Good Morning:
It's 20 C at a quarter to ten in the morning. The normal high temperature in Jerusalem is 30 C.
Taking a look at the weather maps, we see that an unusually cold (even for this summer) air mass will be moving in during the next two to three days. Temperatures will fall at all levels of the atmosphere, indicating increasing instability -- meaning, that we'll have to watch out for summer showers, even a heavier shower.
Of course, rain showers are better than missile showers, or even missile-storms.
Looking at comments on The NYT's site, Jon of Pittsburgh wonders if the dignity of "resistance" is better than the peace that comes with defeat. Michael of Austin is ashamed to be a Jew.
Here's my answer to Michael. Unfortunately, the road to peace travels through the travails of war, and we want peace. Is Michael also ashamed of his own country for winning its war of independence, the Civil War, World 1 and II, etc? I'm proud to be Jewish and I'm proud to be Israeli. I am proud that instead of "taking it on the chin," or "turning the other cheek," we can actually (finally -- hopefully) take matters into our own hands and defeat Hamas. Maybe he reads The Times too often?
How will we know we've won? When there are no-more Hamas spokesman to say "bring it on."
As for losing? Losing will give the Gazans a chance (like the Germans of the past) to build something better, more civilised, and more humane.
So, peace will not come by returning to the previous status quo, as suggested by Pres. Obama and Secretary Kerry, but through total and unambiguous victory. Imagine if there were "Defensive Shield?"
Barry Lynn
Friday, July 18, 2014
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Weather It Is (Winds of War)
Good Evening:
Today was a bit of respite (at least) weather wise. The previous days had seen very strong winds accompanied by missile-storms. The missile-storms developed over Gaza and swept eastward on the strong winds, blanketing much of the country in a hail of shrapnel and other asundery missile parts.
It was interesting that our Prime Minister each day used the word "intensifying" -- to indicate our supposed response to this recent (but actually not so recent) threat. One wonders when our own storm will come, or if we will simply turn it out to sea.
In other weather news, there will be a strange (summertime) confluence of events early next week. Temperatures all drop sharply at all levels of the atmosphere, indicating the approach of a trough of low pressure from the northwest. There are some indications that this low pressure area will be accompanied by patches of moisture at both 850 and 700 mb, which may be enough to kick off some summer-time showers.
Based on Jodi Rudoren's New York Time's article today
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/world/middleeast/after-brief-lull-in-gaza-crisis-airstrikes-resume.html?
Israel has the strong advantage in this war -- because Israel has an lopsided advantage in armaments. Mr. Rudoren's article seems to imply that this is somehow unfair. However Hamas has a lopsided "advantage" in the desire to kill us, and it not unfair that we don't easily oblige them.
Barry Lynn
Today was a bit of respite (at least) weather wise. The previous days had seen very strong winds accompanied by missile-storms. The missile-storms developed over Gaza and swept eastward on the strong winds, blanketing much of the country in a hail of shrapnel and other asundery missile parts.
It was interesting that our Prime Minister each day used the word "intensifying" -- to indicate our supposed response to this recent (but actually not so recent) threat. One wonders when our own storm will come, or if we will simply turn it out to sea.
In other weather news, there will be a strange (summertime) confluence of events early next week. Temperatures all drop sharply at all levels of the atmosphere, indicating the approach of a trough of low pressure from the northwest. There are some indications that this low pressure area will be accompanied by patches of moisture at both 850 and 700 mb, which may be enough to kick off some summer-time showers.
Based on Jodi Rudoren's New York Time's article today
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/16/world/middleeast/after-brief-lull-in-gaza-crisis-airstrikes-resume.html?
Israel has the strong advantage in this war -- because Israel has an lopsided advantage in armaments. Mr. Rudoren's article seems to imply that this is somehow unfair. However Hamas has a lopsided "advantage" in the desire to kill us, and it not unfair that we don't easily oblige them.
Barry Lynn
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Weather It Is (Popular? Let's change that!)
Good Morning:
They say that success breeds more success, but it also breeds popularity.
By this notion, I must be one of the most popular meteorologists in Israel -- or at least my company could win a popularity contest.
