Congress recently turned down a chance to require all states to honor concealed-carry permits from other states -- effectively overriding all local gun laws. The defeat turned back, at least for the moment, a chance for the states with the weakest gun laws to make a killing by bringing more gun buyers and potential permit holders to their states. Those states that are popular with the $3 billion-plus gun industry now, like Florida and Virginia, have a chance to become real winners if the rule ever goes through.

A whisper campaign already makes Southern states extremely popular with gun dealers: most handguns used in crime in Northern cities were purchased down South.

For two decades, Dippin' Dots has been the "ice cream of the future." Like jetpacks and flying cars, it seemed like the future would never quite arrive for the little ice-cream balls that microbiologist Curt Jones invented in 1988. For years, they were an exotic, hard-to-find treat. But recently the beads of ice cream are showing up all over the place -- at thousands of kiosks at amusement parks, theaters, malls, and stores. Not that there's anything wrong with ice cream, but it's fun to eat in the freeze-dried format.

Dippin' Dots, based in Paducah, Kentucky, is finally having its day. In 2006, MSNBC put its sales at $50 million, up 38 percent in three years. Last year, Inc. named it one of the fastest-growing private companies. Entrepreneur says it has 486 franchises, up from 420 last year.

Would you spend $60 for a hair brush for your dog? No, you say? Well, that's probably because you've never seen the FURminator. The groundbreaking undercoat-removing device with the bright yellow handle is a must-have for pet owners. Really.

I was skeptical at first. Sixty bucks for a dog brush! My own hairbrush doesn't cost half that. But then I borrowed one a few times at the dog run, and I was completely won over. The FURminator may cost 10 times what some generic pet brush does, but it does at least 10 times as good a job.