Smart Staging Shows Home in Best Light - San Diego Real Estate ...

After you have put your home up for sale, you are ready to begin the home staging process. You will no doubt want to have this completely finished prior to welcoming what is sure to be a virtual tsunami of potential homebuyers and interested parties into your home. Their primary purpose for being there is to judge, scrutinize and mentally grade or rank your home against other real estate properties they may have already visited.

Why Home Staging is Important

If you are maybe thinking that home staging is not important, or not worth the effort, or not a worthwhile use of your time, or any number of other reasons to skip this process, you would miss out on one of the cheapest, easiest and quickest ways to showcase your home in its best light.

Home staging share a number of qualities with setting the stage for individual scenes in a theater production, such as a play or musical performance. Even though most of these qualities evoke an intangible impact on their respective audiences, making it relatively hard to measure their impact, you can rest assured that they both do have an impact.

Imagine if you went to a play that was supposed to take place in a house or apartment and when the opening curtain is drawn, there is only an empty stage, or there is furniture, but it?s arranged in an apparently haphazard manner. You would no doubt form an opinion about this living space based on your first impression of it.

So, in order to ensure they see your home in its best possible light, consider trying these home staging tips:

Search and Research

This step is especially important if it has been a couple of years or more since you last sold a home. Real estate is kind of like clothing when it comes to fashion trends, various color hues and many other mostly visual factors. Thankfully, the internet makes this incredibly easy. Search for home staging articles or blogs, examine photos and watch videos. Then actually attend a few open houses in your area. All of these measures will serve to stimulate your imagination and creative impulses, which you can then unleash upon your own home.

Depersonalize

One of the most difficult steps in the home staging process, but also one of the most vital, is to remove as much of yourself from your home as possible, or at the very least, from the primary living spaces. The biggest reason why this is so hard for people to accomplish is that we all tend to fall into patterns in just about every facet of our lives.

So, you might remove all of the obvious personal items, such as family photos, seasonal and other knick-knacks and the like, which is a perfect start, and think you?re done. At this point, however, it would behoove you to get the opinion of your real estate agent or other outside party. You might be surprised at what they find.

Use Priority Staging Techniques

You do not need to stage your entire house. Most folks who come to look at your home will primarily focus their attention on the relatively large and most used rooms, such as the kitchen, living room and master bedroom.

Home staging gives you the power to control, or at least manipulate, potential buyers? first impression of your home. And we all know that you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

After you have put your home up for sale, you are ready to begin the home staging process. You will no doubt want to have this completely finished prior to welcoming what is sure to be a virtual tsunami of potential homebuyers and interested parties into your home. Their primary purpose for being there is to judge, scrutinize and mentally grade or rank your home against other real estate properties they may have already visited.

If you are maybe thinking that home staging is not important, or not worth the effort, or not a worthwhile use of your time, or any number of other reasons to skip this process, you would miss out on one of the cheapest, easiest and quickest ways to showcase your home in its best light.

Home staging share a number of qualities with setting the stage for individual scenes in a theater production, such as a play or musical performance. Even though most of these qualities evoke an intangible impact on their respective audiences, making it relatively hard to measure their impact, you can rest assured that they both do have an impact.

Imagine if you went to a play that was supposed to take place in a house or apartment and when the opening curtain is drawn, there is only an empty stage, or there is furniture, but it?s arranged in an apparently haphazard manner. You would no doubt form an opinion about this living space based on your first impression of it.

So, in order to ensure they see your home in its best possible light, consider trying these home staging tips:

Search and Research

This step is especially important if it has been a couple of years or more since you last sold a home. Real estate is kind of like clothing when it comes to fashion trends, various color hues and many other mostly visual factors. Thankfully, the internet makes this incredibly easy. Search for home staging articles or blogs, examine photos and watch videos. Then actually attend a few open houses in your area. All of these measures will serve to stimulate your imagination and creative impulses, which you can then unleash upon your own home.

Depersonalize

One of the most difficult steps in the home staging process, but also one of the most vital, is to remove as much of yourself from your home as possible, or at the very least, from the primary living spaces. The biggest reason why this is so hard for people to accomplish is that we all tend to fall into patterns in just about every facet of our lives.

So, you might remove all of the obvious personal items, such as family photos, seasonal and other knick-knacks and the like, which is a perfect start, and think you?re done. At this point, however, it would behoove you to get the opinion of your real estate agent or other outside party. You might be surprised at what they find.

