Stardate 20010727.0832 (On Screen): Las Vegas is an artificial environment, and things which would make no sense at all anywhere else can be enormously profitable there. (Why would anyone else build a
replica of the Eifel Tower right next to a
replica of the Statue of Liberty, next to a
hotel shaped like a pyramid?) But in a city which attracts as many tourists as Vegas, and with as many resorts competing there as there are, any opportunity to distinguish yourself is seized upon. So a fancy restaurant at the upscale Mandalay Bay has a world-class wine list, with the wine held in a huge tower in the middle of the restaurant, and the two women who put wine into it or get bottles of wine out of it are suspended on cables. Just another day in the office at Las Vegas.
The same restaurant has experimented with using ebooks to hold their wine list. They also have paper copies of it but they are huge, and most people prefer the electronic version, which is quite small. The guy who suggested the idea was surprised when the hotel didn't even ask how much it was cost, but told him to "Just do it". He shouldn't have been; if it brings in five extra guests per week (and it will, once word spreads), it will pay for itself in short order, because people who come to eat stay to gamble. That's the economics of Las Vegas. (discuss)
