It was easy to tell when swimmer Michael Phelps was in the midst of a particularly grueling training period.

The door to Benny’s Family Dining, on South Industrial Highway in Ann Arbor, near the University of Michigan campus, would swing open around 7 a.m. And in would walk Phelps, still groggy after the day’s first workout, sliding into a booth near the front of the diner — away from the smokers seated in back.

Like a sports car pushing E, he’d fuel up, replenishing calories burned an hour before

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One dollar can get you a large soda at McDonald’s, a used VHS movie at 7-Eleven or a house in Detroit.

The fact that a home on the city’s east side was listed for $1 recently shows how depressed the real estate market has become in one of America’s poorest big cities.

And it still took 19 days to find a buyer.

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AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Don’t be fooled: The Who won’t make a cent off their Detroit-area concert this fall.

The British rockers say all earnings from their Oct. 21 show at The Palace of Auburn Hills will go to Detroit charities Gleaners Community Food Bank and Focus: HOPE.

Lead singer Roger Daltrey said in a statement on the band’s Web site that The Who have a soft spot for Detroit and know Michigan is facing tough economic times.

Tickets for the show starting at $39.50 went on sale Monday. Some tickets were still available Wednesday afternoon.

The Palace concert kicks off a nine-city North American tour. They will continue on to Boston, Philadelphia, Washington and Los Angeles.

Source: WOODTV.com

Michigan’s Thumb sprouted the first on-shore commercial wind farm last year.

Are windmills over the water next?

Saginaw Bay would sport the state’s first offshore windmills under a plan by Steve Smiley, the self-described stepfather of wind power in Michigan.

Smiley, of Suttons Bay, helped construct the state’s first two commercial windmills in Traverse and Mackinaw cities. He already has met with Bay County and Bay City leaders about the idea, and a task force is being formed to pursue funding to research and erect an offshore turbine in the bay.

What do you think? I say “Bring it on, let’s shoulder some of our power production burden!”