Crucial Tips When Buying Real estate - Alaska Bird Seed

Monday, February 6th, 2012 at 1:09 pm ?

Everyone wants a home to live in that is comfortable, close to amenities and close to transport, but investing in property has questions to answer before taking the plunge:

? How could I profit from this investment?

? How could I lose from this investment?

? What is the worst case scenario? What form of protection can I put in place?

? How can I improve the profit potential?

? What is the probability of loss versus the probability of profit?

? How will I collect the profit from this investment? Does this investment fit into my plan?

? Compared to other opportunities, does this investment provide the best return for effort?

This is by no means a comprehensive check list but is designed to cover most of the issues which arise in property investing. For sure, each investment opportunity and each individual has their own unique circumstances but a check list offers first time investors an opportunity to consider issues which can make the difference between success and failure in property investing. Property investing will not always deliver the anticipated profits, particularly if you?re new to it.

Investing is a learning experience. There is much to learn in property investing and like many other investment activities such as share investing and business building, each experience is folded into the next to make us better at what we do.

Property investing can be a deeply satisfying experience. There is great security in wealth building around bricks and mortar. We intuitively trust property? we can see and touch it. This is very different to shares where we have little control over the underlying performance of the business. In property, we can influence our outcomes through careful research and buying well and adding value.

These are powerful lessons for us and each lesson can be even more powerfully applied to future actions. Profit can also be in the form of knowledge, experience, network contacts, and opportunity for further investments. One of my very favourite quotes is: ?knowledge pays the best rate of interest?.

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Source: http://www.alaskabirdseed.com/crucial-tips-when-buying-real-estate.html

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Pro-Tymoshenko chants disrupt Ukraine's Yanukovich speech (Reuters)

KIEV (Reuters) ? Supporters of jailed Ukrainian opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko disrupted the start of a new parliamentary season in Kiev on Tuesday, raucously chanting "Freedom for Yulia!" throughout a keynote speech by President Viktor Yanukovich.

About 10 deputies belonging to her Batkivshchyna party leapt to their feet, unfurling a banner bearing Tymoshenko's portrait, and began a drumbeat chant even as Yanukovich took his place at the rostrum to deliver the traditional speech.

They kept up a noisy barrage for a full 30 minutes while Yanukovich, raising his voice to make his pre-prepared address, exhorted opposition parties to end street protests and prepare normally for an October parliamentary election.

Parliament has become an established focal point for rowdy protest in Ukraine since Yanukovich came to power in the ex-Soviet republic two years ago.

In May 2010, opposition deputies sowed chaos when they hurled smoke bombs in protest against a deal extending the stay of Russia's Black Sea fleet in Ukraine.

But a direct protest against a Ukrainian president while he was making a traditional address to parliament was extraordinary and Tuesday's action suggested stormy times ahead in the run-up to the October poll.

Tymoshenko, 51, a charismatic twice-serving former prime minister, was jailed last October for seven years on a charge of abuse of office linked to a 2009 gas supply deal with Russia which she brokered while in power.

The Yanukovich leadership says the deal left the country with an exorbitant price for gas which is now a millstone on the Ukrainian economy. The United States and the European Union support the view of the political opposition that her trial was an example of selective justice and politically-motivated.

Yanukovich, an old adversary of Tymoshenko who only narrowly beat her for the presidency in February 2010 after a vitriolic campaign, has repeatedly turned a deaf ear to Western calls for her to be released.

Law enforcement bodies have instead opened a string of new criminal cases against her.

FEARS FOR HEALTH

Her supporters, led by daughter Yevgenia who took her case to Washington last week, have expressed fears for Tymoshenko's health and say she is in constant pain from a recurring back problem. She is being held in a prison camp some 500 km (312 miles) east of Kiev.

After meeting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Germany on Saturday, Yanukovich signaled he might be ready to allow a group of foreign doctors to carry out an independent medical examination of Tymoshenko.

Yanukovich made no direct response to the pro-Tymoshenko protesters on Tuesday but stuck to his pre-written script despite their chanting.

"I want to appeal to opposition fractions: come back to parliament. It is not possible to save our country (by rallying) on public squares," he said.

Opinion polls show sagging popularity for Yanukovich's Regions Party while Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna has recovered some lost ground - boosted in large part by a sympathy vote because of her imprisonment.

Other political opposition parties say they will join Batkivshchyna in agreeing a common candidate to take on the Regions Party in single-mandate constituencies that will account for half of the seats contested in the October election.

Tymoshenko herself is a polarizing figure who made many enemies with erratic policies when she was in power, and it remains to be seen whether all opposition parties will find common ground by next October.

