A 23-year-old math teacher at Overland High School in Aurora, Colorado is in a heap of trouble after a local television station publicized the bawdy — but awesome — contents of her Twitter account.

Carly McKinney’s Twitter page contained half-naked photos and all kinds of chatter about marijuana, including a boast of pot possession on school grounds, reports KUSA-TV.

“Watching a drug bust go down in the parking lot. It’s funny cuz I have weed in my car in the staff parking lot,” McKinney recounted in one Twitter post.

    Top-Ranked Full Time MBAin Finance, Marketing, HR, Retail IT, Financial Market, Digital Media itm.edu/Register

Another tweet reported that McKinney was high while grading her students’ work.

“Naked. Wet. Stoned,” reported still another one.

Other tweets on McKinney’s account were also controversial, KUSA reports.

“Instead of being productive, I’ve been on Twitter…,” the first-year teacher admitted in one message that appears to have been posted during the school day.

“Just got called Ms. McCutie. Points for being clever, however you are still jailbait,” read another tweet.

    The OnlineSlangDictionary.com defines “crunk” as a blend of “chronic” — a slang term for marijuana — and “drunk,” notes KMGH-TV. Other definitions include “extremely fun” and “angry.”

McKinney told KUSA she and a friend had created the Twitter account as a parody. She maintains that her partner in tweeting is the one responsible for the offending posts.

She also maintained that she never brought any illegal drugs to campus.

Officials with the Cherry Creek School District are on the case, according to the station. They reportedly met with McKinney on Tuesday morning. Since then, she has been placed on administrative leave.

The school district does train teachers on the use of the Internet and social media, the Denver-area NBC affiliate added. School officials say the basic mantra is: Don’t publish anything on the web that you wouldn’t write on the blackboard in your classroom.

Blizzard conditions slammed parts of the central Plains Monday, forcing the closure of highways in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and sending public works crews scrambling for salt and sand anew just days after a massive storm blanketed the region with snow.

National Weather Service officials in Kansas and Oklahoma issued blizzard warnings and watches through late Monday as the storm packing snow and high winds tracked eastward across West Texas toward Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri. Forecasters also warned of possible tornadoes further southeast.

Snow covered Amarillo, Texas, where forecasters said up to 18 inches could fall, accompanied by wind gusts up to 65 mph. Paul Braun, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Transport, said whiteout conditions and drifting snow had made all roads in the Texas Panhandle impassable. Interstate 40 was closed from Amarillo to the Oklahoma state line.

"It's just a good day to stay home," Braun said.

"This is one of the worst ones we've had for a while," he said. "And we kind of know snow up here."

The weather service issued a blizzard warning for the Oklahoma Panhandle and counties along the Kansas border, warning that travel in the area would be "very dangerous" until Tuesday morning with near zero visibility and drifting snow.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol closed all highways in the Panhandle, citing slick roads and limited visibility. Trooper Betsy Randolph said the patrol advised its non-essential personnel to stay home until Wednesday.

Forecasters said up to 16 inches of snow could accumulate in some areas, with wind gusts reaching up to 55 mph.

About a dozen flights were canceled at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. The Chicago Department of Aviation reported normal operations at Midway and O'Hare — the bellwether air hub of the Midwest.

Matt Lehenbauer, emergency management director for Woodward County, Okla., told The Associated Press he was expecting whiteout conditions and that although there was plenty of salt and sand on hand to clear roads, delays were still likely.

"We may not get the roads cleared until midday Tuesday if we get the expected amount of snow and wind. As it's falling, in the blizzard-like conditions, we just won't be able to keep up," Lehenbauer said late Sunday.

The weather service warned of similar high winds and upward of a foot of snow across south-central Kansas. Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback amended a state of emergency declaration to include the new weather.

"This storm has the potential to be more dangerous than last week's storm," Brownback said late Sunday. The storm late last week dumped more than a foot of snow in some places, closing airports and leading to several deadly traffic accidents.

Brownback urged motorists to "stay off the road unless it's absolutely critical," adding that drivers who must travel should pack charged cellphones and emergency kits containing food, water, blankets, road flares and shovels.

"It would have been nice if we'd had a few days to recover, to do some equipment rehab," Joe Pajor, deputy director of public works in Wichita, Kan., told The Wichita Eagle. The city saw its second-highest snowfall Thursday with 14.2 inches.

The southern Kansas town of Zenda saw 18 inches of snow last week, while 17 inches fell in Hays, Kan., about 13 inches in northeast Missouri and 12 inches in parts of Kansas City.

It seems the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences paid attention to the notoriously edgy Golden Globes this year, opting for a racy opening as delivered -- with plenty of audience laughs -- by Oscar host Seth McFarlane on Sunday night.

However, not everyone was humored by the ABC-broadcast monologue, which was peppered with such things as cocaine-snorting puppets and racial/domestic violence "jokes."

"Seth McFarlane spoon fed sexism and likewise innuendo through song, setting a terrible example for young children watching the show," political and entertainment publicist Angie Meyer told FOX411's Pop Tarts column. "His opening monologue was rather inappropriate, providing a poor example of Academy Awards etiquette that's suitable for all audiences."

McFarlane banted with Hollywood great William Shatner, who appeared as his Star Trek character Captain Kirk on a drop-down monitor and attempted to give advice on how to improve the ceremony, mocking himself, the media and almost every A-lister in Tinseltown.

Among McFarlane's zingers was a comparison between "Django Unchained" and a Chris Brown/Rihanna "date night," and a pondering whether the always-in-character "Lincoln" star Daniel Day-Lewis would have tried to free Don Cheadle if he had run across him during filming.

And then there was Shatner -- speaking from the future -- quipping that McFarlane would be a member of the Los Angeles Gay Men's Chorus in a few years.

A second Academy Award for best director has thrust Taiwan native Ang Lee into the top ranks of world film-makers and made him a national hero on this diplomatically isolated island.

Lee's victory at Hollywood's annual Oscar extravaganza on Sunday for the fantasy epic "Life of Pi" followed his 2005 directorial win for "Brokeback Mountain." Garnering additional awards for visual effects, cinematography and original score, "Life of Pi" pulled down four Oscars, the most of any film this year.

News of Lee's triumph electrified Taiwanese, many of whom watched a live TV broadcast of the event. It was not only the surprise nature of the directorial award – "Lincoln" director Steven Spielberg was considered the category's clear frontrunner – but the intense pride they felt at a native son making it big in the world at large.

