Royal Maddness: Would you pay $800 for a friggin Jellybean?

If this jelly bean looks like Kate Middleton to you then hurry over to ebay and bid on it if your one of those rabid royal collectors.

All I can say is Barnum and Bailey would have been proud of this royal circus wedding!

Lakers even Series 1-1 – Bynum comes up big, Kobe sucks

The long and the short of it; Andrew Bynum went back to playing like a big man and the Laker bench looked really good.

Especially Lamar Odom who was just named 6th Man Of The Year by the NBA. A well deserved honor for a guy who has been a key for the Lakers during the last two championships.

Kobe was practically non existent. He made a lot of bad plays, and had his lowest playoff scoring game since…I can’t remember when! His defense on the Hornet’s Chris Paul was his only saving grace. He did make it tough for the New Orleans speedster.

Go Lakers!

Can you profit from pot ? Opposition against it is going up in smoke

Hard times, meet high times.

Freewheeling California and Colorado typically come to mind whenever anyone mentions easy access to marijuana, even for medical purposes. But with state-budget crunches forcing lawmakers nationwide to expand their minds to new revenue sources, opposition to pot is going up in smoke.

In a trend that experts say is likely to continue, even a number of states you don't normally associate with flower power or the '60s are approving medical-marijuana sales.

"One of the reasons we are seeing states having more of an interest in cannabis is because of the revenue it can generate," says James Pakulis, the CEO of General Cannabis (CANA, news).   Story here

Meet Daniel Edmondson: I love the lighting in his paintings

Recently Daniel Edmonson has been stopping by “As It Stands” and making some very nice comments. When I visited his blog, by invitation, I was blown away! This guy is really a great artist. Not because of all of his schooling, but because of his use of lighting in his compositions which are reminiscent of the Old Masters. This blog is humbled by his interest in the posts here.

Stop by his blog and say hi! Oh yea…and tell him Dave sent you! 

Happy 420! Check out how these pot entrepreneurs are stimulating the economy

“In many ways, medical marijuana entrepreneurs are no different than any other business start-ups: They need a business plan, venture capital and a fair dose of fortitude.

They also are likely to have something not generally found in most small-business owners: an activist streak.

More than half (58 percent) of those in the burgeoning industry say they started their businesses to promote expansion of medical marijuana or outright legalization, according to a report released last month analyzing the growing market. Only 12 percent said “financial opportunity” was their primary motivation.

You are unlikely to find numbers like that on Wall Street, Silicon Valley or even Main Street. A survey conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business found that 29 percent of people starting a business said making money was their primary motivator.

Jeffrey Miron, director of undergraduate studies at Harvard's Economics Department, finds the data on cannabis entrepreneurs interesting — but not surprising.” Story Here

Kathy Parkins of Seattle owns her own cannabis baking company. Here she puts a few drops of a marijuana tincture into a spoon for a customer to sample at the Seattle Cannabis Farmers Market.

McJob’s Hiring Day Draws Crowds of Desperate People Willing to Mostly Work Part Time at Minimum Wage with No Future

How exciting! This ought to get our economy jump started!

McDonald’s says they’re adding 50,000 new jobs nationwide! Oh joy! Oh boy! Oh wait a moment…this is coming from "McJob" defined as "an unstimulating, low-paid job with few prospects." (The Oxford English Dictionary)

Excerpt:

“Danitra Barnett, the company's U.S. vice president of human resources, said she couldn't specify what proportion of the 50,000 new jobs will be full-time, or what they will pay.”

No surprise there. Take a guess on how many will be part-time minimum wage. Oh…there’s one more little thing that keeps this from being a game-saver for the economy and invigorating Wall Street:

“With 14,000 U.S. restaurants, Tuesday's planned additions amount to about three or four new employees per restaurant — the amount that each store is probably usually looking for anyway, said Sara Senatore, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein.”

Story Here – ( Photo source)

Study suggests cheery people die sooner…I think I feel the ‘Big One’ coming…but I’m not sure

I may be in trouble. I’ve always had a problem with taking life too seriously, (as this photo attests) and have opted for humor whenever possible.

I may not have much time left as this study says being retired is not a good thing. Oh well. I always knew I wouldn’t get out of this life alive anyhow.

Serious folks live longer, and some stress is actually good for you, eight-decade study shows

“For decades we’ve been told that stress can kill you, that happy people live longer and that hours in the gym will keep you healthy. Now researchers have turned this kind of long-cherished conventional wisdom on its head. The new mantra: Stress can be good for you. Serious people may live longer than those with sunny dispositions. The treadmill may not hold the key to longevity.

These conclusions come from a unique study, which followed 1,500 Californians across eight decades. The study is described in a new book, “The Longevity Project.” Study co-author Leslie Martin says that some of the new results surprised both her and her co-author, Howard Friedman.” Story Here

Where Children Sleep: A Diverse World of Homes

 

When photographer James Mollison was asked to do a project on children’s rights, he found himself thinking back to his childhood bedroom and the deep importance it played in his upbringing. Taking that idea with him around the world, he photographed a diverse cross section of children and the bedrooms they call home. His moving images remove the children from their home environment, showing them before a neutral background that mostly hides their economic status as if to say “kids are just kids.” Only when their bedroom is observed, however, does the full scope of their living situation become poiniently clear. Where Children Sleep, a beautiful hardcover book featuring 112 color photographs is now available from chrisboot.com.

Go here to see more examples of Mollison’s photo essay.

TV networks washed up with soaps - gritty gameshows & cooks in

The demise of the soaps is inevitable. They just aren’t dirty enough to compete with reality TV!

People have shorter attention spans when scanning the boob tube these days, and are looking for a quick entertainment fix. Food is really hot with our obese society and the ratings are cooking the competition in mainstream markets.

“The cancellation of “AMC” and “One Life to Live” on April 14 sent shock waves through an already-reeling soap-opera industry. Last year, CBS killed off two of the longest-running daytime serials — “As the World Turns” and “Guiding Light” — which was already a major blow for an industry that was losing viewers. But ABC’s surprise twofer announcement seemed to confirm that one by one, broadcast networks are giving up on the idea of original scripted drama in the daytime.”

Story here

Doctors literally gave woman a hand…surgery a success

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The California single mother lost her right hand in a car crash in 2006

I won’t call this a miracle because it took a lot of hard work on behalf of the scientists and surgeons doing it. Medical science is making breakthroughs every day.

Still, I never would have imagined that we would someday have the ability to replace hands, feet, and limbs…

“But now Fennell has a transplant, a donated “new” hand attached to her own skin, bones, nerves and  tendons by a surgical team from the University of California, Los Angeles.

“It has been surreal to see that I have a hand again, and to be able to wiggle my fingers,” says the 26-year-old single mom from Yuba City, Calif. “My 6-year-old daughter has never seen me with a [right] hand. She looked at it, touched it and said it was ‘cool.’”  Story Here