Wisconsin Power Situation

Carl has documented in detail the train wreck that is the electricity situation in the state of Illinois. It is almost like watching the Titanic sink in slow motion. Here in Wisconsin we are quietly going the other way. I would like to point out a few things that are being done here in the state. I have mentioned in past writings that we have a great utility here in this area, MGE (Madison Gas and Electric), and have written about their marketing prowess. Elsewhere in the state we are making strides forward to update our transmission grid, install new power plants and are trying to figure out how we will provide power for future generations.

I will admit that I am not an expert in this field like Carl so I will defer to him in the comments to correct my usage of a word or if I say something flat out wrong. I am simply making observations.

To start off, we need to discuss one of the main players in this scenario, the American Transmission Company, or ATC. They are the owners of the transmission network for portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. I like their front page - right at the top is their slogan "when your community grows, electricity usage grows". That pretty much sums it up, even for the most dense person on the planet. As we keep building and growing, we HAVE to create updated transmission systems to get power to these places. ATC is in the news a lot around here as their fights with NIMBYs, Greens and others typically command a spot in the paper. They always get the job done. ATC seems to have a very good ability to know when to give up on a project and/or change the way the project needs to get done. They typically don't get too much negative press in the mainstream papers and newscasts. It is almost amazing that they get so much done in this climate of hate for utilities that is fostered by greens and leftists. Anyone who knows Madison and the area understands what I am saying. We aren't called the Berkeley of the Midwest for nothing. You would think that more nasty ink would be spilled on these usually hated utility companies, but the truth is that both MGE and ATC move forward with relative ease.

Here is an article on just some of the projects going on in the county Madison is located, Dane County. I will note that the ATC spokesperson says that these upgrades will buy them time for larger projects. I bet that a very major overhaul may be in the works for the next decade. But at least they are doing something. And anything you can get done in a hostile business climate such as there is in Dane County is impressive.

Here is something very interesting from last Thursday. An editorial in the Wisconsin State Journal excoriating a Dane County Board Member for giving ATC a hard time in upgrading the area's transmission. I like this quote in the editorial:

..."The line is also a step needed to eventually import green electricity,
generated by wind power in Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas."

Heh, verbal jiu jitsu if I have ever seen it. Basically the paper calling a Green a hypocrite for now allowing ATC to bring in environmentally sound power.

The Arrowhead-Weston line has seen its share of controversy. To understand what ATC has to deal with, take a look at this site. Yikes. Scary and full of misinformation. I like the baby monitor thing. Whenever you have an issue with something and you need a home run talking point, always make something up about babies. This line is being constructed to bring cheap juice down from a hydro project in Canada. Well, ATC got it done. Here is a very interesting site on the project. Note that only 26% of the line was run on new rights of way. The rest is either on existing rights of way or is lines that are being rebuilt.

In June of last year approval was given for ATC to rebuild and upgrade two transmission areas in central and northern Wisconsin. This was to help transmit from an upgrade (500mW) of the Weston power plant. According to the article this also takes pressure off of the Appleton/Green Bay transmission area.

There are a lot more projects that have been recently been approved for ATC here in Wisconsin and you can Google them for yourself if you are interested. Just the simple fact that they can get these projects off the ground in the face of intense NIMBY and Green opposition is a miracle in and of itself. I really think we are on the right track here in Wisconsin as far as transmission goes. Now on to generation.

As Carl has mentioned there are three things needed for effective power movement. Generation, Transmission and Distribution. Generation is probably even more opposed by Greens and NIMBYs than transmission.

This was refreshing a while ago. Talk of starting a new nuclear facility has begun. It is only talk, but even mentioning it is a good first step. Here is a map of our current nukes. The three nukes we have here in the state provide TWENTY percent of our power. Note that Southern Wisconsin sucks off of the Byron nuclear plant as well. Another nuke would really take pressure off of the current natural gas/coal plants that we have here in the state and would make us more self sufficient.

We burn a lot of coal here in Wisconsin, which doesn't really bother me too much. The newer and upgraded coal burning technology is much cleaner than it used to be.

The Racine coal fired plant was to be doubled in capacity, then NIMBYS and of all people Lisa Madigan, Atty. General of Illinois filed suit to get the project stopped. Nice to know that Lisa doesn't have anything better to do with her time than get involved in issues that don't have anything to do with her state. Anyway, check out this quote from Lisa Madigan, the power expert:

She has called the proposal "an outdated, environmentally destructive plant design that Illinois has banned for more than 30 years."

Even the person with the slightest interest in the subject knows that today's coal fired plants burn much cleaner than their ancestors. What a disservice she provides her constituents by reading off of Sierra Club pamphlets when addressing important issues such as these.

But in late June, the Wisconsin Supreme Court smacked down ALL of the challenges and the project will be moving forward. Note that the court reversed a DANE COUNTY court decision that effectively halted the expansion of the plant. The enviros intentionally moved the jurisdiction of the case to a super liberal area of the state to suit their needs. Didn't work. Funny that SC Johnson is one of the entities that filed the suit - seems Sam didn't want more coal burned in his neighborhood of Racine. It would be interesting to see what type of lifestyle Mr. Johnson lives and to take a look at his personal carbon footprint.

This article states that Wisconsin is building more coal fired plants than anyone in the US, including that one in Racine, the largest plant of its kind. This is all good news for the future for us here in the state.

It seems that some people would love to have a new power plant in their back yard. Alliant back in February started to seek permission to build a new 300mW coal fired facility in Cassville. The people there, according to the article, would love to see a plant in their backyard. The opposition to that plant would need to move the jurisdiction of the court cases to friendlier places (like Dane County) to get it stopped. I like this from the article.

"I've got a place in northern Wisconsin. And I saw all the 'No Line' signs (opposing the Wausau-Duluth power line)," Okey said. "You don't have that in Cassville. We're going to have a parade - a welcoming parade." The village's two power plants, one operated by Alliant and another by a subsidiary of Green Bay-based WPS Resources Corp., are key employers in Cassville. The Nelson Dewey power plant on the Mississippi River employs 58 people, and Alliant projects hiring another 35 workers to operate the new plant. That doesn't include construction jobs that the project would create, Okey said.

Well then.

I really can't comment on the distribution portion of our power issues here in Wisconsin, except for my area. MGE is the main distributor and they are a modern marvel to be able to operate in liberal, anti business areas and maintain a great public perception. I can't say enough about them. For more on this, I suggest an earlier article I wrote on this subject here.

I have given a lot of links above for you to read. You can get more from the Google if you are interested. For whatever reason, it seems that Wisconsin is light years ahead of Illinois when it comes to planning for the future with our electrical usage. I would love to see us someday have extra capacity and be able to actually SELL power to other states. As it is from what I have read we still import about 20% or so. That number will probably go down as in the next five years a lot of new plants are coming on line.

Cross posted at Chicago Boyz.

Irony

George Carlin, the comedian, does a great riff on irony. You can search the web and find many examples of his discussion of the mis-uses of the term "irony", and appropriate examples (like this).

Today I was reading the Wall Street Journal and I came upon something that I found to be almost perfectly "ironic". The article is titled "How Do Cats Like Rabbits? Very Much, and Preferably Raw". The article interviews a woman whose company sells freshly killed rabbits to cat owners and who is experiencing a great run of business. Business is brisk because of the pet-food scare out of China, where pet owners inadvertently poisoned their own animals, to their horror. This occurrence has driven some of the more hard-core pet owners to buy their own animals and create their own cat food, which consists of raw prey such as mice or rabbits, ground up finely.

Per the article:

'Dr. Pierson, the veterinarian, says she felt queasy "the first time I sent a rabbit head through the grinder." Holisticat's Ms. Arora is a vegetarian, but feeds her cats mice, rats, rabbits, Cornish game hen, quail, pheasant and chicken... She hews larger animals into pieces or grinds them. Smaller creatures go on a tarp on her kitchen floor. Pigpen doesn't care for mouse tails, so Ms. Arora snips them off.'

In my personal experience there are many types of vegetarians; you have individuals whose religion (mainly from the Indian subcontinent) requires them to be a vegetarian. There are other individuals, such as a guy who used to live next door to me, who become vegetarians under doctor's orders to reduce their cholesterol (it helped him, although there may be other ways to reach the same or better outcome), and then finally there are those that become vegetarians because they love animals and view it as repulsive that you would kill and eat an animal.