(Writing By Richard Balmforth)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120207/wl_nm/us_ukraine_tymoshenko_protest

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Serbia, Bosnia struggle under record cold snap (AP)

BELGRADE, Serbia ? Overwhelmed by record snow and harsh temperatures, Serbia and Bosnia closed down schools and struggled to continue public transport and garbage pick-up Monday, as authorities focused on trying to help thousands trapped in the region's remote mountain villages.

Europeans across the continent were continuing to dig out from heavy snow after a week of bitter cold in which the death toll, mostly homeless people, continues to rise into the hundreds. Temperatures have fallen as low as minus 33 Fahrenheit (minus 36 Celsius) in Ukraine, the hardest-hit country.

The big freeze has caused traffic chaos throughout Europe, blocking roads, and shutting down airports from the U.K. to Russia.

But it has also offered opportunities for snowy fun: Ice skaters in the Netherlands were hopeful they could stage a race that hasn't happened in more than a decade; children in Rome and along the usually temperate Adriatic coast in Croatia frolicked in rare snow; and Bosnians in the capital, Sarajevo, spontaneously organized a winter "Olympics" in which they boarded down main streets and leapt out of windows into deep snow banks.

The Serbian government late on Sunday declared an emergency situation, saying the intense snowfall has jeopardized normal functioning. Emergency officials said that 70,000 people were cut off by the heavy snow.

"I hope the emergency measures will lead to better functioning of the rescue efforts," said emergency official Goran Nikolic.

They included shutting down all primary schools and high schools for a week to save power and keep children safe. Thrilled, hundreds of kids filled the parks in the capital, Belgrade, sliding and making snow angels.

In Bosnia, hundreds of villages are cut off behind snowed-in roads and avalanches and authorities were using helicopters to evacuate the sick and deliver food. Authorities said they have had no contact for 72 hours with about 120 people in the central village of Zijemlja, where residents have no electricity or phone lines.

"There are several small hamlets with children and elderly people ? and we are not able to help them," said Radovan Palavstra, mayor of the nearby city of East Mostar.

Emergency official Milimir Doder said his teams must clear 20 kilometers (12 miles) of road before they can get to the village.

In the capital, Sarajevo, thousands of people trudged to work on Monday, with only occasional buses braving the deep snow. Volunteers, meanwhile, cleared tram lines themselves.

Authorities told residents to keep their trash on their balconies because no one would be able to pick it up before the city streets are cleared, which could take a few days.

Young people in several neighborhoods boarded down snow-covered streets or cruised the main street towed behind cars on skis. Others competed with videos on YouTube to show the craziest jump into the snow from second floor apartments ? most of them wearing only bathing suits. In one neighborhood, residents mocked local politicians by trying to build the ugliest snowman in their likenesses.

In Poland, the Interior Ministry reported Monday that nine people died of hypothermia over the past 24 hours. Two elderly people were found frozen in Serbia and Bosnia, and Croatia reported 4 snow-related deaths.

Ukraine's government said on Sunday the country's death toll now stands at 131, including many homeless people. About 2,300 other Ukrainians have sought treatment for frostbite or hypothermia.

In the Netherlands, however, the deep freeze means the country's almost mythical "Eleven Cities Tour" ice skating marathon could be staged later this month for the first time in 15 years, organizers said Monday.

The race, held along a 125-mile (200-kilometer) network of canals connecting 11 towns and cities in Friesland province, would cause a national frenzy, drawing thousands of participants and more than a million spectators. It was last held in 1997.

The national weather service forecasts freezing temperatures at least through Friday, fueling hopes.

____

Aida Cerkez in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and Mike Corder in Amsterdam contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120206/ap_on_re_eu/eu_europe_weather

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B 2 b business ? KIDS AND TEENS ARTICLES

[unable to retrieve full-text content]KIDS AND TEENS ARTICLES Only Directory which has Articles Related to KIDS AND TEENS ARTICLES · Home · About Us · Privacy Policy · Contact Us · B 2 b business. February 5, 2012 | Author: John Krol | Posted in Marketing ...

Source: http://kidsandteensarticles.info/2012/02/b-2-b-business/

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GOP race turns to Colorado, Minnesota

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters after speaking at a caucus night watch party, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters after speaking at a caucus night watch party, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters at his Nevada caucus night victory celebration in Las Vegas, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

Republican presidential candidate former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets supporters at his Nevada caucus night victory celebration in Las Vegas, Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, greets supporters after speaking at a campaign rally in Colorado Springs, Colo., Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Republican presidential candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during a campaign stop at the International Church of Las Vegas on Friday, Feb. 3, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nev. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Now it's on to Colorado, Minnesota and Maine.

