- General
- Flying
- Journal-Tad
- Architecture
- Outdoor
- Business
- Motorcycle
- Music & Videos
- Green Building
- Art
Nina Simone (Eunice Kathleen Waymon) was active in the Civil Rights movement in the 1960’s. Nina Simone died of breast cancer in 2003. A brief history of Nina Simone’s life is available on Wikipedia.
The artwork on this video is amazing and captures the essence of the song, “Feeling Good”.
The video below contains the song “Sinnerman” which was produced in 1966
There will be an Open House from 5:30 to 7:30 at Whittier Elementary School at 301 N. 29th Street in Boise, Idaho on Tuesday, October 28th. Please come out to see the latest plan and have a chance to voice your opinion about a project that will have a huge influence on our community. There will be two formal presentations starting at 6:00 and at 6:45. For more information on the project and a link to the Boise City website, please click on any of the renderings below (Renderings of the 30th street project are from the Boise City website):
Alan Greenspan outlined his opinions on the financial crisis. Below is a link to his testimony before the “House Committee of Government Oversight and Reform”
Greenspan TestimonyI listened to a speech that Wells Fargo Chair Richard Kovacevich gave to the Commonwealth Club of California on Tuesday. Kovacevich gave a brief history of the banking and financial industry from the end of WWII to our current time. One of the more interesting things to me was to make the distinction between an “economic” crisis and a “financial” crisis. Kovacevich explains that we are not in an “economic” crisis. He sites examples of the 1980’s “economic” crisis when we saw interest rates over 20%, a huge numbers of unemployed, and a growing defecit. In his speech he says that our economy is actually doing fairly well with very low interest rates and low unemployment rates. The “crisis” is in the “financial” sector of our system and he targeted banks and the other financial institutions as the cause of the situation.
His description of how the industry has changed through technology, deregulation, and the world market is also intruiging. In the question and answer portion after the speech he is ask about Japan’s financial difficulty over the past several years and he sites that the length of their crisis has been prolonged by the inability of their government to step in. He also discussed “deflation” and how it can snowball much quicker than inflation.
In the construction industry we are seeing signs of this deflationary effect. Architects, designers, contractors, and sub-contractors are lowering their bids and prices just to get work even when their profit margins are very low or non-existent. This is great news for the consumer, but throws the pendulum from one extreme to the other. What I would like to see is a bit more balance in our marketplace. Honest pricing for goods and especially services, I think it goes a long way to helping stabilize the situation from a “ground-up” approach instead of the “trickle-down” effect.
Kovacevich makes one final point that is probably the most important in his speech. It comes down to “people”. Treating others how you would like to be treated, surrounding yourself with talented and innovative people, and providing the tools and means for them to think freely and act on thier ideas.
Below is the link to the speech. “Real Player” is required to play the speech and the run time is about one hour.
There is a lot of hype about building “green” these days. So much that it becomes difficult to decipher who is just jumping on the band wagon to make a quick buck and who is in it for the right reasons and proven their commitment to the green movement. Below are some websites that have done their research and provide great options for green building materials.
http://www.naturalbuilthome.com/
http://www.thenaturalabode.com/
http://www.greenfoundations.com/
Karma and I attended the Centennial Celebration of the King Hill Irrigation District in Glenn’s Ferry this weekend. My Great Grandfather Henry Jones was one of the original pioneers to homestead the land through the Carey Act in 1908. My Great Grandfather drew the first pick of land in the land drawing. His first choice was a parcel of land in what is called “Pasadena Valley”. That land, coincidentally, would also be associated with our family through the marriage of Kathryn Mills and my Grandfather Wes Jones. Henry’s idea was to grow orchards and the land in the Pasadena Valley was thought to be too hard pan for growing fruit trees so he opted for land just above and accross the river from what is now the town of King Hill. The land is still currently being farmed and is producing potatoes and grain.
The land in Pasadena was drawn by our “Aunt Nellie”. My Great Grandfather Glenn Mills came out from Iowa to help Aunt Nellie farm the land. I spent a lot of time when I was young listening to stories told by “Grandaddy” of the great adventures he had in the early days of settling and exploring the land we call Idaho. Our family was some of the first to explore many areas in Idaho including the Sawtooth Mountains. The high alpine lake, “Lake Kathryn” bears the name of my Grandmother, a tribute from her father Glenn Mills. A collection of his stories can be found on our website at the following link:
http://www.jjds.net/ballisticpeach.html
The Centennial Celebration was at the Glenn’s Ferry high school and it was absolutely packed!? It was great to see so many people in attendance. My cousin Ken Jones was the master of ceremonies and did an excellent job presenting. His wife Jan Jones coordinated the catering and did a great job with logistics and also found time to make cake for everyone attending. My Grandfather Wes Jones gave the prayer before dinner and also talked about the history of the area and the importance of the irrigation district.? We saw a few familiar faces and also made some new friends.
The Centennial Celebration was a great success. We learned a lot about the history of the project, of our ancestors, and most of all were able to meet members of the community that keep the area productive and keep the tradition of farming alive. Below is a link to the story that ran on the front page of the Idaho Statesman with more information on the Celebration.