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19th of August, 2019
General terms and conditions for the use of AdCharge mobile application
I. General information under the Electronic Commerce Act:
SF Platform – trade name, under which the Company SF Platform ("SF PLATFORM") distributes commercial messages (advertisements). SF PLATFORM has made a substantial investment in the development of the mobile application AdCharge, Adcharge platform and documentation. SF PLATFORM is a provider of services under the Electronic Commerce Act dated December, 24th, 2006 issued by Bulgarian Parliament with all amendments and the present General Terms and Conditions, namely: legal entity providing services to the information society.
• Name of the provider of services to the information society: SF PLATFORM, entered in the Commercial Register at the Registry Agency with UIC: 204240564
• Corporate seat and registered address: 1A, Arch. Kamen Petkov Str., City of Plovdiv 4017, Plovdiv Municipality, Plovdiv District, BULGARIA.
• Supervisory authorities:
1. Personal Data Protection Commission: Address: 2, Prof. Tsvetan Lazarov Blvd., City of Sofia 1592; Information and Contacts Center – telephone: 02/91-53-555; Reception room – working hours: 9 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., e-mail: kzld@cpdp.bg, website: www.cpdp.bg;
2. Commission for Protection of Competition: 18, Vitosha Blvd., City of Sofia 1000, Bulgaria; Working hours of the Records Management with external parties: 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. and 1:30 p.m. – 4 p.m., telephones: Records Management – 02 935 61 13; Fax: 02 980 73 15.
II. Definitions:
1. "COMMERCIAL MESSAGES","ADVERTISEMENTS" or "ADVERTISING MESSAGES" are advertising or other messages, which present, directly or indirectly, the goods, the services, reputation of the person carrying out commercial or craft activities or practicing a regulated profession, other kind of advertisements, not prohibited by law.
2. "HOLDER" or "Agent" shall mean a natural or legal person, who shall search for Publishers for the purpose of APPLICATION distribution and assist the cooperation between SF PLATFORM and Publishers on the terms specified by separate agreements.
3. "SUBSCRIBER", "USER" or "You", "he/she" shall mean any natural person, who actually uses the service of the Publisher and who has installed the APPLICATION on the mobile device used by him/her.
4. "ADCHARGE APPLICATION" is a mobile application, through which the Subscriber/User is given an option to receive commercial messages on the mobile devices used by him/her, hereinafter referred to as the "APPLICATION".
5. "PUBLISHER" shall be understood as natural or legal persons, including, but not limited, telecommunication companies, mobile operators (MNO, MVNO, cross platform etc.), Application Owners etc. ("hereinafter referred to as the "Publisher"). Publisher provides the Services according to which Subscriber/User can receive commercial messages through the APPLICATION on the mobile devices used by him/her. The form of business cooperation between SF PLATFORM and Publisher shall be defined in separate agreements, signed between SF PLATFORM and respective Publisher.
III. Acceptance of the General Terms and Conditions
1. SF PLATFORM provides and you agree to receive advertisements, representing requested commercial messages, through the APPLICATION on the mobile devices used by you.
2. The access and the use by you of the APPLICATION shall be governed by the applicable legislation and these General Terms and Conditions, including the relevant amendments made from time to time. Please read these General Terms and Conditions carefully. During your registration process inside the APPLICATION, you have a checkbox for agreeing with the Terms. By choosing a checkbox, you accept these General Terms and Conditions. From that moment all the commercial messages, the areas of which were chosen by you, received on your mobile device will be considered as requested commercial messages.
3. In case you have agreed to the General Terms and Conditions for the use of the APPLICATION and wish to proceed with the registration, you will be asked to fill out the following fields with your personal data: "gender", "age", "place of residence", as well as to give your consent the APPLICATION to access your current location by using a GPS signal or Wi-Fi connection and to use your phone number for the purposes of the APPLICATION activation. During the registration process you are obliged to provide accurate and current data. SF PLATFORM shall not bear the responsibility for the accurateness of data, provided by you.
4. After registration you will be able to select areas of your interests, for which you wish to receive commercial messages with priority. You have the right at any time to change the stated areas of interest, for which you wish to receive advertising messages, to expand them without restriction. In case you don't choose any areas of interest, all the commercial messages available at this geo will be served to you.
4.1. By filling out the above data and choosing a checkbox, SF PLATFORM is sending an SMS for verification to your mobile. After the input of the code, your registration in the APPLICATION will be completed successfully. With this you declare that you have acquainted yourself with these General Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy https://adcharge.eu/privacy-policy/ (hereinafter "Privacy Policy"), that you agree with their content and that you agree to comply with them unconditionally.
4.2. Upon the completion of your registration you will be automatically enter the APPLICATION. As of this moment it will be considered that there are contractual relations between you, as a Subscriber or User to the APPLICATION, and between SF PLATFORM.
5. From the moment of confirmation of a registration under item 4.2 hereof, you, as a Subscriber or User of the AdCharge mobile application, will receive commercial messages.
6. Our services are not intended for children under the age of 14. By accepting these General Terms and Conditions, and upon the registration process you declare that the information provided by you is accurate and corresponds to current data of registration. SF PLATFORM shall not bear the responsibility for the accurateness of data, provided by you. In case we detect that your age is under 14, we may cancel your registration, suspend the provision of services and delete all relevant content from our servers without any restrictions.
7. With a view to the periodic additions and modifications of the services, their improvement and expansion, as well as in relation to possible legislative changes that affect them, the General Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy may be changed unilaterally by SF PLATFORM. These changes can be done upon any change of the type, nature or technology of the services provided, upon termination of the provision of certain services, as well as upon any change in the economic conditions etc.
8. These General Terms and Conditions are reliable at the time of its publication and can be changed over time. Any changes made in General Terms and Conditions in the future can be placed on this web page without prior notice. SF PLATFORM advises that you check this page regularly to keep yourself informed about any updates.
9. The present General Terms and Conditions, as well as any future changes therein, will apply to the existing registered Subscribers/Users as of the date of their entry into effect. If Subscriber/User doesn't agree with the changes to the General Terms and Conditions, he/she has to stop using the APPLICATION and to deactivate the account.
10. If the Subscriber/User deactivates its account due to any reason, such account may be resumed upon Subscriber's/User's request during 30 calendar days from the deactivation date. Please be advised that the data provided by you upon registration becomes depersonalized from the 31st day from the day of your account was deactivated. Such depersonalized data can be stored by SF PLATFORM for its internal statistic purposes according to the Privacy Policy terms. Also please be advised that your personal account will be automatically deactivated and all personal data will be depersonalized in case service is not in use for more than 1 year since the last active session. All unused bonus points will be annulled from your account with the impossibility of recovery.
11. Policy for protection of personal data. SF PLATFORM receives and/or collects and processes the basic data provided by you in compliance with the Bulgarian legislation and the legislation of the European Union and only for the purposes specified in these General Terms and Conditions.
12. The provision of personal data is voluntary. However, be informed that without the provision of specific details, you cannot receive commercial messages from us.
13. SF PLATFORM does not entrust, sell, lease, license, transfer, etc. the available database containing personal data of its subscribers/users, except as stated in these General Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy.
14. SF PLATFORM takes measures to protect your personal data pursuant to the Personal Data Protection Act. By accepting the present General Terms and Conditions you agree that SF PLATFORM may process your personal data in accordance with our document – Privacy Policy https://adcharge.eu/privacy-policy/
15. Subscribers will have access to the information provided by him/her, where he/she will be able to correct and update the personal data stored by SF PLATFORM.
16. SF PLATFORM takes due care for the collection, processing and storage of your personal data in strict compliance with the provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act.
17. In the registration form filled by you there is a clear indication of the mandatory or voluntary nature of the provision of data, as well as the consequences of the refusal to provide them. By agreeing to these General Terms and Conditions, you agree that your information will be processed in the manner provided therein.
18. SF PLATFORM undertakes the obligation not to disclose your personal information and not to provide the collected information to third parties except in the cases, when:
18.1. The information has been required by state authorities or officials, which according to the current legislation are entitled to demand and collect such information pursuant to the statutory procedures;
18.2. In other cases stipulated by the law.
19. SF PLATFORM provides advertising messages to your mobile device as follows:
19.1. When you receive an incoming call the AdCharge mobile application visualizes advertisement material on the display of your mobile device during the call without covering and limiting the functionalities of the device. During the call (a small non-clickable ad preview) and 10 seconds after it has finished (a full screen clickable creative) the AdCharge mobile application displays the advertisement material through the display of the mobile device while keeping active all system buttons – you can end the conversation, mute the device, use the speakerphone, transfer the call onto another phone number, etc. During the time of visualization of the advertisement material, you have the option to reject watching the advertisement material for this product or service or to learn more by following a link which forwards to the landing page of the advertiser with more information;
20. The Subscriber/User may obtain information about the activation of a specific bonus package for the free services provided to them (if any) and about the conditions and the duration of use on the website specified through the APPLICATION or at the relevant website of the Publisher.
21. SF PLATFORM may at its sole discretion suspend or limit the distribution of commercial messages, as well as refer to the competent state authorities, if according to its sole discretion the Subscriber/User violates the provisions of the current Bulgarian legislation or the legislation of the other country, these General Terms and Conditions or the rights and the legitimate interests of third parties. At any time and without notice SF PLATFORM will have the right to suspend the access of the Subscriber/User to the APPLICATION or to any content of the commercial messages, which such Subscriber/User has chosen to obtain, that contradict to the current Bulgarian legislation or legislation of the other country, these General Terms and Conditions or the rights and the legitimate interests of third parties, including but not limited to intellectual property rights.
22. Upon receipt of an order of the competent state bodies concerning the content of the commercial messages or the content of the APPLICATION, installed on the Subscriber's /User's mobile device, SF PLATFORM will have the right, without prior notice, to suspend the access to such content or to perform other actions in accordance with the received order.
23. SF PLATFORM has the right in its sole discretion and without notice to deactivate the access to the account of the Subscriber/User, in the event that the Subscriber/User violates the provisions of the Bulgarian legislation, legislation of other countries, these General Terms and Conditions, Privacy Policy and/or the rights and the legitimate interests of third parties. In these cases, SF PLATFORM may without any liability cancel your registration, suspend the provision of services and delete all content from its servers.
24. In case SF PLATFORM obtains information that provides reasonable grounds to assume that the behavior of the Subscriber/User during the use of the APPLICATION could constitute a crime or administrative offense, SF PLATFORM will have the right at its sole discretion to approach the competent state authorities and to provide them the necessary assistance and all necessary information and materials, required in the proper manner, which at the discretion of the relevant authority would help to identify the perpetrator and to prove the committed crime or administrative offense.
25. SF PLATFORM will not be responsible for any damages or loss of profits incurred by Subscriber/User or third parties due to suspension, modification or limitation of the services provided, suspension or partial restriction of the access to their accounts or provision of information or execution of an order by competent state authorities made in accordance with the present General Terms and Conditions.
26. SF PLATFORM may temporarily restrict or suspend the provision of commercial messages with the purpose to increase the quality or to perform necessary maintenance or any other related activities. After the elimination of the relevant circumstance, which is the reason for the suspension, SF PLATFORM shall promptly continue the provision of the commercial messages.
27. The Subscribers/Users declare that they will use the APPLICATION in good faith and in accordance with the intended purpose and undertake the obligation not to use the service in conflict with the applicable law.
28. The Subscriber/User has the right at any time to stop using the APPLICATION by uninstalling the APPLICATION or deactivating Subscriber's/User's account using 'deactivate your account' button.
29. The present General Terms and Conditions shall be terminated along with the termination of APPLICATION project, at the discretion of SF PLATFORM.
30. SF PLATFORM has the right, at its sole discretion and without giving prior notice, to terminate the access to APPLICATION, respectively to stop the dissemination of the commercial messages in case it establishes that these messages are used in violation of these General Terms and Conditions, the legislation of the Republic of Bulgaria or the legislation of the other country, the rights and the legitimate interests of third parties, including but not limited to intellectual property rights.
31. SF PLATFORM has the right at any time and on any grounds whatsoever to immediately stop the access to any account, to terminate any registration and to delete from its servers all content, considering Privacy Policy terms. In this case SF PLATFORM will not be responsible for any damages or lost profits suffered by Subscriber/User or third parties as a consequence of the suspension of access to an account, the termination of a registration, the deletion of content from its servers, as well as because of the provision of information or execution of an order of the competent state authorities.
32. In the event of suspension of the advertising messages on any grounds, but not due to technical service malfunction, and in case the Subscriber/User wishes to continue using these services, he/she shall contact the Publisher and ask about the prices and the terms under which he/she can continue to use the services of the additional bonus package.
33. SF PLATFORM may contact you by telephone, provided by you upon registration. SF PLATFORM can also provide you with information through the APPLICATION or by publishing information on the website https://adcharge.eu/
33.1. All your notices to SF PLATFORM must be sent by ordinary mail or by e-mail to info@adcharge.eu
33.2. SF PLATFORM can send individual notice to you at the mailing address that you have provided and in case of a general notice to all – by publishing information through the APPLICATION in the appropriate manner. In the case of publication of information on the website or through the APPLICATION, it will be considered that you have been duly notified on the date of the publication.
33.3. In order to prove the provision of any kind of notice the following will be sufficient: in the case of a letter – to prove that such letter has been properly addressed, that all postage stamps have been placed and that it has been sent by mail; in case of publication of information through the APPLICATION – to prove that this information has been provided in the appropriate manner, taking into account the content of the information.
34. If you have questions or complaints about our General Terms and Conditions or a problem with the use of the APPLICATION, you can contact us through the contacts provided in the APPLICATION.
35. Unless otherwise stated, the APPLICATION, including all content therein, such as design, texts, graphics, logos, images, videos and other materials associated with it, are protected by copyright and by other applicable laws on intellectual and industrial property. SF PLATFORM is the only owner (or the licensor) of all intellectual and industrial property and other property rights in respect of the APPLICATION. All such rights are reserved.
36. Any publication of information concerning APPLICATION made by you or a Holder does not constitute a waiver of SF PLATFORM of any of the rights in connection with the APPLICATION. Unless expressly stated in these General Terms and Conditions, you will not acquire any rights and claims of ownership or title to or in connection with the APPLICATION.
37. The software used for the APPLICATION is owned by SF PLATFORM and/or any of its subsidiaries. All contents, compilations and software are protected by the applicable copyright laws and intellectual property protection. Any other use, including reproduction, modification, distribution, transmission, broadcast, display or presentation of the contents of this APPLICATION are not permitted without written consent of SF PLATFORM.
38. By accepting these General Terms and Conditions, you declare that the use of the services will be entirely at your own risk and responsibility and agree that SF PLATFORM will not be responsible for any damages caused during the use of the APPLICATION.
39. SF PLATFORM declares that the dissemination of commercial messages is implemented in full compliance with the existing legislation and SF PLATFORM will not be responsible, if the content of the messages is used by persons, who stated false information during the registration or who gained access to the mobile device.
40. SF PLATFORM will not be responsible for suspension of the dissemination of advertising messages in the event of circumstances beyond its control – in cases of force majeure, fortuitous events, problems in the global Internet network and in the provision of services beyond its control, problems due to your equipment, as well as in case of unauthorized access or third party intervention in the functioning of our information system or servers.
41. SF PLATFORM will not be responsible for damages caused to your mobile device or software or for any loss of data arising from materials or resources searched, loaded or used in any way through the APPLICATION.
42. SF PLATFORM will not be liable to you or third parties for the advertisements/commercial messages content received by you. The advertiser is the only responsible for the content of the advertisements/commercial messages, received by the Subscriber/User. Advertiser is solely responsible for all: (i) Contents generated by or for Advertiser; (ii) properties to which a Content directs users (including without limitation content on the domain or landing page reached by clicking on the Content URLs; and/or (iii) Advertiser services. SF PLATFORM will not be responsible for damages and lost profits incurred due to termination, suspension, modification or limitation of the provision of commercial messages, as well as removal, return, non-receipt, modification, loss, inaccuracy or insufficiency of information, made available to you through the APPLICATION and commercial messages.
43. SF PLATFORM will not be responsible in case of failure to submit commercial messages or in case of providing those with poor quality, as a result of tests performed by SF PLATFORM with the purpose to check equipment, connections, networks, etc., as well as tests aimed at the improvement or the optimization of the services provided.
44. By accepting these General Terms and Conditions you declare that you realize the possibility of potential interruptions and other difficulties during the use of the APPLICATION, which can occur regardless of the care of SF PLATFORM. You declare that you will not claim any compensation from SF PLATFORM for lost profits, damage or inconvenience due to the occurrence of the abovementioned interruptions or difficulties during the use of the services.
45. SF PLATFORM will not be responsible and will not owe compensation to any Subscriber/User, whose personal data have been used by another person for the receipt of advertising messages.
46. You agree that you will be liable to SF PLATFORM for damages associated with or arising from your violation of these General Terms and Conditions and agree to indemnify SF PLATFORM and protect our company from liability and against any claims or actions of third parties relating to or arising from your violation of the present General Terms and Conditions and relevant legislation.
47. The rights and obligations arising from our management and your access and use of the APPLICATION bind you and us, as well as our respective successors and assignees. Unless otherwise required by the applicable law, you cannot transfer, assign or dispose of any rights or obligations without our prior written consent. We have the right at any time to transfer, assign or otherwise dispose of the management of the APPLICATION or parts thereof, or of any our rights or obligations arising therefrom, in which case we will not be exempted from liability for fulfillment of our obligations to you and the party, to which such relations are transferred.
48. If a court or a competent authority decides that any provision of these General Terms and Condition is invalid, void or unenforceable under the applicable law, such provision shall be amended and interpreted so as to best achieve the objectives of the original provision to the fullest extent permitted by law. The remaining provisions shall remain in full force and effect.
49. These General Terms and Conditions contain all the arrangements between you and SF PLATFORM regarding the use of the APPLICATION. Warranties or representations, oral or written, not contained in these General Terms and Conditions will not be binding, both for you and for SF PLATFORM.
50. This General Terms and Conditions are governed by the law of the Republic of Bulgaria.
51. All disputes arising from these General Terms and Conditions or related to them, including disputes arising from or concerning their interpretation, invalidity, performance or termination, as well as disputes in connection with the filling of gaps therein or their adaptation to new circumstances, will be resolved by the by the Arbitration court by the Association for development of the law in the town of Plovdiv, according to its Regulations for lawsuits based on arbitration agreements. The current arbitration clause does not hinder the parties in the contract to bring the case to the competent state courts in Bulgaria. In this case the courts in Plovdiv have international competence. It is left to the choice of the claimant to which of these courts they will refer the dispute.
52. The present General Terms and Conditions shall enter into force on the date of its publication or update on the https://adcharge.eu/terms/
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
KTH Intranät på svenska
Organisation & Regulations
Search the KTH Intranet
Performance in the Swedish Building Code
Time: Mon 2019-10-07 10.00
Location: KTH, sal A124, plan 1, Osquars backe 5, 100 44 Stockholm (English)
Subject area: Architecture
Doctoral student: Marja Lundgren , Arkitekturteknik, White arkitekter AB
Opponent: Professor Anne Beim, Institute of Architecture & Technology, The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts School of Architecture, Design & Conservation
Supervisor: F.d. lektor Timothy Anstey, Arkitekturteknik, The Oslo School of Architecture and Design; Professor Fredrik Nilsson, Chalmers Arkitektur och Samhällsbyggnadsteknik; Universitetslektor Meike Schalk, Arkitektur
This thesis investigates performance-based regulation in Sweden and its consequences for architectural design. In the last 50 years, there has been a transition from prescriptive to performance-based regulation, propelled by the drive to further innovation, productivity and competitiveness by expressing the functions expected of the buildings as performances. This thesis examines the promise of freedom in design and solution that this regulatory construction offers, considering two specific performance aspects of the Swedish building code: the requirements regarding energy performance in relation to user-comfort, and the requirement in terms of daylight in relation to health and hygiene. Each case investigates the implications of the performance-based system of regulation for the synesthetic and multidisciplinary process of design, focussing on how it affects the work of architects.This thesis also addresses the disciplinary knowledge necessary for assessing performance requirements, which in turn connects to the entry into building regulation of abstract natural science models quantifying societal goals in legislation, and to the disciplinary histories of the engineering and architectural professions.Speculating on ways forward that address the concerns that emerge from this analysis, the thesis turns to a historical example that dealt with a similar problem to evaluate its potential for developing current architectural practice. The dual nature of design, reaching into both expressional and technical concerns, has been the subject of research and eloquent discussion within the architectural concept of tectonics. The concluding section of this thesis raises questions about the architectural discourse in relation to tectonics. It suggests that there is work to be done to reconcile the division between architectural design and technical characteristics connected to building physics that permeates systems of building regulation in Sweden and more generally. The thesis suggests that if performance-based regulation is to offer freedom in architectural design, the architecture community needs to be much more involved in both the research and critique of performance requirements and of their formulation and assessment methods when addressing this.
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Belongs to: About KTH
Last changed: Sep 13, 2019
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Events for doctoral students and researchers
KTH research plattforms
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text:
Ernst Wüst (* 10. Februar 1923), ein ehemaliger deutscher Fußballspieler, der 1952/53 für Empor Lauter, in der DDR-Oberliga, der höchsten Liga im DDR-Fußball, spielte.

