Neither Keith Meverden nor Tamara Thomsen have ever seen a ghost. But they have encountered plenty of skeletal remains in the watery graveyards that their profession demands that they frequent.

The pair work for Wisconsin Historical Society's Maritime Preservation and Archaeology Program and the more temperate months of the year find them diving in lakes Superior and Michigan to map and document shipwrecks.

Meverden, an author and nautical archaeologist, says Wisconsin waters house about 750 shipwrecks. And despite an increased popularity in amateur diving because of more affordable sonar technology, only 150 of these have been discovered.

But he says they "are not in the business of finding wrecks." Rather, they research the ships' stories and how they ended up in the murky depths. And as featured speakers at this weekend's Ghost Ships Festival in Milwaukee, Meverden says he'll offer an "underwater tour" of the steamer SS Wisconsin, located in Lake Michigan near Kenosha. Thomsen will talk about technical diving.

But if you go, try asking them about finding the anchor from the Rouse Simmons, aka the "Christmas Tree Ship," or removing enough zebra mussels from the Ocean Wave, which sank off Door County, to uncover an eagle figurehead with its eye still painted red.

The Ghost Ships Festival, happening Friday and Saturday, is hosted by the Great Lakes Shipwreck Research Foundation, Inc., and in addition to attracting maritime historians, it offers the public a glimpse at life below our lakes' surfaces. For details visit www.ghostships.org.

I 'm just Bill

Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's Mike McCabe is stone-cold serious when he rails against the influence of big money, corruption and corporate lobbyists on the political process.

But McCabe also gets that sometimes the most effective jabs come in a delicious coating of good humor.

Fans of the 1975 classic "Schoolhouse Rock" video "I'm Just a Bill" must log in and see the results of McCabe asking bard Peter Leidy and political cartoonist Mike Konopacki to create a "Schoolhouse Crock" parody featuring an average Joe named Bill fighting to be heard on Capitol Hill. (View it on YouTube or at www.wisdc.org.)

"We're all fans of the Schoolhouse Rock series and thought it was worth making one that we felt more accurately reflected how the system works," explains Leidy, a regular on Wisconsin Public Television's "Here and Now" program. "We're hoping that it prompts discussion, including in social studies classes."

Oh my, Darling

It wasn't a shocker that the state Senate adjourned in honor of a now-retired Packers quarterback on Tuesday -- they often use the close of a session to recognize a person from the state.

But Sen. Alberta Darling (R-River Hills) caused quite a stir when she rose to suggest the adjournment be a tribute to the day's retirement of "Bart Starr. "

Her colleagues were happy to jump in and assist her in changing the adjournment to honor the more recent (by several decades) retirement of Brett Favre.

The most logical explanation I found for the senator's slip-up came from Christian Schneider on his Wisconsin Policy Research Institute blog (www.wpri.org), where he attributed Darling confusing Favre with the '60s Packers quarterback because she was surrounded by legislators wearing suits they've owned since the time of Starr.

Wrote Schneider: "Perhaps it was Mike Ellis wearing the same suit he's been wearing in the Senate since 1972 that threw Darling off. "

Tongue still in cheek, he added, "In order to play it off, Darling immediately adjourned in honor of Don Majkowski, Lynn Dickey, Blair Kiel, Ty Detmer, and Mark Brunell."

Falk the Wild Woman?

If you didn't get the chance to see Barry Alvarez as a barista this week, here's another mind bender: Saturday night the Madison Blues Society will honor Kathleen Falk at its "Wild Women of the Blues" showcase at The Brink Lounge.

Now that you 've tried to visualize our stoic county executive getting an award for being a "wild woman" and belting the blues, the fine print says she's being recognized as a woman whose "many accomplishments provide an excellent example to the benefits to be gained by the greater empowerment of women."

We'll give her that -- but I'd gladly pay the admission to see her take the mike and croon a few bars with Sue Foley and Sue DaBaco, the evening's entertainers. Visit www.madisonbluessociety.com for more information.