I am just guessing and speculating here but I'd bet that Ms. Arora, above, is the third type of vegetarian, someone who is a cat lover, loves animals, and doesn't eat meat because of this love for animals.

NOW we get to something that is precisely ironic, in my opinion:

1) someone loves animals, such as their beloved cat. They love their cat so much that they won't buy "store" food, they go to the trouble of making their own food to ensure that the cat won't be poisoned (this is a LOT of trouble, by the way)
2) their love of cats informs their life to a degree that they are vegetarians, because they don't want to kill other animals as part of their diet
3) but by buying a cat, they pick up a predator that requires a steady diet of freshly killed rabbits, rabbits that are raised solely for the purpose of slaughter (i.e. these aren't wild rabbits past their prime, they are raised and killed as soon as they are commercially ready to eat)
4) not only do they DIRECTLY cause the slaughter of these rabbits (if they don't have the cat, and don't buy the rabbits, the rabbits won't be raised and killed) but they have to personally do the "dirty work" of grinding up the rabbit into pieces, such as the gory details in the paragraph above
5) ALSO, wouldn't the fact that the cats seem to thrive on this all-meat diet (and suffer on the carb-loaded cat food) make them wonder why THEY shun meat? Is there any chance they'd make that connection while they grind up rabbits, by hand, day after day?

It must be interesting at P**A (don't want traffic) conventions to see these types bumping in to each other; those that love animals but love their cats more than the rabbits whose lives are sacrificed, and those that think every animal is equal in rights and can't stomach that approach. I would pay to watch the spittle fly on those arguments...

Live! From Pierogifest! (Part 1)

One of my tryout contributions for LITGM was about Pierogifest, held each year in Whiting Indiana. The photos weren’t mine. I did not know that Dan would publish it so I used photos from their website. Well, Pierogifest came and went last weekend. I was there. Again, it did not disappoint me.


Whiting is a town made up of Polish and Salvic immigrants who worked in nearby oil refineries and steel mills. They became true American citizens. They learned English and raised their children to be proud Americans and learn English. They needed no phony, divisive, hyphenated prefix. They came here because it was so much better to be here than the land and life they left. I know, I'm the product of such a family.

Their website explains how Pierogifest started. I heard another story from a friend who lives in Whiting. A few guys were in a bar one night. They discussed closing the main streets and throwing one big block party. After a few pitchers of cheap malt beverage their theme ideas for the party got wackier. They settled on honoring the the humble pierogi and playing out a spoof on thier diminishing ethnic heritage. It started out as a small, a one-day block party beginning with a parade making fun of their peasant grandparents' way of life. It became popular very quickly and grew to a three day event that got so large it is now managed by the chamber of commerce. I cannot find numbers to back me up but I would bet that 100,000 people attend. Easily.

(Below, sausages on the left, pierogis on the right)


Pierogifest shows how an ethnic group of people can have some fun with their heritage and use it to their advantage. The vendors sell a variety of Polish food along with Polish flags, t-shirts with humorous ethnic messages. They have live Polka bands and people actually dance in the street with the help of distilled spirits. It is a good time to have a laugh at our own expense. It kicks off on a Friday evening with a parade. It’s a real gas. Speaking of gas, check out this image of one of the floats. An authentic PAS-GAS-CAR.


They must let anyone in the parade. Including political gadflys such as this guy. But I think this guy is far more in touch with the working class than John Edwards and the merry band of circus midgets known as the democrat party.


This fine gentleman shows up each year wearing the same outfit even when it is 99 degrees. He resembles an older Ed Grimley. He dances with women young and old and he goes all night long. Women love it when that happens.


Look for part 2 later this week. I still have to follow up with Porter County Fair Part 2 (The Food) around Wednesday. I am on a roll with food. Pun intended.

Illinois Power Agency

One of the focus areas for this blog is electricity and energy, specifically energy policy. On the sidebar under "electricity" you can see a variety of other posts on this topic.

To recap what has happened over the last 15 years or so in a few sentences:

THE "OLD" WAY

- The power industry used to be regulated at the state level and consisted of many smaller utilities that were combined generation (coal & nuclear plants, hydro), transmission (long lines connecting their grid to generation and neighboring utilities), and distribution (local lines in your city that bring the power into your house along with the crews and systems to run it)
- There was always a substantial government presence; the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and Bonneville Power Agency (out west) were massive players, and major cities such as Los Angeles (Los Angeles Department of Water and Power) were essentially municipally owned utilities or major government entities outright
- This model had the utilities responsible for managing their growth through seeking out new generating resources by building their own plants or buying a "share" of a neighboring utility's efforts
- Utilities were in a "cost plus" or "rate of return" environment when they were allowed to earn a regulated profit on some portion of their costs to keep their ability to purchase power and raise money in the credit and stock markets
- While this model had a lot of problems (utilities had bad incentives) and there were plant cost over-runs, in hindsight, it looks pretty good

The "NEW" WAY:

- Utilities bought each other up; where there were many utilities in a state now there may be only one and it probably spans multiple states; the number of entities has been dramatically reduced
- States "deregulated" (I hate to use that word because it is a sham - they "regulated differently") on a state-by-state basis, mostly segregating the generation of power from transmission and distribution
- Utilities sold off their generation assets (mostly to unregulated arms of each other) and basically stopped building any "base load" generating assets; they just ran assets harder, remodeled, and bought easy to site and assemble (but expensive) gas generating units
- California melted down and almost went bankrupt; Enron turned into a sham, and states such as Montana got caught in the crossfire
- Deregulation is basically dead in its tracks, everywhere
- Energy growth (demand) continued to grow, unabated. But baseload generating plants, which can take a decade to plan, site, permit and build, are no where in site

The Situation in Illinois:

In Illinois they had a "rate freeze" on the major utilities for many years. Illinois used to have among the highest rates in the nation; now we are merely high. The rate freeze has expired and the first round of auctions came in with rate increases of approximately 25% on average, with some areas in Central Illinois hit even harder (owned by Ameren a St. Louis energy company that has been growing in the region).

Since rising electricity rates are political poison and they hit everyone, the Illinois politicians are all over this. Good governance may get lost in the shuffle, but Illinois elected officials know that an energy crisis can hurt their careers.

ComEd is the local distribution company and they are crying poverty and saying that they will go bankrupt if they can't raise rates to pay for power that they no longer provide; they neglect to mention that the main power provider is Exelon, their parent company, so it is really out of one pocket and into another. In this blog I even mentioned that it isn't out of the realm of possibility that the state will ultimately seize back the generating assets of Exelon to avoid going bankrupt; we aren't there yet but this game is in the 3rd inning, not the 9th.

Like everywhere else, no one has done anything to solve the fact that demand for electricity continues to increase while nothing is being done to provide future capacity. The NIMBY's and years of indoctrination by the greens has effectively killed any hope of siting serious new capacity in Illinois. This is all the more shameful because Illinois has abundant coal reserves...

The Illinois Power Agency:

The legislatures engineered a compromise with the utilities recently; the utilities would get their rate increase (part of it) and the state would charter a new department called the "Illinois Power Agency" with a mission to purchase power for the state and (somehow) reduce costs. The Chicago Tribune has a generally good article titled "Illinois Back in Power Market" that describes the proposed agency, although details are few.

The article compares the situation in Naperville, Illinois a larger suburb that purchases its own power with Exelon, the mammoth power company. Naperville is able to negotiate better rates (lower cost of generation) than Exelon. Per the article this was done by a series of "requests for proposals" or RFP's that the city kept issuing until they finally received rates they liked, at which point they jumped in and locked in the rate. The alternative to this sort of ongoing RFP and negotiation process is to have an auction of some sort like the state tried last year. To be honest the auction didn't work that badly; rates were going to go up (since generation is so limited) but didn't go up as much as feared. Still, it isn't good to be solely dependent on an auction because poor timing (i.e. an energy price spike) will require you to buy all your power at the worst time; probably a blend of the auction (spot) and negotiations is best, overall.

