Afghans 'concerned' over airforce as NATO pulls out

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Real Estate Shopping Tips For All Buyers | Boca Highend Real Estate

When you are buying property, always have a cash reserve for unexpected expenses. Buyers will often calculate the final closing costs by combining the amount for the down payment, any points that go to the bank, as well as any prorated taxes for real estate. Most of the time, closing costs also include improvement bonds, school taxes and other considerations.

If you have found a home that you are considering buying, be sure to get online and research the registry for local sex offenders. You can do this quickly and easily, and it could keep your whole family safer in your new home. The information is publicly available and free to obtain. It is highly unlikely that any real estate agent would have knowledge of the sex offender status within a neighborhood, and if they do, you won?t find out about it. Google up the registry yourself!

So you want to find a place to purchase, but firstly you have to have a real estate agent who?s qualified. It?s important to find an agent you can really trust. An agent that has achieved success in the past will be a great choice. Always conduct sufficient research to identify those agents most dedicated to customer service.

If you want a great investment in buying property, you should think about repairing and remodeling it. As you work on the home, the property value will increase and therefore, you will see the benefits of your investment immediately. Sometimes it will rise more than you have invested.

Have your minimum down payment that?s required by your mortgage company. The alternative to a proper down payment is PMI, or private mortgage insurance. This can add quite a bit of extra money that you would have to pay on a monthly basis to show the bank that you are able to make payments on your mortgage.

Being organized is helpful when purchasing real estate. You should have a notebook full of the information you get from newspapers, friends, online, and also from your agent. If you use this method, you will have all of your findings in one place if you need to refer to it.

If you are considering starting a business, select real estate that is in an acceptable neighborhood. Starting a new business in an area of high crime and dilapidated buildings will not win you many customers. Talk to a real estate professional to find out what locations are ideal for starting up a new business.

It really is a buyer?s market when it comes to real estate. Now that the housing market has crashed, property values have gone very low. This makes it a perfect time to move from that apartment into a home of your own. The downward trend is an aberration when you look at house prices over the long term. Therefore, you will probably make money on your investment after ten years.

When buying a home, if you own a vehicle it is important to find out if there is good parking around the place. This is especially important if a home has no driveway or garage. Otherwise, you may have to take quite a hike at the end of each and every day due to being unable to find a close parking spot.

If you haven?t bought your dream home, it may be time to start looking. The conventional wisdom is that since the housing bubble has popped, selling and buying a bigger home is not economical, but some experts disagree with this thinking. You might want to buy your dream home now, housing prices will probably go up from here.

When you are trying to work out a deal, you should first make a priority list on your goals. You need to be able to identify anything that you have an issue with and relay how you expect each issue to be handled. Establish your priorities and let those be your guide in negotiations. Remember to approach the negotiation process with a flexible mindset. You can?t get everything on your list so concentrate on the true priorities.

Have a professional inspector look at the home you are interested in. Otherwise, you could find yourself in a home that needs complete renovation from the ground up when you weren?t expecting it. Not only will this cost a lot, you might need to change your living situation until it?s fixed.

If a new potential rental property has a garden, make sure you ask your landlord about it. Landlords differ on this; some leave it to you to maintain the yard or the garden. Other properties have it recorded in the lease that this is part of the rental money which is paid.

If a home has made your short list, have the home inspector get the home?s dimensions. Ascertain by checking public records that the owner has correctly listed the square footage of the home. These numbers should be fairly close to each other, to a tolerance of about 100 sq ft. If they don?t match, find out more about the property and any changes that were made.

Research rental properties. If you are thinking about buying rental property, hold off on purchasing it until all records have been reviewed for at minimum the past 24 months. You need to find out if the person who is selling it to you is giving you the right info about what income it can generate. Your lender will probably want to view verification of income prior to issuing the property?s purchase loan.

By implementing the preceding advice, the process of purchasing a home should be simpler and should go more smoothly. Having an understanding of what you can expect is only half of this battle.

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Is 'X Factor' The Right Move For Britney Spears?