With back-to-back victories fueling him, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney is looking toward the next states that hold GOP nominating contests as main rival Newt Gingrich brushes aside any talk of abandoning his White House bid ? all but ensuring the battle will stretch into the spring if not beyond.

Shortly after losing big to Romney here, the former House speaker emphatically renewed his vow to campaign into the party convention in Tampa this summer. His goal, he said, was to "find a series of victories which by the end of the Texas primary will leave us at parity" with Romney by early April.

Next up to vote are Colorado and Minnesota, which both hold caucuses Tuesday. Maine follows on Saturday during a month that promises to be as plodding as January was rapid-fire in the presidential race.

Romney will look to maintain his position of strength, if not build upon it, as his rivals continue working to derail him even as their options for doing so narrow with each victory he notches.

As Saturday turned to Sunday, the former Massachusetts governor held a double-digit lead over his nearest pursuer as the totals mounted in Nevada, where fellow Mormons accounted for roughly a quarter of all caucus-goers. Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul vied for a distant second. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum trailed the field.

With votes from 71 percent of the precinct caucuses tallied, Romney had 48 percent, Gingrich 23 percent, Paul 19 percent and Santorum 11 percent. Turnout was down significantly from 2008, when Romney also won the state's GOP caucuses.

Romney's victory capped a week that began with his double-digit win in the Florida primary. That contest was as intense as Nevada's caucuses were sedate ? so quiet that they produced little television advertising, no candidate debates and only a modest investment of time by the contenders.

A total of 28 Republican National Convention delegates were at stake in caucuses held across the sprawling state. Romney won at least 10, Gingrich at least four, Paul at least three and Santorum at least two. Eight were still to be determined.

That gives Romney a total of 97, including endorsements from Republican National Committee members who will automatically attend the convention and can support any candidate they choose. Gingrich has 30, Santorum 16 and Paul seven. It will take 1,144 delegates to win the Republican nomination.

Preliminary results of a poll of Nevada Republicans entering their caucuses showed that nearly half said the most important consideration in their decision was a candidate's ability to defeat President Barack Obama this fall, a finding in line with other states.

About one-quarter of those surveyed said they were Mormon, roughly the same as in 2008, when Romney won with more than a majority of the vote in a multi-candidate field.

The entrance poll was conducted by Edison Research for The Associated Press at 25 randomly selected caucus sites. It included 1,553 interviews and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-02-05-GOP%20Campaign/id-cf5ee1b2b81643139dde38d63205e6d8

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Feeling Bad for Bellow

As an antidote to the laborious academic work of my thesis on Saul Bellow, I wrote this critique of the response to his Letters for my creative writing class with Stephen Metcalf last fall.??
Saul Bellow died in 2005, but when his letters were published last year, many critics treated them as something of an incarnation. The letters, wrote William Deresiewicz in The Nation, were "A gift from the grave." Philip Roth, in his dust jacket comments, said reading the letters was "as though I'd stumbled upon a lost Bellow masterpiece only recently unearthed." For Cynthia Ozick, writing in The New Republic, it were as if Bellow had never left. After a merciless catalog of the once-prominent writers mentioned in Bellow's correspondence whom death has silenced?she includes Edmund Wilson, Robert Penn Warren, and Allen Ginsberg among the "mute"?Ozick asserts that among this company of great twentieth century writers, Bellow "alone courts lastingness, he alone escapes eclipse."

Ozick's blithe certainty about the security of Bellow's reputation is difficult to account for. The appearance of his letters gave his name a currency it hadn't enjoyed since his dying day half a decade earlier; the intervening five years were ones in which among Ozick's rank of grave-muffled writers, Bellow may have made more noise than, say, Robert Lowell, but not by much. What Ozick does not discuss is to whom, exactly, Bellow matters. Even at the height of his public career, in the early 1970s, many young cultural turks scorned Bellow as obsolete, the last scion of an archaic literary tradition. He drew on his own 1968 experience at San Francisco State when writing the memorable episode of Mr. Sammler's Planet, in which an angry student shouts down the title character ("Why do you listen to this effete old shit? What has he got to tell you?") at a Columbia lecture. The counterculture rejected him violently; with the silence of cool superiority, the culture warriors of the 1980s did the same, lumping him?despite real differences in outlook and style?onto a scrap heap with other representatives of the midcentury male literary establishment: Updike, Cheever, Roth, and Mailer. Bellow has been absent from syllabi ever since; courses in postwar American fiction are likely to include On the Road and The Crying of Lot 49 but not The Adventures of Augie March. Outside the academy, Bellow doesn't seem to fare much better. Who, Ozick asks, is reading Lionel Trilling at this hour? As if every backpack on the New York subway toted a worn copy of Herzog.

