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Towards the end of 2007 the industry was clearly in deep trouble. The 'New Breed' of non-smoking drinker had failed to materialise and the long exodus of the pub trade's life blood, its rank-and-file customers, was already underway. Pub insolvencies were already up 600%, a number that would TREBLE in the following year to EIGHTEEN TIMES former rates, while those prized industry shares were nosediving into the cellar.
Yet at the time you'd never have guessed any of this by reading The Publican. The main consensus was how smoothly and successfully the ban had been implemented. Every 'industry 'spokesman' and his dog queued up to insist their business had been totally unaffected by the ban and each was reported in equal, laborious measure.
I'm sure the smart pubs and wine bars were doing okay around the Publican's plush offices on London's trendy South Bank, and perhaps still are. However this only served to insulate the editorial staff from the grim reality sweeping across the rest of the country everywhere north of Watford.
In one 2007 Publican article I remember a smoking-ban 'official' assuring worried publicans that "it normally takes around 3 months for lost trade to return".
Eh? WTF? I was staggered such a fatuous comment went unchallenged. This eejit had no right nor evidence to make such an unsubstantiated statement yet it was reported as if it were gospel.
By 2008 the post-ban carnage could no longer be ignored. But as the rapidly plummeting trade stats settled into a terminal spiral of descent the Publican's editorial opinion switched to naively blaming 'bad' pubs which had been unable to evolve.
'Embrace' the smoking ban we were told. Just do food and everything will be okay. Up your game, open a library/post office/cinema in your pub. Set aside a lunchtime for expectant mothers or an evening for transvestite grandads.
Just offer 'excellence' then watch the customers come running.
How do you 'evolve' to a 33% to 80% drop in takings? Even if it were possible for the country to sustain 40-odd-thousand foodie pub-restaurants, for many it was madness to invest a fortune in pricey catering equipment when local competitors were offering £2.99 two-for-one deals.
In truth the customers we've lost don't want excellence. Most pubgoers couldn't give a toss about fine dining, health emporiums, creches, drop-in centres or gymnasiums. They simply want to be treated like adults. They want their old pubs back, warts an' all.
During the summer of 2008 the recession kicked off as the 'credit crunch' and that was that. At last everyone had something to blame it all on despite pubs trading well throughout all previous recessions.
And that's pretty much the story up to today. The pub game is still up shit creek and if they had a paddle they'd be rowing even deeper into the murky waters of complete denial.
In 2010 The Publican's own survey showed 78% of licensees, many of them desperate to save their ailing businesses, were demanding the smoking ban be amended to allow separate indoor smoking rooms. This was backed by an F2C survey published in the Morning Advertiser which found the figure virtually identical at 79%.
So why wasn't more made of this? God only knows.
Instead the Publican threw its weight behind three campaigns - to fight the proposed mandatory code of practice, 'axe the tax' (duty and VAT cuts on pub drinks) and hike up supermarket prices, none of which stood a cat in hell's chance of success.
Even if they'd all been won it would still make no difference to today's unpopularity if every pub sold beer at one quid-a-pint. Customers are still abandoning the pub and we've been unable to stem the flow. We never will until the industry admits to the problem that dare not speak its name, that huge grinning elephant sitting in the room.
Read the rest here.


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Modeling simplification related to occupant's behavior is a major cause of gap between actual and model's predicted energy use of buildings. This paper aims to identify those parameters of realistic occupants-related heat gains that actually cause this gap. The investigation therefore, systematically distinguishes the occupant behavior using three behavior parameters, namely: the occupancy behavior, the appliance use behavior and the family size. The effect of these parameters is investigated on a building for two different insulation standards using heat pump as energy supply system. The results identifies the occupancy patterns and the household size as two major parameters that explains a large portion of the gap between actual and model's predicted energy use of the building. Results further show that variation in household sizes is an important parameter to understand the variation in the actual energy use for similar buildings. The study also shows a clear influence of occupant's behavior on the performance of heat pumps and pinpoints the variations in share of space heating needs compared to domestic hot water needs as a major cause for this influence. Sensitivity of findings is tested against building thermal mass and condensing gas boiler. Analysis shows no significant variations in the conclusions. The study therefore concludes that using identified parameters in modeling practices can contribute to improve the prediction of actual energy use of buildings.
This thesis investigates how the occupant behavior influences the performance of residential net zero emission buildings (Net-ZEB) in cold climates such as in Norway, and proposes guidelines for better design, operation and control strategies. The thesis focuses on the occupant related variations in the internal gains and the domestic hot water use, and studies their influence on the building's heating needs, its heating system performance and finally, its interaction with the onsite renewable generation and the grid. The application of the tightly insulated envelope in Net-ZEB significantly reduces the space heating needs. This increases the share of the occupant-related heat gains in the total space heating needs, and the related DHW heating in the total heating needs of the building. These changes can eventually influence the heating system and its interaction with the grid. This research analyzes a typical single-family detached house. Such houses are the most common type of residences in Norway. There is a large variation in the occupancy, household appliances, and work-schedules in these houses. This research models these occupant variations, and classifies them using three parameters; the occupancy patterns, the appliance use behavior and the family size. This study compares a 'low-energy house class 2' building with a moderate insulation, and a 'passive house' with a very tight insulation. The comparison confirms an increase in the significance of the occupant behavior with increasing insulation. Extensive investigation of each parameter on the building gives an interesting insight into the relation of these occupant parameters with the building and the response of its heating system. The building's net energy needs and the performance of the heating system are directly dependent on the internal gains and the domestic hot water use of the households, and are influenced by the three defined parameters. The study observes that in well-insulated houses, the utilization of both the internal gains and the system losses is largely limited due to the extremely reduced heating periods and the significantly reduced space heating needs. The increasing internal gains often lead to a reduced recovery of the system losses, and reduce the performance of the heating system. Moreover, the distribution losses due to the DHW use increases outside the heating period and also negatively influences the system performance. The research shows that the short-term random temporal variation in the household's loads, and in the internal gains and DHW use, have no noticeable impact on the heating system performance, but does influence the building's interaction with the onsite renewable generation, as well as with the grid. This thesis emphasis that neglecting the occupant-related diversity often leads to an unpredicted operation of the energy supply system that is not well-understood and undesirable. A good estimation of the occupants' diversity is an important factor to correctly design and size the overall heating system. The thesis further emphasizes that the performance of a heating system in well-insulated buildings is strongly dependent on the sub-systems' design strategies. The study shows the influence of losses from the heat distribution system on the total system performance. These losses can be reduced through proper planning, sizing and placement strategy for the heat distribution systems during early design stage. The research demonstrates that a net zero emission building can offer a large flexibility to the grid, using proper control strategies for the heating system. However, such strategies often reduce the energy performance of the heating system, and considering their application in the overall context is important.
