WASHINGTON, May 2— Following are the resolutions today by the Senate and the House of Representatives ''expressing solidarity with Israel in its fight against terrorism'':

WHEREAS the United States and Israel are now engaged in a common struggle against terrorism and are on the frontlines of a conflict thrust upon them against their will;

WHEREAS President George W. Bush declared on Nov. 21, 2001: ''We fight the terrorists and we fight all of those who give them aid. America has a message for the nations of the world: If you harbor terrorists, you are terrorists. If you train or arm a terrorist, you are a terrorist. If you feed a terrorist or fund a terrorist, you are a terrorist, and you will be held accountable by the United States and our friends''; and,

WHEREAS the United States has committed to provide resources to states on the frontline in the war against terrorism:

Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Senate:

1. stands in solidarity with Israel, a frontline state in the war against terrorism, as it takes necessary steps to provide security to its people by dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas;

2. remains committed to Israel's right to self-defense;

3. will continue to assist Israel in strengthening its homeland defenses;

4. condemns Palestinian suicide bombings;

5. demands that the Palestinian Authority fulfill its commitment to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas;

6. urges all Arab states, particularly the United States' allies, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to declare their unqualified opposition to all forms of terrorism, particularly suicide bombing, and to act in concert with the United States to stop the violence; and

7. urges all parties in the region to pursue vigorously efforts to establish a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.

WHEREAS the United States and Israel are now engaged in a common struggle against terrorism and are on the front-lines of a conflict thrust upon them against their will;

WHEREAS hundreds of innocent Israelis and Palestinians have died tragically in violence since September 2000;

WHEREAS Palestinian organizations are engaging in an organized, systematic and deliberate campaign of terror aimed at inflicting as many casualties as possible on the Israeli population, including through the use of suicide terrorist attacks;

WHEREAS the number of Israelis killed during that time by suicide terrorist attacks alone, on a basis proportional to the United States population, is approximately 9,000, three times the number killed in the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001;

WHEREAS Yasir Arafat and members of the Palestinian leadership have failed to abide by their commitments to nonviolence made in the Israel-P.L.O. Declaration of Principles (the ''Oslo accord'') of September 1993, including their pledges (1) to adhere strictly to ''a peaceful resolution of the conflict,'' (2) to resolve ''all outstanding issues relating to permanent status through negotiations,'' (3) to renounce ''the use of terrorism and other acts of violence'' and (4) to ''assume responsibility over all P.L.O. elements and personnel in order to assure their compliance [with the commitment to nonviolence], prevent violence and discipline violators'';

WHEREAS the continued terrorism and incitement committed and supported by official arms of the Palestinian Authority are a direct violation of these commitments;

WHEREAS the Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, which is part of Arafat's Fatah organization and has been designated a ''foreign terrorist organization'' by the United States government, and other Fatah forces have murdered scores of innocent Israelis;

WHEREAS forces under Yasir Arafat's direct control were involved in the Palestinian Authority's thwarted attempt to obtain 50 tons of offensive weapons shipped from Iran in the Karine-A, an effort that irrefutably proved Arafat's embrace of the use and escalation of violence;

WHEREAS the Israeli government has documents found in the offices of the Palestinian Authority that demonstrate the crucial financial support the Palestinian Authority continues to provide for terrorist acts, including suicide bombers;

WHEREAS the recent escalation of Palestinian attacks, killing 46 Israelis during the week of Passover, included a heinous suicide-bombing at a religious ceremony which killed 27 and wounded more than a hundred, many critically, and was perpetrated by a known terrorist whom Israel had previously asked Yasir Arafat to arrest;

WHEREAS this suicide attack occurred at the very time United States envoy Gen. Anthony Zinni was attempting to negotiate a cease-fire that would lead to the resumption of Israeli-Palestinians political negotiations;

WHEREAS, just before the Passover attack, Israel had agreed to General Zinni's cease-fire proposals, whereas Yasir Arafat rejected them;

WHEREAS Yasir Arafat continues to incite terror by, for example, saying of the Passover suicide bomber, ''Oh God, give me a martyrdom like this'';

WHEREAS Yasir Arafat and the P.L.O. have a long history of making and breaking antiterrorism pledges;

WHEREAS President George W. Bush declared at a joint session of Congress on Sept. 20, 2001, that ''from this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime'';

WHEREAS President Bush recently stated that he ''fully understands Israel's need to defend herself'' and that he ''respect[s]'' the fact that Israelis have ''seen a wave of suicide bombers coming to the heart of their cities and killing innocent people'';

WHEREAS President Bush, in his speech of April 4, 2002, stated that ''the situation in which he [Arafat] finds himself today is largely of his own making''; that Arafat ''missed his opportunities, and thereby betrayed the hopes of the people he's supposed to lead''; and that, ''given his [Arafat's] failure, the Israeli government feels it must strike at terrorist networks that are killing its citizens'';

WHEREAS Israel's military operations are an effort to defend itself against the unspeakable horrors of ongoing terrorism and are aimed only at dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas, an obligation Arafat himself undertook but failed to carry out; and

WHEREAS the process of Israeli withdrawal is nearly complete:

Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the House of Representatives:

1. stands in solidarity with Israel as it takes necessary steps to provide security to its people by dismantling the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas;

2. remains committed to Israel's right to self-defense and supports additional United States assistance to help Israel defend itself;

3. condemns the recent wave of Palestinian suicide bombings;

4. condemns the ongoing support of terror by Yasir Arafat and other members of the Palestinian leadership;

5. demands that the Palestinian Authority at last fulfill its commitment to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure in the Palestinian areas, including any such infrastructure associated with P.L.O. and Palestinian Authority entities tied directly to Yasir Arafat;

6. is gravely concerned that Arafat's actions are not those of a viable partner for peace;

7. urges all Arab states to declare their unqualified opposition to all forms of terrorism, including suicide bombing;

8. commends the president for his leadership in addressing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, particularly the efforts of the administration to engage countries throughout the region to condemn and prevent terrorism and to prevent a widening of the conflict;

9. urges all parties in the region to pursue vigorously efforts to establish a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the Middle East; and

10. encourages the international community to take action to alleviate the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people.

Summary: Following are the resolutions today by the Senate and the House of Representatives ''expressing solidarity with Israel in its fight against terrorism'':    The Senate Resolution      WHEREAS the United States and Israel are now engaged in a common struggle against terrorism and are on the frontlines of a conflict thrust upon them against their will;


Antonin Scalia’s untimely death in February has left the Supreme Court with an even number of justices: eight. Unlike tennis matches, Supreme Court decisions are tiebreaker-free, meaning the lower-court ruling stands without any high-court guidance. In the past three months, the Scalia-less court has evenly divided several times, including leaving intact a major win for public-sector unions in Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association.

Most American justice, however, is dispensed in state courts. Every state supreme...

Summary: Texas Supreme Court Justice Don Willett says in the era of U.S. Supreme Court tie votes, here's a look at the sometimes unusual ways that state high courts deal with potential stalemates.


Richard Di Natale was at home on his farm on Sunday night, watching Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten on television.

His two rivals were taking part in the second “leaders’ debate” of the 2016 election campaign, without his participation.

The situation was the outcome of a perennial question in Australian politics: should the Greens’ leader be invited to debate the Liberal and Labor leaders during a live primetime TV broadcast when his party has just one seat in the House of Representatives?

The prevailing view is that the Greens aren’t powerful enough.

But there’s a common retort to that view: maybe the Greens would have more seats in parliament if more voters had the opportunity to hear what the party’s leader had to say?

The debate was appalling anyway. Both leaders spent an hour answering almost none of the questions.

Related: Guardian Live election special event with Lenore Taylor and Katharine Murphy

Voters who tuned in witnessed the same old sight: two major parties enjoying their duopolistic hold on the country’s political debate, much like the big banks and supermarkets enjoy their privileged status in the world of Australian business.

Di Natale made a similar point the next night on Q&A, which he was invited to.

“We would’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to put our vision to the Australian people, [but] the reason they don’t want us there is they’re the Coles and Woolies of politics,” he said. “Nothing brings the old parties closer together than a bit of friendly competition from the outside.”

Three weeks ago, on 8 May, as Malcolm Turnbull visited the governor general to ask for a double-dissolution election, Di Natale was in Newcastle taking part in a blockade of the city’s coal port.

Thousands of environmental activists had converged on the city as part of global anti-coal protests, called “Break Free” (from fossil fuels). It was the first protest Di Natale had taken part in since becoming Greens leader 12 months ago.

It was largely peaceful but police arrested 57 people for refusing to remove themselves from a coal train line, and a few others for abseiling off Stockton Bridge, and one woman for locking herself to the mooring line of a coal carrier.

“We are a party that is absolutely humming along,” he told the crowd at one stage. “The party’s never been in better shape for an election campaign.”

The Greens want to retain, at the very least, their 10 federal senators and one lower house seat in this election. And the party’s hierarchy seem genuinely proud of their campaign preparation.

There could be 50 Greens supporters on the phones in any electorate, keeping in touch with voters on the ground

Di Natale’s pitch to voters – to try to rid the country of its reliance on fossil fuels and push the country towards 90% renewable energy – has attracted a strong youth vote. The party is relying on that youthful support to bulldoze its way into stronghold Liberal and Labor seats, in the inner cities of Melbourne and Sydney, that are showing signs of going Green.

(Party membership has swelled by 40% since June 2014, from about 10,350 to 14,500, as the Greens won four lower house seats in two state elections.)

They’ve had young supporters campaigning on the ground for six months in some electorates. Di Natale says the key is field organising, “based a little bit on the Obama strategy”.

