Find your Grail in Spamalot

Last night Charmaine and I saw Monty Python’s Spamalot at the Marcus Center for the Performing arts, and we recommend that you move this to the top of your list. It runs through Sunday, May 4th.


"Find Your Grail"
Whether you're a huge Monty Python fan or not, it won't matter, the story is a re-telling of the legendary tale of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and their quest for the Holy Grail.

In this version of history, however, there are dancing knights (one has no legs) and maidens, killer rabbits, Laker Girls, flatulent Frenchmen, and instructions directly from God.



Monty Python fans will recognize just about every line and sketch, adding that much more fun to the experience. What stood out for us were the production numbers, each bigger than the one before, lovingly 'stealing' from other big Broadway hits. No wonder Spamalot won the Tony in 2005.



"Knights of the Roundtable"
And when is the last time you ended your theater experience with a group sing?

"Bright Side of Life"

I won the neighborhood lawn derby * (almost)

I won* the neighborhood lawn derby, being first to mow (*if you don't count our neighbor, Sonny. We've never done anything social with him and his family, like we do with the other neighbors, so I'm not sure he counts in our unofficial annual contest to see who takes the plunge and kicks off another season of lawn mowing.) I'll be happy with the Barry Bonds-esque title nonetheless.

Rex and Dick have yet to put blade to grass, and neither has Arny, or Bonnie. Jim across the street hasn't had his 'people' come by yet, either.

Penny takes the silver (bronze if we're counting Sonny,) and even e-mailed me "Thanks for mowing yesterday --- I didn't want to be first."

And so it's begun, the twice or thrice weekly trudge around the yard behind the mower. But when did it really begin?

Formal lawns covered with short and tended to grass first appeared in France around the 1700s, and the idea soon spread to England and the rest of the world. Lawns were first kept clean and tidy by having animals graze on the grass, or scythe, sickle, or shears were used to hand cut the grass lawns.

The first patent for a mechanical lawn mower described as a "Machine for mowing lawns, etc." was granted on August 31, 1830 to engineer, Edwin Beard Budding (1795-1846) from Stroud, Gloucestershire, England. Budding's design was based on a cutting tool used for the uniform trimming of carpet. It was reel-type mower that had a series of blades arranged around a cylinder.

The first United States patent for a reel lawn mower was granted to Amariah Hills on January 12, 1868. Early lawn mowers were often designed to be horse drawn, the horses often wore oversize leather booties to prevent lawn damage.

In 1870, Elwood McGuire of Richmond, Indiana designed a very popular human pushed lawn mower, not the first to be human pushed, however, McGuire's design was very lightweight and a commercial success.

Steam powered lawn mowers appeared in the 1890's. In 1902, Ransomes produced the first commercially available mower powered by an internal combustion gasoline engine. In the United States, gasoline powered lawn mowers were first manufactured in 1919 by Colonel Edwin George.

Some new houses

If you look at the blog directly below this one, you'll see the new 'house' that we've built at WKTI with our new studios. Out on the LipsYard back patio, a Robin has been very busy building its new 'house.'

Although a bit loosely constructed at first,

with most of the materials ending up on the ground,

eventually a nest emerges.

Meanwhile, in Washington, the Bush administration continues building its house of cards. Over half the scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency who responded to a survey, nearly 900, said they have experienced political interference in their work.

Repeatedly singled out for meddling, was the White House Office of Management and Budget. Topics of controversy include the watering down of climate change documents, industry language being inserted into EPA power-plant regulations, and scientific advisory panels' coclusions about toxic chemicals going unheeded.

New Digs at work

Time to say goodbye to the old WKTI studios. The last time we remodeled, 1989, we moved from the old studios in the back corner of Radio City on Capitol Drive in Milwaukee, to the new location you see above, in the middle of the building, created over the site of the old performance auditorium used in the 40's.

This time it's just an equipment re-do, and it starts by going all the way down to the bare floor. The studio actually sits on a 'computer floor,' 18 inches above the original concrete. This photo also contains a "rare" shot of AJ from the new Mathew Blades in the Morning show actually working.


New carpet is in, and here's the new work areas (some assembly required.)