Use Priority Staging Techniques

You do not need to stage your entire house. Most folks who come to look at your home will primarily focus their attention on the relatively large and most used rooms, such as the kitchen, living room and master bedroom.

Home staging gives you the power to control, or at least manipulate, potential buyers? first impression of your home. And we all know that you never get a second chance to make a first impression.

Tags: home staging, living spaces, real estate

This is filed under Home Buying, Home Selling.

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Source: http://www.openoffer.com/open-voices/2553/uncategorized/smart-staging-shows-home-in-best-light/

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'Fiscal cliff' deal leaves lots of issues dangling

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden leave the podium after Obama made a statement regarding the passage of the fiscal cliff bill in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden leave the podium after Obama made a statement regarding the passage of the fiscal cliff bill in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

The "fiscal cliff" compromise on taxes leaves a big part of the nation's budget crisis still dangling.

Lawmakers bought a little time with a New Year's agreement to hold income tax rates steady for 99 percent of Americans while allowing payroll taxes to go up. But they left themselves only two months to settle seemingly irreconcilable differences over how much the United States should borrow and spend and where painful budget cuts should land.

Here's a look at what's been resolved and what's left hanging:

___

AUTOMATIC SPENDING CUTS

The bipartisan deal approved by the Senate and House put off dealing with the nearly $110 billion in automatic spending cuts set for this year.

Unless Congress stops them by March 1, automatic cuts of about 8 or 9 percent are set to sweep through nearly all federal agencies, with half the money coming out of the military.

Both parties talk about the need to control spending, but lawmakers don't want the kinds of chaotic cuts now barreling toward them. Republicans worry that the Pentagon would be hamstrung; Democrats say vital federal programs would be crippled.

Federal workers would face furloughs or even layoffs, Americans would see all sorts of government services curtailed, and businesses would feel the pinch of reduced government spending.

___

DEBT LIMIT SHOWDOWN

Around the same time, the United States would lose its ability to borrow money to pay its debts, unless Congress acts. That's a big deal, especially since the government borrows about 31 cents of every dollar it spends.

The U.S. bumped against its $16.4 trillion borrowing limit Monday, but the Treasury Department is using special accounting measures to avoid default for now. Private economists say those methods could probably stretch through late February or early March.

After that, the United States would risk its first-ever default.

Hopes of wrapping the issue into the year-end negotiations were dashed, setting up the potential for another standoff. House Speaker John Boehner says any debt increase must be paired with equal spending cuts. Obama says the debt ceiling is too important to negotiate.

The last time such a showdown brought the nation close to default, in the summer of 2011, it roiled the financial markets and contributed to Standard & Poor's decision to strip the U.S. government of its AAA bond rating.

___

A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?

Yet another deadline looms on March 27. The stopgap measure that funds government activities expires; congressional approval will be needed to keep the government running. It's another chance to fight over spending.

In 2011, the nation came within hours of a partial government shutdown that would have furloughed an estimated 800,000 government workers, closed national parks and halted the work of the IRS.

___

THE NATIONAL DEBT

The "fiscal cliff" deadline was originally designed to force lawmakers to confront trillion-dollar annual budget deficits that pile the nation's debts higher each year. As larger and larger numbers of baby boomers receive retirement benefits in coming years, the strain on the budget will be unsustainable.

Obama says Medicare's climbing costs must be addressed to fix this. Republicans want to rein in Medicare, Social Security and other entitlement programs more sharply. Many Democratic lawmakers object. And tampering with programs so popular with voters is never easy.

The "fiscal cliff" was supposed to be a way to force Washington to confront the long-term debt problem. The next two months will be another opportunity to come up with a plan or dodge the issues again.

The tough, unpopular decisions are further complicated by concerns that cutting spending too quickly could damage the nation's sluggish economic recovery.

___

WHAT'S DONE

The year-end "fiscal cliff" deadline did inspire compromise between Republicans and Democrats on some hotly debated tax questions. Some of the issues settled:

? Payroll taxes are going back up, after being trimmed for two years to help stimulate spending and boost the economy. For most workers, that means paychecks will shrink by 2 percent ? another $1,000 for someone earning $50,000 a year. The wealthiest pay a lower share of their income, however, because the Social Security payroll tax applies only to the first $113,700 of earnings.

? The top 1 percent are getting socked with higher income tax rates. Income over $400,000 for individuals or $450,000 for couples will be taxed at a top rate of 39.6 percent, up from 35 percent. Everyone else gets to keep their current income tax rates, which date back to the George W. Bush-era tax cuts.