Since losing most of its diplomatic allies to China in the 1970s and 1980s – the two sides split amid civil war more than six decades ago – Taiwan has been on the outer fringes of the international community. It is now recognized by only 23 countries – mostly impoverished and devoid of influence – and outside of information technology circles, its global footprint is small.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou saw Lee's triumph as at least a temporary reversal of those fortunes, thanking Lee for "pushing Taiwan toward the world."

"Taiwanese are proud of you," Ma said in a congratulatory message.

Making Lee's Oscar win even sweeter was Taiwan's key role in the production of "Life of Pi," which tells the story of a shipwrecked Indian boy sharing his small boat with a ferocious tiger. A majority of the film was shot at a specially constructed water tank in the central city of Taichung, and Taiwanese took many of the most important jobs in seeing the film to completion.

Taiwanese production team member Mike Yang said Lee had the total devotion of the Taichung crew.

"If he wanted us to make the wave bigger or the movement of the animated tiger more detailed, we were willing to cooperate, and not because he was Ang Lee but because he commanded�respect," Yang said.

Born in the southern Taiwanese city of Pingtung in 1954, Lee went to the U.S. in 1979 to study film-making at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. He burst into international prominence with "Sense and Sensibility" in 1995, and in 2000 was nominated for best director for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," which won the Oscar for best foreign language film.

Taiwan's film industry has been in the doldrums for more than two decades. Once seen as a world trendsetter for its subtle presentation of human interactions, it now languishes well behind other Asian cinemas, including those in South Korea and Hong Kong.

Jennifer Lawrence took home the Oscar for Best Actress at the 2013 Academy Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles.

Lawrence won for her role in "Silver Linings Playbook." Also nominated in the category were Emmanuelle Riva ("Amour"), Jessica Chastain ("Zero Dark Thirty"), Quvenzhane Wallis ("Beasts of the Southern Wild") and Naomi Watts ("The Impossible").

Many observers believed the Best Actress race was down to Lawrence and Riva going into Sunday, with Chastain a distant third. Lawrence won Best Actress at the Screen Actors' Guild Awards and the Golden Globes, but Riva won at the BAFTAs. Riva, 86, and Wallis, 9, are the oldest and youngest Oscar nominees in the category's history, respectively.

"You guys are just standing up because you feel bad that I fell," said Lawrence, when accepting the award from Jean Dujardin, who presented.

Meryl Streep won the 2012 Best Actress award for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in "Iron Lady."

The Oscars are voted on by members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which separates the Academy Awards from other award shows, which are either voted on by the press (Critic's Choice Awards, the Golden Globes) or members of a specific profession (Screen Actors Guild Awards, Directors Guild Awards and Writers Guild Awards).

Seth MacFarlane hosted this year's telecast. James Bond, a "Chicago" reunion, a "Les Miserables" medley, performances by Adele and Barbra Streisand and even Ted were all a part of this year's program and reflected the producers' plan to "trim the fat" from what has been sometimes been criticized as a painfully long and slow ritual.

Take a big gulp, New York: Hizzoner is about to give you a pop.

Nanny Bloomberg unleashes his ban on large sodas on March 12 — and there are some nasty surprises lurking for hardworking families.

Say goodbye to that 2-liter bottle of Coke with your pizza delivery, pitchers of soft drinks at your kid’s birthday party and some bottle-service mixers at your favorite nightclub.

They’d violate Mayor Bloomberg’s new rules, which prohibit eateries from serving or selling sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces.

Bloomberg’s soda smackdown follows his attacks on salt, sugar, trans fat, smoking and even baby formula.
LESS SODA, MORE DOUGH: If you order a pizza, you cannot get a large bottle of soda delivered with it. Already, Domino’s locations across the city are doing away with 1 and 2 liter bottles of soda, deliveryman Philippe Daniba says. They’ll sell smaller bottles instead — costing you more money and increasing plastic waste.
Angel Chevrestt
LESS SODA, MORE DOUGH: If you order a pizza, you cannot get a large bottle of soda delivered with it. Already, Domino’s locations across the city are doing away with 1 and 2 liter bottles of soda, deliveryman Philippe Daniba says. They’ll sell smaller bottles instead — costing you more money and increasing plastic waste.


The city Health Department last week began sending brochures to businesses that would be affected by the latest ban, including restaurants, bars and any “food service” establishment subject to letter grades.

And merchants were shocked to see the broad sweep of the new rules.

“It’s not fair. If you’re gonna tell me what to do, it’s no good,” said Steve DiMaggio of Caruso’s in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. “It’s gonna cost a lot more.”

And consumers, especially families, will soon see how the rules will affect their wallets — forcing them to pay higher unit prices for smaller bottles.

Typically, a pizzeria charges $3 for a 2-liter bottle of Coke. But under the ban, customers would have to buy six 12-ounce cans at a total cost of $7.50 to get an equivalent amount of soda.

“I really feel bad for the customers,” said Lupe Balbuena of World Pie in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn.

Domino’s on First Avenue and 74th Street on the Upper East Side is doing away with its most popular drink sizes: the 20-ounce and 2-liter bottles.

“We’re getting in 16-ounce bottles — and that’s all we’re going to sell,” a worker said.

He said the smaller bottles will generate more revenue for the restaurant but cost consumers more.

It will also trash more plastic into the environment.

Deliveryman Philippe Daniba said he had brought countless 2-liter bottles of soda to customers over his 19 years at the restaurant. The ban, he said, “doesn’t make sense.”

Police have identified a suspect in an early morning shooting and pileup that killed three people and injured at least six on Las Vegas' famous Strip Thursday, NBC affiliate KSNV reported.

Police are seeking Ammar Harris, 26, in the shooting and subsequent car crashes that occurred in a section of the Strip that includes Caesars Palace, Bally’s and the Bellagio.

The shooting came after the occupants of a black Range Rover and a Maserati got into an altercation in the valet area of the Aria hotel and casino, according to Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie.

“We have numerous witnesses to this,” Las Vegas Police Sgt. John Sheahan said. “But what is the genesis of this? We don’t know yet.”

The suspect was in the Range Rover, while 27-year-old aspiring rapper Kenny “Clutch” Cherry of Oakland, Calif., was at the wheel of the Maserati.

According to reports, the Range Rover pulled up and allegedly opened fire into the Maserati near a stoplight in the pre-dawn hours. A passenger was injured by the gunfire and Cherry was killed, causing the car to spin out of control. The careening silver Maserati smashed into a taxicab, trapping the passenger and driver and causing the cab to burst into flames; both occupants were killed, police said.