Experts weigh in on whether Spears will find success with her new judging gig.
By Christina Garibaldi

<P><a href="/news/articles/1680782/britney-spears-x-factor-judge-offer.jhtml">The rumors had been swirling</a> for months, and now, according to reports, the pop princess herself, <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/spears_britney/artist.jhtml">Britney Spears</a>, will be joining the <a href="/news/articles/1684813/britney-spears-x-factor-judge.jhtml">judging panel on "The X Factor,"</a> landing a <a href="/news/articles/1684879/britney-spears-x-factor-deal-judge.jhtml">$15 million deal</a> for one season.</P><P>Yet, after 15 years in the public eye, seven studio albums and more than 100 million albums sold worldwide, many are wondering: Is "The X Factor" the <a href="/news/articles/1680800/britney-spears-x-factor-judge-singing.jhtml">right career move for Spears</a>?</P><P>"I think it is a good move, actually," <a href="http://www.ew.com/ew/" target="_blank"><i>Entertainment Weekly</i></a> writer Tanner Stransky told MTV News. "I think she has so many people on her team watching what she's doing and being careful. I think nobody would let her take a misstep, but I think it's the right move right now."</P><P></p><div class="player-placeholder right" title="Britney Spears' 'X Factor' Gig Could Breathe Light Into Her Career" id="vid:768409" width="415" height="255"></div><p></P><P>This new role certainly has many advantages. It keeps Spears in the public eye while keeping her close to her family, and it will most likely bring in the big ratings that "X Factor" and Simon Cowell are hoping for. Yet there are some experts who are a little wary of Spears taking a spot on the panel, since over the years, the pop star has been noticeably withdrawn from press, rarely giving on-camera interviews.</P><P>"I think everyone is a little concerned, simply because Britney has been very press-shy since she's been in her conservatorship, and everything is incredibly guarded and incredibly controlled," Keith Caulfield, associate director of charts at <a href="http://www.billboard.com/" target="_blank"><i>Billboard,</i></a> said. "And there can be uncontrollable moments on 'The X Factor,' and if things are not completely in control and things are not rehearsed, things could go wrong. With a live show, anything can happen, and that can be very exciting but, at the same time, a little worrisome."</P><P>Stransky agreed and believes that, while Spears is judging the contestants, viewers will ultimately be judging her.</P><P>"Everyone is going to take a close look at her and pay attention to what she says," Stransky said. "She's sort of been so managed on her interviews in the past five years, it's risky."</P><P>But Spears' loyal fanbase feels that putting Spears in an environment where anything can happen is actually a good thing, and will show a whole different side of the pop star.</P><P>"That's part of the excitement of her being on this: It's unscripted," said Jordan Miller, webmaster for Spears' biggest fan site, <a href="http://www.breatheheavy.com/" target="_blank">BreatheHeavy.com</a>. "We are so used to her reading cue cards and kind of being controlled in that way, so for her to break out of that and to do something that's stepping outside her comfort zone, I think it's a great step for her, career-wise, and for her as a person. I think she's going to do really good. I think she's confident."</P><P>And confidence is key when judging a singing competition, but so is experience &#8212; which Spears has in spades. For years, fans have listened to her chart-topping music and have seen her on tour, but now they're ready to connect with the star on a new level.</P><P>"I think the overall consensus is that people are really excited to see Britney do something new and be able to connect with her a couple times a week on national television," Miller said. "It's exciting for fans to see that she's going to be able to mentor these contestants, because like it or not, Britney does have the 'X Factor,' so it's going to be great to see how she can transcend this into more singers and inspire other people."</P><P><i>Are you excited for Britney Spears to be a judge on "The X Factor"? Let us know in the comments!</i></P><P><center><a href="http://www.mtv.com/photos/?fid=1617615"><img src="http://www.mtv.com/news/photos/s/spotted/banner/spotted.jpg"></a></center></p>

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• Britney Spears

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First lady: Country should learn from Virginia Tech (CNN)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Happy Mother's Day: A Tribute to Celebrity Moms!

Mother's Day is a wonderful celebration honoring our moms and celebrating motherhood, maternal bonds and the influence of mothers in society in general.

Here at THG, this means a little tribute to some of the celebrity moms we've come to know and love ... and also a bunch who could use some improvement.

On this 13th day of May, take a look at a 13 popular THG celeb moms (and 13 more who also have kids) in the poll below and vote for your favorite (and least favorite):

Who's your favorite celebrity mom?

Who's your least favorite celebrity mom?