Sportliche Laufbahn
Als zur Saison 1950/51 für den Bereich des DDR-Fußballs als Unterbau zur Oberliga die DDR-Liga installiert wurde, gehörte zum Teilnehmerfeld auch der sächsische Vizemeister, die Betriebssportgemeinschaft (BSG) Wismut aus Lauter. Im Kader stand der 27-jährige Ernst Wüst. Lauters Trainer Friedrich Müller setzte ihn in den 18 Punktspielen sowohl als Stürmer wie auch in der Abwehr ein. Bei seinem zweiten Einsatz, in der Begegnung Wismut Lauter – Lok Nordhausen, erzielte er beim 4:0-Sieg sein einziges Tor in der DDR-Liga. In der Saison 1951/52 wurde er zum Stammspieler der BSG, die nun als Empor Lauter antrat. Unter dem neuen Trainer Walter Fritzsch bestritt er alle 22 Ligaspiele, in denen er regelmäßig als rechter Verteidiger eingesetzt wurde. Damit hatte er auch erheblichen Anteil am Aufstieg seiner Mannschaft in die DDR-Oberliga. Als einziger Spieler der BSG Empor bestritt Wüst 1952/53 alle 32 Oberligaspiele, wobei er nun abwechselnd rechts oder links in der Abwehrreihe stand.

