@double11down: They are training. That's a lecture on smoke ventilation and they're observing the effect of stairwell fans on smoke in the hallway.

All of this information is in the caption right under the photo.

@Neiman1: That would be harmless theatrical smoke. They use it for training purposes.

@ nonewsisgoodnews:

What do you mean?

That seems like a simple statement of fact. The way this law is written, domestic partnerships conveys most, but not quite all of, the rights and responsibilities of marriage. Marriage is considered normal. "Not quite" is "almost normal."

That makes no judgment on normality, it only says what it looks like in terms of the law.

I did. I thought it was an exorcism, but no, it attacked again.

Here's last year's story, from a younger and more innocent time:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/jul...

Ah, and since a few people have called me to ask this morning, the number for Bookworm Haven is 775-727-4186.

Alas, cash and check only. But there is a bank just up the street.

To Las_Vegas_Mikey,

Luckily, the tools are in the garage. As for the A/C on the roof, it shares the duct with the swamp. But guess what? That's not just an A/C unit, that's also a gas heater.

Yup.

Brendan

To mikeg,

My swamp is on the roof because it came with the house. I think most swamps you can get at Home Depot and such are roof ones. But there are ones with more powerful fans that can be mounted on the ground for easy access. Boy, I wish I had one of those.

And I'm going to use this summer to see how much cheaper running the swamp is than the A/C. (Of course, the money I've spent fixing the swamp doesn't count.)

Thanks, man.

Brendan

MikeG:

Hi Mike. The 10% figure is my best guess based on the 2006 projections provided by the Nevada Dept. of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. You can download an Excel file of their data here:

http://www.nevadaworkforce.com/?PAGEID=6...

(Download the file on the right side of the page, the one called, "Las Vegas 2004-2014 Long Term Occupational Projections-Color Coded Excel.")

Included in my tally are taxi drivers, chauffeurs, bellhops, concierges, tour guides and escorts, hairdressers, manicurists, gaming dealers, hosts and hostesses, bartenders, waiters, non-restaurant servers and massage therapists. Since there are categories like maids and housekeepers, entertainers and performers, and musicians and singers, categories which would seem to include some people who get tips but not be wholly made up of them, the 10% is kind of guess.

So, out of 966,055 estimated workers in 2006, somewhere between 80,540 and 102,175 were tip workers. Somewhere between eight and eleven percent, in other words.

(Not included in either the total or the guess are strippers, whose numbers I could not find an estimate for.)

Thanks,
Brendan

For the interested (and, judging by my voice mail, there are a lot of you), here's how to get in touch with Barbara and Marshall Zucker and the Foreclosure Express:

Business Phone: 702 823-8230
Business Fax: 702 304-0845

Website: www.vegasforeclosureexpress.com
E-Mail: Marshall@vegasforeclosureexpress.com

Hope that helps.

- Brendan Buhler