FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY 201 PM EDT TUE JUN 18 2013
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN UPTON NY HAS ISSUED A
* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR… EASTERN BERGEN COUNTY IN NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY…
* UNTIL 400 PM EDT…
* AT 159 PM EDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED FLASH FLOODING FROM A NEARLY STATIONARY THUNDERSTORM OVER THE WARNED AREA.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
823 PM EDT TUE JUN 11 2013
THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHERN
CONNECTICUT…NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND SOUTHEAST NEW YORK.
.DAY ONE…TONIGHT.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN…WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY.
THE LIKELIHOOD IS INCREASING FOR AN UNUSUALLY STRONG LOW PRESSURE
SYSTEM TO AFFECT THE REGION THURSDAY INTO EARLY FRIDAY. THIS WILL
BRING THE POTENTIAL FOR A WIDESPREAD 1 TO 3 INCHES OF RAIN…WITH
LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS POSSIBLE.
THE LOCATION OF HEAVIEST RAINFALL IS UNCLEAR AT THIS TIME. BUT DUE
TO SATURATED GROUNDS FROM RECENT HEAVY RAINS…IF THE HIGHER END
OF THE RAINFALL AMOUNTS ARE REALIZED…WIDESPREAD URBAN AND SMALL STREAM FLOODING ISSUES AND SIGNIFICANT RISES ON OUR MAIN STEM RIVERS COULD BE EXPECTED. THE AREAS AT HIGHEST RISK FOR FLOODING WOULD BE ACROSS NORTHEASTERN NEW JERSEY…THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY…AND URBAN CENTERS.
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day?”
It’s true. In fact, breakfast may help control Americans’ increasing problem with overweight and obesity. A number of studies show that people who successfully maintain a significant weight loss eat breakfast just about every day.
All elementary and middle school children are asked to bring non-perishable breakfast food items to school June 3-7, to be collected for the Social Service Pantry. Please call Judy Saydah at SSA with questions: 201-444-2980.
Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee
Feds suggest anti-Muslim speech can be punished
By BYRON TAU |
5/31/13 5:26 PM EDT
A U.S. attorney in Tennessee is reportedly vowing to use federal civil rights statutes to clamp down on offensive and inflammatory speech about Islam.
Bill Killian, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, was quoted by the Tullahoma News this week suggesting that some inflammatory material on Islam might run afoul of federal civil rights laws.
“We need to educate people about Muslims and their civil rights, and as long as we’re here, they’re going to be protected,” Killian told the newspaper.
Killian, along with the FBI special agent that runs the Knoxville office, are set to speak next week to a special meeting with the local Muslim community, informing them about their rights under federal law.
“This is an educational effort with civil rights laws as they play into freedom of religion and exercising freedom of religion,” Killian said about the meeting. “This is also to inform the public what federal laws are in effect and what the consequences are.”
Hurricane Preparedness Week is May 26 – June 1, 2013
The Ridgewood Office of Emergency Management (OEM) reminds residents that the 2013 Hurricane Season begins June 1st.
A hurricane is a type of tropical cyclone or severe tropical storm that forms in the southern Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, Gulf of Mexico, and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. A typical cyclone is accompanied by thunderstorms, and in the Northern Hemisphere, a counterclockwise circulation of winds near the earth’s surface.
Hurricanes can cause catastrophic damage to coastlines and several hundred miles inland. Hurricanes can produce winds exceeding 155 miles per hour as well as tornadoes and mircrobursts. Additionally, hurricanes can create storm surges along the coast and cause extensive damage from heavy rainfall. Floods and flying debris from the excessive winds are often the deadly and destructive results of these weather events. Slow moving hurricanes traveling into mountainous regions tend to produce especially heavy rain. Excessive rain can trigger landslides and mud slides. Flash flooding can occur due to intense rainfall.
Ridgewood OEM is asking residents to begin preparations NOW by building an emergency kit and making a family communications plan. Please review the recently updated bookled from the National Weather Service entitled “Tropical Cyclones: A Preparedness Guide” and the “Hurricane Survival Guide for New Jersey” published by New Jersey State Office of Emergency Management.