I mean, what a forecast! It was hot and now its cool, and this is what I wrote about just a few days before.
(By the way, there will be a slight chance of showers as temperatures plummet at 850 mb over the next couple of days. Moreover once again, we see that the weather pattern resembles more fall than summer, and that this weather pattern should persist for the next two weeks.)
I write this tongue in cheek (or course), but you might note the headline:http://www.timesofisrael.com/deaths-in-gaza-attacks-on-israel-spell-rising-popularity-for-hamas/
So, you see that Hamas is becoming quite popular -- even though by normal evaluative methods they are losing. Let's be sure to change this!
Here is my suggestion for how to change the game (remember, I have a Ph.D in Environmental Studies and the Atmospheric Studies -- not warfare).
1) Continue bombing them from the air, and continue with limited (when necessary) ground incursions.
2) Turn off their electricity and water. Make Hamas do something besides produce missiles with our own electricity (let alone water and building materials). Make their "voter constituents" less likely to support them. The absurdity of this situation is beyond description.
(When the world complains, just remind them that the UN (i.e, most of the world) does not recognise Gaza as part of Israel and hence we are not responsible for providing electricity and water to areas outside our borders).
3) When they hold press conferences proclaiming this or that military victory, kill them (with a targeted strike). How better to discredit them?
4) Do the little things (continue assassinations) and targeting of any locations that might be new missile locations before they are used).
This is not a complete list, you are welcome to write with your suggestions.
Barry Lynn
They say that success breeds more success, but it also breeds popularity.
By this notion, I must be one of the most popular meteorologists in Israel -- or at least my company could win a popularity contest.
I mean, what a forecast! It was hot and now its cool, and this is what I wrote about just a few days before.
(By the way, there will be a slight chance of showers as temperatures plummet at 850 mb over the next couple of days. Moreover once again, we see that the weather pattern resembles more fall than summer, and that this weather pattern should persist for the next two weeks.)
I write this tongue in cheek (or course), but you might note the headline:http://www.timesofisrael.com/deaths-in-gaza-attacks-on-israel-spell-rising-popularity-for-hamas/
So, you see that Hamas is becoming quite popular -- even though by normal evaluative methods they are losing. Let's be sure to change this!
Here is my suggestion for how to change the game (remember, I have a Ph.D in Environmental Studies and the Atmospheric Studies -- not warfare).
1) Continue bombing them from the air, and continue with limited (when necessary) ground incursions.
2) Turn off their electricity and water. Make Hamas do something besides produce missiles with our own electricity (let alone water and building materials). Make their "voter constituents" less likely to support them. The absurdity of this situation is beyond description.
(When the world complains, just remind them that the UN (i.e, most of the world) does not recognise Gaza as part of Israel and hence we are not responsible for providing electricity and water to areas outside our borders).
3) When they hold press conferences proclaiming this or that military victory, kill them (with a targeted strike). How better to discredit them?
4) Do the little things (continue assassinations) and targeting of any locations that might be new missile locations before they are used).
This is not a complete list, you are welcome to write with your suggestions.
Barry Lynn
Friday, July 11, 2014
Weather It Is (Break Down -- And Acts of God)
Good Afternoon:
The weather should quickly warm for Shabbat, but then cool off quickly the day after. In fact, it won't feel at all like summer, and we might be left to wonder if the missiles flying asunder portend a rainy winter. In fact, looking at the 700 mb and 500 mb levels shows an undulating wave pattern that may resemble by early next week the weather of fall than summer. (I should mention the slight chance of showers as the cold air moves in on Sunday and Monday.) It seems like our normal, summer weather patterns are breaking down, to replace, like the political situation, with instability.
If you'll beggar my pardon, I'd like to bring up a point. There is a place in the US called Tornado Alley. There are over time more frequent and intense tornados than in other locations. This means that periodically folks need to run to their safe room (or hide in their bathtub). However, the possibility of Tornados are usually predicted in advance -- meaning that preparations can be made beforehand -- and warning times are as large as 10 minutes. A stressful situation, for sure, but somewhat manageable.
