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IBM PULSE 2009 was a great conference and a lot of new ideas were planted in my head. If you read my last post you have seen, that the content of most speeches was following the common retro trend and got all of us back to the roots.

After the conference I had half a day to spend in Las Vegas and if you have followed my reports from last year´s PULSE in Orlando, you know what I was up to ;-) . I used the time to check out some of the fun rides in the city. There is no way around the Stratosphere in Las Vegas. Three Rides 300m above the city. Definitely the best view of the strip possible.


So first I went up on the free fall tower. Great, because you actually start out looking down and then get shot up into “nothingness”. Unfortunately there are no pictures of this little thrill. BUT after that I went completely insane. Stepping onto a merry-go-round (what a name for something the marketing people at Stratosphere call Insanity) that is put out over the edge and as it turns you are facing the ground – well you are looking down 300m at the ground. See the little video experience here.

After that I thought there would not be much more adrenaline to come. The last ride on the Stratosphere tower is called Scream. Riding in a floorless vehicle along a rail and then tipping straigt down facing the found. Well as in the Dueling Dragons in Orlando I had to sit in the first row. No problem here, there was no one else who had the guts to join me anyway. See another thrilling videl that really gets your thought back together.

I only wonder now, is it the screaming insanity of the rides, the strange weather or is it recession that made the place so empty? Whatever it was, riding there was great fun and I would suggest it to anyone who is in Las Vegas and not as much into gambling (personally I am too much into math to enjoy gambling all the time, but once in a while (read later post) it is fun).