Mammoth Blog

Boxing great Floyd Mayweather Junior has an opinion on most everything with regards to pro fighting, be it boxing, MMA or UFC, and some of "Money's" recent remarks about MMA have annoyed one of that discipline's top practitioners. MMA weekly has an internet article in which Miguel Torres, the current WEC bantamweight champion, expresses his anger at Mayweather's derogatory remarks about MMA, and Torres also calls Mayweather out in the article..

Reportedly, the 32-year-old unbeaten multi-weight world champion referred to MMA as a sport that was "for beer drinkers," and Floyd also stated that the reason the sport was invented in the first place was because "there's no white fighters in boxing that's dominating." It's possible Floyd was quoted out of context, but Torres, as he explained to MMA Weekly, heard these comments and he is ready to make Mayweather eat his words (Torres is proud, the article states, of his Hispanic background).

"I'm not going to lie, I don't talk a lot of (expletive)," Torres said. "I did an interview with ESPN and they told me what (Mayweather) had done. I heard he was talking garbage about mixed martial arts, and he was being pretty racist on certain subjects, and that made me kind of angry because I love boxing. I grew up watching boxing."

Torres then said that although he rates Mayweather as a good boxer and a great champion, he has no time for his mouth. Torres also made it clear he would relish a fight with Floyd - in whatever form of fighting Mayweather were to choose.

"I haven't watched a ton of Mayweather's fights," Torres continued. "I know he's a good boxer. But he's very flamboyant, he's very cocky, he's a bit of a prick, and I think he's broke now because of whatever financial reason he has, but you can't talk about a complete fighter when you're not a complete fighter yourself.

"I think in a real fight, in a mixed martial arts fight, he wouldn't stand a chance against a mid-level MMA fighter. He'd get taken down in a heartbeat. I'd be the first one at my weight class to say I'd fight Mayweather, anywhere, any way he wants. We can even do modified kind of rules, we can box for three rounds, do kickboxing for three rounds and then fight MMA for three rounds. I would even do something like that so he could have a little more confidence."

Will Mayweather, who returns to the boxing ring in September after a new two-year layoff, hear or read this challenge? Maybe. But even if he does, what's the chances of the hybrid fight taking place? Slim. Very slim. We've seen boxers Vs. MMA fighters clash recently, but never at the elite level. Mayweather-Torres sure would be a huge promotion if it were to happen. But it won't. I'd bet on it.

It just goes to show, though, how "Money" Mayweather's brashness and loudness can be heard and felt in arenas other than those of the boxing world. After having insulted a large number of fellow pugilists, Mayweather is now getting on MMA fighter's nerves! source>>>

China has banned Web sites from advertising or linking to games that glamorize violence, another step in China's censorship campaign aimed at ensuring social stability ahead of the 60th anniversary of communist rule on Oct. 1.

A notice posted on the Culture Ministry Web site on Monday said games that promote drug use, obscenities, gambling, or crimes such as rape, vandalism and theft are "against public morality and the nation's fine cultural traditions."

"Such online games promote the glorification of mafia life ... and are a serious threat to the moral standards of society causing vulnerable young people to be adversely affected," the notice said. The ban on the Web sites starts immediately.

No details were given on how the law would be implemented, but the notice called for law enforcement bodies to ensure Web sites adhere to the new law.

China has the world's largest population of Internet users, more than 298 million, and the world's most extensive system of Web monitoring and censorship.

While the government claims the main targets of its Web censorship are pornography, online gambling, and other sites deemed harmful to society, critics say that often acts as cover for detecting and blocking sensitive political content that can be found on sites such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, which are all blocked in China. source>>>

Online gambling is becoming a topic of legislation in not only the United States, but also abroad. Internet gambling laws and proposed regulations are under scrutiny in several countries with possible changes on the horizon.

With the global economic crisis being at the forefront of governments' lists of problems, some are turning to online gambling as one possible solution to their financial issues.

Costa Rica:

The Costa Rican government has attempted to regulate online gambling in previous years with little to no success; however in a few weeks Costa Rica will try once more to tax earned income from the online gambling industry.

The expected revenue from this taxation is estimated at $85 million.

United States:

Between the bill proposed by Barney Frank to overturn the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and the negotiations between the United States and the European Union online gambling is a well known issue for many in the legislative branch of the government.

Barney Frank currently has at least forty-eight co-sponsors in his fight against the UIGEA. If HR2267 is passed it has the potential to generate billions of dollars in revenue for both state and federal governments.

