"Oprah riggs contest in favor of african american" is spam blog work

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Democrat Dodging Debates?

Probably only in Minnesota, home of the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone, could you find a story of an inexperienced candidate relying on money and ads rather than using debates to get his message and face out via free media coverage:

Minnesota Democrats have a real problem in their 2nd District: The party endorsed a candidate with no experience who is scared to debate before the primary. He dodged debate offers before the convention and it worked; delegates bought his slick, managed appearances as a sign he had substance. But if he's scared to confront a fellow Democrat before the primary what tool will he use to get the media and the voters to take him seriously?

While interviewing former state Representative Shelley Madore, cable TV host Alan Miller of "Access to Democracy" offered to moderate a debate between the two Democratic candidates in the upcoming Democratic Primary on August 10th - Madore and her opponent Dan Powers. Excerpts from the show will be available online in the next few days. 

Powers had dodged debate offers from the former state legislator prior to the early April convention, so it comes as little suprise that his campaign manager, Mary Breitenstein, has opted to decline on his behalf.  Her statement Thursday side-stepping the issue concluded with:

"Dan will be focusing his time on beating John Kline and bringing the people of CD 2  [Minnesota's Second Congressional District] the sort of representation they deserve."

Mary Breitenstein,

Campaign Manager

Whichever Democrat wins the primary and goes on to challenge incumbent Kline will want to draw contrasts between themselves and a well-known incumbent.  Logically it might seem an excellent opportunity to practice a skill Powers hasn't exercised, and create a little more buzz for the party, much the way the Obama-Clinton contest helped keep Democrats in the spotlight well after it became a foregone conclusion that McCain would garner the 2008 GOP presidential nomination.


So much for "practice makes perfect."

Evidently Powers fears debating a fellow Democrat could outweigh the media exposure he'd get going into the primary. The only conclusion voters and pundits can draw is he worries that revealing how he handles himself in front of the media would convey significant advantage to Shelley Madore.

In this case, I agree with his fear despite her much greater name recognition; having spent time with both candidates I'm hard-pressed to see how he could possibly outshine Madore.  I've donated time and money to both campaigns, and I know it's much safer for Powers to rely on talking points and spend money on slick ads than it would be to engage in a debate. 

A debate would obviously reveal how relatively difficult it is for a rookie to talk issues, policy, and procedure on the same stage with a former legislator.

Still, I'd like the chance to see Powers fielding questions in an unscripted appearance, and see if he can think on his feet. As a voter in the District and the former elected party official I can't help but wonder if he's scared Shelley Madore might reveal something about him that Congressman Kline wouldn't. She's been taking the high road so far, and if there's one thing Minnesotans have learned about Kline's campaign style it's that he will research his opponents thoroughly, and attack relentlessly.

Thomas Hayes is an entrepreneur, journalist, political strategist, and photographer who contributes regularly to a host of web sites on topics ranging from economics and politics to culture and community. It is a matter of public record that he has donated to both candidates featured in this story, and recently accepted a staff position on the Madore For Congress campaign.

© All photographs in this story are copyright Thomas Hayes, 2010

Poker - Online vs. Live Play by Josh Grattan

Disclaimer: All of the following information, thoughts, and views I discuss below has been gathered over years of personal experience playing the game and being a fan of the WSOP.


(Photo Courtesy of Fulltilt.com)




Poker has become more than a game played amongst friends. Now there are tournaments with thousands of players and millions in prizes, and now with the addition of online poker, the game has changed forever. The game play of poker has always been a highly debated topic of whether it is mere luck or true skill. Luck doesn't explain why the huge event final tables always have the same players. As the years passed the game has evolved from poker nights in the basement, to huge live events with thousands of entrants and millions of dollars up for grabs. Poker transformed from a game into a sport, a live event now aired regularly on television, with millions of fans.


The skilled players are finally getting recognition for their talents and to some, their faces and names have become icons in the poker world. As poker continued to grow throughout the years, along with the Internet, the new world of online poker was born. Today there are quite a few different websites where anyone in the world can log online and play poker for real or play money with other people at any time. The two kingpins of this industry are Pokerstars and FullTilt.


With this new addition to poker the industry boomed. The online poker sites snagged up the poker pros for publicity and took over. Before all of this the largest tournament in the world was the World Series of Poker (WSOP), which is now referred to as the largest LIVE tournament in the world. With these online sites growing so popular there are now millions of people playing, and hundreds of thousands logging on daily. Now the largest tournament record is being broken regularly by Pokerstars, hosting tournaments with over a million players.