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
928 PM EDT THU MAY 23 2013
…A FLASH FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 1045 PM EDT FOR
FAIRFIELD…EXTREME EASTERN PASSAIC…NORTHWESTERN NEW HAVEN…
WESTCHESTER…BERGEN…EAST CENTRAL ESSEX AND HUDSON COUNTIES…
AT 924 PM EDT…NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED
THAT HEAVY RAIN HAD ENDED…BUT FLASH FLOODING OF SMALL STREAMS AND URBAN FLOODING ARE STILL OCCURRING IN THE WARNED AREA. IN BERGEN COUNTY…THE HOHOKUS BROOK AT HOHOKUS WAS STILL JUST ABOVE FLOOD STAGE…AND THE PASCACK BROOK IN HILLSDALE WAS OUT OF ITS BANKS AND FLOODING LOCAL BUSINESSES.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
EXCESSIVE RUNOFF FROM HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CA– USE FLOODING OF SMALL CREEKS AND STREAMS…URBAN AREAS…HIGHWAYS…STREETS AND UNDERPASSES AS WELL AS OTHER DRAINAGE AREAS AND LOW LYING SPOTS.
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE THE
DANGERS OF FLOODING. IF FLASH FLOODING IS OBSERVED ACT QUICKLY. MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS. DO NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.
Special ops halted from responding to Benghazi attacks, U.S. diplomat says
By Ernesto Londoño, Published: May 6
As the weakly protected U.S. diplomatic compound in eastern Libya came under attack the night of Sept. 11, 2012, the deputy head of the embassy in Tripoli 600 miles away sought in vain to get the Pentagon to scramble fighter jets over Benghazi in a show of force that he said might have averted a second attack on a nearby CIA complex.
Hours later, according to excerpts of the account by the U.S. diplomat, Gregory Hicks, American officials in the Libyan capital sought permission to deploy four U.S. Special Operations troops to Benghazi aboard a Libyan military aircraft early the next morning. The troops were told to stand down.
Defense Department officials have said they had no units that could have responded in time to counter the attack in Benghazi, but Republicans on Capitol Hill have questioned whether the Obama administration could have saved lives with a nimbler, more assertive response. They say that the reluctance to send the Special Operations troops may have, at the very least, deprived wounded Americans in Benghazi of first aid.
Congressional investigators released a partial transcript of Hicks’s testimony Monday ahead of a hearing Wednesday at which he is scheduled to appear. His remarks are the first public account from a U.S. official who was in Libya at the time of the attacks about the options that were weighed as militants mobbed the American diplomatic outpost and CIA station in Benghazi, killing U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other government employees.
The new details are certain to reignite a debate over whether the Obama administration has been sufficiently forthcoming in its public accounting of the events and missteps that resulted in the first death of a U.S. ambassador in the line of duty in a generation. If Republicans in Congress succeed in portraying the administration’s response as feckless, the episode could dog any future political aspirations of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who was secretary of state when the attacks happened.
Lisa’s Mediterranean Cuisine in Ridgewood
April 23,2013
By Tony Mangia
https://devilgourmet.com/lisas-mediterranean-cuisine-in-ridgewood-new-jersey/#
Lisa’s Turkish Kitchen is a Ridgewood, NJ institution for Middle Eastern, namely Turkish, cuisine. A few months ago, the restaurant moved from its original location on Chestnut Street one block east to 28 Oak Street and changed its name to Lisa’s Mediterranean Cuisine.
I have never been to Lisa’s at its original location, but have heard great things. So recently I decided to pay Lisa’s a visit for a solo lunch. I love Turkish food. It’s delicious and shares similar flavors with other Mediterranean cuisines.
The U.S.A. and the Middle East in a New Era of the Clash of Civilizations
by Vassilios Damiras, Ph.D. (ABD)
CEO
Geostrategic Forecasting Cooperation – (GSFC)
Chryssoula Katsikoudi
Director of International Relations and Middle Eastern Affairs
Geostrategic Forecasting Cooperation – (GSFC)
Events since the terrorists’ attacks of September 11, 2001, have dramatically and drastically changed the political environment in the Arab and Muslims worlds, a vast diverse region incorporating the band of nation-states with significant religious Muslim population that extends from western Africa to the southern Philippines, as well as Arab and Muslim communities and diasporas stretching throughout the globe.
