Bobby Richardson , Wednesday, September 19th @ 7:00pm at Bookends
Former New York Yankees Second Baseman, Bobby Richardson, will sign his new book: Impact Player. Books available Sept. 1st.
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.
While we try to insure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
Honor Gold Star Mothers and Families ,Sunday, September 30, 2012
Time: 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM at Van Neste Park, Van Neste Sq. & E. Ridgewood Ave
A Gold Star Mother is a woman who has lost a son or daughter in military service to the United States. In honor of these women, the last Sunday in September is observed as a day to show support for mothers and family members of our Fallen Heroes.
In the aftermath of World War I, Washington D.C. resident Grace Darling Seibold formed an organization called Gold Star Mothers to support the moms who had lost sons and daughters to the war. Grace’s son, First Lieutenant George Vaughn Seibold, was an aviator killed in combat over France in 1918. In 1928, the small D.C.-based group decided to nationalize its efforts. In 1936, a joint congressional resolution established the last Sunday in September as Gold Star Mother’s Day. The Gold Star Mothers grew from a support group of 60 women to today’s extensive nationwide network with tens of thousands of members and hundreds of local chapters.
Join us at Van Neste Park in Ridgewood. Luminaries will be on display 7:00-9:00pm. OR honor our nation’s Gold Star Mothers by placing a luminary at the end of your driveway at sundown away from anything that can catch fire.
Tree falls Into House 1060 Hillcrest Road, Ridgewood
September 18,2012
Boyd A. Loving
9:23 AM
Ridgewood Nj, A single family home located at 1060 Hillcrest Road was severely damaged when a large tree limb fell onto its roof early Tuesday morning. No one was injured by the falling limb, however fire department officials on the scene believed that the home would be declared inhabitable due to the damage. Tony Merlino, Ridgewood’s chief construction code official, had not yet arrived on the scene at the time these photos were taken.
Ridgewood may start raking in leaf collection fines
MONDAY SEPTEMBER 17, 2012, 11:40 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Residents are advised to abide by all ordinances that regulate the removal of leaves and other yard waste, otherwise they will be subject to penalties introduced by the Village Council.
The decision by Ridgewood’s governing body to heavily enforce the current regulations comes after a brief period in which the council tinkered with the idea of asking homeowners to bag their own leaves and grass clippings for pickup. The notion was met with public opposition, and most council members spoke against the use of bags.
photo by www.artchick.biz
Despite seeing the need to change the village’s collection policies, the council ultimately scrapped the bag idea in July.
During last week’s work session, council members reopened the discussion and selected a path that would give existing ordinances more bite.
“We would just be strictly enforcing [the ordinances on the books] to make sure that we don’t have the leaf/branch issue in 2012,” Village Manager Ken Gabbert said last week.
Gabbert worked with other village officials, including Streets Division officers Frank Moritz and John Spano, as well as Village Engineer Chris Rutishauser, in drafting the beefed-up enforcement plans.
North Jersey’s Economy in irreversible decline? September 18,2012 PJ Blogger
Ridgewood Nj, Over the last 5 years the Ridgewood blog has argued to no a vale that North Jersey’s economy had become solely dependent on huge Wall Street earners , who not only paid the enormous state and local taxes ,but also propped up the economy with their personal spending .
Now that the regulator environment has stifled Wall Street job growth perhaps permanently and New York City has lost its top stop as the words chief financial center there seems little or no reason to believe that there is any chance of a comeback for Northern New Jersey’s economy for some time to come .
With Wall Street money all but dried up higher and higher taxes and massive over regulation impinging on the quality of life will continue to drive more and more people out of this area .
Yes folks the politicians in DC, and on both sides of the river have perhaps killed the golden goose once and for all .
Barring big Wall Street comeback, N.J. economic recovery will be slow
New Jersey’s economic recovery will continue to lag the rest of the nation’s, complicating efforts by the Christie administration to hit its ambitious revenue targets this year, a Wall Street ratings agency warns.
Gov. Chris Christie is banking on nearly 8 percent growth in revenue for the state budget he signed in June — among the highest jumps in the nation and nearly triple last year’s growth.
Moody’s Investors Service said in a report released Friday that the revenue projections appear optimistic given historical trends and the state’s slower than expected economic recovery. The ten-year average growth rate has been 3.8 percent and revenues only grew 2.6 percent in the fiscal year that ended in June. (Renshaw, The Star-Ledger)
Dr. Fishbein claims drop in NJ Monthly School rankings due to the fact that RHS students are required to take the AP tests, while other schools do not have that requirement.