And now with poker constantly growing in popularity the websites are constantly coming up with new gimmicks and promotions to draw in more players, or keep players interested. Personally my favorite site is Full Tilt for many reasons but one of the largest is their huge draw of promotions. All the time they are hosting tournaments for no buy in with cash rewards and upgrading their site. Recently Full Tilt invented Rush Poker which has taken online game play by storm. Basically a way to play a cash game without ever waiting between hands. If you fold, you instantly move to a new table and get dealt a new hand with no delay, the speed of game play is remarkable.


There are now new poker pros, well known strictly for their online game play, and more and more frequently, middle class people are becoming millionaires overnight. Careers are being created and these sites are raking in profit by the millions... daily.


But one of the largest topics of debate now-a-day isn't just the creation of online poker, now that its been around for a few years the real debate is about the difference in game play between live poker and online poker.


Many people today believe that all forms of poker is luck. They insist that you win because you get lucky and the right cards hit at the right time, I wont go into deep discussion about this because arguing that would mean describing how the game works. And in both live and online play the game works the same. Two hole cards, round of betting, flop, round of betting, turn, round of betting, river, round of betting, and finally the showdown.


The basics of the game have not changed, but the game play in itself has. When one plays a live tournament, they have a few advantages, they are able to stare down their opponent, and 'read' them. Meaning make betting or folding decisions based off their opponents reactions and subtle ticks. There are many other ways to read as well, such as betting technique and individual player's style. Seasoned players are better at reading, and at hiding reads, another thing that remains consistent in live game play is the odds. If you are trying to hit a club on the last card to make your flush, then you know for certainty that you have a one in four chance of hitting that card. A one in four shot. But with online play, these principles don't quite work the same.


When playing poker online you cannot see your opponent, you only see a fake name and a little avatar. Now you have to make your decisions based either on the odds or the betting style of your opponents. It gets so much more in depth to the betting style because you no longer have the ability the look at your opponents face and make decisions there. The big problem comes with the odds. Many people believe that the odds are the same, same deck of cards and same probabilities of hitting cards.


But still everyone whose played online enough has noticed how frequently there are bad beats, suck outs, and a total defiance of the odds. That is because contrary to popular believe it is IMPOSSIBLE to create a computer program that can randomly shuffle a deck of cards. What they do have is a program called RNG (random number generator) also known as PRNG (Pseudo-random number generator), because really the numbers are NOT random at all. And it is a very difficult concept to grasp for many. So when you are playing online, just throw the odds out the window. Your best chance to win is play your opponent not your cards, and go with your gut.


Online poker is an amazing new addition to the ever growing world of poker and will continue to expand as the years pass. One thing every new player needs to remember is that when you start playing online, it doesn't matter how many years of experience you have playing live games, its a whole new game here.


Today with online poker and live poker both growing in popularity anyone interested in taking a chance to make a lot of money has the opportunity, fortunes are won and lost faster than ever. But as long as you keep your head and don't get carried away, both styles are a fun game to play with a lot of reward for success.


Hope everyone enjoyed my first blog post! A big thanks to Nikky Raney for giving me the opportunity to write for Zennie62.com.

NBA Draft: John Wall: Kentucky player first of record five Wildcats in 1st round

John Wall

The NBA Draft 2010 has been a showcase for The University of Kentucky. Kentucky John Wall, the SEC player of the year in 2009-2010, was selected as the first pick in the 1st round of the NBA Draft by the Washington Wizards.

Wall is the first of what would turn out to be a record five Kentucky players to go in the 1st round of the NBA Draft. The others were DeMarcus Cousins to the Sacramento Kings, Patrick Patterson to the Houston Rockets, Eric Bledsoe to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Daniel Orton to the Orlando Magic.

All of that for a team that didn't even when the NCAA Championship.

It reminds this blogger of the 2010 NFL Draft, when a record four players from the University of Oklahoma were the four of the first five players taken. That, too, was a record.

John Wall is expected to team with Gilbert Arenas and revive the Washington Wizards.