The United States are concerned with three types of serious threats to U.S. national interests.
Direct physical threats against American citizens and military/diplomatic installations
Serious political destabilization of friendly nation-states in the Arab and Muslim worlds
Significant growth of anti-American, anti-Western, and antidemocratic ideologies in the
Middle East and in the wider Arab and Muslim Worlds.
Preventing direct threats against the various American interests is the aim of the global war on terrorism with the defeat of Al Qaeda and related terror networks the paramount U.S. national security priority. The Bush administration in 2002 in the “National Security Strategy of the United States of America” declared that the United States of America is combating a war against brutal terrorists of global reach. The enemy is not a single political regime, or government, or person or religion or political ideology. The main enemy is terrorism premeditated political motivated violence perpetrated against innocents.
Cooperation in fighting terrorism and its networks is therefore a very critical component of the U.S. diplomatic relations with the various Arab and Muslim countries, but it is not the only element. Beyond the problem of terrorism lies the crucial issue of the future socio-political shape
and form of the Arab and Muslim worlds and whether these religious and political worlds will be amicable to U.S. interests, values, and democratic ideas.
Political destabilization of friendly but authoritarian nation-states poses a very serious and complex set of dilemmas and challenges. Statesmen, diplomats, and scholars of the realist school of thought, who direct and influence the U.S. policies and decision-making toward the Arab and Muslim worlds, valued regime stability nearly above democratic values and ideas. At the end of the 1991 Gulf War, serious fear and concern of the strategic consequences of the political destabilization of Iraq informed the George Bush administration’s decision to stop short of toppling Saddam Hussein and to permit him to crush the Kurdish and Shiite revolts. For the following decade both the Bush and Clinton administrations had to live with the serious
consequences of that military decision. Because of that dramatic geostrategic experience, some policymakers now support and vigorously promote that American national interest are sometimes better safeguarded or even protected by regime change in antithetical brutal authoritarian regimes. President George W. Bush faced that dilemma of regime change in Iraq and President Barrack Obama encounters that dilemma in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria with the emergence of the Arabic Spring.
Obviously in some cases, promote for regime change is clearly a suitable sociopolitical option. There is little question, for example, that most alternatives to the current suppressive Iranian theocratic government would create a government more respectful of the Iranian people’s political and human rights, less likely to pursue and finish with the development of nuclear weapons or to support or finance vicious terrorist groups or causes, and more favorable positioned toward cooperation with the American administration and other democratic countries.
This specific policy questions relate to the cost-benefit calculus implicit in any set of United States military or diplomatic actions adopted to bolster and promote viable democratic change.
It is evident differentiating between political transitions from authoritarianism to democracy that can be expected to lead to more pluralistic and republic political regimes and those that probably that lead to more repressive and regressive political systems is more difficult in the case of friendly authoritarian nation-states. This demands a more fine-grained analysis of the relative strengths and long-term aims of the sociopolitical forces at play in the region.
The best-case political scenario in the process of democratization of friendly authoritarian countries assumes that a sociopolitical transition from authoritarianism, although in the beginning disruptive and difficult, will create a more democratic and benign political environment over the long term. Thus, a democratic or democratizing Arab and Muslim worlds would significantly reduce or even remove of the structural social and political causes of Islamic extremism and anti-Americanism.
Nonetheless, pushing political change in friendly authoritarian or dictatorial regimes could be significantly destabilizing in short term, specifically in the absence of democratic political
alternatives and strong civil society institutions and values. The removal of the Shah of Iran is a very cautionary study case. Furthermore, Algeria is a story of democratic transition that in the end generated an Islamist electoral majority, but instead of directing the Algerian sociopolitical system toward more inclusive politics, it produced a military crackdown and a radical Islamist insurgency of significance and unprecedented violence. In Egypt the Mubarak administration’s tactics drove the political opposition into underground. In 2011, under the banner of the Arabic
Spring the Mubarak regime collapsed. It is ambiguous if Egypt will become more democratic. In the Saudi Arabia, the most serious sociopolitical menace to the regime’s stability and survival comes from religious Islamic radicals supporting a more extreme version of the official religious/political ideology. Last but not least in Pakistan, an ambiguous ally in the U.S. counterterrorism and counterinsurgency strategies, extreme religious Islamic groups threaten the fragile democracy.
