Million Dollar Ideas

"Balloon Boy" Family Resurfaces in Florida; The Heene Boyz Being Promoted as "The World's Youngest Metal Band"

By Deirdra Funcheon Tue., Dec. 11 2012 at 1:43 PM
Categories: Million Dollar Ideas
BalloonBoy2012.jpg

People around the world were collectively glued to their TVs on October 15, 2009, when Richard and Mayumi Heene called the Federal Aviation Administration and a Colorado TV station and reported that their son Falcon had accidentally floated 7,000 feet into the sky in a homemade experimental flying saucer. 

Of course, the "balloon boy" was found unharmed hiding in the attic, and the family was accused of having perpetrated a hoax to publicize a reality show they had in development. Richard later served 90 days in jail for the colossal waste of emergency resources; Mayumi, 20 days. They also had to pay a $36,000 fine (plus another $11,000 to the FAA) and a judge prohibited them from profiting off the hoax. 

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But the family has not gone quietly into that good night. Kinda the opposite, actually.
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Balloon Boy, Falcon Heene, heavy metal, Heene Boyz
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Million Dollar Ideas

West Palm Beach Restaurant Owner Adds Surcharge to Bills Because of Obamacare

By Chris Joseph Thu., Nov. 15 2012 at 11:27 AM
Categories: Million Dollar Ideas
denny's sign.jpg

Corporate heads and rich business owners are so in a huff over President Obama's reelection that they've decided to express their outrage by charging their customers more money and cutting back work outs for their employees.

That'll learn ya for voting for Obama, America!

Specifically, Papa John's CEO John Schnatter is so mad about Obamacare that he's going to start charging more for his shitty, watery, tomato-paste-drenched pizza.

And now, local restaurant owner John Metz is joining in on the buttclamping of his own business because he's supermad that Obama won the election.

Metz, who owns a Denny's franchise and Hurricane Grill & Wings, says not only is he cutting his employees' hours but he's also going to add a 5 percent surcharge to his customers' bills.

Because, Obamacare is oppressive (even though, it's not in any way shape, or form, especially to small-business owners).

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Politics

Cover Presidential Debate? Pay $3000 or So.

By Stefan Kamph Fri., Oct. 19 2012 at 8:53 AM
Categories: Million Dollar Ideas, Politics
debate-media-room.jpeg
Courtesy of Lynn University
A glimpse of the media center
The only people allowed in the audience at Monday night's presidential debate at Lynn University will be Lynn students, selected by a lottery to sit on risers in the Wold Performing Arts Center.

But the real party will be next door, where an estimated 4,000 journalists from around the world will cram into the school's gym to watch the proceedings on TV screens and pretend they're actually there. The Post on Politics blog has estimated the total number of media and VIP attendees at 15,000.

And all of us lamestream media types will have to shell out some serious cash. 
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Debate 2012, Lynn University
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Million Dollar Ideas

Palm Beach Failing to Make a Profit with Red-light Traffic Cameras

By Chris Joseph Mon., Oct. 1 2012 at 12:50 PM
Categories: Million Dollar Ideas
red light.jpg
Big Brother is watching. But Big Brother owes money.

Those traffic light cameras that flash two seconds after you've run the red were supposed to pay bug for local governments. Instead, not so much is the case. 

According to county administrators, the county owes more than what it's taking in. 

The 10 cameras that were installed at five intersections throughout the county last year have generated $308,877. 

However, the county owed American Traffic Solutions $456,957 for that period.

Since the county's contract doesn't require them to pay the difference until the cameras turn a profit, they won't necessarily lose money. The traffic light cameras won't make any either.

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Fear-Mongering

Scared? Thanks to Hurricane Andrew, You Can Live In Your Own Bunker

By Stefan Kamph Fri., Aug. 24 2012 at 6:32 AM
Categories: Fear-Mongering, Million Dollar Ideas, Mother %$#*ing Nature
Thumbnail image for preppers-cover-small.jpeg
See also: Herald Reporters Remember Hurricane Andrew

Exactly 20 years ago this morning, Jorge Villa opened the rollup door of his warehouse in Kendall and stared out at devastation. 

The traumatic experience led him to start U.S. Bunkers, which still sells massive concrete pods in which you can outlive almost anything, for a while. I paid him a visit while working on a story about modern survivalists earlier this year, which featured a brief version of the tale below.

