Brittany Smith Update: Tip On Missing 12 Year Old Virginia Girl Finds Wrong Man

Amber alerts have been issued over several states for 12 year old Brittany Smith who was reported missing after police found that her mother had been murdered in her home. Police say Brittany is with her mother’s boyfriend Jeffrey Easley, 32. Police say the mother’s death is being investigated as a homicide but won’t discuss details on how she died. Easley supposedly lived with the mother, Tina Smith, 41. The couple apparently met each other over the internet this past summer and then he moved in with Tina and Brittany in October.

The two were spotted leaving a Wal-Mart store and they were caught on the surveillance camera. The picture shows Brittany clasping at her hands or maybe picking at her fingernails. Jeffrey stood beside her as he pushed a shopping cart that had a tent, bottled water, Gatorade and camping equipment in it. It was kind of hard to tell if Brittany was being forced to be with Easley or if she was willingly there with him. But as one report points out, it doesn’t matter if she went with him on her own or if he forced her, she is only 12 years old and according to the law she is not old enough to legally decide to leave with Easley on her own.

After police learned that Easley might be heading for Florida an Amber alert was issued and a gas station clerk in West Palm Beach notified police that a man that matched the appearance of Jeffrey had entered the stations bathroom. When police arrived with helicopters hovering over and the station complete surrounded, They couldn’t get any response when they knocked on the bathroom door so they forced the door open and found an unconscious man and dragged him out of the stall he was in.

Once they had the man out it was clear that they had the wrong man. Easley has tattoos that are pretty distinctive that the guy they pulled from the bathroom didn’t have on him. The man they found had allegedly passed out from a drug overdose so this means that police are back to the search of Brittany.

Brittany has brown eyes and brown hair and she is about 5 ft tall and wighs about 100 lbs.

Jeffrey Easley is 5 ft 11 in tall and he weighs over 200 lbs. He has brown hair and hazel eyes. The tattoos he has are on his upper arms and back.

They are thought to be driving in Tina Smith’s car which is a 2005, silver Dodge Neon 4 door sedan with Virginia license tag # XKF-2365. The car has a rear spoiler and it also has an Obama sticker on the rear bumper.

Police are asking that anyone that might have any information concerning the whereabouts of Brittany Smith and Jeffrey Easley to please contact the Roanoke County Police Department at 540-777-8641 or dial 911 and report it.

This child is not old enough to make decisions like running off with a 32 year old man, on her own. Just because she might have appeared not to be forced in the photo from Wal-Mart doesn’t mean she wasn’t too scared to run off. Maybe she witnessed something horrible prior to taking off and maybe she is too scared to run away from him. Although some 12 year old girls think they have life under control, they don’t. So until I know for sure I am not going to say this little girl is with Easley willingly. I just pray if she has indeed been forced to go along, that she will not be harmed in the process. I pray she will be returned home safe.

Disturbingly though, I did read a report where at least two phone calls had been made to Social Services before Brittany disappeared in reference to something not being right with Easley and Brittany living in the same home together. Brittany’s step-grandmother told WDBJ- TV that she called them herself and was told that there was nothing that could be done unless there was physical evidence. What kind of answer is that to be given? All of this might have been prevented had they checked in on the reports. I thought that was social service’s job to check out these complaints even if they do turn out to be nothing. We are told if we see anything unusual to report it but then when we do we are told that nothing can be done unless there is physical evidence? That is like saying wait til the child is hurt or murdered and then call us. I think something needs to be changed in some of their policies involving our children. Of course social services are denying any wrongdoing here, but why doesn’t that surprise me?

America’s Most Wanted plans to run a story about Brittany on their program Saturday night and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children are planning to start posting Brittany and Easley’s pictures on billboards across Florida, North Carolina, Alabama, West Virginia and Ohio.

I pray the other lost children will be found as well. Wouldn’t that be a nice Christmas gift for them and their families? Adji Desir and Haleigh Cummings! I pray that one day you both will come home. You have been gone from home far too long. My prayers are not only with you both but also with your families that miss you. God bless you all.

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Michael Oher: The American dream fulfilled

There are some stories that even Hollywood wouldn't dare make up. Like the one about a gentle giant of a black kid from the worst part of Memphis, 16 years old, virtually destitute, who can barely read or write. His father is dead, probably murdered. His mother lives only for crack cocaine.

By an extraordinary fluke however, he is accepted into Briarcrest, a private high school that offers a fine Christian upbringing for the offspring of the city's white, God-fearing and overwhelmingly Republican establishment. One of these families literally picks up the boy off the streets, takes him into its opulent home in the best part of town, gives him a new life and ultimately adopts him. The school has no special sporting traditions, and our hero has no evident interest or aptitude for sport, or for that matter anything much else in life – least of all learning.

But, as a result of the indefatigable support and love of his new family, he makes good enough grades to graduate from high school, win a college football scholarship and embark on a career that takes him to the fame and riches of the National Football League. Such is the true story of Michael Oher, and Hollywood has made a film about it that has just opened across the US.

The release has of course been carefully timed. This week America celebrated Thanksgiving, the perfect moment for feelgood movies about random acts of kindness to strangers, the overcoming of adversity and rose-tinted endings. The Blind Side is also about football (of the American variety) and makes its debut just as the college and NFL seasons enter their decisive phases. Last and not least intriguing, the film is a window into the most foreign of Americas, a South haunted by race and steeped in the twin religions of Bible belt Christianity and the brutal sport of football.

Michael Oher's saviours are Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy, a poster couple for the New (and these days thoroughly Republican) South. He is a former basketball star at "Ole Miss", the University of Mississippi, who now owns a chain of fast-food restaurants, while Leigh Anne runs her own interior decorating business. "Who'd have said I'd have a black son before I met a Democrat," muses Mr Tuohy at one point, summing up his existence in a world poised between the redneck and the country club.

But altruism alone would not have produced a story fit for Hollywood. For that, "Big Mike" had his size and a remarkable speed of movement to thank. The boy-mountain might have had no special interest in football and his gentle disposition could not have been more at odds with the take-no-prisoners savagery of the sport. But whether he liked it or not, he had the perfect physical shape for it.

The Blind Side is based on the book of the same name by Michael Lewis, a former bond trader and now author of, inter alia, Liar's Poker – to this day the funniest book written about Wall Street – and Money Ball, a study of shrewd financial management in baseball. Lewis excels in coming at a sport from an unexpected angle, and he did so again in The Blind Side which appeared in 2006, when Oher was already a star player in his second year at Ole Miss.

The term "blind side" refers to the area where the quarterback, the key player on the team, is most vulnerable to being caught (or "sacked" in football parlance) by a behemoth defender on the opposing team, before he has got rid of the ball. To block this behemoth and protect its quarterback, a team needs an even larger and faster behemoth of its own. Most quarterbacks throw with their right hand, so the biggest danger comes from the left. Thus the importance of the offensive left tackle. Oher might not have realised it, but capricious nature had created in him one of the most sought-after commodities in American professional sport.

In describing his attributes, Lewis waxes almost mystical. "The ideal left tackle was big, but a lot of people were big. What set him apart were his more subtle specifications. He was wide in the rear and massive in the thighs. He had long arms ... and giant hands: when he grabbed a defender, it meant something."

And that is not all. "The ideal left tackle also had incredibly nimble and quick feet. He had body control of a ballerina and the agility of a basketball player." Oher would prove such a superman. "He looked like a house walking into a bigger house," said a football talent-spotter as the young man squeezed through a door to meet him. "There's the big-blob 300-pounder, and there's the solid kind. He was the solid kind."

Hollywood, of course, takes the odd liberty with the facts. Amazingly, Quinton Aaron, the actor who plays Oher, is – at 6ft 8in and 380lb (more than 27st) – even larger than the real thing, who was a mere 6ft 5in and 350lb in his high school days.

Measured against Lewis's book, the role of husband Sean Tuohy is somewhat understated. In the film, his wife runs the show. The South has its steel magnolias but few as titanium-plated and glamorous and as capable of giving such motivational speeches as Leigh Anne in the persona played by Sandra Bullock. The Tuohys have a son, but the real Sean Jnr cannot be as freckled and cartoon-cutesy as the maddening little boy on the screen. And then, of course, there's the syrupy musical score, making sure the mandatory lump in the throat is duly raised.

