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Olympus E-3 Review
- Fast
- Well built
- Good ergonomics
- Decent high ISO performance
- Cost of system entry a bit steep
- Slight tendency toward underexposure in Auto mode
- Auto WB is occasionally inaccurate
Nikon and Canon have dominated the professional DSLR market since the beginning of the digital imaging revolution, effectively condemning Olympus, Pentax, Panasonic, Leica, and Sony DSLRs to second-tier status. Olympus and a consortium of other second-tier manufacturers introduced the ground-breaking four-thirds system (refering to the aspect ratio of the sensor, which is 4:3 as opposed to the 3:2 ratio found in most DSLRs) in 2003 to try and gain a foothold in the lucrative DSLR market. The new Olympus E-3 replaces the very popular E-1 model, the World's first four-thirds system DSLR. The long-awaited E-3 – it's been over four years since the introduction of the E-1 – offers consumers an absolute surfeit of useful features including mechanical image stabilization, a 2.5-inch fully articulated "Live View" LCD screen, and Oly's Supersonic Wave Filter (SSWF) dust reduction system.
The chunky E-3 is not the super-compact and lightweight pro-level DSLR promised five years ago when Olympus, Panasonic, and Leica were pushing the virtues of their new four-thirds format. In fact, the E-3 is actually larger and heavier than most of its competition at 5.59 inches by 4.56 inches by 2.93 inches, and weighing in at a hefty 28.2 ounces (minus lens, battery, and memory card). Mount the Zuiko Digital ED 12-60mm f/2.8-4.0 SWD zoom and the package goes to 3.3 pounds.
Some shooters moving up from a prosumer P&S or entry level DSLR are put off by the steep learning curve presented by pro/semi-pro DSLRs, but the E-3 (in Auto or Program mode) is remarkably easy to use – unlike some of its competition. For more demanding shooters, the E-3's comprehensive control array is logically placed and easily accessed – plus the E-3 provides direct access to white balance, ISO/sensitivity, exposure compensation, and metering options. The E-3 is tough as nails (specially cast Magnesium alloy body) with a shutter designed to last through at least 150,000 exposures. If all that's not enough, the E-3 is also weatherproof/splashproof and dustproof. Ergonomics are excellent and the large handgrip nicely balances the camera and provides a secure hold for extended use.
Finally, here's a really nifty feature: press the OK button at the center of the compass switch and the E-3 displays a Camera Status panel on the LCD screen where all functions and exposure parameters can be set/checked via the arrow pads and the front/rear control wheels, all without resorting to the menu.
Key specs for the Olympus E-3 are as follows:
|10.1 megapixel 4:3-ratio Live MOS (CMOS), 17.3×13.0mm
|Four-thirds lens mount
|2.5″, 230K-pixel TFT HyperCrystal LCD with Live View; pentaprism optical viewfinder
|Shutter Speed
|60-1/8000 seconds
|Shooting Modes
|Auto, Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Manual
|Scene Presets
|White Balance Settings
|Auto, Sunlight, Overcast, Shade, Tungsten, Fluorescent 1, Fluorescent 2, Fluorescent 3, Custom, Kelvin
|Metering Modes
|Digital ESP, Center, Spot, Highlight Spot, Shadow Spot
|Focus Modes
|Single AF, Continuous AF, Manual
|Drive Modes
|Single, Continuous
|Flash Modes
|Auto, Forced On, Slow Sync, Red-Eye Reduction, Slow Sync with Red-Eye Reduction, Second-Curtain Slow Sync, Forced Off, Flash Bracketing
|Self Timer Settings
|12 seconds, 2 seconds, Selectable Anti-Shake Delay, Off
|Memory Formats
|Compact Flash, Type I and II; xD-Picture Card
|Internal Memory
|File Formats
|Max. Image Size
|3648 x 2736
|Max. Video Size
|Zoom During Video
|Rechargeable 1500 mAh lithium-ion
|USB 2.0, video output, DC input, 10/100 ethernet
|Additional Features
|TruePic III image processor, Supersonic Wave Drive in-body image stabilization, rotating LCD with Live View
The E-3's 10.1 megapixel CMOS sensor was developed by Panasonic, one of Olympus' four-thirds format partners, and is designed to provide significantly improved imaging in low/dim lighting. In addition, the new sensor has a wider dynamic range and faster data transfer speeds than the 10 megapixel sensors found in Olympus' entry-level E410/E510 models. CMOS Sensors are becoming more popular since they offer comparable image quality to the CCD sensors found in many DSLRs and use significantly less power. In addition to its image generation chores, the E-3's sensor is the heart of Olympus' Supersonic Wave Filter dust reduction system. In clean mode, the sensor vibrates rapidly (30,000 times per second) to shake loose any dust particles that might adhere to the photosensitive surface area. Finally, the E-3's new sensor also drives the camera's mechanical image stabilization function, using the same drive motor that shakes loose dust particles to shift the sensor gyroscopically to compensate for involuntary camera movements.
The E-3's new TruePic III engine utilizes three separate processors to more efficiently manage camera functions and image processing chores. This unique structural design permits each processor to concentrate on specific aspects of the image processing/exposure equation – one processor supports high-speed sequential shooting (the E-3 can capture JPEGs at 5 fps up to the capacity of the memory card and in RAW mode up to 19 images before the E-3 stops to process the image data), another processor controls the IS system and supports Olympus' Advanced Noise Filter III Technology, and the third processor controls the AF system and supports Olympus' Advanced Digital Reproduction Technology and Advanced Proper Gamma III Technology for sharper edge demarcations, more accurate tonal reproduction, and truer color rendition.
Optical Viewfinder/LCD Screen
The E-3 features a large and bright pentaprism optical viewfinder that shows 100 percent of the image frame (magnification is 1.15X). Looking through the viewfinder, the E-3's 11 AF focus points are clearly visible and there's a comprehensive settings/status/function info display (Aperture, Shutter speed, Record mode, AF confirmation, Flash status, WB, AE lock, remaining image capacity, Exposure compensation value, Metering mode, Battery warning, Exposure mode, IS status, ISO value, etc.) along the bottom of the image frame. For eyeglasses wearers, there's a diopter correction (-3 to +1) dial. The Neo Lumi-Micro matte focusing screen can be replaced by Olympus with a grid type screen. The rubber/plastic eyecup is also removable and can be replaced with the Olympus Magnifier Eyecup ME-1.
The E-3's 2.5 inch/6.4 centimeter (230,000 pixel) camcorder-style HyperCrystal wide-angle (176 degrees) LCD screen is bright, sharp, fluid, and gains-up automatically in dim/low light. The LCD screen tilts/swivels 180 degrees horizontally and 360 degrees vertically. The screen can be nested into the monitor well (facing out) for traditional LCD viewing, or articulated through a variety of shooting angles including facing the front of the camera (good for self-portraits and allowing portrait subjects to fine-tune their poses in real time), or facing backward at a 45 degree angle (good for low level macro shots), or pointing backward at 135 degrees (for over-the-heads of the crowd shots), or facing upward at a 90 degree angle to the back of the camera (for waist-level viewing). When not in use the LCD screen can be flipped around and popped back into the monitor well (face-in) to protect it from scratches, smudges, and fingerprints.
The LCD screens on digital SLRs are generally used for menu navigation and post-exposure image review. Until fairly recently, DSLR LCD screens generally couldn't be used as viewfinders (like they are with point-and-shoot digital cameras) so DSLR users were obliged to compose and frame their images in the traditional way, with the optical viewfinder. The E-3's LCD screen can be used as a viewfinder – to frame and compose images. Engage Live View via the Display button and the E-3's reflex mirror swings up out of the light path and a live TTL image appears on the LCD screen. Users can then zoom, frame, and adjust various exposure parameters for prevailing conditions (and see the results) before exposing the image.
In Live View mode the E-3's LCD screen isn't quite as bright or as sharp as it is in review mode and rapid movements appear slightly jerky. Press the shutter button in Live View mode and the reflex mirror drops back into place momentarily while the camera's processor measures incoming light and incrementally adjusts AF and then flips back up out of the light path – adding about a second to the E-3's image capture cycle.
The E-3 features a top deck monochrome LCD control panel, which provides immediate access to camera settings/status/function information. The E-3 also provides a playback mode histogram display for checking exposure, albeit after the fact and unlike most pro-level DSLRs, the E-3 offers three framing assist patterns. I didn't try any of these, so I can't comment on their efficacy or usefulness.
Optics/Lens Mount
The E-3 features a stainless steel Olympus four-thirds lens mount. Panasonic, Leica, Sanyo, and Sigma DSLRs also support the four-thirds format, making it possible to mount lenses from other OEMs. Four-thirds lenses have a 2x (35mm equivalent) magnification factor, so the focal length of telephoto lenses double – an 80-200 mm zoom becomes a 160-400 mm (35mm equivalent) zoom. Unfortunately, the same thing happens to wide-angle lenses: a 14-35mm zoom becomes a 28-70mm zoom.
Olympus offers three new zooms designed especially for the E-3 – the Zuiko ED 12-60mm f2.8-4 SWD ESP, the Zuiko ED 14-35mm f2.0 SWD ESP, the Zuiko ED 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 SWD ESP – and an ultra-compact Zuiko Digital 2x teleconverter. These Supersonic Wave Drive zooms have been specially designed to facilitate accurate high-speed focusing and quiet operation. All the sample images for this review were shot with the Zuiko ED 12-60mm f2.8/f4.0 SWD ESP zoom.
Auto Focus
Olympus claims the E-3 has the fastest AF system (with the Zuiko ED 12-60mm f2.8/f4.0 SWD ESP zoom) in the world. I don't know whether that is an accurate assessment, but this DSLR is certainly very fast – as fast or faster as any DSLR that I've used to date. The E-3's AF sensor array consists of 11 AF points, each in the form of a double sided (biaxial) cross. Each AF point provides two horizontal and two vertical (dual) sensing arrays on each axis arranged in a half-pitch pattern so that each sensor can detect contrast in both directions and measure distance over a subject brightness range from -2 EV to +19 EV. E-3 users can select a single AF point, multiple AF points, or all 11 AF points.
AF is very fast and dependably accurate, and even with low contrast subjects the camera shows little tendency to hunt for focus. The E-3's AF system works best with the 3 new Zuiko SWD zooms, but every four-thirds format optic should derive some speed/accuracy benefit from Olympus' innovative new AF system.
Image Stabilization
Olympus' new TruePic III engine utilizes one of its three processors to control the E-3's mechanical (body based) image stabilization system. Unlike optical (lens based) image stabilization systems, which work by shifting elements in each OIS capable lens to compensate for involuntary camera movement, mechanical IS works by gyroscopically shifting the image sensor. Thus, the E-3's IS system works with every four-thirds lens mounted – even those from other manufacturers.
Image stabilization allows photographers to shoot at slower shutter speeds than would have been possible without IS. Olympus claims the E-3's IS system permits shooters to capture images at up to 5 stops slower than would have been possible without IS. For example, if a shutter speed of 1/1000th of a second is required to avoid the effects of camera shake without image stabilization, the E-3 can capture a reasonably sharp image of the same subject – everything else being equal – at 1/30th of a second according to Olympus. Based on my experiences with the E-3, I'd say 3 stops is a more accurate assessment of the camera's IS capabilities.
Image stabilization is a very useful feature, especially when shooting in poorly lit indoor venues where flash may be prohibited and higher shutter speeds may not be possible. Plus IS combined with higher ISO sensitivities significantly increases exposure options in dim/low or natural lighting. Users also benefit from IS outdoors when shooting handheld with telephoto lenses and long zooms. Underneath the compass switch (4-way controller) is the E-3's dedicated IS button – users can turn horizontal IS on or off, or activate vertical IS for panning (to keep the subject sharp while allowing the background to blur). The E-3 provides three IS options: Off, Mode 1 (full time Horizontal IS), and Mode 2 (Vertical IS).
The E-3's built-in TTL auto/manual multi-mode pop-up flash provides an acceptable range of control options. The guide number is 13 at ISO 100, and flash output intensity can be adjusted +/- 2 EV in 1/2, 1/3, or 1 EV increments. Flash compensation is available in 1/3 EV increments over a +/-3 EV range, and flash bracketing is available in 1/3, 1/2, and 1 EV steps. X-sync is at 1/250th of a second.
