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

Not again! What the hell is going on with air traffic controllers?

So what’s next? Falling asleep and watching movies may only be the tip of the iceberg.

UPDATE BELOW

“An air traffic controller has been suspended for watching a movie when he was supposed to be monitoring aircraft, deepening the Federal Aviation Administration's embarrassment following at least five cases of controllers sleeping on the job.

In the latest incident, the controller was watching a movie on a DVD player early Sunday morning while on duty at a regional radar center in Oberlin, Ohio, near Cleveland that handles high-altitude air traffic, the FAA said in a statement Monday.”  Story here.

Error caused first lady's plane to abort landing -

Today Air controllers blamed as White House jet comes too close to massive military plane!

Sheriff accused of dealing meth in drug-ravaged state

One county on the edge of the Missouri Ozarks seemed oddly immune to the scourge of methamphetamine ravaging the state, boasting few meth raids or arrests in recent years. Some residents now think they know why, after a meth bust landed the Carter County sheriff himself in jail.

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As It Stands recently looked at this problem:

Speed Kills -- so why is meth still scourging our society?

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No state has been hit harder by the meth epidemic than Missouri, which led the nation in meth lab busts every year for a decade before Tennessee took over the top spot in 2010, dropping Missouri to second. Missouri has reported more than 13,000 meth lab incidents in the past seven years. The highly-addictive drug, made by cooking common chemicals, has caused countless fires and explosions, along with severe health problems among users. Story Here

Sometimes money doesn’t buy everything…but

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Certainly there are things in life that money can't buy, but it's very funny - Did you ever try buying them without money?                                                               Ogden Nash
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I remember when my 1970 Dodge Charger got me in trouble in 1971

My 1970 Dodge Charger had a 440ci motor (425-HP), 727 Torque Flight Transmission, heavy duty Hurst Shifter and clutch. It looked just like this one, but was Midnight Blue metal flake instead of this Turquoise color.

I’d been out of the Army for six months in the fall of 1971 and bought the beast and got into some street races.

The race that got me in trouble was against a red corvette in Orange County. The cop clocked me at 110 mph and I was pulling away! His siren came on behind me. I pulled over, and the corvette didn’t.

I won’t even go into how ugly that little situation got. It earned me a visit to a judge who made me pay a lot of money for exhibition of speed and several other citatations. That was one hell of a car!  image source

Concerns grow as more Americans get caught in brutal gang violence of Mexican cartels

I wrote about this subject last year and things have just got worse since then.

“While U.S. officials have long been concerned about the mindless violence bred by Mexico’s bloody and brutal drug wars, they have a new reason to worry: Americans are increasingly getting caught in the deadly crossfire.

Some who have died were themselves working for the drug cartels. But more and more often, experts say, the casualties are U.S. law enforcement officers and innocent victims who died simply because they ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time. "These cartels will stop at nothing," said Tiffany Hartley, who became an anti-cartel crusader after her husband, David, apparently was gunned down on Sept. 30 by Mexican drug gang members on Falcon Lake, a dammed section of the Rio Grande straddling the Texas-Mexico border. "The violence is not going to stop and more will die at the unforgiving hands of cartels."

Photo -Tiffany Hartley, speaking at a rally at the Colorado state Capitol in Denver on March 30,  demanded that the U.S. government find the body of her slain husband, David.  Story Here

1. More stories on The War Next Door

   1. Top cop quits after 145 found in Mexico grave
   2. Countless Juarez residents flee 'dying city'
   3. Violence, scandal mar governor's race in Mexico
   4. Gang's terror felt far from drug war on border
   5. 31 dead in 4 days in Mexico's Acapulco
   6. Images from Mexico's drug war
   7. NBC News: ‘War next door’ linked directly to U.S.