In addition to Frank's bill to regulate and tax online gambling, the US and EU are currently in negotiations to bring the US into compliance with EU trade agreements. With the passing of the UIGEA the US violated these trade agreements and now, before the issue is taken to the WTO the two parties are working together to come to a solution.

The Remote Gambling Association desires protection from prosecution by the United States government and is not requesting compensation for lost revenue is made.

France:

France is also faced with online gambling issues relating back to the European Union. According to the EU, France's proposed regulations for online gambling fail to follow the standards set by the European Commission. The EC set standards include a single market be established within the EU.

Another issue that has arisen from these proposed regulations is relating to the reasoning of maintaining the integrity and preventing corruption of sports. To achieve this, the regulations are proposing all operators of sports gambling compensate French teams being bet on.

Spain:

Since 2007, Spanish officials have been working towards regulating online gambling in the country. As with the United States and France, the European Commission has raised issues with Spain's online gambling practices. According to the EC, Spain is also in violation of EU trade agreements.

Spain is currently working swiftly to resolve these issues and has now included individual regions in the discussions of the legal specifics.

Europe:

Even as the European Commission is negotiating allegations of violations of the EU trade agreements, Europe is divided in its stance on online gambling.

13 of the EU's 27 member states have approved online gambling. Seven of the remaining fourteen have attempted to outlaw it, and the other seven have restricted it to companies owned or operated by the state. The attempts to block internet gambling include banks facing prosecution if money is transferred to online gambling companies abroad and attempts to get ISP's to block gambling website access.
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The NFL, three other pro sports leagues and the NCAA are hypocritical for suing the state of Delaware to stop sports gambling while helping to promote gambling elsewhere, according to the Delaware House majority leader, Rep. Peter C. Schwartzkopf.

Schwartzkopf sent a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, with copies to the other four organizations, criticizing the lawsuit filed last week in federal district court in Wilmington. The Inquirer obtained a copy of the letter.

Delaware is working toward single-game sports betting for the start of the NFL season on Sept. 10 at its three racetrack casinos.

Major League Baseball, the NHL, NBA and the NCAA joined the NFL in the suit.

In the letter, Schwartzkopf criticizes the "blatant hypocrisy" of the leagues and the NCAA claiming a threat to the integrity of their contests while also entering business relationships with gambling interests.

The NFL could not be immediately be reached for comment.

The letter appears below:

July 28, 2009

Dear Commissioner Goodell:

I write this letter in response to the lawsuit the National Football League and other sports leagues filed against the State of Delaware concerning recent legislation reintroducing the sports lottery in Delaware. I was lead House sponsor of that legislation and write this letter in response.

The issue of Delaware expanding state sponsored gambling activities, such as sports betting, is an important one. For those of us who supported it, we sought to lighten the tax burden on Delawareans and help pay for core government services, like public safety and education. For those that oppose it, they often cite moral concerns and the potential for over reliance on a potentially volatile revenue source. While I have supported this expansion, I have great respect for those legislators and Delawareans who have taken the opposite view.

What I do not respect is the blatant hypocrisy of the professional sports leagues like the NFL that have now brought a lawsuit against Delaware. The lawsuit complains that legalized sports betting in Delaware will somehow undermine the integrity of their leagues. But the stance taken in these legal filings is belied by the close nexus between gambling and the leagues themselves. Thanks to the investigative reporting by the (Delaware) News Journal, we already have learned that the NFL receives millions from CBS, FOX, ESPN and others for broadcasting their games and those same broadcast companies openly and aggressively promote gambling on NFL games on their websites.

We also learned that the NCAA, while threatening our Delaware universities with taking away home playoff games if sports betting moves forward, sponsored the Las Vegas Bowl last year, housing its players in hotel casinos where bets are taken on games. Now, the NBA, the NHL and MLB have joined the fray as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Yet, the NBA permits those that have ownership interests in Las Vegas casinos with sports books to own NBA teams. Indeed, the Maloof family has ownership interests in both the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas and the Sacramento Kings basketball team. News reports revealed that the NBA Board of Governors specifically authorized sports betting on NBA games at the casino. A similar arrangement exists and was also endorsed by the NBA between the Boston Celtics and the chairman and CEO of Harrah's Entertainment Inc.

