From the monthly archives:

January 2009

Smiley, Facebook Cause Célèbre

January 30, 2009

UPDATE: Feb. 17, 2009, a sad day for Smiley. “After repeated stays of execution during the past two years, the Grand Forks City Council decided Tuesday to pull the switch [...]

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How the Party Crashed: A Corporate Fable

January 28, 2009

Illustration: Business Party by Keat Teoh
I was genuinely enthused to be invited, and when I got there the party was in full swing. Leadership met me at the door with a [...]

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I Wooden Drink This

January 27, 2009

We don’t need to tell you, again, to read labels, do we? Daniel did, and discovered that his water was bottled by an Indian plywood company. (Photo from his Picasa album [...]

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Who’s Smiling Now?

January 26, 2009

Grand Fork-ers (North Dakota) are ambivalent about the future of their two-sided smiling/winking water tower, despite the fact that it hasn’t held water in years. Now, city leaders are struggling [...]

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Be not ignoring warnings, you Americans

January 25, 2009

And as reclaimed and graywater systems become more than an oddity in the United States, we will be not wasting expensive potable water treatment for our loos, and we will be [...]

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Flip this Tower

January 23, 2009

Another opportunity to quench your thirst for one-of-a-kind digs. For £100,000 (that’s about US$135,000) plus renovation expenses, you could turn this abandoned concrete tower into a 4-story monument to to [...]

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Educating the Public on Water Issues

January 23, 2009

An oldie but goodie from my collection. The challenge for people in the water business is to clarify “this bit” for the public.  At www.cartoonchurch.com, this cartoon carries the note,
To [...]

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I do solemnly swear, to uphold the water…

January 21, 2009

During this historic inauguration, if it can be sold as a souvenir, marketed as a memento, cashed in as commemorative, then it is. Here, a few examples seen ’round the [...]

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Trendy Store, Trashy Decor

January 14, 2009

It’s one thing to claim “trash to treasure” but it’s another to greet your customers with it and hang it from your ceiling. And have all be in awe of [...]

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Bottled Water, Purity Personified

January 12, 2009

We shudder to imagine it… the leering, aggressive, dirty Earth forcing itself on the pure, untouched virgin raindrop, gently shimmering within its billowing white-clouded gown! We shall not allow it! Instead, we shall catch you, [...]

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