Halloween 2012 storm edition rolls on

With Bobby "Boris" Pickett with the timeless classic 'Monster Mash'

First off, Happy Halloween!!

We'll have some Halloween fun today for sure but please, if you can help out in your city, be it Jersey City or Hoboken or Bayonne or NYC or wherever, please do. If you have power this morning you have it better than some of your neighbors. Look in on them, invite them over. Showers and a place to charge electronics can really help make a difference.

With that, it's Johnny's favorite Halloween band The Flametrick Subs and the 'Pride O' Texas'!

Late night open thread

The closer you are to a storm strike such as this the less you know of what happens after everywhere else.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

The Jersey City Desk is back on the air....for now

Power is back on in the offices and we'll be back at it in the morning once the interns get in.

Jersey City announces curfew

Mayor Healy has announced a curfew for most of Jersey City but especially aimed at those who might want to "enjoy" the storm from the riverwalk and or J. Owen Grundy Park beginning at 6pm.

From Huffington Post:
Healy said the city's waterfront district along the Hudson River and the southern portion of the city between the Hudson River and the Hackensack River will be subject to a curfew from 6 p.m. Monday evening to 1 p.m. Tuesday afternoon.

Healy said at a Monday afternoon press briefing that a storm surge is expected to flood those areas, including the riverwalk along the Hudson, and a curfew is needed to discourage people who may want to watch the storm from the riverwalk.

He said that while he is confident that buildings will "not crumble, "what’s going to happen to us will be treacherous."

That is all.

So come on out to Lindenhurst, the scuba diving has never been better!

It's like a postcard isn't it friends? Come on out to Lindenhurst and grab a brew and loiter as people scuba dive, like you do, in thigh deep water. We understand the kayak, those are always seen wherever reporter-on-the-scene-in-knee-deep-water stories rear their ugly heads. The scuba diver? Ewwwwwwww. Disgusting. What possible aquatic life are you looking at? The speckled big mouth gym sock?

So thrillseekers, grab a cab and get your fun loving self out to Lindenhurst now before the crowds get there!

Desolation Boulevard

Well, OK, Warren Ave. looking towards the Statue of Liberty.

We realize the storm is in the early stages...

But as of 9:25 DST Newark Mayor Cory Booker has not saved anyone's life....yet.

That is all.

Late night open thread

Is everybody in? The show is about to begin.
-- Jim Morrison

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

One more slice before the storm, shall we?

Why not make the Jersey City Desk your home for Hurricane Sandy/Frankenstorm

Johnny hustled home from Boston (In 3 hours 20 minutes -- you now have a marker set down Jersey City, top THAT) to pick up his dire wolf from K9dergarten and finish storm prep. He'll be having a hurricane soiree with several friends in the Powerhouse Arts District so they can be close to the action. The Jersey City Desk Action Weather Team will be passing along warnings, updates, and hopefully imagery and some video as the storm picks up speed.

So keep it here citizens, on Jersey City's official Frankenstorm blog.

Late night open thread

Frankenstorm, lol. They've given the coming storm a name. Only one thing to do at that point. Road trip. Johnny is heading up to Boston and will be back with you just in time to do live storm updates Monday and Tuesday with the Jersey City Desk Action Weather Team.

Til then.


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

3 men much braver than Johnny

MUCH braver.

So, we must prepare now for the storm of the century of the month!

Don't let the snarky headline fool you citizens, just about every weather prognosticator is saying the eastern seaboard is in for a Hurricane Sandy/Perfect Storm kind of thing. The National Weather Service has set this whopper of a storm at hitting New Jersey at 70%.

What's that? You don't watch the weather? You haven't heard about this mess coming our way? Well listen and take copious notes:

*Much of the U.S. East Coast has a good chance of getting blasted by gale-force winds, flooding, heavy rain and maybe even snow early next week by an unusual hybrid of hurricane and winter storm, federal and private forecasters say.

*It is likely to hit during a full moon when tides are near their highest, increasing coastal flooding potential, NOAA forecasts warn. And with some trees still leafy and the potential for snow, power outages could last to Election Day, some meteorologists fear. They say it has all the earmarks of a billion-dollar storm.

*"I don’t like to call a storm historic before it happens, but if this comes together, we’ll be talking about it for a very long time," said Steven DiMartino, owner of Freehold-based NY/NJ/PA Weather, part of Storm Surge LLC.

