10%: A Pittance or a Fortune?

I have to give a talk next week at my church, St. Luke's Episcopal, about how people ought to shoot for pledging 10% of their income. In light of the shopping frenzy of the past few days, I'd like to raise a question.

If I owned a store and advertised 10% off all merchandise, how would most people take it? You and I both know it would be considered it a joke. I would have wasted my advertising dollar.

Yet when you ask people to give up 10% for the Lord in whom they profess to believe, they squeal like Justin Bieber. (I'm not letting my atheist and agnostic friends off the hook either. How many of you consider 10 percent more than enough when it comes to tipping a waiter or waitress?)


There are times when I'm dickering with someone over the price of a guitar and I feel like saying, "How 'bout if I just sell it to you at 10 percent over cost? I don't need a stupid commission. I know you don't need money, and neither do I. Better yet, how 'bout if I just give it to you? Your happiness is important to me."

God's grace, of course, is free. Unfortunately, it's a lot more abstract than a wide-screen TV.

Full disclosure: Like most people, I have thus far lacked the nerve to tithe. My church is not a place where you hear the word "should" all the time.

It's vitaminized? Oh, good!

 

I was doing an online search Wednesday, really just looking up an address, when I came across this link and this jpeg of an old beer label.

Long before the days of craft brewing, and before the great homogenization of the brewing industry in the 1970s, it was common for Anytown, U.S.A., to have its own brewery, as Idaho Falls appears to have had in the '30s, following the repeal of Prohibition.

Does anyone have any more information about the Pilsener Brewing Co. of Idaho Falls? From the sketchy information on the link, it appears to have been related to the Pilsener Brewing Co. of Seattle, but I wonder how so?

Second, can anyone decipher the signature on the label? The first name looks like Oskar and the surname looks German, starting with an L and ending with a z. Beyond that, I think it's anyone's guess, but maybe your eyes are better than mine.

I know we have a big beer community here, and it seems there's always one or two people who are into the history. Anything you can contribute would be appreciated. Speculation, as you probably know, is always welcome here.

http://www.brewerygems.com/pilsener.htm 

Boise produce dealer expands to I.F.

Grasmick Produce, a Boise vegetable dealer since 1955, has expanded into eastern Idaho with the purchase of a 16,000-square-foot warehouse at 1935 Enterprise, off South Yellowstone Highway, south of Sunnyside Road.

The sale was handled by Steven Frei and Brent Butikofer of Idaho Business Properties.

One of the leading produce wholesalers in the state of Idaho, Grasmick is a family-owned and operated company, with day-to-day operations overseen by the father-son team of Dutch and Mike Grasmick. From a 36,000-square-foot refrigerated warehouse in Boise, they service hotels, restaurants, schools, hospitals, government installations and retail stores.

According to information on http://www.manta.com/, the company employs more than 100 people and has annual sales of over $10 million. Grasmick purchases from vendors like Tanimura & Antle, Taylor Farms, Mann Packing, and TDI. They offer the freshest local produce as well as specialty items.

INL plutonium powers newest Mars probe

https://inlportal.inl.gov/portal/server.pt?open=514&objID=1269&mode=2&featurestory=DA_584405

Here's a link to the latest big news from the Idaho National Laboratory, which has been involved in creating the power supply for the Mars rover scheduled to be launched this weekend.

Steve Johnson, director of INL's Space Nuclear Systems and Technology Division, led the team that fueled and tested the Mars Science Laboratory's power system.

Museum of Clean opens in Pocatello

I find this more than a little ironic.

Last month, Pocatello was voted the “dirtiest city in America” by a Web site called Alice.com. The ranking was based on nationally compiled sales figures for stuff like Lysol, Tide, Tidy Bowl or whatever.

I questioned it then and on Friday, as if by magic, Pocatello’s Museum of Clean opened to the public.

Located in the old six-story Salt Lake Hardware building at 702 South First Avenue, in Pocatello's old warehouse district, the museum offers visitors the opportunity to immerse themselves in the history of housework, even back to Ancient Egypt. (It seems that neat freaks have always been with us, just not at my house.) The very first vacuums are on display, as well as an exhibit of toilet seats through the ages.

Five years in the making, the museum comes from the mind of Don Aslett, founder of Varsity Contractors, a veteran of more than 50 years in the cleaning business and the author of 40 books.

A self-described urinal colonel, porcelain preacher and king of the toilet ring, Aslett told local news reporters that the point of museum is “selling the value of clean."

"I think the word clean is more important than any word except for probably faith," he said. "And we're talking about the scope of it: clean water, clean air, clean sheets, clean floors; everything clean is beautiful.”
http://www.museumofclean.com/wp/