Here, in contrast, missiles appear from a clear sky with only seconds warning. True, people can go to their safe rooms (even if they have to jump out of a moving car), but this is where the similarity ends. Besides, the obvious that missile attacks are acts of Man, not God, there is no possible way to plan or to carry out normal activities. The fear of death, instead, hangs over all at all times. Our government has failed its citizens for the simple reason that it keeps doing the same thing over again -- agreeing to ceasefires that are always broken by the other side (Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc), and then tolerating intermittent missile attacks (as if, as I said, they are acts of God not man) -- attacks that bring constant fear, if not actual injury or death.
People are saying that we can never win this war, and, in fact, Pres. Obama is offering to mediate a ceasefire. Quite frankly, ceasefires are for losers, and we lose every time we agree to one. Hamas represents an evil ideology whose goal is to kill all of the Jews and impose Radical Islam on "Palestine," and eventually, with other similar ideologies, on the rest of the world. They may not be as powerful as the Nazis once were, but they are as evil. And, like the Nazis, they can and must be destroyed. We are the Vanguard to do so.
Shabbat Shalom,
Barry Lynn
The weather should quickly warm for Shabbat, but then cool off quickly the day after. In fact, it won't feel at all like summer, and we might be left to wonder if the missiles flying asunder portend a rainy winter. In fact, looking at the 700 mb and 500 mb levels shows an undulating wave pattern that may resemble by early next week the weather of fall than summer. (I should mention the slight chance of showers as the cold air moves in on Sunday and Monday.) It seems like our normal, summer weather patterns are breaking down, to replace, like the political situation, with instability.
If you'll beggar my pardon, I'd like to bring up a point. There is a place in the US called Tornado Alley. There are over time more frequent and intense tornados than in other locations. This means that periodically folks need to run to their safe room (or hide in their bathtub). However, the possibility of Tornados are usually predicted in advance -- meaning that preparations can be made beforehand -- and warning times are as large as 10 minutes. A stressful situation, for sure, but somewhat manageable.
Here, in contrast, missiles appear from a clear sky with only seconds warning. True, people can go to their safe rooms (even if they have to jump out of a moving car), but this is where the similarity ends. Besides, the obvious that missile attacks are acts of Man, not God, there is no possible way to plan or to carry out normal activities. The fear of death, instead, hangs over all at all times. Our government has failed its citizens for the simple reason that it keeps doing the same thing over again -- agreeing to ceasefires that are always broken by the other side (Hamas, Islamic Jihad, etc), and then tolerating intermittent missile attacks (as if, as I said, they are acts of God not man) -- attacks that bring constant fear, if not actual injury or death.
People are saying that we can never win this war, and, in fact, Pres. Obama is offering to mediate a ceasefire. Quite frankly, ceasefires are for losers, and we lose every time we agree to one. Hamas represents an evil ideology whose goal is to kill all of the Jews and impose Radical Islam on "Palestine," and eventually, with other similar ideologies, on the rest of the world. They may not be as powerful as the Nazis once were, but they are as evil. And, like the Nazis, they can and must be destroyed. We are the Vanguard to do so.
Shabbat Shalom,
Barry Lynn
Tuesday, July 8, 2014
Weather It Is (Coming Around Again, Of Course)
Good Evening:
Our weather refuses to settle down. It's cool, it's warm, and then cool again. It's the cycle of weather! In fact, there could even be a few showers early next week.
How did we get here? Let's be honest. We left Gaza -- big mistake -- unless you like missiles raining on us like summer showers. Then, in 2008 (Cast Lead), we ran to war, only to ran away from its finish (so Hamas had time to recharge its missile silos and improve its training -- just like an electrical storm recharges after a strike). This was followed in 2011 by another war, where we again stood down -- in the hope that bad weather (i.e., Hamas) would not strike again.
Now, we are here again, and we just endured a storm of rockets. Yet, we in the centre have it relatively easy. The real bad "weather" is in the south, where periodic heavy missile barrages send our fellow citizens to their shelters, without sleep, and with frayed nerves.