Some US reviewers have found the mixture cloying and condescending. A classic essay in white guilt, one wrote. The New York Times complained about how little serious attention is given to the violent and dysfunctional background from which Oher is escaping, how the film "is interested only in that world as an occasion for selective charity". Another critic tartly noted how American films about sport "have a long, troubled history of well-meaning white paternalism, with poor black athletes finding success through white charity." In this respect The Blind Side succeeded merely in finding "a new low".

Maybe. But for this foreigner in the audience, at least, such shortcomings were more than compensated by the light thrown on the cut-throat billion-dollar business that is college football – nowhere more so than for the dozen colleges that make up the Southeastern Conference, covering the heart of the old Confederacy. There, the football coach with his seven-figure salary and country club membership and private jet thrown in is arguably the most important figure on campus. When word comes of the prodigy of Briarcrest, to a man they flock to watch him. Whether or not the phrase "I hear that kid can really pepper the gumbo" was actually uttered by Ole Miss's head coach Ed Orgeron in real life as well as in the movie, doesn't matter. In The Blind Side the coaches play themselves, smooth tongued and blazer-clad, ready to push the rules to the limit to secure the services of a player who could turn a good team into a championship winner.

Indeed, the tensest scene in the film is when a bureaucrat from the NCAA, the body that runs college football, interrogates Oher, suggesting he might have been illegally steered to Ole Miss: that his adoptive parents might have taken him in not out of Christian goodness, but in order to make sure their alma mater got the hottest offensive tackle prospect for decades, not one of its hated rivals.

And in the ferocious universe of college football recruiting, such skullduggery is all too easy to imagine. But not in this tale, with "happy ending" written over the very first frame. This summer, Michael Oher was picked in the first round NFL draft by the Baltimore Ravens, signing a five-year, $14m (£8.5m) contract. "I don't believe what I just saw," was the immortal line of a great American sports commentator, apropos of a sensational game winning home run in the World Series baseball by an injured hitter who was not even expected to play. The film of The Blind Side inspires a similar feeling. But, a few Hollywood frills excepted, happen it did.

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Pfizer CEO Kindler steps down unexpectedly

Jeffrey B. Kindler, Pfizer Inc.'s CEO and chairman, stepped down unexpectedly Sunday after 4½ years leading the world's biggest drugmaker, saying he needs to "recharge his batteries" after reorganizing most of the company's operations. Ian Read, who has run Pfizer's worldwide pharmaceutical operations since 2006, took over immediately.

Kindler, 55, described his tenure as "extremely demanding" and said he plans to spend more time with his family while preparing for new challenges.

Kindler, a Harvard Law School graduate and former McDonald's Corp. executive who joined Pfizer in 2002, revamped its sprawling pharmaceutical sales operation into five divisions that gave their leaders more control and responsibility. That significantly boosted revenue in emerging markets and stabilized sales of older medicines hit by generic competition in the wealthiest countries by promoting them heavily elsewhere.

Kindler also pulled off a huge acquisition that ensures Pfizer remains at the top of the pharmaceutical industry for years to come, buying Wyeth for $68 billion in October 2009. The deal allowed Pfizer to metamorphosize overnight from a maker of blockbuster pills such as cholesterol fighter Lipitor, the world's top-selling drug at nearly $13 billion a year, to a highly diversified company. It now has an impressive and lucrative biologic drug business, plus veterinary medicines and consumer health products including Centrum vitamins and Advil and Anacin pain relievers.

"Now that we are about to complete a full year of operating Pfizer and Wyeth together, with our world-class team fully in place, I have concluded the time is right to turn the leadersip of the company over to Ian Read," Kindler said in a statement.

Not everyone has been happy with Kindler's performance at Pfizer, though. In the last couple of years, the company has suffered a string of failures of experimental drugs in the very expensive late stages of testing. The Wyeth acquistion has cost roughly 20,000 workers their jobs at a time when the entire industry is laying off huge numbers of people. And Pfizer's stock has been in the doldrums this year and is down about 30 percent from when Kindler became CEO in July 2006.

In September 2009, the company got hit with a record $2.3 billion government fine for illegally promoting a number of medicines for unapproved uses that were inappropriate for some patients — a practice that's widespread in an industry that markets some products relentlessly.

Meanwhile, Lipitor will face generic competition in the U.S. in December 2011, and it's unlikely Pfizer's newer drugs and recent deals to acquire others can make up for the billions in Lipitor sales that will quickly disappear.

As the chairman of the trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, Kindler was instrumental in lining up drugmaker support for this year's health care overhaul in a deal that ultimately will bring those companies more customers and sales. The industry had vigorously fought and helped defeat the Clinton administration's attempt to reform health care in 1994, but did an about-face this time.

Constance J. Horner, the lead independent director of Pfizer's board, said in a statement that Kindler had recruited talented new leaders, set up more focused and agile business units, and made the company stronger and more focused.

Read, 57, was promoted in 2006 to head the global pharmaceutical business, which has about 40,000 employees and brings in about 85 percent of Pfizer's revenue — about $61 billion a year. It sells everything from pain drug Lyrica and impotence pill Viagra to cancer drugs and specialty medicines, generally pricey injected drugs for complex, chronic diseases.

Horner said he "has brought to product development a focus and commitment to advance only medicines that have clear value to our customers," adding his track record shows he understands global markets and can quickly adapt to compeititive pressures.

Read began his career at New York-based Pfizer as an operational auditor in 1978, but his undergraduate training, at London University, was in chemical engineering.

He moved up through leadership positions in Pfizer's Latin America operations, then oversaw operations in Europe, Canada and other areas. By 2002, he was head of operations in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East.

Read is well enough known to industry analysts and others in the business community that Pfizer spokesman Ray Kerins said the company is not planning an analyst conference call or other announcements on Monday.

The company declined AP requests for interviews with Kindler and Read.

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Michael Oher -- From homeless youth to the NFL draft

When the NFL Draft happens, few of the players standing up on the podium will have had quite a long a journey as Michael Oher.

The University of Mississsippi All-American tackle says his earliest memory is walking along side a road with his brothers at the age of 2, homeless and unsure of where they were going. He spent his youth homeless and bouncing around in foster homes, before a couple took him in at 16.

From USA today:
Michael attended 11 schools in nine years.If not in a foster home, he lived with friends. He was homeless.

"As I look back on stuff, it's crazy how I got here," he says. "But it didn't seem tough at the time. I just lived day to day, did the best I could."

A turning point came when Tony Henderson, who allowed Michael to crash on his sofa, brought him along when he took his son Steven to enroll at Briarcrest Christian School on the other side of town. Oher ultimately was admitted as a special-needs case.

Another pivotal moment occurred during his first Thanksgiving break, when Sean and Leigh Anne Tuohy spotted Oher as they drove past a bus stop near the school. It was snowing. Oher, then 16, was dressed in a T-shirt and shorts.

Sean, then a volunteer assistant basketball coach at the school who had met Oher at the gym, says Leigh Anne grabbed the wheel. Next came a U-turn.

"She cried the second she met him, and it was over," Sean recalls.

The Tuohys took in Oher, allowing him a safety net in their home in upscale East Memphis two blocks from the school. For months he came and went as he pleased, and Leigh Anne worried when he didn't spend the night. They hired a tutor to address severe academic deficiencies, paid his tuition and gave him a wardrobe and other essentials. Sean says the generosity was not the result of any epiphany or even as much as a family meeting.

"We think God sent him to us," Sean says. "Earthly explanations don't make sense."

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Pfizer CEO Kindler Retires Unexpectedly

Pfizer Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Kindler has retired after 4 1/2 years leading the world's largest drug maker by sales, saying the demands of the job have worn him out.

Ian Read, a Pfizer veteran who has been heading sales and marketing of the company's pharmaceuticals business, has taken the CEO post, Pfizer said Sunday night. Mr. Read was also named a company director. The board plans to appoint a nonexecutive chairman from its current membership when it meets within the next two weeks.

The 55-year-old Mr. Kindler steered Pfizer through the $68 billion takeover of rival Wyeth, then divided the company into business units.

The moves seemed to pay off in recent months, with Pfizer gaining approval of the childhood vaccine Prevnar 13. The company also reported impressive clinical trial results for a cancer therapy called crizotinib and a pill for treating rheumatoid arthritis, both of which have the potential to be blockbusters.

But the consolidation and reorganization left many inside Pfizer confused about the lines of authority, and investors questioned how the combined company could grow significantly, especially with its top-selling drug, Lipitor, going off patent next year.