What Ozick omits is that Bellow matters chiefly to a dying breed, the cultural praetorians who can recall a day when a writer like Bellow seemed to speak to a unified, capital-C Culture, with critics like Ozick acting as the high priests, interpreting the signs and symbols that rained from on high. It's a vision of culture that is somehow at once more idealistic, more egalitarian, and more elitist than our contemporary literary scene. But whatever its merits, that era is gone, leaving Bellow's memory to endure among a small segment of an already-diminished reading public. Ozick's response is to assume no erosion whatsoever and to say that Bellow matters, period. Leon Wieseltier struck closer to the truth in the Times: "Our literature's debt to Taylor [Benjamin Taylor, who edited the Letters], if our culture still cares, is considerable."

Wieseltier is more clear-eyed than Ozick, but he is also more curmudgeonly. Ultimately, the extent to which the culture cares about Bellow is moot. Bellow's literature is indeed uniquely valuable among postwar American letters, but neither oblivious hagiography nor tiresome laments for the demise of reading will preserve Bellow's gifts in his absence. These are expressions of worried critics' hopes and fears, not testaments to Bellow's importance. Put simply, Bellow needs better friends.

Speaking for the dead is a dubious business, but one suspects that Bellow, for all his vainglory, would not have wanted his letters to be treated as a major literary event. The airing of his personal life would have struck him as one of fame's tiresome accoutrements. Nor would he be flattered to serve as the occasion for more moaning over the sorry state of literature (which, indeed, may not be as sorry as it seems). The publication of Bellow's letters became a second funeral, an occasion for both excessive lionization?while revealing, the letters hardly constitute a new masterpiece?and wistful reminiscing over past Elysiums, neither of which would have much pleased the Master. If Bellow's admiring critics really had his work's best interest at heart, they would have let him do the talking, perhaps by quoting his 1971 letter to John and Kate Berryman on the occasion of their daughter's birth:

"This is to greet and bless Sarah Berryman on her arrival in this gorgeous wicked world which has puzzled and delighted my poor soul for fifty-six years. I expect the planet will go on a few billion years yet and she will thrive on it."

If words such as these can no longer inspire piety in our hearts?if they can no longer stir a need, however faintly felt, to receive a blessing?then surely the situation lies beyond the power of any critic.

Source: http://jsantel.blogspot.com/2012/02/feeling-bad-for-bellow.html

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Where the (good) jobs are coming

Bureau of Labor Statistics

By Allison Linn

?

We already know that one key way to make more money and stay employed is to get more education.

Now a new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics adds another piece of evidence that it?usually pays off, literally,?to shoot for that master?s degree or higher.

The BLS this week released a detailed forecast for how it expects the job market to change in the current decade (the '10s?).

Among the findings: Jobs that require some sort of postsecondary degree for entry are expected to grow at the fastest clip from 2010 to 2020.

The report found that jobs that require a masters? degree or more are projected to grow by 21.7 percent over that decade, to a little more than 2.4 million total jobs, compared with just 12.2 percent growth in jobs that require only a high school diploma.

The number of jobs that require a doctoral or professional degree will grow by 19.9 percent, to nearly 5.3 million, while the number that require a college degree is expected to grow 16.5 percent to a total of?25.8 million.

Despite the higher?rate of growth, there will still be fewer total?jobs requiring those advanced degrees, and many more that just require a high school degree.

The BLS predicts that by 2020 about 69.7 million jobs, or nearly 43 percent of the total, will only require a high school diploma to get in the door.

Of course, plenty of people who are college educated are working as baristas, store managers and other positions that may not require a college degree.

Overall, the Labor Department expects about 20.5 million new jobs to be created between 2010 and 2020 as the job market picks up steam after a?deep recession and weak early recovery. Last year the economy created about 1.6 million new jobs, according to preliminary figures.

Many of the net new jobs to be added in coming years?will be in health care and social assistance fields, reflecting our aging population and increased medical?needs.

Other industries expected to see?big job growth will?be playing catch-up from the recession. For example, the outlook calls for about 1.8 million new construction jobs to be created in coming years, making it one of the sectors with the highest job growth. But the BLS notes that even if the projections are correct and construction employment reaches nearly 7.4 million, that will be fewer jobs than before the recession began in 2007.

Related:

Here's where the jobs will (and won't) be in 2020

The majors with the best job prospects

Do you think it pays to get a graduate degree or higher level or education? Share your thoughts on our Facebook page.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/03/10303267-where-the-good-jobs-are-coming

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