Re: This is funny, I know it sounds like spam, but I just bought $8 Rx eye glasses!
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G-P's post prodded me to try this out, I'd heard of it long before. It seemed worth gambling some bucks to see what I'd get, I'd put off getting bifocals because of the cost of replacing them frequently. I'm hard on glasses as I work with abrasives. I ordered 2 pairs from 2 different places:
An 80% dark, plastic frame plain scrip sunglasses from Goggles4u for $31 shipped. An autodarkening, progressive scrip in a metal frame from Zennioptical for $80 shipped. The "photochromic" and progressive was a $59 upcharge. The base price from Goggles was higher than Zinni, if I had gotten the sunglasses from Zenni it would have been cheaper. Both took a couple of weeks. When I called Zenni to ask some questions, I got a nice, helpful, native english speaker. He told me while the specs are made in China, customer service is in California. The sunglasses were crap. Cheap looking frame with lenses cut small so the frames squeaked and the lenses can be easily popped out. Something in the scrip seems off also, and they didn't seem 80% dark to me. I complained about the loose lenses, and they say they're sending me new ones, no request was made for the old ones. The Zenni progressives are awesome. A nice looking quality feeling metal frame, and the lens edges are polished, something BJ's lab doesn't do. Yesterday, I sat down with a bank officer, and the first thing he said was: "where did you get your glasses?". He was enamored of my round lenses which are hard to find. Maybe they're so unhip they're coming round to cutting edge like bell bottoms and sideburns. Both the progressive lenses and the darkening are taking some getting used to, but I sure feel like I got my money's worth after window shopping frames at Sears and they were all over $100. These glasses would have cost me $300 there I guess. Caveat emptor, but there is the real deal out there.
Posted on: 2008/4/16 3:17
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Re: Epps' pay would climb to $275G in 3 years
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He might have well have a piece of bling around his neck that says "NO SHAME". People should at least be dead before you name stuff after them, if not long dead. Can you imagine serving in the Persian Gulf on the soon to be commissioned carrier USS George H. W. Bush?
Posted on: 2008/4/15 1:47
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Re: Report: New Jersey among most expensive places to be a renter
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Great! Poof! It's done! Now: which tax do you want to go up to replace that revenue? Gas? Income? sales? They're all lower than if we lived in NYC. There's no easy answers, unless you're running for office of course. The unsaid part of the high rent issue is that most of NJ is suburbs that have drastically restrictive zoning for multifamily homes, thus driving up rents for the few available. Blaming taxes is a red herring, and this "report" is to serve that "affordable housing advocacy group's" agenda.
Posted on: 2008/4/15 1:31
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Re: Commuter vans being pulled from the road
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Home away from home
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I'm SHOCKED!! That is, that the van actually pulled over rather than just stop in the middle of the road like every other van and city bus does. They should get rid of the bus stops if the point of them is to allow cars to pass a stopped bus. We'd have that much more parking. I love the idea of the free market beating the bureaucracy, but these vans should at least be safe and insured.
Posted on: 2008/4/15 1:17
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Re: Graffiti - Downtown
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Home away from home
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Alb sweetie, you're off your rails. 99% of graffiti is not "art" but gang tags or their equivalent. Like I said, dogs pissing on poles. Even if an Artist made your surface beautiful the next day some ass would place his tag over it, because you put it in play. Take your camera and show me 5 spots downtown that you'd like on your home. If you actually owned a valuable piece of property you wouldn't dream of doing as you say, uncontrolled graffiti is one of the things can cause a neighborhood's property value to plummet. Your neighbors would throw bricks through your windows.
Posted on: 2008/4/13 21:32
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Re: Toll Brother's Travesty in the PAD
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It's funny, as I read your post some similarities struck me between the votes here and the recent congestion pricing failure in NY. The non-Manhattan legislators couldn't see how the plan would benefit "their" constituents. Downtown is kinda the Manhattan of JC's boroughs, and gets the back of the hand when opportunity arises. People never see that they might be the next victim. But downtowners were supportive of the Westside's battle against the Borg, I mean the warehouse cube plan on the river that Healy was in love with. Part of the problem might be there's no "grand council of JC neighborhood groups", like a next level up from the existent Downtown Council of Neighborhood Associations (DCNA). Such a group might be able to help each ward see the benefit of mutual support in battles like this. Each time so far the wheel needs to be reinvented, like the warehouse, reservoir and sewers issues. Scooter, thanks for the love, and interesting theory that they always meant to pitch the plan. Why not, if there's no downside?