A major concern is the disruption of Jihadist terrorist networks, which potential can carry a biological or nuclear terrorist attacks across the globe, thus undermining democratic developments and endanger the American national interests across the world. An important question is how the American intelligence community can identify hostile use of these lethal networks. It is imperative to analyze the profiles of certain Muslim communities that harbor or maintain violent Islamic networks and the nodal and communicable aspects of these convoluted groups. Methods and process of indoctrination, influence, communications characteristics, and religious rituals necessitate to be better comprehended. Once the U.S. intelligence are identified
the aforementioned methodology of specific jihadist groups, then their recruitment procedure and weaknesses need to be examined and analyzed. Then the American government can design a specific strategy of how to penetrate, disrupt, and destroy menacing jihadist groups.
Interrupting these brutal terrorist groups does not mean closing down various Muslim institutions such as, health and welfare organizations, cultural centers, mosques, youth organizations, and student unions. Rather, it needs dismantling the trust nexus upon which Jihadists depend and promoting Muslim moderates to obtain control of these institutions. The Obama administration needs to continue to promote educational reform, reforms in various Madrassas combine with reforms in several Mosques. It is vital also the American government to promote economic development in the Arab and Muslim worlds. The U.S. intelligence assets need very carefully
to execute psychological operations targeting the various jihadist cells. Inside the U.S. borders, decision-makers need to be pay attention to radical recruitment in various prisons and within the American armed forces to monitor the role of Muslim prison clergy and military chaplains in disseminating radical ideas of Islam.
Evidently, it is extremely difficult in forecasting the consequences of regime change may generated from a failure to comprehend the growth of political ideologies drastically opposed to American national interests, values, democratic ideas, and policies. The American government has a difficult road ahead to promote democratic ideas in the Middle East and in the wider Arab and Muslim worlds and to persuade other American allies mainly in Europe to support that sensitive and important task ahead. One way is United States to sustain a significantly military force in the region that reflects the American commitments to her allies and her military interests. America will be the sole catalyst for democratization in these sensitive aforementioned
areas.
The outcome of the “war of ideas” in progress throughout the Muslim and Arab worlds
is possibly to have significant consequences for the U.S. national interests in the region; nonetheless it is also extremely difficult for the American government to influence or alter Muslim ideas regarding the relations between the West and various countries in the Islamic World. Even pro-American governments wishing to work together with the U.S.A. on various important regional issues may be limited by domestic pressers and public perceptions. It is fundamentally and extremely difficult for a nonwestern power to influence or alter ideas and perceptions of Muslims about their religion or political affiliations. The historical evidence vividly illustrates that only Muslims themselves have the sole credibility to challenge or change the misuse of the Islamic religion by radicals or Jihadst fighters. Thus, the American administration current and future have a serious and difficult task to tackle. The future will
indicate the relations between U.S.A. and the Muslim and Arab worlds.
The Middle East has been the most conflict-prone regions. The lack of economic development and growth is one of the major factors why conflict in the Middle East continues in all likelihood to increase. The significance of ethnic dominance in Islamic countries equal well to the long-lasting and ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict, already hosting two international wars with the participation of Iraq in 1991 and 2003 as well as the Iran-Iraq war in 1980-1988.
Ever since the 1950’s, civil war in the Middle East has been the dominant type of conflict. As a conflict ridden region, one cannot deny that Afrcia and Asia has not been on the same path, but by closely analyzing and comparing the three regions, the Middle East is clearly characterized by current authoritarian regimes, oil-dependent economies, and above all Islam.
Civil war in the Middle East is mostly associated with either religious or ethnic conflict or/and economical, political, and social discrimination. The region’s resistance to democracy and the lack of economic and social development is due to bring a movement of exceptionelism to the surface by reflecting the regions beliefs through their ideology and historical circumstances. Has conflict in the Middle East been shaped by exceptional factors vulnerable to the region, or is the Middle East just an “unfortunate” region; wrong place, wrong time?