Like most on-board flash units, the E-3's integral flash is positioned too close to the lens, so redeye is a problem. The red-eye reduction mode will help to eliminate or ameliorate red-eye, but the pre-flash cycle noticeably extends the exposure process.
The E-3 also provides a dedicated hot shoe. Olympus speedlights (FL36, FL36R, FL50, and FL50R) can be used in TTL auto mode.
The E-3 is powered by an Olympus BLM-1 lithium-ion rechargeable battery pack. Olympus claims the battery is good for about 600 exposures using the optical viewfinder. I didn't keep track of exposures (my shooting style precludes this – I shoot, review, delete, and re-shoot continuously), but based on my experiences with the camera I'd say power depth is about average when compared to other semi-pro DSLRs. I used the camera heavily and never ran out of juice, but I re-charged the battery every two or three days and scarcely tried the Live View feature. I'm guessing that Live View would be a real power sucker, so moderate to heavy shooters who plan to utilize Live View as their primary viewfinder should probably buy a back up BLM-1. The included BCM2 charger needs about five hours to fully charge the battery.
Like the other DSLRs in its class, the E-3 offers the full range of exposure options, including all the creative flexibility serious photographers are likely to need and most of the point-and-shoot capability casual photographers are likely want. Exposure options include Auto, Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority, and Manual modes.
I used the E-3 primarily in Program AE mode (all sample images were shot handheld), and there is a slight but consistent tendency to underexpose by about 1/3 EV. Personally, I don't regard this as a serious problem – for many years when I was shooting primarily transparency film, I always underexposed my slides by about a third of a stop because minor underexposure produces somewhat more intense colors, slightly harder contrast, and better conserves highlight detail. However, a consistent tendency toward underexposure can be troubling for some shooters, because even minor underexposure causes some loss of shadow detail. These observations only pertain to shooting with the E-3 in Program mode; exposure accuracy in the Manual modes is (based on my experiences with the camera) dependably precise. I noticed the same minor exposure anomaly in Program mode when I tested the Olympus E-510, so I'm guessing the folks at Olympus are designing their DSLRs to underexpose slightly in Program mode to produce better looking outdoor shots for their less tech-savvy customers; perhaps they assume serious photographers are going to be shooting primarily in the manual modes.
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Urban Red Shouldered Hawk (underexposed by about 1/3EV) on the grounds of the Farmington Historic House – cropped slightly to accentuate the subject
The E-3's Digital ESP TTL (open aperture) 49 segment multi-pattern (evaluative) metering system works hand in glove with the camera's innovative double-sided (biaxial) cross AF system to measure light, contrast, and subject distance simultaneously. The E-3's default (evaluative) metering mode does a great job (especially outdoors) with general photography chores. There's a center-weighted averaging metering mode, biasing exposure toward the central portion of frame – great for landscape and travel images. The E-3 also provides a 2 percent spot metering option.
In addition to conventional spot metering, the E-3 provides a unique spot-metering mode that allows shooters to bias exposure on a single highlight area the photographer wishes to preserve or on a single shadow detail the photographer wants to save.
White Balance
The E-3 provides a very nice selection of white balance options, including Auto (3000K-7500K), Lamp (3000K), Fluorescent 1 (4000K) Fluorescent 2 (4500K) Fluorescent 3 (6600K), Daylight (5300K), Flash (5500K), Cloudy (6000K), Shade (7500K), Custom WB, and One-Touch WB (4 settings). The Auto WB setting is dependably accurate in most outdoor lighting.
Some camera reviewers have recently been castigating Olympus DSLRs for their sub-par WB performance, so I checked all my images carefully for any hue anomalies or subtle color shifts. Other than a little extra warmth in some of my indoor images (shot mostly under incandescent lighting) I didn't see any problems. My opinion is based on careful examination of my test images rather than on color chart shots, so I can't guarantee that my conclusions would hold up under rigorous bench-test scrutiny.
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The E-3's Auto WB shows these Tibetan Dolls (shot under incandescent light) slightly warmer than in real life
The E-3 provides a remarkably broad (and highly useful) range of sensitivity settings, including Auto and user selectable settings for ISO 100 to ISO 3200 in 1/3 EV stops. I can't speak for other shooters, but I would have enthusiastically given up the ISO 3200 setting at the top of the range in exchange for ISO 50 or ISO 64 at the bottom end.
Below are a few "real world" images that I believe nicely demonstrate the E-3's ISO capabilities and performance in several different lighting situations. All shots were made handheld in Program mode at the Auto ISO setting (with Auto WB).
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Old farm wagon at the Farmington Historic House
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Bardstown Road boutique display
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Neon window sign after dark
In-Camera Image Adjustments
The E-3 offers a very high tweakability quotient, allowing demanding shooters to make subtle in-camera exposure, color, contrast, and sensitivity adjustments (and avoid post-exposure image manipulation). The E-3's Exposure Compensation function allows users to subtly modify exposure parameters. The E-3's base exposure can be modified over a +/- 5 EV range in 1 EV, 1/2 EV, and 1/3 EV increments to compensate for difficult lighting and subject/background reflectance/non-reflectance problems, or to compensate for environmental exposure variables by allowing users to easily lighten or darken images.
The E-3's Exposure Bracketing function allows users to shoot 3 to 5 images of the same subject and automatically vary the exposure by +/- 1/3 EV, 2/3 EV, or 1 EV. The E-3 also offers ISO bracketing, rapidly shooting 3 images at 1/3 EV, 1/2 EV, or 1 EV ISO increments.
The E-3 also permits users to select color intensity (Vivid, Natural, Portrait, Muted, Monotone, & Custom) and adjust Saturation (5 steps), Sharpness + Contrast (5 steps), and Contrast (5 steps).
Image Quality
Digital SLR image quality depends primarily on the quality of the glass in front of the sensor, although the efficacy/accuracy of the camera's sensor, processor, and exposure systems are also very important. The Zuiko ED 12-60mm f2.8-4.0 SWD ESP zoom I used with the E-3 was designed specifically for this camera and it is remarkably good. The E-3's image quality is reliably excellent with a broad dynamic range. Colors are bright, slightly over-saturated, and contrast is a bit hard. The E-3 does an excellent job in good light (which isn't surprising), but it also does a surprisingly good job in dim/low light – detail capture in highlight areas is consistently very good and detail capture in shadow areas is dependably excellent.
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This shot of Decorative Kale nicely demonstrates the E-3's color capabilities
Edge demarcations are sharp and tonal gradations are crisp. The 12-60 zoom is very sharp in the center even at maximum aperture, although a bit softer in the corners. Still, edge-to-edge resolution is impressive. Noise is remarkably well controlled and doesn't start to pick up until ISO 400. The ISO 800 setting provided much better results (especially indoors) than I expected – roughly equivalent to the ISO 400 images from some of the E-3s competition. Low light image quality (at least with the 12-60 zoom) is impressive. Noise is obvious at ISO 1600, but it wasn't as noxious as I expected. High ISO shots are noticeably granular and a bit blotchy and they dependably show some loss of detail, dull contrast, and colors that are a little flat, but overall the E-3's noise management is better than average for cameras in the semi-pro/pro class.
Chromatic aberration (color fringing) was essentially nil in my test shots. Straight from the camera images are typically a little soft at the default sharpening setting, but this is easily corrected (for those who don't like the default look) by boosting the camera's sharpness setting or via post-exposure processing. Auto white balance performance is certainly the E-3's weakest area, especially indoors where the camera consistently failed to correct innate color casts caused by both incandescent and fluorescent lighting. But the camera's WB system is very tweakable, and serious shooters won't have to work too hard to capture hue-accurate color.
Timing/Shutter Lag
As noted, Olympus claims the E-3 has the fastest AF in the world (with the Zuiko 12-60 zoom), and after using the camera heavily for a month in a variety of shooting venues I can't quibble with that claim. Push the shutter button and the camera meters the scene, calculates exposure, and locks focus almost instantly – AF is so fast it is occasionally startling.
I took the E-3 to Louisville's Extreme Skate Park to shoot the skateboarders and BMX bikers who congregate at the park when the weather is nice. BMX bikers move faster than skateboarders and they need a bit more of the frame to accommodate their bikes, so shooting bikers is a little tougher than shooting skateboarders. What I usually do is to watch a biker do his routine a few times to isolate the area where the most dramatic action will occur – I move in as close as possible, frame the shot, and then pre-focus on the spot where I expect the peak action moment will happen and then trip the shutter about 1/4 of a second before the biker gets to the spot I've chosen. With the E-3, that convoluted process wasn't necessary – I was able to track subjects through their runs and then nail them at the most impressive moment of their mid-air jumps.
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BMX biker
It's not just AF – from the 1/8000th of a second top shutter speed to the 5 fps in continuous shooting mode (and up to 19 consecutive RAW images before the buffer fills in burst mode), the E-3 is very fast across the board. Turn the camera on and the E-3 is ready to shoot in just over a second. Olympus claims the E-3's shutter lag is essentially real time with pre-focus and less than 1/10th of second from scratch – shot to shot lag is 2/10th of a second. In short, the E-3 is more than fast enough to make most action shooters very happy, performing exactly as expected for what claims to be a pro camera.
A Few Concerns
Buying the E-3 will lock purchasers into the four-thirds systems, which isn't necessarily a bad thing but does mean a limited selection of slightly pricey lenses at present. Olympus needs to tweak the accuracy of the E-3's Auto White Balance system. Finally, the E-3's price is a bit hefty – Olympus probably needs to bring down the E-3's price by at least $100 to offer one more advantage over something like Nikon's D300.
Additional Sample Images
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In spite of the dominance of offerings from Nikon and Canon in the semi-pro and professional markets, the Olympus E-3 should have a lot of appeal for professionals not already invested in one of these systems. This camera is built like a tank and features an impressively fast autofocus system. If that's not enough, the E-3 absolutely shines in the image quality department – resolution/sharpness and color rendition are excellent. Finally, while it isn't an important feature for me, the E-3's 2.5 inch full time Live View LCD screen can be used to frame and compose images – and it tilts and swivels through an amazing range of positions, too.
Olympus' new flagship DSLR is up against some very stiff competition, but after almost a month of using the E-3 heavily in a wide range of lighting situations and for a broad variety of imaging chores, I can say without hesitation that this DSLR is worthy of very serious consideration by any serious shooter looking to buy a semi-pro or pro level DSLR. The Olympus E-3 provides just about everything a pro shooter or photography enthusiast is likely to need. The E-3's primary rivals are the Nikon D300 and the Canon 40D, and overall, the E-3 is competitive with both cameras: if I were choosing a new camera today I would rate the E-3 right in the middle of this pack, below the D300, but above the 40D.
- Fast
- Well built
- Good ergonomics
- Decent high ISO performance
- Live View tilt/swivel LCD
- Dual memory card slots
- Cost of system entry a bit steep
- Slight tendency toward underexposure in Auto mode
- Auto WB is occasionally inaccurate


