today’s birthday: John Jacob Astor (1864)

John Jacob Astor (1864)

Astor was a financier and inventor. A man of many talents, he made a fortune in real estate, built the Astoria Hotel, invented a bicycle brake and a turbine engine, and wrote the science-fiction novel A Journey in Other Worlds about life on the planets Saturn and Jupiter. His second marriage to the much younger Madeleine Talmage Force caused a scandal, and the two took an extended honeymoon abroad to wait out the controversy. On their return trip, Astor was killed in what disaster? More… Discuss

facebook: not a happy face at all!

facebook: not a happy face at all!

Just a Thought: “what’s affordable to BOVI is not affordable to OVI!

 

GONE ARE THE DAYS OF A QUARTER A TOOTH

The tooth fairy seems to have lost her head in recent years, spending wildly to expand her collection of baby teeth. A study by financial services company Visa finds that the going rate for a tooth in the US these days is $3.70 on average, well above the quarter many of us remember finding under our pillows. Some kids get even more. Six percent of tooth fairy representatives—otherwise known as parents—shell out $20 per tooth, while two percent leave an outrageous $50 or more. Has the tooth fairy gone too far, or is this just the cost ofinflation? More… Discuss

 

From ProPpublica – Bank of America Lied to Homeowners and Rewarded Foreclosures, Former Employees Say

From ProPpublica – Bank of America Lied to Homeowners and Rewarded Foreclosures, Former Employees Say (Click to Access Report)