September 12,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Superintendent Daniel Fishbein commented on the NJ Monthly School rankings where Ridgewood High School (RHS) has dropped eight spots in the past two years in a biennial ranking of New Jersey’s top 100 public high schools.
Ridgewood Superintendent Daniel Fishbein gave a brief overview of comparative data from the recent NJ Monthly high school rankings. According to Dr.Fishbein Ridgewood High School (RHS) performed as well as, or better than, surrounding schools in Bergen County that were ranked higher by the magazine.
The AP test score category is the one area that RHS did not score as high; this discrepancy may be due to the fact that RHS students are required to take the AP tests, while other schools do not have that requirement.
Few parents opt to leave Ridgewood school bus service
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 18, 2012, 10:54 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
A new law that offers parents whose children do not take the school bus the ability to opt out of the service will not likely be saving Ridgewood taxpayers any money. Few parents notified this summer decided to waive the school bus service.
Accordingly, the district will not be able to consolidate any of its seven largely empty buses, as it had hoped.
On a daily basis, buses in Ridgewood are less than half full, said Assistant Superintendent for Business Angelo DeSimone.
“I hoped we would receive enough opt-out students to be able to reconfigure routes and eliminate one bus,” said DeSimone, who noted that each school bus costs the district $35,000 to $40,000 a year.
“We thought this would be good,” said Superintendent Dan Fishbein. “They are fully subscribed but under-utilized … [But] it doesn’t allow us to opt out of a route at all.”
Romney Talks Bluntly of Those Dependent on Government
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR
Mitt Romney described almost half of Americans as “dependent upon government” during a private reception with donors this year and said those voters were likely to support President Obama because they believe they are “entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”
The blunt political and cultural assessment by the Republican presidential candidate offers a rare glimpse into Mr. Romney’s personal views as the campaign enters its final 50 days. Liberals quickly condemned the remarks as insensitive, and Mr. Obama’s campaign accused him of having “disdainfully written off half the nation.”
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Vice Chairman of the House Budget Committee and Chairman of the Budget and Spending Task Force for the Republican Study Committee (RSC), issued the following statement today after voting for the National Security and Job Protection Act.
“Today, the House has once again acted to prevent the sequester from going into effect and ensure our nation’s national security. The dangerous anti-American sentiment and recent violence throughout the Middle East have reminded us that now is not the time to handcuff ourselves and cut programs that are vital to our security. I am proud to support this bill today that provides a framework to repeal the sequester, ensure that our military has the resources necessary to respond to conflicts, and make common-sense spending cuts to reduce our nation’s $16 trillion debt.
“President Obama’s failed leadership has brought us to this stage. The president has failed to put forward a plan of his own and has failed to urge the Democratic-controlled Senate to prevent looming sequester. President Obama even violated a law that he signed earlier this year by failing to submit to Congress a report detailing just how his administration would implement the sequester. Americans are tired of having a president asleep at the wheel.”
Forget OWS : Nearly Twice as Many Young Adults Say They Would Rather Work on Wall Street Than Protest Against It
76 percent say the lack of job opportunities is shrinking the middle class, as young adult unemployment remains at 12.7 percent
Washington, DC – (9/17/12) – Generation Opportunity, the largest non-profit, non-partisan organization in the United States engaging and mobilizing young Americans (18-29 years old) on the important economic issues facing the nation, released new polling data today on Millennials on the one-year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Since its launch in June of 2011, Generation Opportunity has amassed a following of over 4 million fans on Facebook and is actively organizing Millennials across the country through grassroots tactics, voter registration, and voter turnout efforts.
“Young adults have been negatively impacted by the poor economy, high unemployment, and the lack of jobs both in their daily lives and in their long-term career plans and dreams. Amidst their frustrations and disappointments, the overwhelming majority of Millennials view the poor economy and lack of leadership by elected officials as the true sources of their problems – not fellow Americans who work on Wall Street. Young Americans reject the cynicism and angry theatrics aimed at those who can create more full-time jobs; instead, they simply want positive solutions that grow the economy and create more opportunity for all Americans,” said Paul T. Conway, president of Generation Opportunity and former Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of Labor. “Young adults believe elected officials fail to represent their concerns and best interests, are clearly fed up with the status quo, and plan on making their voices heard in November.”