Apparently, the NBA is not as concerned about the integrity of the league when their money (or their teams' owners' money) is at stake. Meanwhile, NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, recently teamed up with George Maloof to host the league's annual award ceremony at the sky villa suites at the Palms Casino. The league's top players and "legends of the game" reportedly attended and participated in charity poker games. Apparently, a few lucky guests and players were also invited to an exclusive party at the Rain Nightclub located within the casino later that night.

The NHL's history with gambling does not end there. Former Philadelphia Flyer Rick Tocchet was accused of financing a nationwide gambling ring in 2006 and later pled guilty to conspiracy and promoting gambling. He was sentenced to two years probation, but the NHL reinstated Tocchet, allowing him to coach young players less than two years after his conviction. So while NHL players and executives party in Las Vegas casinos where sports betting abounds, its lawyers are here in Delaware claiming the NHL's reputation is at stake if Delaware moves forward with sports betting.

Major League Baseball should also be more vigilant about policing its associations with gambling enterprises. Visitors to the new baseball stadiums this season have undoubtedly noticed ties between the teams and gambling interests. Visitors to the Mets' new CitiField can enjoy the game from the Caesars Club, courtesy of a partnership between the Mets and Harrah's Entertainment, the owner of Caesars in Atlantic City. Prefer the Yankees? New Yankees Stadium includes the Mohegan Sun Sports Bar, where fans can watch Rodriguez, Jeter and Sabathia while considering the short trip to the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. Other MLB teams, including the Cubs and the Braves, have marketing partnerships with casinos. In the end, MLB should spend their resources on something other than paying lawyers to stop Delaware from legalizing and properly regulating something that happens every day in this country.

It is hard to imagine why moving forward with sports betting in Delaware will undermine the integrity of professional or college sports. Las Vegas has promoted sports betting for many years, so Delaware is not covering new ground here. When it comes to expanding state sponsored gaming, legitimate debate and discussion should continue among Delaware's elected representatives and its citizens. But the self-serving, hypocritical pronouncements and legal threats by these for-profit sports leagues that have sued Delaware should be rejected.

Sincerely,

Peter C. Schwartzkopf

House Majority Leader

Delaware House of Representatives

cc: Major League Baseball

National Basketball Association

National Collegiate Athletic Association

National Hockey League

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Brett Favre has handed the Minnesota Vikings one more loss.

The 39-year-old Favre called coach Brad Childress yesterday to say he wouldn't be coming out of retirement to play for Minnesota.

"It was the hardest decision I've ever made," Favre, a three-time MVP quarterback for the Green Bay Packers, told ESPN. "I didn't feel like physically I could play at a level that was acceptable. I would like to thank everyone, including the Packers, Jets, and Vikings - but, most importantly, the fans."

The decision was a crushing blow for Minnesota, which had openly courted Favre.

He came out of retirement last year to play for the New York Jets. He retired again, had surgery in May to alleviate a torn biceps tendon, then openly flirted with the idea of coming back again with the Vikings, the Packers' NFC North rival. source>>>

The Cleveland Browns placed wide receiver Braylon Edwards on the non-football injury list.

The team did not specify an injury in making the announcement Tuesday. A message seeking comment was left with a Browns spokesman.

Edwards is the only established receiver on the roster, and he was mostly a spectator during the team's three-day camp in June because of an undisclosed injury. At the time, Edwards and coach Eric Mangini said it was not serious, and Mangini added that Edwards was expected to participate fully in the team's training camp, which begins Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Browns announced receiver Mohamed Massaquoi signed with the team.

Massaquoi was the 50th overall selection in the NFL draft. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Cleveland has one unsigned draft choice, Brian Robiskie, an Ohio State receiver taken in the second round.

Serious shortcomings in national data, including an outdated federal measure of household poverty, are undermining the task of identifying and assisting America's most vulnerable children, according to a report issued Tuesday.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation, in its annual Kids Count report on children's health and well-being, says national efforts to track and analyze such trends "fall far short of what is possible, what is needed, and what is demanded."

The report urges the government to overhaul its formula for measuring poverty, strengthen efforts in the 2010 Census to fully count children and minorities, and improve the national vital statistics system to better track data on disadvantaged families.

Patrick McCarthy, the Casey Foundation's senior vice president, said government officials should resist the temptation to cut back on spending for data collection and analysis because of the recession.

"Ensuring that policy makers and managers have the information they need to make critically important decisions can deliver an immense payoff in reduced waste and improved results for children," he said.