The stock was hurt after the company cut its dividend to help digest Wyeth and long-term earnings forecasts didn't meet investors' expectations, though the stock recovered more recently after Pfizer addressed the concerns.

Mr. Kindler was among the industry's leading proponents of the health overhaul, and his support drew criticism from some conservatives in Washington.

A Harvard-educated lawyer, Mr. Kindler headed restaurant chain Boston Market Corp. before joining Pfizer in 2002 as general counsel. He became CEO in 2006.

"The combination of meeting the requirements of our many stakeholders around the world and the 24/7 nature of my responsibilities, has made this period extremely demanding on me personally," Mr. Kindler said in a statement. With the Wyeth integration complete, he added, "the time is right" to leave.

Mr. Read, 57, began working at Pfizer in 1978. He has headed the businesses that sell pharmaceuticals, accounting for about 85% of Pfizer's yearly revenue and 40,000 of its employees, since 2006.

He said in a statement he "will be looking at the performance and potential of all of our businesses to ensure we are delivering value to our customers and shareholders. We have all the elements for success."

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Ben Roethlisberger Breaks Nose: Steelers QB Hit Hard, No Penalty for Ravens

It is early in the first quarter at M&T Bank Stadium, but when the Pittsburgh Steelers meet the Baltimore Ravens, it's never too early for some violence!

Baltimore Ravens defensive end Haloti Ngata provided Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger with a nasty sack...

Which resulted in a broken nose.

Roethlisberger has returned to the field (albeit with blood all down the front of his uniform), but with the league cracking down on flagrant hits, we have to wonder...

"Where's the flag?!"

Steelers linebacker James Harrison has been fined a total of five times for hits like these this season, but when Big Ben takes a hit...nothing.

This may be because I'm a Steelers fan, but I feel like Pittsburgh has been getting screwed by flagrant hit sanctions all season.

To read more about this week in the NFL, check out Bleacher Report Brian DiTullio's NFL Weel

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Julian Fantino to run for Tories in Vaughan

OTTAWA—Julian Fantino, for years Ontario’s best known and highest-ranking cop, will be the Conservative candidate in the Vaughan federal by-election when it’s called by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the Toronto Star has learned.

A senior government source said “he’s going for it, no doubt” — even as the Prime Minister’s office tried to douse expectations that the former Ontario Provincial Police commissioner was making the leap to federal politics.

“I was told it was a done deal,” another senior Conservative said.

Fantino would be expected to ultimately land in cabinet if the Conservatives are re-elected.

Getting the retired and often controversial hard-nosed, law and order former Toronto police chief is considered a coup for the federal Conservatives, who have been courting him for some time.

Ontario Progressive Conservatives were also trying to woo Fantino to run at the provincial level.

Fantino, who could not be reached Wednesday, once told the Star he was not interested in municipal politics because he had his sights set on something bigger.

A veteran Ontario conservative said Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty was smart enough to take him out of the mix at the provincial level by making him the head of the OPP.

Conservative Senator Bob Runciman said if the 67-year-old Fantino goes for it, he will undoubtedly get a cabinet post.

“He’s probably the best known police officer in Canada today and highly respected. It would be a coup, there’s no question about it,” Runciman told the Star.

“I don’t think there is any question if the Conservatives are still in power that he’d be immediately in cabinet.’’

The longtime Liberal riding opened up in the summer when Maurizio Bevilacqua, the MP for Vaughan for the past 22 years, decided to call it quits to run for Vaughan mayor.

Harper, who has yet to set a date for the Vaughan by-election, may wait and bundle it together with other by-elections across the country, the Star was told.

Two by-elections must be held in Manitoba, and Harper must call one for Winnipeg North by Oct. 27.

Even Liberals believe that Fantino will be difficult to beat, given his profile.

He was once York Region police chief and he lives in the riding in Woodbridge, home to a large Italian-Canadian community.

In an interview last month with the Star, Fantino downplayed talk of his leap into federal politics but stopped well short of denying an interest.

“At this point, I am more interested in decompressing from 42 years of very busy public service, and that’s where it’s at,” Fantino said.

“Who knows what the future will bring?”

Over his years as a police executive Fantino has certainly been an often outspoken and controversial figure.

In 1994, gay activists in London, Ont., accused Fantino, who was then that city’s police chief, of turning a child pornography investigation into a witch hunt against gay men.

Fantino denied any such thing, but acknowledged he should have “communicated, sought out and done a little bit more proactive work with the gay community in London before all of this.”

In 2002, when the Star ran a series of award-winning articles exposing racial bias on the Toronto force, then-chief Fantino flatly denied it existed. The police union launched a $2.7 billion class-action libel lawsuit against the Star. It eventually was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Canada, which upheld a previous decision by the Ontario Superior Court.

Fantino, who presided over the provincial police for almost four years, inherited the complicated Caledonia native standoff from his predecessor Gwen Boniface and his efforts to defuse tensions would land him in hot water.

A local activist, Gary McHale, filed private charges against Fantino, alleging he had attempted to influence municipal politicians, but it took a court in Cayuga a mere 20 minutes to dismiss the allegations.

McHale had alleged that an email Fantino sent to the Haldimand County mayor in 2007 constituted a threat. The court disagreed.

It has been suggested that Fantino would have to change his position on the long-gun registry in order to fit in with the Conservative caucus but, in fact, he was one chief to speak out against the registry, as he did in 2003 when he was Toronto police chief.

A spokesperson for Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair pointed out the registry back then, before the RCMP assumed responsibility for it in 2006, was not the system it is today.

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So What Do You Do, Anderson Cooper?

There's a certain restlessness to Anderson Cooper, CNN's newest star anchor. That his iconically young-but-silver-haired visage gazes at you from billboards and magazine ads everywhere suggests a certain in-your-face-ness, but so, too, and more significantly, does his career path. There's a palpable desire to be where the action is. He went overseas with only a camcorder (and, granted, a family fortune; his mother is railroad heiress and designer Gloria Vanderbilt) as a freelance foreign correspondent when he was just 23 years old. When the reality-TV craze was just starting out, he abandoned a coveted network-news slot to join up with The Mole. Then, just months after September 11, when the nation's thoughts suddenly shifted back to serious matters, he signed on with CNN and returned to news world.

In September 2003, CNN launched Anderson Cooper 360°, which the network describes as a "fast-moving, surprising and provocative alternative to the typical network evening newscast." The nightly broadcast is sort of a magazine show about the day's news, reporting all the headlines, as Tom, Peter, or Dan's broadcast would, but presenting them in longer, in-depth personality and analysis segments. Like Keith Olbermann's Countdown on MSNBC, it's part of the cable networks' efforts to present news in a manner appealing to a non-geriatrics. (Have you ever counted all the denture-cream ads on the Big Three nightly newscasts?) So far, it appears to be working: 360° draws the youngest viewership of any CNN show.

Cooper spoke to mediabistro.com recently about his unorthodox route into the news biz, the future of news anchors, and his recent turn on the "Power Players" edition of Jeopardy! (which airs tonight).

Birthdate: June 3, 1967
Hometown: New York City
First Section of the Sunday Times: "The front section—kind of boring, but true."

Are you a news junkie in your free time as well?
I've been a news junkie since I was in utero.

Tell me a little about your career path. How did you get to where you are?
I started out trying to get a job answering phones at ABC and I couldn't get it—which I guess shows the value of a Yale education. Instead I got a fact-checker job at Channel One, Chris Whittle's 12-minute satellite news program broadcast directly to high-school classrooms. I was a fact checker with them for six months, and then I decided that I wanted to be a reporter but figured if I told anyone they wouldn't give me the chance

Because you didn't have the experience?
No. It's just that I find if you announce your intentions it's always easier for people to say no. Instead, I came up with this plan: I quit my job and moved overseas and started shooting with my own video camera. I figured if I put myself in situations where there weren't many Americans around and I shot little stories, then I could sell them to Channel One. I wanted to make it impossible for them to not put me on air.

Did you go by yourself?
Yeah. I had a friend of mine make a fake press pass on a Macintosh, and I snuck into Burma and hooked up with some students fighting the Burmese government. I had met the person who was involved in the Burmese student movement in New York, and they gave me the name of a contact in a town in Western Thailand. So I found my way to this town that was like a Wild West border town, and I contacted the person and said I was a reporter. We met in an ice cream parlor, and then they agreed to take me in, and they smuggled me across the border into Burma.

