Wisconsin Designates State Microbe 102
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by
samzenpus
from the the-fighting-parameciums dept.
from the the-fighting-parameciums dept.
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."
For Our Non-United States Friends (Score:4, Informative)
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. [blogspot.com]
Re:For Our Non-United States Friends (Score:2, Informative)
We have beer, too.
A former legislator used to love this sort of thing. As the State Legislature was considering making the tuba the State Instrument, which came to pass, she said this type of silliness takes time away from passing more bad laws.
Re:For Our Non-United States Friends (Score:5, Informative)
That's not true. We're also really good at beer and fireworks.
and badgers (Score:3, Informative)
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!
Re:Not really true anymore (Score:2, Informative)
Re:For Our Non-United States Friends (Score:4, Informative)