Their model works this way. They’ve divided their electorates into segments, and each segment has a door-knocking team and a “phone-banking” team. The door-knocking teams talk to as many people as possible, and keep records of what they talk about; the phone banking teams then use those records to call back everyone on the list who showed an interest in Greens policies or who needed help with a local issue.

There are four or five phone-banking teams in each electorate, so that means there could be 50 Greens supporters on the phones in any electorate, keeping in touch with voters on the ground.

The Greens say they don’t do robo-calls.

It’s a time consuming way to gather detailed data on each electorate. But it pays dividends. It gives the party a rich understanding of the tapestry of each seat, allowing it to keep tabs on all the potential voters it has identified.

The Greens have used such a system for about seven months in the Victorian seat of Higgins, held by the Liberal party’s assistant treasurer, Kelly O’Dwyer.

It’s a similar system to the one they used in Melbourne in 2010 to get Adam Bandt elected the first time, and to get Scott Ludlam re-elected to the Senate in 2014. But this time it’s on a much bigger scale.

When Di Natale spoke at the National Press Club four weeks ago, he described his vision of a future economy in which Australia is fuelled by 90% renewable energy rather than dirty coal. He quoted Niccolò Machiavelli in that speech to make a point:

There is nothing more difficult and dangerous, or more doubtful of success, than an attempt to introduce a new order of things in any state. For the innovator has for enemies all those who derived advantages from the old order of things, while those who expect to be benefited by the new institutions will be but lukewarm defenders.”

He then flew to Cairns to see first-hand the devastating coral bleaching that has hit the reef this year, along with his deputy Greens leader, Larissa Waters. Guardian Australia travelled with them.

The two of them used the occasion to announce a new Greens policy in Cairns: a seven-point plan to shift Australia away from fossil fuels, including a heavy tax on coalminers to pay for the revitalisation of the reef, and the reintroduction of a carbon price.

Not everyone was happy they were in town. Some local tourism operators had reportedly refused to ferry Di Natale and Waters out to the reef because they didn’t want them feeding hysteria about its poor condition for a publicity stunt.

The Courier-Mail and the Cairns Post – both News Corp Australia papers – had been stoking the anti-Greens hostility, running stories that week that Di Natale had been “barred” from the reef by Cairns’ “marine tourism industry”.

It seemed like a slight beatup. Most of the hostility appeared to be coming from one local man, a former Senate candidate for the Fishing and Lifestyle party, Daniel McCarthy, who is now the president of the Cairns Professional Game Fishing Association.

And the Greens easily found a local tourism operator who was happy to boat them out. He said he’d taken lots of celebrities out, “including Rex Hunt”.

The next day, as we were driving to an early morning radio interview on the Gold Coast, the Courier-Mail had run another piece about them, as a parting shot.

“The Greens party took a taxpayer-funded $6,000 charter boat and plane trip to the Great Barrier Reef yesterday only to declare Queensland’s biggest tourism asset dead,” it read.

“In what some local tour operators described as ‘scaremongering’, Greens leader Richard Di Natale and deputy Senator Larissa Waters said the ‘death’ of the reef was a ‘national catastrophe’.

“But the pair told of ‘sheer beauty’ as they snorkelled off a luxury game boat at a cost of $2,250-a-day, at Michaelmas Cay off Cairns yesterday.

“They later warned that global warming was seeing Australia lose ‘great swaths of the reef’.”

Di Natale read the story, then closed the paper.

That boat wasn’t particularly luxurious. It was a standard game boat used to ferry people 40km offshore, through two hours of ocean swell. And though the temperature was pleasant, there was little time for sunbathing.

There were eight people on board: two crew, Di Natale, Waters, a Greens staffer, a scientist, a journalist and a cameraman.

The scientist was Justin Marshall, the chief scientist for David Attenborough’s three-part documentary about the reef, who had come to explain to everyone what we were witnessing.

Before this election, who outside of Victoria had heard of the Melbourne seats of Batman and Wills?

Marshall had spent 30 years studying the reef and was adamant that the coral bleaching was Australia’s worst environmental crisis. He said he was angry with the federal government for trying to hide the reef’s deterioration.

He spent the boat trip, and the charter flight to Lizard Island 240km north, talking about the complex ways in which the reef has been damaged by the devastating bleaching.

He also talked about the scientific community’s strained relationship with the government, and the fact that colleagues of his were asking him why he was risking his career by speaking out.

Despite all that, the angle the Courier-Mail took was that the Greens were trashing-talking the reef and putting the tourism industry at risk. “It’s still good to be in there,” Di Natale said about the paper later. “That way we can still get our message out.”

A few weeks later, the Guardian reported that every reference to Australia had been scrubbed from the final version of a major UN report on climate change after the government objected that information about the poor condition of the reef could harm tourism.

One of the scientists who worked on the chapter that was scrubbed, Will Steffen, said the move was reminiscent of “the old Soviet Union”.

The Greens have always complained that they don’t get much media coverage. But this election’s been noticeably different for them. For the past three weeks, their media mentions have soared thanks to the Coalition and Labor trying to outdo each other with public displays of contempt for the party.

It’s mostly worked in Di Natale’s favour, he says. If one of the biggest hurdles the Greens face is that voters don’t know who they are or what they stand for, it’s beneficial to have both major parties complaining about them.

In some ways that’s true. Before this election, who outside of Victoria had heard of the Melbourne seats of Batman and Wills? And who outside New South Wales had heard of the Sydney seats of Grayndler and Sydney?

Those seats are better known nationally this year, thanks partly to the Liberal-Labor spat over preferences, in which the Greens have been portrayed variously as bogeymen or as the least-worst alternative, and partly to the concern that some candidates are showing about their upstart Green rivals.

Labor’s Anthony Albanese, for instance, issued a bizarre threat to the Liberal party on Sunday, saying if the party funnelled preferences to the Greens in his seat of Grayndler he’ll warn constituents that a vote for Turnbull will be a vote to abolish capitalism.

The Greens have their eyes on eight lower house seats, seven of which are held by Labor

Michael Kroger, the president of the Victorian Liberal party, has been constantly suggesting that the Libs should preference the Greens in key inner-city electorates, just like Albanese’s, because they’re “not the nutters they used to be”.

On Q&A on Monday night, Di Natale was quick to kill any suggestion that the Greens would be doing any preference “deal” with the Liberal party in this election.

“Let’s just be clear,” he told the audience. “We won’t be preferencing the Liberal party in any seat in the country. We’ve made that very clear.”

The Greens have their eyes on eight seats, seven of which are held by Labor.

There are four in Victoria, all inner-city seats: Batman (Labor), Wills (Labor), Melbourne Ports (Labor) and Higgins (Liberal). Then there are three in NSW, with two inner-city seats, Grayndler (Labor) and Sydney (Labor), and a third on the far north coast of the state, Richmond (Labor). Then there’s one in Western Australia, Fremantle (Labor).

According to the ABC’s resident election analyst, Antony Green – and the analyst Ben Raue, a former Greens candidate who writes for Guardian Australia – the seats most likely to the fall to the Greens, in this election, are Melbourne’s Batman and Wills. And even they will still depend on Liberal preferences.

But while media attention focuses on the battle for those lower house seats, the Senate voting reforms could lead to the Greens losing a couple of spots in the upper house this year.

The party’s strategists admit as much. But they also say they’re focusing on retaining as much support as possible in this election so they can be in a strong position to mount an even bigger challenge at the next election.

The day after Di Natale snorkelled on the Great Barrier Reef, he drove to Wategos beach in Byron Bay to meet the former NSW Greens MP Ian Cohen. They went for a quick surf in perfect autumn weather.

Cohen is a NSW Greens luminary. He retired from state parliament in 2011 after a 16-year career and his history of environmental activism stretches back much further.

He’s famous for an iconic image: in 1986 he was photographed lying on a surfboard, clinging to the moving bow of the destroyer USS Oldendorf. He was protesting against the entry of nuclear warships into Sydney Harbour.

Di Natale enjoyed Cohen’s company. They sat out the back of the surf, talking about Greens politics. A few people recognised Di Natale but more recognised Cohen. It was Cohen’s home turf.

That night Di Natale attended the campaign launch of Dawn Walker, the Greens candidate for the seat of Richmond in northern NSW. Walker is trying to win the seat for a second time, after collecting 17.69% of the first-preference votes in 2013.

The seat is an interesting one. It has a strong Nationals vote, with well-known farming families controlling much of the local power structure. But it has a large and growing contingent of Greens voters, given its catchment area takes in Byron Bay and Mullumbimby – the centre of the anti-vaccination movement.

The two camps share an uneasy peace. The Greens will find it difficult to win the seat but they’ve been encouraged to dedicate solid resources to it after winning the seat of Ballina at the 2015 NSW election and coming a close second in neighbouring Lismore.

We know that once people hear our policies they’re likely to vote for us

It was a colourful night, with hundreds of supporters packed into a local hall in Mullumbimby, with freshly cooked food, alcohol and some dancing on stage. But Di Natale’s chief of staff and media adviser were worried about the event.

They’d heard there were some anti-vaxxers in the crowd who were preparing to heckle him when he got up to speak. Di Natale, a doctor, has publicly condemned the anti-vaxxer movement numerous times.

So they prepared him as best they could. They held their breath when he took the microphone. Then he stood up to speak. Nothing happened.

The crowd welcomed his calls for a future without coal, for more investment in health and education, for an increase in the foreign aid budget, and for heavier taxes on coal companies to revitalise the Great Barrier Reef. No one asked for him to explain how he would pay for those things.

And the anti-vaxxers kept quiet. His staff later wondered if they’d remained quiet because they felt the rest of the policies Di Natale had spoken about were still agreeable. Who knows?