Design principles in Net-ZEB considers the local energy infrastructure as virtual storage leading to large amount of energy exchange with the grid. Nonetheless, with high Net-ZEB penetration scenarios, such exchange could compromise the effectiveness of Net- ZEB concept in a total energy infrastructure. As the current market trends, heat pumps along with photovoltaics are seen as an emerging energy supply solutions in Net-ZEB buildings, effectiveness of an all-electric Net-ZEB (that is using air-to-water heat pump with photovoltaic) is analysed. Two concrete control cases of energy storage (compared to reference case) to assess Net-ZEB ability to self-consume vs. grid empowerment are studied. Results shows that introduc tion of storage buffer in such concept leads to a flexibility of almost 6 % in self-consumption and 13 % in grid-impact factor and in-turn provide significant manoeuvring space to the demand-supply balance at the grid level.
It is becoming conventional approach to evaluate the building envelop losses using detailed dynamic tools such as EnergyPlus, ESP-r and TRNSYS. However, the user-related loads (and their variations) in the building are usually oversimplified during performance evaluation of those buildings and associated HV AC systems. This paper presents a methodology to evaluate the performance of buildings and their energy supply systems while taking into account the user-related loads (non-HV AC & DHW) at individual household levels. For this purpose, a single family house (two different insulation cases) built in Oslo climate using an alternate duty air to water heat pump is used as a case study. The investigation shows that a large variation occurs in space heating needs for the same standard house when actual user loads are considered. The study also shows that the storage losses dominate the performance of total heat supply system in case of passive house insulation.

subset: commoncrawl


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Welcome to Holdem Poker Chat.
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Online Poker
All About Online Poker
One of the advantages that is appealing to many is the fact you are able to play poker when it suits your schedule. You do not have the need to arrange a time when others can get together for a home game as online poker allows you access a game 24 hours a day. You also are able to play a substantially larger number of hands and therefore improve upon the skills you already have obtained.
This can be done through multi-player tournaments that are offered with a wide buy-in range. Many of these tournaments will give you the opportunity to test your skills and win a nice amount of money when compared to the amount that was invested to enter the tournament. Many sites will offer qualifying events into World Series of Poker events. The most famous for this was Chris MoneyMaker, who won his seat in the World Series of Poker Main Event through an online satellite.
Another benefit to playing online is that you do not need to maintain a large bankroll as most online poker sites offer table limits that are affordable to all players. These will start from a low of $.01/$.02 cents at a ring table or tournaments with buy-ins as low as $0.25. Poker rooms also cater to those who prefer to play for higher stakes and will include table limits as high as $5000/$10,000 and offer tournaments with buy-ins of the same value. It does not matter how much you can afford, you will always be able to find a game that will fit your budget. We list sites that are open to players from around the world including the best USA poker sites and UK poker sites.
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Online poker sites offer a wide variety of promotions for players to participate in. The most common is the initial deposit bonus, which is based on the first deposit you make with the poker site. This can also include other things such as prizes or entries into exclusive tournaments. Generally this will be 100% or more, which means that if you deposited $100 that you will receive $100 as a bonus. Poker bonuses are usually released in increments based on the amount you contribute to the rake in a cash game or through tournament entry fees. This is fairly standard with most poker sites but there are some rooms that will provide you a percentage value of your deposit up front. The easiest way to fund your account is to buy bitcoins and using them to deposit on your favorite site.
This will allow you to start with a larger bankroll however will require that you play the amount of your deposit and bonus a number of times prior to being able to withdraw your winnings. This is referred to as a "playthrough". It too is a standard not only within online poker. Another common bonus is the "Re-load Bonus", which will allow you to add to your bankroll. In some cases you will be asked to provide a bonus code in the cashier window in order to claim your free money. You will also find promotions that are focused around prize giveaways such as trips, electronics and various other things such as merchandise with the poker rooms name on it.
The Legality of Online Poker in the United States
The reality of things is that the laws are somewhat vague. It is important to understand that there are several levels of law in the USA, state law and federal law. While federal law will govern the states, state law applies to laws within the state itself.
The truth of the matter is there is nothing in federal law that prohibits people playing poker online. Most states will outlaw any form of gambling that is not independently regulated that that particular states. Even with that said there is still no mention that playing poker is illegal with the exception of Washington. There are some states that will have stronger worded legislation in place but generally those are states that already have legalized forms of gambling they regulate. Generally most states will not prosecute those who do continue to play poker online however this should not be taken as a safe justification to break any state laws.
Those operators that continue to offer poker to US citizens face a very real risk of prosecution Any online poker site that is not licensed within the United States is illegal and this includes any form of gambling whether it be poker or other types of gambling. Federal law supports this when in relation to illegal gaming operations.
The UIGEA was entered into law in 2006. The bill does not outlaw online poker and in fact makes no mention of it. The purpose of the law pertained to the processing of online payments to those who are deemed illegal within the United States thus making it a criminal offense federally but leave the legality of online poker to individual states.
Essentially, playing online poker is legal in the U.S however the processing of money transactions to play poker is not. This caused many to leave the US market and refusing to take American players. There are many who view the law differently however and continue to let American players play poker and continue to process transactions in and out of the poker sites.
Online Poker Security
Online security is something many players are concerned about and often those new to playing online are hesitant to do so as they are unaware of the protocols implemented by the internet poker rooms to ensure the games are safe. The first is that there is sophisticated software in place to detect player collusion. This software has been perfected over the years and will accurately detect if players are colluding and trying to cheat. They also have encryption software in place to protect financial transactions. This applies both to depositing and withdrawing. Security protection software is continually updated and reviewed to ensure your protection and privacy is always maintained.


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§ 1002.8 Special purpose credit programs.
(a) Standards for programs. Subject to the provisions of paragraph (b) of this section, the Act and this part permit a creditor to extend special purpose credit to applicants who meet eligibility requirements under the following types of credit programs:
(1) Any credit assistance program expressly authorized by Federal or state law for the benefit of an economically disadvantaged class of persons;
(2) Any credit assistance program offered by a not-for-profit organization, as defined under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended, for the benefit of its members or for the benefit of an economically disadvantaged class of persons; or
(3) Any special purpose credit program offered by a for-profit organization, or in which such an organization participates to meet special social needs, if:
(i) The program is established and administered pursuant to a written plan that identifies the class of persons that the program is designed to benefit and sets forth the procedures and standards for extending credit pursuant to the program; and
(ii) The program is established and administered to extend credit to a class of persons who, under the organization's customary standards of creditworthiness, probably would not receive such credit or would receive it on less favorable terms than are ordinarily available to other applicants applying to the organization for a similar type and amount of credit.