Posted on: 2008/4/11 1:06
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Re: Toll Brother's Travesty in the PAD
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Dan,
What's the point of fighting for any zoning covenant if they can simply toss it and start a whole new fight every time? I guess the councilmembers from other wards figure they're voters could care less about this, but who's plan is next? Is the reservoir going to be put on the table again to be made into ballfields? When is a win a win? When I first joined the HPNA board there were members working their butts off on the Jersey Ave Redevelopment Zone Plan. Now I fully expect that when a big enough player want that one tossed, tossed it will be.
Posted on: 2008/4/10 22:02
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Re: Graffiti - Downtown
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Home away from home
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Yes, it was done to my home and other people's homes. And it's done all over to people private property, their businesses and, OUR public spaces. There's no reason to tolerate vandalism just because it's common. Part of the great turnaround of NYC in the 90's was not tolerating graffiti and all the other little crap like squeegee terrorists that made life there miserable. Guiliani would have made a miserable president, but he was the right mayor at the right time, at least for his 1st term.
Posted on: 2008/4/10 3:46
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Re: Tragic end to crime trail of fury -- Cops: Shot self after robbery, 2 carjackings
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Home away from home
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G-P, stop trolling for a gun control fight! don't we get enough of them? You should see the gun nuts come out of the middle America woodwork on a machine shop site I frequent. Kinda reminds you who votes republican besides the local "lower my taxes" crowd.
Posted on: 2008/4/9 23:10
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Re: Toll Brother's Travesty in the PAD
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Home away from home
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Bill Matsikoudis, the city's top attorney, dismissed PADNA's grounds for a lawsuit. Apart from the specifics of the PAD case, what bothers and amazes me is that the city corporate counsel essentially says that zoning and redevelopment plans, the products of long public negotiations to begin with, aren't worth the paper they're printed on and are completely subject to renegotiation at any time. He's basically saying land use laws are for suckers without connections and cash. Did they pass the zoning to begin with so they could put the squeeze on developers in exchange for changes?
Posted on: 2008/4/9 15:38
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Re: Graffiti - Downtown
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It's just like dogs lifting their leg at everything they see to mark it: "I've been here"....not that I want to change the topic to dogs here!
Posted on: 2008/4/8 15:21
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Re: Graffiti - Downtown
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Home away from home
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Why is something so obvious ever fuzzy to some people? Was the fact that my garden wall had some peeling paint make it a free fire zone for "free expression?" Between the tagging and the Comcast thugs climbing over my fences this liberal is ready to get me a shotgun. Anyone know where to get rocksalt loads like Granny Clampett used?
Posted on: 2008/4/8 2:48
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Re: Graffiti - Downtown
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Anyone else noticing a wave of tagging? I've been tagged both downtown and in the heights recently. It's been years since there's been much of this on my property.
Posted on: 2008/4/7 16:45
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Re: Chuck Heston Dead
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It's funny, I've always liked his movies, but recently sat down with "El Cid" and found it unwatchable. I've forgiven his politics for doing some decent film SF at a time when few else would do it at a level above Corman. I thought Omega Man was more realistic and scary than Smith's Legend.
"SOYLENT GREEN IS PEOPLE!!!" We could be there yet...
Posted on: 2008/4/7 0:05
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Re: Who here really, really hates Comcast?
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Customer demands on a monopoly?! They should care what you think...why? I threatened to cut down their wires and didn't manage to get their attention. The only reason I didn't is my neighbor doesn't deserve that.
Posted on: 2008/4/6 15:28
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Re: Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo ripped Jersey City yesterday about abatements
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Sal, I can't play anymore. There's no getting through. You win. Yay!!
Like I said, yours is the impeccable logic and absolutism that brought us Bush. Maybe we'll get another Mayor Cunningham!! Have fun, don't forget to turn out the lights.
Posted on: 2008/4/2 3:39
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Re: Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo ripped Jersey City yesterday about abatements
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SalOnTheHill wrote:
Quote:
Innaccurate. Read my comments from the Schundler thread. They are totally relative to other candidates: Quote: As a recent arrival, I voted for Schundler's 2nd term, I don't think I would do so again. But given our nonpartisan system of unlimited candidates and some of the of the possible horrific candidates that the fates might send up in runoff against Schundler, I can't rule out a vote for him. He may be a sacrosanct, self serving, blowhard, but at least he's not a drunken idiot.
