Real Estate Buying Tips That Can Work For You

Even if you are buying your home only for yourself, you should have someone go with you to look at the house, preferably someone with home buying experience. This person can be very helpful in noticing issues in the house that you missed. A second opinion might be valuable, especially when asking the realtor questions.

When you officially decide to purchase a home, don?t forget all the other options that are available. It takes a while to find the right property for your goals and strategy.

If you made the seller an offer that was rejected, they may still find some way to make the home affordable so you buy it. They might offer to make certain repairs to the house, or even pay your closing costs.

If you are interested in a rental property, make inquiries regarding who is responsible for the gardening before you sign the lease. Some rentals require the tenant to perform yard duties. Often times, if the landlord provides the landscaping, they will work the cost of the service into your monthly rental payments.

If you want to purchase a foreclosed home, be aware that it will most likely need repairs. Most foreclosed properties are in need of repair, because they have not been maintained for a very long time. If you are buying a foreclosed home, it will probably need new heating and air conditioning systems, as well as pest control services.

You must research the neighborhood of a home before you buy. If you find that this neighborhood does not correspond to your needs, this home is not a good choice for you. It?s essential to research the neighborhood, so you truly understand what you are buying into.

A good tip before buying in a neighborhood is to look at the registry for sex offenders in that area before you sign the contract. Do your own research on finding sex offender data around the area of your new home. Don?t expect a real estate agent to volunteer that information, especially if the area might not end up being the safest to live in. Give yourself some peace of mind by checking for yourself.

Prioritize your goals when negotiating your real estate deals. Make sure you include every issue under negotiation, including whatever expectations you hold for each. The strength of your desire on an issue can help you establish your highest priorities. You cannot get everything that you want when you negotiate. Flexibility is key to getting the things you really do want.

From the information laid out here, you have probably learned something that you can benefit from when you are purchasing real estate. Anyone you help could always help you back in future.

Thanks for visiting this site devoted to Louisville homes and checking out our articles and viewing all of the available houses in this neighborhood. For a more complete collection of blog posts as well as frequent analysis of community real estate patterns, please make sure to visit our Highlands homes website or for a more specific real estate search, please visit http://anchoragekyhomesforsale.com/all-40223/

Source: http://fireflyrealty.com/real-estate-buying-tips-that-can-work-for-you-2/

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EU's Almunia to decide on Google probe after Easter

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AMP optimistic in suit to invalidate patents on breast cancer genes

Public release date: 27-Mar-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Mary Steele Williams
mwilliams@amp.org
301-634-7921
Association for Molecular Pathology

Bethesda, MD -- Now that the Supreme Court has remanded Association for Molecular Pathology et al. v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., et al. (AMP v. Myriad) to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for further consideration, AMP is optimistic that it will ultimately prevail in its lawsuit to invalidate patents on two genes that are known to cause breast cancer.

"Our members have witnessed the adverse effects of gene patents on patient care," stated Iris Schrijver, AMP President. "By awarding monopolies in testing of patented genes, these patents reduce patient access to genetic tests, increase test prices, and stand in the way of innovations in diagnostic methods." Further, Dr. Schrijver added, "Because variation in gene sequences plays an important role in the development and progression of many diseases, through gene patents patent holders can essentially gain ownership of the understanding of some diseases and of certain areas of patient care itself."

Stated Roger D. Klein, MD, JD, Chair of the AMP Professional Relations Committee: "We were extremely encouraged by the Supreme Court's reaffirmation in its Prometheus decision of the longstanding principle that natural phenomena are not patent eligible. In Prometheus, the Supreme Court clearly ruled that the correlation between a biomarker and a clinical phenotype cannot be patented. Similarly, in light of this decision we expect that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will ultimately find that patents on natural products, in this case BRCA1 and BRCA2, cannot be used to exclude physicians and others from examining their patient's genes for disease-related variants."

In its original decision, the Appeals Court held that human gene sequences are patentable subject matter when separated from their native state within cells. This is really a 'form versus substance' argument, said Mary Williams, AMP Executive Director. "A disease-causing mutation means the same thing for the patient irrespective of whether a gene is examined inside or outside the patient's body."

"AMP is looking forward to the proceedings in the lower court. We are confident that optimal patient care and sound science will ultimately prevail," stated Williams.

