Editors note : Perhaps this might be an idea for the Ridgewood Train station
Train Station Coffee Bar : ‘Dumb Starbucks’ Shop Appears in L.A.’s Los Feliz
12:02 PM PST 2/9/2014 by Erik Hayden, Brandon Kirby
There’s no word on who’s behind the project, but there’s a line for free coffee and pastries purchased from Vons.
The Los Feliz coffee scene has a new attention-getting entrant, though all bets are off on how long it sticks around.
Dumb Starbucks Coffee, which parodies the design of a coffee giant chain store, appeared out of seemingly nowhere over the weekend as a pop-up store in a nondescript Hillhurst Ave. location.
All of the coffee, brewed by two baristas, is free (tips appreciated). They also have pastries (apparently purchased from Vons) that are also free for the taking for now. Alongside a non-functioning cash register, CD’s like “Dumb Nora Jones Duets” [sic] and “Dumb Jazz Standards” are stocked.
And there is a reasonably long line — dozens of people — waiting for a novelty brew on Sunday.
To really understand what’s going on with the American economy, don’t look at the headlines. Don’t look at the unemployment rate or the trade balance or the deficit. Don’t even look at what’s happening today at all: Look at what happened 46 years ago.
And what happened then? Fewer Americas were being born, points out Harry S. Dent Jr. in “The Demographic Cliff: How to Survive and Prosper During the Great Deflation of 2014-2019” (Portfolio).
Following the Baby Boom, which peaked in 1961, came the Baby Bust, a long slow decline in the birthrate. Those babies grew up and began spending in accordance with highly predictable patterns.
People tend, for instance, to buy houses at about the same age — age 31 or so. Around age 53 is when people tend to buy their luxury cars — after the kids have finished college, before old age sets in. Demographics can even tell us when your household spending on potato chips is likely to peak — when the head of it is about 42.
Ultimately the size of the US economy is simply the total of what we’re all spending. Overall household spending hits a high when we’re about 46. So the peak of the Baby Boom (1961) plus 46 suggests that a high point in the US economy should be about 2007, with a long, slow decline to follow for years to come.
Take the fashion-savvy and the dessert-savvy, and combine them to make the perfect delicacy. Cakepops are the latest trend to take over the dessert world.
Cakepops have many styles and endless possibilities in the bite-sized goodness. The customizable creations are perfect for birthday parties, bridal showers, baby showers and wedding favors.
Cakepops For You: Handcrafted bite size cake on a stick!
Dr. Daniel Fishbein : April Recess has been Cancelled
LETTER FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT Click here to read a letter sent to district parents and guardians from Dr. Daniel Fishbein regarding changes to April Recess because of the excess of snow days.
In order to meet the mandatory 180 day requirement ,Dr Fishbien has announced that due to inclement weather and school closing ,April recess has been cancelled and school will be open Monday April 14th and Tuesday April 15th , if additional school days will be taken starting with Wednesday April 16th.
As the winter of 2014 rages on (and on and on) in North Jersey, the ratio of buried sidewalks to kids with shovels seems to be somewhere in the vicinity of a million to one.
Do kids shovel snow, anymore? Do they even know that kids — USED to shovel snow? Or has this chapter in human history been completely erased? Not exactly.
Last week, Geri Dalton of Englewood did get lucky. “Our doorbell rang several times on Monday — all kids looking to shovel!”
Obamanomics: Obama Democrats’ troubling view on work
By Michael Goodwin
February 9, 2014 | 1:34am
Among its many stamps, the Postal Service has a series called “Made in America, Building a Nation.” The strip of “forever” stamps is a collection of iconic photographs of 20th-century industry featuring men and women toiling on railroads, skyscrapers and factory floors.
A celebration of work and workers, the series quotes Helen Keller saying, “The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes, but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.”
My, oh, my, how times have changed. America now has a government that views work as a trap and celebrates those who escape it.
That is the upshot of last week’s remarkable exchange over ObamaCare. It began when the head of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office reported that the interplay of taxes and subsidies in the law “creates a disincentive for people to work.” The report predicted the mix would lead to fewer hours worked, costing the equivalent of nearly 2.5 million jobs.
70 million Americans taking mind-altering drugs David Kupelian tells untold story of nation’s rapidly escalating drug dependence
Published: 4 hours ago
David Kupelian
News accounts of the Oscar-winner’s tragic demise typically reference the startling increase in heroin-related deaths in the last four to five years. The problem, reporters explain, is the vast number of Americans addicted to prescription pain meds like OxyContin, many of whom discover heroin to be both cheaper and easier to obtain than the prescription opioid drugs to which they initially became addicted.