*"It makes you a bit nervous," DiMartino said. "We’re dealing with something really unique here. This is going to be a hurricane merging and forming into a powerful subtropical storm. It’s something we haven’t seen in quite some time. We can’t jump the gun yet. But we’re talking about a storm with so many potential impacts. Just the coastal flooding threat alone is tremendous."

So there you have it folks, something wicked this way comes. We figure you should probably start buying everything in sight from the grocery stores and home goods places for items such as food and batteries by Saturday. Johnny finds a nice nacho dip while you watch lawnchairs and unsecured children fly by your windows in a blizzard/hurricane can be relaxing. And beer. Yes, beer helps you make better decisions if the storm gets really really bad.

Late night open thread

“Autumn...the year's last, loveliest smile.”
-- William Cullen Bryant

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Are the New York Islanders moving to Brooklyn too? UPDATED!

The New York Islanders have scheduled a presser this afternoon at the Barclay's Center in Brooklyn. An Islanders press release states: "New York Islanders Owner Charles B. Wang, Barclays Center Majority Owner and Developer Bruce Ratner, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, Islanders General Manager Garth Snow, and Barclays Center and Brooklyn Nets CEO Brett Yormark" will be on hand for the 1 p.m. announcement.

You tell us. Sounds like Wang, who HATES the Nassau County Coliseum, but hasn't been able yet to strong arm the local populace in Uniondale and the surround to buy him something shiny may have just found his shiny new thing. No doubt there will be kicking and screaming over the lease and deals in place on Long Island but at the very LEAST we figure the Isles are planning on playing SOME games at the Barclay's Center with the possibility of playing more, many more, in the future.

UPDATE: Puck Daddy, Yahoo's erstwhile hockey blogger says YES the Isles ARE moving to Brooklyn in 2015.

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

If you don't have real terrorism leads and you're the NYPD just invent some

Simply pay an informant to TRY and get you questionable comments. Simply pay and informant and TRY to paint the Muslim community as jihad-happy. If there is no evidence and you're the NYPD who have so overreached in their hunt for terrorists behind every tree they may well have broken laws, you just pay people to create the problem you want to investigate.

Oh, and the NYPD? Yeah, they have no comment. 

Busted (again).

Late night open thread

Horses and bayonets. Classic.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Here's your chance to be a Jersey City know-it-all

And being a know-it-all is actually encouraged here today. Just as the Hoboken PATH station has the famous 'H' on the posts in the station Johnny noticed this morning the 'E' on the posts at the Newport station. Can anyone hip Johnny to what the 'E' stands for or used to stand for?

Be a hero and a know-it-all, it's OK, someone ASKED to you be one.

Late night open thread

“I would rather sit on a pumpkin, and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.”
-- Henry David Thoreau

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

It's beginning to look a lot like Halloween around town...

...and nowhere more than the Hamilton Park neighborhood. A morning walk over that way on this phenomenal fall day showed people all ready for All Hallow's Eve. It looks good on you Hamilton Park!

Late night open thread

It's the Saturday Night Scoreboard Show:

Rutgers 35
Temple 10
A relaxing drive home from Philly for the 7-0 Scarlet Knights

Alabama 44
Tennessee 13
And the Tide rolls on and on and on and on

LSU 24
Texas A&M 19
It DOES seem odd seeing A&M in an SEC game

Eastern Michigan 48
Army 38
If the Army can't stand up to Eastern Michigan what chance do they have against China?

Lehigh 42
Bucknell 19
A well earned week off for the Mountain Hawks this week before the home stretch

Toledo 29
Cincinnati 23
Northern Ohio upsets southern Ohio

Butler 39
Morehead St. 35
Morehead St. gets the short end of the stick

North Carolina St. 20
Maryland 18
The turtles miss a late FG and get no glory

The Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®
Louisiana-Monroe 43
Western Kentucky 42
Instead of waiting to go for 2 points after a TD as the rules mandate starting in the third overtime, the Warhawks thought what the hell, lets just go for two now and get power up and win this game. Bravery will get you somewhere.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Go play outside

Take your little friends and go get some fresh air. It's an absolutely fabulous fall day in Jersey City. Get out there and enjoy it, drink it in. It'll be cold and dark by 4:30 soon enough.