The special report on the "data deficit" accompanied the regular section of Kids Count measuring how the 50 states fared in 10 categories of children's health and well-being.

The report documented improvements since 2000 in the infant mortality rate, child death rate, teen death rate, high school dropout rate, and teens not in school and not working. Four areas have worsened: low-birthweight babies, children living with jobless or underemployed parents, children in poverty, and children in single-parent families.

The report noted with concern that the teen birth rate -- after declining steadily for many years -- rose from 2005 to 2006.

The data, gathered no later than 2007, did not reflect the impact of the economic meltdown. Casey officials said they expected the economy-related indicators to worsen in their next report.

In composite rankings for all 10 indicators, New Hampshire, Minnesota and Utah ranked highest, while Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama ranked lowest. States with the biggest improvement between 1999 and 2007 were New York, Connecticut, Maryland, North Carolina and Illinois; states with the biggest drop in that span were Montana, Maine, Alaska, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Vermont.

In its special report on national data, the Casey Foundation said "perhaps the single most glaring shortfall comes in our efforts to measure poverty, the key performance indicator that rises above all others in its impact on children's futures."

The poverty formula still used by the federal government, which Casey called "thoroughly outdated," was developed in the 1960s. It calculates the cost of a basic grocery budget for a given family size and multiplies the total by three because food, in the '60s, represented one-third of a typical family budget.

The formula has not been recalculated since then even though, according to Casey, food now accounts for only about one-seventh of a typical family's budget.

The formula takes no account of child care, transportation, health insurance, and certain government benefits such as food stamps and housing vouchers. Also -- except for Alaska and Hawaii -- it does not reflect regional differences in the cost of living.

McCarthy said the National Academy of Sciences has developed some recommendations for a new formula that would take many of these additional factors into consideration, and a bill reflecting the proposals has been introduced in Congress.

Skeptics in various camps worry that any changes might cause harm by either increasing or decreasing the number of families officially defined as poor, said McCarthy. "But the reality is, we need an accurate count."

The poverty measure -- used to determine eligibility for various benefits -- has been a source of concern to many advocacy groups over the years.

Kinsey Dinan, a senior policy associate with the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University, said the current system potentially disadvantages families that don't receive substantial government assistance and those living in areas with high living costs.

She said President Barack Obama's administration has shown interest in the issue and might be able to make changes through some sort of directive without waiting for Congress to act.

Under the current guidelines, the poverty level in 2009 is $22,050 a year for a family of four.

McCarthy said he is optimistic that the 2010 census will be more effective than the 2000 one in counting young children and low-income minorities. But he said additional funds may needed to ensure that the Census Bureau can complete a thorough count of hard-to-reach sectors.

The Casey report also calls for expanded federal data collection on young children, teen dropouts and teen births. It said budget woes have led the National Center for Health Statistics to reduce the sample sizes for some of its national surveys on children's well-being.

The report recommends amending the No Child Left Behind Act to produce a more precise picture of students' progress and standardize the states' methods of calculating high school graduation rates.

In general, McCarthy said, state and county social service agencies are using outdated data collection and analysis methods, and in many cases have fallen far behind the private sector in this realm. source>>>

Security forces have rescued several children forcibly recruited by the Taliban, allegedly to be used as fighters or suicide bombers, and there could be hundreds more of them, officials said Tuesday.

The claim came as a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a checkpoint in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region, causing an explosion that killed two police and wounded five other security officials, authorities said.

Pakistani troops are engaged in offensives against the Taliban in various areas along the lawless border with Afghanistan, fighting militants often drawn from among the local communities.

Lt. Gen. Nadeem Ahmed, who heads a special support group tasked with handling the return of people displaced by three months of fighting in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas, said he had met with nine boys rescued from the Taliban.

"They have been brainwashed and trained as suicide bombers, but the nine who I met seemed willing to get back to normal life," he told Pakistani state-run television.

Ahmed's deputy, Lt. Col. Waseem Shahid, later clarified that it had not been determined whether all the boys were being trained as suicide bombers.

"What we are saying is that they are Taliban recruits. They are trained. They could have been used for any purpose," Shahid told The Associated Press.

Ahmed said on state-run TV that the children had told him there were many more, possibly hundreds, like them.

"It seems that there are some 300 to 400 such children who the Taliban had taken forcibly or who they were training," Ahmed said.