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802.11-2012 WiFi freshens up spec with 3.7GHz bands, mesh networking

It's hard to believe that 802.11 WiFi has only had three major revisions since it was started up 15 years ago. The IEEE must be equally surprised, as it's introducing a new 802.11-2012 standard that unites 10 technologies from various amended WiFi versions under one big tent. Among the picks are new support for 3.65 and 3.7GHz bands, to avoid clashing with 2.4GHz or 5GHz networks, as well as better support for direct linking, faster cellular hand-offs, in-car networks, roaming and mesh networking. You can pay $5 to have a peek at the 2012 WiFi spec today, although we'd brace for a significant wait before smartphones and routers ship with the new 802.11 format -- we know how long it can take for a WiFi standard to become a practical reality.

Continue reading 802.11-2012 WiFi freshens up spec with 3.7GHz bands, mesh networking

802.11-2012 WiFi freshens up spec with 3.7GHz bands, mesh networking originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 07 May 2012 17:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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An Amazing Vintage Video About the World's First Accurate Atomic Clock [Video]

This short video, made at the UK's National Physical Laboratory, proudly explains the science behind the world's first accurate atomic clock. It was designed by Louis Essen and built at the National Physical Laboratory in 1955, and the video is worth watching for the voice-over alone. More »

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Alau.me Wants To Fix iOS Marketing With Bit.ly-Like Links And More

People are always complaining about the difficulty of getting found in the Apple App Store. A new startup called Alau.me (pronounced "allow me") is trying to tackle the problem through a app referral tracking. Co-founder Brian Sabino says the team has built iOS apps itself, and it found that the current app advertising and promotional system is broken for most developers, with the cost of a download often exceeding the revenue or value that it might bring to the company. So it's time for developers to start exploring other promotional channels, with help from Alau.me.

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Who's Afraid of a Big Bad Hacking Story?

It's been a cheerily good spring for FOSS fans here in the Linux blogosphere, so we may perhaps be forgiven for our utter shock and disbelief at the affront recently committed against us by a certain brick-and-mortar purveyor of books and magazines. Barnes & Noble yanked the very excellent Linux Format magazine from its U.S. shelves -- apparently because of a cover story on the topic of "hacking."

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'The Avengers': Five Visual-Effects Secrets Revealed

'We knew the film would be judged by the success of the Hulk,' 'Avengers' visual-effects supervisor tells MTV News.
By Josh Wigler

Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man in "Avengers"
Photo: Marvel/Disney

At the end of the day, "Marvel's The Avengers" is all about character. If the viewer doesn't feel invested in the conflict between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers, the inner-turmoil Bruce Banner feels as he keeps "the other guy" at bay or any other number of relationships, then the movie as a whole simply does not work.

Thankfully, all those things work with flying colors due to the winning combination of Joss Whedon's direction and script and the performances from Earth's mightiest actors themselves. But while story is a crucial component to the success of "The Avengers," spectacle cannot be downplayed as another essential ingredient. The film's visual-effects supervisor Jeff White and his team had their work more than cut out for them when approaching "The Avengers," a movie filled with no fewer than six superheroes, one particularly nasty supervillain and an entire alien armada to fight for his cause.

MTV News spoke with White about his work on the film, what he viewed as the greatest visual-effects challenges, why the Hulk was key to the movie's success and what it was like working with Whedon.

The Biggest Challenge
In short? Everything. "At the end of the day, with 'Avengers,' there were so many things to get right," White told MTV News about the biggest difficulties facing his team. "We created a lot of New York City for the film and needed to build flying shots of Iron Man all from photography. We had to build a new Iron Man suit — the Mark VII — and Stark Tower. We had to build the alien race. When you add all of those things up, there are quite a few challenges there."

That's not even mentioning the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier, the floating base of operations for Earth's mightiest heroes. "That was a massive undertaking," White said. "The challenge was not only building the Helicarrier, but then having to build the atrium underneath that you fly into. Then we had to build all of the set dressing to make it feel like it was a populated vehicle: the flight crew, digital doubles, the vehicles pulling objects around, planes on the deck ... all of that stuff, if it's not there, makes everything feel very CG, because it'd be so empty."

We Have a Hulk ...
Still, if there was one particular ingredient White had to get right, the answer is easy: the Hulk. Already a big fan of Bruce Banner's monstrous alter-ego going into the project, White said so much of "Avengers" leans on the existence of a compelling Jade Giant.

"It was important to deliver on the performance that Joss was looking for. He knew exactly the Hulk he wanted to bring to the big screen. All of the great moments Hulk has in the film was Joss really guiding us there," White said of creating the latest take on Hulk. "We wanted this guy to be as photo-real as we could make him. He's not in a solo film; he's part of an ensemble team. We wanted it to feel very natural when he's sitting in that circle of Avengers. We didn't want him to pop off or seem separate from the rest of them. So in that vein, we spent a lot of time working on his skin and his hair and his teeth, just to make sure that all of that was believable."

