Ridgewood NJ, Bergen Record posts a misleading article on the Ridgewood Board of Education. The article claims in the article, New year, new leadership on Ridgewood BOE https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/bergen/ridgewood/2017/01/03/new-year-new-leadership-ridgewood-boe/96111336/, The puff piece claims , “The new year brought significant change to the Ridgewood Board of Education.” , significant changes when board members run unopposed and have run unopposed for several terms. Does anyone remember a Ridgewood BOE without Shiela Brogan? While this is not to pass judgment on the quality or competence of the Ridgewood BOE members there clearly is NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE in the Ridgewood BOE nor has there been for years.
According to the BOE eblast , James A. Morgan and Jeanette S. Wilson were sworn in as Board members and Vincent Loncto was nominated and elected Board President. James Morgan and Jennie Smith Wilson were nominated for Vice President; James Morgan was elected.
The next Regular Public Meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education will be held on Monday, January 23, 2017 at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3 at 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be aired live on television, FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77, and streamed via the “Link in Live” tab on the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us. Meeting webcasts are generally posted to the district website within 48 hours.
2017 Supplemental School Tax Billing – As per the Village residents’ November 2016 affirmative vote to approve a permanent $929,800 school tax Levy increase to support a full day kindergarten program for the school district, supplemental tax bills are required to reflect this increase. Questions can be directed to Dr. Alfredo Aguilar, the school district’s Business Manager at [email protected]
or 201/670-2700 x10503.
Both the supplemental school tax bills and the current tax bills are due on February 1st & May 1st 2017.
Groundhog Day, with apologies to Bill Murray
January 5,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, At the January 4 Village Council Work Session, members of the public who attended, and those who watched from the comfort of their homes, were treated to a real groundhog-day experience. You remember that movie, where the same thing happens over and over and over. And if you missed it, you can always watch it on youtube from the village website, watch it over and over and over.
For example:
1. Although he has known since November that Mayor Knudsen did not violate the Faulkner Act, Councilman Voigt went after her publicly AGAIN. He did it twice in December, and now he did it again. Three times he has publicly accused the Mayor of illegal action after knowing that she did not break any law. Three times. This time he spiced it up by having a member of the public “innocently” lob a question about the alleged violation…….which then enabled Councilman Voigt to read (yes read) a lengthy (very lengthy) sermon that he had typed and prepared for just this moment. Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Councilman Voigt did NOT address the question about how Mayor Knudsen allegedly broke the law (because she did NOT break any law). Instead he sang the praises of the Financial Advisory Committee and various members and all that they have accomplished. Matt Rogers explained that he had given a legal opinion that no law was broken, no violation of the Faulkner Act occurred…..and he clarified that Councilman Voigt knew this in November. Jeff flippantly said something along the lines of Matt Rogers’ legal opinion being exactly that, just an opinion. Come on Jeff, do you think if you keep throwing this lie around it will eventually stick? Guess what Jeff, it is bouncing back and sticking all over you. You look ridiculous. Worse than ridiculous, you look sneaky, nasty, and downright evil. Mayor Knudsen, meanwhile, was the essence of grace, calm, and civility.
2. Rurik Halaby went to the microphone and accused the Mayor of evicting Roberta Sonenfeld from office, suggested that she violated the Open Public Meetings Act, and that she should be investigated for this. Again……groundhog day……again it had to be explained to Mr. Halaby by Matt Rogers that no laws were broken, that in fact a letter of resignation was received, and the procedure for accepting the resignation was correct. Sigh . . . . .
3. And Mr. Halaby continues to call Mayor Knudsen “Mayor Kah-nudsen.” It has been explained to him that the “K” is silent, he knows it full well, but apparently he thinks it is clever to be disrespectful in such a manner. And he still loves his little catch phrases like “pandering to your base” and “vocalantis,” really, over and over and over.
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A few new things happened, too. We learned that a motorcycle may be donated to our police force, a female firefighter’s hire will necessitate the construction of a women’s locker room at the firehouse, and Graydon Park annual passes will remain the same price (although day passes might go up). Bylaws for every board and committee will need to follow a standard format, will need to be synced with the resolution that created them in the first place, and will need to be approved by the Village Council. Some items that have the 1 and 2 recycle numbers can no longer be recycled – such as salad and bakery containers.
