Brian: Iv'e never watched Mad Men so I can't comment on John Hamm; however, I've heard the show is very specific regarding the 1960's era. The costumes and sets are said to be a very accurate representation of that time period. I guess extreme authenticity is the name of the game. When I wake up some morning and see Hugh Laurie on the Today Show, Ill take notice. Some people don't realize he's British. Great American accent, Huh? I'll catch you on tonight's broadcast.

Dear Brian,

What is the deal with Twitter, by the way? You've joined, but you're not tweeting, yet? Neither Katie Couric, nor Howard Kurtz, nor Rachel Sklar (inventor of BriWi) can nudge you into action? I'm "following" you whilst wearing sweatpants. I add LOL to the ends of my messages. Where are your 140-character-long haikus?

Oh, and another thing... I have never commented on your ties before, as others have. For tie porn, I follow Jonathan Capehart. However, I must tell you I loved the tie you wore during last night's broadcast. Was that a tip of the hat to New York Fashion Week? 'Cause it was a thing of beauty.

Finally, I want to use this space to wish your colleague, Richard Engel, a very happy 37th birthday today. I am rounding the corner towards 40 myself, but I do have enough brain power left to remember 37. I guess. Anyway, he is most deserving of all the good things a day can hold.

As my dear friend Jackie Rawlings says, see you at 6:30. And "hey" to all the regulars.

~Laurel

Brian, Brian, Brian . . . .

Thought I'd never live to see the day when the Local broadcast trumps the National broadcast. It's 6:36 and I'm still watching Chuck and Sue saying that some parts of NY suffered a tornado. Yes that's very strange for this area, but I felt there coverage was efficiently done at 6:30, but, silly me, I was wrong on that call !!

I guess I'll have to watch your broadcast on the website this evening !!

Good Evening Mr.Williams, Another fine broadcast this evening. Certainly some terrible storms going through New York City and it looked very ominious at the end of the broadcast when the picture of New York City was shown with all the storm clouds. I hope the storm passes quickly. Be Safe Going Home!

On another note the video on the post of John Hamm who plays "Don Draper" of "Mad Men" was really funny when he mentioned you! You are really a big fan of the show and have been very observant of things on the show. Also. the video link of what happened in New Jersey sounds altogether mysterious and frightening. One hopes answers can be found as to what actually happened.

Now on to the broadcast. First of all the report by Mr.Cowan about the struggling economy and how so many people are living at the poverty level. It is alarming the statistics with people needing to buy food,pay bills and get health insurance. There ha too be a way to get people back to work because the problem is simply growing everyday. Time will tell.

The report by Mr.Costello about the rise in gold prices was amazing with some people investing their entire life savings into gold. One should still be cautious since this could only last a certain amount of time.

Seeing the pictures of the stormy weather in New York was scary and especially the huge lightning bolts near the Statue of Liberty. And all the tornado warnings.. May it pass quickly I hope everyone stays safe!

The piece about Lisa Roberts and the food pantry she started in her area of SE Ohio was very inspirational. She keeps a very positive attitude and always gives hope to all the people who come to the pantry. Such hard times for all the families just trying to feed their families. It is a nice place and one hopes things will take a turn for the better.

Nice Piece!

Thank You for the broadcast Mr.Williams. Stay Safe getting home! Peace to You and to All!

Lots of Love to Laurel,Jackie,Stephanie,Claudia,Celine,Anna,Lori,Cary and Matt!

Be Well Always!

Stay Extra,Extra Safe and Well Richard! Have A Very Big and Wonderful Happy Birthday! Hope You Enjoyed Your Day! :) Can't Wait or Your Next Report!

Take Extra Good Care Richard and Crew!

XOXO

Lisa

Brian,

I have a conspiracy theory about the Gold Rush and it's bizzare but I think I am onto something.

I think people are investing into gold now because CZs are the trend (and Wall Street Journal

endorses CZs) and with money being tight CZs are in demand, even for engagement rings. The

day is coming when there will be some people who will still want only gold and they will have to pay

big bucks from the investors. Well, just a thought.

Phyllis

Good evening, Brian.

