Risser, Taylor, and Rummel to host Listening Session

(L to R: Marsha Rummel, Fred Risser, Chris Taylor)

(L to R: Marsha Rummel, Fred Risser, Chris Taylor)

Representatives from state and local government will hold a listening session in the Marquette neighborhood Monday evening from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center, 953 Jenifer Street.

Wisconsin State Senator Fred Risser (D-Madison), Wisconsin State Represenative Chris Taylor (D-Madison) and District 6 Alder Marsha Rummel will host the session which is an open format to hear concerns on any policy matter neighbors feel are important. No advance registration is needed.

Trivia 2013: A Space Oddity is Here!

KVSC’s 50-Hour trivia marathon Friday 5 p.m. to Sunday at 7 p.m.

34th annual 50-Hour trivia marathon is based in St. Cloud, MN but teams play all over the world

34th annual 50-Hour trivia marathon is based in St. Cloud, MN but teams play all over the world

WSB Twitter and Facebook followers have no doubt noticed the multitude of messages recently about Trivia 2013: A Space Oddity. For 34 years this 50 hour trivia contest has gathered together 1,500 players to challenger their minds and their teamwork. Started on the campus of St. Cloud Statue University in 1980 to combat dorm-related cabin fever; it has grown beyond central Minnesota as the internet has allowed teams to have players as far away as the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones.

Nine questions per hour are read over the air on 88.1 KVSC-FM, the SCSU student/community radio station (a high-powered version of WORT). One to three questions during the hour are open at any one time and have various point values. Unlike the larger contest in Steven’s Point, teams can call and guess as many times as they want while the question are open. The team with the most points wins mostly bragging rights and a cracked traveling Trivia Urn.  Continue reading

Throwback Thursday: UW Toboggan Run

Courtesy: University of Wisconsin

Courtesy: University of Wisconsin

The University of Wisconsin posted the above photo on Facebook from circa 1911 of an epic toboggan run from Observatory Hill to Lake Mendota. According to an accompanying blog post, the run was 1200 feet long including wooden and ice segments. By 1930 it got even more sophisticated with lights and concrete.

The last time I was on an actual toboggan was at Camp Upham Woods for winter retreat with the Madison Boy Choir maybe circa 1985 . The camp (operated by the State of Wisconsin) had a six-person wooden toboggan and  “enough snow” was never a problem. Looking at the UW picture, its good that they had a narrow track to guard against wipeouts. The Upham Woods run was an approximately 200-foot wooden track without sides which left lots of opportunity for jack-knifing into a glorious clouds of powder.

Scott ‘Baghdad Bob’ Walker

Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf a.k.a “Baghdad Bob” was the Iraqi Information Minister under Saddam Hussein.

I’ve been wanting to write a post involving “Baghdad Bob” for quite a while and now I think I’ve finally found a reason. If you don’t know who former Iraqi Information Minister Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf is, he was the face of the Iraqi regime during the beginning of the Iraq war. Saddam Hussein was nowhere to be found but al-Sahaf, dubbed “Baghdad Bob” by the American press, was on the television spinning fantastic lies about how the war was going for Iraq.

It was of course going badly but you had to respect the man for doing his duty until the end. But what dictator survives without his very dedicated communications staff, and Bob’s role was to obsfucate the truth as much as possible.

Continue reading

Cycropia Dazzles Orton

International music night with Cycropia’s “Kodama” at 8:15 p.m.

Cycropia peforms “Kodama” on Family Night of the Orton Park Festival, August 23, 2012. Photo by: D.M. Hughes

Crycropia’s performance of “Kodama” was an absolute stunner with throngs of people  attending on Family Night at the Orton Park Festival. Tonight is International Night featuring Sierra Leone’s Refugee All-Stars at 6 p.m., with a break between music sets at 7 p.m. for the MNA Auction, followed by the final festival peformance of Cycropia’s Kodama.

“I went last night. It was breathtaking, beautiful, thrilling-at times, jawdropping. As we used to say, back in the day, ‘It blew me away’, said Atwood resident Dan Melton after viewing Kodama.  “When I shut my eyes to sleep last night, I had pictures of the performance swirling in my head. Still do, this morning.”  Continue reading

10 Things WI Voters Should Know for Primary Day

GAB looks to cut confusion over changing voter rules

Voters cast their ballots in a recall election for the governor and lieutenant governor at the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center June 5, 2012 in Madison, Wisconsin. Photo by Andy Manis/Getty Images

Tuesday (August 14) is Primary Day in Wisconsin, yes another election is here. Ever since Wisconsin Governor Scott Waker launched the state into political chaos, the result has been constant voting by residents due to the recalls and of course the normal election cycle. The Republican controlled legislature has been complicit in this chaos by passing or repealing laws that continue to inflame a sizable portion of the electorate.

One of these laws is Voter I.D., which the Republicans say roots out fraud. But many others say it attacks a problem that doesn’t exist and instead accomplishes another goal; to limit/prevent left-leaning voters access or at least the same ease of access to polling places that right-leaning voters tend to enjoy.  Continue reading

The Whole World is Flying to Oshkosh

‘World’s Greatest Aviation Celebration’ underway

Overhead at EAA AirVenture, the largest fly-in anywhere. Courtesy: EAA

Seven Days, 10,000 aircraft, 500,000 people, eight air shows including one at night, 800 exhibitors, and over 900 registered media are all you need to know that the Experimental Aircraft Association’s AirVenture event in Oshkosh, Wisconsin (July 23-29) is the world’s largest fly-in and convention.  Continue reading

Solidarity Sing-Along Fills Recall Enthusiasm Gap

Solidarity Sing-Along at the Capitol Square on Recall Day, June 5, 2012

The Solidarity Sing-Along started March 11, 2011 with a simple mission:  “…a strong commitment to effecting change through peaceful action and purely non-violent means.” It has been a moving, poetic response to the brusque, machiavellian  way in which Scott Walker and the Republicans have governed this state. Over a year later the enthusiasm in some ways has carried this revolt on its shoulders, and it was stronger than ever on Tuesday (June 5) at the Capitol.  Continue reading

I Guess The Recall Can Start…The Media is Here

Speaking truth to Ailes in front of the Fox News set on the Capitol Square in Madison on June 4. 2012.

It must be time for the Recall as the television news organizations have come to town, not long after the DNC finally did. Glad they both finally noticed. I was strolling around the square today after being singing a few stanzas with the Solidarity Sing-A-Long in their usual spot at the foot of the Capitol’s State Street steps.  Continue reading

Overpass Light Brigade Epitomizes Recall Spirit

The Overpass Light Brigade pose with all the signs they brought to an overpass near Miller Park Saturday June 2, 2012. The various permutations were displayed to passing motorists. Photo by: Jenna Pope

Since Scott Walker and his allies picked a fight with the good citizens of Wisconsin, they have hit back with an immense avalanche of creative and innovative retorts and actions to register their displeasure with his policies. One such group is the Overpass Light Brigade whose activities have crescendoed in the last few weeks and may just be one of the differences in this election.

Enter Lane Hall, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and his wife Lisa Moline who are not necessarily activists but could not bear to sit on the sidelines for this fight. They started with simple letters using battery-powered LEDs that spelled out “Recall Walker” and made regular appearances on the Lincoln Drive overpass to the Milwaukee Art Museum along the lakefront.  Continue reading