Would you do the same thing in today's environment?
It's a lot different. I wouldn't do it in Iraq, certainly, although—well, I don't know, but I probably wouldn't. I think it's a lot different now. I wish someone would do it again in Burma; there's still the same fighting going on. After Burma I lived in Vietnam for six months and studied Vietnamese, and then I started going to wars again. I went to Somalia in the early days of the famine and basically did the same thing. I used my press pass to hitch a ride on a relief flight.

All for Channel One?
Yeah. I ended up doing that for two years for them. Just going to wars. I became sort of fascinated with conflict.

What about it?
For one thing, it's witnessing history, which I think is the most understandable answer. But I also found that I felt that the molecules in the air were different. In all the places where there was conflict it was sort of a highly charged atmosphere and there was something about it that appealed to me. I found I was very interested in issues of survival and why some people survive and others don't. I wanted to see first-hand. I felt very comfortable in those places.

Has it been hard to transition into the anchor role? Now you're on the back of every magazine and on big billboards. Is it hard to become the personality of news in that way?
It hasn't, really. I was at ABC news for five years, and I started anchoring an overnight newscast there, called World News Now. That's where Aaron Brown started at ABC, and it's sort of an irreverent newscast. So I sort of snuck into anchoring; I never really planned to be an anchor.

I think the notion of traditional anchor is fading away, the all-knowing, all-seeing person who speaks from on high. I don't think the audiences really buy that anymore. As a viewer, I know I don't buy it. I think you have to be yourself, and you have to be real and you have to admit what you don't know, and talk about what you do know, and talk about what you don't know as long as you say you don't know it. I tend to relate more to people on television who are just themselves, for good or for bad, than I do to someone who I believe is putting on some sort of persona. The anchorman on The Simpsons is a reasonable facsimile of some anchors who have that problem.

Do you think your on-air persona is the same as your off-air persona?
Yes. It's very close.

Do you think that's unusual?
Well, I think that a lot of anchors become their on-air persona, as opposed to their on-air persona being a reflection of who they really are. I think it's very easy to become this image of yourself, and that shouldn't be the case. It's not my objective. My objective is to go the other way and as much as possible be myself, as opposed to altering who I am in order to fit someone's idea of what an anchor should be.

Part of the persona issue is also just branding. With all the competition in cable news now, there's a lot of focus on differentiating the brand of one channel from the next. Could that branding sometimes affect the news product?
I get the whole branding thing. I think that when it starts to affect what stories you're going to tell that's a problem. But for the most part, it shouldn't get in the way. I think it's more about packaging what you're doing than anything else, making it visually presentable. What you need to do is present the news in a way that is true to yourself and true to your sensibilities and true to what you think is providing the right amount of context. I think sometimes it's silly and just gets in the way, but I think you have to be wise about what you do.

So I've got to ask: Why go do Celebrity Mole a few years ago? Do you think it has helped or hurt your career?
I didn't do Celebrity Mole. I just did the first season, the regular Mole. I draw the line at Celebrity Mole. Frankly, I'd worked at Channel One for three years doing combat stuff and then at ABC for five years. My last year at ABC, I was working overnights anchoring this newscast then during the day at 20/20. So I was sleeping in two- or four-hour shifts, and I was really tired and wanted a change. I wanted to clear my head and get out of news a little bit, and I was interested in reality TV—and it was interesting. But two seasons was enough, and 9/11 happened, and I thought I needed to be getting back to news.

And you're one of the news guys on the current special Jeopardy! series. How'd that go?
I'm not allowed to say who won, but I was playing against Kweisi Mfume of the NAACP and Maria Bartiromo of CNBC. It was called the "Power Players" edition, though I'm not sure why I was in it because I'm neither a "playa" nor a person of power. The experience really made me realize how much of a loser I am, because of how much I got into it. I mean, it's kind of a no-win proposition. In what I do you're supposed to know a certain amount of things, and there you are exposing yourself to ridicule for not knowing stuff. I didn't consider it that much in advance, but that morning I woke up and was like "What have I got myself into?" But I feel OK about it now.

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Tensions high as North, South Korea trade shelling

INCHEON, South Korea – North and South Korea exchanged artillery fire Tuesday along their disputed frontier, raising tensions between the rivals to their highest level in more than a decade. The communist nation warned of more military strikes if the South encroaches on the maritime border by "even 0.001 millimeter."

The skirmish began when North Korea warned the South to halt military drills near their sea border, according to South Korean officials. When Seoul refused and began firing artillery into disputed waters — but away from the North Korean shore — the North retaliated by shelling the small island of Yeonpyeong, which houses South Korean military installations and a small civilian population.

Seoul responded by unleashing its own barrage from K-9 155mm self-propelled howitzers and scrambling fighter jets. Two South Korean marines were killed in the shelling that also injured 15 troops and three civilians.

Officials in Seoul said there could be considerable North Korean casualties.

The confrontation lasted about an hour and left the uneasiest of calms, with each side threatening further bombardments.

North Korea's apparent progress in its nuclear weapons program and its preparations for handing power to a new generation have plunged relations on the heavily militarized peninsula to new lows in recent weeks.

South Korea's military was put on high alert after the shelling — one of the rivals' most dramatic confrontations since an armistice halted the Korean War in 1953 and one of the few to put civilians at risk.

"I thought I would die," said Lee Chun-ok, 54, an islander who said she was watching TV in her home when the shelling began. Suddenly, a wall and door collapsed.

"I was really, really terrified," she told The Associated Press after being evacuated to the port city of Incheon, west of Seoul, "and I'm still terrified."

The attacks focused global attention on the tiny island and sent stock prices down worldwide. The dollar and gold rose as investors sought safe places to park money. Hong Kong's main stock index sank 2.7 percent, while European indexes fell between 1.7 and 2.5 percent. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 142 points, or 1.3 percent.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, who convened an emergency security meeting shortly after the initial bombardment, said an "indiscriminate attack on civilians can never be tolerated."

"Enormous retaliation should be made to the extent that (North Korea) cannot make provocations again," he said.

The United States, which has more than 28,000 troops stationed in South Korea, condemned the attack. The White House said President Barack Obama was "outraged" by North Korea's actions.

Top national security aides planned to meet later Tuesday to discuss the situation. The White House said it would work with its international partners to determine the appropriate next steps.

Gen. Walter Sharp, commander of U.S. forces in South Korea and the U.S.-led U.N. Command, said in a Facebook posting that the U.S. military is "closely monitoring the situation and exchanging information with our (South Korean) allies as we always do."

China, the North's economic and political benefactor, which also maintains close commercial ties to the South, appealed for both sides to remain calm and "to do more to contribute to peace and stability on the peninsula," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned North Korea's artillery attack, calling it "one of the gravest incidents since the end of the Korean War," his spokesman Martin Nesirky said. Ban called for "immediate restraint" and insisted "any differences should be resolved by peaceful means and dialogue," the spokesman said.

The clash "brings us one step closer to the brink of war," said Peter Beck, a research fellow with the Council on Foreign Relations, "because I don't think the North would seek war by intention, but war by accident, something spiraling out of control has always been my fear."

South Korea holds military exercises like Tuesday's off the west coast about every three months, and they typically provoke an angry response from North Korea, but Tuesday's confrontation was far from typical.

Skirmishes flare up along the disputed border from time to time, but this clash follows months in which tensions have steadily risen to their worst levels since the late 1980s, when a confessed agent for North Korea bombed a South Korean jetliner, killing all 115 people aboard.

The communist regime in Pyongyang has sought to consolidate power at home ahead of a leadership transition and hopes to gain leverage abroad before re-entering international talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programs.

In March, North Korea was blamed for launching a torpedo that sank the South Korean warship Cheonan while on routine patrol, killing 46 sailors. South Korea called it the worst military attack on the country since the war. Pyongyang denied responsibility. South Korea did not retaliate for the sinking of the Cheonan.

Six weeks ago, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il anointed his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, heir apparent. This week, Pyongyang claimed it has a new uranium enrichment facility, raising concerns about its pursuit of atomic weapons.

South Korea faces an uphill struggle if it wants the U.N. Security Council to condemn North Korea for the attack or to impose a third round of sanctions.