(b) Rules in other sections —
(1) General applicability. All the provisions of this part apply to each of the special purpose credit programs described in paragraph (a) of this section except as modified by this section.
(2) Common characteristics. A program described in paragraph (a)(2) or (a)(3) of this section qualifies as a special purpose credit program only if it was established and is administered so as not to discriminate against an applicant on any prohibited basis; however, all program participants may be required to share one or more common characteristics (for example, race, national origin, or sex) so long as the program was not established and is not administered with the purpose of evading the requirements of the Act or this part.
(c) Special rule concerning requests and use of information. If participants in a special purpose credit program described in paragraph (a) of this section are required to possess one or more common characteristics (for example, race, national origin, or sex) and if the program otherwise satisfies the requirements of paragraph (a) of this section, a creditor may request and consider information regarding the common characteristic(s) in determining the applicant's eligibility for the program.
(d) Special rule in the case of financial need. If financial need is one of the criteria under a special purpose credit program described in paragraph (a) of this section, the creditor may request and consider, in determining an applicant's eligibility for the program, information regarding the applicant's marital status; alimony, child support, and separate maintenance income; and the spouse's financial resources. In addition, a creditor may obtain the signature of an applicant's spouse or other person on an application or credit instrument relating to a special purpose credit program if the signature is required by Federal or state law.


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This article was first published with the Times of Israel on 26 April, 2016
The pro-Israel NGO StandWithUs is an important voice in the anti-BDS camp. They are doing Israel advocacy and criticize anti-Zionist anti-Semitism. On 24 April, 2015, StandWithUs published a pictogram on Facebook that equates the horrible events of 1915 during the First World War, the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire (the Young Turks), to Nazi Germany. They equate the Young Turks to Hitler and 1915 to 1939, as if the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and Hitler came to power in 1939.
Hitler was put in power by German President Hindenburg on January 30, 1933, after some 37% of Germans had voted for him and the Nazis in free elections in June 1932, during the Weimar Republic. January 30, 1933, is a crucial date, when the infamous torchlight procession by the murderous anti-Semitic and anti-leftist Storm Troopers ("Sturmabteilung" or SA) took place in the heart of Berlin through the Brandenburg Gate.
September 1, 1939, the Second World War begun, but the picture by StandWithUs deliberately uses a pictogram of Hitler and his rise to power has nothing to do with 1939, but with 1933.
But there is much more behind this campaign by StandWithUs. To acknowledge the Armenian tragedy as genocide has been an international topic for decades now. Many equate genocide to the Shoah. The Holocaust is portrayed as just a genocide among others. That is a very common but dangerous trope.
In particular, post-colonial studies are eager to deny the unprecedented character of the Shoah. Take British-Nigerian broadcast of the BBC, David Olusoga's and his Danish colleague Casper Erichsen's 2010 book "Kaiser's Holocaust" as an example. They make an analogy of the German massacre in South-West Africa in the early 20th century to the Holocaust. They claim the Shoah was a form of "social Darwinism." No, the Holocaust was not a form of social Darwinism, nor were the Jews seen as the "weak." Contrary to that, Germans saw Jews as superior, dangerous, and as preparing a world conspiracy. That is the very essence of anti-Semitism.
Post-colonial scholarship as well as post-Orientalist and genocide studies fail to understand the specificity of anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism imagined the Jews behind all evil, as being behind capitalism in the United States and communism and the Soviet Union. There is no connection between the "People without Space," as one chapter in Kaiser's Holocaust reads, and the Shoah, because anti-Semitism and the Shoah had nothing to do with land gain, imperialism or any other form of political, territorial, economic, cultural, social etc. purpose. The authors simply ignore the entire scholarship on the uniqueness of the Holocaust.
German historian Jürgen Zimmerer is a leading voice in comparing and equating German colonialism to Nazi Germany and the Holocaust. In 2003, he published an article wherein he stated that "genocides in the colonies" are in the same "category" as "National Socialist murder policies." In 2011, Zimmerer published a collection of his essays on colonialism and the Holocaust, entitled From Windhuk to Auschwitz? He insists that as early as 1947 American civil rights activist and historian W.E.B. Dubois (1868–1963) said:
There was no Nazi atrocity — concentration camps, wholesale maiming and murder, defilement of women or ghastly blasphemy of childhood — which Christian civilization or Europe had not long been practicing against colored folk in all parts of the world in the name of and for the defense of a Superior Race born to rule the world.
Zimmerer emphasizes that another author posited comparable arguments. This is the old superstar of post-colonialism-studies, Aimé Césaire (1913–2008), who wrote in 1950 that the crime of the Holocaust is (supposedly) seen as horrible not because of
the humiliation of man as such, it is the crime against the white man, the humiliation of the white man, and the fact that he [Hitler] applied to Europe colonialist procedures which until then had been reserved exclusively for the Arabs, of Algeria, the colonies of India, and the blacks of Africa.
The city of Paris dedicated a big street at the Seine, close to the Louvre, to the memory of Césaire, "Quai Aimé Césaire."
Then, StandWithUs should look at Yale University. The most recent example of equating the fate of the Armenians to the Holocaust and to distort anti-Semitism and the Shoah comes from Yale University's political scientist professor Seyla Benhabib.
In a recent article in the mainstream Journal of Genocide Research (Vol. 17, No. 3, 2015), she compares the mass-murder of Armenians by the Turkish in the First World War to the Jews and the Shoah. She urges US Congress and others to call the Armenian tragedy a "genocide." She takes aim at American and Israeli politicians who reject to frame the mass-murder a genocide. She is not a historian of the Shoah, to be sure. But her approach is very much representing vast parts of the humanities and social sciences when it comes to reject the uniqueness of the Shoah. The case of the mass-murder of the Armenians is just used by Benhabib to bolster her anti-Zionist agenda. She writes:
At a deeper level, both Zionism and Kemalism are state-building and nation-crafting ideologies and the old elites of these movements understood one another very well. David Ben-Gurion had studied law in the Ottoman Empire, and to this day Israeli law contains many elements of Ottoman law. Just as Armenian people refer to the events of 1915 as their Holocaust, with the founding of the State of Israel, it is now Palestinians who refer to that event as their 'naqbah'. In other words, the Israelis are no longer like the Armenians, a diasporic people, spread among the nations, but a people with a modern mighty nation-state, just as modern Turkey itself is.
Benhabib and her allies, like editor Dirk A. Moses — she thanks him "for encouraging me to publish it in this form" — equate the Holocaust to completely distinct events in history like the mass-murder of the Armenian people in 1915, which was not at all the same as the industrial eradication of European Jewry by the Germans.