Per the article:

In its simplest terms, the new power agency will periodically seek bids for electricity from generators such as Exelon, Ameren, Midwest Generation and others. It can then negotiate for the lowest possible prices for residential consumers. That electricity will be distributed without markup by Commonwealth Edison and Ameren. The utilities will earn money through a distribution fee.

"We have all now bought into this deal," ComEd CEO Frank Clark said last week, adding that he thought the Illinois Power Agency could work. "This is a government entity," Clark said. "It does not have shareholders, and it does not have to have profits."

Thus, after all of the experimentation with incentives and deregulation, we are basically back to WORSE than the original situation of 15 or so years ago. It is a "pure" government entity, charged with negotiating with sophisticated financial experts on the other side. I don't think you can summarize it any better than to say that there are no shareholders, and no profits. I was looking for a mention of GOSPLAN, the former USSR planning agency for the economy, to complete the (dismal) picture. And to think that 15 years ago we were worried about sub-optimal incentives; now we have no incentives whatsoever except to hope that government bureaucrats get it right.

Part of the charter even authorizes them to build power plants and raise money; I frankly find it astounding to believe that a government entity will be able to build anything substantial at all in this climate, with die-hard NIMBY's fighting them at any turn. Government workers want to make their jobs easier, not harder, and they are short term focused. Better to let the supply / demand imbalance get worse and worse each year than to take the political heat and start a long term construction program. However, they will be in for a hard ride because it is a stretch to believe that they are going to be able to stem the rising rates that will enrage the constituents.

The head of the proposed agency is a lawyer, to boot. Per the article:

"Susan Hedman, senior assistant attorney general and Madigan's top adviser on utility issues, played a critical role in designing the Illinois Power Agency, or IPA."

Wouldn't you want someone with experience in power or finance, since these are complex, long-term negotiations? Can't they hire a lawyer to do the legal aspects and hire someone who knows power to run the agency?

My Perspective:

Sad and doomed as this plan may be, the silver lining is that the state has finally recognized that they need to DO SOMETHING to try to fix the problem. They also recognize that they can't blame others for rate increases; they built the current situation and the power companies have no incentives to fix it. The real solution of building more plants, of course, is nowhere on the horizon, but perhaps in a few more years after rising rates and collapsing reliability, we may try to do something about that too. Unfortunately even if we were all TRYING to build something it would still take a decade from that point forward, so Illinois is going to spiral downward financially and in terms of reliability until they figure this out, if they ever do.

In a different post I will lay out the likely course of electricity across the US and the natural gas industry, since the two are intertwined and will suffer complimentary fates.

Suffice it to say that for 15 years working, trying and monitoring the situation I have never been more depressed and without hope. This time period should rightly be viewed as the "dark ages" of electricity and energy policy. All this time has been wasted, we ate our spare capacity, and built no institutions looking towards the future. An utter failure of governance and planning...

Madtown Throwdown 12

I usually don't put up easily "Googleable" words in a post and most certainly never put them in the title of a post, but I am seriously pissed off this morning.

I went to the fights last night and man they were a joke. I was so mad that I was *this* close too going to the management and demanding a refund.

Almost every fight was, plain and simple, a mismatch. There is a certain local gym (I won't name drop them...this time...and it is not my gym) that is training fighters. Their fighters look pretty good. But the competition was horrible. I have a sneaky feeling that the gym is trying to pad their fighters records so they get more $ in future appearances.

There were a total of 12 fights, and by fight number 9 or so the boo birds started coming out. I was one of them.

They even had the nerve of giving some of these fighters the microphone after their terrible mismatches and letting them yak it up. You couldn't understand a word they were saying but that wasn't so bad. I am positive I wasn't learning anything by hearing their words of wisdom. That is like having me beat up a six year old boy and then bragging about it. Lets get some REAL men in the ring, or don't hold the event at all.

On top of all of this, it is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS to have these lame guys in there with people who far exceed their skill levels. This is mixed martial arts after all and the knees, elbows, kicks and all the rest are for real.

I just don't understand. In Madtown Throwdown 11 the fighters were all pretty much equally matched and the fights were brutal and exciting. I will give the Madtown Throwdown one more chance. Everybody has an off night. But I am not going to keep plunking down $25 to see what I consider to be light workouts. I want punishment, blood and guts like in Madtown Throwdown 11.

Accountability

This is a long ramble about personal health so if you are not interested in this, just skip this one.

Carl wrote a post yesterday that I needed to comment on. My comment got WAY too long and it morphed into this post.

The post centers around the idea that your friends and the company you keep can have the effect of making you more healthy, or less healthy. I couldn't agree more. If you are an alcoholic and your friends hang out in bars all the time, guess what. You need different friends. I would apply this to overall health as well.

It is extremely difficult not to drink many beers at a Bear tailgate. Again, you are there with your friends at a great event (football) and for me anyway the good times translate into more booze down the hatch. This is not going to happen this year. My fitness and goals are at a different level. If the company I am with doesn't like it, they can go scratch.

Along those lines I think documenting my health here on the blog is great for me. The next time Carl and I meet up if I am not looking stellar he is going to call bullshit on me and humiliate me, as he should. I also want to meet people face to face that I have interacted with on the 'net and the same thing applies. If they have been reading about my century rides, Muay Thai classes and all the rest and I don't appear super healthy in a face to face meeting those people will question my honesty and character in general. I won't be having any of that.

Within the next few weeks I will be reaching my intermediate goal of 185 pounds, on the way to 180 where my doctor told me to stop with the weight loss. Sure there are ups and downs but hey - you gotta live. Eating a big ass steak or a pile of ribs and maybe having a few beers is OK ONCE IN A WHILE. You simply cannot make your life revolve around food and drink like I was.

I realized this about three years ago when I was looking at myself in the mirror, and it was not a pretty sight. I have kids and want to see them grow up and I hope to be a granddad someday. The way I was eating was NOT conducive to me living a long life. On top of that I wasn't exercising at all. I mean nada. Hard to believe, but a person with a four year degree from a Big Ten school didn't understand that if you eat like a moose you HAVE to burn off those calories or you will be a fat ass. I was being stupid.

Well, that is all behind me. I am now *possessed* by looking healthy and making healthy choices. My wife has been a great help to me and it is awesome that she also works out (she needs to go to a health club to work out...different personality than mine) and knows about nutrition. She motivates me, compliments me and keeps me in check. To this day she metes out my portions for dinner. Portion control is probably one of the toughest things for me. So what I do is have her put on my plate all of the food I am allowed for dinner...and that is all I get. I can eat it as slow or as fast as I want. When we get takeout, the chow always slides over to her and she removes all of the portion that I am not allowed to have, THEN I get to eat. I also don't cheat at work. I make my lunch at home, pass it by the censor and that is all of the food I am allowed that day. What a huge help these things are for me.

I really don't want to push my new lifestyle on people that I know. I will just try to show them by my example how you can change your body if you get down to it and make the effort. I love it when people that haven't seen me for a long time ask me the question...what did you do? It is the same old story. Eat right and exercise. THEN I will tell my story and ask them if they exercise. It isn't badgering them, yet may plant a seed.

Carl is hard on himself. He isn't riding centuries or doing Muay Thai like me. BUT he is, I hope, seeing my results and by that is motivated. IMHO he is ahead of 99% of the population in the US. Doing some exercise, anything at all, three or four times a week for a measly half hour will go a LONG way in the long run. You will look better, your heart will get stronger, etc. I am no doctor, but can't really see any downside to exercise. You don't have to go crazy like me, even a half hour walk can do the trick.

But crazy I have gone and I plan on going more crazy. I need to be in top physical condition to advance in the Muay Thai rankings. And I will advance, this I guarantee you. I will have my Thai Shorts by Thanksgiving and after that I will start immediately working on my yellow sash. Another paragraph with accountability built in.

All of the running, ab work, MT and everything else has started to do things to my body that I never thought were possible. Resting pulse of 46? I never dreamed of that a few short years ago. I just wanted to drop a few pounds.

Carl's idea of a health "network" is interesting. It brings pressure and rewards. He mentions his personal trainer is motivated and will give him the berries if he doesn't do his workouts at home. I like this. This blog is somewhat of the same deal for me. When I am looking at sneaking that extra bite at the dinner table I think of two things. Not letting down readers who may meet me someday and not letting down MYSELF. It is easy when you think of it this way to not pound more chow down your piehole.