The big strategy behind the Greens election push this year is a long-term one. Party strategists say they’re focusing on this election and the next.

They say they’re pouring resources into the fight to win eight lower house seats from Labor and the Libs – all of which will be impossible to win at once – because they want to win enough new voters this year who can be turned into a larger, more powerful voting base for the next election.

“We know that once people hear our policies they’re likely to vote for us,” Di Natale says.

And the party hopes that once someone votes Green for the first time they’ll be more likely to vote for them a second time.

But Machiavelli had a warning about that, too:

The nature of the people is variable, and while it is easy to persuade them, it is difficult to fix them in that persuasion.”

Summary: He may have been excluded from the leaders’ debate but that hasn’t kept his party out of the media spotlight this election campaign – far from it


EDMONTON, Alberta, May 25— Strained and stressed by an afternoon of thunderstorms and a steamy, emotional night inside brightly lighted Boston Garden, an ancient transformer malfunctioned Tuesday night, making the rink go black and rendering a Stanley Cup game nonexistent.

''It's been one of those crazy playoffs,'' said Wayne Gretzky, who chatted informally with reporters en route to Edmonton this afternoon on the Oilers' charter flight.

''This doesn't happen in basketball,'' added Gretzky, an avowed basketball aficionado. ''This would never happen to the Celtics. I don't know what it is about the N.H.L. It seems like these things just happen.''

The blackout Tuesday became the latest in a series of mishaps to mar the Stanley Cup playoffs this spring, the National Hockey League's showcase event. The Bruins endured a less severe blackout in the first game of their Adams Division championship series at Montreal and then suffered through the infamous squabble among the league, the Devils and the referees' union. Red Light, Then No Light

What happened Tuesday night was a concentrated blackout that shut down the power lines to the arena late in the middle period, just seconds after Craig Simpson of Edmonton deflected the tying goal past Andy Moog.

''They say that when the red light went on for that goal, it took the last bit of energy that old building had,'' said Gretzky of the strange timing of the fadeout, which occurred shortly after 9:30 P.M.

Instead of completing the game, the players went to their darkened locker rooms where, guided by flashlights, they took their postgame showers and awaited a final ruling from John Ziegler, the league's president, on what would happen next. The 14,451 fans who had been treated to the Bruins' most spirited performance of the series, were sent from the 60-year-old arena without incident.

''We're probably lucky there wasn't some kind of riot,'' said the Bruins' Tom McCarthy. Wary Despite Power Return

Although power was restored shortly after 10 P.M., Garden management said it had only ''Band-Aided'' the problem and could not promise there wouldn't be repeat blackouts. Despite assurances that coaches and players from both teams preferred to finish the game on the spot regardless of the fog and the electrical vagaries, that option was ruled out.

After more than an hour of talks among Ziegler and representatives from both clubs, it was decided that the best reaction to the blackout was a nullification of the game. Ziegler went to his league's bylaws and produced a ruling that mandates that Tuesday's game, since it could not be completed, will be replayed at the end of this series, if necessary. Reliance on what was deemed an objective, if somewhat bizarre solution, was obviated by the fact that the Garden was unavailable for a replay for the next several evenings because of the basketball playoffs and a college graduation.

Harry Sinden, the Bruins' general manager, said he didn't like the rule, which in effect sends the Bruins off to Edmonton to face elimination again, but would abide by it.

''I think this rule was made by some old-timers when they were worried about someone pulling a switch to stop a game they were losing,'' said Sinden. 'As Weird as it Gets'

Glen Sather, the Oilers' coach, said his initial reaction to the extinguishing of the Garden's lights was, ''Harry pulled the switch.'' Sather said both parties reached the decision to suspend this game without argument. ''It was a logical decision that made the best of a bad situation, but I think this is about as weird as it gets,'' he said.

The Bruins, for whom the outcome of this unprecedented blackout bodes unfriendly, if not downright discouraging, determined to be stoic.

''Whether we play that game today, tomorrow, or next year doesn't matter right away,'' said McCarthy. ''We're still in the same hole. We've still got to win our next game.''

The Bruins were trying to elude playoff elimination while the Oilers had been intent on sweeping this series and taking their fourth Stanley Cup home from Boston Tuesday night.

''I don't know what's fair,'' said Gretzky. ''We would have loved to have finished the game, and obviously they're not too happy about this, either. I don't think anybody got cheated, but I guess we've got to be in a pretty good frame of mind. It doesn't matter where you win the Stanley Cup, it's more a matter of when, but we're undefeated at home and that's got to make you feel extraconfident.''

The cancellation of Game 4, which ended at 3-3, sent the series back to Edmonton, where the Oilers have already captured three Stanley Cups, with Edmonton up three games to none and the Bruins again laboring under an ever-lengthening shadow of elimination. Disbelief by Moog

''For 37 minutes you played the most intense hockey of your life and then they tell you to forget it, just forget it, and we'll just do it over again,'' said a disenchanted Moog, who had appeared to be getting sharper after a shaky start that left the Bruins down, 2-0. ''I don't think anyone in the wildest dreams could've foreseen a situation like this.''

First came a shroud of fog rising from the ice into the warm air of the Garden - which is not air-conditioned - that made a mystery of shots and passes that might have seemed routine in any other game.

''You had no judgment; you couldn't see where the puck was,'' said Gretzky. ''It was a strange game and maybe canceling it was the best thing that could have happened.'' Gretzky joked that the reason he was tricked out of the puck by Glen Wesley, who then earned Boston a 2-2 tie six minutes into the second period, was weather-related. ''I lost him in the fog,'' he said. The Best Way

Cam Neeley, a Boston forward, was torn between wanting to finish the game on home ice and wanting to play under conditions that didn't include disorienting wisps of fog, flickering lights, and hot spots. But Neeley was philosophical about the ultimate decision.

''When you think about it, probably the best way you could finish it off is by canceling it,'' he said.

While Sather didn't want to gloat about returning to the more hygienic Northlands Arena and made light of home-ice advantage - which has benefited only the Oilers in the series - he did take issue with the quality of the ice at Boston Garden.

''The ice is ice in Edmonton,'' he said. ''You can actually glide on it. In Boston, it's like skating in sand.''

Summary: LEAD: Strained and stressed by an afternoon of thunderstorms and a steamy, emotional night inside brightly lighted Boston Garden, an ancient transformer malfunctioned Tuesday night, making the rink go black and rendering a Stanley Cup game nonexistent.


This post is in partnership with Inc., which offers useful advice, resources and insights to entrepreneurs and business owners. The article below was originally published at Inc.com.

Lou Altman needed to reschedule our call. Why? The founder of GlobaFone, a satellite communications firm in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, needed to attend a webinar hosted by a company whose social media program he had bought. The product wasn’t working out, and Altman hoped to get some tips to make it easier to use.

Did I mention I was supposed to interview Altman about how small businesses can get the most out of their social media budget, and not spend a lot of money for little gain?

When we finally connected, I asked Altman how he came to purchase something that didn’t do what he needed. “We didn’t have an overall social media strategy when we bought it,” he admitted

It’s a familiar story: You buy something you absolutely have to have, according to the people who are selling it, but which turns out to help them far more than it helps you. This is true for many personal and business spending decisions, including for social media. There’s Facebook and YouTube and Twitter and Instagram and Pinterest and … remember Ello? Who the heck can keep up? Yet many believe they must. According to a recent survey by LinkedIn and market research firm TNS, 81 percent of businesses with between $1 million and $50 million in annual revenue use social media in hopes of boosting sales. Yet only 61 percent of those same businesses see a payoff.

That’s an expensive mistake to make. Consultants can help, charging anywhere from $50 to $500 an hour, but too often, paying more doesn’t ensure better outcomes. So before you spend anything, consult the following tips to get a good return on your social media investment.

Many business owners think they should be on social media but don’t have a target in mind. As a result, “it’s very hard not to get ripped off,” says Anne Marie Blackman, founder of MyUglyChristmasSweater.com, an online apparel specialist. Blackman spent $2,000 on targeted Facebook posts and pay-per-click advertising in 2013 but wanted to get more out of her investment. “I did not have the experience to use it effectively,” she tells me. “There is a science to having a good pay-per-click campaign.” So this past holiday season, Blackman budgeted several thousand dollars to hire an expert to take over her social media.

If you decide to bring on a social media expert, make sure it’s someone who knows your industry. Blackman follows the campaigns of other companies and monitors people whose style she likes. She hired her social media manager because she liked her online voice: “She can write in the right tone,” Blackman says. “I can come off as too stiff.”

Some kinds of companies (think fashion and food) are natural fits for Instagram, while others (like B2B) get more out of LinkedIn. Different sites need different strategies. “Copying your Facebook posts directly to Twitter is like going to Dallas and barking French at everyone,” says Audrey Christie McLaughlin, a marketing consultant.

The Ellen DeGeneres Show featured My Ugly Christmas Sweater in December 2012, so the next year, Blackman pounced. She put a YouTube clip from the show on Facebook as a sponsored post, targeting 10,000 Ellen fans. “The click-through was very successful,” she says. And the best part? “I probably spent $75 to promote it.”

Summary: You think you have to be on Facebook or Instagram. But do you know what you want out there?


Google is making it even easier to be a lazy eater.

Starting Friday, users will be able to order food directly from a Google search. Users who search for nearby restaurants on their phones will see a “Place an order” option in the information card that appears in the search results. Select that button and you’ll have the option of going directly to the restaurant’s page on one of six food-ordering sites: Seamless, Grubhub, Eat24, Delivery.com, BeyondMenu and MyPizza.com.

