Now that summer is over, many of us have fond memories of a few months splashing around in the pool with family and friends. It’s also an opportunity to reflect on the potential for danger, as a new federal report claims that at least 163 children drowned while swimming in pools or spas in just the last few months. [More]
pools
CDC Politely Reminds You: Please Don’t Go In The Pool If You’ve Had Diarrhea
By 5.19.17
With public pools opening up for the summer season, the time has come once again for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue its yearly plea: Please, if you have diarrhea or aren’t feeling well, don’t go swimming. [More]
Don’t Ruin Your Summer Fun With Water-Borne Illness: Make Sure Pools And Hot Tubs Are Safe
By 5.19.16
Swimming in a pool or soaking in a communal hot tub are super fun things to do in the summer, but can also become injured, or something in the water can make you sick. You can scrupulously chlorinate and maintain your own pool, and trust your friends and family to do the same, but when venturing in public swimming pools, you can perform some quick checks as a health precaution. [More]
CDC Warns Everyone Not To Poop In Pools And Hot Tubs
By 6.26.15
Are you planning any summer fun that includes pools or hot tubs? If so, you’ll probably want to pay attention to the advice of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who want everyone to avoid vacation-ruining gastrointestinal illnesses this summer. [More]
Beach Town May Ban Renters From Using Vacation Homes’ Pools
By 6.9.15
One of the first attractions people might look for in a summer vacation home is exactly the thing a resort town wants to take away: Citing noise concerns, a Delaware beach town is considering banning renters from using the backyard pools at homes while they’re staying in the area. [More]
Pool Manufacturer Shuts Down, Leaving Homeowners With Empty Pits And Liens On Their Homes
By 8.25.10
The Aqua Pool & Spa company in California had been building pools for over 20 years and had built up a good reputation, but after a bank went under and called in a $3 million loan, the company abruptly laid off everyone last week and shut its doors. Now everyone who was in the process of getting a pool built is stuck with torn up yards and half-finished pools. What’s worse, subcontractors are now dunning those customers for payment for services or supplies, even when the homeowners already paid (through Aqua Pool & Spa) months earlier. [More]
Town Catches Pool Permit Dodgers With Google Earth
By 8.2.10
New technology often has unintended consequences. In the case of Google Earth, a popular program that combines various satellite and aerial images to create a navigable 3D globe, it’s being used by one town to catch unpermitted pool owners. [More]
Hotel Pools That Make Us Want To Weep With Longing
By 7.17.10
Is it getting hot out there or is it just us? For those trapped in urban jungles with nary a public pool, much less a simple lawn sprinkler, cooling off with water in the summer can seem like an impossibility. So why not torture our overheated senses just a little bit more with a slideshow of amazing hotel pools? [More]
W Hotel In Hollywood Won't Let Guests Use Its Pool
By 4.6.10
If you plan to visit Los Angeles and want to stay at the W Hollywood, don’t expect to get to see the rooftop pool. The hotel contracted the running and maintenance of its pool out to a Las Vegas promotion company, and now it’s been turned into an exclusive club and is off-limits to paying customers of the hotel. [More]
Survey Indicates We All Distrust Big Banks
By 2.10.10
This may come as a surprise to exactly no one, but it looks like most customers of big national banks are less likely to believe their banks are trustworthy, according to a new Forrester poll. Even less surprising: the same poll is done every year, and it’s always the same big banks at the bottom of the list. A Forrester VP explains, “They are public institutions who are in business to make money for their shareholder and inevitably, that shows to customers.” [More]
Walmart Doesn't Want 7-Year-Old's Birthday Money
By 7.20.09
The parents of a seven-year-old took him to Walmart this weekend to spend his saved birthday and allowance money on a pretty awesome looking swimming pool & slide combo. They’d checked online first to make sure the item was in stock—and Walmart said it was, at three different locations in fact.
How To Spot A Contaminated Swimming Pool, And Why You Should
By 5.29.09
It’s gray and rainy up here in the tropical paradise of upstate New York, but for those of you in more temperate climes, Consumer Reports Health kicks off the weekend with some frightening statistics about the American public’s pool hygiene, and how to tell whether a pool will make you sick or not before you dive in.
Consumerist And Consumer Reports Will Crap All Over Your Holiday Weekend
By 5.22.09
It’s Memorial Day weekend, the weather is looking nice, and people are leaving work early to hit the pool, fire up the grill, play golf, or enjoy our national pastime. We’re doing none of those things, so we thought we’d ruin it for everyone else.
Pool Operators Slow To Comply With New Safety Law; Make Sure They Do
By 1.15.09
The Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act—which requires filtration systems to have special safety covers—was named after a 7-year-old who was killed in 2002 when she was trapped at the bottom of a hot tub by “hundreds of pounds of suction force.” It’s not the sort of accident that happens frequently, but when it does it’s a grisly and horrific event. Unfortunately, despite the law being in effect since the middle of last month, and the fact that pool operators have known about it for over a year, CNN reports that many pools still haven’t been brought into compliance.
Would You Let This Guy Pay You To Wrap Your Car In Ads?
By 8.27.07
We’d always heard rumors that there were companies that would pay you to wrap your car in their ads… but we thought it was a bunch of hooey. That’s right. Hooey. It’s not. There really are guys like Brian Morris of Pheonix, AZ who will pay you to wrap a big vinyl ad around your SUV.