And we also learned that sometime last year Councilman Voigt asked a member of the public to have coffee. Over coffee, Mr. Voigt asked Mr. Saurabh Dani to come to a public meeting and ask specific questions so that Jeff could then have the entree to give scripted answers. Mr. Dani refused to play such an unethical game……but he spoke up about it tonight after witnessing the exact same scenario playing out between Jeff Voigt and Hans Lehmann. He also called for the resignation of Councilman Voigt.
We could hear someone shouting from the audience toward the end of the meeting, but not exactly what they were saying. He was shushed by the Mayor because he was out of order.
Wow, I wish I had gotten a babysitter tonight so I could have been there in person, but it was exciting enough from the comfort of my couch.
EDISON – New Jersey ranks No. 1 on the list of the most moved-from states in 2016, according to a study by the moving company United Van Lines released Tuesday.
It’s the fifth consecutive year the state ranks first.
The study found that 63 percent of moves in New Jersey were moves out of the state.
The birth of PJ Blogger .By this time Blogging its seems had become quite the rage and mainstream news anchors such as Dan Rather had questioned the validity of information from nonprofessionals sitting around in their Pajama’s blogging.[13] Mr. Foytlin not a fan of Dan Rather or any of the mainstream media decided to blog under the name PJ Blogger as a play on words and to plant himself firmly in the camp of the new digital media. https://theridgewoodblog.net/today-is-founders-day-for-the-ridgewood-blog-2/
Move comes despite anchor’s own past ethics issues
By Brian Maloney January 4th, 2017, 14:17 EST
Raising eyebrows among some critics, former CBS anchor Dan Rather is now teaching an online course focused on ethics in journalism.
Called “Journalism & Finding the Truth in the News” and offered through Udemy, the class is aimed at both media career aspirants and the general public.
“In this course, Dan teaches invaluable foundations on great writing, the essentials of telling a good story, and how to remain calm and captivating on camera — useful skills for anyone fascinated by the power of the news or anyone who wants to contribute to serious journalism,” reads the course description.
“Dan’s rich history and extensive knowledge of journalism, paired with practical, hands-on exercises, creates a unique learning opportunity and rare insight from an American legend,” it continues.
Though over 2000 students have enrolled, the sign-up fee has been slashed to a mere $10, a 93% discount from the original $150 rate:
By Susan K. Livio | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on January 04, 2017 at 9:58 AM, updated January 04, 2017 at 11:58 AM
TRENTON — More than 600 people died in traffic accidents on New Jersey’s roadways last year, 8 percent more than in 2015 and the most deaths seen since 2011, according to preliminary State Police statistics.
After dropping to a 20-year low in 2013 when 542 people died in crashes and collisions, the fatalities have been steadily climbing, according to state police data released Tuesday.
In 2015, 562 died in vehicular accidents – six more than the previous year. But in 2016, 607 people, or 45 more, died in 2016.
Hyperface project involves printing patterns on to clothing or textiles that computers interpret as a face, in fightback against intrusive technology.
Alex Hern
@alexhern
Wednesday 4 January 2017 02.00 ESTLast modified on Wednesday 4 January 2017 02.02 EST
The use of facial recognition software for commercial purposes is becoming more common, but, as Amazon scans faces in its physical shop and Facebook searches photos of users to add tags to, those concerned about their privacy are fighting back.
Berlin-based artist and technologist Adam Harvey aims to overwhelm and confuse these systems by presenting them with thousands of false hits so they can’t tell which faces are real.
The Hyperface project involves printing patterns on to clothing or textiles, which then appear to have eyes, mouths and other features that a computer can interpret as a face.
This is not the first time Harvey has tried to confuse facial recognition software. During a previous project, CV Dazzle, he attempted to create an aesthetic of makeup and hairstyling that would cause machines to be unable to detect a face.
IN THE PAST SIX WEEKS, the Washington Post published two blockbuster stories about the Russian threat that went viral: one on how Russia is behind a massive explosion of “fake news,” the other on how it invaded the U.S. electric grid. Both articles were fundamentally false. Each now bears a humiliating Editor’s Note grudgingly acknowledging that the core claims of the story were fiction: the first Note of which was posted a full two weeks later to the top of the original article, the other of which was buried the following day at the bottom.