Google says it plans to add more options in the future.

Embedding more functionality in mobile searches makes sense for Google, which has seen its search dominance put under pressure by the emergence of single-purpose apps. Instead of using Google to find restaurants, for example, users might use Yelp’s app. The tech giant is doing everything it can to make sure Google search results are a kind of one-stop-shop that lets users execute many different types of actions, including ordering lunch.

Summary: Google continues to add more functionality to mobile searches


Vending machines aren’t just for buying soda, salty snacks, and scary-looking egg salad sandwiches. In Nashville, you can now roll up to a five-story vending machine and buy a car.

Carvana, a Phoenix-based online-car-buying startup that describes itself as the “Amazon of cars,” opened the vending machine Thursday in Nashville. The five-story glass building, which is equipped with three customer delivery bays, can store up to 20 cars. The vending machine is open Monday through Saturday and vehicle pickup is free for all Carvana customers. The company says it will subsidize $200 in airfare and arrange transportation from the Nashville airport for customers who live outside Tennessee, but who want to pick up their car at the vending machine.

CEO and founder Ernie Garcia says the vending machine concept is a brick-and-mortar extension of its online business model that was built for customers who still want to pick up their vehicle in person. The vending machine “serves as a metaphor for Carvana’s business principles: easy and efficient with the customer in complete control,” Garcia told Fortune.

Once a customer has shopped and purchased the car online, they head over to the vending machine. The customer selects their name from a kiosk inside the building and inserts a Carvana-branded coin to start up the vending machine. The car is automatically retrieved from the tower and ushered into a delivery bay, where the customer can take possession, and begin their seven-day test ownership period. The vehicles undergo a 150-point inspection and come with a 100-day or 4,189-mile bumper-to-bumper warranty, and a seven-day test drive. Carvana also touts a “no questions asked” return policy.

MORE: You Could Be Driving This 3D-Printed Car Next Year

In the past, Carvana has advertised that customers save an average of $1,681 on their purchase. Garcia says that won’t change. “The machine itself costs almost nothing to run once it’s operational,” Garcia says.

Carvana, which allows buyers to shop for, finance, buy, and trade in a car online, plans to expand its vending machine concept into other cities, Garcia says. The company launched in 2013 in Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., and Nashville, and has since expanded into several new markets, including Birmingham, Ala., and Dallas in early 2015. In the past month, the company has expanded into Austin, Houston, San Antonio, and Raleigh, N.C. Carvana has warehouse facilities in Atlanta and Dallas, which store about 600 cars.

Carvana, which has raised $300 million in funding, does have competition in online car sales market. Beepi Inc., Carlypso, Shift Technologies, and Vroom are raising capital and expanding staff. And each startup offers its own spin on white-glove or concierge-style service. In July, New York startup Vroom raised $54 million and previously raised $19 million in equity from between 15 and 20 wealthy investors, including former pro football player John Elway and former Autonation and Blockbuster CEO Steve Berrard. In September, Shift Technologies, an online marketplace for used cars in San Francisco and Los Angeles, raised $50 million in new funding.

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For more Fortune coverage of cool new ways to buy cars, watch this video:

Summary: It's just like buying a really expensive can of soda.


06/16/2016 AT 04:00 PM EDT

is eyeing one of Hollywood's most iconic roles previously made famous by Judy Garland and Barbra Streisand.

The singer is currently in talks to star alongside

in the remake of the classic

. Cooper is also set to direct the project.

The original film, starring Janet Gaynor and Fredric March, told the story of a movie star who takes a young starlet under his wing as his own career begins to unravel. It was first remade in 1954 with Garland and James Mason starring, and was updated again in 1976 with Streisand and Kris Kristofferson as the leads.

The film's latest iteration has been in the works at Warner Bros. for years.

, who directed Cooper in

, was going to direct the project in 2011.

had reportedly circled the role, but the project

that he and Beyoncé would star together in the project. Warner Bros. had no comment on the remake.

Back in April, Gaga was spotted on the back of Cooper's motorcycle when the two went to dinner together at Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, California.

In addition to having huge success in the pop music scene, Gaga has also proven her acting chops as of late. She starred in

and won a Golden Globe for her performance.

Summary: Lady Gaga is in talks to star alongside Bradley Cooper in a remake of A Star is Born


Forget jail ... Nickelodeon star

-- from "Hollywood Heights" -- just got the book thrown at him in his DUI case ... in the form of something far worse than lockup ... BOOZE CLASSES.

As we reported, cops pulled 25-year-old Longo over in June after he repeatedly flashed another driver with his high beams. Officers determined Longo was under the influence and the actor was placed under arrest.

Longo was charged with two counts of DUI following the arrest -- but according to new court docs, he struck a plea deal that would allow him to avoid jail.

The catch ... Longo agreed to plead no contest to one count of DUI, and was sentenced to something much worse (in our opinion).

According to the plea deal, Longo was ordered to complete 3 months of alcohol education classes. He was also ordered to attend 10 AA classes and was placed on 3 years summary probation.

It might not sound that bad, but you've obviously never been to alcohol education classes. BOOORINGGGG.

Summary: Forget jail ... Nickelodeon star Cody Longo -- from "Hollywood Heights" -- just got the book thrown at him in his DUI case ... in the form of something…


The connection between Quicken Loans founder Dan Gilbert and billionaire magnate Warren Buffett became evident last month with news that Buffett was backing Gilbert’s surprise bid for Yahoo yhoo .

But the two men have another business connection that hasn’t been reported: an exclusive mortgage-purchasing agreement between Quicken and a subsidiary of Buffett’s conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway brk.a .

Berkshire owns a company called Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance Inc, which buys mortgages for traditional houses exclusively from Quicken, Buffett said in an interview. Vanderbilt’s primary business is funding mortgages for Clayton Homes, the largest U.S. maker of mobile and manufactured homes, which is also owned by Berkshire.

“We buy a very few loans unrelated to the manufactured home business, and Quicken is the one we buy them from,” Buffett told Reuters.

Quicken has been selling loans to Vanderbilt for nearly a year in a test program, spokesman Jordan Fylonenko said in an email. The partnership has led to about $20 million in closed loans so far, and Quicken is issuing new loans at a rate that would generate $50 million per year, he said.

Fylonenko declined to discuss the rationale for its program with Vanderbilt.

The purchases account for a small portion of either company’s business. Quicken, for instance, generated $78.5 billion of mortgages altogether last year. Still, the arrangement shows that Buffett and Gilbert are looking for creative ways to work together.

Prior to this deal and the Yahoo bid, their only known business relationship was one in which Berkshire provided Quicken insurance for a NCAA basketball contest the lender sponsored in 2014.

Quicken had said it would award $1 billion to anyone who could perfectly guess winning teams throughout the season. The odds of success were miniscule – and no one won – but Quicken received a slew of email addresses and phone numbers for potential customers who entered the contest. It paid Berkshire a premium for providing the insurance.

Buffett and Gilbert met at a conference some years ago and became friends after having lunch together in Omaha, where Buffett lives. While speaking to Reuters about Quicken, Buffett expressed admiration for Gilbert’s management style and boundless energy.

Meanwhile, in Gilbert’s office there are three giant cutouts of Buffett’s head stuck to a whiteboard, one of them autographed. The cutouts were made by a printing company Gilbert owns, called Fathead LLC.

“There could well be more business relationships in the future, but beyond that it’s a friendship,” Buffett told Reuters.

Summary: It's one that hasn't been reported yet.


Quiche is, arguably, the world’s most politically loaded food. To the right (and particularly when it is made with wholemeal flour), quiche defines left-wing joylessness. It smacks of self-denial, sandals, 1970s communal living. To unreconstructed sexists, meanwhile – men so insecure that gender norms dictate what they eat – quiche is a byword for the New Man’s namby-pamby, nappy-changing alienation from his true masculinity. But today, How to eat intends to draw a line under such idiocy. Consider this attempt to define the ideal quiche experience as a rational new dawn for the savoury, custard-filled open pie. The question is not: do real men eat quiche? But rather: what kind of society accepts that question’s patriarchal premise? In 2015, a conversation about the identity politics of quiche is as relevant as cooking tips for Tyrannosaurus rex steaks. So, to the BTL barricades! Remember: tart opinions and cheesy puns are welcome, but do not egg one another unnecessarily. As John Lennon once pleaded: give quiche a chance.

There must be crust. There is no such thing as “crustless quiche”; that is frittata. That crust, moreover, must provide both a sound structure for the filling and offer a gently resistant bite – which is why thin, buttery shortcrust is preferable to filo or puff. Theoretically, wholemeal should work with some richer or stronger flavours, but too often it dominates in a way that feels worthy.

Note: for once, the “I just make my own … it’s so simple” brigade, who like to post below this blog, have a point. Processed, mass-market shop-bought quiches are invariably terrible. Overly thick pastry is a particular problem.

Avoid! Yes, quiche needs an edging of crust. But, fundamentally, that crust is a method of delivery, a discreet textural contrast. It should not be an assertive flavour. No one has ever come away from a quiche wailing: “That was amazing, but if only there had been more pastry.” The filling is the star. Ergo, the individual quiche (a pastry cage with a sad, shrunken pool of pleasure at its centre) is a massive fail. It is bad enough getting the corner slice of a rectangular quiche and having to suffer two sides of pastry, but to entirely encircle that filling in pastry is criminal.

Quiche must be eaten at least residually warm. Straight-from-the-fridge, cold quiche is a sad, drab thing, the filling set and leaden, the pastry all waxy with congealed fat. You need to loosen that quiche up a little: light some candles, give it a metaphorical massage, warm it through in the oven. When it emerges (the filling now wobbly, bulging, almost running free; the hot pastry light, crisp and snapping), it is a different meal altogether.