In a scene witnesses describe as looking like a Hollywood set, a confrontation between a group of men escalated into a shooting, multiple vehicle pileup, and an exploding taxicab. The incident left three people dead. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.

Then, the Maserati smashed into three other cars before coming to a stop.

The taxi driver was identified as Michael Boldon, 62, of Las Vegas. His passenger was Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, 48, of Maple Valley, Wash. She was a two-time breast cancer survivor. Both died of "multiple blunt force injuries," the coroner's office said.

Marissa Mayer, the relatively new CEO of Yahoo, has decided she wants her employees showing up to the offices beginning in June, not just telecommuting from home all the time, according to All Things D’s Kara Swisher. From an internal memo:

    “To become the absolute best place to work, communication and collaboration will be important, so we need to be working side-by-side. That is why it is critical that we are all present in our offices. Some of the best decisions and insights come from hallway and cafeteria discussions, meeting new people, and impromptu team meetings. Speed and quality are often sacrificed when we work from home.”

Swisher also reports, perhaps unsurprisingly, “strong” anger among those affected by the policy, many of whom joined the company in part because of the flexibility that Yahoo previously provided. But don’t just assume that telecommuting, or working remotely, or whatever you want to call it, comes from a place of laziness. A number of studies have proven quite the opposite:

- A Stanford study, conveniently released on the same day as Yahoo’s memo, reported that call center employees increased their performance by 13 percent when working from home. They also reported “improved work satisfaction and experienced less turnover,” according to the study.

- A University of Texas at Austin study from late last year found that those people who work from home “add five to seven hours to their workweek compared with those who work exclusively at the office.” Such workhorses, we homeworkers are!

- A Bureau of Labor Statistics study, also from last year, reported that working remotely “seems to boost productivity, decrease absenteeism” -- that means missing work -- “and increase retention.” It also gives employers more incentive to ask you to work on weekends, the authors say. Boo!!

- According to some recent research published in the MIT Sloan Management Review, bosses are roughly 9 percent more likely to consider your “dependable” and “reponsible” if you “put in expected face time” Translation: Being at the office can help you get that raise you so desire.

The federal government’s dream of a renewable energy empire hinges on a scrubby outpost here, where scientists and executives doggedly explore a

National Renewable Energy Laboratory campus

If you live outside Colorado, you probably haven’t heard of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory – NREL for short. It’s the place where solar panels, windmills and corn are deemed the energy source of the future and companies who support such endeavors are courted.

It’s also the place where highly paid staff decide how to spend hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars.

And the public pays those decision-makers well:  NREL’s top executive, Dr. Dan Arvizu, makes close to a million dollars per year. His two top lieutenants rake in more than half a million each and nine others make more than $350,000 a year.

But what is really going on there? Energy expert Amy Oliver Cooke drove out to the site, which looks something like Nevada’s Area 51 with its remote location and forbidding concrete buildings. NREL had started a construction project and Cooke wanted to see for herself. She didn’t get far: a man in an SUV seemingly appeared out of nowhere, stopped her car, and told her to leave.

“A beefy looking fellow told me, ‘It’s top secret,’ said Cooke, director of the Energy Policy Center at the Independence Institute think tank. “I said, ‘I’m a taxpayer and I want to see what you’re building’ and he said it was it was ‘top secret so we can bring Americans a better future.’”

With its bloated budget and overseen by a $533 million a year government-funded management company, Cooke isn’t buying it.

“NREL has given us two of the most significant boondoggles, one of them being ethanol and the other being (bankrupt) Abound Solar,” she said. “They were part of the team that pushed Abound Solar along. In fact, they wrote in March 2011 on their website how proud they were of their role in abound solar.


NREL’s taxpayer-funded management company has seen its budget more than double since 2006. That’s when one of its most ardent supporters, Rep. Ed Perlmutter D-Lakewood, was first elected to Congress. The lab sits in the middle of his district.

But Perlmutter’s ties go beyond merely promoting green legislation and lobbying his colleagues for NREL funds. He has received $12,670 in campaign contributions from executives of NREL and its management company, MRIGlobal, a company that describes itself as “an independent, not-for-profit organization that performs contract research for government and industry.” Perlmuter’s father has served as a trustee for MRI and MRIGlobal during the past decade. Between 2003 and 2005, Perlmutter was also a trustee. These positions were unpaid.

A South African court granted bail on Friday to Oscar Pistorius, charged with the murder of his girlfriend on Valentine's Day, after his lawyers successfully argued the "Blade Runner" was too famous to flee justice.

The decision by Magistrate Desmond Nair drew cheers from the Paralympics star's family and supporters. Pistorius himself was unmoved, in marked contrast to the week-long hearing, when he repeatedly broke down in tears.

Nair set bail at 1 million rand ($113,000) and postponed the case until June 4. Pistorius would be released only when the court received 100,000 rand in cash, he added.

Less than an hour later, a silver Land Rover left the court compound, Pistorius visible through the tinted windows sitting in the back seat in the dark suit and tie he wore in court.

The car then sped off through the streets of the capital, pursued by members of the media on motorcycles, before it entered his uncle Arnold's home in the plush Pretoria suburb of Waterkloof.

At least five private security guards stood outside the concrete walls, keeping reporters at bay.

Under the terms of his bail, Pistorius, 26, was also ordered to hand over firearms and his two South African passports, avoid his home and all witnesses, report to a police station twice a week and abstain from drinking alcohol.

The decision followed a week of dramatic testimony about how the athlete shot dead model and law graduate Reeva Steenkamp at his luxury home near Pretoria in the early hours of February 14.

Prosecutors said Pistorius committed premeditated murder when he fired four shots into a locked toilet door, hitting his girlfriend cowering on the other side. Steenkamp, 29, suffered gunshot wounds to her head, hip and arm.

Pistorius said the killing was a tragic mistake, saying he had mistaken Steenkamp for an intruder - a possibility in crime-ridden South Africa - and opened fire in a blind panic.

However, in delivering his nearly two-hour bail ruling, Nair said there were a number of "improbabilities" in Pistorius's version of events, read out to the court in an affidavit by his lawyer, Barry Roux.

"I have difficulty in appreciating why the accused would not seek to ascertain who exactly was in the toilet," Nair said. "I also have difficulty in appreciating why the deceased would not have screamed back from the toilet."

Here's what the crash involving Kyle Larson and 11 other Nationwide drivers looked like from the grandstands.

