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Wisconsin Designates State Microbe
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that state legislators in Wisconsin raced against the clock to pass a bill designating Lactococcus lactis as Wisconsin's official state microbe. 'The first time I heard the idea, I thought, I've got more important things to do than spending my time honoring a microbe,' says Gary Hebl, a Democratic state representative who proposed the bill which, he says, would make Wisconsin the first state in the nation to grant such a designation, 'but this microbe is really a very hard worker,' added Hebl, referring to the bacterium supported by the Department of Bacteriology at UW — Madison used to make cheddar, Colby, and Monterey Jack cheese. The proposal faced only one detractor in committee ('the opponent was clearly lactose-intolerant,' says Hebl), and there was no sign of a last-minute campaign from other bacteria, so by evening, the Assembly had approved the measure, 56 to 41. In case there were any doubts about Wisconsin's priorities, a separate bill also awaits consideration in Madison, declaring cheese Wisconsin's state snack."
... now that's just cheesy!
America, Home of the Brave.
that the really important problems are tackled, without fear or failure....
What's next, Michigan delcaring Fe(OH) their state mascott?
Well at least they're just engaging in harmless silliness - they could be screwing things up like most politicians seem to be good at.
delicious
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Wisconsin is the state synonomous with cheese. Nothing else, really. Just cheese. Everything they do, seemingly, is cheese-related. Oh, yeah, they have a pretty good football team from their city Green Bay. The team's fans are called "cheese-heads," and attend games wearing giant wedges of cheese as hats.
Seriously.
Actually, lactose intolerant people often appreciate it when bacteria break down the lactose before they eat the food.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
...we're fighting over bingo. So, you know, legislating official microbes actually sounds productive.
FAQs are evil.
The Onion always cracks me u... wait, what?
Unfortunately this suggestion did not survive. I believe the time is ripe to try again to implement this new motto.
If you think I invented phony "facts," see http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/08/us/wisconsin-s-license-plates-won-t-say-eat-cheese-or-die.html
--- Often in error; never in doubt!
i'm not really sure why, but in my mind, wisconsin means cheese and badgers
i'm not sure if that association is normal or random
PANIC! A SNAKE! SNAKE, AUGH SNAKE.... Aaargh, it's a Snake!!!
Mushroom Mushroom!
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
It's sort of unfair to refer to "American beer" when what you're really thinking of is Bud-Mil-Coors. Not so long ago, it was certainly true that you had a choice of crappy mass-produced beer and nothing else. But nowadays, decent beer is available in every podunk town. Of course, there's still an ocean of the swill produced, but good domestic beer is easy to find.
As a Wisconsin native, I can assure you that things run very smoothly compared to most states I've lived in, and if you read the article you can see that it took almost no time in all to put this through. We're generally very pleased with our politicians (as much as that's possible with politicians). We even have one of the few congressmen to vote against the Patriot Act.
Apparently wizard is not a legitimate career path, so I chose programmer instead.
They should have named Saccharomyces pastorianus the state microbe.
While the bill is campy and fun, it does promote science and learning in an interesting way. You can bet that hundreds of science teachers will do a quick lesson on this microbe and why it's so valuable to their state economy.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!