As above, a quiche filling should not be “set”. It must (and perhaps this is why you so rarely eat a truly great one) combine a certain luxurious density – you want to feel like you are eating something – with an airy, silky lightness. Remember, also, that the custard is a setting or a canvas for the main ingredients. Season it, add a little gruyère or parmesan, but the flavours of the embedded components (bacon, caramelised onions, salmon, etc) should be clearly and cleanly discernible. If, in biting into your quiche, it pulls apart like cheese strings, you have missed the point … and made a cheese pie.

It is also crucial that all added ingredients are chopped into bite-size pieces so that they are evenly distributed throughout the quiche (you want a bit of everything in each mouthful), and also to protect the quiche’s structural integrity. Whether it is strips of bacon laid idly across the surface or whole broccoli or asparagus spears hidden within the quiche, you often get into a situation where you cannot smoothly bite through either and, in pulling said ingredient from your quiche, it begins to fall apart.

As a broad rule, stronger, smoked and salty flavours work best in a quiche. Smoked salmon; smoked haddock; crab; roasted cauliflower; spinach; broccoli (a little green/leafiness is welcome in offsetting the richness of a quiche); sweet, smoky wood-fired peppers; bacon/lardons; caramelised onions; feta (in chunks); goat’s cheese; roasted garlic; chives or dill (all other herbs are verboten); tomatoes; olives; grilled courgette.

Poached salmon (too mild in flavour, too soft in texture); blue cheese (when cooked, it ruins everything it comes into contact with); asparagus (particularly tinned, a highly peculiar vegetable); tuna with/without sweetcorn (this is not a baguette); sausage and egg (do not even think about the full-English quiche); mozzarella; fibrously mushy chicken (see also: pulled pork); most cured meats, particularly serrano ham or prosciutto, which are difficult to bite through cleanly; chorizo (regularly far too bullying in its flavours); mushrooms; peas.

Rarely has a food so badly needed a side dish. Without the dynamic tension that a salad or slaw brings to the plate, quiche often feels one-dimensional – too narrow in its rich, creamy flavours. Specifically, quiche needs a side that offers both cool contrast and crunch. A simple green salad or some sad bagged leaves will not cut it – of course, nor will a jacket potato. Instead, think raw vegetable salads (celery, fennel, kohlrabi, radish, cabbage, etc) and slaws that minimise the mayo. You do not want a great dollop of sweet, gloopy coleslaw on there, in which the veg has been shredded into a cotton wool consistency. If you do require a little additional creaminess, Greek salad is not a bad compromise.

Too insubstantial in its purest form to constitute tea, quiche is a lunch dish. Except on those rare summer days when it is pushing 30C and food is, by necessity, merely a light, fleeting distraction.

Quiche is often considered picnic food, which is ridiculous for two reasons: a) eating outside is abhorrent, particularly in a park or a field; and b) how do you intend to keep that quiche warm between your oven and your picnic? Quiche needs to be eaten if not immediately as it comes out of the oven, then soon after. And at a table with a knife and fork, not with one hand on an insect-strewn blanket, wreathed in exhaust fumes as you’re squinting into the sun. If you really must have some fresh air with your quiche, open the kitchen door (maximum width: two inches).

White wine, sparkling mineral water or other carbonated soft drinks (for the tongue-scrubbing effects of the bubbles), or strong tea, which is surprisingly good at sluicing away the dominant fats from the quiche and the pointed flavours of any accompanying salad.

So, quiche – how do you eat yours?

Summary: This month, How to eat is cutting itself a slice of quiche, defying gender stereotypes and settling the many culinary issues that surround the savoury egg tart. Does blue cheese work in a quiche? Can you really eat it with a jacket potato? And on what planet is the picnic quiche a desirable thing?


Before you go, we thought you'd like these...

Stocks closed higher Friday for the seventh time in the last eight sessions, helped by a stronger-than-expected reading on wholesale inventories and sales. Volume was especially light at the end of the holiday shortened trading week but September's mini-rally continued nonetheless.

) rose 49 points, or 0.5%, to close at 10,646. The broader S&P 500 ($

) gained 5, or 0.5%, to 1,110. The more volatile, tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ($

) tacked on 6 points, or 0.3%, to finish at 2,242.

in July by the largest in amount in two years, while sales rebounded after posting two consecutive months of decline, the Commerce Department said Friday. Inventory restocking has been major driver of economic growth, especially at the end of 2009 and earlier this year.

The Dow is now up 4.5% in September after suffering its worst August performance in nearly a decade, but vapor-thin volume means this week's action was more noise than signal, says Alan Valdez, director of trading operations at DME Securities.


NEW YORK - "Wake up little boy, daddy's looking for you."

That's the message a stranger delivered to a couple's 3-year-old son through a baby monitor after hacking the device, reports CBS New York.

The parents did not want to reveal their identity because they were worried the stranger could find them.

It's not the only time the couple says the man hacked into their baby monitor.

The child's father recalled to the station one time when he walked into his child's room and heard a voice on the monitor saying, "Look someone's coming" or "Someone's coming into view."

The family says the hacker was even able to remotely control the camera on the monitor.

CBS New York reports that because many new baby monitors connect to the Internet and come with a smartphone app, it has become easier for hackers to infiltrate them.

"It's basically like they're standing next to you in your house," Lance Ulanoff, chief correspondent for the digital media website Mashable, told the station.

According to Ulanoff, families should change the default password that comes with the monitor to something unique and hard to guess.

"If somebody else has your login information, they can go to that same app, and log into your webcam, which is what happened here," Ulanoff said.

© 2015 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Summary: Sophisticated child monitoring devices are making it easier for strangers to "enter" the room, report says


Purdue Pharma, the maker of the highly profitable painkiller OxyContin, deliberately misled federal officials to win patents protecting its drug, a federal judge ruled yesterday. The ruling helps clear the way for a cheaper generic version and could lead to more lawsuits.

The decision by Judge Sidney H. Stein of Federal District Court in Manhattan came in response to a suit brought by Purdue against Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings, which had filed an application to sell a generic version of OxyContin. Robin Hogen, a Purdue Pharma spokesman, said the company was ''surprised and disappointed'' by the ruling and planned to appeal.

The ruling spells trouble for Purdue, which derives more than 70 percent of its $1.8 billion in annual revenue from OxyContin. Generic pills often grab 80 percent of a branded drug's sales within just a few months. When Endo introduces its pill, much of Purdue's business could disappear. And two more generic companies are waiting to introduce their versions of the pill.

But that is not the end of problems for Purdue, which is a closely held company based in Stamford, Conn. Judge Stein's finding that Purdue deliberately misled the United States Patent Office could lead to lawsuits from state attorneys general and consumer groups contending that Purdue's actions cost American consumers billions of dollars. Mr. Hogen of Purdue denied that the company had misled the Patent Office.

Steve Berman, a lawyer for the Prescription Access Litigation Project, said that Judge Stein's summary of the OxyContin patent case described ''a classic situation that I'm sure will result in litigation in the imminent future.''

''P.A.L.'s whole mission is to spot these kinds of cases and institute litigation on behalf of consumers,'' Mr. Berman added.

In a similar case, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company agreed a year ago to pay $670 million to settle claims that it improperly stymied generic versions of two medicines. Purdue's introduction of OxyContin is based on the simple idea that patients suffering from chronic pain like to get a full night's sleep. Oxycodone, a popular and powerful narcotic, is effective for only four to five hours. OxyContin delivers a steady stream of oxycodone over 12 hours. The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug in December 1995.

Sales took off in part because Purdue marketed the medicine aggressively. It was soon immensely popular with addicts, who found that snorting crushed pills delivered the full 12-hour dose instantly.

By the late 1990's, OxyContin abuse was rampant in Appalachia and other areas where prescription drug abuse is common. It became known as ''hillbilly heroin.'' Some critics have attributed scores of deaths to abuse of the pill, although Purdue disputes those contentions.

Just as the controversy surrounding OxyContin peaked, Endo filed an application to sell a generic version of the medicine in July 2000. Purdue sued Endo, and the case has been percolating since.

Endo said that Purdue's many patents on OxyContin were invalid. To win its patents, Purdue told the patent office that OxyContin was unique because 90 percent of patients taking the medicine got pain relief by taking very little medicine -- from 10 milligrams to 40 milligrams.

But during the course of the trial, Dr. Robert F. Kaiko, OxyContin's inventor, acknowledged that he had done no clinical studies and had no evidence to support this claim. Purdue admitted that Dr. Kaiko's ''discovery'' was made solely in his head but that it was valid even though the company was unable to prove it to be true.

Internal company documents from 1993 show that Purdue executives concluded that the claims that the company were making for OxyContin ''weren't anywhere close'' to being proved and were ''clearly Bob Kaiko's vision.''

In his ruling, Judge Stein wrote that ''Purdue made a deliberate decision to misrepresent to the P.T.O. a 'theoretical argument' and an 'expectation' as a precisely quantified 'result' or 'discovery.'''

The F.D.A. grants five years of exclusive selling rights to any drug that wins its approval. After that, companies generally rely on patents to maintain the monopolies that allow them to charge high prices. Purdue's initial five years of exclusive selling rights ended in 2000. Since then, it has been able to continue charging high prices for OxyContin because of its patents -- patents that were won fraudulently, Judge Stein ruled.

Caroline Manogue, a spokeswoman for Endo, said that her company might wait for an appeals court ruling before introducing its version of the drug, a process that could take more than a year. After Endo sells its version for six months, other companies can enter the market. Teva Pharmaceuticals and Impax Laboratories both have tentative approval from federal regulators to introduce versions of the pill then.

