This article, originally published in January 2010, has been digitized for all readers.  Once you click 'more' on the next screen, you can zoom in on images to study the craftsmanship in detail.  [continue]

Building concrete decks should never be a casual endeavor, says Paolo Benedetti.  As he discusses here, there's far too much that can go wrong if the installer isn't curious about the underlying soil and doesn't really know what's involved in doing things right.  [more]

 

As he was making final plans for the next national pool/spa expo, a question asked of Jim McCloskey started him thinking about the passage of time, the perspective that comes with experience and the importance of getting out to see people face to face.  [more]

 

If there was ever a project that underscored the notion that 'backyard swimming pools' aren't what they used to be, this one by Ron Gibbons is it:  Built with a dizzying range of functional and aesthetic features, the project was the combined effort of a client and a gifted designer/builder.  [more]

Five years ago, Bruce Zaretsky expressed the notion that watershapers and other professionals needed to have the gumption to say 'no' to clients. Is that still possible in the here and now?  [more]

 

 

 

1.  Which Midwestern university announced that its undergraduate students will no longer have to pass a swim test in order to graduate?   

a.  Michigan State University                           c.  University of Chicago     

b.  University of Nebraska                               d.  Iowa State University  

 

2.  Several people who swam off Boulder Beach on Hoover Dam's Lake Mead developed a rash similar to the one caused by poison ivy; the condition, schistosomiasis, is commonly called "swimmer's itch."  What did the National Park Service suspect was to blame for the outbreak?

 

a.  Parasites in the feces of infected waterfowl

b.  A floating water plant closely related to poison ivy

c.  An unusually large population of mosquitoes at the lake

d.  Chemicals that may have been discharged from Hoover Dam 

 

3.    An 18-year-old swimmer has already broken the world record in the 200-meter breaststroke set at the London Olympic Games by Daniel Gyurta of Hungary.   What country is the teenage swimmer from?