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The cover of a textbook used by Palestinian high school students in East Jerusalem who have recently switched over to the Israeli Bagrut curriculum.
At the beginning of this school year, five high schools in East Jerusalem decided to provide their students with the opportunity to choose between the Bagrut (Israeli curriculum) and Tawjihi (Palestinian curriculum taught in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem). Many argue that taking the Bagrut curriculum would provide students with more opportunities for higher education, yet the choice has been the subject of heavy criticism ever since its introduction.
According to municipal officials, the Israeli curriculum was introduced at the request of Palestinian parents who wanted to increase their children's opportunities for higher education and within the job market. Yet many see the move as an Israeli attempt to rewrite Palestinian history and alter the national identity of Palestinian youth in East Jerusalem. "It's part of the attempt to totally de-Arabize and de-Palestinize Jerusalem, including our heritage," Nabil Shaath, commissioner for foreign relations of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement, told The Independent on 16 September.
Critics fear that this might be the first step towards making the Bagrut mandatory for all Palestinian students in East Jerusalem, as is already the case for the Palestinians living inside Israel. Their only chance of learning about the Palestinian history and their national identity is at home.
Opportunities for higher education
Taking the Bagrut facilitates getting into an Israeli university, as Israeli schools do not accept the Palestinian high school diploma. Palestinian students wanting to enroll, therefore need to take additional tests. Vice versa, many Palestinian universities do not accept the Israeli diploma and attempting to enter the job market in the West Bank with one is bound to cause difficulties.
Nadin, who's last name has been withheld for reasons of privacy, is one of East Jerusalem's seniors who switched to the Bagrut this year. "I want to go to university in Denmark, but they don't recognize the Tawjihi there," she relates. "It's hard because you need to decide where you want to go to college and what you want to study before you decide what system to choose in high school. By choosing the Bagrut, I can't study and work in the West Bank anymore."
The Bethlehem based Alternative Information Center points out that job opportunities in East Jerusalem are extremely scarce. The fact that more and more Palestinian students in East Jerusalem are seeking to get an Israeli education and enter the Israeli job market is a logical consequence.
Whose history?
Teaching the Bagrut inevitably comes with teaching a revised Israeli history curriculum. Palestinian students are taught about the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem for instance and, contrary to international consensus, Jerusalem is presented as the undivided capital of Israel. In addition, maps of the country include the West Bank within the state of Israel and name Palestinian territories and cities by their Jewish Biblical names.
"They want to make the new Palestinian generation think differently about their culture and history. They try to teach us that we are Jordanians and that this isn't our country," Nadin explains. "It is very hard for me psychologically not to be allowed to write 'occupied,' or 'Palestine' on my tests and to be given a false history lesson. I luckily know my history as a Palestinian, but I have to pretend that I don't in order to pass."
Teaching the Israeli history curriculum is also hard on the teachers. "My history teacher is a Palestinian, but has to use the Israeli text books. Sometimes she takes a deep breath before class, tells us that what she is about to teach us is wrong, but that we have to study it to pass."
Palestinian students in East Jerusalem are thus faced with the dilemma of having to choose between the Palestinian curriculum which expresses their national identity and the Israeli curriculum which may provide better chances for higher education and job opportunities.
"As a Palestinian it is my duty to know who I am, because Israel is constantly trying to make me forget, so it feels very weird to be taking the Bagrut. It feels like they are lying to you about your history and culture and you have to tell them what they want to hear. But if I want to study in Denmark, it is the only option," Nadin concludes.
Thinking or memorizing
The Bagrut has, on the other hand, been lauded for its focus on reflection instead of memorization. Najwa Farhat, principle of the Ahmed Sameh al-Khalidi School for boys in East Jerusalem, argues in the same Independentarticle that the Israeli curriculum offers a better education than the Palestinian Authority's, particularly for science subjects, because it allows the students to think for themselves.
"Tawjihi is about studying facts by heart, not about understanding them, so students don't enjoy learning," Nadin agrees. "The Bagrut, on the other hand, teaches you how to think so that you can find an answer yourself. It trains the ability to reflect and be creative, not to memorize. We learn how to reflect about geography, instead of how to memorize the size of a country for example."
Students taking the Bagrut are also more thoroughly immerged in Hebrew. "The Bagrut really teaches us Hebrew, which is good, because speaking Hebrew gets you more respect from Israelis, which means more influence," Nadin says.
Changing Tawjihi?
The whole polemic that arose after the decision to offer the Bagrut was announced, also voiced a plea by civil society activists to make some changes to the Tawjihi. "The Tawjihi must change. It is exceptionally hard, outdated and does not equip our children with the qualifications they need here in Jerusalem," parents' representative Lafi told the Alternative Information Center.
"The Tawjihi is intimidating and stressful. If you fail one subject, you have to take everything again and your whole future depends on it, so many students get depressed," Nadin explains. "Israel realizes this, so they use it as a means to try and get us on their side by offering the Bagrut."
"Even though the Tawjihi teaches Palestinian history and culture, it wasn't done in a very engaging way in my experience. It was treated as just another subject to memorize for the students, so they don't realize how important it is. This way it doesn't translate to our daily lives and loses its value."
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"Ryan's Web 1.0. A Lossless Fall" by Ryan Trecartin
Published by Link Editions, Brescia 2012
Available as a free PDF.
Released on the occasion of the "Collect the WWWorld: The Artist as Archivist in the Internet Age" exhibition at 319 Scholes in New York (October 18 – November 4, 2012), this book presents the work and research behind "A Lossless Fall 2010" by Ryan Trecartin. The book provides a window into Trecartin's creative practice, allowing the reader to learn more about this iconic work of contemporary art.
In November 2010, Trecartin published four portraits of his long time collaborators (Lizzie Fitch, Veronica Gelbaum, Telfar Clemens, and Ashland Mines) in W Magazine, as a series entitled "A Lossless Fall 2010". The portraits were a result of Trecartin's extensive research into images and post-production, leaving few details from the original photographs in the final versions. Trecartin and his collaborators later published their research in DIS, a multi-media online art magazine, under the title "Ryan's Web 1.0".
Ryan Trecartin (born in 1981 in Webster, Texas) is an artist and filmmaker currently based in Los Angeles. He received a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island in 2004. Solo exhibitions include Any Ever (Power Plant, Toronto 2009; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles 2010; Museum of Contemporary Art, North Miami 2011); MoMA P.S.1, Long Island City, New York 2011; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, France 2011; Kunsthalle Wien, Austria; Wexner Center for the Arts, Columbus, OH; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles.