I must start off by sending a big THANK YOU for sharing such a good laugh this evening in your blog! From Jon Hamm outing you on your not-so-secret “man crush” on him, to this trailer poking fun at Twitter, I was in tears of laughter moments ago. And for some reason, after knowing you have gone and joined Twitter yourself, it makes it all the more hilarious. Though, as my friend Laurel is saying, what's the deal with no posts as of yet? No pressure, but you have now broken some sort of record of highest number of followers having 0 “tweets” posted! Frankly (and I know people will jump me for saying this) I prefer reading from you on your blog, though I am anticipating the first @BWilliams tweet. (Also, Rachel Sklar is quite upset that BriWi didn't cut it. As am I! What gives!) Back to Jon Hamm, I am a HUGE fan of the show Mad Men as well, and happen to think it is the greatest show on television right now. (Peggy Olsen and Don Draper are the best!)

On a much more serious note, I wanted to thank you for revisiting the story from Ohio on tonight's broadcast. Ann Curry's Dateline report on this heartbreaking story was so moving and excellent, and I hope to see more updates from the report. There's nothing more that I love in journalism than when stories like these and others are not forgotten or left behind, but revisited and followed up on. (i.e. The Afghan orphanage visited last October.)

I want to also wish everyone in New York a safe night from the awful storms that hit this afternoon/evening. And a thank-you for signing off Nightly News with the scary, yet absolutely stunning view of the stormy New York skyline. Mother nature has it's downsides, but a storm can be absolutely gorgeous. Stay safe everyone.

I would also like to use this space to wish Richard Engel a very Happy 37^th Birthday! 37 is far from old, but I must say Richard looks 10 years younger from that! Wishing him many, many more healthy, happy years!

Have a good evening,

-Cary

I wanted to show my husband your report on the New York storms. I thought it a safe bet to try NBC.com. No where could I find a link to Nightly News. I tried the "Shows" directory, but this only listed entertainment. I tried the MSNBC news link when I found it, but even that didn't yield up the Nightly News, although if I wanted to be well versed in entertainment "news" (ahem), I could have done my homework. At the website's eager touting, I even tried the "Search" function, which gave me video's of Tom Brokaw talking about the Nightly News... but, in the end, I was forced to google you.

It used to be a lot easier to find the Nightly News page. I guess my priorities are just not mainstream.

hola, brian, an interesting thing about the native americans getting the old aircraft factory land back. back in the 80's and that awful recession, when america's prime cosmopolitan real estate went on the market, jthe apanese and the arabs bought it and deeded it back to the native american tribes that the lands originally belonged to. they knew america sure wasn't going to fix that VERY bad karma. they did it very quietly. i remember seeing some photos put together of life in the 60's and one of them was of robert kennedy with cesar chavez, the migrant worker's hero, after his hunger strike. one wonders if they kidnapped him and starved him to death. they also never tell you that the british trashed ghandi, go figure. happy birthday, richard engel, on mexican independence day, and many happy returns:-) i've stopped counting mine, i will dye my hair soonly here for my nephew's upcoming wedding. their little 15 mos. old son is a blondie with blue eyes, he's adorable. i told his mother that we may look mexican/native american, but my great-grandfather was a 6'2" tall, blonde, blue-eyed frenchman and he went back to germanic lines. his mother had a very german surname. mexico is as big a goulash as america . . . . . . don fernando of mexican channel television is a good german example. i am glad that they released the female hiker. i wonder if iran's mountains have heavy element metals buried in very rich, very large, deep veins, deep within them. from a time before, the hopi kachinas and the navajo sand paintings of giant birds with some kind of exhaust coming off of them sure might have been based on very large cognitive space ships of a time before. made out of extra light and tensile heavy element metals, perhaps, that crashed on earth? something sure keeps the spirit of the native american indians alive . . . . . there was a very interesting battle in scandinavian country in wwii, patton was there and another famous general, a scots, i forget his name, at the battle of bastogne. they fought like cats and dogs for a teeny, tiny town. i watched the movie and thought, was there an ancient celtic altar there? anyway, in those mountains, every summer, there is a festival and they raise up lots of teepees and bring in the native american dancers. the navajo codetalkers were very instrumental in turning the war's tide. the french have huge collections of beautiful navajo rugs in their museums. to your kismet, brian, i think of the novel by john milton about afghanistan and that lost paradise (borodin's music 'stranger in paradise' from 'kismet') where everyone stays young and more importantly, healthy. borodin's livelihood came from his chemist's job. he studied aldehydes and they exist in molecular clouds of dust in planetary nebula. i like to think of darwin's treatise that in evolution, 'everything is going to perfection' and we have been this way before, in another time, in another parallel universe. something sinister may be trying to thwart our journey home on our little earth ship, but i think that the homing instinct that is deeply imbedded in our human psyche will triumph. halleluia. best, anna martina

