Scotts Miracle-Gro Chief Executive Jim Hagedorn said he is exploring targeting medical marijuana as well as other niches to help boost sales at his lawn and garden company. Sales at Scotts rose 5% last year to $2.9 billion. But the Marysville, Ohio, company relies on sales at three key retailers—Home Depot Inc., Lowe's Cos. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc.—for nearly two-thirds of its revenue. With consumers still cautious about spending, the retailers aren't building new stores as quickly as they used to, making growth for suppliers like Scotts harder to come by. Against that backdrop, Mr. Hagedorn has pushed his regional sales presidents to look for smaller pockets of growth, such as the marijuana market, that together could produce a noticeable bump in sales. Sixteen states have legalized medical marijuana, the largest being California and Colorado. The market will reach $1.7 billion in sales this year, according to a report by See Change Strategy LLC, an information data services company. While the report focuses on revenue from growers and dispensaries, Kris Lotlikar, president of See Change, said the market for companies selling hydroponic equipment and professional services is also thriving. "We see very good growth for these types of companies as the medical-marijuana business grows," he said. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304665904576383832249741032.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Did you hear the one about the two compliance officers who married each other? She regulates the length of his toenails and requires his showers to be less than two minutes long. This comedy gold was part of a successful audition for the finals of a recent competition to find the nation's funniest compliance professional. There's a lot for compliance officers to smile about these days. In an age of crackdowns, companies are hiring them by the truckload—and paying them better than ever. Contestants at the Comic Strip club in Manhattan landed more than a few belly laughs. After six stand-up routines of varying quality, the three-judge panel gave the title of the nation's funniest compliance officer to Michael L. Shaw from pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline PLC. The idea for the contest was dreamed up by executives at Howard-Sloan, a headhunting firm in New York. Mitchell Berger, Howard-Sloan's chief executive, said that for several years in the 1980s to '90s, the firm put on a similar contest for accountants. The event raised over $11,000 for juvenile diabetes research and convinced Mr. Berger to think about the next episode in his "America's Funniest" series. "Lawyers," he said. "I think we'll go with lawyers next year." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304563104576359422016420298.html

The robin's nest It takes from two to six days to make the nest, with an average of 180 trips per day to find materials. Males sometimes help gather nesting materials but the female chooses the site and builds the nest. The female robin incubates her eggs for about 12 to 16 days. She sits on the eggs for 40-minute periods. Then she stands up, turns the eggs and flies off to feed or for a break. The male stands guard and sometimes sits on the eggs. An American Robin can produce three successful broods in one year. On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young. About half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next. Despite the fact that a lucky robin can live to be 14 years old, the entire population turns over on average every six years. Robins roost, or collect in flocks. Males do this year round, but the females and young join them during the winter. Roosts can get as big as 250,000 birds, but normally they are 20 to 200 birds. Even though the robin is a symbol of spring, it actually spends its winter in much of its breeding range. In winter they spend less time in yards and more time in large flocks, so they are seen less often.
See pictures and a daily chronicle from May, 14-June 10, 2005 at: http://www.i-pets.com/rpet19.html

The Impact of Deferring Retirement Age on Retirement Income Adequacy by Jack VanDerhei and Craig Copeland, Employee Benefit Research Institute, Brief No. 358, June 2011 http://www.ebri.org/pdf/briefspdf/EBRI_IB_06-2011_No358_Defr-Ret.pdf

The U.S. has become a bargain, compared to some other countries, as the U.S. dollar weakens and costs balloon in other places, according to results from a new report by ECA International, a global human resources company. The semiannual survey, which compares the price of food and basic goods and services—but not housing, utilities, or school fees—for expatriates in more than 400 cities around the world, ranked Australian cities higher for cost of living this year, mainly the result of currency changes. The Australian dollar has appreciated about 30 percent against the U.S. dollar since last June, and the Swiss franc has jumped about 37 percent. Of U.S. cities, Manhattan, which ranked No. 28 on last year's list, fell to No. 44. Honolulu dropped to No. 62, from No. 40. http://images.businessweek.com/slideshows/20110608/world-s-most-expensive-cities-2011/?campaign_id=lifestyle_related