Tyler Andersen, a resident of Jacksonville Beach, Fla., was at the Drive for COPD 300 on Saturday and was filming the final lap when Kyle Larson's car got turned into the catchfence just in front of him and debris from his car flew into the grandstands.

You can see the panic in the stands in the crash's aftermath and the tire that flew over the catchfence landed just feet from Anderson.

At least 28 fans were injured in the crash, two critically, which also damaged the catchfence. Daytona International Speedway President Joie Chitwood said that the fence would be repaired in time for Sunday's Daytona 500.
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The Oscars red carpet is often referred to by the celebrity press as the most powerful catwalk in the world. It is the gilded stage for which haute couture dresses are made; bright lights fall on film stars dressed by the world's most accomplished designers in some of the most expensive items of clothing ever made.

But for many of the nominees, what goes on in the run-up to Oscar Sunday involves weeks of hunger, sacrifice and last-minute liposuction. "It is brutal," British facialist Nichola Joss told the New York Times this week, of the pressure of the high-definition closeup on Hollywood actors. "You can see a hair follicle. You can see a pimple before it is a pimple."

Hollywood insiders talk of actors who plot their beauty treatments at different points around Los Angeles in a bid to lose photographers between pedicure appointments and derma-filler treatments. Anti-anxiety pills such as Xanax are said to be widely used by nominees.

"The entire city stops normal activity and the Oscars take over; the atmosphere is surprisingly serious," says gossip columnist Dean Piper, who is in LA to cover the Oscars. "Most of the A-list have been through the St Tropez tanning suite at the Four Seasons by now, so their skin colour can settle for Sunday. But I'm seeing stylists whooshing around town in their Range Rovers, pulling gowns from boutiques where they are being altered, and the nail bars are heaving. The actresses I've seen at 'lunch' are simply pushing leaves around their plate."

High-definition photography and the prevalence of social media means that actors now face having the minute details of every angle of their body and face appear in hundreds of photos online. As a result, the stakes for red-carpet glamour have never been higher.

"You know it's the Oscars because suddenly everyone is on the cayenne and lemon juice diet, and talking about appointments with their facialist, podiatrist, personal trainer, stylist, dietitian, hairdresser and teams from the big fashion houses like Valentino or Dior," says one well-known Hollywood stylist.

For those who aren't rooting for the San Francisco 49ers or the Baltimore Ravens – or who aren't named Harbaugh – there is, thankfully, that other competition on Sunday: best Super Bowl commercial.

In what has now become the industry standard, advertisers no longer wait for game day to release their high-priced hilarity – $3.8m for 30 seconds this year – because there are so many eyeballs to be found online for free. Besides, why hold out for all the Monday morning quarterbacking when you can start the conversation during the 336-hour pre-game show?

Not that the early release strategy isn't without its pitfalls – one commercial, for Taco Bell, has already been pulled from the broadcast because it offended that key Super Bowl demographic: vegetarians. (Whiny bastards.)

So grab a six-pack of deer-antler extract, and let's preview a few of the new ads that are sure to be talked about – at least until the Westminster Dog Show.
Volkswagen – 'Get In. Get Happy'


Having established something of a Super Bowl dynasty with the little Darth Vader in 2011 and last year's The Bark Side, the expectations are high for Volkswagen. This year, VW has dropped the Star Wars theme and instead sought inspiration from Jamaica. And as I believe Bob Marley once sang, No Wookiee, No Cry.

In fact, that's the premise behind the ad for the new Beetle, in which a depressed office in Minnesota is told that "everyting will be all right" by a hyper-happy white co-worker who speaks with a heavy Jamaican accent. (And in case the point wasn't clear, Jimmy Cliff's new cover of the Partridge Family theme song, Get Happy, plays in the background.) Some say the ad is racist – "blackface with voices" – but even the Jamaican government said it had no problem with the commercial. In other words, those critics just need to roll a fatty and chill out.
Coca-Cola – 'The Chase'

One of the new ways by which advertisers have built pre-game buzz is by releasing a tease of the ad that will run during the Super Bowl. But this year some have gone a step further, by giving the audience a role in the creative process.

Coca-Cola, for instance, added a Choose Your Own Adventure element to its commercial. In a teaser called The Chase, three teams race across the desert in pursuit of a giant bottle of Coke – the public gets to vote on who gets the prize. The three choices are The Showgirls (think Priscilla Queen of the Desert, but with actual women), The Badlanders (think Mad Max, but without Mad Mel), and The Cowboys (think third place). The winner will be revealed during the game.

 Let’s talk about Leonardo DiCaprio’s commercial for Jim Beam, Asian styles.

By North American standards, this is pure cheese, right? That’s why it’s only for Japan. So far, at least.

Leo snaps his fingers and the ice earth explodes. And a sexy look to camera. Followed by a sexy squint:

“Cool bourbon.”

Toast.

“Jim Beam.”

Is this...Leo parodying Leo?

Ten, fifteen years ago, before the internet was so pervasive, celebrities could get away with overseas endorsements much easier. Now though, with everything going viral so quickly, in theory, they’re trying to be more careful with self-branding, especially the top stars. You would think. Leo in particular, as we’ve seen from his career management, has demonstrated himself to be quite particular about his image. He didn’t want to be a Tiger Teen Beat pretty boy.

But a playboy...?

A playboy maybe he doesn’t mind so much.

Leo’s playboy is a Man.

A bourbon drinking man who smokes cigars with his friends, cool under pressure.

Would he have assessed the consequences of this commercial then, and decided that it would be ok if it were to be viewed in America, because, even though it’s super corny, it still supports the brand message? The brand being I am Leo, playboy. AND he pockets, what?, a couple of million dollars for maybe half a day’s work?

If you were his advisor, regardless of commission, given these circumstances, would you have approved this job?

Similarly, with George Clooney’s ad for his tequila company, a joint venture with his best friend Rande Gerber -- click here for a refresher -- he played on an assumption we’ve all had at one time or another: that these guys share... EVERYTHING. So... it’s consistent branding. And ...therefore easier for the consumer to accept?

How would it go over though if the headlining celebrity playing “swingers” in a commercial was a woman? I’d love to know your thoughts. Send!