The ineffectiveness of Occupy Wall Street to capture the enthusiasm of or inspire activism among a wide number of young adults across America was documented by the Harvard Institute of Politics (IOP) at the end of last year. According to a December 2011 IOP study, just 2% of 18-29 year olds had participated in Occupy Wall Street demonstrations, and only 11% knew someone personally who participated in the effort (https://www.iop.harvard.edu/sites/default/files_new/fall_poll_11_M_topline.pdf).
The lack of full-time jobs and economic opportunity due to the poor economy continue to impact young Americans on a daily basis, jeopardizing their careers and dreams. Earlier this month, Generation Opportunity released the non-seasonally adjusted (NSA) unemployment data for Millennials for August 2012. The youth unemployment rate for 18-29 year olds specifically for August 2012 is 12.7 percent (NSA). The youth unemployment rate for 18-29 year old African-Americans for August 2012 is 22.4 percent (NSA); the youth unemployment rate for 18-29 year old Hispanics for August 2012 is 13.7 percent (NSA); and the youth unemployment rate for 18–29 year old women for August 2012 is 12.6 percent (NSA). The declining labor participation rate has created an additional 1.7 million young adults that are not counted as “unemployed” by the U.S. Department of Labor because they are not in the labor force, meaning that those young people have given up looking for work due to the lack of jobs. If the labor force participation rate were factored into the 18-29 youth unemployment calculation, the actual 18-29-unemployment rate would rise to 16.7 percent (NSA).
WHEN YOU MAKE ONE GREAT CHOICE EVERYTHING ELSE SEEMS TO FALL INTO PLACE
You have made great choices in life. You have worked hard, expected a great deal from yourself and achieved great things. All the pieces have fallen into place.
When you decide to put your home on the market, you need to make a great choice too. Because not all real estate companies and agents are the same.
Keller Williams was founded on the principles of trust and honesty. It means always putting our clients’ needs first, and having the integrity to do the right thing, every time.
It’s quite a legacy. One I’m proud to be a part of.
It’s reflected in my commitment to providing sellers with an uncompromising level of service. In my meticulous attention to detail. In my demand of the best from myself and for my clients.
I’d love the opportunity to be your next great choice. Making all the pieces fall into place.
Few people become really proficient at blowing the shofar. The Talmud (Shabbat 117b) refers to blowing the shofar as “chochmah ve-einah melachah”—a skill, rather than hard work—but mastering it does demand a lot of intensive practice.
If you’re serious about learning to blow the shofar and acting as a ba’al tekiah, it’s important that you select your shofar with great care. You need to find one that is right for you personally. For reasons which I imagine are purely commercial, stores charge more for a bigger shofar than a smaller one. But the size and appearance of the shofar should not be factors in your choice—the way the shofar feels and the way it sounds are what count.
Since the shofar has no reed, finger holes or valves such as you would find on other wind or brass instruments, the only control you have over the notes is how you use your lips and your tongue. So it’s important to find one that sits comfortably on your lips, as the shape of the mouthpieces varies greatly. One mouthpiece may be too round for you; the edges on another may feel too sharp.
To produce a note, first use your tongue to moisten the extreme right-hand corner of your lips, and place the shofar firmly against them in that spot. With the lips tightly closed, make a tiny hole in them where the shofar is, and then force air into it as if you were making a Bronx cheer (a rasping sound), but without actually producing such a rude noise. If you get it right, a bright and powerful note will emerge from the shofar. It’s not necessary to puff out your cheeks; breathe in and hold the breath in your chest, letting it out slowly to control the length of the note. Many ba’alei tekiah use two fingers to hold the shofar against their lips, which helps to keep the lips steady.
Most shofarot can produce two (or more) notes, a higher note and a lower one. The higher note requires more effort, but is far more attractive and impressive a sound. Squeeze your lips more tightly against the mouthpiece until you locate the note you want.
Try to blow without expelling too much saliva into the shofar. A wet shofar sounds hoarse; that’s why you often see a ba’al tekiah shaking the shofar or using long pipe cleaners to dry it out after each set of notes.
Once you have found a shofar that feels right and sounds good, keep blowing it for several minutes. This is not only to make sure that you are happy with your choice, but also because some shofarot do not have “staying power;” that is, they tend to lose strength after a few minutes.
It’s possible that your new shofar will still have the odor of the ram from which it comes; this will disappear in time. Some say to wash the shofar out with vinegar in order to get rid of the smell. In my experience, however, this just makes it smell like vinegar. Keep your shofar clean and dry, and it should last a lifetime.
