After 11 Hours, Bank Realizes It Was Robbed

It took hours for officials at a downtown Washington bank to realize they’d been robbed.

Police said a man impersonating an armored car guard walked out of a Wachovia bank branch on Pennsylvania Avenue Thursday with more than $100,000, after officials let him sign for a locked bag of cash.

About an hour after the robbery, a real Brinks guard arrived at the bank and was told that another guard had completed the day’s cash pickup.

Police said the Brinks driver waited until he returned to his office to tell his supervisors about the failed pickup. Brinks officials contacted the bank, and a branch manager called D.C. police about 8 p.m. — almost 11 hours after the theft.

Full Article

Comments Off on After 11 Hours, Bank Realizes It Was Robbed

I didn’t know Texas had $50 lottery tickets

AUSTIN — When top lottery officials last winter announced the introduction of a $50 scratch-off game — the priciest lottery ticket in the nation — they said they hoped to appeal to a particular type of player: The affluent.

As it turns out, the $50 game, called $130 Million Spectacular, has fared best in middle-income neighborhoods typically not considered affluent, according to six months of sales data analyzed by the Houston Chronicle.

And I had no idea it was so popular.

The $50 scratch-off game did so well in Texas that the state, without fanfare, launched in November a second $50 game called $130 Million Payout Bonanza. Together, the two games have generated $158 million in revenue.

Full Article

Comments Off on I didn’t know Texas had $50 lottery tickets

From 10 Hours a Week, $10 Million a Year

MARKUS FRIND, a 29-year-old Web entrepreneur, has not read the best seller “The 4-Hour Workweek” — in fact, he had not heard of it when asked last week — but his face could go on the book’s cover. He developed software for his online dating site, Plenty of Fish, that operates almost completely on autopilot, leaving Mr. Frind plenty of free time. On average, he puts in about a 10-hour workweek.

For anyone inclined to daydream about a Web business that would all but run itself, two other details may be of interest: Mr. Frind operates the business out of his apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia, and he says he has net profits of about $10 million a year. Given his site’s profitable advertising mix and independently verified traffic volume, the figure sounds about right.

Full Article

I wonder if I blog more than 10 hours a week?

Comments Off on From 10 Hours a Week, $10 Million a Year