Maj. Nasir Ali, spokesman for forces in Swat, told AP that most of the several children who had been rescued were taken from a Taliban training camp in Swat after a firefight, although some had turned themselves in later. He did not say when the rescue occurred.

"The account we are getting from these boys is that there could be many more such cases, and we believe that most of them have dispersed among the public," he said. "We have appealed, and we are appealing again and again to people, to parents that if they know any of such case, they should contact us. We promise that we will do our best to rehabilitate them."

Ahmed said that a psychiatrist would examine the children to recommend how they should be reintegrated into society.

"It will be a big challenge" to reverse the indoctrination they received, he noted.

He said the boys had sometimes been lured by offers of food, but that they had been underfed and some had fallen ill.

Militant spokesmen could not be reached Tuesday for comment on the allegations.

On Sunday, authorities in Swat's main town of Mingora presented several teenagers alleged to have been forcibly recruited by the Taliban. Seven boys, their lower faces covered to prevent them being recognized, were shown to reporters.

One, a 16-year-old Shaukat Ali, said the militants abducted him while he was playing cricket. He said they told him they wanted him to be "a warrior" and offered to pay his family for his services.

Bashir Ahmad Bilour, senior minister of North West Frontier Province where Swat is located, said that dozens of children had been rescued by security forces and ranged in age from 6 to 15.

He claimed they were being trained as suicide bombers.

"They are prepared mentally. They say that Islam is everything for them. They say they are doing it for Islam. They say they have to carry suicide attacks for the sake of Islam," Bilour told private Geo TV. "They are brainwashed to such an extreme that they are ready to kill their parents who they call infidels."

He said 15 of the children were undergoing rehabilitation at an army school in the northwestern town of Mardan.

Religious Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Saeed Kazmi on Tuesday described the recruitment of youngsters as suicide bombers to be "the most serious challenge before us," his office said in a statement.

The latest suicide attack targeted a checkpoint some two miles (three kilometers) north of Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, local government official Rehmat Ullah said.

North Waziristan is proving to be a trouble spot for the army just as it is in the initial phases of an offensive against Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud in neighboring South Waziristan.

A militant leader in North Waziristan, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, recently pulled out of a peace deal with the government, and clashes have occurred since in that region.

On Tuesday, the decapitated body of a Pakistani police constable was discovered in the Swat town of Sangota, a sign that Taliban militants have not given up the fight for the northwestern valley, despite the nearly three-month army offensive there.

Police officer Sajjad Qazi said the constable was kidnapped a week ago, apparently by militants.

Rebuilding the police is key to government efforts to regain control of Swat, especially now that hundreds of thousands of refugees are returning home.

Separately, the army said security forces killed two suspected militants and arrested another 25, including a militant commander, in separate search and clearance operations in northwest Pakistan.

They also seized large amounts of ammunition, including dozens of mortars, rocket propelled grenades, tank rounds and thousands of machine gun rounds.

Also Tuesday, Islamabad police said they had arrested a close aide to a Swat Taliban commander on the outskirts of the capital.

Police spokesman Naeem Khan would not name the arrested man or the commander. Khan said the suspect had been involved in attacks on security forces in the Swat Valley, and that explosives and weapons seized during the arrest indicated the suspect had been planning an attack. source>>>

Children who were exposed to large amounts of alcohol in the womb may have difficulty processing and reading emotions, leading to problems with their social skills and behavior, a new study shows.

The study, published in journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, looked at emotional and social behavior among 33 school-age children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).

FASD is an umbrella term for the lasting developmental effects seen in some children with prenatal alcohol exposure. Its most severe manifestation is fetal alcohol syndrome, which is marked by stunted growth, facial deformity and serious nervous system and behavioral problems.

But more children develop what is known as alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, where only nervous system and behavioral problems are present.

In the current study, researchers found that children with FASD had more trouble with processing their own emotions, as well as reading emotional and social cues from others.

That was compared with 34 healthy children, as well as 30 with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), a condition with which many children with FASD are mistakenly diagnosed.

FASD and ADHD do share some characteristics, the investigators note, but while children with ADHD may have behavior issues and problems socializing, it is not because they lack the proper understanding of cues.

"Our findings show that...overall, children with FASD have more severe behavioral problems," senior researcher Dr. Joanne Rovet, of the University of Toronto in Canada, said in a news release. The main problem, she explained, is "in understanding and interpreting another's mental states and emotions."

The findings, according to the researchers, help clarify the "profile" of children with FASD.