That’s accurate as far as it goes. But by following the trail further, we arrive at a place far more shocking and consequential. We discover that not only has the traditional distinction between illegal “street drugs” and legal “therapeutic prescription drugs” become so blurred as to be almost nonexistent, but between America’s twin drug epidemics – one illegal, the other legal – well over 70 million Americans are using mind-altering drugs. And that number doesn’t include abusers of alcohol, which adds an additional 60 million Americans. So we’re really talking about 130 million strung-out Americans. How is this possible?
Lawyer for Christie administration seeking documents, interview with Hoboken mayor
Sunday, February 9, 2014 Last updated: Sunday February 9, 2014, 7:48 PM
BY SHAWN BOBURG
STAFF WRITER
The Record
A team of $650-per-hour attorneys representing Governor Christie’s office is seeking documents and a private interview with the Hoboken mayor, whose explosive allegations are a focal point of an ongoing federal probe — that the Christie administration tied Sandy recovery money to approval of a real estate project.
In letters obtained by The Record, lawyer Randy Mastro asked that Mayor Dawn Zimmer and four other Hoboken officials provide his legal team with documents already handed over to federal investigators. Authorities are looking into Zimmer’s claims that she was pressed to support a developer represented by the law firm of David Samson, the chairman of the Port Authority and a Christie confidant.
How much phone data does NSA collect?
February 08, 2014, 12:08 pm
By Megan R. Wilson
The National Security Agency collects less than 30 percent of U.S. phone records due to “technical challenges” involved with the influx of cellphone data, according to media reports.
The agency’s phone data collection has dropped significantly since 2006 as it struggles to keep pace with consumers’ shift away from landlines.
It has faced issues in customizing its system to handle the increase of cell data while not sweeping in cell tower and location-based information, which the agency is not legally authorized to obtain. The records include numbers called and call duration.
Eight years ago, the NSA was collecting “almost 100” percent of bulk call data, an anonymous senior U.S. official told the Washington Post Saturday.
While officials told the Post that collection stands at under 30 percent, the Wall Street Journal pegs the telephone metadata collection levels at fewer than 20 percent – spurring questions about the legitimacy of the program.
Websites look to ‘harness the outrage’
February 09, 2014, 06:00 am
By Julian Hattem
Thousands of websites on Tuesday will take a stand against government surveillance by plastering protests across their home pages.
Tech companies and civil liberties organizations are hoping the demonstration, called The Day We Fight Back, will replicate their success in defeating the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) in 2012.
This time activists are focusing their energy on supporting the USA Freedom Act, which would end or curtail many of the most controversial surveillance programs at the National Security Agency (NSA) and elsewhere.
“The idea is to really harness the outrage of the Internet community in speaking out in one big voice on Feb. 11,” said Rainey Reitman, the director of activism at the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The protest comes nearly a month after President Obama announced a handful of changes to the embattled spy agency’s most controversial practices. Critics said the changes weren’t nearly enough.
Damage to power station in shooting last year prompts worries over terrorism.
February 6, 2014, 5:55 p.m.
Shooters armed with assault rifles and some knowledge of electrical utilities have prompted new worries on the vulnerability of California’s vast power grid.
A 2013 attack on an electric substation near San Jose that nearly knocked out Silicon Valley’s power supply was initially downplayed as vandalism by Pacific Gas & Electric Co., the facility’s owner. Gunfire from semiautomatic weapons did extensive damage to 17 transformers that sent grid operators scrambling to avoid a blackout.
But this week, a former top power regulator offered a far more ominous interpretation: The attack was terrorism, he said, and if circumstances had been just a little different, it could have been disastrous.
February Recess: Ridgewood Parks & Recreation activities
Sukey Molloy – Children’s Music Program
Ridgewood Parks & Recreation
Award winning performer Sukey Molloy’s music and teachings are the centerpiece of her mission to encourage young children to play, move, and sing. Adults and children alike will enjoy her sing-along fun to celebrate winter. Tuesday, February 18th, 1:30 pm, The Anne Zusy Youth Center, Village Hall, 131 North Maple Ave. Tickets are $5 per person. All who attend must purchase a ticket (ages 2 and up). As seating is limited, it is suggested tickets be purchased in advance. Purchase online at Community Pass, www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass (under Village Parks and Recreation) or in person at The Stable, 259 N. Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Telephone 201-670-5560.
