The Trillion Dollar Campaign Today’s post features a photo I took at the British Museum. It’s a poster that is printed on actual African currency as part of an advertising campaign called the Trillion Dollar Campaign. This ad campaign was launched in 2009 by a newspaper called The Zimbabwean to call attention to rampant hyperinflation. Understanding the economy has never been my strong suit, but this poster really stopped me in my tracks. The clever ad campaign even won an award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Wow! We made it all the way to the letter Z! Phew!…
Month: April 2014
Random Yellow Shots Today Yellow there! How are you? Yes, more yellowy shots from me today. Hey, it’s better than Jell-O shots… or not. Anyway, I’d already planned for Y to be yellow – way before I learned about the word Xanthic, which I used yesterday. Who knows, maybe I’ll discover a word starting with Z for tomorrow that also means yellow. Stay tuned… Speaking of, tomorrow is the big A to Z blog challenge finish line. Wowza! How many of you are going to do the A to Z Reflections post on May 5th? (There’s info about it in…
Phronistery is Phun for Word Nerds While hunting for words that start with the letter X, I came across a nifty site: Phronistery. It’s a website dedicated to unusual words. It’s well-organized and gives concise definitions. Fun! I’ve bookmarked it ‘cuz I’m a word nerd and I bet a bunch of you all are, too. :D Xanthic Means… …yellow! The word “xanthic” means “yellow,” so today’s post features a trio of pictures I snapped after a dramatic hail storm we had last month. I live in Tornado Alley, so I do more than just marvel at the sight of a…
The World’s Smallest Skyscraper Built in 1919, the Newby-McMahon Building in downtown Wichita Falls (701 La Salle, Wichita Falls, TX) is more commonly referred to as “the world’s smallest skyscraper.” J.D. McMahon was an engineer and oilman from Philadelphia who proposed adding a high-rise section to the original building to that it could house more office space. McMahon quickly raised $200,000 (a fortune for that time) to construct an office building according to plans he drew up. At a glance, it appeared that the finished building would stand 48 stories high, and McMahon never said otherwise. Unfortunately for the investors,…
High Tide in Venice Italy Venice is known for seasonal flooding called Acqua Alta. This “high water” is especially strong when wintry high tides coincide with a Mediterranean wind called a scirocco. Normally, I would avoid traveling to a city during a flood, but Venice is different. Acqua Alta is something Venetians have dealt with for centuries, and visiting the city during this time makes you feel like part of some ancient rhythm. As you can see in the first photo, they sell rubber boots for travelers who show up unprepared. I like how they made that W, too. Does…
Shameless Plug Day! As we near the end of the alphabet, and the April A to Z blog challenge winds down, I found myself struggling to choose a topic for the letter U. Suddenly it dawned on me; I could blog about Unexpected Texas, the book I wrote thanks to the great response I got to last year’s April A to Z blog posts. So, let’s just call today “shameless plug day!” Why did I Write Unexpected Texas? Shortly after moving to north Texas in the fall of 2009, I began writing travel articles about the Dallas – Fort Worth…