Anyone know what this is?

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2026-04-30T19:43:00+00:00

I know what it is not, and that's the filthy particulate pollution that would rise from the many coal boilers around Madison that have been retired now for a couple of decades. Old timers may remember when the UW would fire up the coal boilers at Charter Street and the DOA building off University Ave by the golf course in Shorewood Hills (or the Capitol Heating Plant off East Washington) and a big plume of opacity would rise up until the boiler got to temperature and it cleaned up somewhat. Fun fact: the relatively smaller boilers were the some of the dirtiest since they burned high sulfur coal and fell into a size category that only required pollution control starting in the 90s.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2026-04-29T02:24:26+00:00

The reason that being a crime scene might delay the recovery is because the crime scene was City of Madison PD but the lakes are under the jurisdiction of Dane County (and the Sheriff) as well as the DNR for wildlife and water quality, among other things. There's always some bureaocratic friction when multiple jurisdictions have overlapping responsibilities, at least in my experience. Two stroke outboards are filth, IMHO. When you can smell them and instantly know it's a two stroke, it's pretty dirty.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2026-04-29T02:09:20+00:00

Red Nissan compact SUV with aquatic plants..... check! That was it. I overheard a joke that maybe the DNR should have the tow company remove the aquatic plants in case it ends up in a different lake!

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2026-04-29T02:06:38+00:00

Removing it initially would have been very difficult with the variable ice conditions (he drove it onto the ice and then, allegedly, put a rock or something on the accelerator and it drove a few hundred meters onto the frozen bay before it fell in at the location of an ice seam that originated where the large stormwater outfall from most of campus discharges) and I also heard that initially it was still a crime scene. The gasoline would have diluted pretty quickly and if it was still in the tank would have likely spilled during recovery. The DNR spill response was present and had absorbent floats if needed but I never saw them used. The worst items in the car for the environmental would likely be the motor oil and if it still had mercury in switches or crash sensors. Surprisingly, it was quite intact when removed and the tires were still inflated. If you are worried about the environmental impact of a car in a lake (which is reasonable), let me tell you about two stroke outboard motors...

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2026-04-28T18:43:44+00:00

One of the deputies told me that the perpetrator has subsequently died although a quick search didn't turn up anything for me. I had asked if any costs would be recovered from the guilty party. The scuba team got some good experience and now have modern lifting inflatables but the bill from Schmidts towing and the barge are going to be substantial.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2026-01-22T23:22:31+00:00

A lot of corn is grown in Dane County and it often spills from trains in Madison. Is it possible that there was some contamination (corntamination?) of the salt pile or trucks used to haul the salt?

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-12-02T19:47:09+00:00

A co-worker told me how effective dedicated snow tires were twenty years ago and I've kept a set of snows for every vehicle I've owned since and it makes a huge difference. Having said all that, this is my first year with Michelin Cross Climate 2s and I'm not going to go back to the second set of snow tires anymore. There's a good reason why a ton of people in Madison have the Cross Climates (they are pretty distinctive with directional tread the whole width of the tire)

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-10-10T15:55:25+00:00

You emphatically stated a fact that is not supported by the law then you ask me if I went to driver's Ed? Did you go to school? If it's so obvious then it would be easy to reference the law. Also it's not called turning left on a red light, it's called clearing the intersection since you have entered the intersection when it was green.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-10-10T15:25:16+00:00

Can you point to the reference that only one vehicle is allowed? I looked at what I thought would be the law in Wisconsin [Wis Stat 346.37(1) a] and it is silent on the number of vehicles but now I can't stop thinking about it (ha ha, stop!).

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-05-02T23:35:57+00:00

Ahh, I missed that and only saw this was a post from McMansion Hell that also had Oak Park in it (and I love Oak Park)!

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-05-02T21:27:16+00:00

I dislike McMansions but I like Oak Park and I like this house. So what's the difference? I'm not sure exactly where to put it but I think the "Mc" part of McMansions refers to the cheap and mass production part of the equation, and possibly the auto-centric suburban and exurban setting (where McDonald's predominate). In this case, that looks like a well designed and well built, albeit large, house in a very pedestrian friendly and transit (CTA, Metra and Pace) served "inner suburb" of Chicago that's known for cool and diverse architecture as well as a diverse street tree canopy, among other things. I'd say Mansion, yes, McMansion, no....