I've written that our government has treated this problem like it's unsolvable -- like the inhabitants of "Tornado-Alley," who can only burrow deeper into the ground or under their mattresses.
Enough! We need to fight like a Tornado or even a tropical storm -- and like either we must not stop until Hamas and their friends are completely destroyed. And when the world asks for "restraint," we must close our ears -- because only complete victory can end our nightmare.
Barry Lynn
Our weather refuses to settle down. It's cool, it's warm, and then cool again. It's the cycle of weather! In fact, there could even be a few showers early next week.
How did we get here? Let's be honest. We left Gaza -- big mistake -- unless you like missiles raining on us like summer showers. Then, in 2008 (Cast Lead), we ran to war, only to ran away from its finish (so Hamas had time to recharge its missile silos and improve its training -- just like an electrical storm recharges after a strike). This was followed in 2011 by another war, where we again stood down -- in the hope that bad weather (i.e., Hamas) would not strike again.
Now, we are here again, and we just endured a storm of rockets. Yet, we in the centre have it relatively easy. The real bad "weather" is in the south, where periodic heavy missile barrages send our fellow citizens to their shelters, without sleep, and with frayed nerves.
I've written that our government has treated this problem like it's unsolvable -- like the inhabitants of "Tornado-Alley," who can only burrow deeper into the ground or under their mattresses.
Enough! We need to fight like a Tornado or even a tropical storm -- and like either we must not stop until Hamas and their friends are completely destroyed. And when the world asks for "restraint," we must close our ears -- because only complete victory can end our nightmare.
Barry Lynn
Monday, July 7, 2014
Weather It Is (Wild Swings)
Good Morning:
The weather just can't decide on a proper response to the calendar. Is it summer -- or not? Watching the weather patterns at the different atmospheric levels shows quite an inconsistency. Sometimes it warms aloft in response to the Indian Monsoon winds, and sometimes it cools off in response to unusual troughiness in the European weather pattern. Sometimes it warms below when it cools aloft, and vice versa. All I know is that the calendar says summer, but the weather pattern refuses to go along (and it won't for the next couple of weeks).
Our government doesn't seem to know how to respond to Hamas missile fire. Sometimes we bomb empty buildings (hit them where it hurts!) or sometimes we make a "mistake" and this happens: Hamas accuses us of a serious escalation (see http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-jets-strike-9-gaza-targets-overnight/). Apparently, a number of Hamas members were killed overnight in response to airstrikes, whose purpose is to stop the rocket fire. What rubbish! Hamas (and friends) fire missiles that could at any time (but for Mazol) kill many people, and they accuse us of escalation! Where do they think these missiles go? Are they like a cloud or storm that passes overhead, where one thinks: "out of site out of mind?"
Sometimes I think that we are out of our mind. The other day I followed the wisdom of the Waze and took a right hand turn off route 90 and headed into Samaria. My Waze did not inform me that we would be passing through "no-mans" land, without a car to see for at least an hour. It didn't tell me that I'd end up at the entrance of Nablus! But, come to think of it: who would think (let alone Waze) that simply driving through a pristine and beautiful area could potentially be so dangerous -- yet it is and we tolerate it. (By the way, this is the most beautiful area, full of mountains, twisting roads, and plunging valleys).
Unfortunately, there are no easy answers (unless we invade, for example, Gaza and this isn't easy; perhaps we could settle this area!).
When the Palestinians kidnap or murder us, they hand out candies. When we (God forbid) do the same to them, we engage in all sorts of denial -- because we're ashamed that any of us could be like them.
Barry Lynn
The weather just can't decide on a proper response to the calendar. Is it summer -- or not? Watching the weather patterns at the different atmospheric levels shows quite an inconsistency. Sometimes it warms aloft in response to the Indian Monsoon winds, and sometimes it cools off in response to unusual troughiness in the European weather pattern. Sometimes it warms below when it cools aloft, and vice versa. All I know is that the calendar says summer, but the weather pattern refuses to go along (and it won't for the next couple of weeks).