###

ABOUT AMP:

The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) is an international medical professional association dedicated to the advancement, practice, and science of clinical molecular laboratory medicine and translational research based on the applications of molecular biology, genetics, and genomics. For more information, please visit www.amp.org.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 27-Mar-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Mary Steele Williams
mwilliams@amp.org
301-634-7921
Association for Molecular Pathology

Bethesda, MD -- Now that the Supreme Court has remanded Association for Molecular Pathology et al. v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., et al. (AMP v. Myriad) to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit for further consideration, AMP is optimistic that it will ultimately prevail in its lawsuit to invalidate patents on two genes that are known to cause breast cancer.

"Our members have witnessed the adverse effects of gene patents on patient care," stated Iris Schrijver, AMP President. "By awarding monopolies in testing of patented genes, these patents reduce patient access to genetic tests, increase test prices, and stand in the way of innovations in diagnostic methods." Further, Dr. Schrijver added, "Because variation in gene sequences plays an important role in the development and progression of many diseases, through gene patents patent holders can essentially gain ownership of the understanding of some diseases and of certain areas of patient care itself."

Stated Roger D. Klein, MD, JD, Chair of the AMP Professional Relations Committee: "We were extremely encouraged by the Supreme Court's reaffirmation in its Prometheus decision of the longstanding principle that natural phenomena are not patent eligible. In Prometheus, the Supreme Court clearly ruled that the correlation between a biomarker and a clinical phenotype cannot be patented. Similarly, in light of this decision we expect that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit will ultimately find that patents on natural products, in this case BRCA1 and BRCA2, cannot be used to exclude physicians and others from examining their patient's genes for disease-related variants."

In its original decision, the Appeals Court held that human gene sequences are patentable subject matter when separated from their native state within cells. This is really a 'form versus substance' argument, said Mary Williams, AMP Executive Director. "A disease-causing mutation means the same thing for the patient irrespective of whether a gene is examined inside or outside the patient's body."

"AMP is looking forward to the proceedings in the lower court. We are confident that optimal patient care and sound science will ultimately prevail," stated Williams.

###

ABOUT AMP:

The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) is an international medical professional association dedicated to the advancement, practice, and science of clinical molecular laboratory medicine and translational research based on the applications of molecular biology, genetics, and genomics. For more information, please visit www.amp.org.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-03/afmp-aoi032712.php

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Selecting the Best Home Improvement Projects

Home Improvement Is Just Easy! It is not all time simple to find everything about a specific topic. You should refine your searches to receive the right information, and then you need to sort through mountains of information. It is a frequent impact of the technique look engine algorithms are created ? so you are not alone. What we have done is place together some strong research about marvin windows and place it in 1 spot. So really finish reading this to glean more than enough to start forming a great foundation.

Home improvement is a large industry now, and various persons are trying to find cheap and easy ways to create appealing changes to their homes. Although there are numerous different ways to do this, you initially should focus upon only what needs aid right now. Home improvement projects really could create home look perfect, thus if you?re planning to market your home, or live in it forever, these strategies can help you receive the job done.

Few factors have a bigger impact found on the look of a home than the lighting. A big difference is had with flipping lamps and lights, and these are usually changes that aren?t too expensive or difficult. An appealing chandelier in the living space, for example, could give the whole space an elegant look. You might like to consider recessed lighting fixtures as they have a more commercial look than a lot of traditional lights, plus they are not difficult to install. There are certain conditions where adding a modern or bigger window could truly lighten a space, as windows have plenty to do with lighting. What lamps you have in your space and where they are set is equally something you should be important about thus they could have the most impact. If you think those points on real estate agent salary are something, then there is much more to read as you understand plus tons elsewhere. Once you start to truly see the breadth of knowledge accessible plus exactly what it all could signify, then that is a pretty cool thing.

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One element that makes a big difference in the appearance of the home is color. You are able to always paint your walls a different color, but you are able to equally change your floor hues or even furniture or wallpaper. Look through each space and see how you feel about the color combinations. Changing some of the hues could create the atmosphere of the space change completely. If you paint using white, it is very for neutral, while painting blue and green, it is very to be soothing, and to be energizing, employ red and yellow. These are only generalities, because most persons have their own needs for color. You live in your home and it is very significant to create it comfortable and appealing, and if changing hues could do that, or rearranging furniture or placing in modern carpet, then you need to do what you like best.

