SUBURBIA IN THE AMAZON: Deep in the Amazon rainforest are the ruins of what was once meant to be a Midwestern American utopia, complete with white picket fences, hamburgers and movie theaters. But now "Fordlandia" is overrun with weeds, a city Henry Ford long ago abandoned.
The father of Ford Motor Co., now arguably the healthiest of the Detroit Three, had once seized what he thought was an opportunity to eliminate a dependence on British rubber for tires. In 1927, he purchased land in the Brazilian Amazon that was the size of the state of Tennessee, and set out to grow it himself.
But the project quickly evolved into a more ambitious bid to create an exported American suburb to echo Ford's values, says Greg Grandin, author of the recently published book "Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City."
"Similar to today, everything in the world was bound up in the auto industry," Grandin said in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "Ford has always been a symbol for America, and Henry Ford wanted to impose a Ford-style puritanism that was eventually defeated."
Fordlandia once had manicured lawns, ice cream parlors, and, of course, Model T's rolling down its Main Street. But almost two decades and tens of millions of dollars later, the project was abandoned as tree blight and insects destroyed the rubber plantations, while the invention of synthetic rubber ended worldwide demand for the natural resource.
"Most don't realize or would even imagine that Ford, the symbol of America, was defeated by the storied Amazon after trying to impose small-town virtues," Grandin said. "It's such a rich part of the company's history."
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NOW HIRING: Nearly a quarter of employers plan to hire summer workers amid a competitive seasonal job market, according to a recent survey.
Meanwhile, more than half of companies reported they would consider summer recruits for permanent positions within their organizations.
The poll of hiring managers and human resource professionals, commissioned byCareerBuilder.com, found that 77 percent would offer the same pay to seasonal workers this year as they did last year, while 9 percent said they would offer more.
"Summer job seekers face a bigger challenge this year than in years past, as the market is flooded with candidates looking for both full and part-time positions," said Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources for CareerBuilder. "The good news is that many traditional summer jobs are still available, but in this environment, it is essential that job seekers differentiate themselves and demonstrate how their skills can have a positive impact on a business in a short amount of time."
Hospitality and retail have plans to bring the most summer workers on board, while other popular positions include office support, customer service, research, landscaping and construction.
The survey of 2,543 hiring professionals was conducted by Harris Interactive between Feb. 20 and March 11. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1.94 percentage points.
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PLEASE SAY YOUR NAME: Dads aren't getting as many collect calls on their special day.
A decade ago, Father's Day saw the highest volume of collect calls in the U.S., according to AT&T Inc. But last year, New Year's Day and Thanksgiving saw a spike in calls to beat it, while more collect calls were made on Mother's Day than Father's Day for the third year in a row.
The volume of collect calling has steadily declined, AT&T said, likely due to reliance on wireless phones, texting and e-mail. About 60 percent of the company's customers are on a family or group plan which eliminates the need for collect calls to other family members, it said.