Rutgers football Gameday!

Whoa Nellie, it's getting to be late October, there's frost on the pumpkin and a goose egg on the loss side of the Rutgers ledger. All who predicted an undefeated Rutgers ballclub please step forward then admit you just lied.

Down the turnpike they go to Philadelphia and a tilt with the Owls of Temple. The Scarlet Knight offense will be put to the test today maybe not so much physically as mentally. The Owls use a high tempo, high pressure defense. Lots of blitzes and stunts. Thus far Temple is having a better than expected 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the Big East with that defense so Rutgers will have to be mentally sharp to pick up assignments and run the correct hot routes when called upon. Temple is 10th in the nation at sacking the opposing QB and 12th in the nation in creating turnovers. Turnovers, especially those on the road will kill you. Again, smart football from Rutgers gets this done today.

Unlike quite a few commenters on other websites we think today is going to be a close one. We know the Scarlet Knights offense has the firepower to put up a lot of points but this smells of an Admiral Akbar "It's a trap!" game. We think Rutgers today but by barely.

Fearless Forecast:
Soon to be 7-0 Rutgers 22
Doomed to stay in Philadelphia Temple 17

Johnny fears "Here we go again" with Ticketmaster and the Rolling Stones

Johnny had the proper pre-sale code given by the Rolling Stones themselves. He was online as tickets went on sale. He tried getting regular priced tickets and none came back. On a hunch he tried for best seats and best price meaning show him if even the $750 tickets were available. They were not. So both nights with the correct pre-sale code are 'sold out' and YET (you knew there'd be a YET), tickets are available on resale sites like Stubhub and something calling itself "Ticket Network (legalized scalping -- they can do it because they are a big company whereas you can be arrested for doing what they do) conveniently marked up 400% already.

People, this might be the final straw. How are Ticketmaster and Stubhub even legal with their business practices. They're basically crooks (and Johnny has been saying this LONG before today, it's not sour grapes) who don't care if any fans ever see the show as long as they move tickets.

No doubt you'll be hearing various threats from outraged fans and local politicians (It IS an election year) but until these types of business practices are curtailed nothing will change.

SHAME on you Ticketmaster and your bastard child StubHub.

Late night open thread

You are twice as likely to be killed by a vending machine (1-in-112,000,000) than a shark (1-in-251,800,000). Somebody tell that to Robert Shaw.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with BOB MARLEY!

Ya know, you really can't go wrong starting off a music series with some reggae and especially when the reggae is 'No Woman No Cry' by Bob Marley.

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE CHURCH

Under the Milky Way takes on a whole new meaning if you're somewhere dark Saturday night. The Orionid meteor shower will hit the night sky after midnight Saturday til dawn Sunday morning. The Church with 'Under the Milky Way'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE RAMONES!

What? You're looking for a story or clever commentary here? Talk is cheap, here's The Ramones!

So, if the red light cameras are all about safety, shouldn't these be taken down?

Should accidents actually go UP when these red light money grubbing machines are installed? Tell you what, for safety's sake try and get them removed and listen to American Traffic Solutions, the vendors of these machines, squeal like stuck pigs. They would almost certainly sue Lawrence Township to keep them, accidents or not. These red light companies have stooped to very low levels nationwide to keep that golden goose laying eggs, even if it means trying to block you from voting on such measures.

Read the article gang and then try and not choking anyone who tells you with a straight face these are all about safety.

Late night open thread

Ballgame over. American League Championship Series over. Yankees lose. Yankees lose. Theeeeeeeeeeeeee Yankees lose.

Well, actually the Tigers won. And took the Yankees lunch money in doing so.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

It is always disappointing when people in positions of authority let down kids

In this case we're not talking about someone didn't show up to drive the kids to the waterpark or refused to take the wee ones to see the newest Batman. No Jersey City, today we're talking about a little bit of Penn State doings at Lincoln High School.

A young girl aged 15 alerted head football coach Robert Hampton that one of his players, Steven Jones aged 18, had allegedly fondled her in two different places at the school July 30. Now this is exactly where the adults begin to fail the kids like at Penn State. One person spoke up but nobody else would carry the message forward. After the girl alerted Hampton, he did nothing. A young girl claims one of his prized football players fondled her and he does nothing nor saying anything to the authorities or anyone else in charge at the school.