Separately, Endo accused Purdue of antitrust violations, contending its patents were illegal. Judge Stein's opinion ''opens the way for the antitrust claims to move forward,'' she said.

Summary: Federal Judge Sidney H Stein says Purdue Pharma, maker of highly profitable painkiller OxyContin, delibately misled federal officials to win patents protecting its drug; ruling helps clear way for cheaper generic version and could lead to more lawsuits; decision comes in response to suit brought by Purdue against Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings, which filed application to sell generic version of OxyContin; Purdue Pharma to appeal (M)


No person alive has been more closely associated, for so long, with America’s triumphs in the early days of the Space Race than John Glenn, and few Americans in history have served their country in as many high-profile and varied roles: First American to orbit the earth; decorated Marine Corps veteran (in both WWII and Korea); novice, eager politician; seasoned, savvy, multi-term United States senator; space shuttle crew member—across seven decades, Glenn has lived much of his personal and professional life in the public eye.

But it was during a remarkably brief, heady period in the late 1950s and early 1960s when Glenn first entered the national consciousness and became, in a very real sense, the public face of the American space program. Here, in a gallery filled with pictures made by some of LIFE magazine’s finest photographers, the 92-year-old, straight-talking Ohio native (b. July 18, 1921) shares his memories and insights on one of the most thrilling, inspiring, nerve-wracking eras in the nation’s history, as well as his own career as pioneering astronaut and fledgling, earnest candidate for public office. (Note: Most of these photos never ran in LIFE magazine.)

[MORE: “Magnificent Seven: America’s Mercury Astronauts”]

“America was in something of the doldrums when Project Mercury began,” Glenn recalled in an interview with LIFE.com, painting a picture of the era during which he and his fellow astronauts—the Mercury 7—helped fire the nation’s imagination about the prospects of space exploration. “Within the memory of an awful lot of people, we’d come through the Great Depression, World War Two and the Korean War. We weathered the Depression, we won the Second World War—but then we fought to a stalemate in Korea. No one had a very good feeling about that, and quite a few people began questioning whether America’s greatness was a thing of the past.

“The space program helped restore our confidence as a nation. It wasn’t designed to do that, of course. But looking back, I think what we accomplished as astronauts went a long way toward bringing people out of the doldrums of the late fifties and early sixties, and I’m proud to have had a hand in that. You don’t set out to create a myth or hero worship around yourself or your colleagues,” Glenn told LIFE.com. “But you do become aware of it. You’d be numb if you weren’t aware of it. But we just tried to live up to it the best we could, and hoped we might be an inspiration.

“Of course,” Glenn continues, “a crucial element of our program was competition with the Soviets. They were claiming technical superiority, and were taking thousands of kids from Third World countries, educating them in Russia, and sending them back to their homes as dedicated little commies. In their view, they were proving their technical superiority to us by the fact that their rockets were succeeding, and ours were, far too often, blowing up on the launch pad. We didn’t believe they were superior to us, technically—not by a long shot. So there was definitely that intense, Cold War mentality attached to much of what we did.”

[MORE: TIME’s salute to John Glenn]

And yet, while the Cold War was the larger, geopolitical framework in which the Space Race played itself out, Glenn makes clear that there was always another quieter—but no less intense—scientific, and even a metaphysical, force driving the advances of era.

“All of us looked at Project Mercury as far more than a job,” Glenn says. “You know, we already had jobs flying jets, we were all test pilots, and that was interesting enough in its own way. But thinking of this other extraordinary leap forward, the space program, as just another job? No, it was never quite that simple. Human beings have been looking up at the sky for millennia, wondering what’s up there. And all at once, here we were, with the chance to actually go. It was something brand new, and it was hugely exciting.”

[MORE: All of LIFE’s Space Race galleries]

Finally: A story that reveals as much about John Glenn as any of the countless tales of his cool, professional demeanor or his unquestioned grace under pressure. LIFE photographer Ralph Morse told LIFE.com that while covering Project Mercury for the magazine, he noticed that Glenn sometimes switched the “suitcase,” or portable ventilation unit, from one hand to the other while training for his orbital flight. (See slide #9 in this gallery.) Intrigued, he asked Glenn about it. “I said to him, ‘Glenn, you’re a big, strong guy,'” Morse recalls. “‘Why do you keep switching that suitcase from hand to hand? It can’t be tiring you out.’

“Well, he got sort of worked up, then,” Morse says. “‘Damn it Ralph,’ he says to me. ‘You’re the only person who’s ever noticed that.'”

It turns out the hand-switching was a signal Glenn worked out with his wife, Annie. When he knew she was watching from home on an old-fashioned video feed, of sorts, that NASA hooked up for them, he would switch hands as a way of telling her, from a distance, I love you.

“If that story was told about anyone else,” Morse recalls, fondly, “it would seem impossibly corny. Of course it would! But that’s the sort of guy John Glenn was, and that’s a side of him the public hardly ever saw.”

Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com

Summary: No person alive has been more closely associated, for so long, with America's triumphs in the early days of the Space Race than John Glenn,…


TOKYO—McDonald’s Holdings Co. will participate in the introduction of the hit game “Pokémon Go” in Japan and will make its restaurants key locations for players, people familiar with the matter said Tuesday.

The deal could be announced as soon as Wednesday, along with the introduction of the game for players in Japan, these people said.

Summary: McDonald’s Holdings will participate in the introduction of the hit smartphone game Pokémon Go in Japan and will make its restaurants key locations for players, people familiar with the matter said.


From movie shoots to search-and-rescue operations to your neighborhood park, drones are everywhere. This week, the Federal Aviation Administration released data revealing the exact whereabouts of the country’s registered drones.

Among the findings: Los Angeles County is the drone capital of America, with 12,250 registered drones. (Hello, Hollywood!) In second place is Arizona’s Maricopa County, home to a number of Phoenix-based aerial photography companies. Looking at the data from a per capita perspective, Hinsdale County, Colorado wins out, with 5.2 drones for every 1,000 people. (Though only 774 people live there.)

Check out our map below to see the places where drones are most popular.

Made by companies like DJI and Parrot, consumer-grade drones typically feature four rotors, a camera and autopilot-style technology, making them surprisingly easy to fly. Their uses range from the recreational, like a hobbyist taking a spin out in their backyard, to the professional, like a construction company using them to keep tabs on a big dig. They’re also a booming business — consumer drone sales will top $2 billion by 2024, by some estimates.

While plenty of drones likely go unregistered and thus untracked, the FAA’s data offers the best look yet at America’s drone hotspots. The Federal Aviation Administration late last year began keeping track of the drone explosion by requiring owners of certain models to register their aircraft online.

Methodology: The Federal Aviation Administration’s registration data contains 38,975 records for the United States for a total of 459,384 drones. For each record, we matched the zip code to its county. In the occasional case where a zip code spans multiple counties, the zip code was matched to the county with the largest population. A total of 2,049 drones could not be matched to a county due to invalid zip codes in the original dataset. For per capita calculations, we used the 2015 population estimates for the counties. Some drone owners register multiple drones, so the numbers here represent the minimum number of drones.

Summary: Mapping the country's drone hotspots


Tents, ladders, coolers, canned goods, tennis balls and bicycle locks are banned in the area surrounding the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.

When Ohio Governor John Kasich on Sunday rejected the Cleveland police union’s request to ban the open carrying of firearms near the Quicken Loans Arena, he weighed into a national debate pitting city authorities who contend with gun violence against state lawmakers who answer to gun-loving voters.

Law enforcement leaders in several major cities say municipalities should have to the power to suspend open-carry laws when needed to protect public safety. Currently, 15 of the 45 states that allow openly carried handguns give cities power to restrict those laws, according to a Reuters review of state statutes.

In Cleveland, police union head Steve Loomis said he made the request to protect officers following recent fatal shooting of three police officers in Louisiana on Sunday and the killing of five officers in Dallas on July 7. Kasich said he did not have the power to circumvent the state’s open-carry law.

A decade ago, all Ohio municipalities had the power to regulate how guns could be carried. Now, only the state legislature can do it.

In 2006, the state legislature passed a law denying cities the ability to restrict openly carried weapons, overriding the veto of then-Governor Bob Taft. Cleveland sued the state to try to win back that power, but lost in 2010.

Across the country, similar battles are playing out in states where municipal authorities, often backed by police departments, are clashing with state lawmakers over how to regulate the open carrying of firearms.

Dallas’s police chief drew criticism from gun rights advocates for saying open carriers made it more “challenging” for his officers to respond to a shooter who killed five policemen at a demonstration this month.

The debate occasionally transcends political ideology. Some opposition to open-carry gun laws comes from Republican politicians such as former Texas Governor Rick Perry, who said last year that he was not “fond of this open-carry concept.”

Police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have been trying and failing to restrict the open carrying of guns for years. The state attorney general argues that citizens have a constitutional right to publicly display weapons, which cannot be overruled by city authorities.

“I wish more of our legislators could see past the ideology,” said Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn. “They have no concern about the impact in urban environments that are already plagued by too many guns and too much violence.”

Flynn attracted gun owners’ ire when he told his officers in 2009 to detain open carriers despite the attorney general’s ruling. Flynn said his department has since “adapted” to the state law.

Open-carry advocates say that criminals almost never openly carry firearms. And if law-abiding citizens fail to demonstrate their right to carry guns, they risk losing it, they add.

“We’re sympathetic to law enforcement being concerned about their safety, but that doesn’t mean we give up citizens’ rights just to make it easier to police large events,” said John Pierce, co-founder of national advocacy group OpenCarry.org.

