Starbucks Coffee prints a motto on the back of their business cards:  “One person, one cup, and one neighborhood at a time.”  If you read it carefully, it sounds a bit like the credo of an Alien nation about to invade Earth. For the record, Seattle is a nice town, or at least when the smog is not creating total overcast.  The Space Needle is spectacular and Grey’s Anatomy is not a bad show, all things being considered.   So any opinions I may have regarding Starbucks and its policies are no r...

It is rare that I deign to expend valuable time to write a movie review. Clearly if a movie strikes a chord of remembrance or exhibits a unique creativity, it is worth mentioning. But on occasion, a movie does the total opposite.  On the offbeat occasion when a movie is a total disgrace, when it offends a pleasant memory, a critical attack becomes necessary to protect the viewing public from plunking $ 12.50 down + snacks and wasting 149 minutes of time that could be better spent walking up ...

Living in a coop can be a wonderful thing.  It can have great social benefits.  You have in-house maintenance, pool membership for an unreasonably excessive fee, and tennis courts that are rarely used by the residents because:  (a) the fees are too high;  (b) there are many seniors who no longer consider tennis a viable pastime;   (c) in order to play you have to pick up keys at the security office, since the project for card keys was never completed; (d) the tennis courts and the fenc...

In May 2012, a proposal was made to the Fort Lee Board of Education.  One year later, in May 2013, after numerous roadblocks were placed to prevent this proposal from ever becoming a reality, a new commercial Scotsman Ice Maker was installed at the Lewis F. Cole Middle School Concession Stand.  On Thursday, May 30, 2013, for Middle School Field Day, for the first time ever, the kids had ICE readily available. There were numerous people to thank for their assistance with this project.  Thr...

Those of us who run small businesses are well aware that “snail mail” is no longer the preferred method of correspondence.   E-bills and E-payments are commonplace.  Personal letters have been replaced by e-mails.  With the U.S. Postal Service facing financial deficits that are increasing geometrically each year, the federal government recognizes the need for reorganization. There are currently discussions of downsizing, deliveries only five days per week,  and closing smaller distribution cente...

It only seems fitting for the week of NJ ASK to have a short dissertation on testing. As one walks outside Fort Lee High School or any other high school in the United States, one can always hear the all too familiar lament from a disconsolate mother, “Well, my son is very bright, but he is just not a good test taker”.  To many a listener, these words ring all too true. Masses of parents join in, forming a general assemblage of malcontents, desperately worried that John or Jane will not ge...

How much is Sixty Million Dollars?  Let’s try to put some perspective on this paltry sum of money! (1) It is petty cash for Warren Buffett.  (2) This amount is on the lower end of Bernie Madoff’s goal for ripping people off. (3) It is two and one half years of Alex Rodriguez’s salary contract on the New York Yankees.  (4) It is $2M more than Mark Sanchez’s contract over five years to throw a football with an ineptitude rarely witnessed in the NFL.     (5) It is $15M less than Tom ...

"The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," said Wayne LaPierre, NRA's poor excuse for an executive vice president. He is absolutely wrong because that assumes the “good guy” is a better shot. In truth, the only way to stop a “bad guy with a gun” is “a good guy with a bazooka”. Friday, March 8, 2013 was assuredly a happy day for the NRA. South Dakota became the 1st State of the Union to enact a law specifically authorizing school employees to carry guns. The NRA...

RECENT NEWS ITEMS THAT DEMAND ATTENTION!  My apologies to my wife in advance, but I couldn’t resist. Everyone is getting on Manti Te’o’s case for an imaginary girlfriend.   I just think he’s smarter than the rest of us.  Does nobody else see the perks of an imaginary girlfriend? (1)   She will never charge designer clothing on your credit card. (2)   She would never ask for expensive jewelry. (3)   She will not complain when you don’t take her out to a fancy restaurant. (4)...

Are we hearing the Death Knells of the Catholic Church? I am quite sure now that often, very often, in matters concerning religion and politics a man's reasoning powers are not above the monkey's. - Mark Twain in Eruption Pope Benedict XVI resigned, hardly a monumental loss.  This is a pope who (1) stated that condoms spread aids; (2) insulted the Islamic world, causing global riots, and (3) welcomed a bishop who denied the holocaust back into the fold.  www.nytimes.com 2/12/13 ===...