Benhabib's editor and ally, historian Dirk A. Moses from Australia, professor of history at the University of Sydney, sets American slavery, colonialism and the Holocaust, the fate of blacks and Jews in one historical line. In 2002, he published an article about the "racial century (1850–1950)." He accuses the Western world and Europe for "Eurocentrism" when the Holocaust is seen as unique. Moses is applying the language, for example, of German right-wing extremists who make fun of Jewish survivors and he accuses Jewish survivors of taking the Holocaust as something "sacred."
Moses is a contributor to the Oxford Handbook of Holocaust Studies. He claims that "colonialism and the Holocaust are linked," and that there is a close connection between "colonial rule and anti-Semitism." For him, the "Holocaust" was the result "of a frustrated imperial nation." Moses promotes the controversial approaches of scholars like Césaire or Zimmerer. Hamburg University's historian Jürgen Zimmerer is Chair Person of the International Advisory Board of the Journal of Genocide Research and its former editor from 2005–2011.
Post-colonial or pre-colonial violence, though, are not topics of scholars like Moses as it looks like. Western scholarship does not deny the huge crimes of colonialism, and imperialism, including slavery, massacres, forced land dispossession, mass rape of women, sexual abuse and so on. As long post-colonial scholars, however, are not focusing on Arab and Muslim slavery in the Middle Ages and the modern times, as well as the ongoing Islamic jihad and anti-Western propaganda, one cannot take them too seriously as scholars who really care about violence in history and our contemporary world. Is it possible that violence just counts for them when the perpetrator is white and European, Australian, Canadian or American, Christian or Zionist, but never Muslim or "native," for example?
Mose's ally Benhabib misses the point, that Jews and Israel are threatened today by world-wide anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, while there is no international movement to "wipe Armenians of the map,", for example. Benhabib's use of the term Holocaust for the history of the Armenians as well as her analogy of Arab-Palestinian history is very troubling, too. She wants to equate Jews to Armenians and the Palestinians to Jews with the pure intention to portray both Armenians and Palestinians as still victims of history, while the Jews succeeded to get their own state (Armenians, too).
She does not even discuss that many in Europa and the US want Turkey to recognize the Armenian "genocide" — that is the topic of her article — because they are anti-Islam. There is of course also a serious awareness of Turkish crimes against the Armenians by scholars and the public who are not driven by anti-Muslim feelings. But many of that kind of people seem to be driven by Holocaust distortion. Benhabib accuses Israel and the US of "ugly geopolitical games." Perhaps one could take her approach more seriously, if she wouldn't compare and even equate the Holocaust to the Armenian tragedy. But the downplaying or rejection of the uniqueness of the Shoah is the condition sine qua non of many parts of genocide research.
It is important to remember the Armenian tragedy, of course. But it is a distortion of history and a denial (!) of the unprecedented character of the Shoah to claim that without 1915 Hitler and the Nazis wouldn't have come to power. This is a distortion of history and a denial of anti-Semitism, which has nothing to do with Ottoman or Armenian history. German anti-Semitism goes way back and was not inspired by the horrible events during the First World War in the Ottoman Empire.
It is shocking, though, to see an American NGO — StandWithUs — promoting these historical distortions, including the obfuscation of the long history of German anti-Semitism up until eliminationist anti-Semitism during Nazi Germany.
You can and should remember what happened to the Armenians. But never ever as analogy to anti-Semitism, the rise of Hitler and the Nazi Party and the Shoah. Instead, this campaign by StandWithUs speaks volumes about the knowledge of some of the smartest pro-Israel advocates in the US when it comes to the specificity of anti-Semitism, German history, and the rise of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) and Hitler to power in 1933, not in 1939.
I'd suggest to read Bernard-Henri Lévy's 2008 study "Left in Dark Times. A Stand against the New Barbarism," and his take on the uniqueness of the Shoah and the Armenian tragedy:
And you could take the time, with those who wonder, sometimes in good faith, about the uniqueness of the Holocaust, you could take the time to explain that this uniqueness has nothing to do with body count but with a whole range of characteristics that, strange as it may seem, coincide nowhere else in all the crimes human memory recalls.
The industrialization of death is one such: the gas chamber. The irrationality, the absolute madness of the project, is the second: the Turks had the feeling, well founded or not, and mostly, of course, unfounded, that they were killing, in the Armenians, a fifth column that was weakening them in their war against the Russians — there was no point in killing the Jews; none of the Nazis took the trouble to claim that there was any point to it at all;
and such was the irrationality, I almost said gratuitousness, of the process that when, by chance, the need to exterminate coincided with another imperative that actually did have a point, when, in the last months of the war, when all the railways had been bombed by the Allies, the Nazis could choose between letting through a train full of fresh troops for the eastern front or a trainload of Jews bound to be trans-formed into Polish smoke in Auschwitz, it was the second train that had priority, since nothing was more absurd or more urgent, crazier or more vital, than killing the greatest number of Jews.
And the third characteristic that, finally, makes the Holocaust unique: the project of killing the Jews down to the last one, to wipe out any trace of them on this earth where they had made the mistake of being born, to proceed to an extermination that left no survivors. A Cambodian could, theoretically at least, flee Cambodia; a Tutsi could flee Rwanda, and outside Rwanda, at least ideally, would be out of range of the machetes; the Armenians who managed to escape the forces of the Young Turk government were only rarely chased all the way to Paris, Budapest, Rome, or Warsaw (…).
It is tremendously important to fight Islamism and the current Erdogan regime in Turkey, including their denial of the Armenian tragedy. But there is a huge gap between denial and equation of that history to the Holocaust! It was not a forerunner of the industrial murder of Jews by Germans during the Second World War and National Socialism.
Israeli historian at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Yitzhak Kerem, writes the following about the Armenian tragedy:
In 1915, it's more of a conflict. Turks will exaggerate and say that more Turks were killed in the fighting from 1915 to 1923 than Armenians. They do have responsibilities towards the Armenians, but to pattern itself as a Jewish holocaust which [some Armenians] have done, they were pushed by British intelligence, is a distortion of history.
"My point is, and this is what the Armenians don't like, is that more Kurds killed Armenians than Turks. The Turks did terrible things to the Armenians. They butchered people right and left. They raped and pillaged, but it wasn't an organized act by the regime. It was a byproduct of hate. The Turks did terrible things to the Greek Orthodox, especially in Izmir. To call that a holocaust and a genocide when you are equating that with the Jewish holocaust is a distortion.
This, at least, should be a point of departure for a discussion. Not denial of the Armenian tragedy as Erdogan and his regime prefer. And not exaggeration and equation with the Holocaust either.
This recent campaign of StandWithUs might be considered as a symbol of contemporary activism as well as scholarship in genocide research and post-colonial studies. Holocaust distortion is not seen as a topic from that point of view. The inflation of genocide and the rejection of the unprecedented character of Auschwitz has become mainstream even in some pro-Israel circles.