While Seoul can count on strong support from the U.S. and other Western powers on the council, it is likely to face opposition from China, a veto-wielding member.

China agreed to two rounds of sanctions against Pyongyang after its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, and Seoul wanted the U.N.'s most powerful body to condemn North Korea for the Cheonan sinking. But North Korea warned that its military forces would respond if the council questioned or condemned the country over the sinking, and China opposed direct condemnation or a third round of sanctions.

Yeonpyeong lies a mere seven miles (11 kilometers) from — and within sight of — the North Korean mainland. Famous for its crabbing industry, it is home to about 1,700 civilians as well as South Korean military installations. There are about 30 other small islands nearby.

North Korea fired dozens of rounds of artillery in three separate barrages that began in midafternoon, while South Korea returned fire with about 80 rounds, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said. Naval operations had been reinforced in the area, the military said early Wednesday, declining to elaborate.

Columns of thick black smoke rose from homes on the island, video from YTN cable TV showed. Screams and shouts filled the air as shells rained down on the island just south of the disputed sea border.

Island residents fled to some 20 shelters on the island and sporadic shelling ended after about an hour, according to the military.

A North Korean statement said it was merely "reacting to the military provocation of the puppet group with a prompt powerful physical strike," and accused Seoul of starting the skirmish with its "reckless military provocation as firing dozens of shells inside the territorial waters of the" North.

The supreme military command in Pyongyang threatened more strikes if the South crossed their maritime border by "even 0.001 millimeter," according to the North's official Korean Central News Agency.

Government officials in Seoul called North Korea's bombardments "inhumane atrocities" that violated the 1953 armistice halting the Korean War. The two sides technically remain at war because a peace treaty was never signed, and nearly 2 million troops — including tens of thousands from the U.S. — are positioned on both sides of the world's most heavily militarized border.

North Korea does not recognize the western maritime border drawn unilaterally by the U.N. at the close of the conflict, and the Koreas have fought three bloody skirmishes there in recent years.

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Chicago Bulls Free Agency: Team Should Give Shannon Brown Second Chance

For the majority of Chicago Bulls fans who don't remember, once upon a time Shannon Brown played for the Bulls.

His tenure in Chicago was unremarkable, as he played in only six games and averaged 1.5 points per contest in 2007-2008. His next-highest statistic was turnovers at nearly one per game.

Of course, Brown is now a two-time NBA champion after playing with Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers for the past two seasons.

That's more rings than Tracy McGrady or Allen Iverson, two big name players still searching for a team.

McGrady has been linked with the Bulls as of late, but despite his past performance, Brown fits much better with the new-look Bulls.

Sure, Brown is still a bit of a raw talent. He averaged 8.1 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game last season, all of which were career highs.

However, he has the youth and athleticism this Bulls squad is looking for. Chicago is easily one of the youngest teams in the league, and adding the 24-year-old will only make the squad more energetic.

Brown may not be the fantastic three-point shooter the Bulls crave at the shooting guard position, but he made a respectable 33 percent of his shots from beyond the arc last season.

That's much better than the Bulls' current starting shooting guard, Ronnie Brewer, who shot 10 percent worse from distance.

However, a platoon of Brown and Brewer would make for a perfect offensive-defensive duo. Not to mention "Brown and Brewer" rolls nicely off the tongue.

Brown has been a part of the Lakers' deep playoff runs and has stepped up in big moments. That would add to the Utah Jazz core Chicago acquired.

Brown, like Brewer, could run with Rose and start the fastbreak. He's a great finisher at the rim and has reduced his turnovers.

With all that said, signs are pointing toward him returning to the Lakers.

Yet, anything is possible during this free agency period, and the Bulls would be wise to target Brown aggressively. The team still has a significant amount of cap room even after the recent addition of C.J. Watson, and should consider using nearly all of it to pry Brown from the Lakers' grasp.

Going after McGrady is a waste of time. Some team (read Clippers) is going to overpay for him, and chances are McGrady will under-perform or get injured at some point during the season.

McGrady spurned the Bulls once. It's time for them to return the favor.

Brown, on the other hand, has the potential to be a quality player on a championship contender for years to come. He already proved that in Los Angeles.

The key for the Bulls in the final stages of free agency is to not overspend. Period. The eight-man rotation is pretty much established.

That should not stop the Bulls from being aggressive though. Brown is arguably the best young talent still available in the free agent market, and the Bulls are a young team looking to work their way to the top.

Brown already knows what a championship tastes like. And chances are he wants more.

The Bulls could use that hunger next season.

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Oregon Ducks vs. Arizona Wildcats: Has Chip Kelly Underestimated the Elements?

In a recent interview, Oregon coach Chip Kelly seemed to shrug off the influence of weather in Friday night's clash with Arizona at Autzen Stadium.

“Sometimes I think more is put into that than there is,” he said. “They (Arizona) are a strong team mentally. (Arizona coach) Mike (Stoops)…I have a lot of respect for him. I don’t think the weather is going to be a factor in this game.”

The implication is that Arizona, a team from the warm, dry climes of the south, could be disadvantaged by cooler, wet field conditions at Autzen on Friday.

Indeed, the latest National Weather Service forecast calls for temperatures in the low 40s and a 90 percent chance of wind and rain at game time.

In any other year, a team nicknamed the "Ducks" would certainly gain some advantage from inclement weather. However, in 2010, Oregon has, for the most part, played it's entire schedule in warm, dry conditions.

There was that one game in Tennessee which was delayed due to a violent, passing thunderstorm, but play resumed only after the intense downpour had subsided.

So it would seem the Ducks, who practice primarily in the Great Indoors at the Moshofsky Center, have no real weather advantage. And it is true that both teams must equally adapt to the elements.

In that sense, Kelly's statement is right on.

If the forecast holds true though, game strategy will certainly be affected. The passing game, kicking game, footing and turnovers will become issues.

Will the high-octane blur offense of Oregon and the pass-happy offense of Arizona be nullified?

Will Oregon's grind-it-out, deliberate, time-consuming facet of their offense-discovered in the fourth quarter at Cal -come into play?

Will a run-oriented scheme by the Ducks then play into the hands of the vaunted Wildcat defense?

Depending on the severity of the conditions, we're likely to see a very different kind of ballgame Friday night. It may well be decided by a slippery ball or a gust of wind.

There is something invigorating about an outside element dictating the moment-by-moment decisions on the field.

It could be the kind of ballgame old-timers remember as being typical of late November in Oregon.

Think about that.

After all, how did the Ducks get their nickname?

With today's well-drained surfaces, Spiderman gloves and on-field heaters, perhaps the weather has been minimized a bit.

Still, with all the technical advances of our modern age, weather can stop a shuttle launch or bring an entire city to a standstill.

There's an ornery streak in me which generates a warm smile as nature interrupts the affairs of men. Cruel as that may sound, to gain a victory under those conditions is so much sweeter.

And come Friday night, that dark side of me hopes it pours.

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Japan on High Alert Following North Korea's Attack

TOKYO—North Korea's artillery attack on a South Korean island put the Japanese government on high alert, with Prime Minister Naoto Kan ordering his cabinet members to step up information-gathering and prepare for emergencies.

After Mr. Kan gathered his key cabinet ministers for an emergency meeting late Tuesday, Tokyo issued a statement that harshly condemned Pyongyang for its attacks on civilian targets and expressed strong support for South Korea.

"The latest act of provocation undermines the peace and security of the entire northeast Asian region including Japan, not just those of South Korea," chief cabinet secretary Yoshito Sengoku said at a news conference, as he called the attack an "unforgivable act." "We demand an immediate end to this kind of action," he said.

The strong show of support for South Korea comes as Tokyo moves to strengthen security ties with Seoul, as both nations, along with their mutual allies such as the U.S. and Australia, beef up cooperation to counter rising tensions in northeast Asia. The swelling military presence of China and uncertainties surrounding a leadership transition in North Korea have stoked concerns.

While asking his ministers to start preparing for emergency situations to ensure the safety of the Japanese people, Mr. Kan ordered to maintain particularly strong communications with Seoul and Washington.

Japan's self-defense forces are expected to escalate intelligence-gathering activities, including closer surveillance from naval vessels operating in the Sea of Japan near the Korean Peninsula, government officials say. They would also keep in close contact with the U.S. military.