Wisconsin state representative Bob Gannon said he personally is “not a fan” of the practice because it makes people uncomfortable. Still, he said, the right to carry guns in public spaces should be upheld because it is protected by the state constitution.

“The police chief is not an emperor for the state, and he should defer to the state statutes,” he said.

In states where cities can restrict open carry laws, they often have had to defend that right in court.

Colorado passed legislation in 2003 aimed at ensuring a state law on firearms supersedes local ordinances. Denver, the state capital, sued the state to make sure the laws would not affect the city’s longstanding ban on openly carrying firearms.

The city won in 2006 after a 3-3 ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling in favor of Denver.

“In some parts of rural Colorado, where there’s a lot of critters, some people really like the idea of open carry,” said Dan Montgomery, chief of police of the Denver suburb of Westminster for 25 years before leaving the force in 2010. “Certainly, even in the law enforcement community we have our arch conservatives who strongly believe in it, but for the vast majority of us, it’s problematic.”

Not all cities agree. After a man carrying a rifle opened fire in a Colorado Springs neighborhood last autumn, killing three bystanders, Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers said he had “no appetite” for tightening the city’s open-carry laws because he did not think such restrictions would improve public safety. Suthers declined to comment for this article.

Little research has been done on the views of open-carry policies among police officers nationwide or even within states, which each regulate guns differently. But studies by two top police organizations in the past year provide some insight.

In Florida and Texas, where open-carry laws were recently debated in the state legislatures, surveys found that a majority of law enforcement leaders opposed them. Open-carry legislation was defeated in Florida but passed in Texas.

In Florida, open-carry advocates will almost certainly try to legalize it again next session, said Bob Gualtieri, chair of the legislative committee of the Florida Sheriffs’ Association, which represents the state’s 67 sheriffs.

The association took a vote on the issue this year and found three quarters of the 62 responding sheriffs opposed open carry.

A 2015 survey of about one-fifth of the police chiefs in Texas also found that three quarters of respondents opposed open carry, according to the state police chiefs’ association, which ran the survey.

The same year, the state legislature passed a law permitting firearm owners with a concealed-carry license to openly carry handguns.

Gualtieri said the Dallas shooting illustrated the way people who openly carry guns can hinder law enforcement responses to active shooter scenarios. Dallas police said up to 30 people were carrying rifles during a protest on the night that a man opened fire on police officers, complicating law enforcement’s attempts to identify the gunman.

“Not a single one of these people carrying firearms out there in Texas caught this guy in what he was doing,” Gualtieri said. “It drained law enforcement resources and subjected citizens to being unnecessarily taken into custody, and I think we should all be very grateful that nobody else got hurt.”

Summary: Cleveland, hosting the RNC, is just one example


Donald Trump in a new interview defended the speech he gave at the Republican National Convention as “very optimistic” amid criticism that the GOP presidential nominee’s message was too “dark.”

Trump told NBC’s Chuck Todd in an interview that aired Sunday on Meet The Press that his speech Thursday night — which painted a picture of an America plagued by crime, murders and “lurking” terrorists — was optimistic because “we’re going to stop the problems.”

“To me, it was an optimistic speech,” Trump said. “I think the only negativity, and, you know, the hate, I call them the haters, and that’s fine. But the only negative reviews were, ‘A little dark.’ And the following day, they had another attack, and then today you see what happened in Afghanistan with many, many people killed.”

The real estate mogul’s speech on Friday drew remarks from President Barack Obama, who cautioned against Trump’s assessment of the nation and said the fears conveyed by speakers at the Republican National Convention “just don’t jibe with the facts.”

“Our convention occurs at a moment of crisis for our nation,” Trump said in his speech in Cleveland. “The attacks on our police, and the terrorism in our cities, threaten our very way of life. Any politician who does not grasp this danger is not fit to lead our country.”

Summary: Critics have called the speech "dark"


More than 300 prominent historians, including Simon Schama and Niall Ferguson, are warning voters that if they choose to leave the European Union on 23 June they will condemn Britain to irrelevance.

In a letter to the Guardian, the academics and writers argue that the referendum offers a chance to underscore the “irreplaceable role” Britain has played, and should continue to play, in Europe’s history.

“As historians of Britain and of Europe, we believe that Britain has had in the past, and will have in the future, an irreplaceable role to play in Europe,” the letter says.

“On 23 June, we face a choice: to cast ourselves adrift, condemning ourselves to irrelevance and Europe to division and weakness; or to reaffirm our commitment to the EU and stiffen the cohesion of our continent in a dangerous world.”

As well as Schama and Ferguson, both familiar because of their television documentaries and popular books, signatories include Prof Sir Ian Kershaw, an expert on the social history of 20th-century Germany; Juliet Gardiner, whose books include the history of Britain during the Blitz; and Prof Kathleen Burk, emeritus professor of modern and contemporary history at University College London.

George Osborne, who studied history at Oxford and has taken a leading role in coordinating the remain campaign, hosted many of the signatories at a Downing Street reception on Tuesday night.

The chancellor said: “‘I may not have written history, but I am a keen student of it. These are the people who, from all sorts of different perspectives, have studied and written about how Britain’s rich and varied history has influenced every corner of the globe, arguably more than any other nation.

Related: Lessons from history for the Brexiteers | Letters from Simon Schama and others and Jack Dromey MP

“Whether that be the spread of democracy, the English language or the impact of our trade links and former colonial empire upon the world, these are the people that have helped us understand that influence. They all argue that as a nation we are at our strongest when we are outward-facing and engaged in the world.”

Ferguson used a speech at the Downing Street event to criticise the nostalgic arguments for Brexit, which suggest plucky Britain can stand alone, describing them as a “classic example of scissors and paste history, clipped from the pages of Our Island Story”.

He said: “The lesson of history is that British isolationism has often been associated with continental disintegration.”

He criticised Boris Johnson for seeking to dismiss Barack Obama’s judgment about Britain’s place in Europe. “Boris Johnson shamefully attributed his view to the Anglophobia of his Kenyan father,” said Ferguson.

“In fact, all US administrations since the heyday of Henry Kissinger have favoured UK membership of the EU. And it should be scant consolation to Mr Johnson that Donald Trump, his American doppelganger, says he favours Brexit because Trump has also said that he regards Nato as obsolete.”

The Treasury has spent much of the referendum campaign issuing doom-laden warnings about how Britain could slide into a deep recession if the country drifted out of the EU after the referendum — a strategy described by Eurosceptics as Project Fear.

Many of the voices heard most loudly have been those of senior economic policymakers, including the Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, and the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde.

But the government is keen to draw other, more positive voices into the debate and focus on Britain’s role in the world, as well as the importance of the EU for British goods and services.

The historians’ entry into the debate came as Vote Leave, the campaign for Britain to leave the EU, claimed the support of a group of senior retired military personnel, including former SAS chief Gen Sir Michael Rose and Falklands war veteran Maj Gen Julian Thompson.

Rose – who was incorrectly included on a list of top brass backing remain issued by Downing Street in February – said European laws had “seriously undermined” the UK’s ability to fight wars.

In a message to veterans, Thompson said: “The result of this referendum will determine irrevocably what kind of country we, our children and our grandchildren will live in.

“Either Great Britain will remain in the EU, dominated by people who we do not elect, who we cannot throw out and who dictate many of the laws which govern us, or we will take back control and return to what we were: an independent country in which our parliament is elected by us, and answerable to us as the lawmaker.”

Summary: Letter signed by more than 300 prominent historians says voters can ‘stiffen cohesion of our continent in a dangerous world’


08/01/2016 AT 03:40 PM EDT

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery ...

did a spot-on impression of

, she received a surprising reaction.

Speaking with PEOPLE Now, the

star opens up about what Barrymore, 41, had to say.

"I had done an impression of her on some talk show and she saw that and really liked it," she says. "She was always a good sport about it."

star says that Barrymore, who

, approached her on set and totally remembered the impressions she had done throughout the years.

In her classic Barrymore voice, Eliott said the actress told her, "Oh my God, I love them so muuuuch. That's soooo amaaaazing."

"We're at the two-month mark, so it's all about the little details," she says. "Like the holders for the place cards. I'm like, 'Where do I get those? Where do I even start?' But all the big things and details are squared away, so there

airs Mondays (10 p.m. ET) on Bravo.

Summary: Comedian Abby Elliot tells PEOPLE how the actress reacted after hearing her impression of her.


Spontaneous block parties, a prolonged jam session, Raspberry Beret-inspired donuts—there’s no shortage of ways to honor Prince, the tiny musician with gargantuan talent who died Thursday at the age of 57.

But even better than eating a purple donut, here’s how you can watch Purple Rain, the musician’s Oscar-winning 1984 movie and acting debut.

Purple Rain is not the best movie ever created–the Oscar was for music, not acting or screenplay–but the music is fantastic and, if anything, it’s a just-under two hour dance party with one of the most creative artists of our time.

You can’t stream Purple Rain anywhere, though it will be playing on VH1 throughout the weekend, if you’re one of those traditionalists with a TV set and cable subscription. You can, however, rent the movie on Amazon, iTunes, or Google Play, or rent the DVD via Netflix’s DVD subscription. Or, you can just listen to the soundtrack, which is as good a memorial as any.

Finally, AMC just announced that it will play Purple Rain in 87 locations across the the country, tomorrow, April 23, through Thursday, April 28, according to Mashable. And Carmike Cinemas will also be playing the film in about 80 theaters across 24 states, according to a spokesperson.