I just read the other day an old critique by English Studies professor Edward Alexander about Shulamit Aloni (1928–2014), a former Israeli minister of education, leader of the Meretz Party, Israel-Prize winner and human rights activist. Her focus on the Palestinians and how they are treated has for sure some merits, as long as we ignore her blind-eye on Palestinian terrorism, both secular and Islamist, and anti-semitism. Alexander focused on Aloni's contribution to Holocaust distortion. In my view, his criticism fits very well to the recent StandWithUs campaign and to post-colonial studies and genocide studies. In his article "What the Holocaust Does Not Teach" (1993, republished in his "Jews against Themselves," 2015) Alexander wrote:
But Mrs. Aloni, the Israeli, the Israeli version of what East European Jews used to call 'a cossack in a sukkah,' has deplored the stress upon the Holocaust as regressive and nationalistic. 'I do not take pictures of the backside of history,' she declared on Israeli Radio. 'The Ministry of Education must be concerned with the future.' Even before her elevation of office, Aloni frequently denounced Holocaust education in Israel because it taught children that 'the Nazis did this to the Jews instead of the message that people did this to people.'
Aloni's approach might fit American inclusiveness but fails to understand anti-Semitism, let alone the Shoah.
Holocaust distortion by Seyla Benhabib and the Journal of Genocide Research when it comes to the Armenian tragedy should be a warning to pro-Israel groups like StandWithUs in the future.
Finally, there seems to be a need, even an obsession, to reject the uniqueness of the Shoah. Germans need to obfuscate German crimes and project their guilt onto Jews or the allies. That has been analyzed as early as 1960 by Peter Schönbach, a co-worker of philosopher Theodor W. Adorno, at the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt.
Be it the fantasy of a Palestinian "Naqba" being equal to the Holocaust, be it the supposedly "Kaiser's Holocaust" in German South-West Africa (1904–1907), be it the allegedly intentional "Ukrainian Holocaust" in 1932 or be it the propagated analogy of 1915 and 1933/39, Armenians and Jews, Turks and Nazis or Germany. This is how the Holocaust distortion movement works.
Today, we see this need to "steal the Holocaust," as it is called, even among pro-Israel groups. StandWithUs is a case in point.
The author, Dr. Clemens Heni, is Director of The Berlin International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (BICSA)


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Don't wait until you're ready to move to start preparing financially to buy a home.
If you're like the vast majority of home buyers, you will choose to finance your purchase with a mortgage loan. By preparing in advance, you can avoid the common delays and roadblocks many buyers face when applying for a mortgage.
The requirements to secure a mortgage may seem overwhelming, especially if you're a first-time buyer. But we've outlined three simple steps to get you started on your path to homeownership.
Even if you're a current homeowner, it's a good idea to prepare in advance so you don't encounter any surprises along the way. Lending requirements have become more rigorous in recent years, and changes to your credit history, debt levels, job type and other factors could impact your chances of approval.
It's never too early to start preparing to buy a home. Follow these three steps to begin laying the foundation for your future home purchase today!
Your credit score is one of the first things a lender will check to see if you qualify for a loan. It's a good idea to review your credit report and score yourself before you're ready to apply for a mortgage. If you have a low score, you will need time to raise it. And sometimes fraudulent activity or erroneous information will appear on your report, which can take months to correct.
The credit score most lenders use is your FICO score, a weighted score developed by the Fair Isaac Corporation that takes into account your payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit (10%), and credit mix (10%).1
Source: myFico.com
Base FICO scores range from 300 to 850. A higher FICO score will help you qualify for a lower mortgage interest rate, which will save you money.2
By federal law, you are entitled to one free copy of your credit report every 12 months from each of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, Experian and Transunion). Request your free credit report at https://www.annualcreditreport.com.
Minimum Score Requirements
To qualify for the lowest interest rates available, you will usually need a FICO score of 760 or higher. Most lenders require a score of at least 620 to qualify for a conventional mortgage.3
If your FICO score is less than 620, you may be able to qualify for a non-conventional mortgage. However, you should expect to pay higher interest rates and fees. For example, you may be able to secure an FHA loan (one issued by a private lender but insured by the Federal Housing Administration) with a credit score as low as 580 if you can make a 3.5 percent down payment. And FHA loans are available to applicants with credit scores as low as 500 with a 10 percent down payment.4
Increase Your Credit Score
There's no quick fix for a low credit score, but the following steps will help you increase it over time.5
- Make Payments on Time
At 35 percent, your payment history accounts for the largest portion of your credit score. Therefore, it's crucial to get caught up on any late payments and make all of your future payments on time.If you have trouble remembering to pay your bills on time, set up payment reminders through your online banking platform, a free money management tool like Mint, or an app like BillMinder. - Avoid Applying for New Credit You Don't Need
New accounts will lower your average account age, which could negatively impact your length of credit history. Also, each time you apply for credit, it can result in a small decrease in your credit score.
The exception to this rule? If you don't have any credit cards—or any credit accounts at all—you should open an account to establish a credit history. Just be sure to use it responsibly and pay it off in full each month.If you need to shop for a new credit account, for example, a car loan, be sure to complete your loan applications within a short period of time. FICO attempts to distinguish between a search for a single loan and applications to open several new lines of credit by the window of time during which inquiries occur. - Pay Down Credit Cards
When you pay off your credit cards and other revolving credit, you lower your amounts owed, or credit utilization ratio (ratio of account balances to credit limits). Some experts recommend starting with your highest-interest debt and paying it off first. Others suggest paying off your lowest balance first and then rolling that payment into your next-lowest balance to create momentum.Whichever method you choose, the first step is to make a list of all of your credit card balances and then start tackling them one by one. Make the minimum payments on all of your cards except one. Pay as much as possible on that card until it's paid in full, then cross it off your list and move on to the next card.Debt Interest Rate Total Payoff Minimum Payment Credit Card 1 12.5% $460 $18.40 Credit Card 2 18.9% $1,012 $40.48 Credit Card 3 3.11% $6,300 $252 - Avoid Closing Old Accounts
Closing an old account will not remove it from your credit report. In fact, it can hurt your score, as it can raise your credit utilization ratio—since you'll have less available credit—and decrease your average length of credit history.Similarly, paying off a collection account will not remove it from your report. It remains on your credit report for seven years, however, the negative impact on your score will decrease over time. - Correct Errors on Your Report
Mistakes or fraudulent activity can negatively impact your credit score. That's why it's a good idea to check your credit report at least once per year. The Federal Trade Commission has instructions on their website for disputing errors on your report.While it may seem like a lot of effort to raise your credit score, your hard work will pay off in the long run. Not only will it help you qualify for a mortgage, a high credit score can help you secure a lower interest rate on car loans and credit cards, as well. You may even qualify for lower rates on insurance premiums.6
The next step in preparing for your home purchase is to save up for a down payment and closing costs.