The second story on the electric grid turned out to be far worse than I realized when I wrote about it on Saturday, when it became clear that there was no “penetration of the U.S. electricity grid” as the Post had claimed. In addition to the Editor’s Note, the Russia-hacked-our-electric-grid story now has a full-scale retraction in the form of a separate article admitting that “the incident is not linked to any Russian government effort to target or hack the utility” and that there may not have even been malware at all on this laptop.
By The Associated Press
on January 04, 2017 at 7:00 AM, updated January 04, 2017 at 7:46 AM
ATLANTIC CITY — Billionaire investor Carl Icahn says his shuttered Trump Taj Mahal casino is not for sale, and he appears content to sit on it for a while.
Icahn told The Associated Press Tuesday night he does not want to sell the casino, which he closed on Oct. 10 after a bitter strike with Atlantic City’s main casino workers’ union.
But he plans to surrender its casino license, and wants to make sure that anyone who might buy it in the future can’t use it as a casino unless they pay his company an unspecified fee.
Icahn’s company filed a deed restriction preventing a future purchaser from using the Taj Mahal as a casino.
I have loved the suburbs all my life. Very sad to watch them go. It hurts.What the hell is happening?
I could finally afford to move into a great suburb and now I hear that Glen Rock, Ridgewood, HHK are all building low income high density housing. What is the point of this? Why is this happening?
Ridgewood NJ, The Village pf Ridgewood Christmas tree pickup has begun on the west side this week. They will be on the east side next week, and will continue until they have collected all the trees. We are asking that residents get all Christmas trees to the curb by January 13th.
36% of Americans now conservative, 25% liberal Liberal figure has inched up from 17% in 1990s Conservatives mainly steady, while moderates decline
PRINCETON, N.J. — Many more Americans have considered themselves politically conservative than liberal since the early 1990s. That remained the case in 2016, when an average of 36% of U.S. adults throughout the year identified themselves as conservative and 25% as liberal. Yet that 11-percentage-point margin is half of what it was at its peak in 1996 and is down from 14 points only two years ago.
A new study seeking to measure the overall competency of age groups throughout the globe has found that American Millennials are without a doubt the least skilled population in the world.
The ETS study tested individuals aged 16 to 65 across 23 countries, and measured Literacy, Numeracy, and “problem-solving in technology-rich environments.” Across the board American Millennials scored a ‘feeble wet fart’ on the competency scale when compared with their foreign counterparts. Long thought to be the most technologically savvy and educated generation in history, American Millennials (people aged 16-34) just can’t hack it when it comes to the skills employers are looking for.
Japan crushed it, but there was no indication as to whether or not the Japanese culture’s infatuation with tentacle porn had any bearing on workplace competency.
Here are some key findings from the ETS study:
In literacy, U.S. millennials scored lower than 15 of the 22 participating countries. Only millennials in Spain and Italy had lower scores.
In numeracy (ability to apply math to everyday situations), U.S. millennials ranked last, along with Italy and Spain.
In PS-TRE (problem solving in a technology rich environment), U.S. millennials also ranked last, along with the Slovak Republic, Ireland, and Poland.
The youngest segment of the U.S. millennial cohort (16- to 24-year-olds), who could be in the labor force for the next 50 years, ranked last in numeracy along with Italy and among the bottom countries in PS-TRE. In literacy, they scored higher than their peers in Italy and Spain.
Top-scoring U.S. millennials (those at the 90th percentile) scored lower than top-scoring millennials in 15 of the 22 participating countries, and only scored higher than their peers in Spain.
Low-scoring U.S. millennials (those at the 10th percentile) ranked last along with Italy and England/Northern Ireland and scored lower than millennials in 19 participating countries.
Although a greater percentage of young adults in the U.S. are attaining higher levels of education since 2003, the numeracy scores of U.S. millennials whose highest level of education is high school and above high school have declined.
U.S. millennials with a four-year bachelor’s degree scored higher in numeracy than their counterparts in only two countries: Poland and Spain.
To summarize: American Millennials are the overall worst generation in the world when it comes to useful skills. Even if American Millennials didn’t finish dead last in EVERY SINGLE CATEGORY, they managed to finish at or near the bottom across the board.