... But They Have an Army
Just as important are the enemies Hulk goes up against — namely the Chitauri, the alien warriors Loki recruits to help him take over Earth. As they're not the most iconic creatures in Marvel Comics lore, the "Avengers" design team had some freedom in bringing the heroes' enemies to the big screen.

"They'd done some initial designs at Marvel, as far as getting their overall forms in place. They came up with this idea of a mixture of metals and leather and skin, and then we ran with that as far as what the textural details were, making sure that the chariots had enough variety in them, making sure that when we initially started, we wouldn't see the aliens with their helmets off — and then through the course of production, we do see them that way," White said. "That was a whole round of design processes: What do they look like? What do their heads look like under that armor? I think one of the great parts of them is they're wearing all of that armor — it's worn, they've clearly been through several battles — but you can still see their eyes in there. That's an important part of connecting them as a threat to the Avengers."

Release the Leviathan
The Chitauri foot soldiers aren't the only threats the Avengers have to worry about in the film. There are also the massive Leviathans, giant sky serpents hell-bent on destroying Manhattan. "That's all about scale," White said of those creatures. "It was such a great opportunity to have these massive creatures ambling around New York. Part of their design was to put these wings on them, which made them too wide to fit down a New York street, which in turn led us to have them tearing through buildings and causing mayhem everywhere they go."

Some fans have likened the Leviathans to something out of a Michael Bay "Transformers" movie — an observation that's all the more interesting when considering White's previous visual-effects work on those very same films.

"You can see where the 'Transformers' comparisons come from as far as the trailers go. But when you see how the Leviathans operate in the film, and the role they fill and what drives them forward, there's a pretty big difference," White said. "Driller from 'Transformers' was all metal and all machine, digging through the ground to take down a building. These guys are actually organic beneath all of that armor. They have these worn gold plates and energy signatures that ripple down the side. We really tried to make sure that they felt unique. But I agree, when the first trailer came out, that ['Transformers' similarity] was a component of it, but when you see them in the entire film, they really serve a very different purpose."

The Geek God's Influence
Creating aerial bases, giant green rage-monsters, chariot-riding aliens and massive flying serpents is all well and good, but for White, the real thrill of working on "Avengers" was collaborating with Whedon, a storyteller who White was already very fond of going into the project.

"It was fantastic," White said of working with Whedon. "He's involved in the [visual-effects] process every step of the way. Joss is so good at working with actors, and that extended right through working with animation and trying to get that same performance, really coaching us along. 'Here's what we want to see, here's where you really want that look to get the emotion across his face.' Everything he does so well with writing and actors really translated into his direction for working with the Hulk. He was involved in the entire effects process and every review. It was great working with him."

Tell us what you thought of the visual effects in "The Avengers" in the comments section or on Twitter!

Check out everything we've got on "Marvel's The Avengers."

For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com.

Related Videos

• MTV Rough Cut: 'The Avengers'

Related Photos

• 'Avengers' Assemble At Los Angeles Premiere

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Inhabitat's Week in Green: the Water Discus Hotel, magnetic LED bulbs and pig poo electricity

Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green.

Man-made islands; indoor ski slopes; temporary ice hotels. We thought we had seen it all in Dubai, and then the Middle Eastern city went and outdid itself with the Water Discus Hotel, a hotel that will feature a series of sci-fi styled discs, one of which will be located 21 stories underwater. For those who prefer to stay above water, Antwerp will open one of the world's largest floating swimming pools this summer. Made from an old ferry boat, Badboot will be 120 meters long and it'll be part of a larger facility that can host as many as 600 people. And across the point in New York, the One World Trade Center skyscraper was just crowned the tallest building in NYC.

Continue reading Inhabitat's Week in Green: the Water Discus Hotel, magnetic LED bulbs and pig poo electricity

Inhabitat's Week in Green: the Water Discus Hotel, magnetic LED bulbs and pig poo electricity originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 May 2012 20:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Kick Off Your Weekend With Lightsabers, Space Mountain, and Steve Jobs as FDR [Video]

Your brain can melt trying to keep up with the endless torrent of video content on the web each day. That's why we are here to ease your fatigue with the best videos of the week. Enjoy! More »

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