Am Ende der Saison war Ernst Wüst 30 Jahre alt, und er beendete seine Laufbahn als Leistungssportler. In der Saison 1956 (Kalenderjahr-Spielzeit) tauchte er noch einmal in der DDR-Liga bei Aufbau Großräschen auf, wo er von 26 Ligaspielen vier Partien bestritt.

Literatur
 Deutsches Sportecho: Jahrgänge 1950–1956.
 Andreas Baingo, Michael Horn: Die Geschichte der DDR-Oberliga. Verlag Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89533-428-6, S. 325.
 DSFS (Hrsg.): DDR-Chronik – DDR-Fußball 1949–1991 (Band 8). Berlin 2011, S. 373.

Weblinks

Fußballspieler (DDR)
Fußballspieler (BSG Empor Lauter)
Deutscher
DDR-Bürger
Geboren 1923
Mann

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Former Patriots tight end Christian Fauria was suspended from his radio job in Boston on Friday after he made a racist joke about Tom Brady's agent, Don Yee.
The drama that led to Fauria's suspension actually started Friday morning when Boston Herald columnist Ron Borges was duped into writing a false story about Brady. Using sources that turned out to be fake, Borges reported that Brady wanted a Jimmy Garoppolo-type deal and that the Patriots quarterback would hold out of OTAs if he didn't get it.
Of course, that's not the truth. The information came from someone claiming to be Yee -- not Yee himself -- and Borges's column has now been retracted by the Herald. The fake texts that were sent to Borges were revealed on Twitter on Friday, and that's when Fauria got in hot water.
Fauria decided to read the texts on-air, but with a twist, he decided to change his voice.
"I'm gonna be Don Yee," Fauria said before reading them. "For me, I don't know why, Don Yee sounds like an Asian guy."
Fauria then proceeded to attempt to speak in an Asian accent, which Yee does not have.
Shortly after the segment aired, WEEI made the decision to suspend Fauria for his racist impression.
"[On Friday] during his show, Christian Fauria impersonated athlete agent, Don Yee in an insensitive and ill-conceived attempt at humor," the station said in a statement. "We regret Christian's commentary and we apologize to Mr. Yee and those offended by the segment. We do not support or condone Christian's comments, and we have suspended him for five days effective immediately."
Fauria has since apologized on Twitter.
The former Patriots tight end, who won two Super Bowls as Brady's teammate from 2002-05, also said he would reach out to Yee.
I have also reached out to Don directly to personally apologize. I have been disciplined by WEEI management and I fully support their decision.
Fauria is the second WEEI host to be involved in a Brady-related suspension over the past two weeks. Another host was suspended for calling Brady's five-year-old daughter a name in a show that aired less than two weeks before the Super Bowl. Borges's column is also suspended indefinitely, according to the Herald.