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This is The Morning Shift, our one-stop daily roundup of all the auto news that's actually important — all in one place at 9:30 AM. Or, you could spend all day waiting for other sites to parse it out to you one story at a time. Isn't your time more important?
1st Gear: Are You Wearing Your Seatbelt?
The downside of auto companies thinking they're also technology platforms is that they have al this data, and few people fully understand how they're using it. How much data? As often happens, Karl Henkel tracks down the details:
Every time a motorist slides in behind the wheel, odds are that car or truck is gathering information: How aggressively the driver accelerated, whether the speed limit was observed, how hard the brake pedal was applied. And beyond driving habits, where and when the car was driven, what route was taken and whether the seat belt was buckled.
Oh, just that? Of course, they're keeping that information to themselves… right…
One thing is sure: Automakers collect data and they share it, several recently told a Government Accountability Office investigation. And according to the terms of use for many voice-activated and navigation systems, automakers have the right to share that information with marketers or anyone else they might want to.
Read the rest of the article to see what Congress, the Feds, and privacy groups are trying to do about it.
2nd Gear: Dr Z Making Dat Money
Some call Wu-Tang Financial because Dr. Z just got a big ass saucer of cream. How much? According to Bloomberg, it's a full 1.2% pay increase to celebrate last year's record deliveries. Wait, what doesn't seem like that much. Can someone explain?
Zetsche's remuneration comprises a base salary of 2.01 million euros, unchanged from last year, a short-term bonus of 1.71 million euros, a medium-term bonus of that amount, depending on share performance and payable in 2015, and long-term variable compensation including stock options. The short-term bonus for the eight-member board was raised to 6.07 million euros from 4.65 million euros a year earlier.
Ok, so he's not sweating it. Good work Dr. Z.
3rd Gear: The Honda Accord Was 2013's Best-Selling Car, If You Ignore Fleets
The Toyota Camry was yet again the best-selling car in America, but that's only if you count all of their fleet sales (governments, companies, rental cars).
Bloomberg, which seems to have all the news this morning, brings our attention to Honda bringing our attention to IHS Automotive who pointed out that registration data shows 342,007 individuals in the U.S. bought Camrys while 360,089 bought Accords. If you count all sales, the Camry runs away with 408,484 sales.
This makes sense to me, given that the Camry is still aging and the Accord is relatively new and, frankly, a much better car. I my prefer the Mazda 6 and Fusion, but it's not at the expense of the new Honda. If someone told me they wanted an Accord I wouldn't try to dissuade them.
4th Gear: Navistar Closing Alabama Plant
But I thought we saved the south for manufacturing? Per the WSJ:
The closure of the plant in Huntsville will result in the loss of about 280 jobs and generate savings of about $22 million a year. Production at that plant will be shifted to an engine plant near Chicago, which will add about 75 workers. Navistar will continue to produce large diesel engines for heavy-duty trucks at a second plant in Huntsville.
The reason? Cummins. Why make your own engines when Cummins can make a popular engine for you.
5th Gear: Ford Sued Over Hybrid Tech
And one more Bloomberg story to round it all out, Ford's being sued over the use of hybrid technology. Specifically, a company called Paice says that Ford licensed one piece of intellectually property and essentially copied the rest of their ideas.
It should be noted, as the article does, that Paice won a similar lawsuit against Toyota — which worked with Ford to develop their systems. We'll be watching this one.
Reverse: Daytona Or Bust
On this day in 1948, the National Association for Stock Car Racing—or NASCAR, as it will come to be widely known—is officially incorporated. NASCAR racing will go on to become one of America's most popular spectator sports, as well as a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Neutral: Do you care that automakers have your data? Do you trust them with it? Photo Credit: Getty Images


