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 on the 77-year-old water tower.” The rest of the story here. UPDATE: Smiley gets a reprieve…On Feb. 2, “Council...

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 nice welcome; he was an exceptional host, really working the room, shaking hands and chatting with everyone. Smart and Popular were...

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 India May 2008.) Some might like the subtle oak-y aroma! But it’s certified, right?! JAS-ANZ is the government-appointed...

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 with the rising cost of indecision–about 108% higher in just two years. (Makes that winking...

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 not needing these signs as we travel internationally. petebrunelli on Flickr be sharing his photo taken in China.

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 your exceptional design instinct. From the Jan. 16, 2009, Northampton (UK) Chronicle &...

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 those surfing in looking for a water cartoon. I’m sorry, you caught us at a bad time. It isn’t...

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 capital. And special honors go to this one, the “preferred” Water ‘N Faith no less, for the shockingly fake-o...

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 your cleverness. In Montevideo, Uruguay is a high end shopping destination, the Punta Carretas Shopping Center, which is housed...

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, beautiful young raindrop, and safely bottle you, still pure,...