What a ramble this was, hope it wasn't too much. Can you tell I am pumped?

Your Friends Make you Fat... or Fit

There is an old saw (hey maybe it isn't bad advice) that if you want to see what your spouse will look like in a few decades, take a look at her mother. Recently the Wall Street Journal (oddly enough) wrote an article titled "Can Your Friends Make You Fat?" which was a more scholarly approach to this thought.

The article starts with a "personal" story (do all the journalists go to the same school for this) about a family that "got fat together" while their friends got fat, too. Then the article moved into a summary of an article that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine saying that social networks have a bigger impact on weight than your genetics. Per the article:

"Dr. Nicholas Christakis at Harvard medical school, lead author of the study, says the results indicate that behavioral "norms" shift depending on how people in a social circle look and act, even if they only meet once a year. "People might say, 'Look, Christakis is getting fat. It's okay for me to be obese as well." Social contacts propelled weight gains even among individuals a thousand miles apart, indicating that social proximity overrides geographic proximity."

Hopefully on this blog we are going the OTHER way. Dan of course is doing his martial arts as well as biking and other healthy things. He wasn't always this way, but every year over the last few years he has picked up more and more active habits and curbed (some) of his other habits. For me, I have definitely started an upward (health) trajectory, albeit from a rather low "base". I joined a new health club (I belong to a different one on a prepay scheme but didn't go that often... wrote it off as a sunk cost) that is near my house that I can use a lot, and go to a trainer weekly. The trainer frankly kicks my rear end, having me do exercises I would never consider on my own and focusing on core muscles. The fact that you have to "report" to a trainer every week has the salutary follow on effect of driving you to go to the health club more often; you don't want to show up the next week without having worked out 2-3 times in-between. On a recent trip my cardio capabilities were much higher than they ever were previously; I could hike up hills that would have flat-out killed me.

SO, hopefully when Dan and I meet up again at the Bears again we will start our own little social network of health. I am bringing up the rear, but it is all relative...

Space Age Technology (for the price)

In various posts I mentioned that very few things that people buy are "assets" other than their house and the land under their house (or their view in the case of a high rise condominium). Flat panel TV's, for example, are plummeting in price and if you took out a home equity loan and spent some of the proceeds on such a system you are now paying interest on an "investment" that is becoming obsolescent FAST.

I helped my parents upgrade their home theater this weekend and what we could buy for the money was just amazing. We went to Costco which I like because the prices there are always very good; you can sometimes find something cheaper but not by a lot, and frequently you get the best price available. You can pretty much figure that you are getting a good deal if you are buying something at Costco, which saves the mental angst of going place to place. Costco also has a solid return policy and warranty extension, and offers technical support (which fortunately I haven't had to utilize).

Their room is pretty small so it limited the choices for televisions; either 32" or 37". I thought that they ought to buy the (no-name) "Vizio" 37" TV for $759 but they went with a smaller, clearer looking (at the store, at least) Sharp Aquos 32" LCD TV for $799 instead.

They watch over-the-air (no cable) television and have an antenna up on the roof; in Chicago all of the main television networks broadcast in digital and it came in looking great. There are other stations on the digital "tier" for each network; some broadcast news, other shows, or even music videos. Public Broadcasting in particular looks great in HD. In Chicago I used to have an HDTV tuner card in my PC to pick up over-the-air digital transmission (it looks great on your monitor) but when I moved into River North there is just too much interference to pick up the signal and I can't exactly put an antenna on the roof of my building.

Since they are now watching HD television their VCR is useless; you can't record digital broadcasts on an old VCR. I'm sure that there is some linux based solution to allow you to record high definition broadcasts as a VCR like device but this is too complicated for them. Virtually everyone who watches HD does it over cable or satellite and uses a DVR device for recording. This is a relatively small price to pay for the overall upgrade.

In addition to the TV, we needed a new DVD player. I wasn't really thinking about a home theater system because the Sharp speakers in the TV aren't terrible but I stumbled onto a Sony "Bravia" home theater system that included a DVD player with built in tuner and amplifier and full surround sound system (5 speaker plus subwoofer) for $229. At this price, I can't refuse...

The home theater was great. It came with this crazy space-age microphone (hence the title) that you put where you'd sit and then it somehow calibrated your surround sound for all of the speakers. It was very cool; you sit in the middle and you can hear it test all of the speakers. The surround sound was great when it was done, too.

I didn't use the HMDI high-technology connection; they hardly watch DVD's and it looks / sounds great as-is. Probably an audiophile would scoff at my off-the-shelf wires but, hey, I bought and set the whole thing up in an afternoon (didn't mount it on the wall, that's beyond my capabilities).

As someone who has worked on stereos for years I appreciated the little touches to make it easier; the end that went into the amplifier / tuner was a jack-like plug and the part that went into the speakers had the ends clearly marked positive / negative. This made setup a breeze, although online I saw some people sniping because that does mean that if you want to set up the speakers at a different distance (longer than the cord) you have to splice. At $229 I'd tell those people to get a life, because the lines were pretty LONG and if you have that big a space to populate with a home theater system this tiny system won't do it, anyways.

It was easy to program and tune the TV and pick favorite channels - this is necessary for HD televisions over the air because it takes a bit for each channel to come in and you don't want to scroll through the secondary channels or the old "analog" channel that is a poor duplicate of the HD version.

All in it was $1100 plus $15 for an extra set of cable (the Bravia inexplicably didn't have an audio cable for connection to the TV... what did they think you were going to do with it? Maybe they figured you'd just buy an HDMI cable, anyways) for a great looking and sounding system. And the directions were somewhat easy to follow, which is better than most things I purchase electronically (the manual on my recently-purchased camcorder was absolute jibberish and I never would have figured the damn thing out if a friend hadn't shown me what to do). Usually when I put all that stuff together I end up leaving frustrated but not this time... at least I haven't gotten the internal family technical support calls yet...

Big Ten Talking Expansion

Today there is an article in the AP that is saying that Big Ten conference commissioner Jim Delaney is putting expansion back on the table - he says “in the next year”. Pretty quick timetable there Jim!

The Big Ten (or Big Televen, as I like to call it) is clearly one of the dominant national conferences in the nation as far as fan base and revenue goes, second only to the SEC in my opinion. The Big Ten has immense universities and absolutely huge fan bases nationwide.

This year the Big Ten becomes the very first conference to start its own TV network, the Big Ten Network. For the most part they will be broadcasting the crap games in the conference, like the Illinois - Minnesota game I will be attending in November. This is equivalent in interest to Kentucky vs. Vandy in the SEC. I think as time goes by the BTN will start collecting more of the important games. The current contracts with ABC, ESPN and ESPN2 and ESPNU and other networks go for a while here, but will run out eventually. Then I think the BTN will be one of the largest pay per view conference networks around.

The SEC has openly admitted that they are watching the BTN closely to see how it works out. The BTN may stumble at first but eventually they will get it right - and the SEC will be quick to follow with a network of their own.

It is no coincidence that Delaney is talking expansion at the same time that the BTN is debuting. If the Big Ten gets one more team, they can split into two six team divisions and rake in the ca$h on a conference title game. Kirk Ferentz, the head coach of Iowa doesn’t like it. He says that a conference title game could hurt a teams chances (if they lose) of playing in a BCS game. He has a good point, but it cuts both ways. If you are just outside of the BCS and win the game, you could be vaulted into the BCS.

So, who are the candidates?

Notre Dame. The Big Ten has made runs at the Irish before and been rebuffed. I don’t see ND ever in the Big Ten - for football, at least. Notre Dame is a relatively smallish school compared to the behemoth schools of the Big Ten and would love to have a better place than the Big East for their other sports to play. But I don’t see the Big Ten making that concession for the non-revenue sports. I think the Irish can make more $$ on their own in football with their large fan base. I would put the odds at ND joining the Big Ten at pretty close to zero.