After World War I, the boarders were drawn in the form of the 1916 Sykes-Picot agreement. The core regions of the Ottoman Empire became Turkey, some were given to Russia, parts of Syria and Lebanon to France, and Iraq and the rest of Syria to Great Britain. Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia were controlled by France, and Egypt, Palestine, and Jordan by Great Britain. By the end of 1960, most of those regions have gained their independence, except with the establishment of Istael in 1948, regional conflict in the Middle East started to spread like wild fire. Ethnic and religious conflict between Muslims and Jews became known as the another “holy war.”
However, throughout all the conflict and civil war, the Middle East still today is one of the most influential strategic importance in world politics. The unique and close relationship with Israel and the United States has influenced external intervention such as the U.S./U.K invasion of Iraq in 2003.
According to the “war of ideas” in concept with Huntington’s “Clash of Civilizations,” Islam an the West are engaged in a clash of civilizations as two competing ideologies. As Islam is conflicting with secular democracy and basic civil liberties, the spread and the replacement of the current world with the caliphate are proceeding through two forms of how terrorism is defined nowadays. One, is the extremist Islamist group known as al-Qaeda, and second, the Party of Liberation which is more oriented towards ideological struggle. Known as a radical Sunni Islamist organizatio, PL has not been classified as a terrorist organization, therefore, its ideologies are more accessable to the masses. Other Islamist groups focus more on single, religious issues, such as the Arab-Israeli conflict, but PL reaches out to unite all Muslims under one Islamic banner such as – in Huntington’s case – the clash of civilizations suffered by Muslims all around the world.
After the creation of the Muslim Brotherhood in 1928, modern Islamist movement emerged through some ideologues believing that the decline of the Islamic world can only be reversed if “real” Muslims unite and spread the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, doing so, replacing the existing governments ruling the Muslim world with Islamic ones. When the Party of Liberation was formed in the early 1950s, its followers, without a doubt, rejected capitalism and preached democracy as “godless.”1 The only way to liberate Muslims from the beliefs of nonbelievers was to replace the Christian dominated nation-states. Furthermore, followers of the PL also believe that Western civilization was seeking an ideological dominance within
the Musim societies, and that capitalims and socialism were anathema because they failed to recognize the superiority of Islam.
Today, the PL is active in more than forty countries with a hierarchical approach aiming to resurrect the caliphate by overthrowing the government, and to prevent Muslims in the West to assimilate into Western culture. One of the party’s main focuses is Turkey – conflicted within a war of ideologies. Although Turkey is currently reforming its legal and constitutional systems in order to join the European Union, in the recent years it has become very vulnerable to domestic Isamist extremists. The PL is trying to convince Turkey not to enter the EU because otherwise they would lose their Islamic identity and instead raise their Islamic flag.
Zeyno Baran, “Fighting the War of Ideas,” Foreign Affairs , Vol. 84, No. 6 (Nov. – Dec., 2005), 70.
Huntington’s clash of civilizations thesis predicts that the increasing conflict between Islam and the West has to do with Muslims being involved in violent conflicts between religious and ethnic groups; with the Middle East being a region where Islam dominates. Ethnic dominance between Shia and Sunni proves his argument that any dominant ethnic group increases the risk of conflict incorporating Islamic dominance. In core content, Huntington’s Clash of Civilization thesis
states that states belonging to different civilizations are more likely to fight each other, while states belonging to the same civilization are less likely to fight each other.
According to Huntington, the Clash of Civilization emerged in the post Cold-War era as a result of different factors such as increased economic regionalization, the interaction amongst people of different civilizations, and most of all a global resourgence of religious identity. Huntington identifies a civilization as “the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have short of that which distinguishes humans from other species.” 2 Religion is evidently the single most important factor in a civilization. It is the central defining characteristic of a civilization; whether it is Hindu, Islamic, Orthodox, or a Western religious faith, civilizations are most likely to clash with each with different religions.
Huntington places a major emphasis on Islamic belief as a source of cultural strain in the modern world. His thesis predicted that the fundamental source of conflict in this world would be ideological or economical; and he was right. With a sligh emphasis on Weberian theory, combined with his theory of the clash of civilizations, it is evident that there is a troublesome attraction and comparability between Islam and the rest of the cultural world today, which translates into a fatalistic self-empowerment and individualism. Islam’s fatalism is the concept of traditional value system that are unreceptive to the idea of the process of modernization. For that, Huntington’s Clash of Civilization thesis is a perfect comprehensive analysis of the fatalistic
qualities inherited in Islam.