Heinous.

These kids NEED adult supervision and protection. This young lady got neither in this case. Luckily we have police who WILL kick it up the chain of command. After the mother of the young girl understood the coach did nothing with the information, she called police.

Hampton has been charged with hindering apprehension, said Debra Simon, an assistant prosecutor with the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office. She also said her office is looking at leveling more charges at Hampton, those of official misconduct. As for Jones, he's been charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact, one count each of child abuse and endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of burglary, for entering the rooms where police say he fondled the victim.

While school district spokeswoman Paula Christen and LHS Athletic Director Keith Price had no comment citing personnel statutes. When reached by phone by the Jersey Journal, Hampton said he had been suspended from his coaching position.

People, we need to make examples of people like Mr. Hampton if all this is true. Just like at Penn State the coverup is almost as distasteful as the sex act itself. How valuable are these football players? More valuable than the well being of a 15 year old girl? Do we really want people in charge of our schools and sports teams that think the answer is yes? This isn't JUST about what allegedly happened at Lincoln High School, it could happen at any school or even possibly community sports leagues. We need adults to run these programs who really put the kids well being first and winning second.

Then everyone wins.

Late night open thread

State trivia night.

This state is the oldest age-wise of any state in America with the median age at 40 years old. Answer here.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

"If showing up to work drunk is wrong, I don't wanna be right..."

We want to give props for that headline that wrote itself to one "username23178934" who wrote that very comment on the story we're about to comment on.

According to the owner of a chicken shack on Ocean Avenue, Eric Gadson showed up to work drunk on more than one occasion. Finally the owner of the store had had enough and gave Gadson his walking papers. After the walking papers were issued Gadson punched the owner in the mouth dropping him. That's bad. Walking over to the cash register after punching the owner and opening it and grabbing $58 cash is worse. The Jersey Journal reported that the The boss’ girlfriend, an employee of the restaurant, told Gadson, “Just put the money back and we will not call the police.”

Gadson had that figured out too:

“I don’t care, call the police, (Expletive).”

Police arrived and took a report. Lo and behold guess who was seen walking back to the chicken place a couple hours later? Eric Gadson. No doubt he had forgotten his letter of reference. Police came back and cuffed Gadson who claimed he didn't steal the $58, he said it was "owed" to him. Yep, the judge will love that one.

There you go a career in the deep fried chicken game goes up in smoke. The owner said that Gadson had worked there for a couple months. Well Jersey City Desk readers, if you ate at this particular chicken joint while Gadson was working drunk, you might wanna start up your Obama care and maybe get tested. Johnny tends to not trust drunk people to prepare the food he eats. Especially angry employees if you get the drift.

Thus far Gadson has been charged with aggravated assault.

Late night open thread

Johnny figured the Tigers had a good chance in the ALCS with their starting pitching but he never thought the Yanks might get broomed.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Rolling Stones release the dates for the Prudential Center

December 13th and 15th are the dates of the Rolling Stones concerts at the Prudential Center. Wha's amazing is that this is a FOUR date concert tour with two of those dates in Newark. The others are in London. The Devils owner had a nice comment on the shows but he's persona non gratis around here until he and his other scumbag NHL owners get over themselves and their greed and start the NHL season.

But back to the Stones. There was also this nugget, that the Stones are filming the December 15th show LIVE:

"...the Stones’ plan to shoot the concert for a pay-per-view event. "One More Shot," to be filmed at the Dec. 15 show..."

New Yorkers had long hyped this 50th Anniversary "tour" as landing at the new Barclay's Center in Brooklyn in November but sadly for them acoustics won out and the shows are in Jersey. No doubt there is plenty of hand wringing and wailing over this choice as New Yorkers think every big show has an obligation to go to them, but thankfully the Glimmer Twins have spent enough time in this world to know there's a whole concert scene outside Gotham.

Tickets on sale 10/26 to the general public and 10/20 if you're a pre-sale kind of music lover. The prices are between $95 and $750 dollars.

Late night open thread

How about a Jersey City ghost story before bed? Pleasant dreams.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Late night open thread

Johnny's gonna be gone for a few days and will return Monday. In the meantime we wanted to pass along the information on the Artist Studio Tour at 150 Bay St. this weekend, or rather we'll let their poster pass along the info. Saturday and Sunday from 12-6. Get out there Jersey City and support our art scene.


















Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Dan Levine plans to run ON the Healy ticket next May, color us surprised

Dan Levine, whom Johnny has a lot of respect for because of his genuine concerns about our fair city, has decided to join Team Healy and run for the Ward E seat next May. Levin you may remember called for Healy to resign three short years ago. Levine, who also ran for Myaor in 2009 told the Jersey Journal:

"I've put great thought into this decision."

Current Ward E councilman Steve Fulop seemed less than enthused about Levin's decision in this statement:

"How can (Levin) eviscerate Jersey City machine politicians one day, then jump in bed with them the next?"

Now Fulop has endorsed his own replacement as he runs against Healy for Mayor, Candice Osborne so you can understand his wonderment about the Levine choice.

It sure sounds to us here that the next Jersey City elections are going to be not just bruising but the kind that breaks bones.

Late night open thread

Alex who?

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

This botched Bieber show sure raises questions about the Newark Bears ownership

And yes Danielle Dronet, we mean you (well since you're the owner). So far when questioned about this supposed pie-in-the-sky concert, you hung up on a reporter. Do you know who you really need to contact? Did you contact the right person? Bieber's people all say no and that no deal EVER existed.

You can go on and on about fraudulent representation by saying things like:

"The Newark Bears and The Newark Bears That Care Foundation are investigating a situation regarding fraudulent representation of Justin Bieber, who has no part of any potential related fraudulent activity."

Again, did you know the right person to contact before posting on your website he'd be there? Was it simply to drum up interest in the event itself? Ms. Dronet a lot of questions need to be answered here. When things like this happen people wonder about the management team actually running the Newark Bears. Do promotions and events get cancelled during the baseball season? Is there a long term plan in place to make the Bears successful? The Bears have a magnificent ballpark that is in a safe area that's easy to get to. Yet it's just not working attendance-wise. When very public snafu's like this Bieber thing rear their ugly head questions do get asked of management.  Mixed messages much Ms. Dronet?

YOUR post in the comments section of the The Star-Ledger:

1st... Justin Bieber WILL honor his agreement. Additional evidence and verification will be released tomorrow.

Will he? Sounds like you then said he wouldn't because of fraudulent management. And about that, unless the article is wrong you said you wired money to Luna Bay Productions to land Bieber. A 5 minute Google search shows Luna Bay and Rene Lujan to be a Mission Hill California company, home-based, that sells magnets and types of postcards.

So, which is it? Did you send money to the right people? Did you ever really talk to Bieber's people? Did you do it to scare up interest in the event? 

Well, we're waiting...

A great article about the fact Mayor Mike feels police oversight would bring about the end of NYC

Gothamist shared a wonderful article this morning about the fact Michael Bloomberg thinks a police oversight committee or an Inspector General would lead to the Mad Max-ing of NYC. Forget for a moment the FBI has such a position, the CIA has such a position but for whatever reason Mayor Mike thinks NYC would fall into disrepair. A great read this morning over coffee...

Late night open thread

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Is the talentless human scream machine Justin Bieber coming to Bears Stadium in Newark?

Johnny was reading an article in the Star-Ledger and was truly amazed at how badly Columbus Day can screw up communications, as supposedly concert promoters and the like observe Columbus Day like they are a goddamned bank or the post office, but we digress.

As part of a Halloween event, Bieber would sing at the Stadium of Screams event at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium on Oct. 28 — the Sunday before Halloween.

Here's where things get confused:

Bears owner Danielle Dronet had signed a contract with SkyIsland Productions, a California management company that offered to deliver Justin Bieber to the banks of the Passaic. 

However, those close to Bieber say no such event is planned:

Reached through e-mail, Bieber’s longtime publicist Melissa Victor called the show announcement "pure fiction."

Tickets have not yet been made available but in their press release the Bears have offered chances to win seats to the event.

In comments left on the Star-Ledger website Dronet guaranteed Bieber would appear:

"Justin Bieber WILL honor his agreement. Additional evidence and verification will be released tomorrow." -- Danielle Dronet  Newark Bears Owner/CEO/GM

So folks we'll see today who is right and maybe find out why concert promoting doesn't work well on Columbus Day. Til then all the pre-teen girls in Essex County will have to hope against hope that their talentless little talisman keeps their spooky date.