Posted on: 2008/4/1 20:18
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Re: Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo ripped Jersey City yesterday about abatements
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Dan, competition is great. That means comparing 2 different candidates, not simply attacking the 1 city official who most agrees with your position because he isn't "perfect". It's that "in isolation" rather than by comparison part that gets me crazy, and made others think he's a troll, that is, making an argument he really doesn't support. If there's a comparison to be made to Manzo, it was not in there. Perhaps you'd like to make it, I'm sure it would be informative. I see this "he's not perfect" attack as the same logic that caused people to vote for Nader, because Gore had some warts. We all know where that got us. The folks who claimed in 2000 there was no difference between the Dems and GOP have seen how wrong they were in the larger picture. Lets not repeat the error and split our votes so far that none of our reform candidates make the runoff. I'm not saying Manzo or anyone else should walk away in favor of Fulop, but let the debate be rational and based on comparisons to each other, not some fictional ideal.
Posted on: 2008/4/1 18:14
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Re: Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo ripped Jersey City yesterday about abatements
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I guess you're right. This is someone who would saw off the tree limb he's standing on.
Posted on: 2008/3/31 18:44
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Re: Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo ripped Jersey City yesterday about abatements
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My lord Sal you are one freakin bulldog! So what even if Fulop did what you say: once voting contrary to his campaign platform. How freaking naive are you!! what's the point of complaining the 4/5 full glass is 1/5 empty, when you're in a freaking desert!! Take your show to Healy and the rest, no, wait, they nor their cronies are online or give crap what you say, they buy their votes wholesale, not solicit them retail here.
Like I said way back, it's simplistic attitudes like your that get us leaders like Bush, with a thin political track record and a pathological fear of EVER admitting making a mistake, or even changing policy to meet changing data. One of my problems with the Democratic campaign is that it basically winnowed out candidates by how much they had ever said or done, the most experienced going first. Hillary spend 7 years in the senate desperately trying to play it safe and is losing to a guy with an even thinner record. People like you who are unwilling or unable to look at the big picture rather than seeing things in black and white are driving the process into a race to the bottom.
Posted on: 2008/3/31 18:15
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Re: Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo ripped Jersey City yesterday about abatements
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Yeah that point was hard to miss, and I agree with it, but what's your larger point? The reason for your attacking the one member of JC's leadership attempting to inject some ethics and responsibility into city hall, rather than playing the usual patronage and crony game. You remind me of an old joke of my people: A Jewish mother is walking with her small son along the shore, enjoying the sounds and smells of the ocean. Suddenly, without warning, a huge wave comes in and washes the boy out to sea. The woman screams, but no one is nearby, and she can't swim. She sees her son's head bobbing up and down as he cries for help and moves farther and farther from shore. Desperate, she sinks to her knees in the sand. Pleading with God for mercy, she swears she will devote herself to good causes and be faithful in attending synagogue if God will spare her only child. Suddenly another huge wave crashes in, and deposits her son, wet but unhurt on the sand. She lifts her face to the heavens, extends both arms and cries... "He had a HAT!!!!" I assume Fulop had good reason to bend his stated policy, perhaps to get support from some other council member for another one of his initiatives. That's the way it's done. I remember people here slamming him for not getting anything done because he wouldn't play ball. Catch 22 anyone?
Posted on: 2008/3/30 23:25
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Re: Fugitives nabbed by cutting off their welfare benefits
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Once, just once, I'd like to see a guy like you with the slogan: CUT SPENDING NOW! It doesn't happen. They cut taxes on the rich and the rest of us have to pick up the slack as the country descends into deficits and debt. Cutting taxes has never actually shrunk the budget. No, not even Saint Reagan's tenure. He spent all he cut from people on the military. There's a study about morality where the subject is asked if he would warn someone of a danger if that persons act of avoidance would cause 5 more deaths. Most people say they would keep silent. But when the choice comes to actually acting to kill the 1 to save the many, most won't do that either. The cool thing was the choices activated different parts of the brain. My point is that "cutting taxes" is disconnected from having to look your victim in the eye. It's much easier to say "cut taxes" than to actually say "set criminals free, cut school budgets, cut the military budget, cut road and transit, etc.
Posted on: 2008/3/30 17:30
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Re: Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo ripped Jersey City yesterday about abatements
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Sal,
What IS your point? If you want a politician who never, EVER modifies or abandons a stated policy, there's one in the white house who will soon be looking for work.
Posted on: 2008/3/29 19:31
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Re: Former Assemblyman Lou Manzo ripped Jersey City yesterday about abatements
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Home away from home
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100 years ago Einstein proved we live in a relativistic world. A politician needs to be evaluated relative to the competition rather than perfection. Absolutists don't survive long in any political system. Yours is also the attitude that gets us leaders with thin resumes, rather than experience and long histories, which inevitably contain compromises that leave them vulnerable to your sort of absolutist criticism. Every election in my lifetime hasn't been about who's perfect, but who's less bad. Fulop has nearly continuously challenged the entrenched corrupt system. Who do you have that's less bad and electable, that considering a mayoral run? I think Lou Manzo has run and lost enough times to not be a viable candidate.