Turns out the other day it was just a photocall for the Spring Breakers premiere in Madrid but last night was the real premiere. So how should points be awarded? Since I just make up the rules to this imaginary competition which instills

so much hatred in Ethan Hawke, I’m just giving Vanessa Hudgens half a point. So now it’s .5 for Vanessa Hudgens, 1 for Selena Gomez and 2 for Ashley Benson because she won this time. I think I need to make a prize pack for the winner at the end of this competition. Maybe a bag full of condoms and Windex. That seems pretty standard nowadays.

At least 28 fans were injured after a violent crash at Daytona International Speedway Saturday caused debris from a race car to fly into the grandstands. Fourteen were taken to area hospitals. Two are listed in critical condition. One of those has a life-threatening head injury, the other is a child. Both are stable, according to Byron Cogdell, a spokesman at Halifax Health.

At least nine ambulances rushed to the rear of the Campbell Grandstand as emergency workers scurried to help fans injured in the rows closest to the track after Kyle Larson's car violently tore through the fence, leaving his engine and tire behind. Other safety workers evacuated the scene of race fans.

Kyle Larson's car (32) gets airborne during a multi-car wreck at Daytona. (AP)In the front row of the grandstand about 20 feet past where Larson's engine had stuck, emergency responders wearing firesuits and helmets tended to several fans sitting on old metal chairbacks. Stretchers were being rolled in from ambulances arriving behind the grandstands while police and other track security ushered  fans from the scene.

"We responded appropriately according to our safety protocols and had emergency medical personnel at the incident immediately," track president Joie Chitwood said. "We're in the process of repairs to the facility and will be ready to go racing tomorrow."

The accident occurred as drivers raced toward the checkered flag of the Drive4COPD 300 in NASCAR's Nationwide Series. Regan Smith was leading the race, but got turned as he approached the finish line. That sparked a multi-car accident that sent Larson's car flying into the air. Tony Stewart won the race, but refused to celebrate in victory lane.

Fans were both shocked and gawking at the accident scene that happened just minutes before when Larson's car got airborne and hit nose first in the catchfence designed to keep fans safe. His car spun wildly to the infield and came to rest with the nose of the car completely torn off, leaving two major support poles bent and a smoking, flaming mess. Fans, about ten rows up, quickly waved to emergency personnel for assistance after a tire apparently had flown through the metallic netting, landing in Row 9.

"It was like a war zone there," said fan Terry Huckaby, whose brother Eddie was hit in the leg by a three-foot piece of metal. Terry used his belt as a tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

One woman wearing a Jimmie Johnson shirt appeared to have a foot injury as she was wheeled on a gurney to a waiting ambulance. An older man, wearing an oxygen mask while laying on a stretcher, also appeared to have suffered a leg injury. Another gurney transported a man in a neck support wearing a sling over his left arm. All appeared to be conscious.

"The engine came right through the fence, injuring about six people," said a Daytona International Speedway supervisor, speaking under the condition of anonymity.

 Mindy McCready's funeral has been scheduled for Tuesday in her hometown of Fort Myers, Fla.

The funeral for the late country star will be held at Crossroads Church. A Friday news release says a Nashville memorial organized by friends and the music community is tentatively scheduled for March 6 at Cathedral of the Incarnation.

McCready committed suicide Sunday at her home in Heber Springs, Ark., days after leaving a court-ordered substance abuse treatment program. The 37-year-old mother of two died from a single gunshot to the head about a month after her longtime boyfriend David Wilson was believed to have killed himself in the same location.

Following enthusiast site Jalopnik posting clandestine shots of the 2014 Cherokee, Jeep released official shots of the SUV today, showcasing a style that’s a shocking departure from the square-jawed model of the ‘80s.

Originally slated for an unveiling at the New York Auto Show this March, the Cherokee will replace the Liberty, reviving a nameplate that’s been out of use for over 12 years. Featuring two-tiered headlights reminiscent of Nissan Juke and a kinked 7-slot grill, the 2014 Cherokee eschews conventional styling in favor of a fascia that looks like a grimacing Decepticon. It’s built on the same underpinnings as the Alfa Romeo Guilietta, and boasts up to a 45 percent improvement in fuel economy over the Liberty (likely with a selection of either a four-cylinder or a V-6 powerplant).

After the Jeep was revealed online, Chrysler design chief Ralph Gilles used Twitter to share a stream of positive reactions; it's certainly the most daring design Jeep has unveiled in decades. But the old Cherokee was beloved by Jeep enthusiasts, and the brand's previous attempts to stretch itself with vehicles such as the Compass and Patriot have fallen short of expectations due in part to their roots in passengers cars. We'll know more about the capabilities of the new SUV in a month, but with a polarizing face like this, the Cherokee will need every technical edge it can get.

Proud parents Amber Rose and Wiz Khalifa welcomed son Sebastian Taylor less than 24 hours ago. And the couple have already shared the first photo of their little guy, whom Wiz has affectionately nicknamed "the Bash."

Early Friday morning, Rose tweeted "Best daddy ever.... Up with the baby so Muva can go back to sleep :-)," along with an adorable Instagram picture of Khalifa holding Sebastian.

Khalifa later tweeted, "Thanx for all the love guys. Bash took his first poop, had a good meal now he's peacin ✌" (thanks for sharing, Wiz!).

He also joked, "My wife sed she juss wants a jacc & coke, a cheesesteak, and a ciggarette :-) Thass why im marryin that woman!"

Rose and Khalifa have been chronicling their pregnancy via social media since they announced they were expecting last September. Though they revealed Sebastian's name only yesterday, they hinted at their baby-name choice during an interview on the radio show "Big Boy's Neighborhood" in January. "It's a total boss name for a boy," Rose said. "It's funny because I came up with the name for our boy and immediately he came up with a rapper [nickname] for him.”

A former contestant from Season 2 of the extreme makeover/beauty pageant hybrid "The Swan" says the reality show ruined her life, and is speaking out about the celebrities who are slated to appear on Fox's two-hour special "Celebrity Swan."

At 34 years old, Lorrie Arias appeared on "The Swan" in 2004, and underwent more plastic surgery procedures than any other contestant -- going on to get a face lift, nose job, brow lift, upper lip lift with fat transfer, upper/lower eye lift, full body lift, breast implants, tummy tuck and liposuction on her knees -- but did not go on to compete in the beauty pageant component of the show.

Today, Arias told the New York Post that her surgeries were for nothing, since she's "a 300-pound mess of a person who is afraid to go outside.”

The former reality show contestant is speaking out about Fox's decision to revive the show, which was once called "the most sadistic reality series of the decade," with a two-hour special that will feature celebrities. The show is currently still casting, but producers allegedly have their sights set on stars like former White House intern Monica Lewinsky and "Happy Days" alumna Erin Moran.