Late night open thread

Well, what are you waiting for, Christmas? Get your butt to the lobby and make it snappy! Intermission isn't like the last two minutes of a basketball game ya know, it's finite...


Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Free day!

Johnny's been at the doctor most of the day and still needs to get a couple prescriptions filled so if you kids promise not to destroy the house you can talk about anything you want to. Dress up and pretend you are hippies.

Late night open thread

When you watched Wayne Gretzky on most nights he did things nobody else could do let alone at full speed with world class defenders around. If you're not a soccer fan take one game at some point to watch Lionel Messi at Barcelona. It's a level nobody else approaches. He pulled this magnificent rabbit out of his hat today in front of 400 million people on teevee vs. the second best club team on earth, Real Madrid. Johnny has heard the Nou Camp in Barcelona erupt many times, never quite this loud.

Back, back you Merengues, back to Madrid 8 points adrift.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Jets and Giants GAMEDAY!

Well kids football weather arrived with a vengeance last night which should make for some extra good tailgating out at the New Meadowlands later today and tomorrow night. Tailgating is always better when you're not wiping sweat off your face.

Johnny's Cleveland Browns roll into town to face the defending Super Bowl champs for a 1 pm kickoff. These are not the same old Browns Johnny will have you know. These are a whole set of new bums from the last bunch that couldn't win (That stunning red-ass beat down Cleveland put on the Giants on a Monday night a few years back excepted) any games. Let's face it, if the NFL used relegation like they do in European soccer the Browns would be playing in the Mountain West Conference by now. They do have stud rookie running mouth back Trent Richardson who basically called the Giants defense slow this week. Trash talking from the position of an 0-4 record. Oh boy, Oh boy, oh boy. While Richardson shows promise the Giants defense will have to contain the near-death experience that is Cleveland's passing attack. OK, that's done. The Giants offense might take a few series to really get rolling as if there is one thing the Browns' defense has historically done it is to create turnovers, namely INT's. The Browns do it well. Cleveland sports a stout defense, top 5 in the NFL currently. Still, stay away from obvious mistakes and certainly Tom Coughlin's staff can outwit and out-prepare Pat Shurmur's staff in the Giants offensive gameplan. If for whatever reason, as odd as the chances seem, if the game gets down to field goal kicking, Phil Dawson is an ace. Advantage Cleveland. Lose the game Big Blue and you will not want to see tonight's late night open thread.

Fearless Forecast:
NJ Giants 30
Cleveland 17

And if any of you have ever wondered why the Browns are the only team without a logo on their helmets perhaps this will help you understand, I give you the real Cleveland Brownie 'mascot'


Compared to the Jets however the Browns may well seem like "Air Coryell" this week. The Jetropolitans host the new NFL "it" team, Houston on Monday night. Santonio Holmes is out for the season. Tight end Dustin Keller? Yeah he's not playing tomorrow. Neither is WR Stephen Hill. Whatever is left of the Jets receiving corps is still getting the ball distributed by Mark Sanchez or at some inevitable point Tim Tebow. Just bleak. The Texans come in undefeated and looking like top contenders in the AFC. They have balance on the ground and in the air. Their defense is bottom of the pack but when you offer offensively what the Jets have left that defense looks better. As good as this game looked at the time it was scheduled, it looks like a dog today. 

Fearless Forecast:

Houston 28

NJ  Jets 13

A real eye-opener of an story this morning from the Star-Ledger

While they posted it under an editorial banner the information is truly an eye-opener nonetheless. Did you know (and in reading the story you'll find out) according to the American Cancer Society that if a phone solicitor calls on their behalf and you make a donation, ZERO of that money went to fight cancer or to cancer research. No, all that money just went to pay the telemarketer who called you. Sadly there are many other organizations who happily look the other way while money pledged to them is eaten alive by telemarketing companies.

Angry yet?

Good, read on and learn to simply tell anyone calling you, no matter no good the charity may sound, no. The money you think you're giving is going almost always to the telemarketer or the company employing them. You'll also learn why organizations let so much money pledged to help a cause go to these telemarketing companies. It's called weak any way you slice it.