Based on her team's previous studies, Rovet said, children and teenagers with FASD appear more likely than their peers with ADHD to have more-serious, antisocial behavioral problems like cheating, lying and stealing.

The findings also point to areas where children with FASD could be better helped: interpreting facial expressions and other social cues.

"These difficulties predict their behavior problems and are linked to their social development," Rovet said. "It is imperative that these children receive assistance in social and emotional processing domains, specifically targeting interventions to deal with their unique deficits." source>>>

For kids, two of the most dreaded words you can utter are "healthy snack." But this doesn't have to be the case if you take advantage of the magic of dipping.

Kids love to dip and it's easy to turn this playing with food into a fun way to get them eating more of what's healthy, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts and low-fat dairy products.

There are plenty of dips you can purchase that work, including all-natural peanut butter (avoid brands with added sugar or hydrogenated fats). Offer dippers such as apple or pear slices, vegetable sticks, or low-fat whole-grain breadsticks and pretzels.

Applesauce also makes a great, fruity dip for breadsticks and pretzels. Opt for all-natural varieties with no added sugar or other fillers. If you like, you can doctor it up by adding a bit of ground cinnamon or even apple pie spices.

Savory hummus is made with fiber- and nutrient-rich chickpeas blended with healthy oils, such as olive and canola. It's an excellent dip for crunchy fresh veggies, pretzels or whole-grain pita chips.

Jarred tomato-based pasta sauces, especially those made with other added vegetables, can be a concentrated source of good nutrition. Serve with whole-grain breadsticks, low-fat string cheese or fresh cut vegetables.

If you want to offer a tomato sauce that's a bit more exciting, you can make this easy pepperoni pizza dip in about 5 minutes. The recipe calls for canned tomato sauce and reduced-fat pepperoni. It goes well with part-skim cheese sticks or whole-grain breadsticks.

For a sweeter take, tangy yogurt is used as a base for a banana-peanut butter dip that can be whipped up in your blender in just a few minutes and served with fresh apple or pear slices.
Pepperoni pizza dip with mozzarella sticks

8-ounce can no-salt tomato sauce

1/4 cup chopped reduced-fat pepperoni (about 16 slices)

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

4 part-skim mozzarella or string cheese sticks

In a blender or food processor, combine the tomato sauce, pepperoni, oregano and basil. Blend until smooth. Divide the mixture between 4 small dishes and serve with mozzarella sticks for dipping.

Servings » 4

Banana-peanut butter dip with apples

2 medium bananas, peeled and cut into 4 pieces each

2 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

1?3 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt (3 ounces)

4 apples, cored and cut into wedges

In a blender or food processor, combine the bananas, peanut butter and yogurt. Blend until smooth. Divide the mixture between 4 small dishes and serve with apple wedges for dipping.

Start to finish: » 10 minutes

Servings » 4 source>>>

Leading affiliate marketing software provider, Income Access, has announced a licensing agreement with P4SMedia. Through this deal, P4SMedia will be able to use the Income Access affiliate software to power the DominoesStars affiliate program.

The Income Access affiliate software will offer DominoesStars and its affiliates a variety of advanced features to help them optimize their online marketing efforts. A variety of administrative features and tracking reports will help DominoesStars maximize the performance of their program and make it more attractive to affiliates.

DominoesStars affiliates will also have access to a variety of tracking reports and advanced marketing tools to help them optimize their own online marketing efforts. The DominoesStars affiliate program offers affiliates 24/7 support and a progressive CPA up to 45%.

"The DominoesStars Affiliate Program is a simple and risk-free way for anyone to earn some easy money. Joining the Affiliate Program can provide our partners a new way of thinking, and the opportunity to become a core business partner. This is a truly exciting brand with endless opportunities for affiliates wanting to earn real money." Said Ethan Halevi P4SMedia COO

The Income Access software features an advanced user-interface that provides operators and affiliates access to critical analytics at a glance. With all the information they need at their fingertips, users can then drill down for more detailed intelligence through a variety of in-depth tracking reports.

"Our partnership with DominoesStars is an exciting development for skill games affiliates," said Nicky Senyard, CEO of Income Access. "Affiliates promoting DominoesStars will be gaining access to advanced reporting metrics and marketing tools that will help them to boost their earning potential."