It's a modular setup. The large hole in the front is for the main control board, and the smaller one in the back is for an auxillary control station. Because all our audio is now stored on computer, the cabinets that used to hold CDs and tapes around the perimiter of the studio are gone. We've got some lobbyists trying to convince the Governor that we should be able to open a dog track in here. This shot contains another rare photo find, engineer Scott P. Can you find him?

Equipment is in, the flat-screens are up, the microphones mounted on their booms, and we are ready to rock. The biggest problem is figuring out which mouse goes with what monitor. We're also still waiting for someone to spill the first malt on the speaker.

Green Thursday: A New Way to Dryclean

Folklore has it, dry cleaning was invented when turpentine was accidentally spilled on a tablecloth with seemingly permanent stains, which disappeared when they came into contact with the smelly chemical.

For years, there has been no choice but to dryclean clothes in solvents which have been based upon carbon chemistry. Recently, a new solvent has been found: liquid silicone!

GreenEarth Cleaning has patented the process which uses this solution. Along with other cleaners, they have formed a Network of Affiliated GreenEarth Cleaners to bring this new process to the drycleaning industry and their customers.

The GreenEarth Cleaning solvent used is chemically inert. This means it does not chemically interact with your clothes in any way. Rather, it carries detergent to your clothes and rinses away suspended dirt and oils trapped by the detergent. Because it is chemically inert, it is more gentle on your clothes.

Why is it better for the earth? Eighty-five percent of dry cleaners use a solvent known as perc, short for perchloroethylene, a chlorinated hydrocarbon classified by the EPA as a Toxic Air Contaminant. Use of perc is highly regulated because indiscriminate disposal of perc can seriously contaminate soil and groundwater, and exposure can irritate eyes, nose and throat, as well as cause headaches, dizziness or fatigue. Perc is also classified by the EPA as a possible to probable human carcinogen.

In contrast, GreenEarth is so safe the EPA does not regulate it; it’s safe for the air, water and soil. What’s more, the GreenEarth solution is non-toxic, and non-hazardous. If you wanted to, you could safely rub it on your skin. In fact, you probably already do. That’s because GreenEarth’s solution is pure liquid silicone—essentially liquefied sand. It’s the same base ingredient found in everyday shampoos, soaps and lotions. Plus, when released to the environment, liquid silicone safely degrades back into its three natural components: sand (SiO2), water and carbon dioxide.

Find a GreenEarth cleaners near you.

Every Green Thursday, we post information vital to the survival of our spherical home.

Digging up dirt

Now that the snow is gone, our annual rites of spring in the LipsYard can commence. Charmaine spreads out partially composted leaves on the garden in preparation of tilling.

The Troybuilt 'Pony' easily turns up the soil, and mixes in the mulch. Having done this last fall, too, makes it that much easier now.

Voila! ready for another year of veggies.

Dirt of another kind was dug up about GOP presidential nominee-in-waiting, John McCain. His website offered a glimpse into his life at home, with millionaire wife, Cindy, whipping up chicken roasting in rosemary, farfalle pasta with turkey sausage, peas and mushrooms and perhaps some passionfruit mousse for dessert. That "old" family recipe sure sounded great, until it was discovered they were surprisingly similar to culinary delights created by celebrity chef, Rachael Ray!

The stolen recipes have since been taken down, and the whole "hilarious" incident has been placed squarely on the shoulders of an intern, who has been sent packing. If only we could all steal and lie and lay it off on the unpaid help.

Believe in Earth Day, every day

Earth Day, originated by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970, called for an environmental teach-in, or Earth Day, to be held on April 22nd. Over 20 million people participated in 1970, and Earth Day is now observed each year by more than 500 million people and national governments in 175 countries. Senator Nelson, an environmental activist, took a leading role in organizing the celebration, hoping to demonstrate popular political support for an environmental agenda. With high fuel, food, housing, (everything!) costs, all with a component or link to the environment, the movement is expanding exponentially. No matter your stance on Global Warming, doing right by this celestial ball we call home is the only sensible action. I will go so far as to say it is your moral duty.

Awareness is step1.

I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who hasn't heard of Earth Day, or it's implied "be nice to the planet" theme.

Action is step 2.