Our government doesn't seem to know how to respond to Hamas missile fire. Sometimes we bomb empty buildings (hit them where it hurts!) or sometimes we make a "mistake" and this happens: Hamas accuses us of a serious escalation (see http://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-jets-strike-9-gaza-targets-overnight/). Apparently, a number of Hamas members were killed overnight in response to airstrikes, whose purpose is to stop the rocket fire. What rubbish! Hamas (and friends) fire missiles that could at any time (but for Mazol) kill many people, and they accuse us of escalation! Where do they think these missiles go? Are they like a cloud or storm that passes overhead, where one thinks: "out of site out of mind?"
Sometimes I think that we are out of our mind. The other day I followed the wisdom of the Waze and took a right hand turn off route 90 and headed into Samaria. My Waze did not inform me that we would be passing through "no-mans" land, without a car to see for at least an hour. It didn't tell me that I'd end up at the entrance of Nablus! But, come to think of it: who would think (let alone Waze) that simply driving through a pristine and beautiful area could potentially be so dangerous -- yet it is and we tolerate it. (By the way, this is the most beautiful area, full of mountains, twisting roads, and plunging valleys).
Unfortunately, there are no easy answers (unless we invade, for example, Gaza and this isn't easy; perhaps we could settle this area!).
When the Palestinians kidnap or murder us, they hand out candies. When we (God forbid) do the same to them, we engage in all sorts of denial -- because we're ashamed that any of us could be like them.
Barry Lynn
Friday, July 4, 2014
Weather It Is (Nice Weather But Not Much Else)
Good Morning:
After a bout of hot weather, it now looks like the temperatures will remain relatively cool for the next two weeks.
True, we do see a continued build up of heat at 500 mb (as the Indian Monsoon strengthens), but troughiness over central Europe is suppressing the high heat of summer eastward. The hot air is there (over the desert region of Saudia Arabia), but it won't affect our weather.
The high heat of summer is making for short tempers. Yet, I find it strange that the Arabs of east Jerusalem take a break for dinner and then go back to rioting. When a Jewish person is murdered, we have a funeral and mourn. When an Arab person is murdered, they riot. In fact, they seem to prefer rioting over productive work or creativity.
Haneen Zoabi said: ""They're people who don't see any way to change their reality and they are forced to use these means until Israel will wake up a little, until Israeli citizens and society will wake up and feel the suffering of the other (JPOST)." In other words, they are not terrorists. The problem with this line of thinking is that kidnapping often has unintended consequences. Besides, the tape of the phone call conversation actually shows that the kidnappers are murderers and that they enjoyed it.
On the other hand, we too have failed to reign in our own "terrorists." Pricetag acts are not just vandalism. True, they are relatively mild acts of terror. The problem is that (like kidnapping), evil begets evil, and eventually one also slides down the slope to actual murder (which is what appears to have happened). We don't want to be like them!
Barry Lynn
After a bout of hot weather, it now looks like the temperatures will remain relatively cool for the next two weeks.
True, we do see a continued build up of heat at 500 mb (as the Indian Monsoon strengthens), but troughiness over central Europe is suppressing the high heat of summer eastward. The hot air is there (over the desert region of Saudia Arabia), but it won't affect our weather.
The high heat of summer is making for short tempers. Yet, I find it strange that the Arabs of east Jerusalem take a break for dinner and then go back to rioting. When a Jewish person is murdered, we have a funeral and mourn. When an Arab person is murdered, they riot. In fact, they seem to prefer rioting over productive work or creativity.
Haneen Zoabi said: ""They're people who don't see any way to change their reality and they are forced to use these means until Israel will wake up a little, until Israeli citizens and society will wake up and feel the suffering of the other (JPOST)." In other words, they are not terrorists. The problem with this line of thinking is that kidnapping often has unintended consequences. Besides, the tape of the phone call conversation actually shows that the kidnappers are murderers and that they enjoyed it.
On the other hand, we too have failed to reign in our own "terrorists." Pricetag acts are not just vandalism. True, they are relatively mild acts of terror. The problem is that (like kidnapping), evil begets evil, and eventually one also slides down the slope to actual murder (which is what appears to have happened). We don't want to be like them!
Barry Lynn
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