Merchant and affiliate APIs also allow users to quickly and securely access 11 predefined reports without logging into the Income Access system. This way the data can be directly integrated and accessed through third-party platforms, affording users a new level of flexibility. Other features of the Income Access software include advanced program management and communications tools, as well as flexible commission structures.

DominoesStars is a pioneer in the field of online dominoes, allowing players from all over the world to come together and play domino games. Game play is intuitive and user friendly, and anyone can start playing against players from all corners of the world.

Completely brandable and customizable, the Income Access affiliate software provides iGaming operators the ability to extend their brand experience to affiliates. The same software that powers the Income Access affiliate network, it is updated regularly to meet the needs of the igaming marketplace. Featuring a variety of in-depth tracking reports and marketing tools, the Income Access software offers both operators and affiliates the resources they need to maximize the return of their online marketing campaigns. source>>>

Bonanzle has launched a "Syndicated Seller" program to help sellers boost buyer traffic to their items. The program lets sellers name a fee they would be willing to pay to affiliate marketers for traffic that results in a sale. Bonanzle calls it a "name your referral fee" model, and used an example of how it might work.

"Let's say you have a set of golf clubs you want to sell for $100. Normally, Bonanzle would charge you $5 when you sell your golf clubs. But let's say you're willing to pay $10 to see them sold. The Syndicated Seller program can take that extra $5 use it to tempt blogs and web sites to send new buyers to your items. If a buyer finds the item while browsing through Bonanzle, you still pay just $5. But if a third-party web site or blog (aka an "affiliate") sends the buyer who buys your golf clubs, you pay the full $10 that you bid."

Bonanzle plans to automatically enroll Syndicated Sellers in Bing's cashback rewards program from Microsoft, exposing them to several million buyers that use Bing for shopping.

Bonanzle told its marketplace sellers it would take time for them to build a network of Affiliate Partners. The Bonanzle Affiliate Program will officially launch on August 3rd. source>>>

If you are looking for online money making opportunities on the internet I am very sure that you must've heard of an affiliate marketing. There are many websites which claim that it is possible to make your internet riches through affiliate marketing and of course offer to teach the tricks of the trade for a small fee. Now it is not unusual for newcomers to the world of online money making to fall prey to such claims and spend money for more information. But unfortunately they usually realize that they could've got this information for free online and after going through every written word on affiliate marketing it all boils down to a single question; can you make money out of affiliate marketing? The answer to this question is yes. Yet the catch lies in how much you can make through these programs. However to explore this we first need to understand what affiliate marketing is all about.

In affiliate marketing a company that sells products or services forges a relationship based marketing effort with their affiliates. They pay the affiliated a part of their sales profit to advertise their products. For the company this is an effective yet extremely cost effective way of advertising their product. Also there is no risk involves since the business only has to pay after they generate some amount of profit through the website.

This is a wonderful opportunity for people who already have a website or blog and would like to generate a small second income from the site without too much trouble. All the website owner has to do is enroll with one of the popular affiliate marketing programs like Google Adsense, Commission Junction or Adbrite and thy will be willing to place their advertisements on your site based on how relevant and authentic they deem your site to be. Once the advertisements are places on your website you get paid each time a visitor clicks on one of the advertisements and/or buys a product through these advertisements.

How much you make from such affiliate programs depends on a number of factors such as the popularity of your site or blog, how effective you are in choosing the right advertisements and how much effort you put into marketing your site. Most affiliate programs pay between a few cents to few dollars for a click or a sale. You should be very careful about the program that you are getting into while many establishments will pay for a click there are other companies which only pay when a sale is generated. These establishments usually pay a very good per sale amount yet making the money can be quite difficult. So pick a program that best suits your needs. Depending on how much money you want to make out of thus business you can focus your efforts. For instance if you have launched your website or blog to generate income through other means you can just use affiliate marketing for making a small residual income. On the other hand if you want to turn affiliate marketing into your primary source of income it will take a lot more effort.

To begin with unless you have a website that attracts extremely high traffic making good money through just one site can be quite difficult. So the best way here to is to launch a couple of websites. Start with at least 4 - 5 websites. Usually most web hosts will let you host more than one domain name from a single hosting account and these plans are available for less than $10. The next step is to conduct research into what type of information is the most sought after. Unless you have subject matter expertise, conduct some research through good adwords to find out the most searched or looked for phrases. You can center your website on this information; this will help ensure a good traffic flow to your site. Next you will also need to conduct research into the amount of money paid through the different affiliate marketing programs and the different products. For instance financial services and products will pay more per click /sale than automobile related services and products. Also one affiliate marketing programs may be offering more than another program. You will have to do a careful analysis of all these aspects before launching your sites.

