Chips, dip and cheese

Letting the chips fall where they may: Along with ruining crops, this summer’s drought has jeopardized the annual Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw and Festival because cattle are staying cool in barns rather than wandering fields and producing the dried dense, flat cow chips ideal for flinging.

Festival organizers are counting on two bumper crops of cow dung in Tampa, Fla. and Charlotte, N.C. It’ll just be a matter of getting the Republican and Democratic convention speakers to pick up after themselves.

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Dip ahead: Herald economics columnist James McCusker warns that if Congress doesn’t act to address budget and tax laws set to expire at the end of the year it could send the U.S. economy off a “fiscal cliff,” like a bizarre re-enactment of “Thelma and Louise.”

Almost. You couldn’t get a Democrat and a Republican to agree on a radio station, much less hold hands, as they went over the edge.

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The cheese stands alone: A cheese shop owner recently cleared out his cooler to find several wheels of long-forgotten cheddar, some of it 40 years old. “It looks just like the others except it’s just a lot sharper. It’s got character,” the shop owner said.

Hmm. “A lot sharper.” “It’s got character.” Finally, we have our third party candidate: Cheddar 2012.

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