has its first cart at the Galleria at Sunset mall in Henderson.
If you see anyone from Arcata Associates around town, congratulate them on the award they just won. A company that works on pretty sophisticated aerospace projects, Arcata was named NASA’s 2011 Small Business Prime Contractor of the Year for the second time in four years. Well-deserved recognition, especially for company leaders Tim and Nancy Wong, who are good community folks.
It was reported that 11 new businesses are opening up in Tivoli Village. Thank goodness. It’s a cool development that simply needed more attractions.
When the parking lot is full of scalpers — even for a game against smallish Central Arkansas — you just know the Runnin’ Rebels have been winning some basketball games.
An odd anniversary for 2012: Fifty years ago this April, the Las Vegas Sun reported on a westbound “glowing red ball” that was seen by a large number of Americans during the 32 minutes it took to cross the U.S. The object lit up the night in Reno, played havoc with electricity in this region, and was said to have changed course before exploding in a flash somewhere northeast of here. The next day, the Air Force said it was a meteorite. I’m not sure what happened to the commercial air pilots who observed it zipping by below them, but you can bet we’ll see some media coverage of the incident later this year.