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If it makes you feel better, he recently located to a new warehouse space on Van Wagenen ave in JC, so he's officially okay to use now.

He also hopes to start selling pianos in the next few months.

Mark.

I had a shoplifter in my store 2 weeks ago... I called 911, it rang 7 times then hung up on me. I called back and they told me to call the regular number. I did so and 30 minutes later a cop showed up (by which time the thief was long gone). I offered a photo, a name and a current place of work but he wasn't interested and told me a detective would come in to take the report.... that was May 14th and I have yet to hear from them. There's no question that they're keeping the percentages low by ignoring crimes. Rape and murder are harder to slip under the rug, which is why they probably reflect more accurate numbers.

Mark.

I've never been in, but I know the owner and I know how much work she's done over the years... it's the entire building... 4 stories with multiple decks, etc... Very cool place. Who knows if it's worth 4.6mil, or if she'll get it, but just keep in mind it's not a condo or even 'an entire brownstone', it's a huge freakin' 7000sf building!

Mark.

... checking pockets.... damn only 3mil.

Hi eracko - we offer voice lessons at Metropolis Music - 240 Newark ave. It's about a 10 minute walk from Grove st. Stop by or give us a call - 201-222-8441 - thanks...

Mark.

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It's hard to believe that shutting down one tiny guy could make that much difference... but then, I'm no water thingy expert.

Mark.

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Well my gates got tagged bad a few weeks ago... but this morning when I got to work the gates are cleaner and shinier than I've ever seen them... apparently the anti-graffiti elves visited me this morning and power washed it all away. I filed a police report at the time but never called to have it removed. I don't know if they use the police reports or just drive up and down the streets looking for graffiti, but either way, I'm happy. :) It must have been around 9:30... I got here at 9:45 and the water was still dripping off the gates - if anyone saw who it was that cleaned it up, let me know.

Mark.

An interesting view on Comcast's bandwidth cap...



Comcast's play for high-speed service
Commentary: Something is fishy about its broadband access ploys
By John C. Dvorak

BERKELEY, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Comcast Corp. has introduced newer, faster Internet-access services, including a 50 Mbps offering that pretty much stretches to the limit the capability of the cable-TV infrastructure - at least for now. But even this speed is more bandwidth than anyone can use. There are few sites people visit or download from that will actually deliver anything close to that.

Residential services
Extreme 50 (50 Mbps upload/ 10 Mbps download) at $139.95/month
Ultra (22/5 Mbps up/down) at $62.95/month
Performance Plus (16/2 Mbps up/down) at $52.95/month
Performance (12/2 Mbps up/down) at $42.95/month

Business services
Deluxe 50 (50/10 Mbps up/down) at $189.95/month
Premium (22/5 Mbps up/down) at $99.95/month
Starter (12/2 Mbps up/down) at variable introductory prices.

In today's world, this 50/10 speed is something of a gimmick under normal circumstances. That is, unless, Comcast is going to start some new services itself that will require this kind of outrageous speed. This means downloadable or streaming movies of the sort provided by Netflix Inc. with its new offerings. Comcast is well positioned to offer new services like this to its customers once it figures out how to work out a download "cap" that will prevent its users from using anyone else's services -- at least for now.

A few months back, Comcast announced that it would impose a monthly 250 GB usage limit on its users. I personally think this is a lot of usage, but I don't know for a fact since Comcast doesn't actually tell its users how many bits they use a month.

This in itself makes the whole usage cap seem fishy to me. Something is up.

Hogs
They idea, they say, is to get rid of abusive users who do nothing more than download movies and trade files all day and night. Since the connections are shared by large numbers of people, the performance can be adversely affected by some of these bandwidth hogs. But it seems like no coincidence that Comcast just instituted this policy as Netflix was coming online with its various download-and-play and streaming initiatives to sell movies over the net. This is a business -- delivering movies -- that Comcast is in too with the cable-TV business. So I think the strategy is to create this cap that keeps competitors temporarily away from Comcast customers when it comes to delivering video content. In the meantime, Comcast can study the business model for delivering movies over the Internet itself. In other words, I think the reasons for the cap are to keep the Netflix scheme and others at bay temporarily. Netflix or any other content provider then won't have gained much market share.

DSL service
So I'm thinking that the 250 GB cap is just temporary. Right now, Comcast has done the best job of ramping up universal high-speed services, especially when compared to the phone company and its failure to advance the state of DSL services. The only real competitors for Comcast are local fiber-optic lash-ups that tend to be restricted to new housing developments. The only cloud on the Comcast horizon might be continued efforts to deliver high-speed Internet access via wireless schemes such as the Sprint Xohm product. This has the potential to be a winner too.
For now, the picture is rosy for Comcast and the rest of the cable companies that deliver a quality high-speed Internet connection at a reasonable price. But look for all of them to go aggressively into selling movies over the Internet in the next year or two. End of Story

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story ... roadband/story.aspx?guid={AC502994-6345-478B-8168-77F8C2BCC550}&dist=msr_1

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We used to live on 8th st. and they had these in the hallways... for about a month while we lived there some kind of electrical problem made them all chirp every 30 seconds... drove me crazy.

Mark.

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Or that it's pronounced 'B-you-m'. That was a pretty elaborate scheme.... worthy of a DiCaprio or Clooney movie.... but for 3 years? You'd think by then the warehouses would have got wise.

