A New Jersey father has received thousands of birthday phone calls and texts after his sons put up a billboard inviting strangers to wish him well.

The sign, which greets motorists in Linwood, New Jersey, asks strangers to "wish my dad a happy birthday" and shows Chris Ferry's mobile number.

People from around the world have clogged his phone to help celebrate his 62nd birthday, he said.

Some have called to sing happy birthday while others share personal stories.

After the first sign went up on Thursday ahead of his birthday on 16 March, he received his first text from a man named Nick, he told a local Florida ABC News affiliate.

Mr Ferry then asked the stranger: "How do you know it's my birthday coming up?"

"I saw it on a billboard," the man said.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-47529100

The founder of a chain of massage and spa parlors that snagged Patriots owner Robert Kraft was apparently also hawking a different line of business: investment immigration.

Li “Cindy” Yang, a 45-year old Florida woman, has found herself in the headlines this past week for hobnobbing with some of the country’s most powerful politicians (including Trump) at Mar-a-Lago, and reportedly charging top Chinese execs for access to elected officials at the Palm Beach club.

TPM found that Yang, through a Florida-based company called GY US Investments LLC, was also using proximity to Trump and his properties to peddle so-called investor visas. Under the EB-5 visa program, foreign citizens can get a conditional two-year U.S. green card in exchange for making certain investments. Mother Jones first reported the existence of GY US Investments.

Along with extensive offers of access to Trump and American politicians including Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Yang’s company also claimed to provide “immigration investment projects,” according to a translation of cached versions of the company’s website. Those services included independent investments and those done via “immigration investment project centers,” according to the now shuttered website.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/trump-linked-massage-parlor-owner-hawked-golden-visas

In a Beijing ballroom, Kushner family pushes $500,000 ‘investor visa’ to wealthy Chinese

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/in-a-beijing-ballroom-kushner-family-flogs-500000-investor-visa-to-wealthy-chinese/2017/05/06/cf711e53-eb49-4f9a-8dea-3cd836fcf287_story.html

Emily Brontë’s sole novel, published in 1847, largely takes place in two homes in the English countryside: Thrushcross Grange and Wuthering Heights. For centuries, literary enthusiasts around the world have speculated on the inspiration for the titular setting for this gothic-inspired tale, the remote farmhouse of the brooding Healthcliff. The architecture is described so precisely, the thinking goes, that it seems to be based more in reality than imagination. Ponden Hall, a farmhouse in West Yorkshire, England, bears a plaque above its front door that commemorates a grand renovation of the property in 1801—the same year in which Brontë’s novel begins. Given the fact that Brontë and her sisters (Charlotte and Anne, both beloved writers as well) are known to have visited the home’s library—it was then the largest private one in 19th-century Yorkshire—it has long been thought that Ponden Hall was a model for Emily’s tale. Now, nearly 500 years after it was first built, the historic house is up for sale.

The family selling the property has owned it since June 1998, and has operated it as an award-winning bed-and-breakfast since then. Steve Brown, the homeowner, says that he and his wife came across Ponden Hall by chance, and didn’t know it was for sale, or anything about its history until they saw the plaque. “We were immediately struck by the scale and its imposing presence,” he says. “[And] we bemoaned the fact that houses such as these never seem to come on to the market and continued our walk.”







https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/wuthering-heights-farmhouse-inspiration?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=atlas-page

When hashtag social media challenges go viral, they’re usually bad news. The Tide pod challenge, cinnamon challenge, and that one where people stuck condoms on their heads were all pretty bad ideas.

But over the weekend, #Trashtag went viral, inspiring young people all over the world to buy a box of garbage bags and post photos of themselves cleaning up their local parks, beaches, and wilderness areas.

It’s believed that the trend started on March 5 when Facebook user Byron Román shared a photo of himself issuing a challenge to “bored teens” asking them to “Take a photo of an area that needs some cleaning or maintenance, then take a photo after you have done something about it, and post it.”

