Nightlighters Dance: Viva Las Vegas 9/9/2010

Did you know? - Lottery is prohibited in Nevada. Article IV, Sec. 24 of the Constitution of the State of Nevada (1864) reads as follows: "No lottery shall be authorized by this state, no shall the sale of lottery tickets be allowed."

Did you know? - Sports betting is illegal in the US, except in Nevada. However, you cannot bet on the University of Nevada sporting events and on the Las Vegas Stars professional baseball team (nor on presidential elections).

Did you know? - The four hotels at the Las Vegas Blvd and Tropicana (MGM Grand, Tropicana, Excalibur, and New York-New York) have more hotel rooms than all San Francisco.

Did you know? - The hard hat was invented for the workers at Hoover Dam, in 1933.

Did you know? - The famous Las Vegas Strip is not in Las Vegas, but in the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester. Several such townships are part of Clark County, along with the city of Las Vegas. The south end of the City of Las Vegas ends at Sahara Ave.

Did you know? - Shrimp consumption in Las Vegas is more than 60,000 pounds a day -- higher than the rest of the country combined!

Did you know? - It would take 288 years for one person to spend one night in every hotel room in Las Vegas.

Did You Know? - Did you know? - The first reported visit to the valley by someone of European descent was Raphael Rivera in 1829. Las Vegas was named by Spaniards in the Antonio Armijo party, who used the water in the area while heading north and west along the Old Spanish Trail from Texas. In the 1800s, areas of the Las Vegas Valley contained artesian wells that supported extensive green areas or meadows (vegas in Spanish), hence the name Las Vegas.

Did you know? - The legalization of gambling in 1931 led to the advent of the casino-hotels, for which Las Vegas is famous. Major development occurred in the 1940s. The success of the city's early casino businesses was owed to American organized crime. Most of the original large casinos were managed or at least funded under mob figures Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Meyer Lansky or other mob figures at this time. The rapid growth of this gambling empire is credited with dooming Galveston, Texas; Hot Springs, Arkansas; and other major gaming centers in the 1950s.

Did you know? - Die hard - The phrase die hard was first used during the Battle of Albuera (1811) in the Peninsular war. During the battle, Lieutenant-Colonel William Inglis of the 57th (West Middlesex) Regiment of Foot was wounded by canister shot.

Did you know? - Popcorn or 'popping corn' is corn which explodes from the kernel and puffs up when heated. Corn popping was originally discovered by Native Americans in the United States. Popcorn became popular snack food during the Great Depression and for watching movies.

Corn is able to pop because, unlike other grains, its kernels have a hard moisture-sealed hull and a dense starchy filling. This allows pressure to build inside the kernel until an explosive "pop" results. Some strains of corn are now cultivated specifically as popping corns.

There are many techniques for popping corn. Commercial large-scale popcorn machines were invented by Charles Cretors in the late 19th century. Many types of small-scale home methods for popping corn also exist, with the most popular in the USA being prepackaged. Popcorn has both advocates and detractors. Some consider it to be a health food while others caution against it for a variety of reasons. Popcorn can also have non-food applications, ranging from holiday decorations to packaging materials.

Did you know? - The word "paparazzi" is an eponym originating in the 1960 film La dolce vita directed by Federico Fellini. One of the characters in the film is a news photographer named Paparazzo (played by Walter Santesso). In his book Word and Phrase Origins, Robert Hendrickson writes that Fellini took the name from an Italian dialect that describes a particularly annoying noise, that of a buzzing mosquito. In his school days, Fellini remembered a boy who was nicknamed "Paparazzo" (Mosquito), because of his fast talking and constant movements, a name Fellini later applied to the fictional character in La dolce vita.