Arias told RadarOnline, it's not the plastic surgery that's the problem, but the lack of psychological support during and after the series that left her spiraling downward. The former reality show cast member claims producers offered only four 15-minute therapy sessions during the two-and-a-half months of filming, and she couldn't afford therapy when she returned home.

Arias told the website, she believes Moran -- who is currently broke, homeless and living like a recluse -- will need major therapy before and after the show, calling the former actress "unstable," but thinks former White House intern Monica Lewinksy will be "fine."

Saying "I Do" can be a libido booster, so he might want even more sex now.

You've stopped obsessing about how you look, so you're enjoying sex more than ever!

It's easy to get lazy about taking your birth control-that surprise pregnancy is less of a big deal now.

You'll do things that you never thought you'd do (hello, sex toys!) to keep things exciting.

Quickies are the new norm, and you love 'em.

How many calories does sex burn?

You have random romps that are so hot it's like the first time all over again (only better).

You'll dream about sex with old boyfriends once in a while. (Don't worry, it's normal!)

His obsession with oral sex will never go away, even after you've been married for years.

At times you'll feel like your husband is cheating on you…with porn.

None of this sound familiar? For some couples married sex is exactly the same as it was before they were married.

Misunderstanding, misstatements and all the classic contortions of partisan message management surround the sequester, the term for the $85 billion in ugly and largely irrational federal spending cuts set by law to begin Friday.

What is the non-budget wonk to make of this? Who is responsible? What really happened?

The finger-pointing began during the third presidential debate last fall, on Oct. 22, when President Obama blamed Congress. “The sequester is not something that I’ve proposed,” Obama said. “It is something that Congress has proposed.”

The White House chief of staff at the time, Jack Lew, who had been budget director during the negotiations that set up the sequester in 2011, backed up the president two days later.

“There was an insistence on the part of Republicans in Congress for there to be some automatic trigger,” Lew said while campaigning in Florida. It “was very much rooted in the Republican congressional insistence that there be an automatic measure.”

The president and Lew had this wrong. My extensive reporting for my book “The Price of Politics” shows that the automatic spending cuts were initiated by the White House and were the brainchild of Lew and White House congressional relations chief Rob Nabors — probably the foremost experts on budget issues in the senior ranks of the federal government.

Obama personally approved of the plan for Lew and Nabors to propose the sequester to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). They did so at 2:30 p.m. July 27, 2011, according to interviews with two senior White House aides who were directly involved.

Nabors has told others that they checked with the president before going to see Reid. A mandatory sequester was the only action-forcing mechanism they could devise. Nabors has said, “We didn’t actually think it would be that hard to convince them” — Reid and the Republicans — to adopt the sequester. “It really was the only thing we had. There was not a lot of other options left on the table.”

A majority of Republicans did vote for the Budget Control Act that summer, which included the sequester. Key Republican staffers said they didn’t even initially know what a sequester was — because the concept stemmed from the budget wars of the 1980s, when they were not in government.

At the Feb. 13 Senate Finance Committee hearing on Lew’s nomination to become Treasury secretary, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) asked Lew about the account in my book: “Woodward credits you with originating the plan for sequestration. Was he right or wrong?”

“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Lew responded, “and even in his account, it was a little more complicated than that. We were in a negotiation where the failure would have meant the default of the government of the United States.”

“Did you make the suggestion?” Burr asked.

“Well, what I did was said that with all other options closed, we needed to look for an option where we could agree on how to resolve our differences. And we went back to the 1984 plan that Senator [Phil] Gramm and Senator [Warren] Rudman worked on and said that that would be a basis for having a consequence that would be so unacceptable to everyone that we would be able to get action.”

In other words, yes.

But then Burr asked about the president’s statement during the presidential debate, that the Republicans originated it.

Lew, being a good lawyer and a loyal presidential adviser, then shifted to denial mode: “Senator, the demand for an enforcement mechanism was not something that the administration was pushing at that moment.”

That statement was not accurate.

On Tuesday, Obama appeared at the White House with a group of police officers and firefighters to denounce the sequester as a “meat-cleaver approach” that would jeopardize military readiness and investments in education, energy and readiness. He also said it would cost jobs. But, the president said, the substitute would have to include new revenue through tax reform.

Dark Skies, which is out in theaters now, was not screened early for critics. This is never a good sign. If nothing else, however, it does pique my curiosity. What am I not supposed to see? I must know!

On Thursday night, I purchased a ticket to the midnight showing of Dark Skies (along with fellow movie-writing folk Matt Singer and Jenni Miller) at the AMC Loews Village 7 in Manhattan's East Village. Dark Skies is the story of ... well, I still have no idea, to tell you the truth. If you must know, perhaps there's a nice summary on its Wikipedia page. Yes, I tried to see Dark Skies early on Friday morning, but things did not go smoothly. Along the way, I kept a running diary of what happened.

11:42 p.m. Honestly, I have no idea what Dark Skies is about. I think it's about space? Or aliens?

11:45 p.m. I live in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. Here is the line for tickets to the midnight screening of Dark Skies.

line

11:54 p.m. I live in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world. Here is what the theater looks like at the midnight screening of Dark Skies.

theater

11:57 p.m. Strangely, a large group of people just showed up for Dark Skies all at once, yet very few seem to know each other. Including us, there are at least 12 souls in New York City who wanted to see Dark Skies as soon as humanly possible.

12:01 a.m. Just as the lights went down, Matt Singer had to close the theater door himself. That's never a good sign for those who hope that there are movie theater employees here to make sure things go as smoothly as possible.

12:06 a.m. So, after the 10-second AMC fanfare played, we've now been sitting here for five minutes staring at a blank screen.

12:06 a.m. Maybe this just is Dark Skies. Maybe this is why no one wanted us to see this movie.

12:09 a.m. The lights are still off in the theater and there's still nothing on the screen. I must say, the rest of the crowd is surprisingly calm considering that we all paid $13 to stare at literally nothing.

12:11 a.m. We are on the seventh floor of the theater, there are no theater employees in sight and the screen is still dark.

12:12 a.m. I called the theater and I was just told by whomever answered that what was happening is normal and the movie would start at 12:15. I think she thinks I'm complaining about the trailers. I literally said, "I go to a lot of movies, the screen is blank." Her response, "That's normal. Call back later if nothing happens."

