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NPR Plumbs the Drains of Vegas

The urban exploration trend is at once fascinating and a little twerpy. Sure, the idea of scaling a bridge tower or slipping into an abandoned insane asylum is attractive in a subversive kind of way, but you've got to wonder whether a grown man who spends weekends dressed up like a cat burglar and dodging rent-a-cops is making the best use of his time. Explorers such as journalist Matt O'Brien, however, actually do a public service with their clandestine voyages through the urban underbelly of America. As a nifty NPR bit points out, O'Brien has spent more than five years exploring the extensive network of storm drains underneath Las Vegas, and his research has yielded a vivid picture of what life is like for some of the 14,000 homeless people who have slipped through the cracks of the city and wound up beneath all the glitz.

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