Down Payment
When you purchase a home, you typically pay for a portion of it in cash (down payment) and take out a loan to cover the remaining balance (mortgage).
Many first-time buyers wonder: How much do I need to save for a down payment? The answer is … it depends.
Generally speaking, the higher your down payment, the more money you will save on interest and fees. For example, you will qualify for a lower interest rate and avoid paying for mortgage insurance if your down payment is at least 20 percent of the property's purchase price. But what if you can't afford to put down 20 percent?
On a conventional loan, you will be required to purchase private mortgage insurance (PMI) if your down payment is less than 20 percent. PMI is insurance that compensates your lender if you default on your loan.7
PMI will cost you between 0.3 to 1.5 percent of the overall mortgage amount each year.8 So, on a $100,000 loan, you can expect to pay between $300 and $1500 per year for PMI until your mortgage balance falls below 80 percent of the appraised value.9 For a conventional mortgage with PMI, most lenders will accept a minimum down payment of five percent of the purchase price.7
If a five-percent down payment is still too high, an FHA-insured loan may be an option for you. Because they are guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, FHA loans only require a 3.5 percent down payment if your credit score is 580 or higher.7
The downside of getting an FHA loan? You'll be required to pay an upfront mortgage insurance premium (MIP) of 1.75 percent of the total loan amount, as well as an annual MIP of between 0.80 and 1.05 percent of your loan balance on a 30-year note. There are also certain limitations on the types of loans and properties that qualify.10
There are a variety of other government-sponsored programs created to assist home buyers, as well. For example, veterans and current members of the Armed Forces may qualify for a VA-backed loan requiring a $0 down payment.7 Consult a mortgage lender about what options are available to you.
Conventional Loan | 20% | Qualify for the best rates and no mortgage insurance required |
Conventional Loan | 5% | Must purchase private mortgage insurance costing 0.3 – 1.5% of mortgage annually |
FHA Loan | 3.5% | Upfront mortgage insurance premium of 1.75% of loan amount and annual fee of 0.8 – 1.05% |
Current Homeowners
If you're a current homeowner, you may have equity in your home that you can use toward your down payment on a new home. We can help you estimate your expected return after you sell your current home and pay back your existing mortgage. Contact us for a free evaluation!
Closing Costs
Closing costs should also be factored into your savings plan. These may include loan origination fees, discount points, appraisal fees, title searches, title insurance, surveys and other fees associated with the purchase of your home. Closing costs vary but typically range between two to five percent of the purchase price.11
If you don't have the funds to pay these outright at closing, you can often add them to your mortgage balance and pay them over time. However, this means you'll have a higher monthly payment and pay more over the long term because you'll pay interest on the fees.
Once you have the required credit score, savings for a down payment and a list of all your outstanding debt obligations via your credit report, you can assess whether you are ready and able to purchase a home.
It's important to have a sense of how much you can reasonably afford—and how much you'll be able to borrow—to see if homeownership is within reach.
Your debt-to-income (DTI) ratio is one of the main factors mortgage companies use to determine how much they are willing to lend you, and it can help you gauge whether or not your home purchasing goals are realistic given your current financial situation.
Your DTI ratio is essentially a comparison of your housing expenses and other debt versus your income. There are two different DTI ratios that lenders consider:
Front-End Ratio
Also called the housing ratio, this is the percentage of your income that would go toward housing expenses each month, including your mortgage payment, private mortgage insurance, property taxes, homeowner's insurance and association dues.12
To calculate your front-end DTI ratio, a lender will add up your expected housing expenses and divide it by your gross monthly income (income before taxes). The maximum front-end DTI ratio for most mortgages is 28 percent. For an FHA-backed loan, this ratio must not exceed 31 percent.13
Back-End Ratio
The back-end ratio takes into account all of your monthly debt obligations: your expected housing expenses PLUS credit card bills, car payments, child support or alimony, student loans and any other debt that shows up on your credit report.12
To calculate your back-end ratio, a lender will tabulate your expected housing expenses and other monthly debt payments and divide it by your gross monthly income (income before taxes). The maximum back-end DTI ratio for most mortgages is 36 percent. For an FHA-backed loan, this ratio must not exceed 41 percent.13
Home Affordability Calculator
To get a sense of how much home you can afford, visit the National Association of Realtors' free Home Affordability Calculator at https://www.realtor.com/mortgage/tools/affordability-calculator.
This handy tool will help you determine your home purchasing power depending on your location, annual income, monthly debt and down payment. It also offers a monthly mortgage breakdown that projects what you would pay each month in principal and interest, property taxes, and home insurance.
The Home Affordability Calculator defaults to a back-end DTI ratio of 36 percent. If the monthly cost estimate at that ratio is significantly higher than what you're currently paying for housing, you need to consider whether or not you can make up the difference each month in your budget.
If not, you may want to lower your target purchase price to a more conservative DTI ratio. The tool enables you to scroll through higher and lower price points to see the impact on your monthly payments so you can identify your ideal price point.
(Note: This tool only provides an estimate of your purchasing power. You will need to secure pre-approval from a mortgage lender to know your true mortgage approval amount and monthly payment projections.)
Can I Afford to Buy My Dream Home?
Once you have a sense of your purchasing power, it's time to find out which neighborhoods and types of homes you can afford. The best way to determine this is to contact a licensed real estate agent. We help homeowners like you every day and can send you a comprehensive list of homes within your budget that meet your specific needs.
If there are homes within your price range and target neighborhoods that meet your criteria—congratulations! It's time to begin your home search.
If not, you may need to continue saving up for a larger down payment … or adjust your search parameters to find homes that do fit within your budget. We can help you determine the right course for you.
It's never too early to start preparing financially for a home purchase. These three steps will set you on the path toward homeownership … and a secure financial future!
And if you are ready to buy now but don't have a perfect credit score or a big down payment, don't get discouraged. There are resources and options available that might make it possible for you to buy a home sooner than you think. We can help.
Want to find out if you're ready to buy a house? Give us a call! We'll help you review your options, connect you with one of our trusted mortgage lenders, and help you determine the ideal time to begin your new home search.
The above references an opinion and is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be financial advice. Consult a financial professional for advice regarding your individual needs.