Mr. Kan spent his afternoon on a national holiday discussing with his aides North Korea's attack on the South. South Korea scrambled jets and returned fire after the North fired scores of artillery rockets on Yeonpyeong island Tuesday afternoon, setting houses on fire in its small villages and sending its 1,200 residents scrambling for bomb shelters.

At this point, Japanese activities will focus on information-gathering, rather than preparing forces for a possible wartime situation, the government officials said, citing the South Korean government's effort to contain the situation.

If fighting were to escalate between the Koreas, Japan would also need to prepare for a potential flood of refugees.

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2009 San Antonio Spurs

Even as we say “Congratulations” to the Phoenix Suns, who beat the Spurs 4 games to 0 to advance to the Conference Finals in the 2010 NBA Playoffs, we want to say a big “Thank you” to the San Antonio Spurs, who place 2nd in the brutal Southwest Division, for the great season they had!

The San Antonio Spurs ended the 2008-09 season at the top of the Southwest Division and made it to the playoffs, though their bout with the Mavericks led to a first round exit. The Spurs are perennial playoff contenders, and adding Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess and DeJuan Blair made them even more of an offensive threat. Ian Mahinmi is fully healed and Tony Parker is just reaching his prime, so if Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili can just stay healthy, expect the Spurs to battle it out with the Lakers for the Western Conference title. If you want to watch the Spurs dominate the 2009-10 season live and in person, then nab your AT&T Center tickets today!

The San Antonio Spurs first came to the NBA in 1976. They were originally members of the ABA (American Basketball Association), and in 1999, the Spurs became the first former ABA team to win a NBA Championship. They have maintained a strong position in the powerful Western Conference year after year, and they are always in the hunt for another Championship.

After coming to San Antonio in 1976, the Spurs won the NBA title in 1999 with the help of the Twin Towers, Tim Duncan and David Robinson - the 2002-03 season was Admiral Robinson's last of his impressive career. The 2009-10 season is starting out great, with head coach Gregg Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford at the helm and Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Emanuel Ginobili under contract until at least 2010, the Spurs are poised to make another run at the title and probably have the most talented team they ever had in franchise history to date. The AT&T Center hosts all home games for the San Antonio Spurs.

The San Antonio Spurs are looking to repeat their 2007 Championship run. The Spurs still look to be in good shape. They are still led by point guard Tony Parker and the phenomenal Tim Duncan, and they should have no problem powering the Spurs back into the playoffs. Will Coach of the Year ('03) Gregg Popovich be able to steer his San Antonio Spurs to another NBA Finals? Be sure to find out, and watch a Spurs home game this year at the AT&T Center in beautiful San Antonio after a day on the scenic River Walk.

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New Zealand mine explosion: three Britons among 29 trapped

Rescuers were preparing early this morning to enter a mine in New Zeland where 29 men – including three Britons – were trapped following a powerful gas explosion deep underground.

Emergency teams were given the all-clear to search the Pike River coal mine in Atarau, on New Zealand's South Island, after initial fears that a build-up of methane could cause a second explosion.

Experts said tests on air inside the tunnels had revealed it was safe to proceed with the rescue operation.

It was unclear whether the men had survived the blast. It is understood that each of them would have been carrying 30 minutes of oxygen, enough to get to air stores in the tunnels.

By daybreak in New Zealand, no communication had been received from any of the missing workers, the company said.

Trevor Bolderson, a union delegate from a neighbouring mine, said he believed one of the Britons was from Scotland and two from Yorkshire. He said the Yorkshiremen had worked at the mine for about 12 months, while the Scot, thought to be 25, had been there "for a bit longer".

Bolderson was meeting with families of the trapped miners at the nearby town of Greymouth this morning.

A colleague of the miners, who are believed to be aged between 17 and 62, said his trapped friends were from a close-knit community and everyone was praying for their safe return.

"They are a good bunch of men – they were laughing and joking when they went down and we want to laugh and joke with them again," he told the Guardian.

"Pray, hope, beg the Lord – whatever the semantics – we just want these men back alive to share a beer or two."

Two dazed and slightly injured miners had stumbled to the surface hours after the blast shot up the 110m ventilation shaft in the early hours. Video from the scene showed blackened trees and smoke billowing from the top of the mountain.

Tony Kokshoorn, the mayor of Greymouth, said earlier that rescuers had been delayed by worries that gas remaining inside the mine could ignite.

Electricity cut out shortly before the explosion and experts believe that failure may have caused ventilation problems which led to a buildup of gas.

"They're itching to get in there and start looking for other people," said Barbara Dunn, a police spokeswoman.

The drama recalls the ordeal of the 33 Chilean miners who spent 69 days deep in a collapsed gold and copper mine.

John Dow, the chairman of the mine operator, Pike River Coal, said oxygen stores in the mine would allow the men to survive for "several days".

The coal seam – about 200m below ground – is reached through a 1.4-mile horizontal tunnel. According to the company's website, the vertical ventilation shaft rises 110m from the tunnel to the surface. But Kokshoorn said it was unclear at what depth the explosion happened, but that the blast had been "very large".

Peter Whittall, Pike River Coal's chief executive, said 29 miners were missing. He added that the operation to reach the men would be different to the rescue of the Chilean miners last month: "We're not a deep-shafted mine, so men and rescue teams can get in and out quite effectively, and they'll be able to explore the mine quite quickly." Whittall said one of the two workers who emerged from the mine had been blown off his vehicle a mile into the access tunnel. The other man had been able to make a call on his mobile before reaching the surface.

New Zealand's prime minister, John Key, said the situation at the mine could be very serious: "The government has told the company it will provide any support that is required. It is an Australian company that owns the mine and the Australian government has also contacted us offering their support [and] assistance."

The energy minister, Gerry Brownlee, said the explosion happened at 02.45 GMT on Friday and the last contact with any of the miners was about half an hour later. They had not spoken to any of the missing miners since then. Brownlee said emergency exit tunnels were built into the mine but he did not know if they could be accessed by the miners.

Pike River has been operating at the site, the largest and most modern in New Zealand, since 2008.

It processes up to 1.5m tonnes of raw coal a year. It is the country's largest single source of coal exports.

The mine's ventilation shaft was blocked by falling rocks in early 2009, delaying mining for months.

The mine is not far from the site of one of New Zealand's worst mining disasters, an underground explosion in the state-owned Strongman mine in January 1967, that killed 19 workers.

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Acer says netbooks won't die as prices plunge to beat iPad

Acer Taiwan's president Scott Lin today insisted at a press conference that netbooks would survive in the face of tablets like the iPad despite signs to the contrary. He believed the dual-core Atom N550 would keep the category going as it gave about 50 percent more performance without hiking the cost, giving users a reason to pick one over a tablet. About 40 million netbooks would ship in 2010, or about 20 percent of the entire notebook arena, Lim told Digitimes and others at the event.

The executive was still cautious about the future and didn't see netbooks gaining any share in 2011, although Acer might still reap benefits as Dell and HP weren't pushing as hard for sales as before. Only ASUS would be poised to claim the most of what would be left.

Lim's comments were contradicted the same day by reports from the same region. PC builders and resellers are allegedly dropping prices in direct reaction to Apple's tablet. Acer's Android and Windows dual-booting netbook, the Aspire One D255, has dropped to the equivalent of $288. A 10-inch Lenovo IdeaPad now costs $317, while a barebones ASUS 10-inch Eee PC has dropped to $282. Few systems that aren't completely new cost more than $320, retailers said.

They also disputed Acer's faith in the Atom N550, as many of the companies weren't actively promoting the faster chip.

Signs have emerged so far elsewhere in the world that largely run against Lim's beliefs. Best Buy just this week noted that notebook sales dropped by nearly half after the iPad took hold at its stores and is planning to expand sales to all its chains. Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty has also said that growth has reversed in the US coinciding roughly with the April debut of the Apple slate.

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Use Twitter for 2010 Black Friday eReader, iPod, and Tablet Deals

The Black Friday ads are scanned online, but stores are using social media to advertise more sales. TJ Maxx sold out of a $399 iPad after a single tweet.

Black Friday is 7 days away, and people are searching online scans of ads for the best Black Friday shopping deals for ebook readers, mp3 players, and tablets. The best deals might not be hiding in those newspaper ads. On November 18, TJ Maxx tweeted that they had the Apple iPad for a $100 discount — and the price was valid the moment they tweeted it. The iPads are sold out, according to the November 19, 2010 tweet from TJ Maxx, but the lesson has been learned. To learn about great deals for electronics during the Thanksgiving shopping season, sign up for stores' Twitter feed.