Start Here. 94.5fm WKTI (where I work) has become Earth Radio @ 94.5 today, and this link on our website will become a permanent part of our online identity. You'll find 39 things you can do today, and when you're done with those, just google "Earth Day" for a galaxy of more information.

Spreadin' it out

Conditions were perfect for spreading crabgrass pre-emergent and little bit of fertilizer to get the lips yard going. Because of the light dew, I could easily see my wheelmarks, preventing the dreaded "stripes" that Charmaine loves to point out.

You can see the dried grass clinging to the wheels of the trusty Scott's drop spreader. That's because we had just raked the back LipsYard the day before.

This is our second season using Stein's green products with zero Phosphorus (the red 0 on the label) and the rest of the fertilizer comprised of Milorganite (people pooh!.)

Condoleeza Rice was spreading fertilizer of a different type over the weekend with an unannounced stop in Bhagdad. Our Secretary of State mocked Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as a coward on Sunday, hours after the radical leader threatened to declare war unless a military crackdown on his followers ends.

Maybe I'm confused, or just lost track of our goal, but why are we in Iraq and who are we fighting?

Did you feel it?

A 5.4 magnitude earthquake that appeared to rival the strongest recorded in the region rocked people up to 450 miles away early Friday, surprising residents unaccustomed to such a powerful Midwest temblor. Isn't this the kind of thing that happens in California? The quake occurred in the Illinois basin-Ozark dome region that covers parts of Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas and stretches from Indianapolis and St. Louis to Memphis, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

The quake, just before 4:37 a.m. was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 66 miles from Evansville, Ind. It was felt in such distant cities as Chicago, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, and Des Moines, Iowa, 450 miles northwest of the epicenter, but there were no early reports of injuries or significant damage. Personally, I was sound asleep, and didn't feel a thing. This is the second earthquake that Charmaine and I have been in. On a trip to Napa Valley, CA in 1997, we were driving our rental car back to the resort after a day of wine tasting when a small quake struck the region. Didn't feel that one, either.

I'm guessing that driving down a sidestreet full of potholes in Milwaukee would provide more shaking than either of these quakes did. More than 50% of the pavement in the Milwaukee area was found to be in poor or mediocre condition, according to a report recently released by TRIP, a national transportation research group. This costs us about $447 a year in extra repairs, tire wear and shortened lifetime of automobiles.

Years of cutting budgets and delaying road work has left city streets particularly vulnerable to the attack of winter. The problem dates back to 1993, when former Mayor John O. Norquist's administration cut the paving budget for the city's neighborhood streets from $10 million a year to $5 million a year. The paving budget stayed at that level until Mayor Tom Barrett took office in 2004, meaning the city fell $55 million behind on street work, not counting inflation.

The result: By 2005, the city was taking an average of 163 years to repair or replace neighborhood streets that were designed to last only 45 to 60 years. Barrett has boosted the paving budget for neighborhood streets each year, rising to $6.5 million for 2008. By this year, the replacement cycle should be down to 92 years, with further improvements ahead.

Green Thursday: Coud you put that in the trash, please?

I hate litter. Everywhere I go I see cups and paper and plastic bags and wrappers all over the ground. I do my best to pick up what I can, but I'm a little worried about touching some of this stuff. You could help a lot by using trash cans. Even in our work bathrooms, there seems to be an inability to get a paper towel into the trash. If you miss, pick it up!

The world's beaches and shores are anything but pristine, too. Volunteers scoured 33,000 miles of shoreline worldwide and found 6 million pounds of debris from cigarette butts and food wrappers to abandoned fishing lines and plastic bags that threaten seabirds and marine mammals.

A report by the Ocean Conservancy catalogues nearly 7.2 million items that were collected by volunteers on a single day last September as they combed beaches and rocky shorelines in 76 countries from Bahrain to Bangladesh and in 45 states from southern California to the rocky coast of Maine.

"This snapshot of one day, one moment in time, serves as a powerful reminder of our carelessness and how our disparate and random actions actually have a collective and global impact," Vikki Spruill, president of the Ocean Conservancy, said in an interview.

The 378,000 volunteers on average collected 182 pounds of trash for every mile of shoreline, both ocean coastlines and beaches on inland lakes and streams,.