- Quicken Loans Blog –
https://www.quickenloans.com/blog/how-does-your-credit-score-affect-your-mortgage-eligibility - myFICO –
https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/credit-report-credit-score-articles/ - Bankrate –
https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/what-is-a-good-credit-score-to-buy-a-house/ - Bankrate –
https://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/7-crucial-facts-about-fha-loans-1.aspx - myFICO –
https://www.myfico.com/credit-education/improve-your-credit-score/ - The Balance –
https://www.thebalance.com/having-good-credit-score-960528 - Bankrate –
https://www.bankrate.com/mortgages/how-much-is-a-down-payment-on-a-house/ - Bankrate –
https://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/the-basics-of-private-mortgage-insurance-pmi.aspx - Bankrate –
https://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/removing-private-mortgage-insurance.aspx - The Balance –
https://www.thebalance.com/fha-home-loan-pitfalls-315673 - Investopedia –
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/closingcosts.asp - Bankrate –
https://www.bankrate.com/finance/mortgages/why-debt-to-income-matters-in-mortgages-1.aspx - The Lenders Network –


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A small town in Poland near the border.
This was a train heading in the opposite direction that was also going through the whole border ordeal. We got to sit next to each other for close to an hour.
Wide gauge wheel bogies are ready to be slid under our carriages.
Each carriage gets lifted off the ground while passengers are onboard so that the wheel bogies can be changed. There's a whole lot of jostling that takes place before, during, and after.
The station on the Bellarussian frontier.
Complete with a symbol from the past that isn't so much in the past here.
This is how a typical train car is set up: a long narrow corridor where people come to stretch their legs, look out the window, or talk on their phones. Each door leads to a compartment with two bunk beds which are converted to seats in the daytime.
An example of the ornate architecture and wide streets of Minsk.
Day 19. I woke up nice and early so I would have plenty of time to get to the train and figure out where it was. As luck would have it, I had to stay up good and late the night before since "Off The Hook" was airing at 1:00 am my time. It was a frustrating show since the studio kept dialing the wrong number leaving me in suspended animation for the first part of the show. There's no worse feeling than just sitting there knowing the show is beginning and not knowing what the hell is going on. I can deal with losing a connection in the middle - I almost expect that with the kinds of phone calls we're attempting to make. But the beginning is when the tone is set and missing that just throws me off for the rest of it. So I was in a bad mood *and* I got very little sleep and now I had to figure out the impossible train system of Warsaw. It looked to be a banner day.
I told you yesterday about the crazy room at Warszawa Centralna with the refrigerator magnet type train schedule. Would you believe that no matter how hard I tried today, I could not find that room again? And it's a really big room! I took a taxi to the station and went in from a different side but I didn't think it would be this difficult to get back to where I had been only a day before. It was like some kind of a "Twilight Zone" episode. I swear there was this huge room that was so archaic it could have easily existed 50 or 60 years ago. And today it didn't seem to exist at all. I found the train platforms without a problem. But when I tried to backtrack my steps yesterday to wind up back in that room the corridors all led to different parts of the station and its attached shopping complex. Freaky.
So I just accepted that it must have been a bad dream, one which I really didn't have the time to analyze. I had a train to catch at 9:00. Not that this was reflected anywhere else in the station. As I wandered around, I looked at the trains that were coming in. It was at 8:38 that I saw it. Minsk! My destination. For some reason the sign said the train was leaving at 8:40 but I didn't care as long as it was going to Belarus. Just to be sure, I asked a vendor on the platform whom I had overheard giving directions to someone else in English if this was indeed the train to Minsk. He said it was. But then a moment later, he had apparently thought better of it as he ran after me saying, "Polish Minsk only!" Yes, it's true. Just to make things as much fun as humanly possible, they threw another Minsk into the mix. And naturally this was the one being announced on the platforms. So much for thinking I had actually gotten somewhere.
The time of my theoretical train was approaching and I was beginning to get desperate. There were no train people anywhere to help out, no signs that had the information I sought, and the only room where someone had even admitted that this train might exist had vanished into thin air. That's when I chanced upon the "Strawberry" youth hostel people. I had seen them when I arrived in Warsaw. They met incoming international trains and shuttled away anyone who was interested in staying at a hostel. Best of all, they tended to speak English. So I approached them and asked if there was any way they could help me figure out where my train would be even though I wasn't staying in a hostel. They plunged into the challenge and ran around trying to figure out which train this could possibly be. I felt somewhat vindicated that it seemed as confusing to them in Polish as it did to me in English. I got them to explain some parts of the confusing schedule board to me. It seems those Roman numerals *do* tell you the track number. I know in Russia they're used to specify days of the week and since they had only gone up to VII (and since there were eight tracks), I assumed that was the case here as well. But this was still useless information without a train to match it to.
I mentioned that the people behind the now missing counter seemed to think that the train to Minsk was somehow connected to the train from Brussels. So we set out to ascertain which track that one was coming in on. Once we found that out, all they could do was wish me luck as there wasn't a hint anywhere else that it would be going beyond this station. But those youth hostel kids were orders of magnitude friendlier and more helpful than anyone else in the entire train station. So I went to the appropriate platform and looked at the huge train from Brussels that had just arrived. As I walked down the track looking for clues, I saw that there was one car all the way in the front that looked a little different from the rest and had a train employee standing by the door. It was the fabled car to Minsk! It felt like arriving in Mecca.
When you start riding on trains inside the former Soviet Union, there are many things that are done differently. The first thing they do differently is take your ticket when you get to the train. Even if you need it for a future part of the journey, they take it from you. Sometimes they even take your passport. There's no reason to panic as you get it back when you reach your destination. The person who takes your ticket and is basically in charge of your car is called the provodnitsa. This is someone you definitely want to be on good terms with as she can make things very comfortable or very miserable for you.
I wound up in the same cabin as a native Minsk resident who was returning from Germany where he had been working on a documentary project that involved interviewing Bellarussian survivors of Nazi slave camps. Wow. Not only was this fascinating but it was remarkable that the two of us were both working on a film project and here we were in the same compartment. His English wasn't great but a hell of a lot better than my nonexistent Russian. We had a third compartment mate from Germany who spent most of his time in a different compartment with his family. But when he was with us he was able to translate by speaking German to the guy from Minsk (who spoke it quite fluently) and English to me. That's kind of a typical way that train conversations in Europe seem to go.
I had a lot of myths dispelled about Belarus on this part of the trip. People were far from being cowed into submission. It was obvious that things were far from perfect but neither were people living in a constant state of fear. Who knows - maybe I would even get some footage out of this place.
The trip to Minsk from Warsaw has got to be one of the most non-distance-related lengthy connections anywhere in Europe. First we sat somewhere outside of Warsaw for what seemed like close to an hour. Then we got to the border at around 1:15 in the afternoon. That's when the real fun started.