It is possible to do home improvement projects that create significant changes to your home without to do that much work. Get some aid lined up, and create a list of what you should change before you begin. By concentrating on crucial issues initially, you will be capable to accomplish your home improvement projects promptly. Home improvement inspirations can equally come your technique as you start fixing aspects around your home. Great luck!

It was our principal goal to give you a short guide to interior design jobs, and allow you to see firsthand what is accomplished. People tend to have more effective results and feel more happy when they delve deeper into this subject. In really a minute you will be capable to encounter the sort of related material and expanded points we are chatting about. You will be capable to judge your certain needs as you examine this deeper treatment on this subject.

Tagged as: home improvement ideas

Source: http://paintballgunpro.com/selecting-the-best-home-improvement-projects/2128/

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Obama: N. Korean rocket test would isolate regime

U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak during their joint news conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak during their joint news conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

U.S. President Barack Obama, left, looks at South Korean President Lee Myung-bak during their joint news conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

U.S. President Barack Obama visits with South Korean troops at Observation Post Ouellette in the Demilitarized Zone, the tense military border between the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, South Korea, Sunday, March 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak at the Blue House, the official presidential house, in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

U.S. President Barack Obama, left, and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak walk out together after their joint news conference at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Sunday, March, 25, 2012. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Warning North Korea from its doorstep, President Barack Obama said Pyongyang risks deepening its isolation in the international community if it proceeds with a planned long-range rocket launch.

"North Korea will achieve nothing by threats or provocations," Obama said during a news conference Sunday in Seoul, South Korea, where he was to attend a nuclear security summit.

Obama spoke fresh off his first visit to the tense Demilitarized Zone, the heavily patrolled no-man's land between North and South Korea, where he peered long and hard at the isolated North.

"It's like you're in a time warp," Obama said. "It's like you're looking across 50 years into a country that has missed 40 years or 50 years of progress."

Obama looked noticeably fatigued after essentially one long day that involved a 17-hour flight from Washington, a helicopter ride to the border zone, two sets of diplomatic talks, the news conference and an official dinner.

From the DMZ, Obama returned to Seoul for a private meeting with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and a joint news conference. Both leaders warned there would be consequences if North Korea proceeds with its plans to launch a satellite using a long-range rocket next month, a move the U.S. and other powers say would violate a U.N. ban on nuclear and missile activity because the same technology could be used for long-range missiles.

Obama said the launch would jeopardize a deal for the U.S. to resume stalled food aid to North Korea and may result in the tightening of harsh economic sanctions on the already-impoverished nation.

"Bad behavior will not be rewarded," Obama said. "There had been a pattern, I think, for decades in which North Korea thought if they had acted provocatively, then somehow they would be bribed into ceasing and desisting acting provocatively."

The planned launch is yet another setback for the U.S. in years of on-again, off-again attempts to launch real negotiations. The announcement also played into Republican criticism that Obama had been too quick to jump at a new chance for talks with the North Koreans.

North Korea walked away from international disarmament talks in 2009. Years of fitful negotiations had succeeded in ending part of North Korea's nuclear program but failed in stopping it from building and testing nuclear devices and long-range missiles that might be able to carry bombs.

The United States is a party to the stalled talks, along with China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. The negotiations were aimed at offering North Korea economic and diplomatic incentives to give up threatening elements of its nuclear program.

China has the greatest leverage in the talks as North Korea's only ally and benefactor

Obama was blunt Sunday in assessing China's success so far in promoting better behavior from North Korea, saying its approach over the past decades has failed to alter the North's behavior. Obama said he planned to raise the issue during a meeting Monday with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

"What I've said to them consistently is rewarding bad behavior, turning a blind eye to deliberate provocations, trying to paper over these not just provocative words but extraordinarily provocative acts that violate international norms, that that's not obviously working," Obama said.

China maintains that it must move slowly in influencing North Korea, and says its political influence is limited.

Obama said he is sympathetic to China's main argument for going slow: The potential of political chaos and a refugee crisis on its border with North Korea if the Pyongyang regime collapses. But he held out China as an example of economic success, an achievement, Obama said, that it reached by "abandoning some of the practices that North Korea still clings to."

