In his weekly column for the St. Maries Gazette-Record, Chris Carlson/The Carlson Chronicles tells of his uncle Jack Briggs, an Idaho original, who died last week in Salmon at age 81: "We always could bring a smile to each other’s face by recalling the scene of his father, Fergus Briggs, Sr., a devout Baptist, holding a rake in hand extended toward the garage ceiling and jumping up in an attempt to hook that early Playboy Magazine pin-up of Marilyn Monroe in a diversion Jack had stapled to the ceiling where he could view it as he rolled out from under a vehicle on which he was working." More here.

• Obama playing political games with debt ceiling/Adam's Blog
• A lack of simplicity or simple lack of stuff/Dennis Mansfield
• Educating Idaho, and: Dust in the wind/Fort Boise
• Your primer on the phone hacking scandal/43rd State Blues
• Ski Idaho -- in summer/Natalie Chavez, ICL
• Every serious person knows debt ceiling deal must be done/Marc Johnson
• A cozy relationship w/BlueShield of Idaho/Randy Stapilus

Question: Who would you describe as an Idaho original?