text:
TV Feature
Goodbye Arizona Robbins, Television's Longest-Running Lesbian Character
By Carmen Phillips
Last week, we said goodbye to a legend. We were warned it was coming, but it hurt all the same. Arizona Robbins left Grey's Anatomy. I wrote a full review of her beautiful last episode immediately after it aired, but losing a character like Arizona is also deserving of long term reflection.
Arizona first rolled in on her wheelie sneakers and into our hearts halfway through season five, and by clocking in 228 episodes of Grey's Anatomy, she became the longest running lesbian character in television history. In fact, she leaves every other lesbian on TV far in her dust.
Being lucky enough to have her on our screen every Thursday for nine seasons, being lulled into the normalcy of her presence, also sometimes means losing track of how groundbreaking it is to have an out and proud lesbian on television for 228 hours. That statistic becomes even more impactful when looked at in context: broadening our scope to at all queer women on television, Arizona's record is only (barely) beaten by her ex-wife Callie Torres. The Latina bisexual badass and orthopedic surgeon graced our screens for 240 episodes. Together their romantic pairing, dubbed by the fans as "Calzona," aired for 133 episodes — counting from their first kiss through their divorce. That makes them the longest running same sex couple in network TV. At the peak of their love story, over 12 million viewers turned in weekly.
It's about more than the numbers. Arizona Robbins radiated energy and warmth when she was on the screen. She was sunshine and dimples. We watched Callie's coming out journey unfold over the years, but Arizona arrived to us already sure of herself. In her own words, she was "super gay, the gayest of gays, LESBIANIC." When she was staring at that poster of Cindy Crawford on her teenage bedroom wall, she wasn't just looking at her mole, if you know what she means — and I think you do. Who else got to say lines like that on the most watched night of television?
Seeing a woman so carefree, effervescent, and matter of fact about their sexuality on television is still a breath of fresh air. It's hard to find that kind of confidence in your every day life, especially sometimes for queer women who are still battling for full recognition from the world around us. Arizona was written to be the light tower in our choppy waters; it's only fitting that she called herself "a good man in the storm."
A good man in the storm — that's what Arizona told Callie's father the day she stood up to him. He was struggling with Callie's late in life coming out. He was being cruel and quoting the Bible and doing so of the many things that our loved ones do because they are scared to open their minds and love us anyway. Arizona met him in the gallery of an OR room.
She didn't raise her voice. She just looked out the window and unraveled her truth, "Most people think I was named after the state, but that's not true — I was named after a battleship, the USS Arizona. I was raised to be a good man in the storm. Raised to love my country, love my family, and protect the things I love."
Few queer people television history have loved as openly or as fiercely as Arizona. She was earnest. Not just about her love with Callie, though their story was epic. Not just the many, many romantic trysts she had around the hospital — ranging from the comedic (Noelle who wasn't even gay before she met Arizona, but oooh she was that night. Twice.), to the disastrous (Leah Murphy), to the passionate (Carina DeLuca, Dr. Orgasm!). Arizona loved her friends. She loved her work and children. She loved her daughter, perhaps most of all. And she fought like hell for those things. When the time came, she turned her world upside down for Sofia. She protected what she loved.
That's not to say that her character was always happy. When her leg was amputated following season eight's infamous plane crash, Arizona was wrecked with depression and PTSD. She lashed out. She caused pain. She was downright mean to her wife. In a moment of selfishness, she cheated on her. That too was a lesson for us. The sun can sometimes find itself lost in the darkness. And it can find its way out once again.
Perhaps the best part of Arizona's legacy is that even though she's taken her final bow, it's far from over. Every month, 200,000 people on Netflix start Grey's Anatomy over from the first episode. Thanks to the streaming service, 2.4 million people a year discover the show for the first time. When I was finding my way out of the closet, I would watch The L Word in secret and the hurriedly cover my tracks so my mother wouldn't know. Grey's is stealth. Can you imagine how many queer girls will stumble on this show and be able to watch it openly? Who will see a hopeful, positive glimmer in Arizona of who they want to be? Who will cling to it at a time in their life when they need it most? Who will binge it on their laptops or phones, make memes, share clips with friends? The breadth of this show's impact, it boggles the mind.
Arizona did her part to lead the way in a cohort of seven queer women on Grey's Anatomy. They make up the largest grouping of their kind in network television. Over the course of 14 seasons, there have been four queer women regulars — Arizona, along with Callie Torres and Erica Hahn, who each preceded her, and Leah Murphy for a few seasons in the middle. There've been three queer women reccurring characters — Penny Blake, Eliza Minnick, and Carina DeLuca. That history couldn't have happened without Arizona.
So, goodbye Arizona Robbins. And thank you. Thank you for being A Good Man in The Storm.
Related:grey's anatomy
Carmen Phillips
Carmen is Autostraddle's Editor-in-Chief and a Black Puerto Rican femme/inist writer. She claims many past homes, but left the largest parts of her heart in Detroit, Brooklyn, and Buffalo, NY. There were several years in her early 20s when she earnestly slept with a copy of James Baldwin's "Fire Next Time" under her pillow. You can find her on twitter, @carmencitaloves.
Carmen has written 408 articles for us.
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Arizona Robbins made me gay dot tumblr dot com
I figured myself out through watching the Callie/Arizona relationship unfold. It helped me realize that being queer was an actual possibility for me and that there's joy to be found in being authentically you. Also, dimples.
Thank you for this write-up, Carmen. It's hard to believe that I've been watching Jessica Capshaw as Arizona on my television for ten gloriously queer years. Arizona and April are two of my favorite characters (along with Callie, Christina, and Bailey) and I can't quite picture the show without them, though like Hellmouth I do like Meredith and her hair.
the Erica Hahn storyline aired my sophomore year of high school- I remember rush home from a band concert to catch the very end of that PARKING LOT KISS and then replaying it over and over on the computer. When Arizona showed up the next year, it was so nice to have a queer role model to look forward to every week when I wasn't out (and then, only out to a few people).
I think the fact that she specialized in treating kids was honestly SO IMPORTANT- one of the big negative misconceptions about ~the gays~ is that we're a bad influence on the young'n's, but SHE SAVED TINY HUMANS!
What a legend. She'll be missed dearly <3
First let me applaud you Carmen, this is a great article.
Now, hell if this and I quote, "counting from their first kiss through their divorce. That makes them the longest running same sex couple in network TV." didn't annoy me. Not the writing of it (again Carmen you did this is a fantastic article) but the facts of that statement. The show is chasing ER's record which is why it's still on the air. And we hope television is getting more progressive so that another character can come close to beating Arizona's record but if Shonda didn't decide to break Calzona up (what was it 4 years ago now) then they might have had an unbreakable record or at least a very long lasting one.grr.
Beautiful writing, CP
Beautiful tribute to a history making character and history making show.
I will miss Arizona but I'm ready for Hellmouth
Deli Twotone
I'm not a fan of hospital dramas but I always enjoyed the recaps, the screenshots, the memes, I'm going to miss this. And perhaps, I could even consider watching some episodes or at least the parts with Arizona. I just finished the epic Root/Shaw list for PoI and loved watching the show that way, it was all I really needed.
So thank you Carmen !
If you're gonna start with Greys I would suggest you do Callie and Erica first, of only for the "you are glasses" scene.
You are glasses
Holy Katzenjammers ! Thank you for this. I am beholden.
That was really beautiful and intense. Those writers have a twisted sense of humour. And now I have to watch the whole thing because I got all kinds of questions.
Sara Ramirez, though, what a babe.
(endquote)
Just wanted to say Thank you @carmensandiego !
I've started watching Grey's with season 4 with Erica Hahn's more regular appearances and I confess I am now totally hooked. Binging wayyyy past my bedtime.
This was beautiful, Carmen! A fitting farewell to an enormously important character and a good man in a storm!
Raine
Beautifully written. I wish Arizona's story continued on in the GA universe. I think there is more to tell about her.. But it is what it is. Hoping that she alongside Callie can come back to give us our happy ending.
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This year's Fryeburg Fair runs from Oct. 1-8 while the leaves are doing their thing. From Fryeburg, you're just minutes from North Conway and the start of the White Mountain National Forest, where the colorful trees will seem to go on forever.
Picnic, hike, bike and enjoy the incredible views from the summit. The woods are thick at the park, which means there could be too many colors to count.
The drive up Routes 11, 27 & 4 will be breathtaking during peak season. When you arrive, check out the views spanning across Rangeley Lake and along the many hiking trails.
Climb either Mt. Battie or Mt. Megunticook for sweeping views of Camden, Penobscot Bay or the surrounding islands. If you aren't into hiking, Mt. Battie offers an auto road where you can take in the colors of the surrounding hillsides.
Moose Pond sits at the base of the mountain. Hang near the water and look up at the leaves or make your way up (as high as you can get without a chair lift) and feast your eyes down yonder at the pond.
Is there a more beautiful place in Maine, regardless of the season? In early October the drive will be well worth it for incredible views, sans tourists.
Sunday River might be covered in snow in a few months, but during foliage season, it's an excellent place to take in the fall colors. Ride the chondola up to the top of the mountain and hike around amid the changing leaves.


The Treadmill Exerpeutic 440 XL has been reviewed as "Simply the best quality treadmill in it's price range" by numerous consumer resources and magazines. At the sale price of $502.74, the Exerpeutic 440 XL is an unbelievable value.Exerpeutic 440 XL has earned the reputation of building quality treadmills using the best components, the 440 XL holds true to this even at a lower price.
Tested up to 400 lbs of user weight capacity, allowing you to walk your way to fitness regardless body size 1.5 horsepower high-torque motor utilizes "quiet drive" which reduces any noise when walking, Measure your target heart rate, The Treadmill belts has been widened to a fitness club size of 20″ for safety and security.
Extra-long safety handles are 18″ long, more than 2x the length of the other typical treadmill handles, The frame has been reinforced to accommodate a high weight capacity. Speed adjusts in increments of 1/10 mph up to a maximum of 4 mph.
Exerpeutic 440 XL treadmill fold up easily and then can be moved to different locations via transportation wheels.
I hope you enjoyed this review and if you have any question about the Treadmill Exerpeutic 440 XL or want to leave your own personal review, leave comments below.


The Thermo Scientific™ Theta Probe is a high performance XPS system, which is used for ultra-thin film analysis.
Angle resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy is considered an ideal method to measure samples of different types of materials.
The theta probe is provided with a micro-focused X-ray source and parallel ARXPS analyzer that make complicated thin film measurements both easy and intuitive.
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Thermo Scientific™ Avantage™ software for data acquisition, instrument control, data processing and reporting.


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Lion Links: 11/10/16
Pride player nominated for AFC player of the year, upcoming Orlando City player appearances, America's next soccer savior.
By Allen Etzler Nov 10, 2016, 7:30am EST
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Erich Schlegel-USA TODAY Sports
Happy Thursday, y'all. The election madness has calmed down a bit, which is nice. This edition of Lion Links is a chance to step away from it all and catch up on all things Orlando City and the soccer world.
Let's get to it.
Lisa De Vanna Nominated for AFC Award
The Orlando Pride's Lisa De Vanna was one of three players nominated for the Asian Football Confederation's player of the year award. De Vanna joins her countrywoman Caitlin Foord and China's Tan Ruyin as the nominees.
From the story:
"When I consider how many amazing players there are in Asia I'm happy to be nominated alongside Caitlin Foord and Tan Ruyin," said De Vanna, who left Melbourne City after securing a maiden W-League title for the club last season.
"Proud to have two Matildas in the top three."
It's a great honor for De Vanna, and the winner will be determined on Dec. 1. Given that she plays for Orlando, De Vanna will likely finish in a tie of some sort.
Buh dum Chi.
I suck at jokes.
Orlando City Academy Teams Rolling
The Orlando City SC pro academy won five games this weekend. The young bucks went 5-0-1 against the Clearwater Chargers this past Saturday. See, Orlando City can win stuff. But seriously, it's good to see the up-and-comers that will hopefully shape the club's future having success.
Orlando City Player Appearances
Want to meet your favorite Orlando City player? The club released a schedule of some upcoming appearances for players and one of these places would be a great opportunity to do so.
Tyler Turner is set for two appearances, though one of those happened on Wednesday. The Pride's Toni Pressley is also scheduled for two. Pressley will be featured at the Gay Pride Launch Party today. It would be a surprise if she's the only Pride player in attendance, but she's the only one officially scheduled. The Pride Parade on Saturday will feature Pressley along with Brek Shea and Phil and Kay Rawlins.
America's Savior?
The Wall Street Journal deemed Christian Pulisic America's latest, greatest soccer messiah. Naturally, this will not end well. Look, I like Pulisic. He's a good player. Might even been great. But can we please stop this whole "American soccer" savior deal? It never comes true. America. Is. Not. Good. At. Soccer. Give it a rest. Anyway, the story is worth your time. It's a nice look at a solid player who will wear the stars and bars for years to come. But we'll still be mediocre for years to come.
That's it for today. Enjoy your Thursday and check back later for complete coverage of the USWNT friendly against Romania.


3 Filmmakers to Keep Your Eyes On.
The work of the Nonsense Society's own Steven Madeja, Danielle Mulcahy, and Vladek Zankovsky.
Copyright 2007 Steven Madeja, All Rights Reserved.
Copyright 2009 Danielle Mulcahy, All Rights Reserved.
Copyright Vladek Zankovsky, All Rights Reserved.
Banner art by Jaroslaw Kubicki.
g20: Vladek Zankovsky's Take On The Economic Crisis.