The most extensive cleanup was in the United States where 190,000 volunteers covered 10,110 miles - about a third of the worldwide total - and picked up 3.9 million pounds of debris on a single Saturday last September.

That's 390 pounds of trash per mile.

We're the bad guys in this. Trash doesn't fall from the sky. It actually falls from our hands.

The debris ranges from the relatively harmless, although annoying and an eyesore, to items that annually result in the death of hundreds of thousands of seabirds and marine mammals caught in abandoned fishing lines and netting.

A third of the items found came from smokers.

The volunteers collected and catalogued nearly 2.3 million cigarette butts, filters and cigar tips. And they found 587,827 bags; more than 1.7 million food wrappers, containers, lids, cups, plants and eating utensils; and nearly 1.2 million bottles and beverage cans.

Every Green Thursday we post items vital to the planet.

Finally, an end to Winter

The snow piles are all gone, the yard is raked, and at last, some color is springing up in the LipsYard. These little Crocuses (Crocus bulg)are adorable.

The Witch Hazel (Hamamelis virginiana,) still with a few of last year's brown leaves clinging on for dear life...

is alive with yellow blooms.

And look what else has sprung up in America; Pope Benedict XVI in his Alitalia jet, "Shepherd One," at Andrews Air Force Base! He was warmly welcomed by our Evangelical President at the airport (bet they didn't have to wait for luggage.) I'm sure the GOP is just salivating at the thought of a communion table confrontation between His Holiness and Democratic lawmakers who support a woman's right to choose. In the past, Pope Benedict has supported witholding the Eucharist from pro-abortion legislators. I'm sure the right wing talkers will be first in line with stones in their hands.

Tax day in tax hell?

It's time to pay the piper. Tax Day 2008. Today I'm forwarding a commentary by the Superintendent of Schools in Ripon, Wi, Richard Zimmer.

"In Wisconsin the recent tax debate has focused on the validity of the claims of some that our state is a "tax hell." The Wisconsin Taxpayers Alliance (WISTAX,) a non-profit and nonpartisan watchdog, regularly publishes information related to this debate. WISTAX uses total tax burden as its measuring stick, whic is the combination of state taxes, local taxes and common fees as a share of personal income as calculated by the U.S. Census Bureau.

In the past 50 years, Wisconsin has ranged from being #1 among states for its total tax burden to being #18. Oddly enough, both highest and lowest rankings occurred under Democratic governors. The highest tax ranking was under John Reynolds in 1964 when taxes consumed 12.6% of personal income. The lowest tax ranking was under Gaylord Nelson in 1960 when only 9.5% was taken by government. By comparison, the highest percentage of personal income consumed by Wisconsin taxes in the past 20 years was 13.7% in 1994 under Tommy Thompson.

Currently, using the system noted above, WISTAX calculates Wisconsin's ranking as 8th among the 50 states. That's because state and local taxes now take a 12.1% bite of personal income. While there are some who calculate Wisconsin's rank as 24th when all taxes, fees and federal revenues are included, most folks tend to use the 8th place ranking as the most legitimate - so that's the one that we'll use.

Since K-12 public education consumes approcxmately 40% of the Wisconsin budget, and since the UW System and the technical college system consume another 10% to push the education total to over 50% of the state budget, the issue of taxes and tax rankings are a key issue when discussing schools and our future workforce.

That being the case, let's tale a look inside the numbers. Wisconsin state and local taxes now consume 12.1% of personal income. Whether you think that amount is already too high for the services provided, or you'd be willing to pay even more for government services doesn't matter. The real question is, 'What would we have to do to drop our national tax ranking?'

WISTAX reports that in order to drop to the 26th ranking which would place Wisconsin in the bottom half of states, our state and local taxes would have to consume only 11.1% of personal income. That's right. The difference between being in the top ten and being in the bottom half is a 1% reduction in state and local taxes.

Thnk about how much you pay in state and local taxes. The per capita average in Wisconsin for its current 8th national ranking is $3,872. What that means is that a ruduction of $387 per person in taxes would drop Wisconsin to the bottom half of the national rankings.