Mark.

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The blinds at Home Depot were a sort of sickly brown color and around $75 for the size I needed. The blinds at JCPenney are/were on sale for 40% off and worked out to about $50 each. We also already had a couple sets of the JCP blinds and they work/look great. Okay back to topic! Towing sucks!

Mark.

http://www4.jcpenney.com/jcp/X6.aspx? ... partment&Search1Prod=True

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For me there's a boundary crossed between the $1 refund and the $2 parking. I've gone elsewhere many times to avoid the $2 parking, but I can't be bothered to go get my dollar back if I'm forced to park there. I usually just need the anchor stores and 20 minutes or less and walking to the center of the mall isn't worth my time. The stores should just validate. I needed to run in to JCPenney last week to buy $300 worth of window blinds and I hesitated at the parking garage when I remembered that I had to pay the $2.

Mark.

The chunk of parking lot directly outside the Pep Boys front door bordered by the concrete curbs is a separate lot than the BJs/ShopRite/BBB parking lot. I've had my car towed when it was left at Pep Boys for repair. The repair was to take all day, so I left the lot (I went to work... not the mall).

http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewt ... id=128465#forumpost128465
http://jclist.com/modules/newbb/viewt ... id=172410#forumpost172410

Mark.

I have it on very good authority that they're putting in a Whole Foods Superstore where the gun store used to be. They got some kind of zoning permit that will let them build up another 20 stories.

Mark.

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It's not that big a secret... you think his gang is going to see him walking around the neighborhood after confessing to murder, kidnapping, drug-dealing and burglary and think he got off for his good looks? Everyone will know why he's not locked up. I just want to know who his lawyer is in case I ever need a deck of get-out-of-jail-free cards too.

Mark.

It's the original 1953 movie.... not the Tom Cruise version. Orson Welles did the 1938 radio broadcast version.

Mark.

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I yelled at the parking lot monkey for a while, then it turned out one of the PepBoys lawyers happened to be at that location for something and he made some calls and took care of it. The monkey said he knew the car had been left for service, but had been parked in the wrong place and PepBoys said they knew the car had been towed but didn't do anything about it until I showed up and found out for myself.

Mark.

Yeah I was towed after leaving my car for service at Pepboys once. Last time I needed work I went to Sears instead... they were faster and cheaper, and didn't tow me away! woohoo!

Mark.

Well if no one else is going to say anything..... The Loews is showing War of the Worlds this Friday night at 9pm. It's being shown as part of the 2008 Culture of Contact UFO Festival, and is open to the public. $6 at the door - awesome.

Mark.

http://www.loewsjersey.org

There are studies that say buybacks don't work, that money handed out is used to buy more guns, that up to 25% of returned guns aren't even operational... so what? If a large corporation wants to sponsor a buyback and give out $200 gift cards for getting unused guns out of closets and shoeboxes and attics, why not? It doesn't cost taxpayers much, and if it prevents a couple of the hundreds of children accidentally killed by guns each year then go for it. If it doesn't, it can't hurt, and in conjunction with more education and more enforcement it could start to make a difference.

Mark.

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It's easy to keep the playground in good shape when the kids are too scared to play on it.

Mark.

Not sure how recent it is, but I just noticed a new one outside the BofA on Newark ave... neato.

Mark.

I haven't been there for a few months, but I love it... nice char grilled burgers and the best BLT in JC.

Mark.

Quote: I'm from northern Vermont and I saw Champ when I was about 10... scared the willies out of me. It's a good tourist attraction... you can buy just about anything with CHAMP emblazoned across it with a little cartoon dinosaur. Someone needs to get on that... we need to claim the monster for NJ! Libby <3 JC! Mark.

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I saw the gum-stars... they were cool... but I think they were done by the kids at Steven's convenience store. His grandkids hang out there after school.

Mark.

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That's a pretty fancy one... the most common is one from good old Radio Shack.. I've had mine for years. $50.

http://www.radioshack.com/product/ind ... decibel&parentPage=search

Mark.

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I think this needs some clarification... 65 decibels is the equivalent of a normal conversation between 2 people. Clubs would be in violation of the ordinance if a waiter dropped a plate on the floor!

Mark.

I'll be wrapped up with the art show this weekend, and I'm really bummed that I'll miss it. If you haven't seen and heard the Morton Wonder Organ played, it's something to behold. The phrase "all the bells and whistles" originated from the description of such organs, which could perform all the necessary bells, whistles, horns, whip cracks, galloping hooves, etc that silent movie accompaniment required, as well as dozens of other instruments and sound effects.

You can bet I'll be there Oct 25th, 10th row center for Phantom of the Opera with organ accompaniment tho...

Mark.

Quote: Someone else mentioned the Casa Dante area, but when I was out Tuesday afternoon they had ripped up Newark ave west of Little India (down by all the warehouses).... if they've gotten from there to Casa Dante in 2 days, it can't be more than a few more years until they make it downtown! <- holding breath Mark.

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I think that's supposed to become a tapas bar... and looks very cool on the inside.... looks like it could be opening fairly soon (barring the usual permit-go-round). The gun store was farther west between the beauty supply place and the Studio 17 hair salon.

Mark.

I'll double check my locks.... although I did get a nice 8 foot wide spray paint tag on my gates last night too... first time ever. Full moon last night or something?

Mark.