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Supreme Court Opinions > Smith v. Murray
Topic: Criminal Procedure* Court vote: 5–4
Joining O'Connor opinion: Chief Justice BURGER Justice POWELL Justice REHNQUIST Justice WHITE
We granted certiorari to decide whether and, if so, under what circumstances, a prosecutor may elicit testimony from a mental health professional concerning the content of an interview conducted to explore the possibility of presenting psychiatric defenses at trial. We also agreed to review the Court of Appeals' determination that any error in the admission of the psychiatrist's evidence in this case was irrelevant under the holding of Zant v. Stephens, 462 U. S. 862 (1983). On examination, however, we conclude that petitioner defaulted his underlying constitutional claim by failing to press it before the Supreme Court of Virginia on direct appeal. Accordingly, we decline to address the merits of petitioner's claims, and affirm the judgment dismissing the petition for a writ of habeas corpus.
Following a jury trial, petitioner was convicted of the May, 1977, murder of Audrey Weiler. According to his confession, petitioner encountered Ms. Weiler in a secluded area near his home and raped her at knifepoint. Fearing that her testimony could send him back to prison, he then grabbed her by the neck and choked her until she fell unconscious. When he realized that she was still alive, he dragged her into a nearby river, submerged her head, and repeatedly stabbed her with his knife. A subsequent medical examination indicated that the death was attributable to three clusters of lethal injuries: asphyxia from strangulation, drowning, and multiple stab wounds.
Prior to the trial, petitioner's appointed counsel, David Pugh, had explored the possibility of presenting a number of psychiatric defenses. Towards that end, Mr. Pugh requested that the trial court appoint a private psychiatrist, Dr. Wendell Pile, to conduct an examination of petitioner. Aware that psychiatric reports were routinely forwarded to the court, and that such reports were then admissible under Virginia law, Mr. Pugh had advised petitioner not to discuss any prior criminal episodes with anyone. App. 134. See Gibson v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 412, 219 S.E.2d 845 (1975). Although that general advice was intended to apply to the forthcoming psychiatric examination, Mr. Pugh later testified that he "did not specifically tell [petitioner] not to say anything to Doctor Pile about the offense or any offenses." App. 132. During the course of the examination, Dr. Pile did in fact ask petitioner both about the murder and about prior incidents of deviant sexual conduct. Tr. of State Habeas Hearing 19. Although petitioner initially declined to answer, he later stated that he had once torn the clothes off a girl on a school bus before deciding not to carry out his original plan to rape her. App. 44. That information, together with a tentative diagnosis of "Sociopathic Personality; Sexual Deviation (rape)," was forwarded to the trial court, with copies sent both to Mr. Pugh and to the prosecutor who was trying the case for the Commonwealth. Id. at 43-45. At no point prior to or during the interview did Dr. Pile inform petitioner that his statements might later be used against him or that he had the right to remain silent and to have counsel present if he so desired. Id. at 90. Cf. Estelle v. Smith, 451 U. S. 454 (1981).
At the sentencing phase of the trial, the Commonwealth called Dr. Pile to the stand. Over the defense's objection, Dr. Pile described the incident on the school bus. Tr. 934-935. On cross-examination, he repeated his earlier conclusion that petitioner was a "sociopathic personality." Id. at 936. After examining a second psychiatrist, the Commonwealth introduced petitioner's criminal record into evidence. It revealed that he had been convicted of rape in 1973, and had been paroled from the penitentiary on that charge less than four months prior to raping and murdering Ms. Weiler. The defense then called 14 character witnesses, who testified that petitioner had been a regular churchgoer, a member of the choir, a conscientious student in high school, and a good soldier in Vietnam. After lengthy deliberation, the jury recommended that petitioner be sentenced to death.
Petitioner appealed his conviction and sentence to the Supreme Court of Virginia. In his brief he raised 13 separate claims, including a broad challenge to the constitutionality of Virginia's death penalty provisions, objections to several of the trial court's evidentiary rulings, and a challenge to the exclusion of a prospective juror during voir dire. Petitioner did not, however, assign any error concerning the admission of Dr. Pile's testimony. At a subsequent state postconviction hearing, Mr. Pugh explained that he had consciously decided not to pursue that claim after determining that "Virginia case law would [not] support our position at that particular time." App. 143. Various objections to the Commonwealth's use of Dr. Pile's testimony were raised, however, in a brief filed by amicus curiae Post-Conviction Assistance Project of the University of Virginia Law School.
The Supreme Court of Virginia affirmed the conviction and sentence in all respects. Smith v. Commonwealth, 219 Va. 455, 248 S.E.2d 135 (1978). In a footnote, it noted that, pursuant to a rule of the court, it had considered only those arguments advanced by amicus that concerned errors specifically assigned by the defendant himself. Id. at 460, n. 1, 248 S.E.2d at 139, n. 1. Accordingly, it did not address any issues concerning the prosecution's use of the psychiatric testimony. This Court denied the subsequent petition for certiorari, which, again, did not urge the claim that admission of Dr. Pile's testimony violated petitioner's rights under the Federal Constitution. 441 U.S. 967 (1979).
In 1979, petitioner sought a writ of habeas corpus in the Circuit Court for the City of Williamsburg and the County of James City. For the first time since the trial, he argued that, the admission of Dr. Pile's testimony violated his privilege against self-incrimination under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Federal Constitution. The court ruled, however, that petitioner had forfeited the claim by failing to press it in earlier proceedings. At a subsequent evidentiary hearing, conducted solely on the issue of ineffective assistance of counsel, the court heard testimony concerning the reasons underlying Mr. Pugh's decision not to pursue the Fifth Amendment claim on appeal. On the basis of that testimony, the court found that Pugh and his assistant had researched the question, but had determined that the claim was unlikely to succeed. Thus, the court found,
counsel exercised reasonable judgment in deciding not to preserve the objection on appeal, and... this decision resulted from informed, professional deliberation.
App. to Pet. for Cert. 71. Petitioner appealed the denial of his habeas petition to the Supreme Court of Virginia, contending that the Circuit Court had erred in finding that his objection to the admission of Dr. Pile's testimony had been defaulted. The Supreme Court declined to accept the appeal, Smith v. Morris, 221 Va. cxliii (1981), and we again denied certiorari. 454 U.S. 1128 (1981).
Having exhausted state remedies, petitioner sought a writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. In an unpublished order, the court denied the petition, holding that the objection to the admission of Dr. Pile's testimony was "clearly barred" under this Court's decision in Wainwright v. Sykes, 433 U. S. 72 (1977). App. 158. In reaching that conclusion, the District Judge noted that "the default resulted not from the trial attorney's ignorance or inadvertence, but because of a deliberate tactical decision." Ibid.
The Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit affirmed, but on different grounds. Smith v. Procunier, 769 F.2d 170 (1985). Finding it unnecessary to rely on procedural default or to address the merits of the substantive constitutional claim, the court held that admission of Dr. Pile's testimony, even if erroneous, could not be the basis for invalidating petitioner's sentence. It noted that the jury had relied on two distinct aggravating factors in its decision to recommend the death penalty. The psychiatric testimony, however, only bore on one of those factors, the likelihood that petitioner would "constitute a continuing serious threat to society." Va.Code § 19.2-264.2 (1983); Tr. 1102. In that circumstance, the Court of Appeals believed, our decision in Zant v. Stephens, 462 U.S. at 462 U. S. 884, required the conclusion that the error, if any, was irrelevant to the overall validity of the sentence. We granted certiorari, Smith v. Sielaff, 474 U.S. 918 (1985), and now affirm on the authority of our decision in Murray v. Carrier, ante p. 477 U. S. 478.
Under Virginia law, failure to raise a claim on direct appeal from a criminal conviction ordinarily bars consideration of that claim in any subsequent state proceeding. See, e.g., Coppola v. Warden of Virginia State Penitentiary, 222 Va. 369, 282 S.E.2d 10 (1981); Slayton v. Parrigan, 215 Va. 27, 205 S.E.2d 680 (1974). In the present case, the Virginia courts have enforced that rule by declining to consider petitioner's objection to the admission of Dr. Pile's testimony, a claim concededly not included in his initial appeal from his conviction and sentence. Consistent with our earlier intimations in Reed v. Ross, 468 U. S. 1, 468 U. S. 11 (1984), we held in Murray v. Carrier, ante p. 477 U. S. 478, that a federal habeas court must evaluate appellate defaults under the same standards that apply when a defendant fails to preserve a claim at trial. Accordingly, although federal courts at all times retain the power to look beyond state procedural forfeitures, the exercise of that power ordinarily is inappropriate unless the defendant succeeds in showing both "cause" for noncompliance with the state rule and "actual prejudice resulting from the alleged constitutional violation." Wainwright v. Sykes, supra, at 433 U. S. 84 ; Murray v. Carrier, ante at 477 U. S. 485. As we explained more fully in Carrier, this congruence between the standards for appellate and trial default reflects our judgment that concerns for finality and comity are virtually identical regardless of the timing of the defendant's failure to comply with legitimate state rules of procedure.
We need not determine whether petitioner has carried his burden of showing actual prejudice from the allegedly improper admission of Dr. Pile's testimony, for we think it self-evident that he has failed to demonstrate cause for his noncompliance with Virginia's procedures. We have declined in the past to essay a comprehensive catalog of the circumstances that would justify a finding of cause. Reed v. Ross, supra, at 468 U. S. 13 ; see also Wainwright v. Sykes, supra, at 433 U. S. 91. Our cases, however, leave no doubt that a deliberate, tactical decision not to pursue a particular claim is the very antithesis of the kind of circumstance that would warrant excusing a defendant's failure to adhere to a State's legitimate rules for the fair and orderly disposition of its criminal cases. As the Court explained in Reed:
[D]efense counsel may not make a tactical decision to forgo a procedural opportunity -for instance, to object at trial or to raise an issue on appeal -and then, when he discovers that the tactic has been unsuccessful, pursue an alternative strategy in federal court. The encouragement of such conduct by a federal court on habeas corpus review would not only offend generally accepted principles of comity, but would undermine the accuracy and efficiency of the state judicial systems to the detriment of all concerned. Procedural defaults of this nature are, therefore, inexcusable, and cannot qualify as 'cause' for purposes of federal habeas corpus review.
468 U.S. at 468 U. S. 14 (internal quotation and citation omitted).
Here the record unambiguously reveals that petitioner's counsel objected to the admission of Dr. Pile's testimony at trial, and then consciously elected not to pursue that claim before the Supreme Court of Virginia. The basis for that decision was counsel's perception that the claim had little chance of success in the Virginia courts. With the benefit of hindsight, petitioner's counsel in this Court now contends that this perception proved to be incorrect. Cf. Gibson v. Zahradnick, 581 F.2d 75 (CA4 1978) (repudiating reasoning of Gibson v. Commonwealth, 216 Va. 412, 219 S.E.2d 845 (1975)). Even assuming that to be the case, however, a State's subsequent acceptance of an argument deliberately abandoned on direct appeal is irrelevant to the question whether the default should be excused on federal habeas. Indeed, it is the very prospect that a state court "may decide, upon reflection, that the contention is valid" that undergirds the established rule that "perceived futility alone cannot constitute cause," Engle v. Isaac, 456 U. S. 107, 456 U. S. 130, and n. 36 (1982); for "[a]llowing criminal defendants to deprive the state courts of [the] opportunity" to reconsider previously rejected constitutional claims is fundamentally at odds with the principles of comity that animate Sykes and its progeny. Id. at 456 U. S. 130.
Notwithstanding the deliberate nature of the decision not to pursue his objection to Dr. Pile's testimony on appeal -a course of conduct virtually dispositive of any effort to satisfy Sykes' "cause" requirement -petitioner contends that the default should be excused because Mr. Pugh's decision, though deliberate, was made in ignorance. Had he investigated the claim more fully, petitioner maintains, "it is inconceivable that he would have concluded that the claim was without merit, or that he would have failed to raise it." Reply Brief for Petitioner 3.
The argument is squarely foreclosed by our decision in Carrier, which holds that
the mere fact that counsel failed to recognize the factual or legal basis for a claim, or failed to raise the claim despite recognizing it, does not constitute cause for a procedural default.
Ante at 477 U. S. 486 -487. See also Engle v. Isaac, supra, at 456 U. S. 133 -134. Nor can it seriously be maintained that the decision not to press the claim on appeal was an error of such magnitude that it rendered counsel's performance constitutionally deficient under the test of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668 (1984). Carrier reaffirmed that
the right to effective assistance of counsel... may in a particular case be violated by even an isolated error... if that error is sufficiently egregious and prejudicial.
Ante at 477 U. S. 496 ; see also United States v. Cronic, 466 U. S. 648, 466 U. S. 657, n. 20 (1984). But counsel's deliberate decision not to pursue his objection to the admission of Dr. Pile's testimony falls far short of meeting that rigorous standard. After conducting a vigorous defense at both the guilt and sentencing phases of the trial, counsel surveyed the extensive transcript, researched a number of claims, and decided that, under the current state of the law, 13 were worth pursuing on direct appeal. This process of "winnowing out weaker arguments on appeal and focusing on" those more likely to prevail, far from being evidence of incompetence, is the hallmark of effective appellate advocacy. Jones v. Barnes, 463 U. S. 745, 463 U. S. 751 -752 (1983). It will often be the case that even the most informed counsel will fail to anticipate a state appellate court's willingness to reconsider a prior holding, or will underestimate the likelihood that a federal habeas court will repudiate an established state rule. But, as Strickland v. Washington made clear,
[a] fair assessment of attorney performance requires that every effort be made to eliminate the distorting effects of hindsight, to reconstruct the circumstances of counsel's challenged conduct, and to evaluate the conduct from counsel's perspective at the time.
466 U.S. at 466 U. S. 689. Viewed in light of Virginia law at the time Mr. Pugh submitted his opening brief to the Supreme Court of Virginia, the decision not to pursue his objection to the admission of Dr. Pile's testimony fell well within the "wide range of professionally competent assistance" required under the Sixth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. Id. at 466 U. S. 690.
Nor can petitioner rely on the novelty of his legal claim as "cause" for noncompliance with Virginia's rules. See Reed v. Ross, 468 U.S. at 468 U. S. 18 ("[W]here a constitutional claim is so novel that its legal basis is not reasonably available to counsel, a defendant has cause for his failure to raise the claim in accordance with applicable state procedures"). Petitioner contends that this Court's decisions in Estelle v. Smith, 451 U. S. 454 (1981), and Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U. S. 68 (1985), which were decided well after the affirmance of his conviction and sentence on direct appeal, lend support to his position that Dr. Pile's testimony should have been excluded.
But, as a comparison of Reed and Engle makes plain, the question is not whether subsequent legal developments have made counsel's task easier, but whether, at the time of the default, the claim was "available" at all. As petitioner has candidly conceded, various forms of the claim he now advances had been percolating in the lower courts for years at the time of his original appeal. Brief for Petitioner 20-21, n. 12; Reply Brief for Petitioner 3. Moreover, in this very case, an amicus before the Supreme Court of Virginia specifically argued that admission of Dr. Pile's testimony violated petitioner's rights under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. Brief for Post-Conviction Assistance Project of the University of Virginia Law School as Amicus Curiae in No. 780293, pp. 53-62. Under these circumstances, it simply is not open to argument that the legal basis of the claim petitioner now presses on federal habeas was unavailable to counsel at the time of the direct appeal.
We conclude, therefore, that petitioner has not carried his burden of showing cause for noncompliance with Virginia's rules of procedure. That determination, however, does not end our inquiry. As we noted in Engle and reaffirmed in Carrier,
'[i]n appropriate cases,' the principles of comity and finality that inform the concepts of cause and prejudice 'must yield to the imperative of correcting a fundamentally unjust incarceration.'
Murray v. Carrier, ante at 477 U. S. 495, quoting Engle v. Isaac, supra, at 456 U. S. 135. Accordingly,
where a constitutional violation has probably resulted in the conviction of one who is actually innocent, a federal habeas court may grant the writ even in the absence of a showing of cause for the procedural default.
Murray v. Carrier, ante at 477 U. S. 496.
We acknowledge that the concept of "actual," as distinct from "legal," innocence does not translate easily into the context of an alleged error at the sentencing phase of a trial on a capital offense. Nonetheless, we think it clear on this record that application of the cause and prejudice test will not result in a "fundamental miscarriage of justice." Engle, 456 U.S. at 456 U. S. 135. There is no allegation that the testimony about the school bus incident was false or in any way misleading. Nor can it be argued that the prospect that Dr. Pile might later testify against him had the effect of foreclosing meaningful exploration of psychiatric defenses. While that concern is a very real one in the abstract, here the record clearly shows that Dr. Pile did ask petitioner to discuss the crime he stood accused of committing, as well as prior incidents of deviant sexual conduct. Although initially reluctant to do so, ultimately petitioner was forthcoming on both subjects. In short, the alleged constitutional error neither precluded the development of true facts nor resulted in the admission of false ones. Thus, even assuming that, as a legal matter, Dr. Pile's testimony should not have been presented to the jury, its admission did not serve to pervert the jury's deliberations concerning the ultimate question whether, in fact, petitioner constituted a continuing threat to society. Under these circumstances, we do not believe that refusal to consider the defaulted claim on federal habeas carries with it the risk of a manifest miscarriage of justice.
Nor can we concur in JUSTICE STEVENS' suggestion that we displace established procedural default principles with an amorphous "fundamental fairness" inquiry. Post at 477 U. S. 542 -543. Precisely which parts of the Constitution are "fundamental" and which are not is left for future elaboration. But, for JUSTICE STEVENS, when a defendant in a capital case raises a "substantial, colorable" constitutional claim, a federal court should entertain it no matter how egregious the violation of state procedural rules, and regardless of the fairness of the opportunity to raise that claim in the course of his trial and appeal. Post at 477 U. S. 546. We reject the suggestion that the principles of Wainwright v. Sykes apply differently depending on the nature of the penalty a State imposes for the violation of its criminal laws. We similarly reject the suggestion that there is anything "fundamentally unfair" about enforcing procedural default rules in cases devoid of any substantial claim that the alleged error undermined the accuracy of the guilt or sentencing determination. In view of the profound societal costs that attend the exercise of habeas jurisdiction, such exercise "carries a serious burden of justification." H. Friendly, Is Innocence Irrelevant? Collateral Attack on Criminal Judgments, 38 U.Chi.L.Rev. 142, 146 (1970); see also Engle v. Isaac, supra, at 456 U. S. 126 -129. When the alleged error is unrelated to innocence, and when the defendant was represented by competent counsel, had a full and fair opportunity to press his claim in the state system, and yet failed to do so in violation of a legitimate rule of procedure, that burden has not been carried.
Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeals upholding the dismissal of petitioner's application for a writ of habeas corpus.
[For dissenting opinion of JUSTICE BRENNAN, see ante, p. 477 U. S. 516.]