Magnetism Workshop – Explore Science
Ridgewood Parks & Recreation Program
Magnetism Workshop with Explore Science, Inc. Program to introduce students to the basics of attraction and repulsion of magnetism. Students will learn to use scientific method to test and create their own magnetic sailboats and vehicles. The workshop, for grades 1 through 5, will be held at The Stable, 259 North Maple Avenue on Tuesday, February 18th, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. The cost is $50 per child which includes all materials. Non-residents may register if space allows; an additional $10 fee will be charged. Register online at Community Pass, www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass, or in person/by mail to The Stable, 259 N. Maple Ave., Ridgewood. Locate the registration form on the Recreation homepage at www.ridgewoodnj.net/recreation. The Recreation office is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Call 201-670-5560 with any questions of if special accommodations are needed.
Creative Art Lab – February School Break
Ridgewood Parks & Recreation Program
SmartyCat Kids provides exciting enrichment programs and invites students in Grades K through 3 to join the fun during the February school break. This is the ultimate art program for fostering creativity and enjoying freedom of expression. Using a wide variety of materials, students will sculpt, paint, design t-shirts and even create edible art. The art lab will be held at The Stable, 259 North Maple Avenue, Ridgewood, on Wednesday and Thursday, February 19th and 20th, from 9:30 a.m. to 12 noon each day. The cost is $60 per child which includes all materials. Non-residents may register if space allows; an additional $10 fee will be charged. Register online at Community Pass, www.ridgewoodnj.net/communitypass, or in person by mail to The Stable, 259 N. Maple Ave., Ridgewood. Locate the registration form on the Recreation homepage at www.ridgewoodnj.net/recreation. The Recreation office is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Call 201-670-5560 with any questions of if special accommodations are needed.
STAN FISCHLER COLUMN: Nothing positive to say about this ‘Stupid Bowl’
With a week’s worth of 20-20 hindsight, we can unequivocally label last Sunday night’s vaudeville show in East Rutherford, New Jersey what it was, The Stupid Bowl.
Except if you are a fanatical Seahawks fan, everything about the event ranked from ill-planned to just plain dumb.
Start with the zany promise that New Jersey Transit could even come close to handling the 33,000 fans leaving MetLife Stadium.
Belated memo to NJ Transit dreamers: this was not a bar mitzvah.
Let’s face it, the idea of tossing what should have been a purely New York City event in a relatively small New Jersey town was as colossal a mistake as the Broncos game plan.
Forget about the fact that New Jersey never should have allowed the Giants and Jets to camp at MetLife Stadium unless the Jints and Jets changed their name to New Jersey Giants and New Jersey Jets.
How much phony can geography get when a team calls the Garden State its home but puts another state’s name on its logo? Stupid as in Stupid Bowl.
Boy did these promoters sell New Jersey hoteliers, restaurateurs and other businessmen a bill of goods.
They promised sold out hotels, booming eateries and tangential bonanzas that were as fictitious as
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Ridgewood 10th Annual Service of Healing
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Ridgewood, NJ will conduct its 10th Healing on Sunday, March 16th in the parlor. The church is located at 155 Linwood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ, or call 201-444-3600
The worship service will be led by The Rev. Andrew D. Nelson, with music by Diane Mitchell, Director of Music. This service is being held in cooperation with the
Parish Nurse/Care Ministry at Bethlehem.
The focus of this worship service will be wholeness. Healing does not mean just the lack of illness or disability. The root of the word heal means wholeness. As Christians, we remember that our wholeness involves harmony in all areas of our lives-body, mind and spirit, with Christ at its center. Christian healing directs us toward being the person God is calling us to be at every stage of our living and our dying. For some,healing is comfort, for some, strength, for others, physical healing.
Through prayer, anointing with oil and confession we cast our burdens on the Lord. We confess that Jesus meets us in our brokenness and pain and brings His love to
bear – forgiving, transforming, redeeming and healing by His grace. Jesus does this in God’s way, in God’s time, and according to God’s loving purpose for each individual.
Our physical, mental and emotional hurts and ills are not signs of God’s rejection
but symptoms of our fallen world in which sin and death reign. We are invited by God to commend our ills on Him for this life, realizing that ultimate healing awaits us in heaven.
Please join us as we come together for this renewal of body, mind and spirit on
Sunday, March 16th bring a friend! at 1pm. Light refreshments will follow in the parlor. All are welcome,