While you can’t listen to Prince’s albums on Spotify or Apple Music (the musician said artists couldn’t make money off of their music that way and pulled his entire catalogue in 2015), his entire catalogue is available on Tidal, as MONEY reported yesterday. Jay Z’s streaming service is $9.99 per month, but if you haven’t used your free trial yet you can sign up for that.

You can also stream some of the songs he wrote for other artists, like “Nothing Compares 2 U” (performed by Sinead O’Connor) and “Manic Monday” (performed by The Bangles).

Read next: Here’s What Prince Had to Say About Money at the Height of His Fame

And if that’s not enough, Prince’s 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance is out of this world, as is his 2007 Super Bowl half-time show. You can also catch him in a Season 3 episode of “New Girl,” streaming on Netflix.

(Parade has a nice list of other ways to honor the musician. You can also find charities he donated to here.)

Summary: And other ways to celebrate the artist.


The untutored limit the Lancashire coast to Blackpool, Morecambe and other resorts. This is wrong, but it wouldn’t bother me if it were right. These are places you plunge into for raucous experiences. At Blackpool’s Pleasure Beach, the Big One is like going over the Andes in a coal scuttle. A jet-propelled coal scuttle. There are piers and slot machines, award-winning double burger outlets and all-you-can-eat pizza restaurants – for a population that might (Lord knows, it’s none of my business) better profit from a least-you-can-eat salad bar. Popular culture is popular for a reason. There was a three-hour wait for the Big One when I was through.

• Would you take your family to Blackpool?

At Blackpool?s Pleasure Beach, the Big One is like going over the Andes in a coal scuttle Photo: AP/FOTOLIA

Real popularity, though, sometimes embarrasses clever people within local authorities. In line with contemporary mores, they like to culture up their towns, perhaps by emphasising a Victorian past. Or slotting in sculpture. Or reworking the prom. Some of this looks jolly good, but Lancastrians resist overt gentrification. Theirs – ours – is a meat-pie culture. As one fellow with whom I broached the subject in Cleveleys put it: “B----- the statues, give us the chips.”

At the edges, liveliness like that fosters tat. The resorts boast much in the way of glaring signs in orange and yellow (“All items 60p!!”, “All day breakfast! £2.95!!”) and a world-class collection of budget stores smelling jauntily of despair. Fleetwood’s famous market, and that in Morecambe on a Sunday, would dispirit shoppers from Somalia. But it is this uncertainty – the bouncing between acute popularity, attempted culture and the frankly tawdry – that has the resorts keeping calm and carrying on, against the odds, in an intriguing manner.

"Fleetwood’s famous market, and that in Morecambe on a Sunday, would dispirit shoppers from Somalia"

I licked through them at a fair old pace, particularly taken with Cleveleys, where sculptures indeed punctuated the seafront and sands. They’re inspired by characters from a children’s book, The Sea Swallow (Gareth Thompson; Foxtail, £9.99), itself inspired by folk tales from this Fylde coast. The idea is a belter. The artworks – sea swallows atop a beacon, a 13ft sea shell, a sea ogre hiding among groynes and rocks – urge you along the front. It was a terrific walk, even as the wind blew my eyebrows off.

So over the Wyre to Over Wyre. Here the world changes. Lanes drawn by a fellow following cows lead to little-ruffled villages – Pilling, Cockerham – and out to the sense-smacking immensity of the Morecambe Bay seaside. You roll past hedges and cattle-heavy fields, then surge through to the coast, John Denver ceding to Van Morrison. This is huge, outlandish, not just stirring but nourishing. Drive out to Lane Ends – a distant gathering point-cum-picnic area beyond Pilling – park, walk and tell me I’m wrong. Outside the old farms and village centres, folk have reacted to the elemental power with bungalows, semis and other bits from suburbia. This is the British way. We don’t go bonkers. We settle down. And certainly, in Hambleton, many will require “Woof ’n’ Puss Pet Supplies”.

• Midland Hotel, Morecambe: review • Lancaster: 10 reasons to visit

I now skipped to the Lune estuary. Overton is the last, stone-built, outpost before the mile-long causeway to Sunderland Point. The causeway crosses marsh, mudflats and channels which fill up at high tide, overspilling to flood the road and ambush motorists. I really needed a tide table. A sign in the Overton car park indicated such was available at the village’s Globe pub. “Nah, sorry, love. Not here.” I set out anyway, taking my mind off watery death by trying to spot the heavily advertised wading birds. I’d got right across and parked up on the beach stones and had seen nothing but a dunlin. Or it could have been a chicken. Ornithology is not my strong suit. Around the corner, Trevor Owen and his team were coming ashore, across the mud from little boats, with two sackfuls of salmon.

The coast near Heysham: "Heysham village is Miss-Marple-by-the-Sea, a delight distinguished by native nettle tea, which I have drunk once and probably shan?t again" Photo: AP/FOTOLIA

Sundered from land, the semi-island of Sunderland Point is about a mile by a half-mile. Some 67 people live there, in 35 houses – mainly drawn up in two distinguished seafront terraces. It’s been a proper little port, home to ship owners, sea captains, farmers and Sambo, a black fellow who may or may not have been a slave. He died there in 1736; his grave has been honoured since. Then there are the fishermen. Or there were. Trevor, 69, is among the last. Certainly his wife, Margaret, 63, is the last fisherwoman. This may be because young ladies no longer consider standing up to their chests in estuary water, wielding a 13ft haaf net, an attractive career option.

At different seasons, the Owens fish shrimp, cockles, whitebait, bass – and sprats for the sea lions at Blackpool Zoo. Their activity is tenaciously regulated. Margaret fights the more formidable idiocies of officialdom. Trevor plays in blues bands. You think you’re at the end of the world, but you’re right in the middle of theirs. “Visitors? We love them,” cried Margaret. I hopped back to the car and beat the tide, easy.

Heysham has the advantage of being one of the few places around Morecambe Bay from where, if you’re smart, you can’t see Heysham power station. I’ve nothing against power stations, would be lost without them, but they don’t embellish a coast. Up on the headland, there are heath, wind, rocks and a sense of eternity. The distant Lakeland fells make things perfect. What’s left of the wrecked, eighth-century St Patrick’s chapel stands stout near older rock-hewn graves. “The scale of the bay has always inspired spiritual reflection,” said Susannah Bleakley of the Morecambe Bay Partnership. Vikings worshipped Norse gods here. The coast is punctuated with barrows, chapels, nunneries – and Black Sabbath fans seeking the rock-hewn graves: they’re on the cover of the band’s 2000 Best Of album.

Down below, Heysham village is Miss-Marple-by-the-Sea, a delight distinguished by native nettle tea, which I have drunk once and probably shan’t again. Beyond is Morecambe and, beyond that, Hest Bank and Bolton-le-Sands, where windsurfers dart about like dragonflies on a gunmetal sea sheened silver where there are shafts of light. Right out beyond the fields, there are Lancashire’s most remote farms, a café or two, people sitting in their cars staring out and – a surprise, this – an abundance of residential caravan sites. On the edge of nowhere. At one, a chap was watering a herbaceous border. The vast bay was feet away. I heard his wife call him in for tea. Natural splendour of international class, and a nice cup of tea: the English truly are unbeatable.

• Britain's best seaside hotels

"By Silverdale, the coast has sprouted more rocks, rounded hills, little cliffs, thick woodland, drystone walls and the thinnest country lanes of all" Photo: AP/FOTOLIA

By Silverdale, the coast has sprouted more rocks, rounded hills, little cliffs, thick woodland, drystone walls and the thinnest country lanes of all. They go up and down and round and round. Farm boys on big tractors could slaughter the tourist trade in an afternoon. There’s an Iron Age fort up on Warton Crag and, out on Jenny Brown’s Point, a terribly isolated chimney whose function no one really knows. The walking is wonderful. The village itself is overcome with stone, flowers and a sense of centuries. Elizabeth Gaskell holidayed and wrote there, but who else has even heard of it? There’s no space here to do justice either to this district or the bay in general. It’s the coast of my home county and, now I’ve been back, I’m as proud as hell. I shall go on talking about it until everyone has been.

• The Franco-American love-fest • Napoleon or Wellington - who was better? • Why I’m embarrassed to be a non-smoker • The fêtes of our nations: bullfighting or tombola? • The perils of holidaying with friends • Why I love motorways • The joy of dining alone - and why my satnav is the perfect woman

Summary: On the Morecambe Bay coast, Anthony Peregrine is reminded of his home county’s remarkable natural beauty – and classic Lancastrian understatement


The seasoned beef recipe section of Taco Bell’s website is going viral this week, as ABC News, USA Today, and Business Insider claim the page has been updated with colloquial explanations of the recipe, which is 88% “premium beef”, while the other 12% is called “Signature Recipe.”

The page is clearly intended to put an end to rumors that Taco Bell beef is “Grade D” meat once and for all. In fact, in 2011, a lawsuit alleged Taco Bell beef was only 35% beef according to lab tests, but it was dropped.

The website also hopes to make consumers less afraid of ingredients that are “hard to pronounce” and assure them that they are FDA-approved. For example, joking that potassium chloride “sounds like a science experiment,” the site explains, “We actually used it to help reduce the amount of salt used in our seasoned beef recipe.”

Some of the other explanations:

A chemist named Derek Lowe told ABC News he has no problem with any of the ingredients. Registered dietician Katherine Tallmadge also said the ingredients are safe in a USA Today interview, but emphasized the importance of reading ingredients on food labels in general.

Summary: A full 12% of Taco Bell's 88% beef is made of what the company calls its "special recipe." What makes the recipe so special? Certain ingredients known as "Maltodextrin" and "Trehalose" and "Torula Yeast"