? The wealthiest Americans will pay higher taxes on their investments. Rates for their capital gains and dividends are rising from 15 to 20 percent. And the tax on estates worth more than $5 million will go up to 40 percent, from 35 percent.

? The alternative minimum tax ? designed to keep the wealthy from using loopholes to avoid taxes ? will be permanently indexed for inflation so it doesn't catch millions of middle- and upper-middle-income people in its net.

? Tax breaks for families with children, college tuition and low-income workers will continue for five years. A diverse group of temporary business tax breaks were extended for one year.

? Emergency federal unemployment benefits to help 2 million people out of work for at least six months will be extended a year.

? A scheduled 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors will be held off for a year in what's become a congressional ritual.

___

Follow Connie Cass on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/ConnieCass

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-02-US-Fiscal-Cliff-Left-Hanging/id-a3c2220908cb45d791d2f9cfffce32a1

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Rethinking bacterial persistence: Optofluidics allow for new understanding of resistance to antibiotics

Jan. 3, 2013 ? It's often difficult to completely eliminate a bacterial infection with antibiotics; part of the population usually manages to survive. We've known about this phenomenon for quite some time, dating back nearly to the discovery of penicillin. For more than 50 years, scientists have believed that the resistant bacteria were individuals that had stopped growing and dividing.

Up to now, in fact, it hasn't been possible to track the growth of cells before and after their exposure to antibiotics, which makes any analysis of the phenomenon quite imprecise. "Using microfluidics, we can now observe every bacterium individually, instead of having to count a population," says John McKinney, director of EPFL's Microbiology and Microsystems Laboratory (LMIC).

Active survivors

This new tool has revealed quite a few surprises. "We thought that surviving bacteria made up a fixed population that stopped dividing, but instead we found that some of them continued to divide and others died. The persistent population is thus very dynamic, and the cells that constitute it are constantly changing -- even though the total number of cells remains the same. Because they're dividing, the bacteria can mutate and thus develop resistance in the presence of the antibiotic," explains LMIC scientist Neeraj Dhar.

This point is extremely important. "We were able to eliminate a purely genetic explanation of the phenomenon," continues Dhar. In other words, "a population of genetically identical bacteria consists of individuals with widely varying behavior. Some of them can adapt to stressors that they have not previously encountered, thanks to the selection of persistent individuals. This could lead to a revision of the entire theory of adaptation," says McKinney.

Intermittent efficiency

The EPFL scientists were particularly interested in a relative of the tuberculosis bacterium. Their observations enabled them to formally challenge the argument that persistent bacteria are those that have stopped growing and dividing. "We were able to reveal the role of an enzyme whose presence is necessary in order for the antibiotic to work, and show that the bacilli produced this enzyme in a pulsatile and random manner," explains Dhar. "Our measurements showed that bacterial death correlated more closely with the expression of this enzyme than with their growth factor." The research is being published this week in Science magazine.

These conclusions could mark the beginning of a new theory of bacterial resistance, or perhaps even introduce a new view of how such resistance evolves. Further research is being done using other microorganisms, such as tuberculosis and E. coli bacteria. The persistence of some cancer cells to treatment could also be studied in a different manner. "It's a new approach for trying to figure out why some infections are so difficult to eliminate. The techniques we've developed for this study are now also being used to develop new antibiotics, in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies," says McKinney, adding that "it is the microengineering expertise at EPFL that has enabled us to create these innovative tools and open up new avenues for investigation."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ecole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Y. Wakamoto, N. Dhar, R. Chait, K. Schneider, F. Signorino-Gelo, S. Leibler, J. D. McKinney. Dynamic Persistence of Antibiotic-Stressed Mycobacteria. Science, 2013; 339 (6115): 91 DOI: 10.1126/science.1229858

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/5O9cyNDpRGY/130103143159.htm

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LG finally selling first large-screen OLED HDTV ? for $10,000

7 hrs.

Gary Merson , HD Guru

Missing a 2012 delivery date, LG announced on Tuesday that it will release the first 55-Inch OLED HDTVs in Korea in early February 2013,?after a year of delays due to reported production problems,?at a price of just over $10,000.?LG will discuss the TV's U.S. availability and retail price?in the next few weeks.

