Last year, second-wealthiest man in the world Warren Buffet set aside 85 percent of his $44 billion worth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Since then, the Foundation has been using the unexpected windfall to quietly purchase parcels of land around the Las Vegas Strip, and as mentioned in last week's Las Vegas Courier, the latest purchase valued at $10.2 billion now makes the Foundation's ownership over 51 percent of the entire Strip.

Recently, private equity has taken Harrah's, Station Casinos, and Sahara off public scrutiny and into the private sector.

The Foundation aims at going one step further by taking all of Las Vegas private, returning the city to its roots of being run by individuals who didn't have to answer to corporations or the law.

One of the eccentric stipulations in the historic donation to the Foundation is to maintain and cultivate a favorite dish of its donor -- a rather innocuous but tasty macaroni and cheese that's brown on the edges.

In March 2006, the Las Vegas Hilton entered the Guinness Book of World Records with the largest buffet at 510 dishes, but Holmes County, an Amish region in Ohio, is in contention to beat that record with their recent feast.

The Foundation seeks to cease and desist all record seekers by breaking that record when it breaks ground on a hotel-condo spanning 12 acres on the west side of the Strip, one that will house the city's only 24-hour buffet.

Each of the 50 floors will contain up to 500 dishes on a different theme -- Middle Eastern, American, Mexican, Japanese, Thai, Fast Food, all the way to the top floor consisting solely of mac & cheese variations. One floor will pay tribute to the defunct Boardwalk casino, which was prior home to Vegas' 24-hour buffet.

Each floor will contain one restroom per 20 square feet. On the Boardwalk floor, that number will be doubled, also in tribute to the late casino.

In a unique twist on standard food presentation combined with family entertainment, conveyor belts will act as ready transportation for the eager diner at speeds of 8 mph.

The hotel will also contain an Olympic-sized pool outfitted with RFID technology to block any swimmer who has eaten within the past hour.

Following the throwback to old Vegas with Harrah's renaming Barbary Coast to Bill's Gamblin' Hall and Saloon, the hotel will be named Buffet's Buffet and is expected to be completed the second quarter of 2008.

Inaugural 2-for-1 coupons and paper barf bags will be published in a special pullout section of the Las Vegas Courier.

As for other plans the Foundation has in store for Las Vegas, stay tuned next April.