The rest is practice, perfecting the notes and strengthening the muscles of the lips and the capacity of the lungs. And if you succeed in mastering the shofar and want to blow it on Rosh Hashanah, you will need to learn the halachic details regarding the length and sequence of the notes, either by studying them with your own rabbi, or by apprenticing yourself to an experienced ba’al tekiah.
As a ba’al tekiah, you will enjoy the fulfillment of a very special mitzvah as few others can. For me, at least, being in control of the shofar’s power is an extraordinary privilege and responsibility, and sounding it in the synagogue on Rosh Hashanah is the high point of my year.
David Olivestone, National Director of Planning and Communications at the Orthodox Union, was a finalist in the 2005 Great Shofar Blast Off organized by the National Jewish Outreach Program. He has been the ba’al tekiah at Congregation Ohab Zedek in Manhattan for the past twenty years, and for ten years before that at Lincoln Square Synagogue, also in Manhattan.
Ridgewood Blog Founder PJ Blogger at the Philadelphia Constitution center
CELEBRATING CONSTITUTION DAY
By: Rep. Scott Garrett
9/17/2012 05:20 AM
Perhaps most people aren’t even aware that Monday is Constitution Day or even what the day commemorates. A recent Washington Times/JZ Analytics poll demonstrated that a broad cross section of Americans do not have a strong understanding of the Constitution. This is a shame. Everybody celebrates the day that Americans declared their independence from Great Britain, but far fewer people are even familiar with the events, or the document, that launched us as a nation.
The story begins with an unlikely hero: a soft-spoken, studious politician from Virginia by the name of James Madison. Madison asked his friend, Thomas Jefferson, to send him hundreds of volumes on politics from France, so that he could begin a research project on ancient and modern confederacies.
Closeted away at Montpelier, his rural home in Virginia, Madison explored the virtues and, even more importantly, the vices of confederacies, both past and present. His purpose was to experiment with ways to improve upon older models, and his investigations bore more fruit than most research projects ever do. The exercise was never meant to create a federal government so powerful that it would stifle state governments or individual initiative. It was about striking a balance between national and state government, all the while ensuring it is always the citizens who are in charge.
When the Constitutional Convention met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, they made two decisions that would be crucial to their success: They elected George Washington as the president of the Convention, and they chose James Madison’s Virginia Plan as the starting point of all their debates.
Madison’s Plan certainly did not receive universal approval. And as these 55 men from twelve states debated how the United States should be governed, Madison’s suggestions would undergo numerous and significant changes. Large states would have to find common ground with small states; free states would have to compromise with slave states; and agricultural interests had to be reconciled to manufacturing interests.
At last, after three and a half months of wrangling, the Convention agreed on a final form of government. And on the last day of the Convention, September 17, 1787, nearly every member in attendance was willing to sign what would become, after its ratification, the Constitution of the United States of America.
When Alexis de Tocqueville wrote his magnificent study of Democracy in America in the 1830s, he admitted that he was not as impressed with America’s Revolutionary War victory as Americans seemed to be. Three thousand miles of ocean had more to do with their triumph over the English, he thought, than military skill or valor.
Instead, what impressed Tocqueville was the Constitution that Americans had framed after the dust cleared. He declared that “it is a novelty in the history of society to see a great people turn a calm and scrutinizing eye upon itself”—to voluntarily adopt a Constitution that would safeguard liberty—“without having wrung a tear or a drop of blood from mankind.”
As a Frenchman, Tocqueville would have had in mind other revolutions that had led to far bloodier outcomes. And in our own time, it is a useful lesson to remember as we watch the revolutionary uprisings in other parts of the world: Once an oppressive tyrant has been overthrown, the hard work has only just begun.
Despite the challenges that lay before us, I believe our greatest days can be ahead of us if only we embrace our founding principles, resolve ourselves to go forward, and embody our great American promise.
So this September 17, the 225th since the signing of our great charter of liberty, be sure to celebrate those eminent Americans—such as George Washington and James Madison—who designed a Constitution that would “establish justice … and ensure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” Their accomplishment is worth celebrating.
Mark Kriegel ,Wednesday, September 18th @ 7:00pm at Bookends
New York Times Bestselling Author, Mark Kreigel, will sign his new book: The Good Son: The Life of Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini.
Books available Sept. 18th
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change. Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.
While we try to insure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