Big East remnants - The Big East is under assault now, as other conferences are inviting their football teams to join. I think it will disintegrate within one or two years as far as football goes. From a Big Ten fans standpoint the most attractive of these teams is Pitt. They have a natural rivalry with Penn State and their football program has been decent. As of late their basketball program has been great. The names of Syracuse and Rutgers have been thrown around as well. The only reason the Big Ten has these names on the table is for market penetration. Rutgers has sucked for the better part of a century in football, the last few seasons have certainly been not the norm for them. Syracuse has a great record for basketball, but not so much for football. I don’t see too much of a draw for either of them to join but the money counters at the Big Ten may see different. The teams won’t like it for sure with all of the extra travel to the east. But the entry into the gigantic east coast market may be too much for the Big Ten to leave on the table.

Big Twelve candidates - Iowa State has been talked to over the years as well. They have a very good rivalry already with Iowa and are pretty close geographically. But they have never really been a power of any sort on the national scene and the Big Ten already has coverage in that area with Iowa. Which leaves MY preferred choice…Missouri. The Tigers already have a heated rivalry in football and basketball with Illinois and share that long border. Geographically they aren’t too far from most of the teams and this addition would give the Big Ten an entry into the St. Louis (and whole state of Mizzou) market. To me, Mizzou makes the most sense for a Big Ten twelfth team but then again, what do I know about football and economics. I am just an avid Big Ten football fan. Also, I don’t know how much of an attachment Mizzou has with the Big Twelve, and how intense their rivalries are.

Cross posted at Saturday Football Update.

Canada's Rising Dollar

For as long as I can remember the Canadian dollar (or the "Loonie" as it is popularly called, since it has a loon on the back of the gold colored coin) has been worth a fraction of a US dollar. For example, around 2001 one US dollar was worth approximately one and a half Canadian dollars. Since that time the exchange rate has shifted so that a Canadian dollar today is worth almost the same as a US dollar, and "experts" say that the US dollar (the "greenback" if we are talking about nicknames) will soon be worth less than a "loonie". In fact, when I was traveling in Canada a few years ago with a friend we'll call "Apocolypto" for the blog here we constantly made reference (jokingly) to the price of something being "Canadian" meaning cheaper than you'd expect. He got a ticket for driving above the speed limit and I think it was $90 dollars but then he paused and said... "Canadian".

This fall in the value of the dollar vs. the loonie is in parallel to the fall of the dollar against the Euro. Back when I travelled around Europe before 9/11 one dollar bought about one and one third Euros; now the dollar is worth about 3/4 of a Euro. This is a tremendous shift in buying power.

Why exchange rates rise and fall is a topic of great debate. In Canada's case, the country is in a good fiscal position and they benefit from rising commodity prices on oil & natural gas. Their separatist issues also seem to have receded from the boiling point.

Regardless of WHY the exchange rates change, you can see the impact on the gas pump above. I was driving across Canada in an SUV and it cost roughly twice as much to fill the tank as it does in the USA, even with our current gas prices. As a tourist, it wasn't unusual for me to spend an average of $60 / day driving around, even with a lot of stops for photos and eating. This high gas price issue used to be offset by the exchange rate, but no longer.

Moving on from exchange rates, Canada has a crazy energy policy. Canada taxes the heck out of their gasoline, even though the country is as rich in energy as Saudi Arabia (depending on how you count the oil sands). Their gas prices have risen in tandem with the spot price of gasoline, even though Canada has plenty of its own oil and refining capacity "to boot" so they are really soaking their own people. This record windfall (they make a lot of money from energy producers at the well head) is also contributing to the rise of the Canadian dollar since it is helping the government's overall fiscal situation.

Canada is a BIG country, as anyone who has driven there knows, and there aren't a lot of public transport options. I have taken the subway in Montreal and I am sure Toronto and some of the other big cities have buses and trains but, in general, you can't get around most of the country unless you drive. In addition, standing outside in the middle of winter in Canada waiting for a bus would literally be taking your life in your hands for a large portion of the country. Everyone seems to have a car and a large garage - the "car culture" is as big in Canada as it is in the United States. Thus it is hard to see what the high tax on gasoline is accomplishing, since it isn't changing anyone's behavior (they aren't walking on snowshoes) and it is hitting the overall economy by causing the Loonie to rise.

I guess it makes them feel good, or even superior, to those crazy Americans, to tax the hell out of themselves, even when their government is well or over-funded. That will be a topic for a future post...

Wring It Out

I have added an absolutely awesome blog to the sidebar, called My Muay Thai. They talk about the results from the big Muay Thai and K-1 fights as well as post a lot of cool photos and you tubes of the fights.

They also talk about MT classes and etiquette. Yes, there are rules and they need to be followed.

Last night was my most intense workout ever in a MT class. We have a lot of new people and I think the instructors are trying to weed some out. I don't have any proof of this, just a hunch. I don't know if it is the gym, or the sport of MT in particular, but the classes are absolutely packed as of late. A few weeks ago there would be more people in the Jeet Kune Do class that preceded mine than in the MT class. Not now.

When I started in the beginning of May the class size usually hovered around ten people. The last couple of weeks it has been more like 25. The gym is really small, so when we pair up for drills we are starting to bump into each other. I am very happy for the gym, but it is borderline unsafe. I spoke to one of the instructors about this in passing and he mentioned that they are right now working on either starting to utilize the basement of the facility or moving to a larger place. I hope they don't move too far as the gym is right by where I work and is very convenient for me to scoot down there.

There are many new women in the class now, including one semi-babe. Many of the young single guys are more than willing to help her out. I didn't get any of that kind of treatment when I started out. Heh. Time will tell if she keeps up or washes out like so many of the other women in the class have. Speaking of young single guys, I have been taking an informal poll of the ages of people in the gym. I am so far the oldest by four years.

After last night's workout it seemed that my shirt was dipped in water and could be wrung out - we were all sweating that much. I think the owner likes the students to suffer a bit and get in good shape as since I have been going there the a/c has never been on, simply the front and back doors open with a small box fan to move a little air through there. After we practiced our punching combinations for a while and had some very heavy hands we did an insane ab workout. I did better than most, but not as good as some. It was crazy.

My structure and hand speed is improving quickly. I still hold my hands too high. I was corrected on that last night. Everything is really starting to come together though. I remember when I started. When practicing combinations I always dropped my hands - no more. I am starting to look like a real life fighter. I like working on my structure as that is something that I can practice at home or in the office if I have a few extra minutes. All you need is...you. Simple footwork drills can be done anywhere as well with no equipment and no real physical exertion. I guess that is the beauty of a sport like Muay Thai. Very small barriers to entry.

As far as earning my Thai Shorts goes, looks like I am very much on track to reach my goal of earning those by Thanksgiving. I want those things like I haven't wanted too much in recent memory. You can't buy them, you have to earn them.

My weight is quickly approaching 185. I honestly can't remember the last time I was this light. I recently went to the doctor for a physical and my resting pulse was between 44 and 48. He had to literally check my medical records to see if he had prescribed any sort of meds for that. He was impressed. He also said that I should go no lower than 180 on the weight. I think that sounds about right. That will be a 15 pound drop from when I started MT just three months ago. Nuts! Eating right and less booze helps, too.

I have mentioned several times that after MT class I seem to hear, see and feel better. This is starting to trickle over into the rest of my life now too. I asked the doctor about this and he says that is is not unheard of at all for people who take their bodies to new levels of fitness to feel better and have a better feeling about themselves in general. There was a chemical explanation that had to do with the levels of blood and other things pumping through your brain but I don't remember what it was that he said. He also mentioned that there are new studies that may prove that exercise may be a better treatment for clinical depression than meds. Interesting stuff. I knew exercise was important, and now that I am starting to unlock some of my bodies' potential I really understand it.

This Saturday evening is another Madtown Throwdown (#12), which is a Mixed Martial Arts format, like Ultimate Fighting. I can't wait to watch the standup portions and pick out the various strikes the fighters are using, just as I have been practicing the last three months.

Baseball Pool Update 24

Well, as predicted here, the Brewers are starting to falter, and the hated Cubs are within 2 games of their divisional lead. Both the Cubs and Crew are in the wild card hunt if they lose the division too. Meanwhile, the Indians and Tigers are beating each others brains in playing in the AL Central. Don't look now, here come the Yankees too. Dammit.