Late night open thread

Saturday Night Scoreboard Show:

Rutgers 19
Connecticut 3
Rutgers shall be named king of college football along the northeastern seaboard. And move up in the rankings

North Carolina State 17
Florida State 16
Free Shoes University blows a big 16-0 lead. The fail of the day

Michigan State 31
Indiana 27
Indiana also blows a large 17-0 lead to Sparty

Kent St. 41
Eastern Michigan 14
Looking like another season wasted before the leaves turn in Ypsilanti

Western Michigan 52
UMass 14
Massachusetts, first in war, first in peace and last in the MAC East

South Carolina 35
Georgia 7
Whatever sound a Gamecock makes it is making it loudly tonight

Army 34
Boston College 31
Aaaaarrrrrrrrmy training sir

Lehigh 35
Columbia 14
The Mountain Hawk bandwagon rolls on

Alcorn St. 20
Southern 17
The answer as to how many would pay to see this game is 15,000

The Jersey City Desk Game of the Week®

Wagner 12
Sacred Heart 3
Wagner built a massive 12-0 lead at halftime and had to withstand a furious 3 point comeback by Sacred Heart in the second half

Time for Jersey City, After Dak

Apples to apples

It's October 6th and the fall harvest has begun. Nothing seems to sum up the fall harvest as much as apples do in America. Apples seem to be the unofficial official fruit of the season. But with so many types of deliciousness, which is your favorite? Granny Smith? Red Gala? MacIntosh? Lobo? Jonagold? Golden Delicious? At Johnny's house the apple at the top of the pecking order is the Honeycrisp. But what about your apple proclivities dear readers? Do you have a favorite eating apple and does that differ from your favorite cooking/baking apple?

If you're looking for an apple related event, Gothamist reminds us of one tomorrow when it's sure gonna feel like fall:

Of course, you could always rent a car and go apple picking. Sure. But then you have to leave the city. Closer to home is the lovely Queens County Farm Museum, which once again this weekend is hosting its annual Apple Festival from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. Expect many types of apples, apple products and fresh apple cider for sale along with free kid's games, hayrides, collectibles and more. And if you get bored, or want to add a certain excitement to the trip, well the museum's giant Maize Maze is around until October 28th.

Apples!

Late night open thread

Why do elephants lie on their backs in fields? So they can trip birds. Thank you, you're a great audience...Always love the crowds at the Morristown Motor Lodge's Orbit Room.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with THE WHO!

And an instrumental piece from Quadrophenia at that, which Johnny would be happy to spend hours debating as the best album of all time. It certainly had a huge impact on Johnny growing up that continues today. The Who with 'The Rock'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with SUPERTRAMP!

On a good old record player. Look at this guy's setup, what a boss, no kidding. That diamond needle is doing the job without pennies being placed on top of the stylus. You kids go ask your parents about that. Supertramp with 'Goodbye Stranger'

Friday night MULTIMEDIA EXTRAVAGANZA with BOBBY DARIN!

On Hyena Records, the first name in swingin hep cats and kittens or something. Hyena Records, because um, because the hyena, um, stands for, uh, um, Screw it, here' Bobby Darin with 'Mack the Knife'

This will mesh well with tonight's Music Series -- Are the Rolling Stones looking at December dates at The Rock?

The Rolling Stones could just be close to booking December 16 and 17 at the Prudential Center. This would be Mick and Keef's first trip back to perform in the Garden State since 2006 and first in the area since performing at the Beacon Theater in 2007.

The Prudential Center had this non-denial denial which we think bodes well:

Robert Sommer of Rock Entertainment Management did not shoot the rumors down, but he did say that the potential Stones dates were speculation at this point. Nothing is confirmed; fans are advised to keep fingers crossed.

Uh, shadoobie we'll be sad if this doesn't happen...

Late night open thread

Notable quoteables evening:

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my grandfather...Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car."

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

It's a news roundup kind of day

Damned humid too...

The Garden Sate Parkway where I-95 crosses over is going to be down to one lane for up to six weeks after yesterday's fatal accident. You can read more on this traffic mess and more on the hopes it can be averted quicker than that can be found here.

Pretty much everyone living in North Bergen may or may not have gotten a subpoena.

Calling for a snowy winter here in the Garden State? Be careful, they called for one last year too.