Brian-

Your links bring back memories. My first flight was on a Constellation. I was thrilled! I still think they were the most elegant and graceful looking planes ever built. I am so glad I got to fly on a big 4 engine prop plane. It's been big jets ever since and it is SO different.

Jackie-- I enjoyed your post the other night about our judiciary. I wanted to give you a heads up that Justice Breyer is scheduled to be on Charlie Rose for the hour on Friday night.

Happy birthday Richard! Hope you enjoyed it and that we will be privileged to enjoy many, many more years of your reporting!

Take care all-

Celine

Brian: The final operation is underway to kill the Macondo Well. I'm sure that some Gulf residents are breathing a sigh of relief. It's been a long long journey up to this point, but some remnents of oil will remain. Hats off to B.P. for toughing it out these many months. Also, kudos to the Vessels of Opportunity, government agencies, and the scientists and academics who offered their assistance. I've been keeping abreast of the situation via the Joint Information Center and Thad Allen's press briefings.

Regarding the new Consumer Protection Agency, I don't think it wise to establish another government department. This genious idea will only increase the National Debt. I'll catch you on tonight's broadcast.

oh, silly me, it's james hilton's book 'lost horizon' that is about afghanistan and that paradise by blue moon. john milton's book is about adam and eve and the loss of eden. i think we are at a new horizon now. middle class makes you an energy vortex for some very nasty types. poverty level drops you out of that. it is temporary, just long enough to break the sequencing. some very nasty towers will come crashing down soon, left to the entropy of their dead worlds. they are disintegrating, no gluons to keep them whole. they were very much like piranhas and baracudas. ugh. i found another chattem gold bond ultimate cream last night, looking for something for my face with oatmeal in it. it is 1/2 the price of the avena creams and lotions with 3-4x more product. called 'soothing', i had been using the 'restoring' and adding tea tree and peppermint oil to it since they are natural antiseptics. this is for redness relief, which i need, with chamomile, oat extract and ginger root, it doesn't say for your face, but that's where i put it, yowza, and it worked. ahhhh, no itching and irritation, at last:-) there must be lots of nasty dust mites in this new wormhole! wish i had some funding to train the 17-18 yr. old juvies as machinists. i think that's something they could really get into and it would keep them busy and out of trouble and that income would get them into the mainstream. if they gave them the metal scraps, i bet they'd learn how to solder and do metal art. cool. best, anna martina

Brian, Liked the story on boxing. Here's a quote from Joyce Carol Oates in "Woman Writer". After

the boxing fight is over the "real world" would flood back and the powerful appeal of Mike Tyson,

as of his great predecessors, is that in however artificial and delimited a context, a human being,

one of us, reduced to the essence of physical strengh, skill, and ingeuinty, has control of his fate

--if this control can manifest itself merely in the battering of a human beng into absolute

submission. This is not what boxing is all about, but it is boxing's secret premise: life is hard

in the ring, but, there you only get what you deserve." And they have a fighting chance.

A miracle about the toddler's heart that stop beating for an hour, and he came back to life

God bless him and his family.

Have a great weekend.

Phyllis

"Imagine my surprise this morning, minding my own business, doing what America does every morning: Watching Today on NBC. The guest? John Hamm. The great Don Draper of 'Mad Men' fame. The host: Meredith Viera. Take it away, Mr. Hamm."

Did you mean JON Hamm and Meredith VIEIRA?