text:
Thanks to the 2008 Parks levy, $15 million was allocated for communities to develop new parks. $7 million has already been allocated, but another $8 million is available in the 2012-13 cycle.
Project proposal letters are due by 4 p.m. on Monday, June 11, and full project applications are due by 4 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 17.
Parks Department officials will help applicants at a workshop from 6-7:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the Greenwood Library, 8016 Greenwood Ave. N.
Check out the Parks Department's online application system, which includes templates for proposal letters and applications, a detailed timeline, criteria, and analysis maps.


text:
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, Indictment No.
Plaintiff-Respondent, 10938/96
This brief is filed by the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom ("NCSF") as amicus curiae. Defendant Oliver Jovanovic was convicted on April 15, 1998, of kidnaping, assault in the second and third degrees, and of sexual abuse.
NCSF is a not for profit organization, founded to defend the right of American citizens to individual autonomy and privacy in the sexual sphere. The NCSF, in serving these goals, opposes governmental regulation of adult consensual sexual interaction and discrimination based upon sexual orientation. Among the sexual practices which the NCSF seeks to protect is consensual sadomasochistic conduct; conduct which is engaged in by a significant, albeit silent, community. According to the most recent Kinsey Institute Report on Sex, 5 to 10 percent of Americans engage in sadomasochism, a figure which is conservative.(1) These consenting adults are in relationships ranging the romantic gamut from married couples and life partners to casual lovers. Certainly, as the growing mainstream status and public candor of best-selling authors, film makers and recording artists who regularly feature such themes makes clear, the themes of erotic dominance and submission intrigue a substantial portion of the body politic. See, e.g., Anne Rice, Exit to Eden (1985); Crash (David Cronenberg, dir., 1997); Madonna, Sex (1990).
NCSF voices no opinion as to the quantum of evidence below, the credibility of the witnesses or the validity of the charges as applied to appellant. However, the sweeping scope of the trial court's ruling, and the absolutist ban on sadomasochistic behavior between consenting adults urged by the District Attorney in its brief on appeal, threatens the constitutional right to privacy and the freedom of many citizens beyond Oliver Jovanovic. Therefore, NCSF files this amicus brief because the case in question resulted in rulings by the trial court judge, the Honorable William A. Wetzel, which if taken at face value, as indeed the District Attorney herein urges, criminalize this innocuous love-play, engaged in by consenting adults. What is worse, the charge did so in the absence of decisional or statutory authority and in the face of expressly governing case law holding squarely to the contrary. In fact, under the law and Constitution of the State of New York, the right of privacy protects consensual lovers engaging in sexual contact, inclusive of sadomasochistic practices. Moreover, on the statutory issue of the definition of assault, the Court below erroneously misconstrued the decisional law in its assumption that consent, as a general matter, cannot be a defense to a charge of assault.
Finally, the District Attorney for the County of New York has submitted a brief in opposition to the appeal, asserting that "no New York court decision holds that consent is a defense to assault." (District Attorney's Brief at 137). In fact, a myriad of decisions, only some of which are discussed herein, hold squarely to the contrary, suggesting that the District Attorney fell asleep at the switch — a metaphor whose suggestions of a misdirected and out-of-control train is appropriate in the face of the minimum of 5 percent of the adult population whose right to private consensual sexual conduct of their choice will be steam rolled should the District Attorney prevail in its attempt to criminalize consensual sadomasochistic conduct. Likewise, each and every one of the out-of-jurisdiction decisions cited by the District Attorney to establish the untenable claim that consent is not a defense to assault is inapplicable as they involve holdings that "great bodily injury" or "atrocious assault and battery" are not vitiated by consent, holdings far beyond the global ban of all consensual sadomasochistic love-play the District Attorney campaigns for.
The charge at issue was delivered over objection by the defense; therefore the objection is preserved, and ripe for this Court's review. People v. Crimmins, 36 N.Y.2d 236 (1975). However, NCSF takes no position as to whether the ruling below constituted harmless error or indeed as to the guilt or innocence of Jovanovic.
1. Whether the right to privacy guaranteed to all citizens of the State of New York under the Federal and State Constitutions protects the right of consenting adults to engage in erotic play including but not limited to sadomasochistic conduct.
2. Whether the charge to the jury that consent could not form a defense to a charge of assault was error.
On December 5, 1996, Oliver Jovanovic ("appellant") was arrested, and charged with kidnaping, aggravated sexual abuse, sexual abuse, two counts of assault in the second degree, one count of assault in the third degree, and sodomy.
On April 15, 1998, he was acquitted of the sodomy and the aggravated sexual abuse counts, but was convicted of kidnaping, assault in the second and third degrees, and of sexual abuse. On May 21, 1998, appellant was sentenced to 15 years' to life imprisonment.
The charges stemmed from appellant's encounter on November 21, 1996, with a Barnard College student (whose name has been omitted from the published records of the case to safeguard her privacy, and in consideration of which is not employed herein). In their encounter, a date arranged after several e-mail interchanges over several occasions, appellant and the complainant dined at a mutually agreed upon place, and appellant invited the complainant to his apartment, to which it is agreed that she repaired voluntarily.
Once at appellant's apartment, the complainant stated, appellant ordered her to strip, which she did, bound her to his futon, and engaged in pain-inflicting conduct with her, involving the use of a baton and hot candle wax. The complainant maintained that she was kept by appellant at his home against her will, and that he restrained her forcibly for over 20 hours.
At trial, appellant put forward a consent defense to all charges. After the charge conference, in a letter dated April 10, 1998, attorney Frederick L. Souinsky requested that the prosecutor's request for a charge that consent is not a defense to the assault counts be denied, asserting both Constitutional and statutory grounds for the impermissibility of such a charge.
The Charge on Assault and Consent
The Court, over defense objection, nonetheless delivered charges that consent was not a defense to assault.
On the first count of assault in the second degree, the Court instructed the jury that
In order for you to find the defendant guilty of this crime, the People must prove from all the evidence in this case beyond a reasonable doubt both of the following two elements:
One, on or about November 22nd through November 23, 1996, in the County of New York, the defendant caused physical injury to [the victim's] thighs by means of a dangerous instrument, to wit, a baton. Two, that the defendant did so with intent to cause physical injury to her.
Therefore, under this count of the indictment, and the next two counts of the indictment [the second count of assault in the second degree and one count of assault in the third degree], I instruct you it is not a defense to claim that the person assaulted consented to the assault.
Therefore, if you find that the defendant assaulted [the victim] under the two elements that I just instructed you about, you may not consider any claim that she consented to that assault.
(R. at 3421)
The court below charged the jury in substantially similar terms with respect to the second count of assault in the second degree, except that the dangerous instrument alleged to have been used under that count was the candle wax. (R. at 3422-3423).
With respect to assault in the third degree and consent, the Court below charged as follows:
Now, in order for you to find the defendant guilty of this crime, the People must prove from all of the evidence in the case beyond a reasonable doubt both of the following two elements:
One, on or about November 22nd through November 23, 1996, in the County of New York, the defendant caused physical injury to [the victim] by biting her breasts, and two that the defendant did so with intent to cause physical injury to her.
Therefore, if you find that the People have proven beyond a reasonable doubt both of those elements you must then find the defendant guilty of count nine assault in the third degree as charged in this count. It is not a defense to claim that the person assaulted consented to the assault.
Conviction and Sentence
On April 15, 1998, appellant was convicted of kidnaping, sex abuse and one count each of assault in the second and third degrees. On May 21, 1998, appellant was sentenced to 15 years' to life imprisonment. This appeal followed.
Sadomasochism and the Scholars
This Court is asked to take judicial notice of the fact that a burgeoning number of scholars have observed the long-term practice of sadomasochistic sexual behaviors in relationships. In addition to the examples cited in the Preliminary Statement, both male and female college students have over the past three decades been documented as evincing an interest in sadomasochism. "Coercive Sexual Fantasies of College Men as Predictors of Self-Reported Likelihood to Rape and Overt Sexual Aggression," V. Greedlinger & D. Byrne, 23 Journ. Sex Research, no. 1 (1987) (concluding that 80% of male students surveyed enjoyed the fantasy of being tied up and forced to have sex by a woman); Different Loving, supra, at 7, 14-18.
Moreover, the empiric and anecdotal studies of those who regularly practice sadomasochistic behavior all emphasize that the hallmarks of sadomasochistic practice are summed up in the tripartite motto "safe, sane, and consensual." Different Loving, supra at 49; "Safety Restrictions," Tim Woodward & Stephanie Jones, Best of Skin Two, pp. 131-141 (1993). See also S and M: Studies in Sadomasochism, T. Weinberg & G.W. Kamel (1983); "An Exploratory-Descriptive Study of a Sadomasochistically Oriented Sample," Charles Moser & Eugene Levitt, 23 Journ. Sex Research, no. 3 pp. 322-337 (1987); Erotic Power: An Exploration of Dominance and Submission, Gini Graham Scott (1983). In short, consent — full, meaningful, voluntary and informed — is the distinguishing factor between sadomasochism and abuse in the eyes of those who practice the former, and who eschew the latter. By its jury charge, the Court below has sweepingly obviated this distinction, in defiance both of common sense and of common (and Constitutional) law, and criminalized consensual sexual conduct.
The United States Constitution, and, independently, the Constitution of New York State, as the Court of Appeals has recognized, extends the right of privacy to strike down provisions of the Penal Law which purport to criminalize consensual private sexual conduct. People v. Onofre, 51 N.Y.2d 476 (1980) (striking statutory proscription of consensual sodomy or deviate sexual intercourse between unmarried persons). In Onofre, the Court held that the right to privacy is "a right of independence in making certain kinds of important decisions, with a concomitant right to conduct oneself in accordance with those decisions, undeterred by government restraint." 51 N.Y.2d at 485. Finding guidance in the Supreme Court of the United State's decisions, including those in Loving v. Virginia, 388 U.S. 1 (1967) (invalidating state statutory ban on inter-racial marriage), Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965) (striking state statute banning sale of contraceptives as impermissibly invasive of "the sacred precincts of the marriage bed"), and Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557 (1969) (voiding prosecution for possession of obscene materials in the home), the Court in Onofre carved out a zone of personal autonomy:
In light of these decisions, protecting under the cloak of the right to privacy individual decisions as to indulgence in acts of sexual intimacy by unmarried persons and as to satisfaction of sexual desires by resort to material condemned as obscene by community standards when done in a cloistered setting, no rational basis appears from excluding from the same protection decisions such as those made by defendants before us to seek sexual gratification from what at least once was commonly referred to as "deviate" conduct so long as the decisions are voluntarily made by adults in a non-commercial private setting.
51 N.Y.2d at 488.
This decision by the Court of Appeals was reaffirmed three years later in People v. Uplinger, 58 N.Y.2d 936, 938 (1983), and remains "firmly rooted in our law." John C. v. Martha A., 156 Misc.2d 222, 592 N.Y.S.2d 229, 232 (City Ct. N.Y. Co. 1992) ("[p]rivate, consensual adult sexual conduct is none of a court's business unless it impinges upon a strong countervailing public policy (e.g., commercialized sexual activity), or another relationship (e.g., adultery)"). See also People v. Anonymous Female, 143 Misc.2d 197 (City Ct. Buffalo 1989) (finding that act of oral sodomy, performed under conditions leading to reasonable expectation of privacy, could not constitutionally be proscribed even if overseen; relying on Onofre); People v. Thousand, 121 Misc.2d 937 (City Ct. Rochester 1983).(2)
Under both the Federal and State Constitutions, therefore, it is clear that private consensual sexual conduct among adults is presumptively protected, in the absence of a serious public policy underlying regulation. What is further clear is that sadomasochistic practices fall within the definition of sexual practices so protected; the Court of Appeals in Onofre held that the ambit of privacy includes "deviate" sexual conduct, not merely sexual conduct enjoyed by the mainstream of citizens. Onofre, 51 N.Y.2d at 488. The Legislature has, in the general obscenity section, included sadism and masochism among the sexual subjects which, if defined in a manner pruriently appealing to the interest in sex, and depicted without redeeming social value, may be prosecuted and proscribed. Penal Law ¤ 235.00. Likewise, in specifying materials defined as "indecent" and thus unfit for dissemination for children, the Legislature included what it somewhat harshly terms "sadomasochistic abuse" (which it defines as "flagellation or torture by or upon a person clad in undergarments, a mask or bizarre costume, or the condition of being fettered, bound or sexually restrained on the part of one so clothed").(3) Penal Law ¤ 235.20(5). In short, the sexual nature of sadomasochism is conceded.(4) That sadomasochism is within the protections of Onofre therefore cannot be doubted. Accordingly, the Court below was in error to grant the prosecution request to charge that voluntary consent on the part of the complainant was not a defense to the charges against appellant.
The District Attorney gives short shrift to Onofre and completely ignores its progeny, choosing instead to rely on cases from other jurisdictions, cases which cannot be viewed as having even persuasive authority as to the scope of protections guaranteed by the State Constitution. In addressing Onofre, the District Attorney argues solely that the specific conduct engaged in by defendant is not protected by Onofre, conduct the District Attorney describes as non-consensual. (District Attorney's Brief at 140-1). The District Attorney never addresses whether consensual sadomasochistic conduct is covered by Onofre and protected by the State Constitution. The District Attorney's grasp on the Federal Constitution seems equally tenuous, as they incorrectly cite Mishkin v. New York, 383 U.S. 502 (1966), for the proposition that "publications depicting sadomasochism are not protected by the First Amendment." (District
Attorney's Brief at 140). To the contrary, Mishkin holds that publications depicting sadomasochism are held to the same standard as those depicting heterosexual sexual conduct. Mishkin, 383 U.S. at 508.