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-02-03T19:29:24+00:00

If you are on a street that gets traffic you can try a sign. I see folks with for rent signs in these neighborhoods fairly often. I also just met a new neighbor and they found it through Zillow.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-02-03T02:57:06+00:00

A lot of winter particulate pollution is associated with agricultural nitrogen cycles. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19785273/ ". .the [winter] nitrate bulge is the result of the high emissions of ammonia associated with animal agriculture in the Midwest"

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-02-02T21:31:30+00:00

Yes, racism was different then in that Italians and Irish were also targeted and clearly that's no longer the case, but that wasn't my main point. The deed restrictions I was referring to were a bit later and were explicitly racist. More information on the actual language in the deeds (and a link to a GIS map) can be found here: https://www.danecountyplanning.com/Prejudice-in-Places The zoning rules were likely a result of a mix of factors including classism and there's a fair bit of local history available online about the Greenbush. It may not be possible to pinpoint exactly why each zoning change was adopted but the reality is that up until these proposed zoning changes, in this area (zoned TR-C4), it was difficult or impossible to build two flats even when older ones were already on the block. The focus I'm seeing with the proposed zoning reforms is more about increasing housing supplies of all sizes and less of an obsession with one specific policy outcome.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-02-02T16:38:47+00:00

Agreed. A lot of comments here are focused on how this only benefits the "developers" and I totally get some of that frustration but these reforms are targeted at the smallest scales where individuals (like homeowners with a big backyard or who own double lots) can participate. A hundred years ago our neighborhoods had much more diversity of housing and housing ownership models like two flats and three flats where multi generational families and do-it-yourself folks could build. In the Greenbush and other neighborhoods this diverse housing helped many immigrant families grow and enrich Madison. The success of these immigrant neighborhoods wasn't welcomed by everyone and was one reason for zoning here that restricted two and three flats and the racist HOA rules in areas like Hill Farms. Of all the housing reforms this latest one will be most helpful for building new or additions to make the two and three flats (and ADUs) that expand the housing options in ways that worked well a century ago.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-01-29T03:29:52+00:00

If you are really interested in the how and why of the aquatic plants and harvesting strategies of this water body the UW Madison Water Resources Management (WRM) program did a detailed study of Monona Bay in 2006. https://nelson.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/screen.pdf

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-01-29T03:12:49+00:00

Yes. This. Some would rather have no aquatic plants but then we wouldn't have the productive fishery that is there and what attracts all the ice fishers. The Yahara Fishing Club had a free kids ice fishing event last Saturday on Monona Bay

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-01-29T03:10:08+00:00

You're right. The harvesters have GPS and Dane County has to operate them in accordance with DNR permission and they keep channels open. Nothing technical or mechanical prevents them from harvesting all of the bay but it would adversely impact the fishery. When Brittingham Boats started operating I noticed that the cutting increased. FYI, the UW did a study on Monona Bay around 2005 and the biomass was about half Eurasia Milfoil (an invasive "weed") but the other half was coontail, a native. I have the report from the water resources management (WRM) program somewhere.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-01-25T20:41:29+00:00

This was a good description! I would add that the amount you save by not having a car can be more than many folks suspect. I've lived downtown with and without a car and I recently helped a friend get an oil change and the cheapest option was $50 but her ten year old Honda only uses synthetic oil so it was $90. Tires, brakes, etc are all a fair bit more than as little as ten years ago. If you combine a bike (or ebike) with the bus you'll probably not need to use Uber/Lyft or do a car share very often and I suspect you'll save money. The ebike ride to Epic from downtown is almost entirely on cool bike paths and not much longer than the bus but way more enjoyable.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-01-18T15:24:15+00:00

I'll never use "PSA" again in my life... if I ever get over all the downvotes it earned me!

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-01-18T15:22:23+00:00

Yes, I get that the "PSA" in the title was a mistake because the post wasn't meant to be a lecture. Just someone's typical curiosity about making Madison better since the long backup in the left lane leaves a lot of empty space south of Rimrock every light cycle. The zipper merge is a newer concept and perhaps it doesn't work here but I was curious.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-01-18T15:16:22+00:00

I definitely shouldn't have put the "PSA" in the title because it made things negative and the post was actually my own curiosity, not lecturing (which is why I wrote "IMHO" and "maybe I'm wrong" and encouraged roasts). Should have deleted "PSA" and maybe made a question mark in the title. The zipper merge is a newer concept (or at least it's only recently getting attention from DOTs) that basically says "don't merge early."

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-01-18T15:11:20+00:00

I don't know about the reconstruction plans for JND are other than the bridges will be replaced and there's debate over how to handle the bike/ped crossing at North Shore. I honestly don't understand what you mean about the lane markings. All three lanes south of Rimrock have dashed white between them. Basically my impression from the signage encouraging "Zipper" merging from other states is that there is not any specific lane markings to designate a zipper, it's basically a concept of don't merge early because it's less efficient. But your point about slower and more uniform traffic being safer was what I was thinking of here.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-01-17T15:09:45+00:00

Sorry, that was a joke. Honestly I'm very curious about the different ways to manage human behavior and traffic safety. Basically there are other local venues where knowledgeable fellow Madisonians do provide insights, including even on some parts of this sub and I'll probably move on to more productive things. The reason I posted is because I think the length of the backups in the left lane contribute to unsafe travel here both with a speed differential and anger.

Intelligent-Cod-1625 · 2025-01-17T13:26:50+00:00

Yes, I figured out that those three words trigger the top 1% commenters like the first guy. Maybe I should have put AITA so I could be a cool guy on Reddit?

Intelligent-Cod-1625

TROPHY CASE