Author: James

The New Armor That Lets You Sense Surveillance Cameras

Like a creepy digital tap on the shoulder
Robinson Meyer Dec 13 2013, 11:48 AM ET

We pass under surveillance cameras every day, appearing on perhaps hundreds of minutes of film. We rarely notice them. London-based artist James Bridle would like to remind us.

Bridle has created a wearable device he calls the “surveillance spaulder.” Inspired by the original spaulder—a piece of medieval plate armor that protected “the wearer from unexpected and unseen blows from above”—the surveillance spaulder alerts the wearer to similarly unseen, if electronic, attacks. Whenever its sensor detects the the type of infrared lighting commonly used with surveillance cameras, it sends an electric signal to two “transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation” pads, which causes the wearer to twitch.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/12/the-new-armor-that-lets-you-sense-surveillance-cameras/282335/

Met Opera star Susanna Phillips to perform in Ridgewood
Friday December 13, 2013, 5:36 PM
INTERVIEW BY GLORIA GEANNETTE
MANAGING EDITOR
The Ridgewood News

Michael Parloff, longtime Principal Flute at the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, is presenting his latest Parlance Chamber Concert on Sunday, Dec. 15 at 4 p.m. at West Side Presbyterian Church in Ridgewood. Here he gives our readers background to the concert.

It is an pleasure to introduce soprano Susanna Phillips to Ridgewood’s music lovers. One of today’s fastest-rising young singers, Susanna is a phenomenal soprano, an artist of unusual range and charisma, and a delightful onstage presence. The New York Times’s chief music critic, Anthony Tommasini called her Sept. 25, 2013, Met appearance in Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte “exquisite,” saying, “She has the purity and bloom of a Mozart lyric soprano. Yet her voice can lift phrases with penetrating sound and deep richness.”

In recent seasons, Susanna has emerged as one of the Met’s most popular young artists. She is starring this season in three major roles including Fiordiligi in James Levine’s comeback opera, Mozart’s Così fan tutte; Rosalinde in the Met’s new staging of Strauss’s Die Fledermaus as part of the annual New Year’s Eve gala; and Musetta in La Bohème, a reprise of the role in which she made her house debut in 2008.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/music/235689821_Met_Opera_star_Susanna_Phillips_to_perform_in_Ridgewood.html#sthash.LAzbaXPo.dpuf

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/music/235689821_Met_Opera_star_Susanna_Phillips_to_perform_in_Ridgewood.html#sthash.LAzbaXPo.dpuf

Winterfest

On Sat. Dec. 7 and Dec. 14, The Ridgewood Guild will sponsor its third annual Winterfest!  Van Neste Square will set the stage for live entertainment, ice sculptures, and  a horse drawn hayride around town.  So save the date for this wonderful event to welcome in the holiday season brought to you exclusively by The Ridgewood Guild.

Come take a ride on the Horse Drawn Cart will be on on S. Walnut Street. – Enjoy musicians and chorale groups performing on the front staircase of Memorial Park (12 Noon to 3PM) – Watch Ice Sculptures Complimentary hot chocolate, candy canes and cookies.

Santa in the Park-Chamber of Commerce
visit Santa in the Park – Memorial Park at Van Neste Square from2 to 4PM.

Ridgewood Art Institute hosts members-only show
Friday, December 13, 2013
BY  EILEEN LA FORGIA
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

The Ridgewood Art Institute Holiday Show and Sale features close to 200 artworks – landscapes, still life and portraits. These one-of-a-kind paintings can prove to be a unique holiday gift.

“Members’ artworks take you on a journey from Ridgewood and New Jersey throughout Europe through all the seasons,” said artist Kate Faust. She is showing two oil florals: “Wild Forsythia” and “Sweet Magnolias.” The latter was inspired by her neighbor’s tree.

Local treasures include Sydney Kobuskie’s “Paterson Falls,” Lisa Miller’s “Ridgewood and Broad” and “Ramapo Trail” by Ron McCarty, all watercolors.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/arts_entertainment/books/235690701_Ridgewood_Art_Institute_hosts_members-only_show.html#sthash.voxOs86v.dpuf

Ridgewood School District sees increase in student anxiety
Friday December 13, 2013, 1:14 PM
BY  LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News

Depression among Ridgewood teenagers is an increasing problem, according to local officials and students.