The defendant argued in Mishkin that his publications, which targeted fetishes and sadomasochism, could not be obscene because only a minority of the population would find them erotic and therefore could not satisfy the Prurient-Appeal requirement of the Roth test for obscenity. Rather than holding that sadomasochistic publications are de jure obscene, as the District Attorney implies, the Court disposes of the defendant's argument by holding that where a publication targets a specific audience, and not the public at large, the Prurient-Appeal requirement may be satisfied if the publication appeals to the prurient interest of its target audience. Mishkin, 398 U.S. at 508.
The District Attorney similarly mis-cites Ward v. Illinois, 431 U.S. 767 (1977). Ward did not remove sadomasochistic publications from the ambit of the First Amendment, it merely reaffirms Mishkin in light of intervening obscenity cases which the defendant argued prohibited the proscription of sadomasochistic publications. The defendant argued that in light of the intervening case of Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973), sadomasochistic publications could not be proscribed. The explicit holding of the Ward court at issue is: "If the Mishkin publications remain unprotected [in light of Miller], surely those before us today deal with a category of sexual conduct which, if obscenely described, may be proscribed by state law. Ward, 431 U.S. at 773 (emphasis added). The emphasized section underscores that sadomasochistic publications are not automatically unprotected by the First Amendment.
Contrary to the District Attorney's presumption, sadomasochistic publications are neither de facto nor de jure obscene, but may be found to be obscene if they satisfy the requirements of the obscenity tests provided by the Supreme Court; the same tests non-sadomasochistic publications are held to. While the District Attorney may be content to ban everything from Playboy to Jean-Jacques Roseau's Confessions, the Supreme Court fortunately is not so inclined.
The District Attorney cites two out-of-jurisdiction cases for the proposition that "there is no constitutional right to engage in sadomasochistic abuse." (District Attorney's Brief at 140). The first case, State v. Collier, 372N.W.2d 303 (Iowa App. 1985), does not address Constitutional issues at all, but instead turns solely on state statutory grounds. The second case, Commonwealth v. Appleby, 402 N.E.2d 1051 (Mass 1980), does not support the all-out ban on sadomasochistic conduct urged by the District Attorney, but rather argues for a balancing of a citizens right to sexual privacy with the State's interest in protecting its citizens' health. Finally, in both cases, the decision turned on the quantum of physical harm. Were this Court to follow these inapplicable decisions, a balancing of the respective interests would than result, rather than the judicially legislation of a blanket ban on sadomasochism called for by the District Attorney.
The District Attorney argue in their opposition papers that the law in New York State supports the lower court's charge that consent does not create a defense to the offense of assault. The District Attorney supports this argument through citation to California and other jurisdiction's decisions, a gambit which is more ingenious than ingenuous in the face of the unbroken chain of decisions, from 1849 to the present day, in which the courts of this State have held precisely to the contrary. In Pillow v. Bushnell, 5 Barb. 156, 161 (Sup. Ct. 1849), the Court squarely held that "[i]f the act complained of as an assault and battery was committed by the consent and request of the wife, it formed an entire defense." A myriad of cases from Pillow to the present have reaffirmed this rule. Indeed, in 1989, this Court relied upon the doctrine, qualifying its applicability to the extent that the actor seeking to invoke the defense must act within the scope of the consent. Mercury Bay Boating Club, Inc. v. San Diego Yacht Club, 150 A.D.2d 82, 545 N.Y.S.2d 693, 705 (1st Dep't 1989) (noting distinction between customs and usages in sports and legal doctrines, employing the example of a hockey player struck by a stick in play, who "may be deemed to have consented to the use of such tactics by his participation in the game.") (citing People v. Freer, 86 Misc.2d 280, 381 N.Y.S.2d 976 (Dist. Ct. Suffolk Co. 1976) (holding that a punch thrown in course of tackle fell within implied consent to tackling in football game, but that a punch thrown afterwards, when play had stopped, did not)). See also People v. Lenti, 44 Misc.2d 118, 123-124 (Nassau Co. Ct. 1964) (where injuries inflicted upon participants in fraternity "hell night" were plainly beyond the scope of implied consent, the consent defense is not applicable).
That this unbroken line of precedent remains valid is clear from not only Mercury Bay Boating Club, Inc., supra, decided less than 10 years ago, but from the lack of contrary authority within the jurisdiction. To the extent that the District Attorney, relying on out-of jurisdiction authority, claims a new "trend" away from the consent defense among the State courts, the citations omit the most recent case, Boldt v. Boldt, 97-DR-0441, CA A99286 (Ct. App., Oregon, July 18, 1998) (slip op. attached), in which, although not reaching the issue, the Court of Appeals of the State of Oregon stated that it was "not prepared to declare that whenever competent adults agree to engage in conduct that involves inflicting pain, the behavior necessarily constitutes abuse." The Oregon Court of Appeals echoed the decision enunciated 50 years ago in People v. Steinberg, 73 N.Y.S.2d 475, 479 (City Ct. N.Y. Co. 1947): "It is true that as a rule the consent of the prosecutor, if intelligently given, is a good defense in assault. We have examples in amiable contests, in assaults arising from voluntary sexual relations, and in tumultuous frolics." See also, Van Vooren v. Cook, 273 App. Div. 88 (4th Dep't 1947) (same as to general rule; citing cases).
The out-of-jurisdiction decisions cited by the District Attorney are inapplicable as they involve holdings that conduct which "creates an unreasonable risk of severe injury," Collier, 372 N.W.2d at 307, or of "severely or mortally injuring another," People v. Samuels, 58 Cal.Rptr. 439, 447 (Cal.App. 1967), cert. denied, 390 U.S. 1024 (1968), are not vitiated by consent; they do not support the global ban of all consensual sadomasochistic love-play the District Attorney campaigns for. (District Attorney's Brief at 137-8). The decisions turned on the quantum of physical harm and lack of valid consent, not sadomasochism. See Appleby, 402 N.E.2d at 1060 (Court notes that the case history involved severe beatings, including one in which the defendant fractured the victim's kneecap); Commonwealth v. Farrell, 78 N.E.2d 697, 704 (Mass. 1948)(assault included severe, permanently disfiguring burns which required months to heal). The out-of-jurisdiction cases cited do not call for a ban on sadomasochism, but rather hold that there is a level of injury beyond which one cannot consent, implying that there is a level of injury that one can consent to without risking prosecution.
Instead of citing New York case law, the District Attorney provides an essay on statutory interpretation, relying on the "structure of the statutory scheme" to conclude — erroneously — that since the Legislature did not explicitly provide a consent defense to assault, there is no consent defense to assault. (District Attorney's Brief at 136). The District Attorney ignores, however, that for over a hundred years prior to the most recent reenactment of the Penal Law, which was in 1965, the Courts of the State of New York repeatedly held that consent is a defense to assault. That the Legislature choose not to address the issue when reenacting the assault statutes evinces, if anything, support for the courts' interpretation. It is not surprising, therefore, that courts since 1965 have also held that consent is a defense to assault. See Mercury Bay Boating, 545 N.Y.S.2d at 705; Freer, 381 N.Y.S.2d at 978.
The District Attorney dismisses the cases cited by the defendant for the proposition that consent is a defense to assault as "dicta in a handful of antiquated, lower-court cases" but was forced to grudgingly admit that "[i]n two very old cases, lower courts have mused in dicta that consent may be a defense to assaults arising from 'tumultuous frolics' and 'voluntary sexual relations.'" (District Attorney's Brief at 139, citing Defendant's Brief at 125-6). None of the cases cited by the defense or the NCSF, however, has been overruled and at least one of those "antiquated" cases has been favorably cited by this Court within the past decade. See Mercury Bay Boating, 543 N.Y.S.2d at 705 (favorably citing Freer which held that participants in sporting events consent to certain acts of violence). In the few New York cases cited by the District Attorney for the opposite proposition, that consent was not a defense to assault, all but one involve minors who, by definition, are not legally capable of giving valid consent. (District Attorney's Brief at 139, fn *, discussing People v. Gibson, 232 N.Y. 458, 462 (1922); People v. Malark, 283 A.D.263 (3rd Dept. 1954); Singer v. People, 13 Hun. 418, 420 (1st Dept.), aff'd, 75 N.Y. 608 (1878); Hays v. People, 1 Hill. 351, 352 (Sup. Ct. 1841)). The remaining case involved illegal street fighting and turned on the court's holding a party cannot consent to an illegal act. (District Attorney's Brief at 139, fn *, discussing People ex rel. Knight v. Eames, 115 N.Y.S.2d 248, 250 (Broome Co. 1952)).
The District Attorney ignores the far reaching effects of striking down the consent defense to assault, which include the criminalization of many sporting events, many forms of non-sadomasochistic consensual sexual contact, and such cultural choices as body piercing. The District Attorney admits that "certain sports that involve physical contact, such as boxing, wrestling, and football, are played regularly and are not regarded as being criminal 'assaults.'"(District Attorney's Brief at 138, fn **). Ignoring this Court's holding in Mercury Bay Boating, and citing no cases of its own in support, the District Attorney argues that the reason "athletes are not prosecuted for assault has nothing to do with the fact that the 'victim' consents." (District Attorney's Brief at 138, fn **). Instead, the District Attorney argues that boxers and wrestlers are not prosecuted for assault because the sports are highly regulated and therefore "sanctioned" by the Legislature. Whatever validity this argument has, it in no way invalidates the consent defense, especially considering that only a small percentage of the contact sports in New York are regulated. It also should be noted that, according to the District Attorney's own view of statutory interpretation, had the Legislature intended to exempt boxing and wrestling from the assault statutes because of the regulatory scheme, it would have explicitly done so. The District Attorney, however, fails to provide a statutory cite to this exemption.
The District Attorney attempts to distinguish football by arguing that "football players may not be convicted of assault because, while they engage in physical contact, they do not intend to cause physical injury to their opponents, and criminal intent is an element of all degrees of criminal assault." (District Attorney's Brief at 138, fn **). Such an argument applies equally well to sadomasochism, whose goal is not injury but mutual personal gratification. Participants in both sporting events and sadomasochism are aware that their conduct may create a risk of injury. But the District Attorney would exempt one from the assault statutes and not the other. The District Attorney makes no attempt to explain why other consensual assaults, such as body piercing, whose goal always involves bodily injury, are not prosecuted.
As the Court in Steinberg made clear, consensual sexual conduct, including sadomasochistic conduct, are not appropriately grist for the criminal justice system. Unless this Court, absent any argument save for the District Attorney's evident disapproval of the sadomasochistic lifestyle, is willing to abandon precedent dating back 150 years, precedent which has been recently followed, and criminalize activity ranging from contact sports to body piercing, as well as all but the tamest sexual contact – all without any legislative enactment – the charge must be declared erroneous.
The consequences of such a declaration the NCSF confidently leaves in the hands of this Court. Taking no position on the ultimate disposition of the case, the NCSF does not opine as to whether the record supports a finding that the error was harmless, or that appellant exceeded any consent obtained. The NCSF does assert that the charge delivered by the Court below effectively criminalizes consensual conduct in a manner which will expose adults practicing consensual sadomasochism to prosecution. The effect of such a ruling would be to greatly expand the discretion of prosecuting attorneys in a manner which they have shown themselves all too willing to abuse; the target of their baseless legal theory, notably, is not any one of the powerful and wealthy sports franchises engaged in contact sports such as boxing, hockey, or football, in which significant injury regularly occurs and sometimes even death takes place. Rather, the District Attorney targets a sexual minority, whose behavior is so misperceived as to be described in the body of one statute as "bizarre" (See Penal Law 235.20(5)), for what is in essence a harmless form of intimacy, behavior which rarely results in serious injury and for which knowing, voluntary consent is a prerequisite. The social stigma attached to sadomasochism, and the stigma of arrest, render those targeted especially vulnerable to prosecution; in usurping the privacy interests and eliminating the age-old consent defense patently available in such cases, the District Attorney, as was the case in Anonymous Female, merely "attempt to avoid the effects of [adverse decisional law] and to take advantage of the strong likelihood that arrested defendants — male and female — will, for obvious reasons, seldom go to trial, seldom test the law." 539 N.Y.S.2d at 870. The charge request in this case is nothing short of a license to bully and intimidate a sexual minority based on their private consensual conduct, and must not be allowed.
Dated: New York, New York
January __, 1999
Respectfully submitted,
Attorney for Amicus Curiae
National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
381 Manhattan Ave.
Brooklyn, New York 11211
(212) 353-8984
1. New Report on Sex, The Kinsey Institute (1990). This is nothing new; a substantial segment of the population has engaged in such behavior for as long as such data has been collected. See Sexual Behavior in the 1970's, M. Hunt (1974) (In survey of 2,000 respondents, 10.9% of men and 6.7% of women had obtained pleasure from an act of domination and submission); A Research in Marriage, G.V. Hamilton ( 1929) (survey found that 28% of men and 29% of women admitted they derived "pleasurable thrills" from the infliction of some form of pain upon themselves). See Different Loving: An Exploration of the World of Sexual Dominance and Submission, William D. Brame & Gloria Brame (1993); "Manifest Sadomasochism of Males: Results of an Empirical Study," Andreas Spengler, Archives of Sexual Behavior, vol. 6, pp. 441-56 (1977)
2. The fact that at least two of these decisions post-date the Supreme Court's decision in Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186 (1986), and that the Court of Appeals has repeatedly made clear that the State Constitution provides a greater quantum of protection for privacy than does the Federal Constitution, renders it unnecessary to examine what impact, if any, Bowers has on Onofre. See People v. Scott, 79 N.Y.2d 474 (1992). Notably, the continuing validity of Onofre is conceded by the District Attorney, who merely urges that this case falls outside of the rule therein enshrined.
3. Notably, this definition would include a film clasic such as Mutiny on the Bounty while a film in which a naked person is flogged by one in a business suit would appear to be exempted.
4. Although the statutes recognize the sexual nature of sadomasochistic conduct, professional sadomasochism is not automatically proscibed by the prostitution statute, as the prostitution statute is more strict in its approach and specifically limits its scope to a few acts defined as "sexual conduct," the exclusion of sadomasochism from which has led at least one court to conclude that a professional dominatrix who did not engage in a sex act enunciated in the statute cannot be found guilty of prostitution. People v. Georgia A., 163 Misc.2d 634 (Crim. Ct. Kings Co. 1994).