Ecuador one contract away from owning oil production and profits

Correa's moving to get more oil money 

While Amazon Watch and Steven Donziger yell and scream about American Chevron in an attempt to extort billions while claiming to represent Ecuador's "indigenous people," Ecuador President Rafael Correa is just one signed contract away from that country successfully nationalizing revenue from its oil industry.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the Administration of Ecuador President Rafael Correa seeks to replace current oil production-sharing contracts with service contracts that would "see oil companies getting a production fee, while the government would own 100 percent of oil and gas produced."

In other words, Ecuador, which has 34 active oil contracts, would take more money from Italian, Brazilian, Canandian, Chinese, and European, and other oil companies, as Amazon Watch claims American Chevron's responsible for environmental damage from oil production (there are no large American oil producers as Ecuador has either taken over production or kicked them out of the country.)

It's Ecuador's effort to offset declining revenues from oil. Production has dropped 17 percent in one year.

The new service contract model law will have two different fees, one for production and the other for new investment to increase output. Nothing has been said about using the extra revenue for environmental cleanup.

The contracts are expected to be signed and implemented by August 2010. If the companies don't sign the contracts, they would be subject to state seizure of their oil assets.   This was done to American Occidental Petroleum in 2007, when Ecuador took everything from oil facilities to luxury cars, and had fist-fights over those.  In 1992, Chevron and Ecuador negotiated an agreement for Ecuador to take over Chevron's oil production.

Again, why doesn't Amazon Watch sue Ecuador?  

Ray's Hell Burger gets Obama and Medvedev

Obama and Medvedev at Ray's (Facebook photo)

President Obama loves Ray's Hell Burger. So much so, POTUS has made Ray's Hell Burger a stop for lunch with visiting Russian president Dmitry Medvedev. And Obama had a power lunch at Ray's Hell Burger with Vice President Joe Biden last year. But what's all the fuss over Ray's Hell Burger?

According to the blog DC Foodies.com, Ray's Hell Burger's the third in a series of burger places started by Washington area restauranteur Michael Landrum, and all called Ray's. Opened in 2008, Ray's Hell Burger at 1713 Wilson Boulevard in Arlington, VA, DC Foodies reports that you can get the burgers in a variety of different combinations and for those who like cheese on their burger (this blogger doesn't), you have a wide selection of them to put on your burger. You can have basics, or top it with Brie, Italian, or Taleggio.

Obama First at Ray's Hell Burger with Joe Biden

President Obama made his first trip to Ray's last May 2009 with Vice President Joe Biden. The two waited in line to order burgers, where Obama had a cheese burger, which may have been a Swiss cheese selection. The power lunch took all of 45 minutes.

Burger eating contest!  

This time, President Obama took President Dmitry Medvedev to Ray's. On this occasion, Obama had a cheeseburger again, while Medvedev put onions, jalepenos, and mushrooms on his. That means President Medvedev had one hot burger. No word on what Medvedev drank, but given the toppings, it should have been water. (Update: the photo shows it was Coca Cola.)

What's interesing from the photos is the body language captured. Obama, starring intentely at Medvedev while bitting into his own cheese burger. It's as if Obama's saying "What do you think of the burger, as aides lean forward paying rapt attention like watching an epic chess match between the late Bobby Fisher and Donald Byrne.

Given the way Obama bit into his meat creation, you'd expect him to suddenly find his inner Samuel L. Jackson and say "Mmmmm! That is one tasty burger!"

Obama supports local establishments

What's cool about President Obama is he uses the office of the President to support local food businesses. In Washington DC, he's done it with Ray's Hell Burger, and with Ben's Chili Bowl.



As Obama travels around the country, he should extend the practice to local places in the cities he touches down in, when he has the time. If he comes to Oakland, Obama's got to try the sandwiches at Bakesale Betty's, which just opened a new place on Broadway and Grand Avenue.

If Obama visits Atlanta, he's got to try breakfast at The Flying Biscuit; the one at 1655 McClendon. If he's in New York City, my all time favorite place is the 21 Club at 21 West 52nd Street. I know it's not the "place of the people" but it's history. A place Frank Sinatra held court at and goes back to Prohibition.



"21" is an amazing place. Obama's got to pay a visit to it.

iPhone 4 problems: FaceTime privacy and "sexviding" are new issues

The Apple iPhone 4

The Apple iPhone 4 product rollout is today, and while the innovative latest version of Apple's flagship product is causing buzz for its new features, it's getting even more for its problems. 

While a weirdly placed casing antenna and a coating on the screen have caused reception and screen image issues, privacy problems not widely reported could give iPhone 4 buyers the most concern.