It's the middle of summer, and we are still busy bringing in pails of blueberries that our trusty pickers collect. I enjoy my relationship with the pickers who come year after year. I have watched the young children of the pickers grow up and head off to college or get married or any other choice that we make as adults. It is a joy to me to have these friends that I see year around, though mostly in summer. Every day I make chai, just the way they like it, and share it with them around one of our picnic tables. They share their Indian food with me, which I enjoy. It's a fellowship of the field, if none other.
My life continues to be outside, surrounded by blue and green. I can sit at the belt with Abby and Brendah, discuss the news of the day, or our daily lives, while removing the soft and green berries, so only the very best go in the boxes. Sometimes one of my family members shows up and finds the resident lawn chair, and we discuss something of importance. Just another fellowship of the field!
By this time of the year, the craziness of the first pick is over, and I can enjoy another group of people, and that is my customers. They come from all over the Lower Mainland, from many walks of life, and some of them have been my customers for many years. I have learned about the changes in their lives, good and challenging and I feel really privileged to be the place they come to for blueberries!
While I enjoy berry season, it is always rewarding at the end of the summer, to see the berries all picked, and off to our customers, or in the freezer, waiting for our winter orders so they can be turned into delicious muffins, coffee cake, pie and more!
We hope to see you at the farm before the season is over!


