Barack Obama (D)

Senator from Illinois

PROFILE


Personal:
Born Honolulu, Hawaii, Aug. 4 1961
Married to Michelle Obama
Two children

Education:
Columbia University, BA, 1983 (Political Science)
Harvard University, JD, 1991

Professional:
Before joining the U.S. Senate in 2004, he worked as a community organizer and civil rights lawyer in Chicago and served eight years in the Illinois State Senate.





Notable:
- First African-American president of the Harvard Law Review
- Fifth African-American to serve in U.S. Senate
- Author of two best-selling books titled “Dreams from My Father” and “The Audacity of Hope”

Running Mate:
Joseph Biden, Senator from Delaware


ON THE ISSUES


Taxes:
Would deliver $80-$85 billion in tax cuts annually.

Economy:
Supports increased minimum wage as well as job creation and training programs for low-income workers.

Healthcare:
Wants to provide affordable, comprehensive healthcare to every American...

Social Security:
Opposes private retirement accounts and in favor of lifting cap on payroll tax.

Housing:
Supports creation of a federal fund to help homeowners refinance their mortgages...

Trade:
Voted against Cafta in 2005 because of deficient labor and environmental...

Energy:
Wants to wean America of its dependence on foreign energy though measures...


MAJOR CONTRIBUTORS


Top Industries:
Lawyers/Law Firms: $18,778,413
Retired: $15,881,720
Securities & Investment: $8,383,841
Education: $7,502,056
Misc Business: $5,588,970

Top Contributors:
Goldman Sachs: $601,480
University of California: $488,159
JPMorgan Chase: $373,507
Citigroup: $371,054
UBS: $370,850

Source: Center For Responsible Government -- data through June 30. For more information go to OpenSecrets.org.

Nokia 500 PND

Well it looks like Nokia announced today the arrival of its next generation of PND, due out in Europe in 4Q and the U.S. by end of year or early 2008. Reviews for the first try (the 330) weren't all that great... cnet review categorized it as 'not horrible, per se'. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. On paper the new 500 seems to have a lot of the high end features that one would presumably want when buying a system... like built in bluetooth for using the device as a hands free system and an fm transmitter for easily tapping into the vehicles existing stereo system. The 500 also speaks road names and ties the POI contact information to the communications systems to make it easy to call ahead to a POI with a touch of a button. Although none of this is the first time we've seen these capabilities in a PND, it's all catch up to Garmin as far as I can tell. I thought the feature that allows you to upload the addresses of your contacts from your phone to your PND so you can navigate to them was a nice touch, although one that I doubt will get much use. Readmore>>

Blackberry Storm Spesification

Display

• High resolution 480 x 360 pixel color (Display)

• Transmissive TFT LCD

• Font size (user selectable)

• Color display

• Light sensing screen

Size and Weight

• 4.43"/112.5mm (Length)

• 2.45"/62.2mm (Width)

• 0.55"/13.95mm (Depth)

• 5.5 oz/155g (Weight)

Notifications

• Polyphonic/MIDI ringtones

• MP3 ringtones

• Vibrate mode

• LED indicator

Data Input

• SurePress™ touch screen

• On screen keyboard: portrait SureType® and Multi-tap, QWERTY landscape

Battery Life

• Up to 15 days (Standby time)

• Up to 5.5 hours (Talk time)

Voice Input/Output

• 3.5mm stereo headset capable

• Integrated earpiece/ microphone

• Built-in speakerphone

• Bluetooth® v2.0; mono/stereo headset, handsfree, phone book access profile, and serial port profile supported (Bluetooth® technology)

Memory

• Expandable memory – support for microSD card

• 1 GB (Onboard memory)

• 128 MB Flash (Flash memory)

Modem

• RIM® wireless modem

• Tethered modem capability

Device Security

• Password protection and screen lock

• Sleep mode

• Support for AES or Triple DES encryption when integrated with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server

• FIPS 140-2 Compliant (FIPS Validation in Progress) (FIPS validation)

• Optional support for S/MIME

Network

• UMTS/HSDPA networks: 2100 MHz

• Dual-band 800/1900 Mhz CDMA2000 1X Ev-DO networks

• North America: 850 MHz GSM/GPRS networks

• North America: 1900MHz GSM®/GPRS networks

• Europe/Asia Pacific: 1800MHz GSM/GPRS networks

• Europe/Asia Pacific: 900MHz GSM/GPRS networks

Email Integration

• Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for Microsoft® Exchange

• Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for IBM® Lotus® Domino®

• Works with BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for Novell® GroupWise®

• Integrates with an existing enterprise email account

Feature

• Wireless email

• Organizer

• Browser

• Phone

• Camera

• Video recording

• BlackBerry® Maps

• Media player

• Built-in GPS

• Corporate data access

• SMS

• MMS

Media

• MPEG4 H.263, MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.264, WMV (Video format support)

• MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, WMA ProPlus (Audio format support)

take on Blackberry.com

Merga, Erkesso set records, win Houston Marathon

Half marathon records safe for another year

By DALE ROBERTSON Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle

Both the men’s and women’s course records fell at the 37th Chevron Houston Marathon Sunday, the former by a lot and the latter by a little. 

But for women’s champion Teyba Erkesso, her 2:24:18 was an exhilarating, tour-de-force effort considering this was her first-ever marathon and the standard she surpassed was set just last year by the reigning Boston Marathon champion, fellow Ethiopian Dire Tune. 

But men’s champion Deriba Merga wasn’t nearly as satisfied with his 2:07:52, even if it did shatter Houston’s two-decade-old record by more than two minutes. He came to Houston wanting to run the fastest marathon ever in the U.S. and he believed he could produce a 2:05, which would have been the sixth fastest ever. 

Instead, he had to settle for $45,000 — the course record was worth a $10,000 bonus — and a new Stetson. His countrywoman Erkesso earned the same with her 2:24:18, just a hair faster than Tune’s 2:24:40 of last January. Tune, a training partner of both Erkesso and Merga, was on hand to watch the race and offer encouragement. 

Merga, who is 28 years old according to his passport (he claims to be 25), left his “rabbits” behind after 17 miles, near the Galleria. Heading through Memorial Park, he seemed to have the strength to make a run at the then-world-record 2:05:42 Khalid Khannouchi posted to win the 1999 Chicago Marathon, the all-time fastest finish on American soil. But he slowed noticeably coming into downtown and fell well short, although he obliterated the 2:10:04 posted by Kenya’s Richard Kaitany in 1989. 

“I was shooting for 2:05 (so) I'm not pleased running what I did,” Merga said through a translator. “The fact that I was running by myself and the wind impeded my effort to achieve the time I wanted. The wind was a big deal. I’m very pleased to have the course record, but I wanted more.” 

Both Merga's and Erkesso's times were the fastest ever run in Texas. 

Meb Keflezighi, a former Olympic silver medalist in the full marathon, won the Aramco Houston Half Marathon in 1:01:25 and Magdalena Boulet took the women’s half in 1:11:47 to claim the U.S. championships for 2009. Neither, however, broke course records. 

On a mostly sunny, unseasonably warm day, some 25,000 runners took to the course, also a record for the event. 

dale.robertson@chron.com