Current standings:
1. PSL Dave (Red Sox) 61 wins
2. Craig (Tigers) 60 wins
3. Snakeye (Indians) 59 wins
4. PS Indy (Mets) 57 wins
5. Dan from Madison (Brewers) 56 wins
5. Graphix (Dodgers) 56 wins
6. John (Yankees) 54 wins
7. JohnnyJ (Cubs) 53 wins
8. Carl from Chicago (White Sox) 45 wins

What a lame payoff if the pool stopped today: $50 - I guess you live and learn.

Canada and Free Enterprise

I was staying at a hotel in Canada when I noticed a sticker on the door of the bed and breakfast. The sticker said that the hotel was the member of a group that supported "private enterprise". This isn't something that you'd typically see in the United States - there might be a Better Business Bureau sticker but it is normally a given that free enterprise and capitalism is the norm in the United States (although surely the public sector is too large here, even they tend to recognize that private enterprise is needed to "fund" their programs).

This thought stuck with me throughout my travels and helped me to "see" the country. For in Canada, their public sector is larger than the United States. Health care is run by the government and the country supports a higher overall tax burden to fund these levels of services.

Not only is the "official" public sector bigger, many of the most important elements of the private sector are natural resources firms that develop oil & gas, hydroelectricity, mining, and paper products. While these industries are technically private industries, they are heavily regulated with rules and specific taxes and export clauses so that they on the scale of "public" to "private" they are far down nearer the "public" end of the ledger.

While in Canada I picked up a copy of the Toronto Globe and Mail. The tag line on the Toronto Globe and Mail is "Canada's National Newspaper" so this isn't a provincial newspaper such as you might see in Atlantic Canada. This paper would be the equivalent of the New York Times or Wall Street Journal in the United States and I found it to be a well-written and organized paper.

The picture that you see above is one of the pages from the Career section from their July 18, 2007 paper. For major Canadian companies this is where they would likely take out the large advertisements for their executive and high level appointments, as they do in the United States in the Wall Street Journal. This is the highest profile advertising for employees in Canada.

While perusing the section, I noticed with astonishment that it seemed like most of the positions are for government positions of one sort or another (health care, ministers, managers, universities, school districts, etc...) and there weren't many of the "private enterprise" employers at all. I picked up the paper and put it in my suitcase (this is why it is all wrinkled in the photo) and took it home. When I had a few minutes I went through all of the large box ads and counted them up and classified them into two main categories - public enterprise and private enterprise (I did not include the one ad for overseas work). The totals were:

Public Enterprise - 24 advertisements
Private Enterprise - 17 advertisements

While this is not a scientific sample (one day on a major newspaper) it says quite a statement about how endemic the public enterprise is for Canada, and how much of an uphill battle that private enterprise faces.

I think that the hotel was right to support that free enterprise group... they are in the minority.

James Does Double Duty

No, that isn't the title of a porno, although if you did a search I suppose you could find one with that title eventually.

James from Hell in a Handbasket has done me a double favor today. First, he said I was on crack in the comments of this post. It is always nice to be put in your place once in a while, and good to be able to laugh at yourself when it is done.

Secondly, he linked this video of the inmates of the Cebu Detention and Rehabilitation Facility in Cebu, Phillipines practicing their version of THRILLER.

Those who know me understand that it is hard to make me laugh out loud, but this did the trick.

Why We Come Here

Last weekend my wife and I went to the area of Madison where a lot of "alternative" lifestyle people tend to hang out, Williamson Street. Locals here call it Willy Street. It is an eclectic combination of hippies, gays, lesbians, transgenders, stoners, bums, you name it, Willy St. has it. Along with this comes interesting diversions.

We had an absolutely fabulous dinner sitting outside at Jolly Bob's. It is a Caribbean theme restaurant that has been around for a long time here in Madison. We each had two of the "banana-tini's", an excellent martini with OJ, vodka and creme de banana.

My wife and I agreed that the dinner was some of the best food we had partaken in over the last several months. Spicy, but not burning - full flavored and fresh. There was a bachelorette party in there. Pretty early to start that crap at 7.30pm I would think, but then again, those ladies looked like they were in it for the long haul.

Afterword we sauntered a block to the Broom Street Theater. Which isn't on Broom Street, it's on Willy Street. $8 got us into the play they had running, called "Why We Come Here". Before I get to the play, a bit about the theater.

BST is known for over the top productions featuring mostly mind-bending themes. The plays there are written to test the audience's minds and they always do. BST is a non-profit theater and nobody there gets paid. The actors, lighting personnel, director, playwright - it is all art for art's sake. I like that.

As for my taste in theater, I prefer modern plays with modern themes. In fact, I like modern American plays. I don't mind a little of the abstract, but I don't want to think too hard. I want to be able to be entertained and laugh a bit, as I did this last Saturday.

Why We Come Here is a play written by a local named Megan McGlone. She came up at the beginning of the show (in front of all 20 patrons...literally) to talk about herself and how she came up with the idea. They "played church" as they always do at BST and passed donation baskets around. I dropped a fiver in there.

The play centers around two young women who meet in a bar and discuss...everything...over drinks. The only other characters are two other bar patrons and a bartender. There are many scenes (each scene lasted typically 5 minutes or less), and they are filled with dialogue. In between the scenes all of the players changed costumes. So while the two women discussed their lives the other two patrons were constantly changing their characters. In the bar were everything from couples to a person doing yoga to college students. My favorite random patron was a person who had passed out on the bar and had to be removed by the bartender.

One of the main characters was a lesbian and one was straight. It was apparent that they had been friends for quite some time. The topic of boyfriends and girlfriends came up a lot. I think my favorite part featuring the lesbian was when she was discussing her relationship with an eight month pregnant woman and how she was so proud to be a mom...or dad...as the case was. The straight woman had me laughing out loud when she was boasting of a new boyfriend who she called the "porno star". She noted that he had folded her up like origami the night before - that line was delivered with a wonderful tone. That joke was funny enough, but then the lesbian asked her if the guy was Asian...and the whole place erupted.

Between the scenes they played interesting music, about half of which I recognized. In some of the scenes they kept the music playing, but pulled it down so you could hear it in the background to give you the illusion of being in a night club with the women.

The "F" word was dropped liberally and reminded me of just exactly what they were trying to remind me of...drunk people talking. Me included. Anyone who has seen me even slightly inebriated knows that my language quickly descends into the gutter. I have gotten better with this since having kids.

Why We Come Here was short, only 75 minutes or so - and it went by quickly. It had been a long time since I had been to a play but I really enjoyed it. It was modern, snappy and fast paced. I was surprised that the straight girl and the bartender didn't hook up as at one time they made googly eyes at each other. But then again, he had heard all the stories about all of her boyfriends too.

I don't feel too bad about revealing any spoilers in this review as the play ended on Sunday and the chances of it coming to your town are pretty remote.

This evening was truly a Madison original from the dinner to the play to the stroll down Willy St. It was a good night to be alive - and here.

Baseball Pool Update 23

I have been so involved in the Brewers season that I have hardly had time to keep up with the other divisional races. The Crew hasn't surrendered one game to the hated Cubs since the All Star Break, and I hope they can keep it that way. Their bats have gone a bit cold as of late, but the fact that they are still holding off the Cubs tempers that a bit. We have lost Sheets (again) for a month and that could end up being a killer - it will all come down to arms for the Crew.

The current standings:

1. PSL Dave (Red Sox) 59 wins
2. Snakeye (Indians) 58 wins
2. Craig (Tigers) 58 wins
3. Dan from Madison (Brewers) 55 wins
3. PS Indy (Mets) 55 wins
3. Graphix (Dodgers) 55 wins
4. JohnnyJ (Cubs) 51 wins
4. John (Yankees) 51 wins
5. Carl from Chicago (White Sox) 43 wins

I can't believe how tight this pool is. Total winnings if the pool stopped today: 46 measly bucks. Like I said before, if the total winnings stay this low I will just send the winner the amazon gift certificate myself and all the rest of you can buy me a beer sometime.

Random Thought

As I was biking the past few weekends past the fields and cow pastures I had an interesting thought and would like some input from the readers. Tell me if you think this makes sense or if you think I am on crack.

I imagine that the spike in gas prices helps our local farmers in almost all facets, with one exception - purchasing gas for their own equipment. It seems only logical to me that produce, milk, meat and anything else that has to get shipped in from other areas of the country would only cost more to offer to this market, making the local production more valuable. Leave out for now the subsidies and all the other breaks that farmers get - I am just looking at the market for goods. Usually markets respond rather quickly unless there is a rather large quality issue.

