In the early '80s the Jockey Club had an excellent bar and a small but very good menu. They built a small casino but it never opened. I know it was a timeshare deal. What's the story behind this whole thing?

In your answer to the question on 2/18/08 about the procedures for dealers in the event of a fire or blackout, your source claims that dealers are instructed to sweep up all the bets on the layouts, then surveillance will do a tape review "to verify what belongs to whom." That seems highly unworkable to me. I mean, how long would it take surveillance to review the bets of hundreds of table-game players? And how would they know who everyone was? Would everyone have to come back to the tables and sit exactly where they were in order to be identified? Are the dealers, floor people, or security supposed to take names and numbers during the evacuation? Wouldn't it be a nightmare? Isn't it easier just to have everyone take back their bets and call it a dead hand? Or is the casino so greedy that they grab the money ("for your own protection, of course!") and hope that people won't bother with their last bets?

South of the Tropicana on the Strip was a funky motel called the Glass Pool Inn or something like that, and it had a little swimming pool with windows in the side. We loved driving by just to look at it, even when the motel was closed. Then it was gone! Do you have a history and I'd love to see a photo. Thank you. Love QOD!

I heard last summer that the Trump was due to open in February or March. Can you update everyone, please?

In your recent answer about Caesars and DI being bought by ITT in 1995, when and for how much did Steve Wynn pay for the DI?

What is the procedure at the casinos when there is a power outage or emergency (think Monte Carlo fire) concerning the gaming area? How are games stopped and money secured?

With the fire at the Monte Carlo on 1/25, what are some of the more historic fires on the Strip?

In your recent Question of the Day where you provided the written responses to your poll regarding the worst trends people are noticing in Las Vegas, one reader included Wynn not comping some drinks in its casino as a negative trend. Have casinos really started not comping drinks to players, or is this just a Wynn policy for certain types of drinks?

As most of Vegas has been de-themeing away from family-centric themes toward more adult-oriented themes, I've been wondering what your opinion is on what's in store for the Excalibur. The medieval theme may have been novel when the casino was built, but now it's almost embarrassingly archaic (even the Luxor's Egyptian theme has more of a shelf life), and many people I talk to think the Excalibur is already the Circus Circus of the south Strip and that the prime real estate it occupies, coupled with its tired theme, means that it won't be but a few years before someone comes along to tear down and rebuild. Any thoughts?

I recently read the following summary of major projects being built on the Strip: Wynn Encore, $2.2 billion, early 2009, 5,000 jobs; Cosmopolitan, $3 billion, late 2009, 7,500 jobs; CityCenter, $7.8 billion, late 2009, 15,900 jobs; Fontainebleau, $2.8 billion, late 2009, 9,700 jobs; Echelon, $4.8 billion, late 2010, 13,250 jobs; Plaza, $5 billion, 2011, 8,750 jobs; Crown, $5 billion, 2011, 7,500 jobs; MGM Dubai World $5 billion, 2012, 7,500 jobs. Where is everyone going to park? And with all of those new buildings, new jobs, more rooms, and more tourists, how are people going to get around? The Strip is already very slow most of the time. And where are all the people who are going to fill all these new jobs? Where are they all going to live? What about the water shortage? And what about other infrastructure? Is someone planning for all of this? Boom times indeed.