So a corpse is a person now?

A couple of weeks back, Wisconsin leaped into the national news with yet another indelibly cheeseheadish "that one ain't quite right" moment of wackiness.

The last such moment sprang out of a proposal to add a new hunting season to the True North's dizzying array.

Some bird-watchers had grown rather upset because the mad proliferation of feral cats was having a deleterious impact on the state's songbird population. Not a frivolous concern to be sure, and one could scarcely blame them for attempting to find a solution to the same overpopulation problem that has distressed cat-lovers for years.

Had the bird-watchers proposed the logical solution and pushed for a catch-and-release, spay-and-neuter program for feral cats, they would have had nothing but enthusiastic support from felinophiles. But, instead of taking the path of logic, the amateur avian observers traipsed down the same path of quasi-lunacy that produced things like the House on the Rock or the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame and Museum . . . but not in an "isn't that adorably eccentric" way. The bird-watchers, in their inimitable wisdom, decided that what was needed was a law permitting the hunting of feral cats.

We are a great state, but we sometimes have difficulties with the connection between cause and effect.

But there are folks in this state who think lutefisk is a capital notion, so there you have it.

I just can't help fussing at the edges

Earlier today, while I was listening to a discussion on NPR about the internet's impact on critical thinking, I heard an intriguing anecdote about Nietzsche. Apparently, as he aged, the philosopher's eyesight deteriorated to the point where he was having real difficulty with writing. So he purchased a typewriter. And a friend of his noted that his writing, and even his thinking, seemed to have changed. On being asked about it, Nietzsche said that he had noticed the same thing, and that it did not startle him all that much if the tool used had some impact on the final product.

Things that make you go "Hmmmmmm."

And so the experiment begins. For the next few days, possibly from here on out, I am going to write my blog posts longhand as the inspiration strikes me and then transcribe them as I have the opportunity and the laptop access. It will be interesting to see if there are any truly discernible alterations in my writing or my methods of perceiving and analyzing the world.

Refresher lesson in The Classics for Karl Rove

The word subpoena is a combination of the Latin "sub" for under and the Latin "poena" for penalty. It is called a subpoena because the opening words of the old writ were "Sub poena."

Just sayin'.

Le Sigh

I do believe I have been swept off of my feet by a crotchety ole Texas oil man.

Here's why.

Okay, it's not the whole solution, or even a major part of it, but to hear a fossil fuel magnate talk so enthusiastically about wind power (even if he does stand to earn a boodle from his "wind corridor") is incredibly heartening.

Who has happier cows again?

According to a program I am currently listening to on Wisconsin Public Radio, the average Wisconsin dairy farmer has 80 cows.

In contrast, the average California dairy farmer has 800 cows.

Just a little food for thought for the next time you're in the dairy aisle.