The post has since been deleted but it was shared over 300,000 times.

The hashtag campaign dates back to 2015 when UNCO, a company that makes camping gear, started the #TrashTag project to challenge people to pick up 10,000 pieces of trash within a year.

https://twitter.com/RMcNeil2105/status/1104795472206725121
https://www.upworthy.com/someone-challenged-bored-millennials-to-clean-up-local-parks-and-beaches-they-absolutely-nailed-it?c=ufb1

ProPublica editor Daniel Golden wrote a book a decade ago about how the rich buy their children access to elite colleges. One student he covered is now poised to become one of the most powerful figures in the country.



I would like to express my gratitude to Jared Kushner for reviving interest in my 2006 book, “The Price of Admission.” I have never met or spoken with him, and it’s rare in this life to find such a selfless benefactor. Of course, I doubt he became Donald Trump’s son-in-law and consigliere merely to boost my lagging sales, but still, I’m thankful.

My book exposed a grubby secret of American higher education: that the rich buy their under-achieving children’s way into elite universities with massive, tax-deductible donations. It reported that New Jersey real estate developer Charles Kushner had pledged $2.5 million to Harvard University in 1998, not long before his son Jared was admitted to the prestigious Ivy League school. At the time, Harvard accepted about one of every nine applicants. (Nowadays, it only takes one out of twenty.)

I also quoted administrators at Jared’s high school, who described him as a less than stellar student and expressed dismay at Harvard’s decision.

“There was no way anybody in the administrative office of the school thought he would on the merits get into Harvard,” a former official at The Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey, told me. “His GPA did not warrant it, his SAT scores did not warrant it. We thought for sure, there was no way this was going to happen. Then, lo and behold, Jared was accepted. It was a little bit disappointing because there were at the time other kids we thought should really get in on the merits, and they did not.”

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-story-behind-jared-kushners-curious-acceptance-into-harvard

Warren took tech's money while ripping its biggest players

The presidential candidate took at least $90,000 from employees of Amazon, Google and Facebook between 2011 and 2018.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/03/12/elizabeth-warren-tech-amazon-google-facebook-donations-1216417

BOSTON -- Actresses and chief executives are among 50 people arrested in a nationwide college admissions cheating scam, authorities announced Tuesday.

According to charging documents, actresses Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin are among those involved facing charges.

The suspects allegedly paid bribes of up to $6 million to get their kids into elite colleges, including Yale, Stanford, Georgetown and USC.

In most cases, the students did not know their admission was contingent on a bribe.

University athletic coaches and administrators of college entrance exams were also among those arrested.

The alleged scam centered around a man in California who ran a business helping students get into the college of their choice.

Authorities say parents would pay him a predetermined amount, with full knowledge of what they were doing. He would then steer the money to one of two places: either an SAT or ACT administrator, or a college athletic coach.

https://abc7chicago.com/actresses-ceos-charged-in-alleged-college-admissions-scam/5186103/

The Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company's rent in San Francisco's Chinatown has risen to $5,750 a month, up from $1,400 in 2015.



After almost six decades of operation, rising rents and overhead costs could close the doors for good on the Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company in San Francisco.

Owner Kevin Chan said he fears he may have to shut down the Chinatown cookie factory as rent has more than quadrupled over the past four years.

"I'm worried about the future right now," Chan told SFGATE last week. "I don't know what to do."

San Francisco's Golden Gate Fortune Cookie Company may have to shut down due to skyrocketing rent. https://t.co/ADDo4PId9h via @MelissaColorado pic.twitter.com/0rWvK70Y4n
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) March 7, 2019

Chan told NBC News that the factory’s rent has risen to $5,750 a month, up from $1,400 in 2015. He wouldn’t be able to afford a move, he noted, as the company uses antique equipment.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/rising-rent-costs-threaten-san-francisco-s-handmade-fortune-cookie-n981716?cid=sm_npd_nn_tw_ma