Tour de Wisconsin Agriculture, Part Five

Here are parts one, two, three and four. Click any photo for larger.

I remembered reading when Mae Mefford died a few years ago. I looked it up. I'll be damned. She was the owner of the Missori Tavern, the one I took a photo of earlier in this bike ride.

The last person before Ms. Mefford who was buried there was buried in 1932. Here is the full list if you are interested. The cemetery is still maintained by the Town of Springfield. I have my doubts on that list - I walked the whole cemetery and it didn't look like there were that many people buried there. But maybe there were many people buried in one plot. I don't know.

Anyway, here is where they buried Mae Mefford, owner of the Missouri Tavern. She made it to 101!
I decided to make the flowers upright and fix the wire tie that was holding them up. Weird that someone left their butane lighter on site. Someone must visit on a regular basis..
Elsewhere in the cemetery, there was a GAR vet buried. GAR is Grand Army of the Republic. This is what the US Army used to be called. Note the dates - this is a Civil War veteran.
As I mentioned in my post stating a case for cremation, so many tombstones eventually get washed away. Here is a prime example of a person long ago forgotten. To me, unless you are famous, it is inevitable if you are buried that you will be eventually forgotten, moved, or developed upon. I won't have myself be a burden like that. Here is a forgotten soul.
Here is a wide photo of the cemetery. An interesting place to be sure.
I fueled up here and hit the road again. My total ride ended up being 55 hilly miles. Yikes my legs really hurt at the end of it, but I had a good high going from endorphins. The sights and smells this day were truly spectacular and I was glad I was able to take you along on this ride. If you are ever in the area and are a distance biker in reasonably decent shape give me a jingle and we will retrace this ride - I do it twice a year. If you aren't in good shape, I can trim the ride down to a more managable distance. But I can't trim the hills.

A Great Midwestern Weekend BBQ Idea...

It was predicted to be a lazy, unseasonably cool summer day last Sunday. Since I had no plans to leave the bunker except heading over to Keel’s Korner farm stand for some fresh sweet corn, I instinctively felt that BBQ’ing something low and slow seemed like the right thing to do. Spare ribs, pork shoulder, picnic ham and a whole turkey were all considered. I decided on a beef brisket.

BBQ beef brisket is the signature Texas BBQ standard. It is a cut that requires attention to detail because if not you may as well eat a Florsheim wing-tip. Cooking real BBQ means you need to be nearby so you can check on it regularly to add coals, wood chunks, and make temperature checks. It takes a bit of practice as I learned experimenting through years of not-so-good ‘Q. Brisket is not as forgiving as pork and I have had my share of brisket failures. Save yourself some experiment money and follow this recipe for great brisket.

This technique is similar to my recent BBQ pork rib post a week or so ago but brisket poses an entirely different problem. A point-cut beef brisket weighs about five pounds of solid beef and takes up to seven hours to finish vs. three hours for a five-pound slab of spare ribs, which contains a lot of bone and gristle. The kettle grill set-up is very similar, a Weber® kettle, some hardwood lump charcoal (preferably) on one side, a double drip pan (this time with water in one) on the other with large chunks of hickory for flavor.

Beef brisket comes from the chest area of the steer above the flank. It is the same cut of meat used for corned beef. It is a tough cut that needs a lot of love to get it tender. There are two specific cuts of brisket, the flat cut and the point cut. Point cut is preferable as it contains more fat, more marbled tissue and that means more tender, juicy flavor. This is the cut of choice for BBQ.
Here goes…

The brisket point-cut has a fat side and a lean side. Slice into the fat side with a sharp knife and make 1-2” diamond pattern cuts through the fat without cutting into the meat. For this I use an incredibly sharp knife because the fat has a tough membrane on top of it. A Shun® Japanese knife is sharp as a razor and it is my choice for this task.

The brisket should be brined prior ot Q'ing in order to keep it moist and flavorful. It will not add to or take away from the flavor at all. The purpose of the brining process is for the meat to draw in moisture so it will not dry out during the cooking process. It is similar to injecting a marinade without poking holes in the dense meat. Any low and slow BBQing (especially beef and poultry) requires a brine prep for the best results. So mix up the following:

4qts cool water
2/3 C table salt
½ C sugar.
Mix all until well dissolved.

In a large roasting pan place the brisket in the brine solution and refrigerate for 2-4 hours.


After brining rinse well and rub in some salt, pepper and plain suger in equal amounts.


An hour before placing the flank on the grill get the Weber® Kettle prepped. Remember, to allow for 6-7 hours of cooking time. Avoid petroleum based starting fluids. Using a chimney starter, fill it 3/2 with coals and light using newspaper. On the coal side I use a small coal basket but you can do without it. Place a few unlit coals in the basket or on the side of the kettle leg that has no wheel then pile the hot coals on top. This is key. IMPORTANT: pile the coals tightly against the side of the kettle if you are not using a coal basket.

On the meat side (above the two wheel legs, remember?) we will place an aluminum foil drip pan and a rigid aluminum pan for holding water (about an inch) once the fire is prepped. The water absorbs heat and brings a moist smoky low temperature to the party. The fire will be over the leg without a wheel and this side will face into the wind. The lid vent will be placed over the meat with the vent open full (between the two wheel legs) and downwind. This will draw a column of low-heat smoke over and around the meat caressing it with as much low-heat smoky love as possible.

A Great Midwestern BBQ Idea Part 2....

To keep the brisket from cooking too quickly we need to make a heat shield out of foil. Once the fire is ready and the pan is in place add the brisket fat-side down on the upper grill over the pan side placed on top of a one-ply sheet of foil. Fold up the foil on the fire side to create a heat shield. Add a few hickory chunks to the fire side and close the lid.

Allow to cook for 2-3 hours but pay close attention at about the one hour mark. A fire can either go out or flare up if unwatched and that can lead to a meatamorphasis, where you can turn your beautiful meat into a plywood disaster. Use the top grill vent to regulate the heat accordingly and keep the bottom vents wide open. A column of smoke slowly exiting the top vent is a good indicator of the proper fire. Sometimes coals need to be added. This is an unpredictable cooking method folks, that’s why a BBQ anything needs to be monitored. You need a day when you have nothing else to do but hang around the deck, occasionally watch and wait. And pour another cocktail.

Turn the meat so the portion that was away from the fire now is closest to the fire. Use an instant read thermometer to check the meat temp after a total of 4-5 hours of cooking. Anywhere between 160-170 is good enough.

It will take another 3-5 hours to complete this smoky beef-a-rama. Watch the grill, add coals and wood if necessary every hour or so while you have a drink, mow the lawn, wash the car, launch some bottle rockets, whatever.

A Great Midwestern BBQ Idea Part 3...

It will take another 3-5 hours to complete this smoky beef-a-rama. Watch the grill, add coals and wood if necessary every hour or so while you have a drink, mow the lawn, wash the car, launch some bottle rockets, whatever.
Use an instant read thermometer to check the meat temp after a total of 4-5 hours of cooking. When the internal temperature of the brisket reaches160-170 degrees your BBQ brisket mission has been accomplished. You may now take the meat off the grill and wrap it in foil and let gain some love.

Allow your prize brisket to rest for 30 minutes. This will allow that slab of smoky tenderness to retain moisture. Use this extra time to prepare fresh corn-on-the-cob, slaw, fries or whatever you like. And drink another cocktail for good luck!



After you remove the brisket from the foil slice thinly as possible. At this time you should notice what the Q experts call the “smoke ring”. It appears to be a rare, uncooked area surrounding the edges of the meat. This will be the first evidence of your BBQ success.

I slice the meat thin and serve it on buns with raw onions and a splash of BBQ sauce. I like Stubbs BBQ sauce best for beef brisket. It’s real Texas stuff.


Some oven fries along with fresh sweet corn-on-the-cob rounds out this great Midwestern BBQ meal. Let me know how yours turns out.

Tour de Wisconsin Agriculture, Part Four

Here are parts one, two and three. Click any photo for larger.