Over 1,400 Korean store fronts will begin taking orders Jan. 3 for February delivery on the 55EM9700.?LG said it is going to ramp-up production to take the lead in a big-screen OLED TV market that,?according to research firm DisplaySearch,?will likely?reach 7.2 million units by 2016.

Today's current?LCD and LED LCD TVs rely on light bulbs (whether fluorescent or a few dozen white LED lamps) to illuminate the image. The light from these lamps or bulbs must pass through the LCD panel before reaching the surface of the TV, causing most of the light to be beamed toward viewers sitting closest to the center of the screen. As one moves off-center, the LCD image dims, contrast decreases and colors tend to shift and desaturate.

OLEDs emits light directly from the surface, extending the viewing angle to 180 degrees and providing superb, highly saturated colors without the dimming, color shift or loss of contrast seen on LCDs and LED LCDs.

"Organic light-emitting diode TVs offer the promise of the best picture quality ever (and yes, we?re including CRT)," wrote HD Guru's Geoff Morrison last year, when the first OLED big screens were shown off. They're all that, while being thinner and more power conserving than today's best?flat-panels.

The 55EM9700 is the tabletop version of a similar model that was first shown at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show almost one year ago. The production version weighs in at 22 pounds and has a screen thickness of just 0.16 inches.

LG U.S. public relations added that??other markets where the TV will be available will be announced over the next several weeks, along with their respective prices.? This will include an announcement of?U.S. availability.

Have a question for the HD Guru? Send an?email.

More from HD Guru:

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/lg-finally-selling-first-large-screen-oled-hdtv-10-000-1C7776739

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Tuesday?s Political Ledes (TIME)

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margaret's Site - rubeldebnath2: victorrusso23: Shopping And ...

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Molecule that polices TB lung infection discovered: Could lead to vaccine

Jan. 2, 2013 ? The presence of a certain molecule allows the immune system to effectively police tuberculosis (TB) of the lungs and prevent it from turning into an active and deadly infection, according to a new study led by researchers at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Their findings appear January 3 in the online version of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

More than 2 billion people or one-third of the world's population are infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterium that causes TB, said senior author Shabaana A. Khader, Ph.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, Pitt School of Medicine. The infection is challenging to treat partly because the bacillus is able to enter cells and linger for years without causing symptoms, known as latent TB. Then, typically when the immune system becomes impaired due to other reasons such as age or HIV, the infection becomes active and causes the cough, night sweats, fever and weight loss that characterize the disease.

"A hallmark of TB that we see on chest X-rays is the granuloma, a collection of immune cells that surround the infected lung cells," Dr. Khader said. "But what we didn't know was the difference between a functioning protective granulomae, as in latent TB, and a non-protective granuloma seen in active TB patients. We aimed to find immunologic markers that could show us the status of the infection."

For the study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the researchers studied human TB-infected cells as well animal models of the disease. They found that granulomas that contain ectopic lymphoid structures, which resemble lymph nodes, are associated with effective suppression of TB, and that granulomas that don't contain them are associated with active TB. They also learned that immune cells called T cells that had a surface marker molecule called CXCR5 were associated with the presence of ectopic lymphoid structures.

It's akin to reporting a break-in, Dr. Khader said. If a person calls 911 because of a robbery, but doesn't give a specific address, the immune system police could come to the neighborhood but don't know for certain which home was invaded.

"The presence of CXCR5 provides a specific address for the infected cells that tells the immune cells where to focus their attention to contain the problem," she explained. "That results in the formation of ectopic lymphoid structures and the protective granuloma that keeps TB infection under control, unlike in active disease. Without CXCR5, those structures did not form and active TB was more likely."

When the researchers delivered CXCR5 T cells from donor animals to TB-infected mice that lacked CXCR5, T cell localization and ectopic lymphoid structure formation was restored, leading to decreased susceptibility to TB.

"The protective power of CXCR5 points us in a novel direction for future management of TB," Dr. Khader said. "These findings have powerful implications for the development of vaccines to prevent infection."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Samantha R. Slight, Javier Rangel-Moreno, Radha Gopal, Yinyao Lin, Beth A. Fallert Junecko, Smriti Mehra, Moises Selman, Enrique Becerril-Villanueva, Javier Baquera-Heredia, Lenin Pavon, Deepak Kaushal, Todd A. Reinhart, Troy D. Randall, Shabaana A. Khader. CXCR5 T helper cells mediate protective immunity against tuberculosis. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2013; DOI: 10.1172/JCI65728

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/a-Xu5wAronI/130102140358.htm

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