The top selling affiliates all have a few things in common; they all have their own websites and newsletters and they also never send prospects directly from their advertising straight to their affiliate webpage. It's really important if you are an affiliate marketer to have your own website with the ability to collect e-mail addresses. I'm sure you will have heard that the money is in the list. If you have no list your unlikely to make much money.

In the ebook or newsletter you can include or recommend products with which you are affiliated with. So instead of sending the prospect directly to your affiliate webpage, you send them to your website, where you collect the e-mail addresses; this allows you to follow-up and recommend products and related products which you believe they would be interested in.

All you have to do at that point is some soft pre-selling to send your customers on their way to the affiliate site, credit card in hand. They already have their minds half made up when they land on your homepage - a gentle nudge is all that is needed. Instead of trying to make disinterested, reluctant clients buy something you have to convince them they need, affiliate marketing attracts customers who already know what they want and your only job is to convince them that you have it.

You can start off making money online by doing affiliate marketing without the need to create a website, what you're doing is creating a landing page for your visitors, or 'traffic.'

You don't need to think about buying a domain or web hosting, in fact, you don't even need to know what it means yet. This lets you concentrate on getting your message across. The better the message, the more successful you should be. The main places where you can look at and make landing pages are called Squidoo and hubpages and it's very simple to make something look nice which will hopefully lead to sales.

Remember, you only get paid when you sell something and you can start without any up front fees. In other words, you don't need to spend anything to get into affiliate marketing and make money online for free.

This brings us back to our questions can you make money out of affiliate marketing? So, the answer is yes but you would be sorely disappointed if you believe that you can make your millions without lifting your fingers.
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I've long touted that the only way great way for an antiques dealer to sell an item on eBay, is via the auction method, at which you start it low and let it go.

I used to practice and teach strategy with much success.

The idea of this part of basic auction theory is that when you start a hot item at a low price you get a large pool of bidders which will passionately compete for your item.

But "the times they are a changin".

I'm finding that with eBay's new tweaks to it's, DSR rating systesm, best match and big box seller preference, that it's no longer feasible to do this for me.

Therefore, I don't recommend to anyone that they take the risk of starting a high end item out at a low price with the eBay auction format as I had suggested before.

No need to leave eBay, I still use it as I would a local Flea Market

There's been much backlash and anger about the eBay changes, but why give yourself grief over something you can't change. If you can't beat em, join em.

I still sell on eBay, but now as more of a casual seller, and I'm learning the fixed price game on eBay. With this eBay strategy, I'm taking some of the general household merchandise that I find in estates and I'm listing it as a "buy it now", aka fixed price item on eBay. I use eBay now as more of a flea market than an auction site.

This is actually great news, because the need to take my antiques collectibles auctions off of eBay has lead me to the world of live online interactive video auctions. These are fun, very informative, and more like a real auction than anything that is out there!. Heck, I'm even doing live auctions on Twitter!

By the way, NONE of my live auctions have reserves!

So don't rue and stew if eBay auctions are no longer a viable way to sell your collectibles! Step into the 21 century with live interactive online auctions for your collectibles and sell your leftover estate items on eBay.

I'm holding live interactive auctions on:

http://www.dealitlive.com

http://bonanzle.com

http://twitter.com/auctionwally source>>>

Did you know that Gmail has been verifying e-mail messages from eBay and PayPal? I didn't. It makes sense, especially since cybercriminals pretending to be either eBay or PayPal push out millions of phishing e-mail messages every day.

Can't stop the mail

Knowing they couldn't stop the phishers themselves. PayPal and eBay enlisted Google and all three decided to create a sender authentication system based on DomainKeys Identified Mail. That way customers would know for sure the message is from eBay or PayPal and not some phisher. Google describes it this way:

"Now any email that claims to come from paypal.com or ebay.com (and their international versions) is authenticated by Gmail and rejected if it fails to verify as actually coming from PayPal or eBay. That's right: you won't even see the phishing message in your spam folder. Gmail just won't accept it at all."

New authentication icon

Google realizing that most users had no idea validation was taking place decided to add a visual indicator that displays next to every verified e-mail message from eBay and PayPal. To enable the feature, look under the tab named Lab in Settings: source>>>