I had a rather dim view of the NIPS conference venue last year — the Harrah’s and Harveys casino/hotels in South Lake Tahoe. Nothing is more depressing than people playing the slots at 8 AM, smoking and drinking away. Via Erin, I learned that the casinos flooded and are closed : “thousands of gallons of water dumped into Harrah’s, causing the elevators to break.” I can only hope that this is somehow an excuse to not hold NIPS there in the future — but I’m not holding my breath (which I did to avoid the smoke).