Now, $387 is nothing to sneeze at. I'll be glad to accept $387 any time. But is $387 enough to condemn Wisconsin as a 'tax hell?'

The way this debate has raged for years, you would think that each of us paid many thousands of dollars in extra taxes each year. But WISTAX shows us that's not the case.

If you're wondering about the national average, it's 11.3% of personal income, which is 0.8% lower than Wisconsin's rate. The state with the highest ranking is Wyoming with a 15.1% tax burden. South Dakota has the lowest with 8.7%. Incidentally, I've never seen any reports that place South Dakota schools very high in the rankings for effectiveness. Meanwhile, Wisconsin spends more than most states on K-12 education, and its schools are consistently rated amont the best in the nation.

Now you have the information necessary to decide if Wisconsin is the 'tax hell' that it is purported to be by some folks. You might even decide to pack up and move somewhere else. No matter, you'll have objective data for use in the ongoing debate about taxes."

List Your Fruit

Here's a picture of all the different fruit in the LipsYard house.

Last night on "60 Minutes" Andy Rooney had a commentary on fruit, and ended with a question, "How many fruits can you name?"

Charmaine quickly rose to the challenge, and handed out paper to the class (all two of us.) We made lists and came up with 39! Andy's producer could only list 27.

Here's our list:

Apple

Apricot

Banana

Blackberry

Blueberry

Cantelope

Cherry

Cranberry

Currant

Date

Lemon

Lime

Lingenberry

Elderberry

Fig

Gooseberry

Grape

Grapefruit

Guava

Honeydew melon

Kiwi

Mango

Nectarine

Orange

Papaya

Passionfruit

Peach

Pear

Pineapple

Plum

Pomegranite

Quince

Raspberry

Starfruit

Strawberry

Tomato (don't be mislead by the Reagan administration, it's a fruit!)

Watermelon

On the subject of produce, and more broadly, farming, it's crunch time for Congress to pass the new Farm Bill. There are several small but important gains that we are poised to win if the new bill gets passed, making it an improvement over the underlying bill from 2002. These improvements include provisions that support local and regional food systems, organic production and research, beginning farmers, nutrition, and the environment.

Out of the dark

As I was raking leaves up after the long winter, I noticed our spider egg case on the East side of the garage was hanging wide open.

Here's a refresher picture of the spider

and of the closed up eggcasing.

I have two theories:

1. The spiders are free!

2. Some bird got into the casing and had lunch.

Only time will tell, and I don't even know if they'll even spin a web in the same location as the egg casing

In Washington, an egg casing of secrecy opened up. Bush administration officials from Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality.

The officials also took care to insulate President Bush from a series of meetings where CIA interrogation methods, including waterboarding, which simulates drowning, were discussed and ultimately approved. No sense in bothering "the decider," our Commander in Chief with these types of decisions.

Also present around the table in the White House situation room were then-Bush aides Attorney General John Ashcroft, Secretary of State Colin Powell, CIA Director George Tenet and national security adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Green Thursday: Olympic Torch has big footprint

The 2008 Olympic Torch has been the star of international headlines lately. Protests in England and France. Demonstrations in San Francisco. Political turmoil aside, the torch leaves a big carbon footprint in it's wake.

The torch is visiting 23 cities during a global sweep that includes stops in London, Paris, San Francisco, Bangkok, Islamabad and Almaty, Kazakhstan, among other cuties. The Beijing Olympics Organizing Committee says the journey will cover more than 85,000 miles.

When the torch isn’t traveling on streets, it’s traveling by plane: an Air China A330 custom painted with the Olympic logo and color scheme. The A330 burns 5.4 gallons of fuel per mile. That translates into 462,400 gallons for the entire trip. Every gallon of jet fuel burned produces 23.88 pounds of CO2. Do the math, and the Olympic Torch Relay is adding about 11 million pounds of carbon to the atmosphere. That’s 5,500 tons!

Every Green Thursday we post information vital to the planet.

It's hard to think spring with snow still around

Half a world away in Paris we found a lot of things in bloom. This planting is along the Champs-Élysées.
These colorful beauties were in a park on the west side of Paris.

Meanwhile, in the LipsYard, we've still got a reminder of the Winter that won't end.

Just like the war in Iraq that won't end.