The hash tag (#) for Black Friday is #blackfriday, so to find Black Friday deals on Twitter, search for #blackfriday in the search box. Other useful has tags are #shopping, #blackfriday2010, and #deals.

Stores to Follow for Black Friday Tweets

Amazon.com

Amazon has stayed quiet despite speculation of Black Friday Kindle deals, but they say on their austere Black Friday page to "come back on Monday, November 22, 2010 for a week of amazing Black Friday deals." They also say,"We'll tweet about Black Friday deals." To follow Amazon's Black Friday deal account, log in at Twitter and go to http://twitter.com/#!/amazondeals. You should also follow http://twitter.com/Amazonkindle Then click follow. The hash tags to watch for possible Black Friday and Cyber Monday Kindle discounts will be #kindle, #ereader, #amazon, and #kindle3.

On November 23, 2010, Amazon used Facebook to announce that they are going to sell the Kindle 2 for $89 on Black Friday, so sign up for Facebook, too! David Carnoy wrote all the details in "Amazon Black Friday Deal:$89 Kindle 2" at CNET on November 23, 2010.

How to Use Twitter for Information about Shopping Deals

Twitter is simple. Sign up for an account at Twitter.com, and "follow" the people and stores that interest you. The @ (username) means that the tweet message is connected to that user's account. The # (keyword) can be from anyone's account. The # means that it is a collection of tweets from any user on a topic.

With the TJ Maxx iPad deal twitter post, the tweets mentioning the original TJ Maxx post said "@tjmaxx" because they were quoting TJ Maxx's original message. The "#maxxfinds" is a collection of deals that people find at TJ Maxx, and anyone can add to the growing list by adding #maxxfinds to their tweets.

Target

Target has been having a lot of fun with Twitter because they are surprising people with deals under the hash tag #TweetTidings. Follow Target at http://twitter.com/ #!/target. They carry the Kindle, and the Target Black Friday ad doesn't show any ebook reader deals. It is possible that there could be a tweeted Black Friday surprise. Target will have the iPod Nano and the iPod Touch at their regular prices on Black Friday, but they will throw in gift cards as an After Thanksgiving special.

Walmart

Walmart uses Twitter for a variety of purposes; there are media and corporate twitter feeds, as well as Sam's Club twitter feeds. For Black Friday, the Twitter account to follow is Walmart specials at. The hash tag to watch is #walmart. Walmart is going to have a Sony Reader for$99 on Black Friday, and they have announced the beast deal on a 4th generation iPod Touch ($225 with a $50 gift card).

If there are going to be any surprises on Black Friday, it is a good bet that companies will use Twitter to spread the news. Twitter is free, it is easy to share news about great Black Friday deals by re-tweeting, and people can get Twitter feeds while shopping. I will retweet Black Friday deals as I find them, and it takes one click to share shopping news with all of my followers. This morning I started following TJ Maxx, because who knows what will have on sale next week for Black Friday

Updated on November 23, 2010 to include information about Amazon.com's Black Friday Kindle 3G (previous generation) deal.

Sources

@ tjmaxx Twitter post on November 18, 2010: "The rumors are TRUE! Select (unadvertised) locations/limited quant @ajdelao whats this i hear of @tjmaxx carrying IPADS for $399?".

@tjmaxx Twitter post on November 19, 2010: "We’ve gotten lots of tweets & calls asking about one of the most famous #maxxfinds ever! Get the details here: http://bit.ly/ah5x3F"

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Kanye West Pens XXL Article -- About Himself

'At the end of the day, it's your show, Taylor. It's your show, MTV,' an apologetic Yeezy writes about 2009 VMA outburst.

Kanye West says he often feels slighted by the media, claiming that journalists either twist his words or miss the humor in his responses. Well, the outspoken rapper will have only himself to blame if he doesn't enjoy the October issue of XXL

'Ye graces the cover of the magazine and penned the story himself, a first-person narrative in which he opens up about the aftermath oh his 2009 MTV Video Music Awards Stunt where he interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech.

"In a way, I had thrown a Molotov cocktail at my own career, and it gave me an opportunity, for the first time, to go away and find out who I was," he wrote. "Because I felt very alone.

"I stress that the incident wasn't about Taylor personally," he explained. "And it definitely wasn't about race. Where I messed up is, at the end of the day, it's your show, Taylor. It's your show, MTV."

After the incident, 'Ye was vilified by the public and became a punching bag for comics, critics and even President Barack Obama. He also lost onetime fans who had had enough of the superstar's stage-crashing antics. West said an apology — to everyone — was necessary.

"The relationship with the public and with your fans is like the relationship with your girlfriend," he wrote. "How could I not, at a certain point, be like, 'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been at the awards show. I'm sorry'? Not that I don't deserve to get beat up or change who I am inside, to make sure that that doesn't happen again.

"I knew I wasn't in a great spot publicly after the incident, but I would just block it out and work as hard as possible and let my work be my saving grace," he added.

In addition to penning a story about himself, West also curates the magazine's special 40-page section, temporarily taking the title of "creative director."

The issue arrives on newsstands September 28 and will also feature stories on Kid Cudi, Wiz Khalifa and a package on producers-turned-rappers, à West.

Now that he's survived the 2010 VMAs without incident, what should Kanye do next? Tell us in the comments!

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John Cena Biography

Intro:

John Cena is the wrestling embodiment of the hip-hop culture. Like Enimen, John Cena uses his rapping ability to insult those he doesn't like. He even personalized the WWE title into a piece of bling-bling featuring a spinning WWE logo. This young superstar has reached the top of his profession and his future only looks brighter.

Pre-WWE:

John Cena was born in Massachusetts in 1977. While wrestling in the Ohio Valley Wrestling development territory of the WWE, he was known as Prototype. He was on the 2001 UPN reality TV show Manhunt which was cancelled due to bad ratings and a controversy about the legitimacy of the program.

The Doctor of Thuganomics:

In June 2002, he made his SmackDown debut by accepting an open challenge from Kurt Angel. The one thing he was missing was a compelling gimmick. That Halloween, he dressed like a Vanilla Ice impersonator and did his first rap. With this new hip-hop persona, he would insult the crowd before the matches by making bad raps about their city and wearing throwback jerseys of the enemies of the local sports team.

U.S. Champion:

With the help of his gimmick and improving wrestling ability, he was in a main event title match by April 2003. That November, the inevitable face turn occurred and his career has skyrocketed since. He was involved in a feud for the U.S. Championship with the 500+ pound Big Show. At WrestleMania XX, he won the title. Even though he wasn't the World Champ, he solidified his spot as the most popular wrestler on SmackDown.

The Champ is Here:

For the next few months, Cena was involved in feuds with Booker T and Carlito for the U.S. title. In the beginning of 2005, he won a tournament to fight JBL for the WWE title at WrestleMania. Prior to this match, he lost his U.S. title due to the interference of JBL. Cena got his revenge by becoming WWE champ at WrestleMania 21. He beat JBL in a rematch the next month in an I Quit Match.

From SmackDown to RAW:

During the annual draft lottery, John Cena moved to RAW. This move put him into an immediate feud with Chris Jericho. Jericho has released rock albums with his band Fozzyand Cena had just released his rap album. In this battle, hip-hop pinned rock. John Cena also started out on bad terms with GM Eric Bischoff, who vowed to do all he can to get the title off Cena and make his life miserable on Raw.

The End of an Era:

Cena began feuding with Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle and also caused the firing of Eric Bischoff by beating Kurt Angle and Chris Masters. At New Year's Revolution he beat both men plus Kane, Carlito & Shawn Michaels in an Elimination Chamber Match. Immediately following the match, Edge used his Money in the Bank Title Shot and easily beat the worn out champ. He regained the belt a few weeks later but later lost the title to Rob Van Dam.

The Marine and an Image Change:
Shortly before the release of his movie, The Marine, John beat Edge in a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs Match to win the WWE Championship for a third time. The movie was a huge hit once it became available on DVD. Around the same time as part of an image makeover, he backed away from the rapping and throwbacks and now wrestles in camouflage shorts. His third title reign lasted over a year and he lost it via forfeit due to an injury.