It was a clear, breezy evening when they arrived. He bolted the roll-down door and the family laid out sleeping bags. By 1 a.m., he could hear the ventilation fans being ripped off the roof. By 2 a.m., it sounded like a freight train was running over the building. The rooms filled with water. He could hear things crash into the walls. His wife felt like she was going into labor. 
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bunkers, Hurricane Andrew, Jorge Villa, preppers
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Million Dollar Ideas

John Amoruso, Geologist Who Made Guma Aguiar Rich, Recalls "Down-to-Earth Fellow"

By Stefan Kamph Fri., Jul. 13 2012 at 6:45 AM
Categories: Investigations, Million Dollar Ideas
amoruso_john.jpg
AAPG
John Amoruso
See also: the latest on Aguiar's disappearance, and the lawsuit against Aguiar spurred by this natural-gas deal.

In 2003, Texas geologist John Amoruso had a hunch that there was a lot of natural gas, and big money, in a previously unexplored geological area about midway between Houston and Dallas.

It was a long shot. To prove his theory, Amoruso needed somebody willing to take a big risk and put up money to acquire land and drill the Deep Bossier sands of Robertson County.

Then, one day, he met Guma Aguiar -- the Fort Lauderdale man who recently disappeared at sea. They sat down to talk. Amoruso's hunch was about to make Aguiar a very rich man.

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Guma Aguiar, John Amoruso, natural gas, Thomas Kaplan
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Million Dollar Ideas

Two Guys Sell Some of Their Old Stuff, Take in $38 Million in a Weekend

By Rich Abdill Mon., Feb. 27 2012 at 7:40 AM
Categories: Million Dollar Ideas
Twenty-nine thousand dollars for a vintage barber chair, $3.3 million for a hundred-year-old Oldsmobile. Clocks, an organ, a giant carousel. The Milhous brothers sold it all over the weekend, emptying out a 39,000-square-foot Boca Raton warehouse stuffed with things they'd collected in their travels over the years.

It took Bob and Paul Milhous more than 50 years to fill their private museum, according to a news release. The Associated Press reports they bought the items with proceeds from their various printing and manufacturing businesses, according to CBS, and they sold it off because their family said they didn't want to get saddled with it after they died.

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Bob Milhaus, Paul Milhaus
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Million Dollar Ideas

Here Are Stephen Colbert's Super PAC Campaign Finance Documents

By Rich Abdill Tue., Jan. 31 2012 at 7:45 AM
Categories: Celebrities, Election, Million Dollar Ideas, Politics, If You Can Call It That, Public Records
stephen-colbert.jpg
"Gimme dat money!"
​I admit there's almost no Broward/Palm Beach connection to the super PAC run by Comedy Central satirist Stephen Colbert, but I'm going to be waist-deep in South Florida's disclosure forms for a while, so hopefully this will tide you over.

Though the forms cover July through December 2011 only, the cover sheet to Colbert's forms says the PAC has raised just over a million dollars as of yesterday, an unnecessary disclosure that seems to indicate that they knew lots of folks would be looking at the packet.

Well, that and a statement attached to the forms from Colbert that says, "Yeah! How you
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Frank Brunckhorst, Simon Sherr, Stephen Colbert
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Florida

Genting CEO Says It's "Bullsh*t" That Casino Won't Generate Dade and Broward Jobs

By Stefan Kamph Fri., Nov. 18 2011 at 12:32 PM
Categories: Florida, Million Dollar Ideas
SFBJ Genting Colin Au 315 280.jpg
Colin Au: No B.S. from this guy.
​The CEO of Genting Group, which bought the Miami Herald's property on Biscayne Bay earlier this year and dreams of turning it into a mega-casino, wasn't exactly subtle when he said the project would result in a net gain of jobs for the state -- especially in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

At the first hearing about the casinos, somebody asked CEO Colin Au about claims that building a casino would cost the state jobs instead of generating them. (Here in Broward, pari-mutuel owners and the Seminole tribe also worry about losing gamers across the county line.)

A video of Au's blunt response is after the jump.More »

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Colin Au, Don Mitchell, Gaming, Genting Group, Isle of Capri, Jobs, Pompano Park
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Million Dollar Ideas

Camo Coozie: Someone Finally Puts a Vibrator in a Beer Koozie

By Matthew Hendley Mon., Jul. 11 2011 at 3:12 PM
Categories: Million Dollar Ideas
camo-coozie.jpg
stealthvibes.com
Anatomically correct placement of the Camo Coozie
​Aren't you tired of not getting off while holding your beer in a regular foam beer koozie?

Problem solved: A pair of brothers have created the Camo Coozie, which combines the traditional beer koozie with a miniature vibrator.

Ryan Sputh, who created the Camo Coozie alongside his brother Carl, says it all got started on the island of Saint Martin.

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Camo Coozie, Genius in a Can, Vibrator in a Beer Koozie
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