Heads Will Roll but Wheelchairs Will Not

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Don’t call them handicapped, call them stair-challenged! In the Du’OH! News category this week, spotted in the real-ink version of the Kansas City Star and online at mankatofreepress.com, the parched and wheelchaired crowd will need some serious new torque in Hudson, New York:

In April, officials in Hudson, N.Y., proudly unveiled their state-of-the-art water fountain for the disabled in the county courthouse, a fixture whose installation was agreed to in a 2003 settlement with federal officials enforcing the Americans with Disabilities Act. However, the fountain was installed on the courthouse’s second floor, which is accessible only by stairway. In defense, county officials said the fountain had several features for handicapped people other than those in wheelchairs.

Great Moments in Politics: Water Joke Faux Pas

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I’ve been accused of tactlessness on occasion but even I wouldn’t have repeated this one! However, since U.S. National Security Advisor Gen. James Jones (Ret.) already did (while giving the key note speech at a Washington Institute For Near East Policy dinner in April) we’ll simply forward the flub for it’s water humor newsworthiness.

From blog.foreign policy.com (with more blow-by-blow details of the ensuing kerfuffle here)

Telling the following joke in public, at a meeting of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy no less, was not National Security Advsor Jim Jones’ finest moment in public service:

I’d like to begin with a story that I think is true, a Taliban militant gets lost and is wandering around the desert looking for water. He finally arrives at a store run by a Jew and asks for water. The Jewish vendor tells him he doesn’t have any water but can gladly sell him a tie. The Taliban, the jokes goes on, begins to curse and yell at the Jewish storeowner. The Jew, unmoved, offers the rude militant an idea: Beyond the hill, there is a restaurant; they can sell you water. The Taliban keeps cursing and finally leaves toward the hill. An hour later he’s back at the tie store. He walks in and tells the merchant: “Your brother tells me I need a tie to get into the restaurant.”

The White House clearly felt uncomfortable with the joke, and edited it out of an official transcript of the event.

Gayle Leonards wedding dress in basement storage

Eco-Absurdity: The Water-Soluble Wedding Dress

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What a dilemma: say you’re a greenie bride, and you’re tortured because, after your big day, there’s no recycling outlet for your wedding dress. And it’s not compostable, either! Reuse is out, as no one you know can fit into the overly (large, small, tall, short) size.

This is a complex problem requiring collaboration between great fashion and engineering minds and YES, a solution has been devised! Read more

Big-Time Water Utility Advertising for a Tiny Audience

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Looks like our local utility has placed an ad! A full page ad in the newspaper! On Sunday! Too bad almost no one under 50 reads the paper anymore in this town (oops, I’ve let a secret slip!)

So what does this big, costly full-page ad say?! Hmmmm. I’m not quite sure. I think it says that our tap water is good. Or maybe not good. I’m not a water engineer or scientist, so I’m clueless as to what this actually means. One thing is certain: I’m pretty sure they’re communicating that the water meets minimum standards and is not breaking any regulations or laws. My untrained eye does see that our water contains some cyanide and other icky stuff, but hey, guv’ment says it’s acceptable, so it must be so!

PLEASE what will it take to convince water utilities that engineers and technical people should STOP producing public communications that can’t be understood by most of the public? There’s a world of people out there who NEED, even WANT, to understand what’s going on with our water supply. And I’m talking about adults. We DO NOT need more coloring books or school posters or lawn-watering tips or festivals for the kiddies, even though all that’s feel-good and low risk.

Instead, this is the norm, a “best practice,” here in my town and countless others. What a shame, and what an opportunity lost.

TP! Please RT!

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We’ve already noted the twittering water meter and the twittering toilet; naturally it was a matter of time before someone twittered from the toilet. Now if this doesn’t prove the awesome power of social networking, I don’t know what will. From boingboing.net via The Presurfer (and already re-tweeted with the ferocity of the stomach flu),

naika_tei is a Twitter user and anime song DJ in Tokyo. Last week, he found himself stranded in the third floor toilet of an electronics store in Akihabara with a soiled ass and no toilet paper. So he sent out this tweet: “[Urgently needed] toilet paper in the 3rd floor toilet of Akiba Yodobashi.” Five minutes later, he sent another desperate tweet.

18 minutes later, he sends another tweet saying: “The toilet paper arrived safely! Thank you very much!” Hooray for helpful Twitter followers.

Laying limestone slates for Bermuda rain catching rooftop

Bermuda Rooftops: Pretty, and Pretty Effective

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Let’s hop off the innovation train for a moment, people! It’s so easy to get carried away with the “gee whiz” of new technology and approaches we often fail to look behind us to see the elegant and ingenious solutions already in place, right under our noses.

Andrew Leidner sent along this marvelous link to mariannebrownphotography.net that depicts Bermuda’s four-century old solution for collecting fresh water while withstanding hurricane conditions. Read more

Northbrook Illinois water tower painted with Save Ferris

Save Ferris, But Trash the Tower

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Yes, it is time to mourn yet another iconic Eighties reference point. The Northbrook, Illinois water tower made famous in the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is under threat of replacement . As reported in triblocal.com,

Bids being accepted to replace ‘Ferris Bueller’ water tower
Hoping to solve longstanding water pressure issues, Northbrook is seeking bids to build a new 1 million-gallon spheroid-shaped tower — doubling the village’s water supply — even though it might spell the end of the tower made famous in a 1986 movie…[snip]…Hovering overhead for six decades, the blue golf-ball-shaped tank even had a supporting role in the 1986 John Hughes film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” when the words “Save Ferris” were emblazoned on it for several months during shooting.

The Next Big Thing: Toilet Tank Billboards

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You see just a plain toilet. A visionary entrepreneur, though, sees a new space available to make money with ads. The 15,000+ attendees at the PPAI* Expo in Las Vegas must have had their heads spinning with thoughts of a royal flush of untapped opportunity for these imprintable toilet tank covers…although it seems there’s something not quite right with the design concept, at least for women…hmmmm. Read more

Water Economics for your Left Brain

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Water economics, the design version: visualeconomics.com presents us with some selected stats with pretty, colorful pictures…just the way we like it!

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