Let me start by drawing on what is clearly a hyper-dramatic illustration:

A few days back, an oil well blew out near Douglas, Wyo., causing 50 residents of the rolling prairie to evacuate their homes amid concern that a spewing cloud of natural gas could explode.

Witnesses told a TV station they could hear the roaring gas from six miles away.

Which, I think we can all agree, is a lot farther than 350 feet, the current setback required under Colorado law between oil operations and civilization. MORE

Recently, I reread an article by an attorney titled, “Fifty Things I Wish I Would Have Learned in Law School.” As I read it, I remembered one of my client’s advice to his employees about working with lawyers. To the best of my memory, here are his ideas on what clients should know; the explanations are mine.

1. Nothing is as simple as it seems. Whether it’s a contract that needs to be drafted, an idea patented, a dispute resolved, it usually seems relatively clear-cut. But remember, if it involves MORE

The City of Loveland will move forward with plans to tear down two buildings downtown this summer. The effort will include removing contaminants from the soil under the buildings, with the goal of preparing the area for redevelopment.

The structures at 301 and 319 N. Lincoln are both city-owned. The building at 301 N. Lincoln is commonly known as the "Leslie the Cleaner" building, and is the source of the contaminants in MORE

How many times have you heard company mission statements which are essentially identical to this? Do you think it really conveys anything interesting to employees or managers in the company? That it motivates action?

There are several problems with this approach to direction-setting:

• It's not specific.

• It's no different from other companies.

• It conveys no sense of priority.

• There's no passion.

Before I talk about how to fix this blandness, MORE

Social media's new kid on the block, Pinterest, is taking the social networking world by storm.

Sitting in the third spot on the list of most popular social networks in the U.S. with over 12 million users, it's no wonder that both consumers and brands alike are rushing to use this new platform as a powerful way to engage with one another.

Yet despite its rapid growth in popularity, Pinterest still confounds a majority of the public. Many social media gurus remain skeptical about the true value Pinterest adds MORE

Million's pipeline: Stick a fork in it

Developer Aaron Million is trying to sell state and federal officials and Front Range water utilities on his grandiose scheme to pump water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Utah-Wyoming border 550 miles from the Front Range.

If they buy this pipedream, I've got some riverfront land in the Mojave Desert to sell them.

This project is a huge distraction for MORE