The Stratosphere has announced it's newest thrill ride, entitled SkyJump, in which people will be attached to a couple of wires and a harness and then be allowed to jump off the side of the building. Perhaps they should have called it "AAAIIGH! The Ride."

To be fair, it's not as uncontrolled as I've made it sound. Riders are given a safety lesson and then put into a special "jump suit." Next they are hooked up to cables and wires that will control the rate and direction of descent, plummeting face first toward the ground at a "controlled" 40 miles per hour until the last moment where a soft landing will occur. Spokespersons for the hotel insist the whole thing is safe and I'm sure it is but I'm telling you right here and right now that if you want to know what this ride is really like, you're going to have to do it yourself. Please tell me when you'll be doing it so I can be standing on the ground laughing at you and quite possibly holding a drink.

SkyJump is scheduled to open in April of 2010. There is no word on cost yet. And yes, you have to pay them to do this.

Crazy.

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Note they already have one available for Caesars Palace specifically that includes maps, history and trivia, the ability to download restaurant menus, and even put your face on the Caesars marquee, virtually speaking of course.

Speaking of Caesars Palace, the high tech news continues with the launch a new text-based check-in service that will allow you to skip the long lines at the front desk entirely. Upon reserving your hotel room, you can choose an option that will send a text message to you the day before you are scheduled to arrive. Confirm that text and all you have to do is stop at the Bell Desk and show your photo ID and they'll hand you your room key.

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In the meantime, if resort fees really get your goat, consider Caesars Palace, Harrah's, Paris Las Vegas, The Flamingo, Bally's, Rio, and Imperial Palace for your next Las Vegas vacation.

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But since 1991 BB has branched out into the restaurant business, opening a string of successful clubs that combine the best of The Blues with the best of southern style cooking. An outlet of BB King's Blues Club is now open at The Mirage in Las Vegas.

Designed like a (much nicer) version of a southern roadhouse, the room is casual and comfortable with a couple of bars, a stage, and lots of tables all surrounded by posters, pictures, and interpretive artwork of Blues legends. It's a nice space with a down home vibe that encourages kick-back conversation.

The restaurant portion is open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night dining, serving up wide variety of dishes but most have a soul food/deep south flair.

Appetizers include favorites of the genre like fried green tomatoes, fried dill pickles, and fried catfish bites. Yes, fried is big and healthy is findable but you kind of have to hunt for it. We tried the sausage and cheese platter with smoked, grilled Polish sausage, cheddar cheese, peppers, crackers, and Creole mustard and were very pleased with our choice.

Salads run the gamut from Caesar to southwest chicken and yes, they even have something called a Memphis Fried salad with fried chicken and bacon on top of Romaine lettuce. Gotta love the south.

There is a big selection of burgers, sandwiches, and sandwich like items including pulled pork, catfish po boys, hickory chicken, quesadillas, wraps, and a southern specialty, the porktato. This jumbo baked potato is stuffed with pulled BBQ pork, cheese, and tomatoes and served with BB's sweet BBQ sauce. It sounds kind of disgusting but I had one of these on a road trip in Alabama and this one in Vegas is just about as good.

A long list of entrees features everything from ribs to BBQ chicken, southern fried catfish, Delta shrimp, Bayou shrimp boil, and a few steaks and seafood items just to round things out. I tried the Cajun carbonara, ziti pasta topped with bacon, onions, and blackened chicken breast in a light cream sauce. At first it was a little heavy on the Cajun for my tastes but I still managed to polish off just about all of it so I guess it grew on me.

Breakfast features eggs, omelets, pancakes, chicken fried steak and eggs, chicken and waffles, and more while the late night menu is primarily the appetizer list mentioned above.

Prices are moderate. You can do a full meal for under $20 if you work at it, especially at lunch, but figure at least $30 once you add in appetizers and dessert and any of the pricier dinner entrees.

The club features lives Blues music starting at 7pm with many nights featuring BB King's Las Vegas All-Stars. Weekdays they go until 2am and weekends you can get your fight for your right to sing The Blues all the way until 4am.

I'm a fan of The Blues and of southern cooking so this one is a winner in my book.

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But short of not building it at all and letting the patch of ground underneath it return to its dusty, desert roots, the folks behind CityCenter did take unprecedented steps to make sure that it was conceived, designed, and built in the most ecologically sound way possible. And that it will continue to operate that way for years to come.

Six of the buildings in the CityCenter complex received LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification. The rating system was developed by the US Green Building Council, an organization devoted to encouraging environmentally friendly building practices. At CityCenter the Aria Hotel and Casino, Aria Convention Center, Mandarin Oriental Hotel and Spa, Vdara Hotel and Spa, Veer condominium towers, and Crystals shopping complex all got the Gold rating, making it the largest development to get that kind of recognition.

They did it in a variety of different ways. It all started before the first shovel full of earth was turned during the design phase. The heavy use of glass a metal on the exteriors is more than just for sleek looks - the radiant surfaces and high performance glass reflect sunlight and so it takes less energy to cool the buildings. Sun shades were incorporated into architecture to further divert the harsh Vegas rays. Showers were invented that deliver high pressure but with one-third less water. And the water that is used is reclaimed to irrigate the low-consumption landscaping around the property.

They even built their own gas-powered generation plant to provide some of the energy for the complex. Not only does it mean that less power is drawn off the grid, but they use the heat from electricity generation to warm the water that you are taking a shower with.

During construction they focused on recycling the waste generated by building such a massive project. 93% of all construction waste was diverted from landfills including most of the Boardwalk Hotel that was torn down to make way for CityCenter. In addition, they tried to use as many materials as they could from within 500 miles of Las Vegas, therefore reducing the energy required to transport it to the site. You see that rusty stone on at the entrance of Aria? It's from Jean, Nevada, about 30 miles away.

In addition, wood inside the casino was brought in from sustainably managed forests and the carpeting and paints are designed to emit fewer toxins.

Moving forward, operations at the property will continue the sustainable mindset.

In the Crystals mall, the floors feature radiant cooling - cold water runs through pipes under your feet - allowing only the space where people are to be kept comfortable. As our guide put it, "We don't care how hot it is up by the ceiling."

At the Aria casino, a new air conditioning system was invented that pumps air into the room from the bases of the slot machines. This is much more efficient than trying to force the cool air down from the ceiling and should also improve overall air quality.

They are even encouraging good environmental practices for people coming to CityCenter.

The property has the first ever fleet of limousines powered by compressed natural gas. Twenty-six of them were designed and built from the ground up.

Throughout the property you'll find preferred parking for hybrids and alternative fuel vehicles and there's even a bicycle valet to hold your two-wheeler while you are onsite.

As I said at the onset, the fact that this place even exists is probably a shock to the planet, but that a company is willing to go to these links to at least try to minimize the impact is a very good thing.

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