Errol A. Henderson and Richard Tucker, “Clear and Present Strangers: The Clash of Civilizations and International Conflict,” International Studies Quarterly , Vol. 45, No. 2 (Jun., 2001), 319.
All across the nation, there are strange, unheard of laws that sit in the back of the books and most people go their entire lives without knowing they exist. Even with a Morgan Chu resume containing years of legal experience, one still might not know about all of these stipulations. Here are some of the strangest laws from all over the United States:
In California, they have recently restructured one of their long-standing laws that had to do with hunting. Specifically, there was a law saying California residents could use dogs in order to hunt mammals. Now that they’re reworded the law, the state of California has decided that while hunting is still legal, dogs are no longer allowed to be used to hunt bears or bobcats.
Back in the 1800s, New York created a law that is still very much valid today. This law states that under no circumstances are people allowed to walk around New York wearing masks, scarves, or anything that might hinder others’ abilities to see their identity. Sometimes exceptions are made for large events, especially on Halloween, but ninety percent of the time, no masks are allowed in New York.
In an effort to keep the state safe in the case of an emergency, Florida actually has a law written in the books that dictates all public doors must open outwards. It’s designed so people can quickly leave a building in a panic rather than fiddling trying to figure out how to open the door. Anyone who owns a public building but doesn’t adhere to this regulation will be found guilty of a third degree felony.
In Maryland, motorists need to be careful what they say. While driving down any highway or street, or walking down a sidewalk, no one is allowed to behave in any type of disturbing or offensive manner. This includes excessive anger and profanity. If Maryland law finds out that a resident behaved improperly within earshot of someone else, they will be charged with a misdemeanor.
In Illinois, there is a law that mandates certain homeowners pay what is essentially a rain tax. What this law means is that those homeowners who – at the discretion of the law – have areas on their property where excessive water can collect after a storm will need to pay a special tax. High roofs and long paved driveways are the two most common reasons people need to pay this tax, and the money being paid into it is allegedly going toward the extra work the city has to take in order to deal with the run-off from these properties.
WINTER STORM TO IMPACT THE TRI-STATE TODAY AND TONIGHT...
...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL MIDNIGHT EDT
TONIGHT...
* LOCATIONS...NORTHEASTERN NEW JERSEY...NEW YORK CITY...AND LONG
ISLAND.
* HAZARD TYPES...WET SNOW.
* ACCUMULATIONS...SNOW ACCUMULATION OF 2 TO 3 INCHES WITH
ISOLATED AREAS UP TO 4 INCHES.
* WINDS...NORTHEAST 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 40 MPH.
* TEMPERATURES...AROUND 40.
* VISIBILITIES...LESS THAN 1 MILE AT TIMES.
* TIMING...LIGHT SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THIS MORNING...AND
CONTINUE INTO TONIGHT.
* IMPACTS...ANY ACCUMULATING WET SNOW ON UNTREATED SURFACES WILL
RESULT IN DIFFICULT AND SLIPPERY DRIVING CONDITIONS.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW...SLEET...OR
FREEZING RAIN WILL CA-- USE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR
SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES...AND -- USE CAUTION WHILE
DRIVING.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 AM EDT THIS MORNING…
* LOCATIONS…BERGEN AND EASTERN PASSAIC COUNTIES.
* HAZARD TYPES…FREEZING RAIN ON TOP OF EARLIER MODERATE
SNOWFALL.
* ACCUMULATIONS…A LIGHT GLAZE OF ICE ON TOP OF EARLIER SNOW
ACCUMULATION OF 3 TO 5 INCHES.
* WINDS…NORTHEAST 5 TO 10 MPH.
* TEMPERATURES…IN THE LOWER 30S.
* TIMING…LIGHT FREEZING RAIN EARLY THIS MORNING WILL TAPER OFF
TO SCATTERED LIGHT RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS LATE THIS MORNING.
