I'm still processing the entire Las Vegas experience.
Perhaps I should start with the Luxor Hotel.
As most of you know, this hotel has an Egyptian theme throughout, and when compared with other hotels, it's pretty striking in every detail. Architecturally, it's a pyramid. The appointments throughout, from the carpet to chairs, leans toward what designers perceive as Egyptian motifs.
In this modern temple of gambling, drinking, and smoking, there are images of gods and goddesses throughout. Perhaps the Egyptians were gamblers themselves, I don't know. I do know that the Pharoah who incarcerated the Jews certainly had his hands full until they left.
So, here I am, in this environment I chose for myself for 24 hours, wandering around, trying to make sense of the union of old and beautiful images with that of how the 20th century interprets them for the masses.
A visual treat awaited me that Wednesday night. While waiting for a friend to arrive later that night, I left the hotel to wander around the grounds. Looking up, I saw a curious sight:
This was most reminiscent of an experience I had in Hawai'i years ago – the arrival of Comet Hyakutake in 1996. Stunning image, no?
It so happened that the moon would be full the next night, when I would be dancing and playing music in the Valley of Fire (my whole reason for coming to Nevada).
Still, this image sent chills up my spine. The Luxor's beam of light (which, according to Wikipedia, is powered by 39 Xenon laps operating at 7000 watts each) generates 4.1 billion candlepower.
The gods are propitiated, whether the designers intentioned it to be so or not. The beam originates from here:
Actually, not out of the Sphinx's head, but from the apex of the pyramid behind it.
The Egyptians thought big.
The designers of the Luxor thought big.
Like it or not, the gods are being propitiated – every night, in the Sacred yet Profane, town called Las Vegas.
Night Thoughts of a Field Linguist 
You were obviously among the lucky ones to see that comet in Hawaii, I remember the event but I couldn't find room in any flight to reach to Hawaii, not to mention that the hotels were all booked weeks ago. No candlepower compares with the real sight of a real comet.