Do you remember last summer’s health scare around the housing market collapse? There was a theory that all the swimming pools in all the foreclosed houses in California would become major mosquito breeding grounds, leading to major crops of mosquitoes, leading to West Nile virus or maybe even the reintroduction of malaria in the US.
There have been some fun ideas for tackling this potential problem, like filling the foreclosed pools with exotic fish. But I woke up today to learn about my new all-time favorite approach: let skateboarder to drain the pools and skate in them. (thx @omarkhalifa)
Bonus points opportunity for my influential readers: WSJ reports that local disease control agencies are doing aerial surveillance for abandoned pools. Can you convince them to release their aerial photos of abandoned pool locations to the local skaters?
Healthy Algorithms 
We might want skaters draining pools in Florida, too.
If you are the neighbor of a foreclosed home with stagnant pool, there is a DIY solution. Get some vegitable oil, freeze it into a lump, and lob the lump into the pool sans container. It’ll melt, form a slick (mildly eco-friendly!) and drown the larvae.
Fun question: Why are banks immune to pool-related fines or paying homeowner association fees? After all, the bank owns it!
The fish work good. The city had a contractor put them in a few pools in my neighborhood. I like the skateboarder idea!
-Heath