So, to avoid problems, Drupal decided that all tinted variables needed to be checked for input with keys and remove all those keys. What is not clear is where/how one could test whether your website is hackable or not.
The following is my fix for Drupal 6.x, I hope you appreciate the fix!
* Unsets all disallowed global variables. See $allowed for what's allowed.
The drupal_unset_globals() function exists in your bootstrap.inc file. However, the strip_dangerous_values() is a new function. That's the one which does the dirty job of removing unwanted keys.
If you have any questions, feel free to post a comment or contact me on m2osw.com/contact.
The Drupal 7.58 version has this configuration function modified. It has 2 new lines at the bottom calling a sanitize function.
* Sets up the script environment and loads settings.php.
// Set the Drupal custom error handler.
// Initialize the configuration, including variables from settings.php.
// Sanitize unsafe keys from the request.
Notice how the newer version of Drupal make use of more objects than Drupal 6.
Now, the sanitizer is a rather lengthy class. It includes a way to run the sanitation only once. It specifically checks the $_GET, $_POST, $_COOKIE, and the $_REQUEST global variables.
My fix for Drupal 6 above will check ALL global variables at the time that function gets called. Although really we delete many global variables too.
* Contains code for sanitizing user input from the request.
* Sanitizes user input from the request.
* Tracks whether the request was already sanitized.
* Modifies the request to strip dangerous keys from user input.
// Process request body parameters.
* Strips dangerous keys from the provided input.
*   The input to sanitize.
*   An array of keys to whitelist as safe.
*   An array of keys that have been removed.
As I mentioned, I'm not too sure how the '#key' syntax can have an effect with any of the existing code, but I would imagine that if they put that in, it's important enough. After all, the second name of this bug is Drupalgeddon.
Hopefully your Drupal 6.x websites have not been hacked yet!


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about_
articles_
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interviews_
essays_
featured_
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Janusz Korczak's Poland – a walk for adults accompanying the temporary exhibition Janusz Korczak
What was the political, social and cultural life like in the interwar period? Janusz Korczak, a pedagogue and writer, will be our spiritual guide through a section of the core exhibition and the temporary exhibition.
January – June (Saturdays), 12 moon, tickets: 12 PLN (regular) / 8 PLN (reduced)
Source: polin.pl
short news_
July 18, 1792 - during the Battle of Dubienka, the Polish army under the command of General Tadeusz Kościuszko defended the Bug River crossing against the Russian army under General Michail Kachovski. Although the Russians had a numerical advantage of 5:1 over the Polish defenders, their attacks were stymied by field fortifications raised by the Poles, leading to a Polish tactical victory.
July 17, 1943 - General Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski became the commander of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa), after General Stefan Grot-Rowecki was arrested by Gestapo on 30 June 1943,
July 15, 1410 - the army of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led by King Władysław II Jagiełło and Grand Duke Vytautas, decisively defeated the Teutonic Knights, led by Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen in the battle of Grunwald.
July 13, 1921 - The Order of Polonia Restituta (Order of the Rebirth of Poland), second highest order of Poland, was granted for the first time. Among the recipients were, among others, painter Jacek Malczewski, writer Władysław Reymonta, and politicians Louis Barthou and Alexandre Millerand.
July 12, 1894 - the first issue of the newspaper "Robotnik" was published in Lipniszki near Wilno in the amount of 1,200 copies, by the local branch of the then-illegal Polish Socialist Party.
July 11, 1943 - the OUN-UPA death squads aided by the local Ukrainian peasants simultaneously attacked around 100 Polish settlements within the Wołyń Voivodeship of the prewar Second Polish Republic under the German occupation. The infamous massacre took the name of Bloody Sunday.
July 10, 1865 - the oldest zoological garden in Poland was opened in Wrocław, while the city was part of Prussia. Being a home to about 10,500 animals representing 1,132 species, it is the largest zoo in Poland and third the largest in the world.
July 9, 1521 - The Royal Sigismund Bell, the largest of the five bells hanging in the Sigismund Tower of the Wawel Cathedral in the city of Kraków was installed. It tolls on special occasions, mostly religious and national holidays, and is regarded as one of Poland's national symbols.
July 7, 1572 - Sigismund II Augustus, the last male member of the Jagiellons dynasty, died at his beloved castle of Knyszyn, aged 51.
July 5, 1600 - the founding act of the Zamoyski Academy was issued. It was the third institution of higher education to be founded in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
July 3, 1886 - the Warsaw Water Filters, designed by William Lindley were opened. They were among the most modern in Europe, consisting of a group of slow sand filters, clean water tank, pump depot and a water tower.
July 2, 1927 - the icon of The Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of Mercy in the Sharp Gate in Vilnius was crowned by Cardinal Aleksander Kakowski.
The act of real union between the Crown and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was signed on July 1, 1569.
featured_ > > SEE ALL
The Union of Lublin - the copy and the original
film by the Museum of Polish History
interviews_ > > SEE ALL
Cursed Soldiers, a rural vengeance war
Interview with Tomasz Łabuszewski, a researcher on the postwar anti-communist underground
essays_ > > SEE ALL
The Union of Lublin
the origins of republican political space
reviews_ > > SEE ALL
The Political Discourse of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: Concepts and Ideas
book by Anna Grześkowiak-Krwawicz
All rights reserved © 2019 Muzeum Historii Polski
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The Allianz Championship produces another great finish with the 2016 edition. Esteban Toledo outlasted Billy Andrade in a 3 hole playoff to win the 2016 Allianz Championship. A very exciting tournament for the ever growing PGA Champions Tour.
Trust Event Solutions is pleased to be the software of choice for the Allianz Championship to manage their pro-am registration and volunteer scheduling. We are also very proud to be partners with such a prestigious event for the past 5 years!