Obama's trip comes as North Koreans mark the end of the 100-day mourning period for longtime leader Kim Jong Il, who died of a heart attack in December. Since Kim's death, son Kim Jong Un has been paying a series of high-profile visits to military units and made his own trip to the "peace village" of Panmunjom inside the DMZ earlier this month.

Obama said he had not yet been able to make a full assessment of the North's new leader, saying the political situation there appeared to be "unsettled."

"It's not clear exactly who is calling the shots and what their long-term objectives are," Obama said.

Lee, too, said it was "premature" to assess the North's new leader. He said that while he had some expectations that the young Kim might take a different approach than his father, he found news of the rocket launch to be a "disappointment."

Obama opened his trip to South Korea with a visit to the border separating the Korean peninsula. The zone is a Cold War anachronism, a legacy of the uncertain armistice that ended the Korean War nearly 60 years ago. Hundreds of thousands of troops stand ready on both sides of the border zone, which is littered with land mines and encased in razor wire.

Obama shook hands and spoke briefly in the dining hall at a U.S. military camp just outside the 2.5-mile-zone, saying the troops were working at "freedom's frontier."

"I could not be prouder of what you're doing," Obama told smiling American troops at Camp Bonifas. Obama said the same is true at every U.S. military post, but "there's something about this spot in particular."

The United States has more than 28,000 troops in South Korea.

Obama and other world leaders were gathering in Seoul this week for meetings aimed at securing nuclear material and preventing it from being smuggled to states or groups intent on mass destruction. Progress has been uneven since 2010, when Obama set an ambitious goal of locking down vulnerable nuclear materials by 2014. No breakthroughs are expected now.

Obama has called nuclear terrorism the gravest threat the United States and the world may face. North Korea is a prime suspect in the proliferation of some nuclear know-how, along with missiles that could be used to deliver weapons of mass destruction. Iran is suspected in the arming of terrorists with non-nuclear weaponry, and the U.S. and other nations suspect Iran's nuclear energy program could be converted to build a bomb.

___

AP National Security writer Anne Gearan and AP writers Jean H. Lee and Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-03-25-Obama/id-40dd3302743a42d99a8f2a55383b2adb

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Belfast: reluctant birthplace of the Titanic

The city tried to ignore the Titanic until recently because of guilt over its loss, but is now celebrating the shipbuilding genius of Belfast workers at the new Belfast Titanic museum.

Belfast, Northern Ireland

? A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent.

Skip to next paragraph

?Belfast was a byword for gloom during the Troubles that spanned from the late 1960s to late 1990s, but it is experiencing a new vitality.

Ironically this coincides with the anniversary of the tragedy of the RMS Titanic, which sank 100 years ago on April 15 with a loss of more than 1,500 lives. Belfast is set to commemorate this sad milestone with church services and other events.

The city, which tried to ignore the Titanic until recently because of misplaced guilt at her loss, is now celebrating the shipbuilding genius of the Belfast workers who made her the most advanced vessel in the world at the time. Two recent developments helped the Titanic to become a source of pride: the discovery of the wreck in 1985 by Robert Ballard and the 1997 blockbuster movie, ?Titanic.?

Gradually it became respectable to talk about the Titanic in Belfast, and the city?s shipbuilding history will be celebrated during the Titanic Belfast Festival in April.

The new Titanic Belfast museum will be the world?s largest Titanic visitor attraction.

This befits a resurgent Belfast that was nominated by National Geographic Traveler magazine as one of the world?s top tourist attractions for 2012, and with the steady improvement of political relationships, the city looks set for much happier times.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/PnibUQ4cfR4/Belfast-reluctant-birthplace-of-the-Titanic

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Anti-Kony campaign in turmoil after filmmaker's meltdown

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The public meltdown of the man behind the viral Kony 2012 video has thrown his campaign into turmoil even as the film succeeded in turning the world's attention to capturing an elusive and brutal Ugandan warlord.

Jason Russell, whose 30-minute video sensation shone a spotlight on Joseph Kony's use of child soldiers in Uganda, was taken by police to a hospital last week after suffering what doctors described as a brief psychotic break.