Apple's new FaceTime feature on the iPhone 4 allows you to make a video call to someone else who can see your image and vice versa. It's a real advance in communications, but with it comes a huge privacy problem.

First, teens can use it to send what this space is the first to name as a "sexvid" and lead to practices of "sexviding", where a person sends a sexual FaceTime video call to someone else. Second, the FaceTime communications are not secure, so anyone can pick up your FaceTime call, video and all, without your knowing it.

Admiral Acbar's warning (photo by QuickPwn)

Let's think about this: a teen making a "sexviding' call on the iPhone 4 could have that picked up by someone else who's on the WiFi signal they're using.

Hans at the blog QuickPwn.com points to this problem (and the one who made the Admiral Ackbar photo). Hans reports that an Apple Employee actually shared this information originally with Nakodari, from AddictiveTips.

Nakodari reports an Apple Employee called "Alpha" who claims that Apple is using FaceTime to steal user information, and wrote:

I will let you off with one last bit of information if your gonna write a story on this and that is Facetime, the iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 Wifi video connecting. The issue is with Wifi is that anyone can get on a Wifi Signal and potentially see what the viewers and broadcasters are looking at without them know, now Apple will deny this and say its not our problem you where not on a secure connection, in my mind I think that its all bullshit.

People should be able to have some type of security during those calls. Worst yet is once a person connects to another person on FaceTime it for some reason non of us in the office can figure out, sends us APPLE a message and says those two people are connecting via Facetime and gives out their location to us. So for whatever reason we need that information just blows my mind. As a consumer why would you need to let Apple know that you are connecting with a person via FaceTime, its non of Apple’s business.

So if a teen sends a sexvid, Apple can know the location of the teenager who did it. But Apple can also know the location of anyone using FaceTime at any time.

Apple's privacy problem doesn't stop there. The iPhone 4 maker can also know if their users have jailbroken their iPhone to escape AT&T. The iPhone 4 system sends what are called "Over The Air" (OTA) updates to Apple every 7 to 14 days. Alpha writes:

As far as Base Bands go it does not matter what baseband you TRY to get on the iPhone cause in the iOS4 there is a line of code we wrote that stands for OAU also known as “Over Air Updates”. How it works is every 7 to 14 days We (Apple) and AT&T send a message to your iPhone that gathers some data from your iPhone without you knowing and we see what is running, baseband and firmware. We then send a following message. “There are optional updates for your iPhone, Would you like to install them now?” two options “Yes” or “Later”. Those are what would would call “OPTIONAL UPDATES” Now there are things called “MANDATORY UPDATES”. They tend to work the same way, grab data from the iPhones sends it to AT&T and us then back to your iPhone with the message, “Your iPhone (name of iphone) must be updated to the current AT&T standards to run”, your only option is to “Accept” Now you can try to work your way around it until you get the second mandatory message again “You must plug iPhone into iTunes and update” If you don’t do this you will then receive no Signal from the network anymore and your iPhone will potentially lock up with no signs of use until you update your iPhone via iTunes. You all agreed to this terms and condition when you installed iTunes 9.2 and then again once you updated to iOS4.

With that being Said go ahead Try to unlock the iPhone it will only last 14 days max then you will have to break that update for that one week then again and again we currently have 6 months worth of updates for this iOS4. Apple and AT&T now have complete control over their iPhones and what their customers are putting on them without them knowing anything about it. Many of the people I work with don’t agree with this but even in our computers when people call in to Apple Care Support we can see if your iPhone is running a jailbreak and what baseband is currently on the iPhone. We have been instructed to not support any one with these things and possible void your warranty of the iPhone for Breaking a contract Rule.

Why is Alpha leaking this information to the blogsphere? Again, he writes:

The reason why I am leaking some of this info is cause I don’t think its right that we are essentially controlling peoples iPhones.

Its their property once it leaves our retail stores and people need to know what they are getting into.

First, give major credit to Nakodari at Addictive Tips for breaking this story. Second, Apple should just unlock the iPhone rather than forcing people to use AT&T.

Many iPhone users don't like AT&T, so many that they're hungry for a Verizon version of the iPhone. Why Apple is doing this is for explanation, but this time it's apparent they've gone too far. Between the FaceTime privacy problems and the OTA iPhone use updates, Apple has become Big Brother.