The man with the "world's worst portrait tattoo" finally got his happy ending on Thursday when he had the opportunity to fix the botched ink job of his late wife that had plagued him for so many years.
More on Yahoo! The Worst Tattoos in Hollywood

In 2007, on the one-year anniversary of his wife Mindy's death, Chad Stahl, 38, owner of Cutright Lawn and Landscaping, LLC, visited On the Edge Tattoo Studio in Bowling Green, Ohio to honor her with a portrait tattoo. The couple had been dating for 10 years, had 3 children, and were married for less than 3 months when Mindy died in a household fire.

Tattoo artist Dennis Foust inked the $450 portrait tattoo. "I had seen Faust's portrait work on his website and he even tattooed some of my in-laws with designs in honor of Mindy so I was confident going in," Stahl told Yahoo! Shine in his first media interview. "But when the swelling subsided, it didn't look like Mindy at all—her teeth looked evil." To add insult to injury, a friend had emailed him a link to a blog post titled "Worst Tattoo Ever" with a photo of Stahl's tattoo posted by a disgruntled On the Edge ex-employee. A few months later, Stahl returned to the studio and Faust tried to fix it, adding the words, "In loving memory of Mindy" but the damage was too great. "I was embarrassed to wear sleeveless shirts and didn't want anyone to see the tattoo but everyone in my town knew about it," says Stahl.

Foust told Shine: "This was my very first portrait tattoo done years ago. I've since moved forward, improved my skills, and my work has been featured in magazines."

Recently, a friend of Stahl's recommended that he visit Scott Versago at Empire Ink in Akron, Ohio, who had heard of the infamous tattoo and on Thursday Versago fixed it—for free. Vergaso wrote on his Facebook page: "I got to tackle the official '#1 worst portrait tattoo in the world' today. I'm sure you've all seen it a million times online, as had I. I couldn't believe my eyes when this guy walked in and showed me this project. I think my jaw literally hit the floor. He went on to tell me the story behind the portrait; He had just married his beautiful wife and not even three months afterwards she was killed in a horrible house fire accident leaving him to raise their three children alone. Shortly after he went to a local tattoo studio to memorialize his wife and was left with this abomination. He later returned to that studio for one more session, thinking that perhaps 'he had done something wrong in the healing of the tattoo' and they butchered it even more the second time. Finally, he drove all the way to my studio, Empire Ink, just to meet me and to see what his options were. Touched by his story, I gifted the entire project to him for free. Now he has closure and I have an amazing story to add to my portfolio!"

The fix-it job took just three hours. "I'm so happy and want everyone to see it," Stahl told Shine. "I'm going to enter the tattoo in a contest hosted by On the Edge to see if they recognize me."

The "Poetic Justice" video hit the web on Friday, offering a glimpse into Kendrick Lamar and Drake's very different lives.

In the visuals, Lamar (who put out one of 2012's best albums, "Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City") raps as vignettes from a Compton, Los Angeles party interrupt his love-lorn verse. At the party, a young man and woman get cozy and walk off into the distance, until everything goes to hell.

Eventually we see an iPhone with a missed call from Drake, who is in a bedroom accompanied by a sleeping, nearly naked lady. Drake raps his verse into a cordless phone.

It's not until the end of the video that what actually caused all the commotion is revealed. We won't spoil it here, except to say that it's nice that the video didn't pitch us Drake as a character living in Compton, because the Toronto native doesn't really fit the bill.

MTV has more on the movie's backstory, involving Janet Jackson, who Lamar really wanted to be in the video:

    On the slow and syrupy "Poetic Justice," Kendrick and Drake trade bars over a sampling of Jackson's 1993 single "Any Time, Any Place." The Scoop DeVille-produced track also borrows its name from the 1993 film that starred Janet and Tupac Shakur, so a video cameo from Jackson would be very fitting.

Lamar made an earnest, public plea to Jackson. "Janet, c'mon, Janet," he said. "No paperwork with the managers, contact the managers. This is artist to artist," Lamar pitched in December. "This is a young boy that looked up to you for years. Please, yeah, video, Janet Jackson 'Poetic Justice.' It'll only be right."

The video still makes an impact. Take a look above and let us know what you think in the comments. Drake and K-Dot also appeared alongside A$AP Rocky and 2 Chainz in the recently released video for "F--kin' Problems," and Drizzy dropped the visuals for his new single, "Started From the Bottom."

Kendra Wilkinson Baskett couldn't wait to do "Celebrity Wife Swap." Then she found out who she was swapping with: Kate Gosselin, single mom to eight kids.

Kendra, who's appeared in "Playboy" and on "The Girls Next Door," is married to former NFL-er Hank Baskett and lives with him, their four-year-old son Hank IV, and a fulltime housekeeper and nanny, Rosa. Hank is very involved around the house and likes to cook for Kendra and set up her girls' nights.


When we spoke to Kendra, she sounded positive about the experience, saying she "got so excited" about going on the show, because "I love the feeling of stepping out of your comfort zone and doing something off. I think that's the way to live your life, is to be thrown off a little bit." She was into the idea of living "in someone else's life" for a week; she's "all about the social experiments."

But as experiments go, a week with eight children is practically the Manhattan Project, and when Kendra found out whose house she was headed to, she "lost it. I wanted to run out."

She wasn't the only one, evidently; Kendra reported that "there was some tension and drama" between Kate Gosselin and Hank. She didn't want to speak for them, because she wasn't there, but it sounds like Kate doesn't entirely approve of the Basketts' laid-back lifestyle, or what Kendra describes as her "Southern California" attitude. (Or, we're guessing, of Kendra herself, who laughed that Kate didn't get "why a woman like me deserves a man like that.") We'll have to find out whether Kate passed any judgments, but we know Hank didn't sell Kendra out. "All I know is, my husband said, 'I stuck up for you.'"

Meanwhile, back at the Gosselins', Kendra was determined to make a good impression. Calling that time a "whirlwind," she told us her goal for the week: "I truly, truly wanted those eight kids to really respect me." Not to think of Kendra as a second mom, necessarily, but it took "a lot of work" to get the kids to trust her.

She's a fighter, though, she says, and she kept at it. She wanted the experience to be good for everyone, and she wanted "these kids to know me, and to know my heart" -- not least because of the trash-talk they might have heard about her posing nude, "'she's stupid,' you know, all that bad stuff that's about me."

 A growing number of firearm and firearm-related companies have stated they will no longer sell items to states, counties, cities and municipalities that restrict their citizens' rights to own them.