First, the Polish border guards come onto the train and check out your documents. After stamping everyone, the train then moves a small distance and stops again. That's when the guards from Belarus come on. We had all been given these little customs forms to fill out. And when I say little, I really mean it. The line for your signature is about an inch wide and the little boxes to check are a few font sizes away from being periods. The provodnitsa was nice enough to give me one in English which obviously made it a lot easier for me to fill out. But there was still some uncertainty.
One of the questions on my form was whether or not I had any high quality electronics or devices for communication. Well, I could argue that my electronics weren't of high quality especially since I was always complaining about them. But my phone and computer were obviously devices for communication. So I checked "yes" and listed them on the back. I was a little nervous that this would make me a marked man. But I wasn't nearly as nervous as my cabin mate who also had a computer along with a pretty decent video camera. So when the guard from Belarus arrived, he immediately got into this involved exchange about what he was carrying and it looked as if things weren't going to go well at all. A large amount of money was going to be charged for bringing the equipment into the country. I wasn't sure how or if this was going to affect me but for now this commotion was at least turning their attention elsewhere. They took our passports and I was given another microscopic form which apparently was for entering and leaving Russia. I figured I'd fill that one out later since they wanted my passport number and I no longer had it in my possession.
More time passed and eventually the guard who had talked to my cabin mate about his equipment returned and ushered the rest of us out so he could have a private conversation. After a few minutes the door opened and everyone was all smiles. It had been worked out. Somehow. Shortly afterwards, another uniformed guy came by with our passports and handed them back to us. When he saw that I had the microscopic form he started yammering away in an excited tone. It turns out he was upset that I hadn't filled it out yet and that I needed to do so in a big hurry now. First of all, the thing didn't even say Belarus on it anywhere so I assumed it was for when I was entering Russia since that country's name was all over the form. Second, it wanted my passport number which is the one thing I didn't have while the passport was in the hands of the customs people! It's times like this I wish I could speak Russian just so I could have made what I thought were two excellent points. So instead I just quickly filled out the form right in time for the guy to run back and grab it from me.
That was it as far as border guards go. But now we had to go through the infamous Belarus change of the wheel bogies to accommodate the wide gauge track used in this part of the world. I witnessed this in reverse once before as I was riding from Minsk to Warsaw. Basically they do all kinds of track switching for each and every carriage, put them all inside a garage, and raise the carriages up into the air as they slide the old wheel bogies out and slip the new ones in. It's a slow process and it involves quite a few guys performing very specialized tasks. I took a few pictures and before I knew it, one of the workers was holding little souvenirs like belt clips and emblem patches, apparently thinking that being a tourist I would literally buy anything. He was persistent too; no matter what part of the train car I would move to in order to get another shot, he'd wind up over there too displaying his wares in the palm of a single hand. I could have taken a picture of him but that could have been a really bad move, especially if he wasn't supposed to be doing that sort of thing. And I actually got yelled at by one of the workers for using my video camera on the operation. Not knowing what is right and what is wrong means that you have to be ever cautious and always compliant with whatever you're told to stop doing.
So after all was said and done, the border crossing took about three and a half hours. Add to that the hour spent outside Warsaw and the hour time difference and what seems like a 12 hour trip is actually six and a half.
My cold has transformed itself into a cough which hopefully is the last stage of this nonsense. I was able to get free tea from the provodnitsa and use leftover euro coins to buy some soup which did a world of good. By the time we got to Minsk I was pretty exhausted but I vowed to try and get some real food near where I was staying. Tomorrow will be a real challenge as I have to get a train reservation to Moscow. It's the kind of thing that can literally take all day or wind up in complete failure.
I spent some time walking around the streets and was impressed at the wideness of the sidewalks and the overall cleanliness of the city. But more importantly, I noticed a change in the people since I was here last back in 2003. Whereas before most everyone had short hair and conservative dress, I spotted a lot of long-haired types as well as all kinds of individualistic fashion statements walking the streets. If this is really a dictatorship, it doesn't feel like one where people are afraid to express themselves or stand out. These are of course very preliminary observations. I'll hopefully have a chance to see more of the city and the people tomorrow.


text:
This download is of the Nakayoshi May 1996 issue.
Many of Naoko Takeuchi's works, including Sailor Moon, were serialized by chapter in this monthly publication before being published by Kodansha in book format. These back issues of Nakayoshi are extremely difficult to find due to their age, the fact that the publisher does not allow for direct back issue re-ordering, and their rarity – many collectors in Japan prize these issues, especially when they feature famous artists such as Ms. Takeuchi.
This particular issue features Act 51 of Sailor Moon, as well as other popular series like Magic Knights Rayearth and Saint Tail!
Click on the gallery links below to view the images in low definition, or download the massive archive of the HQ files here:
download: gallery download
download: torrent download


text:
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A Mini-Glossary of Helpful Insurance Related Collision Repair Terms
When you're in an accident, it's (hopefully) a rare occurrence, but that means that you're likely to run into a few insurance related terms you aren't accustomed to hearing. That's why we put together this list of useful insurance terms to help you through the process of dealing with a car accident.
Adjuster/Claims Adjuster – A claims adjuster works for an insurance company. His or her job is to settle insurance claims, so this is the person you'll speak with when you call your insurance company. The adjuster determines how much the insurance company will pay, and interprets what the policy covers when a claim is made.
Carrier – A carrier, or insurance carrier, is the company that issues an insurance policy and pays out when a valid claim is made.
Collision Insurance – This type of insurance coverage is not mandatory, but it will cover the cost of repairing your vehicle when damage is caused by a collision with another vehicle or an object, like a tree. Regardless of who causes the accident, this coverage is for your vehicle only, not any other vehicle or property that was involved in the accident.
Comprehensive Insurance – This type of insurance coverage, like collision insurance, is not mandatory. It covers the cost incurred when your vehicle is damaged from something other than a collision, like theft, weather damage, vandalism, or a fire.
DRP (Direct Repair Program) – Many collision repair shops and insurance companies have contractual agreements that are intended to make the repair process easier, faster, and smoother. These agreements have set rules regarding repairs, standard procedures, record keeping, and more. DRPs have benefits and disadvantages – sometimes repairs can be done faster and insurance companies will cover certain things, but they may require shops to use less expensive parts. It's a good idea to ask your collision repair tech about any DRPs they're a part of.
Direct Repair Shop – A collision repair shop that participates in a direct repair program is called a direct repair shop. Remember that even if a collision shop participates in a DRP, you are not required to take your vehicle to that shop. The advantages and disadvantages of a DRP can vary.
Endorsement/Rider – This is a modification to your insurance contract.
Steering – When an insurance company tries to get a customer to take their vehicle to a specific repair shop, or does not let the customer choose their own repair shop, it's called steering. In most cases, steering is illegal. You have the right to take your vehicle to any repair shop.