Two bottles of the world’s oldest Champagne, which spent about 170 years at the bottom of the ocean, sold for 54,000 euros ($78,400) at an auction in Finland on June 3. The second lot, containing vintage Veuve, fetched 30,000 euros, which the auction house -- New York-based wine specialistAcker Merrall & Condit -- said was the most paid for a bottle. The bottles were sold in Mariehamn, capital of Aaland, a Finnish-controlled archipelago of 6,500 islands in the Baltic Sea, where divers discovered the precious cargo in a previously unknown shipwreck. About 145 bottles were found intact, including Veuve Clicquot, Heidsieck -- today made by Vranken-Pommery Monopole --and Juglar, which became part of Jacquesson. Veuve also offered 15 rare bottles from its own cellars and was a partner in the sale. The original destination of the Champagne isn’t known. Anders Naasman, one of the divers, said it may have been headed for the tsar’s court in St. Petersburg. It was well preserved because it lay horizontally, under pressure, at a low temperature in the dark, 50 meters (55 yards) below the surface. The authorities in Aaland, an Swedish-speaking region, say the proceeds of the sale will go to a good cause, such as environmental measures to improve the quality of the water in the seas around Aaland, whose main industries are shipping, trade, banking, farming and food. About 65 of the islands are inhabited, with 11,000 people living in Mariehamn, the archipelago’s only town, founded in 1861.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-02/world-s-oldest-champagne-from-shipwreck-may-sell-for-145-million-a-bottle.html

Who really runs France? Apart from the national hierarchy there are 27 regions - the highest level of territorial divisions of the Republic. Twenty two are in France, including Corsica. The rest are overseas. The second level is the 101 Departments which are responsible for welfare, rural land, colleges and school transport. You can spot where people come from by the department number on their car registration plate. Arrondissements are the third level of administration. There are 349 in France and representatives, sub prefects, are not elected but appointed by the President of the Republic. They don't appear to have any legal control but advise the prefect of the department. Cantons are the fourth level of administration. It's a constituency for the election of councillors. A township (canton) is a subdivision of a district (there are 4,039 in France) and some highly populated municipalities belong to several. Communes are the final level. On January 2010 there were a staggering 36,682 including 112 overseas. They cover the entire French territory, except for Wallis, Futuna and some other areas where no one lives. Blablablah, French English magazine June 2011 http://www.blablablah.org/images/stories/archives/2011/83.pdf

French firsts Semaphore, the system of holding up flags or lights in a pattern, was developed in 1794 by Frenchman, Claude Chape. It was designed to transmit messages quickly across long distances on land or sea. On land people could be 8 - 16 kms apart and send and receive messages but it was at sea that semaphore became the standard form of communication between ships until the invention of radio. The first international film empire was created by Frenchman, Charles Pathé (1863-1957). The Pathe name is still familiar to movie goers. Evidence has been found that French Neolithic man used stone tools with a cutting edge to lance abscesses and let blood. Its been discovered that around 20,000 BC in the Petit-Morin valley Neolithic man was performing delicate operations like removing discs and bones from skulls. Apparently, holes in these skulls show evidence that the procedure led to healing and the patients survived. On a lighter note the French are among many to claim to have created the first form of golf, Chole, in the 13th century AD. In Chole opposing teams struck the ball in different directions. Each team could take three strikes trying to score. Blablablah, French English magazine June 2011 http://www.blablablah.org/images/stories/archives/2011/83.pdf

In the 17th century two French languages developed side by side - the language of the court and literature and the language of the people, of which we now know virtually nothing. French grammarians and language purists were very influential then but never really succeeded in imposing their standards. Even people like the playwright, Moliere, mocked the precious language of the courts. The French revolution fuelled the efforts of the French purists. But in 1790 a survey of spoken languages showed that half the population neither spoke nor understood the French language. It took a while but after the French revolution the legal language was French for the military and civil servants. But try as they might the authorities never quite managed to get rid of regional languages. By 1910, 90% understood French but 50% still understood and probably spoke a dialect. Blablablah, French English magazine June 2011 http://www.blablablah.org/images/stories/archives/2011/83.pdf

Seafood recipes from Blablablah, French English magazine June 2011, page 23 http://www.blablablah.org/images/stories/archives/2011/83.pdf