Water Cooler

Here are a few things in pop culture that caught our eye last week.

■ The Las Vegas Monorail transports a record 55 millionth rider. And every one was heard to utter, “You mean this won’t take me to the airport?”

■ Asteroid 2012 DA14 ■ passes about 17,200 miles from the Earth’s surface. Or, to use the standard scientific measurement for asteroid fly bys: about 15.4 million Bruce Willises.

■ The Miss America pageant, which moved to Las Vegas in 2006, unexpectedly returns to Atlantic City. Who would have guessed that Miss America, of all people, would turn out to be so fickle?

■ A Las Vegas assemblyman introduces a bill that would levy a 5 cent tax on fast-food items that contain more than 500 calories. Sure, let’s make the fast-food experience even more pleasant by forcing cashiers to do algebra in their heads.

JOHN PRZYBYS (jprzybys@reviewjournal.com)