According to The Police Loophole, 34 companies have joined in publicly stating that governments who seek to restrict 2nd Amendment rights will themselves be restricted from purchasing the items they seek to limit or ban.

Extreme Firepower Inc., located in Inwood, WV has had a longstanding policy that states:

"The Federal Government and several states have enacted gun control laws that restrict the public from owning and possessing certain types of firearms...If a product that we manufacture is not legal for a private citizen to own in a jurisdiction, we will not sell that product to a law-enforcement agency in that jurisdiction."

York Arms, located in Buxton, ME released a statement following new legislation in New York:

"Based on the recent legislation in New York, we are prohibited from selling rifles and receivers to residents of New York.  We have chosen to extend that prohibition to all governmental agencies associated with or located within New York."

Quality Arms, located in Rigby, ID writes on their website, "elected officials have their own agenda to circumnavigate the truth and destroy the constitution of the United States."

The site states: "Quality Arms Idaho will not supply and firearm or product, manufactured by us, or any other company nor will we warranty, repair, alter, or modify and firearm owned by any State, County or Municipality who infringes on the right of its citizens to bear arms under the 2nd Amendment."

"The people at Bravo Company USA and BCM support responsible private individuals having access to the same tools of civilian Law Enforcement to affect the same ends...As such Bravo Company's policy is that law enforcement officials and departments will be restricted to the same type of products available to responsible private individuals of that same city or state."

SBI introduced virtual card for SBI net banking users. Other banks may also be providing Virtual Card, because I have listened about virtual card before SBI. Virtual card, by all the banks may be working the same way.

SBI Virtual Credit CardsA virtual card is also known as Electronic Card or e-Card. Virtual card gives an extra layer of security for your credit or debit card. It works the same way as real debit or credit card works but it is virtual (not physical). And your actual card (plastic card) info will be safe from merchants. Virtual card has only card number so it is secure and makes your real card secure. There are some of the information about this card.


Advantages for using State Bank Virtual Card

    Virtual Card provides an easy and secure way of transacting online without providing the Primary Card/ Account information to the merchant.
    It reduces the risk of exposing entire Credit/ Debit limit/ as the Primary Card/ Account information is not communicated to the merchant.
    Card is valid for a Max. of 48 hours or till the transaction is complete.
    The amount is debited only when actual purchase, using the Virtual Card, is completed successfully.

State Bank Virtual Card Creation / generation:

Step 1: Visit SBI Internet Banking (https://www.onlinesbi.com/) and click on Login of Personal Banking.
.

Step 2: Login on using User Name and Password (Advisable to use Online Virtual Keyboard).

Step 3: Click on “e-Card” tab and select “State Bank Virtual Card” option.

Step 4: Select the appropriate Account No. from the list and enter the amount for which you want
a State Bank Virtual Card. Accept the Terms & Conditions and click on Generate.

Step 5: Verify Card Holder Name, Debit Account No. and Virtual Card Limit. On re-verification of particulars/values click on Generate and in case of any error click on Back for correction.

Step 6: Click on the specific Card No. which you want to view. On click the complete Card details viz. Name, Issue Date, Expiry, Merchant Name, CVV2, Limit Amount, Status, Source Account No. will be displayed on the screen.

How to Cancel generated/created State Bank Virtual Card:

Step 1: Visit SBI Internet Banking (https://www.onlinesbi.com/) and click on Personal Banking.

Step 2: Login on using User Name and Password.

Step 3: Click on “Requests” tab and select “State Bank Virtual Card” option.

Step 4: Click on Cancel Virtual Card. Select the Virtual Card and click on Cancel.

Step 5: Verify the Virtual Card No. you wanted to cancel and click on OK.

Step 6: Confirmation message “Your Virtual Card number 466XXXXXX462 has been successfully cancelled.” will be displayed on the screen and the blocked amount will be credited back to the account, within an hour.

SOURCE

 Apps4Africa has just announced the three winners of its 2012 competition, showcasing the best in African innovation.

The winners, chosen from nearly 300 submissions, were Ffene, from Uganda, an app that helps small and medium businesses reduce administrative costs; SliceBiz, from Ghana, a crowdsourcing platform to encourage middle class Africans to invest small amounts in high-growth startups; and Prowork, from Nigeria, which is a project management and real-time collaboration tool for businesses.

The Apps4Africa competition began in late 2009 as an annual program that aimed to support African social entrepreneurs using technology to solve societal problems. This year's competition demonstrated again that Africa has innovation and a growing number of innovators. But now the challenge for technology entrepreneurs is not merely to innovate and create apps, but to turn them into lucrative business ideas.

During my trips to Africa while coordinating the Apps4Africa competition, I witnessed from the innovators a real desire to innovate and have their voices heard. But whilst a technology revolution is taking place in Africa, with so many of these young men and women building and creating apps, they still face huge challenges in understanding how to start businesses around their innovations.
An African future inspired by tech?
Africa's technology potential

Most of the innovators are following trends and their dreams, inspired mostly by the stories of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs making it without a clear business plan or any structured road map when they started their businesses many years ago. The reality check has not yet taken place in the minds of Africa's innovators and lots of time is being wasted on unrealistic desires.

Young entrepreneurs in Africa have a mosaic of demands that need urgent attention. Policy makers need to start taking the young entrepreneurs seriously, as they are the future of Africa.

The growing number of competitions and gatherings -- like Apps4Africa, Startup Weekend, Africa Gathering, Maker Faire, Pivot East and BarCamps -- help to give visibility and credibility to these innovators, but this is not enough. The young African innovator needs business skills and funding.

However, preparatory brainstorming gatherings, where people meet to share ideas, cement relationships and learn, could form the missing link that helps to create a culture of entrepreneurship and trust, that challenges and empowers the technology entrepreneurs to do more for Africa, and encourages the funders to support them.

Now the competition is over, with the prize money coming soon into the winners' bank accounts, what is next for them? Many people are asking this legitimate question.

One thing is sure, the entrepreneurs have ideas; the proof is that we have banks of apps being developed from the continent. But 90% of the people who attended the Apps4Africa sessions, with their business ideas in hand, need mentoring.

The ecosystem in their countries to facilitate the creation of companies and a culture of entrepreneurship and risk taking is currently in its infancy or non-existent. Funding is currently a big issue. Investors don't take the technologists seriously, say the entrepreneurs. Whilst their intentions and ideas are good, many of the entrepreneurs that I meet need to be mentored intensively. Investors don't have time for this.