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Connected Listing Sites
See our connected OTAs, vacation rental listing sites, yield managers, payment…
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List of worldwide Property Management Systems (PMS) that are connected to us.
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A whole new way to visualize your guests journey from enquiry to check-out!
Centralize your guest messaging in one Inbox
For large property managers: let Rentals United automatically check the quality…
Reports to help you analyse your booking data and achieve revenue success.
Find out how our Vacation Rental Software works
Use us Manually
Use us with a PMS
Use us via API
Learn how property managers and owners around the world scale their business…
Find out about our story, our mission and meet our founders!
List of articles, press releases and podcast featuring Rentals United Channel…
Come work with us! View all vacancies and internship opportunities
Previous Next All Case Studies
City Relay grew their revenue by 182%
City Relay's unique value proposition is to provide outstanding operations and reception spaces to owners and other short-let management companies throughout London. They found that by occupying the high-street they are not only able to service guests better but also gain the trust of owners that would not think of placing their properties on Airbnb or other channels. In terms of tech they outsource everything to specialised software companies that connect to each other – and one of them, the yield manager Outswitch, they bought earlier in 2019. You can watch the full interview on YouTube or listen to it on
Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast (US only). More stations: https://anchor.fm/secretsaucepodcast
N of properties connected +1000
Headquarter Location London, UK
Tech Used Rentals United + Outswitch
Website Visit Now
Get multiple properties listed efficiently and accurately on all booking websites
Maintain competitive nightly rates with real-time update across all listing sites
Automate operations to concentrate resources on business growth
Each time we get a new property it's crucial we list it fast in various business listing sites
Rentals United Channel Manager
OutSwitch Yield Management Software
City Relay automates distribution using Rentals United Channel Manager because every new property in their growing portfolio must be listed efficiently and quickly across all sites. Most importantly, the staff at City Relay save precious time to focus on guest needs and extra services. Maximum revenue and profit targets are guaranteed by price optimization through Outswitch Yield Manager which is integrated with Rentals United. This way dynamic pricing is updated automatically across all listing sites and City Relay properties remain competitive at all times.
sites connected
increase in revenue
increase in the number of reservations
increase portfolio in 2 years
Full Interview of Maxime Leufroy-Murat - CEO of City Relay
Vanessa: Can you please tell us who you are and what you were doing before City Relay.
Maxime: I am French, I studied in the US and I started my career in London at Morgan Stanley as an equity trader. I spent about four years there and after that, I launched a dating business with a colleague from Morgan Stanley but that didn't work out.
Then I moved into properties starting with short lets and "FG Property Management" and within three years I realized that it was difficult to scale. So I came up with the idea of City Relay and the reception space concept.
OUTSOURCING TECHNOLOGY
Vanessa: I saw from a previous interview that you consider City Relay a tech enabled property management company. Is that guest facing tagline or is it for property managers?
Maxime: We use a lot of tech to service our customers we also use your software, Rentals United to get our bookings. But we also use Lodgify on the website side. We use Outswitch that we recently acquired on the yield management side. We have a whole bunch of tech tools in order to service the customers. We use Wishbox for the guest messaging. We use Breezeway for the cleaning. We use all these tech tools linked together to provide the best possible experience.
Vanessa: Does that mean you outsource everything and you don't build anything yourself?
Maxime: So Outswitch yield tool we own and we build upon. It's sometimes more cost-efficient to use external software and we think there's a lot of great tools out there, and obviously we would never go into channel management because we think Rentals United is great at it.
We wouldn't go into a whole bunch of things because there's a lot of good tools out there. Currently we've slowed down tech development, we want to build things that make sense financially and bring value to our service.
DELIVERING OPERATIONS FOR OTHER MANAGEMENT COMPANIES
Vanessa: And what is that? Have you found that out yet?
Maxime: It's mostly linked towards operations: we're a big operations company. We operate almost 1000 short let properties for a lot of other property management companies in London. So short let companies in London's outsource most of their operations to us. All of these companies use their own system and PMS, so I think we need to bring all that information together and give them great reporting.
A lot of the property managers we work with use us for check-in at a property, for cleaning, and we also sell housekeeping packs because we have our own warehouse. So we can we can really deliver housekeeping at scale. Normally, a lot of operators will be hiring housekeepers, hiring linen and hiring yet another company to do maintenance. They will be trying to put hospitality packs inside their flat, such as toiletries and trying to do that with the cleaning company, but they don't really know how to do it.
So we are a one-stop-shop with the warehouse where we can even white-label the service. They can have their own shelf at the warehouse with all their products. And because we have all those vans and people on the road we can deliver the products at scale with quality and consistency… One Account Manager is your liaison contract, instead of having all these third parties.
So it's not only cost-efficient for the companies to use us but also, they can reduce the number of staff they have in-house since they can just focus on scaling their business.
Vanessa: Okay, that's great but you also have an offering for private owners as well, you are a property manager yourself… Is there a clash there?
Maxime: So obviously, people see sometimes a conflict of interest but ultimately we're not here to steal their clients. The market is big, there are properties for everyone. Some people will be luxury-focused, some people will be studio-focused… There're all kinds of managers that have different priorities. We build that operation savviness and with that density, with that scaling, we are able to service everybody so much better, so it makes a lot of business sense to go through us.
Vanessa: I see, so you said the market is big, but you are focusing solely on London right?
Maxime: Yes, we don't have any short to mid-term plans to expand anywhere else.
SCALING VIA HIGH STREET RECEPTION SPACES
Vanessa: So how do you plan to scale?
Maxime: Well I mean, in each neighbourhood there are thousands of properties right? So you got 50,000-70,000 properties in London. I don't think that Airbnb really reflects what the depth of the market is. A lot of people are shying away from renting their home because there's a lot of management involved.
We see this through the reception spaces: we attract a lot of customers who are not Airbnb clients. They will never be Airbnb clients. They are Airbnb clients because we advertise their flat on Airbnb. But they would never go to Airbnb directly. They want a local trusted manager to be there, to answer the questions, to service them in a much more local personable and sustainable way.
Vanessa: So tell me about the offices, so you just opened the second or third reception office?
Maxime: Yes, so we have one in Earl's Court, it's been running for 3 years. We've just opened one in Shepherds Bush. We have one opening on Warwick Way in Victoria. We're looking to open one in Paddington. And the idea is to cover London with local reception spaces.
Reception spaces have several goals. One is to help service the guests. So the guest arrives early, needs to put his bags somewhere and the flat is not ready. If the guest has something he wants to mail, or he/she is going around Europe and wants to leave his luggage... So, we're servicing guests this way. But it's also attracting landlords to short-lets, also putting the short let industry on the high streets.
Short lets live online, they only live online, which does not make any sense right. The truth is, the real business is done on the street. I mean, it's still the core of the business and and short lets have never lived on the street. So we see that living on the high street gives us great visibility, it really attracts a new kind of host and it also helps us operationally.
So, suddenly we have staff that are very close to the flat so if a guest is missing anything a team member can just jump in and help them within 5-10 minutes. That proximity has a lot of value and once you build the density around that proximity it has more and more value.
So it's a unique value proposition we have with the reception space. But we've seen it work, we've seen the density we achieve around those spaces and to us it makes a lot of sense.
A lot of people will push back thinking it's very costly to run a reception space but the truth is the high street is struggling right. So some shops are not so expensive, there's a lot of them and this gives them a good purpose. If you think your cost of check-in is X, how many check-ins do you need to make it viable. You'll see that it's not a lot. it's very little actually, it makes a lot of sense as a servicing tool, but also as a company. It helps us and it is profitable.
HELPING STANDARDISE WITHOUT THE CONTROL
Vanessa: So what about branding? Do all the apartments look similar? Is there something that points to the fact that this is a city relay apartment? How does that work?
Maxime: All the flats are not the same, we are not "̈Sonder", we are not "Domio" nor "Stay Alfred", who you interviewed. We're not one of these guys because we don't control our inventory right. So obviously we are selective but we are not "Onefinestay" either, we accept a lot of owners to work with us.
We try to help them standardize the experience. We think that's key and obviously, that's why all those master leases, large operators are very successful. Because as you know, standardization is a massive issue and landlords are sometimes difficult to teach. You need to bring a certain level of standards. We are working towards that and we want more and more flats to be of a certain standard. Obviously, as a property manager of private homes they will never all be the same.
Vanessa: What's your biggest f**k-up so far as a company?
Maxime: I think we tried to do too much when we started: we did laundry, we had washing machines, we had dryers, we had iron rolls, we tried to do everything. And I think that was a mistake and we probably still do too much. I built this business with no resources, just myself alone.
We went from 0 employee to 50 employees without external investors. I was alone and when you're alone you really try to generate income out of everything and to save everywhere you can. And to try and make it work everywhere possible and sometimes it took me to the wrong places.
ABOUT ACQUIRING A YIELD MANAGEMENT COMPANY
Vanessa: About the acquisition of Outswitch, how did the customers of Outswitch react? Because they had their own customers right?
Maxime: Outswitch I've always been involved with, I own a stake in Outswitch, so City Relay has acquired the rest of the company. I had 40% stake in the business so I was very involved and I built Outswitch with another co-founder called Siad. We built it because we felt the yield management tools out there were not very useful and we really wanted to keep control.
Outswitch users are still fine, they are using the software, there's no big issue with that. Obviously, we're still debating if we're going to build the software mostly focused on City Relay's growth or if we will want to listen to customer feedback. We're still trying to figure that out. But at this stage, we support Outswitch clients, we run Outswitch as it was basically.
DICTATING TERMS WITH SMALLER CHANNELS
Vanessa: In terms of distribution, how do you choose the channels that you're going to advertise the properties on? And do you work with any niche and local channels or just the big OTAs?
Maxime: Well we've had a lot of channel bankruptcies through the years and a lot of payouts that never came... Yeah, so we tend to be more selective. We used to have an approach "the more the merrier". I got to the point where we're happy to work with selected few. I mean we still work up to 15-20 channels. So it's quite a wide distribution, but we use to work even with the tiniest companies.
And I think that really didn't make sense, because that drained a lot of resources and required a lot of work and then we needed to be careful on the accounting side as to when the payments are coming and everything. So it's been quite draining. Today we focus a lot of our energy on the big ones and a lot less on the smaller ones. And we dictate our terms with the smaller ones. We try to dictate the terms so it's really - take it or leave it kind of approach.
The Airbnb Plus and The Plum Guide, all these initiatives placing premium properties in the right place makes a lot of sense. And we try to do this for our customers. We try to think about the property and where which channels they make sense to be placed on.
THE RELATIONSHIP WITH RENTALS UNITED
Vanessa: Yeah, that's a lot of work isn't it. I hope Rentals United helps you with that.
Maxime: Of course, it does.
Vanessa: So that's my next question, how is the relationship with Rentals United? Everything okay?
Maxime: Yeah everything's great, we've been your clients forever. I follow Rentals United I really believe in your product. I think it's great, you're doing a good job and the integrations are working better and better.
BIG GUYS ARE NO THREAT TO A LOCAL BUSINESS
Vanessa: Good, good that's what I wanted to hear. So your thoughts on consolidation, I mean you are trying to consolidate London right? But there's bigger consolidations happening out there as you know, in the U.S., quite a few companies also in Europe. And in some cases, some even going internationally. So we find these power brands that are looking to take over. So what does that mean for a brand like yours? Is it going to be it harder and harder to be successful when the giants come?
Maxime: There are not a lot of global estate agents right. Now there's two ways you can look at short lets. You can look at it as an estate agent business or you can look at it as a hotel business. To me, it remains a local business, a community-based business. You need to be local, you need to understand your market.
I have no fear about the big guys coming in, I don't even know who they really are... maybe Vacasa I suppose is the big monster out there from the US. But I don't really see them as a threat. I think we're locals, people know us and people care about the service. A lot of people are telling us that actually they prefer to work with a smaller guy. So I don't think it gives you that unique edge to be bigger, I actually think that the more local, the more personal you are, the bigger your business will become.
Ultimately, this is hospitality, this is about people, this is about building the right company culture and I think we're very well-positioned to do that in London.
Vanessa: Okay so, where do you expect City Relay to be in three years?
Maxime: Assuming that we'll have achieved the business plan, which is to open 23 reception spaces, we should cover London and be supporting all the other short let companies in London in delivering the best service to guests.
We're working on building a very sustainable hospitality package which is very complex and that's something that smaller property managers wouldn't be able to do. We're working on different initiatives to provide special value to them and they've been very responsive so far, really enjoying the service.
I mean we have people that you would call competitors that really don't see us this way. We help smaller providers scale their business much faster than if they didn't have us. So I think we're more an enabler, than a competitor.
Vanessa: That's it, thanks so much, it was super interesting, it was really good to get to know your business. Thanks so much, cheers
Maxime: Thanks so much.
Are the listings site's commissions included in your pricing?
No, they're not. Some listing sites add their commission on top of the prices you save. These channels want your net rates. Other channels will charge their commission from the prices you save. For the later, you have the possibility to mark your rates up to cover for their commission. We inform you in details how the channels work after you sign-up.
Are other connections included in your pricing?
Rentals United integrates with tech providers that help manage short-term rentals automatically. These providers include Property Management Systems, Payment Providers, Yield Managers and Operational Tools. In order to use them, you have to sign up and contract their services, and pay them separately.
What does your pricing include?
The Rentals United fee includes storing your property info, using the Channel Manager and all of our other tools: Guest Planner, Booking Engine, Guest Communication, Quality Checker, iCal sync and Multi-Calendar. There's no set-up fee: you will get training during the first month of signing up and larger accounts will get a Key Account Manager to help them grow.
Still in doubt? Book a demo!