The Yankees crushed the Red Sox 14-2 and in doing so won the American League East title (Again). They will play the winner of the one game playoff between the Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles while the Detroit Tigers will play the Oakland A's.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has this list of this year's nominees out. Notable nominees include Public Enemy, Heart, Donna Summer, Rush, Deep Purple and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. No love for Bon Jovi once again this year.

Late night open thread

“Each morning sees some task begin, Each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night's repose.”
-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

TIme for Jersey City, After Dark

The Jersey City Desk reminds you to 'think pink'

If you've been down by the river the last couple nights and looked north you may have seen the George Washington Bridge sporting a new color -- pink! In honor and support of breast cancer awareness month the Port Authority have lit the GW Bridge pink to remind people of the cause.

More from the Jersey Journal: 
Those “necklace” lights on the bridge between Fort Lee and Upper Manhattan really are pink, to mark October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officials say the lights 156 in all will remain pink for the entire month.

So find your cause or your charity and make sure to make a difference this October. Think Pink!

Late night open thread

Mad Magazine took a new look at the famed cover of The New Yorker and a New Yorker's view of the world looking west now seen by Apple® maps.

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

We've said it before, the NYPD can be a shady bunch

And we have more corroboration thanks to our friends at Gothamist. Rashad Lewis is not the most upstanding citizen in the city. He was pulled over outside Bloomingdales on a routine traffic violation with the NYPD finding allegedly bogus credit cards. Oddly this is where the police seem to get pretty, well, shady.

While he was locked up, his Mercedes-Benz was supposed to be impounded. Alas, Lewis later received a ticket in the mail showing a traffic camera photo of his car running a red light on 12th Avenue and West 34th Street. Now if Lewis wasn't driving it it had to be a police officer. Lewis said the police took it for a joyride, the police had another explanation. It was being driven to the NYC impound yard in Queens. BUT, according to Lewis' attorney the ticket given out was the car on its way to Brooklyn, NOT The NYPD impound yard in Queens where he claimed his vehicle. Lewis also said when he got his car back it was dinged up and scratched.

It gets shadier people.

Lewis also has his iPhone taken by the police when he was arrested. So not only does it sure look like his Mercedes Benz was taken for a joyride, NYPD tried to take his iPhone on a joyride too. Lewis uses the app IGotYa which takes a photo of anyone who tries to enter the incorrect passcode on the phone and emails the pics to the owner.  If you follow this link you can see the cops trying to access Lewis' Iphone. Now the cops excuse (They always have excuses don't they?) is they were only trying to turn off the phone. Yeah, uh-huh, pull this one it plays jingle bells. You do NOT need to enter a pass code to turn off an iPhone. Johnny just did it three times to be certain. He's got the cop recording apps as well so hence the safety pass code, where video and pics are uploaded to his private email accounts. So the cops weren't trying to turn his phone off, that's a ridiculous claim. We can't say for sure but it would be our guess they wanted the information inside the phone, you know, a little warrantless snooping. That's just a guess but it sure makes a lot more sense than they were turning it off.

People, put a pass code on your phone, whether you decide to put recording apps on it that are sent to you secretly or you just want to protect your data, backup your phones and keep that pass code on it. Do NOT give the cops your passcode should they stop you. They need a warrant (as did the cops in NYC but we digress). Your passcode is to keep YOUR vital information safe and if cops (let alone typical lowlife crooks) would take your car on a joyride while you're locked up don't think for a second they won't "use" your phone.

Late night open thread

Amazing statistic if such things interest you. The Detroit Tigers are an old school baseball team. One of the teams you think about alongside the Yankees and Red Sox for longevity. They clinched the AL Central title tonight for the second straight year and this will be Detroit's first time in the playoffs in back-to-back seasons since 1934-35. Who knew?

Time for Jersey City, After Dark

If you think bureaucracy in Jersey City is bad friends we pray you never have to deal with Edison

Simply a real head shaker in this story readers. A young lady is physically in Colorado with her car and yet one of the automated traffic lights (we've warned about these and the sheer lack of accountability they'd bring to local governments) in Edison ticketed her. Yes, even though she was in Colorado.

Take a few minutes and read on the sheer stupidity emanating out of Edison and the story of former NJ resident Lauren Morosoff, you'll find yourself angry is our guess...