Videos posted online showed him pacing back and forth on the sidewalk, naked, in broad daylight, in an episode certain to raise questions over the viability of Russell's Invisible Children group.

"You always hear people say, 'I'm so stressed out, I'm about to go crazy,'" said Robert Thompson, Director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University. "Still, the story of all this happening and then he literally is wigging out is very odd."

He said the episode could serve to divert attention from the warlord to Russell: "Now whenever you see a Kony story, it's about the guy, not Kony."

In downtown San Diego, Invisible Children's office, once decorated with loud posters and bustling with activity, has been locked up.

Visitors are now cleared through a newly opened ground floor office unfurnished but for two chairs, a pair of Apple laptops and a table occupied by two polite young women who spend their days pointing to a sign that directs reporters to the email address of a New York-based public relations firm.

The bubbly women said that Russell, whose video has been seen nearly 85 million times on YouTube, was "awesome" but declined to provide their names.

Russell's fellow Invisible Children co-founders, Laren Poole and Bobby Bailey, declined through a spokeswoman to be interviewed, as did the organization's CEO, Ben Keesey.

Keesey has attributed Russell's breakdown to the severe emotional toll of the previous two weeks in which the Kony video went viral. Even as the video drew attention to the warlord, it also sparked criticism over what some called its misleading portrayal of current events in Uganda.

Russell's wife Danica has said that her husband would remain under hospital care for a number of weeks, and might not be able to fully return to his work at Invisible Children for months.

A spokeswoman would not say how or if Invisible Children plans to proceed with a planned April 20 day of action, in which viewers of the video were asked to paper their homes, lawns and cities with Kony posters to turn him into a household name.

RENEWED EFFORTS TO HUNT KONY

While the fate of the group that brought Kony into the spotlight may be uncertain, experts say that may be largely irrelevant because it has already served the purpose of persuading millions to care, and policy decisions were taking shape.

"It's rare that we have literally millions of Americans calling for more engagement in Africa," Senator Chris Coons, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on African Affairs, told Reuters in an interview, noting that his subcommittee normally received far less attention than it has since the Kony 2012 video was released.

Kony, accused of terrorizing northern Uganda for two decades, is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes. He is accused of abducting children to use as fighters and sex slaves and is said to like hacking off limbs.

"I was both amused, pleased and proud that all three of my kids asked me what I was doing to stop Joseph Kony," Coons said.

Attempts by regional forces and foreign troops to corner the fugitive warlord have so far failed. But on Friday, the African Union said it would launch a 5,000-strong force in South Sudan to hunt him.

The African Union move is in addition to 100 U.S. military advisers President Barack Obama sent to the region last year to help Ugandan forces track Kony down.

Coons, who introduced a resolution in the Senate on Wednesday condemning Kony, stressed that any U.S. role would be to support the efforts of local troops.

WRONG TARGET?

But the Lord's Resistance Army is already a shadow of its former self, numbering around 250 members, according to a December 2011 report published by the Social Science Research Council.

Some 200 of those members are with Joseph Kony in the Central African Republic, and another 50 are in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the report said.

The video Russell directed, interspersing shots of his own young son with those of suffering Ugandan children, depicts children walking into the city center of the Uganda city of Gulu at night to avoid capture.

But active violence like that hasn't been seen in northern Uganda in seven or eight years, according to Laura Seay, a professor at Morehouse College who studies conflict and community in central Africa.

"LRA victims are depicted as absolutely helpless," Seay said, characterizing the portrayal as neocolonial and saying the film may have mischaracterized the nature of Gulu, where the number of children taking nightly refuge dwindled after a truce between government forces and the LRA in 2006.

"You have coffee shops and pizza places in Gulu. It's absolutely peaceful," she said.

Seay suggested those whose interest in the region had been piqued by the Invisible Children campaign turn their attention next to more active warlords in the region such as Bosco Ntaganda, nicknamed "The Terminator," who is also wanted by the ICC for war crimes.

Like Kony, Ntaganda is accused of conscripting child soldiers under age 15 to carry arms and fight in open conflict.

"He walks freely," Seay said. "I know where he eats dinner every night."

(Additional reporting by Marty Graham in San Diego; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/anti-kony-campaign-turmoil-filmmakers-meltdown-002248580.html

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