Some teens are “self-medicating” with drugs and alcohol, some are “crashing” after high school, and more Ridgewood High School (RHS) students than ever are taking school leaves for social and emotional reasons.

The overall increase may, in part, have to do with feelings of competitiveness and pressure to achieve a perceived standard of success among Ridgewood peers, according to the officials and students.

Some Ridgewood teenagers, who spoke to The Ridgewood News on condition of anonymity, said that while they believed most students who party with drugs and alcohol are not self-medicating, some may be.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/235761231_Ridgewood_School_District_sees_increase_in_student_anxiety.html

Expected snowfall for this weekend from AccuWeather.

Snowstorm bearing down on North Jersey
Friday, December 13, 2013    Last updated: Saturday December 14, 2013, 1:50 AM
BY  JEFF GREEN
STAFF WRITER
The Record

A heavy snowstorm is expected to hammer North Jersey on Saturday, with weather forecasters predicting between 6 and 10 inches throughout the afternoon and freezing rain topping it off at night.

Holiday shoppers and travelers will face hazardous conditions as the snowfall quickly sticks to cold roadways, said Joe Pollina, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. Conditions should improve by Sunday morning as temperatures rise from the 20s to the mid-30s and the system tracks from Long Island into the Atlantic Ocean, he said.

The snow may not stay on the ground long. Weather forecasts for next week, the final week of autumn, show mild conditions with temperatures hitting close to 50 in some areas, Pollina said.

“This event definitely does not guarantee a white Christmas,” said David Robinson, state climatologist.

Light flurries will fall across the northeast beginning about 7 a.m. and pile up from 6 to 8 inches in most of Bergen County, to 8 to 10 inches in western Bergen and Passaic counties. The snow should taper off by the evening, only to be replaced by a mixture of sleet and freezing rain about 10 p.m.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen/weather_new_jersey_saturday_cold_snap_snow_sleet.html#sthash.nWKlGAYu.dpuf

Xanadu site Considered for Casino

N.J. lawmakers approve a study for possible casino in Bergen County
Thursday, December 12, 2013    Last updated: Friday December 13, 2013, 12:33 AM
BY  MICHAEL PHILLIS
STATE HO– USE BUREAU
The Record

After an $88 million upgrade to The Meadowlands Racetrack designed to draw more and younger gamblers, some wonder whether New Jersey is leaving hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue behind because it doesn’t have casino gambling in Bergen County.

An Assembly committee released a bill Thursday to study a potential new casino in Bergen County, assess existing gambling regulations and make recommendations as soon as 2015.

The move signifies a push by the state to compete with New York and Pennsylvania, which have built casinos and pulled tax revenue from Atlantic City businesses. Building a casino in New Jersey outside of Atlantic City, however, would require a constitutional change, but some committee members argue that in recent years, public opinion has shifted in favor of the idea after a similar measure was passed in New York.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/New_Jersey_eyes_panel_to_study_casino_at_Meadowlands.html#sthash.YPUfvLe3.dpuf

New Aetna plans will force thousands in N.J. to switch
Thursday December 12, 2013, 11:01 PM
BY  LINDY WASHBURN
STAFF WRITER
The Record

Small businesses and individuals with Aetna health insurance will need to choose new plans next year, as the insurer announced it would not renew this year’s policies after Jan. 1.

About 90,000 small-group customers and 2,600 people who buy their own policies from the Connecticut-based Aetna are affected.

The insurer is the second in New Jersey to decide against renewing the old policies next year, despite President Obama’s encouragement to do so. The president, under fire after insurers issued cancellation notices to millions of consumers nationwide with individual and small-group plans in order to comply with his signature law, said last month that he would not enforce certain requirements of the Affordable Care Act.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/health/New_Aetna_plans_will_force_thousands_in_NJ_to_switch.html#sthash.tWwyxGjp.dpuf