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I needed a quick lunch fix for Edda and me. Earlier, I made a batch of chicken chive dumplings and freeze it for emergency such as a quick lunch idea and also an alternative for Evy when I didn't cook enough for her school's lunch box. I checked my pantry and I had one bundle of somen left, just enough for both Edda and myself. An lunch idea was formed as I remembered the way my mom cooked the somen for me during my confinement. If you liked to check out my mom version just click under confinement. It's similar to this except I added the spinach, dumplings, homemade glutinous rice wine and a little this and that.
- 2 Tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 inch piece of ginger, julienne
- 1 large free range brown egg
- 1 bowl filtered water
- Iodized salt to taste
- 1/2 tsp. chicken powder (optional)
- 1/2 tsp. sugar
- White pepper to taste
- 1 Tbsp. onion flakes
- 1 tsp. dried parsley or dried chives
- 1/4 cup homemade glutinous rice with wine (酒酿)
- 2 bunches of Chinese spinach or chai xin, cut off the root and washed
- 3-4 Chicken chive dumplings (homemade or store-bought)
- 1 bundle of mee sua/ somen
1. In a small saucepan, add water and let it boil. When boiling, add in the frozen dumplings and let it cook. Should be cooked in 5 minutes. Dish out and set aside.


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Jamie Zigelbaum, a former student at MIT Media Lab, created a computer interface that takes the shape of an eyedropper.
Slurp is tangible interface for manipulating abstract digital information as if it were water. Taking the form of an eyedropper, Slurp can extract (slurp up) and inject (squirt out) pointers to digital objects. We have created Slurp to explore the use of physical metaphor, feedback, and affordances in tangible interface design when working with abstract digital media types. Our goal is to privilege spatial relationships between devices and people while providing new physical manipulation techniques for ubiquitous computing environments.
[Via Spime]


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A sunrise for new beginnings.
A wildflower because it can grow wherever it lands.
Inhale/exhale to enjoy the little pause moments.
We use 14K gold or .925 sterling silver in all of our pieces! 14K has a gorgeous warm glow that's subtle and minimal. It's also stronger and more scratch resistant than a higher karat of gold.
Gold filled is a layer of gold pressure bonded to a base metal through extreme pressure and heat. This allows for a substantial layer of gold that won't flake or discolor and with proper care will last for years to come.
For special requests (alignment, fonts,...) or questions, you can add a message at the checkout page.
"Good vibes" necklace
Material : 14 karat goldfilled / .925 Sterling silver / 14 karat rose goldfilled
! Sterling silver will tarnish over time and needs cleaning !
Size circle : 9 mm
There is a slight difference between the front and back
Length : one size (43 cm / 46 cm /49 cm)
Text color : transparant
Max. 2 weeks. You will receive an email with the track and trace when your order is shipped.


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Molly Earrings
These drop earrings are the perfect style to dress up, or dress down.
Each piece is one of a kind, and handcrafted in Detroit out of repurposed layers of fallen graffiti paint.
Details: 10mm sterling silver post and bar earring, resin, graffiti sourced from The Alley Project in Detroit, Michigan
Every piece sold directly supports the women employed at Rebel Nell. Learn more here!
- Handmade
- 100% sterling silver chain, sterling filled backing
- 16 inch chain
- Extra Small Pendants are roughly .5"-1"


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New RageCams Modified Sony 4K Action Cam
FDR-X1000V/W with your choice of flat or tele-photo zoom lens adjustable macro.
Also includes a custom magnetic loupe mount, ND8 light cutting filter, and light clamp mount
Once again action camera companies use that wide angle stock fish eye lens, & We can offer you interchangeable lenses & mod your camera or buy one from us all set up ready to go.
We can also install a fish eye panoramic 4k lens for you on this beast.
we offer these variable focus lenses for this camera:
2.8-12mm, & 10-30mm.
Fixed lenses are 2.1mm, 2.5mm, 2.8mm, 3.6mm, 4.1mm, 5.4mm, 6mm,8mm,12mm,16mm,25mm,35mm, & 50mm super long range telephoto.
If you have questions, or need a custom mod, please ask before ordering


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W.E. Mitchell middle school
*Map Updated May 2020
ABout the SRTS Plan
This Final SRTS Master Plan outlines a comprehensive vision for improving walking and bicycling near Rancho Cordova Schools, along with an implementation strategy to help the City realize this vision by pursuing individual projects or coordinating with complementary efforts. This Plan also helps the City meet goals, policies, and actions identified in its General Plan, as well as its Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plans.
SRTS Recommendations for W.E. Mitchell Middle school
The following document presents identified challenges and recommended engineering improvements and program activities at W.E. Mitchell Middle School. These recommendations are based on community, school staff, City staff, and partner agency input gathered through walk audits and pop up events at each school, a community workshop, and the project website.
Each school section contains a short description of the school environment, followed by a numbered list of locations where challenges were identified. These numbers correspond to locations on the improvement map for each school. For some improvements, the City has already secured funding, completed design work, or otherwise begun the implementation process. These are noted with "implementation currently underway." Behavior and program-related challenges and needs are discussed in each school section as appropriate. More detailed descriptions of all recommended programs are
included in the following chapter.
Past Events
The City is looking to continue improving safe walking and biking routes to W.E. Mitchell Middle School. The City will use data collection methods, including bike and walk to school counts, parent surveys, and walk audits, to understand current barriers to active transportation.
W.E. Mitchell Walk Audit
October 25, 2018
Download the Walk Audit flyer
Travel Tallies
December 2018
Student Hand Tallies are conducted by teachers in the morning during attendance over the course of three consecutive days (a Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday), where teachers ask students how they got to school that morning and how they plan to return home from school. Mode choices include walking, biking, school bus, family vehicle, carpool, transit, and other. "Other" typically includes skateboards, scooters, and other modes of transportation that do not fall under existing categories.
Parent Surveys
December 2018
Parent Surveys were distributed to parents via printed paper surveys or an online link. Surveys were provided in English, Spanish, and Russian depending on each school's language needs. The purpose of Parent Surveys is to understand family travel patterns to and from school as well as barriers and challenges to walking and biking to school.
School Pop-Up
April 4, 2019
The project team attended W.E. Mitchell Middle School to gather parent and student feedback on safety getting to and from school.


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In a rare break from the NSA's tradition of listening but not speaking, NSA chief General Keith Alexander was grilled Tuesday on the topic of eavesdropping on Americans in front of a House subcommittee.
The questioning from Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) was prompted by Wired's cover story this month on the NSA's growing reach and capabilities, but leaves Americans with as many questions about the reach of spy agency's powers as they had before Alexander spoke.
Alexander denied, in carefully parsed words, that the NSA has the power to monitor Americans' communications without getting a court warrant.
But Alexander's comments fly in the face of people who actually helped create the agency's eavesdropping and data mining infrastructure. Few people know that system as well as William Binney, who served as the technical director for the agency's M Group, which stood for World Geopolitical Military Analysis and Reporting, the giant 6,000-person organization responsible for eavesdropping on most of the world.
He was also the founder and co-director of the agency's Signals Intelligence Automation Research Center, which helped automate that eavesdropping network. Binney decided to leave after a long career rather than be involved in the agency warrantless eavesdropping program, a program he said involves secret monitoring facilities in ten to twenty large telecom switches around the country, such as the one discovered in San Francisco's AT&T installation a few years ago.
Historically, the NSA's initial response has always been to either deny or evade when confronted with issues involving eavesdropping on Americans. For decades the agency secretly hid from Congress the fact that it was copying, without a warrant, virtually every telegram traveling through the United States, a program known as Project Shamrock. Then it hid from Congress the fact that it was illegally targeting the phone calls of anti-war protesters during the Vietnam War, known as Project Minaret.
More recently, President Bush said falsely that no American had been wiretapped without a warrant at the same time the agency was eavesdropping on thousands of Americans without a warrant as part of the later revealed Operation Stellar Wind. The Congress then passed a bill granting immunity from prosecution and law suits to the telecom companies involved in the illegal program.
Also, in the same way that General Alexander carefully parsed his words, the agency has always maintained its own secret definition of words in a document known as United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18, a document classified above top secret.
For example, NSA can intercept millions of domestic communications and store them in a data center like Bluffdale and still be able to say it has not "intercepted" any domestic communications. This is because of its definition of the word. "Intercept," in NSA's lexicon, only takes place when the communications are "processed" "into an intelligible form intended for human inspection," not as they pass through NSA listening posts and transferred to data warehouses.
Complicating matters is the senseless scenario made up for the questioning by Congress, which makes it difficult to make sense of his answers, especially since many seem very parsed, qualified, and surrounded in garbled syntax.That scenario involved NSA targeting U.S. citizens for making fun of a President Dick Cheney for shooting a fellow hunter in the face with a shotgun, and then the fun-makers being waterboarded for their impertinence.
Asked whether the NSA has the capability of monitoring the communications of Americans, he never denies it – he simply says, time and again, that NSA can't do it "in the United States." In other words it can monitor those communications from satellites in space, undersea cables, or from one of its partner countries, such as Canada or Britain, all of which it has done in the past.
In my article I quote from a former NSA intercept operator, Adrienne Kinne, who was posted at the NSA's giant listening post in Georgia and who eavesdropped on many communications between Americans overseas and in the U.S., including personal calls between journalists and their families. But while she was in Georgia, satellites deep in space did the actual interception.
"Basically all rules were thrown out the window and they would use any excuse to justify a waiver to spy on Americans," she said. She added, "A lot of time you could tell they were calling their families, waking them up in the middle of the night because of the time difference. And so they would be talking all quiet and soft and their family member is like half asleep and incredibly intimate, personal conversations." Kinne protested both within NSA and then in a letter to the Senate Intelligence Committee, but neither took any action.
Her allegations were confirmed by a second source I interviewed several years ago. David Murfee Faulk was also an intercept operator at NSA Georgia, but at a later date than Kinne, whom he never met. While there, a colleague told him about being instructed to begin warrantless targeting of Americans overseas calling the U.S. "The calls were all in English, they were all American, and the guy goes back to his supervisor, a warrant officer, and says, 'Sir, these people are all Americans,'" according to Faulk. "He said, 'No, just transcribe it, that's an order, transcribe everything.' . . . A lot of these people were having personal phone calls, calling their families back home, having all kinds of personal discussions, and everything just disappeared somewhere, someone's got it."
Like Kinne, Faulk's fellow intercept operator also complained. "After a few days he said he didn't want to do it anymore, didn't think it was right. And in a situation like that the officer just gets someone else to do it. So they got somebody else to do it. There is always somebody else who will do something like that. The whole agency down here, at least the way it operates in Georgia, there's a lot of intimidation, everybody's afraid of getting in trouble, and people just follow orders." Like Kinne, Faulk also told his story privately to the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The agency can also do the actual domestic eavesdropping from foreign countries, such as Canada, or from its greatly expanding listening post in Central England, and then just retransmit the data to the U.S. A former NSA deputy director, Louis Tordella, once referred to this technique when testifying before Congress. He noted that the NSA had asked the CIA to conduct illegal domestic eavesdropping but was turned down because the monitoring would take place "on U.S. soil."
He added, "I was told that if they could move a group of Cubans up to Canada it would be quite all right, but they would not do it in the United States." And the U.S. frequently asks its very close foreign partners, Canada, the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand, to conduct eavesdropping on its behalf and vice versa. The countries call themselves, the "Five Eyes." Prior to 9/11, says Kinne, these countries were not supposed to monitor citizens in each other's countries, but that also changed. "We listened to Australians, Canadians, Brits. And so it wasn't just the Americans but that whole idea that you weren't supposed to monitor those five countries either – citizens of those five countries." With the borderlessness of modern digital communications, where the actual eavesdropping is done becomes almost irrelevant.
For years, public interest groups such as the ACLU, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the Electronic Privacy Information Center have been trying through court suits to find out the extend of NSA's eavesdropping on Americans, only to be rebuffed at every turn with claims of secrecy, while whistleblowers such as Adrienne Kinne, David Murfee Faulk, and William Binney have risked going to prison in order to expose NSA's actions.
Now that General Alexander has broached the subject in an open session of Congress, it is time for the American people to know the real truth about their communications, not heavily parsed, qualified denials about an unlikely hypothetical. Let Congress call an open panel where whistleblowers such as Kinne, Faulk, and Binney give sworn testimony, and NSA, at last, responds fully concerning its domestic involvement.


