cheeseheads2

The session for Wisconsin’s state legislators ends this week, so they tackled the urgent matter of designating the state’s official microbe.  They chose Lactococcus lactis (inset picture), the bacterium needed to produce cheddar, Colby, and Monterey Jack cheese.lactococcus-lactis

The proposal in Wisconsin had faced only one detractor in committee (“the opponent was clearly lactose intolerant,” Mr. Hebl said), [Ed.- Cheesy jokes about cheese are so meta. *adjusts scarf*] and there was no sign of a last-minute campaign from other bacteria, the ones used, say, as starter cultures for Swiss or mozzarella. [NYTimes]

The measure passed 56 to 41, which, if my math is correct, means there were at least 32 people who had to vote about making a microbe a state symbol.  (I am not very good at math.)  Oh, Wisconsin, never change.

This is all the excuse I needed to make a montage of cheese-headed animals, which took me a long time.
Oh who am I kidding?  I would have been doing that today anyway.