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Planning, Designing A Corn Maze

October 10, 2013 - 3:15pm

Along with apple and pumpkin picking, corn mazes have become a staple of autumn recreation in Wisconsin. Thousands of people get lost in these labyrinths each year, and many often wonder about what goes into making one.

Angie Treinen designs the corn maze at Treinen Farm in Lodi. She’s been creating the maze since 2001.

“I consider myself to be an artist who only works in the medium of corn,” Treinen joked.

Treinen said she starts designing the year’s maze in May, before the corn is planted. She plots out the design with a graphic design program, then prints it out...

Displaced Packers Fans Unite In New York City Bar

October 10, 2013 - 1:21pm

Green Bay might be the smallest U.S. city with a professional football team but Packers fans can be found around the world. According to Packers Everywhere, there are more than 1,700 Packers bars. In New York City, Packers fans gather at the Kettle of Fish on Christopher Street in Greenwich...

The Money Back Guarantee

October 10, 2013 - 11:30am

The following letter to Giuseppe Verdi shows that to be a composer is to expose oneself to criticism from anyone and everyone: May 7th, 1872. Much Honored Signor Verdi, on the second of this month I went to Padua, lured by the sensation caused by your opera Aida. I was...

Graphic Designer: Everyone Is A Designer Even If They Don’t Know It

October 9, 2013 - 3:15pm

Everything that isn’t part of nature was designed by someone -- and people can all learn to appreciate the world of design around us, according to a famed graphic artist.

Designer Chip Kidd said after years of experience, he's now looking to share the wisdom that he has gleaned as the creator of hundreds of book covers. Kidd, who is slated to speak later this month at the Wisconsin Library Association convention, said he's trying to open people's eyes to the thought process behind the things that people see around us: store signs, product logos, traffic signals and beyond.

"You have to consider that somebody has to figure everything...

Expert: It’s A Banner Year For Whitelined Sphinx Moths In Wisconsin

October 9, 2013 - 11:00am

No year is quite like another when it comes to insect populations, according to a prominent Wisconsin entomologist.

Phil Pellitteri, the director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Insect Diagnostic Lab, said that many have heard about the low levels of monarchs and other butterflies this year. But, a cousin of the insect is now showing up in large numbers in Wisconsin: the whitelined sphinx moth.

Sphinx moths are sometimes mistaken for hummingbirds because of their large size, the way that they hover over flowers and because they are active during the day instead of at night.

But unlike...

Awkward Encounters

October 9, 2013 - 11:30am

In the summer of 1907 Spanish pianist and composer Manuel de Falla piled up his meager savings and went to Paris in the hope of breaking into the international music scene. He was in for some setbacks. The jobs he had arranged fell through, and, after playing piano with a...

'Schindler's List' Boy Publishes Memoir

October 8, 2013 - 2:30pm

The family of a man who was one of those who survived the Holocaust because his name appeared on the famous "Schindler's list" has recently published the man's recollections of that time.

Leon Leyson was only 10 years old when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939 and he and his Jewish family were forced into the Krakow ghetto. Leyson, however, was spared the tragedy of being sent to the concentration camp outside Krakow by one man: German businessman Oskar Schindler.

According to Leyson's children, Leon was one of the youngest workers whose name appeared on the so-called "Schindler’s list," which later became the subject of an award-winning Steven Spielberg...

Pets, Like People, Can Suffer From Compulsive Disorders

October 8, 2013 - 11:00am

Most people have heard of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in humans -- with symptoms that can include counting steps or items, being abnormally afraid of germs, or having phrases or gestures that are felt to have protective properties. But pets can also suffer from a similar ailment and just as is the case for people, it can impact their health and quality of life.

Dr. Sandi Sawchuk, a professor of veterinary medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine, said that it’s a little different with animals because the "obsessive" part of OCD has to do with thoughts, and "they...

Wisconsin Distillers Get In Brandy Business

October 8, 2013 - 12:29pm

It’s said that Wisconsinites drink more brandy than any other state. California’s Korbel calls Wisconsin its top market, with officials saying they ship approximately one-third of its annual output to the state. No one is quite sure why Wisconsinites developed such a deep thirst for this sweet, brown liquor. Brandy...

Faint Praise

October 8, 2013 - 11:30am

In October 1928 Russian Ballet director Serge Diaghilev wanted the famous Vaslav Nijinsky to endorse dancer Serge Lifar, and he went to great lengths to get a little praise. An advantage: Diaghilev and Nijinsky had been lovers. A disadvantage: Nijinksky had suffered a nervous breakdown back in 1919 and had...