The Jaffe Briefing - October 15, 2021

NEW BRUNSWICK – For years, it was the Ferren Mall, with a nice place to grab Mexican food. Then, it was a big, four-acre hole in the ground. And now the site across from the city’s train station on Albany Street will be home to a $665 million project known as “The Hub.” TAPInto New Brunswick, all over this story, reports the 550,000-square-foot center brings together Princeton University, Rutgers University, RWJ Barnabas, Hackensack Meridian Health, Decvo and practically everyone else to create the “New Jersey Innovation and Technology Hub,” promising to be national center for medical learning, research and innovation, as well as home to Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. Seems a great, little replacement for a parking deck.

TRENTON – Maybe the state’s entire technology infrastructure shouldn’t rely on some guy’s Commodore 64, sitting behind the water heater in mom’s basement. Ok, ok, we may be exaggerating… slightly. But a new report shows the state’s computer system is woefully outdated, yet the entire motor vehicles department, as well as the statewide unemployment program, relied on its daily ability to compute. It seems we are careening toward disaster here, as “all these legacy systems are supporting critical state functions, and the failure of any one of them would have immediate detrimental impacts on resident-facing services,” according to the state’s lead computer guy, in a 14-page report. “Worse, the ability to quickly recover from a failure is in doubt as the aging infrastructure is more difficult to support and institutional expertise on the legacy systems is dwindling,” he added. We would link to the report, but the Commodore 64 crashed and ma threw out the cassette, along with the entire Quiet Riot tape collection.

ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL – Wherever Gov. Phil Murphy takes off his mask these days, it is suddenly news. Republicans have had a good time highlighting whenever the governor goes against his own mask policy, recommending that people in tight indoor places wear masks. Murphy was at a Spring Lake fundraiser on Wednesday without a mask, NJ 101.5 is quick to note. It promoted such colorful tweets as: “King Murphy (The Hypocrite) has no issue campaigning in a small crowded indoor space MASKLESS. Yet your child sits at their desk with a MASK for 8 hours a day. Your priorities, Phil?!” It all makes for nice theater, sure. But aren’t there bigger campaign issues to hype in New Jersey? Like that ailing Commodore 64?

BRIEFING BREATHER

7% of American adults believe that chocolate milk comes from brown cows.

NEWARK – Another important, yet ignored issue: the quality of food served to students of low-income families. Global supply chain issues have now dribbled to Newark schools. Chalkbeat is reporting how the school district is scrambling to find nutritious food and has hired a vendor to provide some pre-packaged stuff that makes even the mystery meat seem appetizing. There are plenty of kids who depend on school meals for nutrition, compared to what they are getting at home, and many are now forgoing the inedible stuff now being served. One student tells Chalkbeat: “It’s times where it’s so bad you just don’t eat all day.” This is a three-headed monster: food manufacturers can’t meet the demand, there are no truck drivers to deliver the meals and school districts can’t find lunch ladies, so there’s no one to whip up something from scratch. The result: very, very hungry kids.

ON THE ROAD – Bar Stool Sports got into a funny Twitter battle with the PR guy for the New Jersey Turnpike, debating if AAA is permitted to tow a car on the Turnpike. The back-and-forth is a little long, and became a bit ridiculous, but it is light reading for your mid-morning coffee break. The apparent answer: Every tow truck company in the state must work with AAA.

IN OTHER IMPORTANT NEWS

SRBAC, Bosnia-Herzegovina – The key to life: make the wife happy. And no one knows it better than 72-year-old Vojin Kusic, who designed a special house for his one true only. With a green facade and red metal roof, it can rotate a full circle to satisfy his wife Ljubica’s shifting desires, depending on whatever view she prefers out the window when her eyes first flutter awake with the gentle morning sun. Kusic designed it all himself, using electric motors and the wheels of an old military transport vehicle to rotate the home. “Now, our front door also rotates, so if she spots unwanted guests heading our way, she can spin the house and make them turn away,” he joked. His wife, whose name means “loved one” in Bosnian, declined to be interviewed.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY

It was this day in 1995 that the Carolina Panthers win their first game, 26-15, over – who else? The Jets

WORD OF THE DAY

Eponymous – [əˈpänəməs] – adjective

Definition: Named after a person

Example: Speaking of eponymous TV shows, did you like Seinfeld, Frasier or Roseanne?

WIT OF THE DAY

“Our flag is not just one of many political points of view. Rather, the flag is a symbol of our national unity.”

- Adrian Cronauer

BIDEN BLURB

"I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days. I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real. I also know they are not new.”

– Joe Biden

WEATHER IN A WORD

June?