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It turns out that Hyrule isn't the only place Link can dominate.
The New York Times yesterday published its list of best-selling books for the week. Sitting atop the "Hardcover Advice & Misc." list is none other than "The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia," the book published last month by Dark Horse Books and Nintendo.
The title, which is described as "containing an unparalleled collection of historical information" on the famed franchise, is authored by Akria Himekawa. Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto and the franchise's current steward, Eiji Aonuma, are also given author nods.
"The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia" beat out a host of prominent titles in its first week on the list, including "Shred: The Revolutionary Diet," which came in second place. "Rebooting Work" hit the list for the first time and landed in third place.
"The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia" is currently sold out at Amazon, but is expected to be back in the store on Friday. The title is priced at $34.99, but customers can order it from Amazon for $19.24.
(Via Polygon)


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After a bumper year for precipitation in the Pacific Northwest, BC Hydro stations around British Columbia are sitting idle while independent power producers run flat out.
There's so much water available for hydroelectric power that a Washington-Oregon utility, which runs full-time to protect salmon and trout, is paying other utilities to take electricity off its hands.
That means bargain-priced import electricity is available to BC Hydro from the Bonneville Power Authority, but it's a bittersweet opportunity.
It's difficult for BC Hydro to tap into the cheap power because of contractual obligations to purchase power from about 75 independent power producers (IPPs). Hydro is forced to buy from IPP operators, including big industrial ones such as Rio Tinto Alcan and Teck Resources, even as its own generation stations wait on standby. For example, at Peace Canyon generating station downstream of W.A.C. Bennett Dam on the Peace River, the primary source of hydroelectricity for all of B.C., the turbines are sitting idle for the first time in a decade.
Prices paid to IPPs vary by season, from an average winter high of $100 to a springtime low of about $60. By contrast, the Bonneville price in recent weeks has averaged less than $20 US.
Overall, according to Hydro's 2011-12 annual report, IPPs earned $676 million from Hydro in the 12-month period ending March 31 - at a price per megawatt of power that was more than twice the cost of imported electricity during the same period of time
The water is pouring in just as warmer spring temperatures push down electricity demand. Data this week from the U.S. Energy Information Agency shows Oregon with 172 per cent of its long-term average precipitation supply, and B.C. with 131 per cent.
Meanwhile, a continuing U.S. economic recession is curtailing industrial power requirements south of the border.
That means there's no market for B.C. electricity exports to the U.S. Nor do B.C. residents need Hydro to crank up domestic production.
B.C.'s IPP community includes wind, large industrial hydro and gas-fired generation - but most operations are small-scale run of river hydroelectric installations.
The textbook case is the watershed of the Squamish River system.
Hydro is taking a pass on all the water running into its Daisy Lake reservoir near Whistler. Instead of diverting the water from Daisy via pipeline to a BC Hydro generating station on the Squamish, the Crown corporation is allowing the water to flow directly downstream into the Cheakamus River.
Meanwhile, on two other Squamish River tributaries, the Ashlu and the Mamquam, Hydro is paying IPPs to generate power for the British Columbia electricity grid.
"Some years you might have a low water year and if the weather con-spires and you have a really big heat wave just at the time of snowmelt and [electricity demand] dropping, you might have a few days or a few weeks when you still have too much water," Hydro director of resource generation management Renata Kurschner said in an interview.
Kurschner said inflows to Hydro's reservoirs are only now "starting to pick up" and the utility wants to make sure it's prepared to absorb even greater flows to come.
"Every year behaves quite differently and that is something you cannot incorporate easily into the long-term contracts. It's the long-term balancing versus the short-term dealing with whatever Mother Nature brings your way."
Not everyone is pleased about the situation - critics of British Columbia's mix of public and private power facilities say it's the result of poor utility planning and government meddling.
"IPPs require minimum [payments] in their contracts in order that they can show the bank a minimum revenue stream - in order that they can get financing. So Hydro is more or less forced to accept minimum pay provisions on those contracts" said Richard Stout, executive director of the Association of Major Power Customers of B.C.
"Hydro has to spill for the safety of its dams and it probably will end up spilling more because of its minimum take provisions with IPPs. They have contracts that specify that essentially they have to take IPP power first."
It would be cheaper and more prudent in the long run, Stout said, for B.C. to shift away from hydro-and wind-based IPPs and instead support development of natural gas-fired generation projects.
Others describe the situation simply as the cost of energy security. David Austin, a lawyer with expertise on IPPs and BC Hydro policy, noted that last year in an overheated Alberta electricity market, prices shot above $1,000 per megawatt - more than 20 times Hydro's average production cost - because of lack of access to surplus power supply.
Without even greater expansion of the province's generation capacity, B.C.'s economy could stall at a time of great opportunity for growth in mining and natural gas development, Aus-tin warned.
"We don't want to find ourselves in the position that Alberta finds itself in. If you do, there are serious problems for the economy, and all users of electricity," Austin said. "If we find our-selves in a situation where we don't have enough electricity we are all going to suffer."
Austin said the solution to Hydro's problem is expansion of inter-regional transmission lines to move the power around to a broader array of potential markets. California, for example, is always looking for opportunities to purchase power - but BC Hydro has no way to deliver more of it to the state.
firstname.lastname@example.com Twitter @ScottSimpsun


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Ireneusz Walaszczyk, Faculty of Geology, University of Warsaw, Poland
Editorial Advisory Board Andrzej Radwański, University of Warsaw, Poland Zdzisław Bełka, Adam Mickiewicz University Poland Max Laurence Coleman, The University of Reading, U.K. Jerzy Fedorowski, Adam Mickiewicz University Poland Ryszard Gradziński, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland Peter J. Harries, University of South Florida, USA John W.M. Jagt, Natuurhistorisch Museum Maastricht, The Netherlands William James Kennedy, Oxford Natural History Museum, U.K. Jan Kutek, University of Warsaw, Poland Anatoly MikhailovicNikishin, Moscow State Univesity, Russia Nestor Oszczypko, Jagiellonian University, Poland Michał Szulczewski, University of Warsaw, Poland Karl-Armin Tröger, Technische Universiät, Freiberg, Germany Sue Turner, Queensland Musem, Australia Alfred Uchman, Jagiellonian University, Poland Jerzy Znosko, Stage Geological Survey, Poland Andrzej Żelaźniewicz, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
Institute of Geology
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I have some simple java application and I want to create REST API's for the same. So that I can invoke the methods in java application using HTTP. I have no idea regarding the REST and Web Services. I am using Eclipse indigo, Java, GWT.
What I required and what I have to do to achieve this, Give me some simple example or tutorial if any.


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First Home Owners who either:
• purchase a house and land package; or
• purchase a vacant land lot and build a new home on that lot,
with a value (including the land) of less than $750,000 may be eligible for the Queensland First Home Owners' Grant of $15,000. For house and land packages, the grant will be provided upon taking possession of your new home and your title being registered. For vacant land lots upon which a new home is to be built, the grant will be provided upon completion of your new home and the final inspection certificate being issued^. For more information click here.
^Buyers may be eligible to receive from the QLD State Government the $15,000 First Home Owners' Grant. Not a Stockland promotion. Eligibility, date restrictions and terms and conditions apply. Visit https://firsthomeowners.initiatives.qld.gov.au for further information.
Use the map to see and interact with the features of Newport.
Set on 22-hectare non-tidal lake for coastal style living
Walking distance to Kippa-Ring train station
Public and private schools close with childcare planned
Proposed retail town centre with shopping and dining


text: Do you have a plan to vote? Let us tell you the information you need to register and cast a ballot in D.C. I want to make sure I vote! We'll send you information about voting and stories about local politics and news. Success! You're on the list. Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. Please reload the page and try again. Processing… Another thing to know, here.


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Current record: 72-64, 3rd place in NL Central, 10.0 games back; 1.5 games back of a Wild Card spot
Up Next: Chicago Cubs, 51-85, 5th place in NL Central, 31.0 games back
Season Series: 6-3 (3-0, 1-2, 2-1)
Notes: Seven of the Pirates next ten games are against the Cubs. This is the time to make a move. Taking any less than five of these games would be a setback. I'm going to stop short of say that they will take that many games; predictions like that have not worked out well for me this year. A lot of breaks went the Pirates direction in June and July – 2 out RBIs, a key strike out to get out of an inning. A lot of those breaks went the other way in August. I'll just say that if you're looking for a team to get some breaks against, the Cubs have historically always fit that bill.
Familiar Faces: None
Probable Pitchers
Friday: LH Travis Wood (4-11, 120.1 IP, 86 K, 4.64 ERA, 1.24 WHIP)
vs. RH A.J. Burnett (15-5, 163.2 IP, 145 K, 3.63 ERA, 1.24 WHIP)
Saturday: RH Jeff Samardzija (8-13, 165.2 IP, 171 K, 3.91 ERA, 1.26 WHIP)
vs. RH James McDonald (12-7, 161.2 IP, 147 K, 3.90 ERA, 1.21 WHIP)
Sunday: LH Chris Rusin (0-2, 6.0 IP, 5 K, 9.00 ERA, 2.00 WHIP)
vs. LH Jeff Locke (0-1, 9.1 IP, 7 K, 4.82 ERA, 0.96 WHIP)
No lineup yet.
Filed under: baseball, Pirates | Tagged: A.J. Burnett, baseball, Chris Rusin, Cubs, James McDonald, Jeff Locke, Jeff Samardzija, Pirates, Travis Wood |