Posted on: 2008/3/29 16:21
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Re: Who here really, really hates Comcast?
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Here's another reason to hate them, their incompetent, trespassing contractors. Yesterday one climbed the fence into my yard to use my ladder to install a wire crossing right in front of my kitchen window to go to the neighbors garage apartment.
WHEN DID I SURRENDER ALL PROPERTY AND PRIVACY RIGHTS TO COMCAST!!! This is the second time they've done something like this, last time they destroyed a steel trash can by dropping a junction box cover on it because they were trying to service it from outside the gate leaning in over it. Neither of these idiots ever bothered to actually ring the doorbell, I was home when this new wire was installed. Had they injured themselves on my property I presumably would be liable. What if that ladder was lying there because it was broken and needed repair? I'm currently on hold waiting to speak to a comcast supervisor. If I don't get a satifying reaction I will be out in the yard with my wire clippers.
Posted on: 2008/3/26 15:59
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Re: New York Times: Ex-Jersey City Mayor Eyes Return to City Hall
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I don't think so. By turning off the water you're telling them you're doing something with your doodies other than flushing them down, which would raise some code violations I'm sure. Don't they also calculate your sewer bill by the amount of water you use? They'd never let you opt out of both the water and sewer and keep your C of O, not here where no one has room for leach fields and a well water would be suicidal. Do you suppose there's a septic tank in all of JC? As for the rest, grow up. We both hate the war, maybe you also hate social security, I hate corporate welfare, we all dislike something our government does. But govt is like health insurance, it only works if everyone pays, when people opt out and only pay when they discover they need it, it fails. Here's a platitude i think I just made up: government doesn't fail the people, it's the people that fail the govt. The apathy, ignorance, avarice and sheepness that people in JC and the US display at election time gets us the government we deserve.
Posted on: 2008/3/26 5:16
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Re: Handicapped Hang Tags
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Seems to me the way worse thing is the street handicapped spaces. I knew someone who lived with his elderly mother and got his own reserved handicapped space in front of the house because he sometimes drove her places. But mostly he commuted to work and never had to look for parking when he got home. How many of these spaces do you suppose are similarly thinly justified?
Posted on: 2008/3/26 2:43
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Re: New York Times: Ex-Jersey City Mayor Eyes Return to City Hall
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I am not in principle against the free market. I am against captive markets controlled by and for a narrow interest. Why should a privately run monopoly be any more efficient than a publicly run one? It's real competition that creates efficiency, and even real markets like autos sometimes end up competing on anything but price. Witness how they all colluded to keep the profit margins on SUV's sky high. Don't even get me started on the healthcare and drug industries. The creation of municipal authorities in JC ended up simply making the same old graft and inefficiency even more unaccountable. How could the Parking Authority, which should basically make money like it was a mint, possibly ever run in the red like it did recently? Imagine the malfeasance that takes. What do you suppose goes on in the other authorities that we don't expect to make money? I haven't studied the Hague period enough to offer a specific opinion, but blaming him for JC's share of a nationwide trend of white flight and cities losing their industrial base seems over the top. If you want a smart honest hardworking mayor, keep an eye on Fulop. GWB, yes I understand that point. I have 2 points to counter. 1- some of that growth was bought by policies that mortgaged the financial future of the city. 2- JC had some exceptional geographic advantages over many other cities, being in the shadow of the NYC economic engine without actually being part of the city, and being small enough that the inflows made a big demographic difference. There are few cities this close to a very large one without being part of it, like brooklyn is. Yes, Schundler was the best mayor of the past 15 years. Unfortunately for us that's not saying much. The quality of our leadership is astonishingly low.
Posted on: 2008/3/25 1:29
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Re: New York Times: Ex-Jersey City Mayor Eyes Return to City Hall
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Privatization and deregulation were all the rage for a while. The problem was that ultimately neither accomplished a true marketplace. It's not like you can shop around for a different water company than United Water. And deregulation led to Enron and it's form of corrupt market manipulation, cronyism and fraud. Both turned out to just another way to pick the public pocket. The only reason anyone ever wants to "privatize" the Turnpike is to plug a budget hole today by depriving the future of assets and income. You don't sell your tools to pay the rent on your workshop. You're left with neither tools nor workshop. Lastly, has privatizing security in Iraq by paying Blackwater troopers $1200 a day for thing previously done by GI's been such a good idea? Like most of the privatization, it's been just a way to cook the books and enrich the connected.
Posted on: 2008/3/24 22:02
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