Neck Surgery and Return:
A few months after returning from his arm injury, he suffered damage to his neck. In his first match back after having neck surgery, John won the World Heavyweight Championship for the first time by beating Chris Jericho. In early 2009, his two signature moves, the FU and STFU, were renamed the Attitude Adjustment and the STF, respectively.

Title Reigns:

WWE Championship

• 4/3/05 WrestleMania 21 - beat JBL to become WWE champ
  1/8/06 New Year's Revolution - lost the title to Edge
  
• 1/29/06 Royal Rumble - regained the title from Edge
  6/11/06 ECW One Night Stand - lost the title to Rob Van Dam
  
• 9/17/06 Unforgiven - beat Edge in a TLC Match
  10/2/07 ECW on Sci Fi - stripped of the title due to injury
  
• 9/13/09 Breaking Point - beat Randy Orton in an "I Quit" Match
  10/4/09 Hell in a Cell - lost to Randy Orton in a Hell in a Cell Match
  
• 10/25/09 Bragging Rights - beat Randy Orton 6-5 in an Anything Goes Iron Man Match
  12/13/09 TLC - lost to Sheamus in a Tables Match
  
• 2/21/10 Elimination Chamber - beat Champion Sheamus, Triple H, Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase, & Kofi Kingston in an Elimination Chamber Match
  2/21/10 Elimination Chamber - lost to Batista
  
• 3/28/10 WrestleMania XXVI - beat Batista
  6/20/10 Fatal 4 Way - Sheamus beat John Cena, Edge, & Randy Orton

World Heavyweight Championship

• 11/23/08 Survivor Series - beat Chris Jericho
  2/15/09 No Way Out - Edge beat Cena, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, Kane, and Mike Knox in an Elimination Chamber Match
  
• 4/5/09 25th Anniversary of WrestleMania - beat Champion Edge & Big Show
  4/26/09 Backlash - lost to Edge in a Last Man Standing Match

US Championship

• 3/14/04 WrestleMania XX - beat the Big Show to win the title
  7/8/04 SmackDown - stripped of the title by GM Kurt Angel
  
• 10/3/04 No Mercy - beat Booker T 3-2 in a best of five series for the vacant title
  10/7/04 SmackDown - lost the title to Carlito
  
• 11/18/04 SmackDown - regained the title from Carlito
  3/3/05 SmackDown - lost the title to Orlando Jordan
  

World Tag Team Championship

• 1/29/06 RAW - w/Shawn Michaels beat Edge & Randy Orton
  4/2/07 RAW - lost the titles in a 10-Team Battle Royal
  
• 8/4/08 RAW - w/Batista beat Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase
  8/11/08 RAW - lost the titles to Cody Rhodes & Ted DiBiase
  

WWE Tag Team Championship

• 10/24/10 - w/David Otunga beat Cody Rhodes & Drew McIntyre
  10/25/10 RAW - w/David Otunga lost to Heath Slater & Justin Gabriel

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Miguel Martinez

Song Of The Muse

Miguel Martinez shares the secret vanities and exalted strengths of the women he paints.

Angel, Carmen, Anna Maria, Florencita, Eva, Tina, Eva Maria, Isabella, Mariela, Delorita—the poetry of women flow from the brush of master painter Miguel Martinez like the songs of a bard. Martinez has revealed in canvas after canvas the secret vanities and exalted strengths of the women of the world— secrets and strengths reserved for a lover's intimacy or, as with Martinez, a divination from the artist's hand. Like the seduction of fine wine and the beauty of dusk, the women he has painted over the last quarter-century are alluring and irresistible and exquisite. As they move along the edge of lightness and dark, above all else, they endure.
"Where else will you find something as strong as a woman?" Martinez asks. "Her ever changing emotions are right out there on her face for the whole world to see."
Martinez does not necessarily create the women he paints from his imagination. He draws from the sea of life around him, capturing the woman passing the adobe wall, the woman whispering to her friend, the woman following the road to Abiquiu. He paints the women gathering in autumn or pausing on the mesa, women sleeping or dancing or dreaming. They catch in his glance, reappear in his mind's eye and manifest in the weave of his canvas.
While Martinez has painted the faces of women consistently throughout his career it would be inappropriate to consider the subjects in his paintings 'Martinez women.' They exist, as all good poetry does, beyond the master's touch. The girls of Galicia, the women by the sea, the women in friendship, in red, in winter all betray their eternities in a fleeting moment. Their gestures express life's mysteries as they lower a translucent fan in invitation, encourage the wind to wrap a delicate lace across an exquisite cheek or full red lip. They beckon and romance and compel and becalm. And, as they slowly overwhelm the viewer's senses, they begin to reveal their secrets.
"You know her story by the expression she wears," explains Martinez. "These women are concerned with family life, their children, their sisters, friends...they also dream of people that at one time crossed their paths...."
Whether saints or seductresses, mothers or lovers, the women in the Martinez ocuvre are both iconic and accessible. The allure of his work is also in his remarkable ability to create and include elements that are at once mundane and imbued with meaning. A simple ivory earring, the slender weave of a shawl, an open window, leaves on silk or the sage bloom of a New Mexican valley all seem to spring from the psyche of his female subjects. When Martinez adds a golden aspen or the swirl of an indigo veil to the painting it appears as if his subject desires it to be so. These subtleties are touchstones, not to the world beyond, but to a woman's internal narrative. Martinez understands that these are the things that, in the end, defe character and depth and the gentle succor of life—the simple, personal talismans.
"Once you've known and loved something or someone," Martinez reveals, "it becomes a part of you no matter what happens externally."
It is difficult to imagine Martinez without the women he paints. This singular focus in his art has served him well through the years and continues to bring him acclaim and new collectors. It also provides him with a departure point each time he confronts a new canvas. And it is through these confrontations that, despite the recitation, Martinez constantly proves his mettle. His ability to champion his subject repeatedly by bringing a fresh and often elegant revelation to each piece is truly the tidemark of a master. Just as Monet had his steeples and haystacks, Martinez gives the world beautiful women.
Yet, beyond his sense of color or narrative or texture, Martinez exhibits the masterstroke. Examining a Martinez canvas or work on paper exposes a surety and confidence in each connection the artist makes with his surface. No movement is wasted, no frivolity occurs. Martinez is absolute in every mark he makes. This mastery enables him to invoke a subjective, emotional epiphany in all his collectors and admirers.
"If you do not experience emotions you miss the essence of life," Martinez insists. "I want people to live when they look at my paintings. I want them to experience emotion. Every painting conveys a message unique to my experience and carries with it a part of my soul."
Despite his craft with the canvas, Martinez perhaps would have experienced a rockier rise to success had it not been for the creative environs of Taos. Born a native son to Taos parents, Martinez spent his youth within an art community of northern New Mexico burgeoning in the late 20th century.
Cash flush and culture conscious, Taos was an ideal environment for nurturing young prodigies with promise. Exposure to art at an early age was prerequisite and Martinez, with a natural edge for the creative life, took advantage of the resources made available to him. In addition to his studies with prominent New Mexican artists he attributes the influences of Rivera, Zuniga, Tamayo, Picasso and Modigliani to his lust for the picture conjurer's trade. He developed his skill and expertise through steadfast labor and perseverance. He examined the craft of past masters and learned from their talents while exploring and honing his own sense of composition, line and space.
But like all Taos artists, it is the intrinsic nature of the New Mexican light that overpowers the Martinez palette. "The colors in my work have always been inspired by my surroundings," Martinez explains, "the changing seasons, morning, evening, night, that time of day when the light strikes an adobe wall and casts a beautiful long shadow across the rich brown earth...."
Martinez spent his formative years exploring many avenues for his creative expression. But it was his discovery of women—their mysteries and illusions, their seductions and provocations, their powers and their compassion—that has come to mark his true ascension to artistic distinction.
"The women have changed as time has passed, and I have changed as well," Martinez confides. "In my travels around the world the women I have encountered have found their way into my paintings. Each face I paint, to me, has a different identity.
But I feel that from the beginning they have all shared common bonds—their values, their character—things almost forgotten in our day. These women are upright, strong yet gentle, and proud of who they are. They have nothing to hide."
It is not surprising that Martinez has continued to answer the call of his subject throughout the years. As one gazes upon the eyes and face and countenance of a woman inhabiting a Miguel Martinez canvas, a realization brightens and an enchantment ensues. And, at last, an understanding takes hold. It is one that every artist already knows—that the song of the muse is sweet, her presence a joy and her gentle bidding inescapable.

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