* IMPACTS…A LIGHT GLAZE OF ICE ON TOP OF ACCUMULATED SNOW WILL
MAKE TRAVEL DIFFICULT…ESPECIALLY DURING THE MORNING COMMUTE.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW…SLEET…OR
FREEZING RAIN WILL CA– USE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR
SLIPPERY ROADS…AND — USE CAUTION WHILE DRIVING.
It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. He is believed to have died on March 17, around 460 A.D. Although his father was a Christian deacon, it has been suggested that he probably took on the role because of tax incentives and there is no evidence that Patrick came from a particularly religious family. At the age of 16, Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family’s estate. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity. (There is some dispute over where this captivity took place. Although many believe he was taken to live in Mount Slemish in County Antrim, it is more likely that he was held in County Mayo near Killala.) During this time, he worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to his religion for solace, becoming a devout Christian. (It is also believed that Patrick first began to dream of converting the Irish people to Christianity during his captivity.)
St. Patrick: Guided By Visions
After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, a voice—which he believed to be God’s—spoke to him in a dream, telling him it was time to leave Ireland.
To do so, Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo, where it is believed he was held, to the Irish coast. After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation—an angel in a dream tells him to return to Ireland as a missionary. Soon after, Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than 15 years. After his ordination as a priest, he was sent to Ireland with a dual mission: to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish. (Interestingly, this mission contradicts the widely held notion that Patrick introduced Christianity to Ireland.)
St. Patrick: Bonfires and Crosses
Familiar with the Irish language and culture, Patrick chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs. For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He also superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish. Although there were a small number of Christians on the island when Patrick arrived, most Irish practiced a nature-based pagan religion. The Irish culture centered around a rich tradition of oral legend and myth. When this is considered, it is no surprise that the story of Patrick’s life became exaggerated over the centuries—spinning exciting tales to remember history has always been a part of the Irish way of life.
AFP – A number of countries are aggressively trying to control the Internet, a top US diplomat cautioned Thursday, insisting Washington would give no ground when it comes to curbing freedoms on the Web.
“Many Middle Eastern countries, Russia, China and others are I believe going to take an increasingly aggressive stand to try to control the Internet,” Alec Ross, the State Department’s outgoing senior adviser on innovation, told reporters in Geneva.
The fact that many countries appeared to be investing heavily, “billions and billions of dollars”, in next generation surveillance technologies was an indication of their intentions to clamp down on Internet freedoms, Ross warned.
The clamp-down was coming amid a clear shift of power all over the world from governments and other state hierarchies towards citizens and networks of citizens, he said during his last press conference before leaving his government position.
“Anyone who understands power understands that power is not given up willingly,” he said, adding that the rush to buy surveillance technology appeared to have really taken off after the Iranian election protests in 2009.
URGENT – WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NEW YORK NY
355 AM EST THU MAR 7 2013
…A PROLONGED PERIOD OF ACCUMULATING SNOW EXPECTED…
WESTERN PASSAIC-EASTERN PASSAIC-WESTERN BERGEN-ORANGE-PUTNAM-
355 AM EST THU MAR 7 2013
…WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM 6 PM THIS
EVENING TO NOON EST FRIDAY…
* LOCATIONS…PORTIONS OF INTERIOR NORTHEAST NEW JERSEY AND
INTERIOR PORTIONS OF THE LOWER HUDSON VALLEY OF NEW YORK.
* HAZARD TYPES…SNOW.
* ACCUMULATIONS…FROM 2 TO 5 INCHES.
* TEMPERATURES…FALLING TO AROUND 30 THURSDAY NIGHT.
* TIMING…FLURRIES ARE POSSIBLE THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON. A STEADY
SNOW WILL DEVELOP THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY
MORNING.
* IMPACTS…ACCUMULATING SNOW ON ROADS COULD LEAD TO DIFFICULT
TRAVELING CONDITIONS BY FRIDAY MORNING.
* WINDS…NORTH 10 TO 20 MPH WITH GUSTS UP TO 25 MPH.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY MEANS THAT PERIODS OF SNOW…SLEET…OR
FREEZING RAIN WILL CA– USE TRAVEL DIFFICULTIES. BE PREPARED FOR
SLIPPERY ROADS AND LIMITED VISIBILITIES…AND — USE CAUTION WHILE
DRIVING.
