Maybe they'd rather go all executive and bilk people a la Ken Lay. Maybe they think the next wave of money is in winning World Series of Poker tourneys. Maybe they're certain the best use for computer skills is in porn. Maybe they think all the jobs are outsourced to India. Whatever it is, according to the Computing Research Association, the percentage of undergraduates nationwide who pick a computer-science major dropped by 60 percent between 2000 and 2004. About 1 percent of freshmen declared the major in 2005.
At UNLV, the picture is no less paltry, according to the Review-Journal. In 10 years of offering a Ph.D in computer science, they've had three graduates. The bachelor's degree program: 351 students in 2001; 281 students in 2004.
Trouble is, it's making local business leaders bitch, and economic development pros like Bob Cooper, Henderson's business diversification manager, say things like, "We're losing opportunities to recruit technology companies."
Maybe so. But let's not rule out little things like housing prices, lack of social services, a troubled K-12 system, a need for more health care and a monolithic, employee-devouring gaming industry as factors challenging economic diversification, while making the devolution of the computer geek our scapegoat.
What a Season For Atheists!
There's something to get freaked out about on every corner, especially God stuff, and activist group American Atheists, Inc., are firing off the press releases left and left. First, there's the dire matter of the Tom Hanks / Ron Howard movie, The Da Vinci Code. If, say the atheists, the got-nothing-better-to-worry-about religious right is going to ask for censorship of the movie, "we should be doing the same with some of the astounding claims accepted on blind faith that we find in the Bible ... They want us to believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin, walked on water and rose from the dead ..." Hmm. Something seems improbable about that?
And then, there's the matter of the mysterious cross made of iron beams found on the site of the World Trade Center and thought by some to be a miraculous Christian symbol. The atheists object!: "[The] move to include Christian 'miracle debris' cross at WTC memorial invites litigation"! says their press release.
To which we can only say, oh, hell, please don't get the lawyers involved. For God's sake!
Psst, It's in the Menu, Too
Our beloved Pink Taco restaurant is meeting resistance opening down in Scottsdale. Mayor Mary Manross is offended by the name, slang for vagina, and asked Harry Morton, the restaurant's president, to change it.
"I don't appreciate anything that offends more than half the population," Manross said. "But he said no and heard my concern. I really didn't want to see a business with that name opening anywhere here."
Morton was perplexed by the reaction: "I haven't had a single flap since the restaurant opened—in six years."
Scottsdale's most famous resident (and Vegas native), Jenna Jameson, was equally surprised by the mayor's response: "There are numerous allusions to sex in business names in every city. The mayor's elitist ultra-conservative desire to censor the city has to end. If she does not appreciate the name then she shouldn't patronize the restaurant! I looooove the Pink Taco; in fact I think I might become an investor."
Speaking for ourselves, we're not quite sure what "manross" is slang for but we doubt it's good.
Eat Your Heart Out Aspen, or, What Will Happen in Colorado, Happens in Vegas Every Day
When the 24th Annual Food and Wine Magazine Classic opens June 15 in Aspen, Colorado, our city, to borrow a hip-hop euphemism, will be representin' big time. That's because 1) for the first time ever an outside entity, none other than Wynn Las Vegas, will host the welcome reception, which means that 2) damn near every Wynn chef will be throwing down.
In case you didn't know, Wynn Las Vegas has perhaps the finest collection of chefs under one roof in the country. Between them, Paul Bartolotta, Daniel Boulud, Richard Chen, Stephen Kalt, Philippe Rispoli, Alex Stratta, David Walzog and Jenifer Witte have enough hardware from the James Beard Foundation to start a museum.