This day was, sincerely, epic. These country roads could have been called "large bike paths" as far as I was concerned. The whole time I was out there I was passed by only a handful of cars and a tractor or two. At times the only sounds were my breathing, the straining of the leather in my shoes, and occasionally the creaking of my bike as I went up a tough hill. This was a LONG hill, with a pretty nice spike at the end.

Eventually I came upon what I call the worlds smallest cemetery, Kohlmann Cemetery. I decided to take a break, fuel up and check out the tombstones. You can find out a lot of interesting historical tidbits from them. I have given my thoughts before about cemeteries, and some of those thoughts have proven to be true at this particular one over time. But enough of that. Here is the Cemetery marker.
Read the back of the marker - kind of eerie, eh?
Here is the marker of Charles Kohlmann himself.
And here is a closeup - Born 1799, Murdered 1848. Guess that about sums it up.
More on this neat cemetery and a wrapup in the final post of this series, part five.

Warbirds

Our local airport is home to many small private aircraft, corporate jets and my favorite, warbirds. Last week I drove past and saw this little beauty parked outside. It reminds me of of an airworthy version of the classic Caroll Shelby Ford AC Cobra.Thought that readers of LITGM may appreciate it.
The Valpraiso Municipal Airport is only a few miles from the confines of my country bunker. On summer weekends it is not unusual to hear the growl of a vintage radial engine powered aircraft pulling a loop overhead. That sound always draws me outside to look for the source. It is rewarding to see a vintage warbird doing a barrel roll or even a squadron of them blowing by which happens often this time of year.

This airport is home to the The Indiana Aviation Museum. These folks have an array of vintage warbirds. They have a Steerman Bi-Plane, A Vought F4U Corsair, A P-51 Mustang and others. The IAM facilities draw other warbirds on route to airshow destinations throughout the summer. All the IAM planes fly and they offer rides in them to the general public. For a price.

The P-51 is a real thrill just to look at. It has been given credit for our final air superiority during WWII in Europe.

To see this bird in person just loads my pants every time. This silvery, sleek weapon of death is powered by a 12-cylinder Rolls-Royce power plant that can reach speeds approaching 450mph. Incredible in its day. Six 50cal. wing mounted machine guns give me the chills.

About six years ago a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic aircraft flew into the Valparaiso airport for a weekend exhibit on their nationwide tour. The Collings Foundation restores and flies many vintage aircraft but the B-17, B-24 and now the B-25 bombers attract attention wherever they go. They show up at the Valpo airport every year for a four-day exhibit.

To offset this huge expense they charged the public $5. for a tour of the grounded planes and $350. for a one hour flight. Being a real sucker for flying I paid the price for my once-in-a-lifetime adventure. How often does one get the opportunity to fly in an authentic B-17 bomber? It was worth every penny. (Photo credit: The Collings Foundation)

My problem was, after we climbed to 2000 feet, I realized my old digital camera was out of power so I enjoyed the ride without any photographic evidence of the journey. It does not matter, the memories live on. Sitting in the clear bombardier’s nose-cone seat flying over the U.S. Steel plant in Gary IN made my decade. That mill could have been a ball-bearing factory near Hamburg for all I knew. I was so stoked.

From the air I could see cars stopping along the roads and people pointing up at us. Flying along the Lake Michigan shore near the Indiana Dunes you could see people waving from boats and on shore.

The plane was a lot smaller inside than I imagined. They strapped us (twelve passengers) to small wooden planks on the floor of the waist section for takeoff and landing but once airborne we were allowed to walk about the entire plane. There was a narrow catwalk that joined the front fuselage to the waist section through the bomb bay. The guns were authentic but inoperable. The tail section was off-limits because a tail gunner was cut off from the rest of the plane due to the retractable rear-landing wheel mechanism.

The Collings Foundation will be back here in a few weeks. This time they are bringing along a B-25 Mitchell Bomber. IF I can I will get a seat with a full charge on the camera.

This P-51 has two seats and the owner/pilot will take you up for a series of barrel-rolls, loops, dives and a strafing run on left-lane blockers slowing traffic flow on I-80 (just kidding) for $1000. Bring your own barf bag.

Any takers?

Book Review - Brave New War

Keeping with my promise of whittling down my "to read" pile, I have just completed Brave New War by John Robb. I would like to jot down a few thoughts while it is fresh in my mind.

The subtitle of the book says a lot about what is inside - "The next stage of terrorism and the end of globalization".

It starts out describing the new format that terrorism is and will be using - small, decentralized groups wreaking havoc on specified targets. The example of Iraq is brought in constantly and how the terrorists are constantly wrecking electricity hubs, oil lines and more to sow seeds of doubt in that population about the current rulers. Mentioned quite a few times is the huge payback on blowing up a pipeline, for instance. A relatively simple and inexpensive plan can be rewarded with absolutely huge payoffs, monetarily. Think 911 and what it has cost us.

But the "black swan", as an enormous event such as 911 is called, will be the more rare terror occurrence. According to Robb, small, numerous events such as the bombing of important nodes in Iraq will be the norm. I couldn't agree more. There will still be black swans on occasion, but they are much harder to coordinate, train for, and finance than the occasional car bomb or set explosive.

Robb goes into great detail explaining that the only way that these events can take place is if the terror groups decentralize themselves and operate somewhat independently. Economics, as always, plays a factor as well. An example was cited that showed that there were groups of terrorists that would "rent themselves out" to people who wanted certain highways, electricity grids or other things such as these taken out in Iraq. The black market economy only helps these people acquire things they need to make their weapons.

The book then turns to what it may look like if these groups started doing their voodoo here in the United States. The picture that is painted is not pretty. I really didn't learn too much in this section of the book, which is the last third. But you might.

It should have been very painfully evident after Katrina (mentioned several times in the book) that the government will NOT be there for you after an event such as that. Granted, Katrina is a "black swan", but black swans will happen again, and it is impossible to know where. Heck the power grid for one quarter of the population went down a few years ago and that was just from our own aging infrastructure and poor design. I have written ad nauseam about Katrina and its effects - and what you should do about it and you can see those articles on the sidebar. I won't bore you with the details here, but lets just say that in a massive catastrophe, you NEED to have some sort of plan in place and MUST rely on yourself to get the job done. Another black swan will happen someday.

In the very last portion of the book Robb goes over some possible solutions. The biggest one is decentralization. Everything from oil delivery systems, basic services, electricity, you name it. And he mentions that large corporations and the rich will be the first ones to do it. Those who can afford it will have generators, jets, and safe havens. Private security forces already guard many oil fields and other assets owned by multi-national corporations. When the next wave of mayhem hits, the market will provide many solutions to those who can afford them to ensure the safety of their families and posessions - and the property of companies. Poor people will suffer as they will be stuck where they are and with what they have - a reliance on the State to take care of them. Keep thinking Katrina.

Most urgently Robb almost begs for the US to radically restructure the electricity grid. Again, those who can afford it will simply go off the grid - through the use of wind, solar and other types of generation. Another interesting point he made is that some municipalities may just go ahead and create their own power generation and distribution. A wonderful example he provides is suburbia - I think Chicago. Many suburbs are breaking apart from large cities as we speak to ensure their own safety and care. This is an excellent point. IIRC there is a suburb in Atlanta doing this exact thing right now and I would argue that many suburbs in the Chicago area will eventually break away from the black hole that is Cook County. Do you honestly think that people in places like Downers Grove will ever send their kids to the Chicago Public Schools? On the flip side, what sort of parent, if they have the resources and live in the City of Chicago wouldn't send their kid to a private school? That would be borderline child abuse.

De-centralization of everything seems to be Robb's key point.

There is also a section about the decline of the nation-state. I didn't think too hard about this section as it was a bit tough for me to process and I honestly don't believe I will see it in my lifetime.

I enjoyed this book immensely, although is is a bit depressing. Sometimes reality is a bitch, I guess. Robb is a decent writer and the book reads fast and is relatively small (under 200 pages). As with any text about this subject I disagreed with a few things (minor) but I completely agree with the overall gist. What Robb is trying to say is that it will get worse - much worse - before it gets better. After millions of people are failed by our central government, they will have to start organizing themselves locally to prepare for disasters, and this goes down even to neighborhoods. I realized after Katrina that I needed to at least prepare myself to be able to make if for a while if there was a natural or terror diaster. I hope that you have done the same. It may be your only chance.