Executives struck a triumphant tone last month when Ocata Therapeutics Inc., of Marlborough, said it had agreed to be sold to the Japanese drug maker Astellas Pharma Inc., in a $379 million deal that promised a nearly 80 percent premium over Ocata’s share price.

But shareholders at Ocata, a 21-year-old biotech long seen as a pioneer in the emerging field of regenerative medicine, have reacted to the buyout with bitter disappointment.

A large stockowner has hired consultants to seek alternative bids for Ocata, formerly called Advanced Cell Technology Inc. Many are grousing on an investor website that the company was undervalued and its new management unresponsive. Other investors have urged congressmen, regulators, and even President Obama to halt the acquisition to protect key technology.

“My impression is the value should be at least double” what Astellas has agreed to pay based just on the sales potential of its lead drug to prevent the loss of eyesight, said Gary Aronson, an investor from Incline Village, Nev., who said he is Ocata’s largest individual stockowner, with 1.5 million shares. “The company has tremendous potential and we were hoping that they would be able to better develop that potential without selling the company.”

But now that management has made the decision to sell, Aronson said he thinks the price should be higher. He has retained a pair of industry veterans who have contacted more than two dozen biopharma companies, inviting them to submit competing bids for Ocata.

Many seem to be studying the possibility, while seven have declined, Aronson said. But they are working against a deadline of Dec. 15, when investors have been asked to tender their shares to Astellas to sell them at the specified price of $8.50 a share under the terms of the deal.

At issue is not only the sale price for Ocata, which has about 35 employees, but also its intellectual property in embryonic stem cells. Such cells can grow others that Ocata initially hopes to implant in the eyes of patients suffering from macular degeneration. But they also hold potential for treating conditions ranging from diabetes to heart disease to spinal cord injury.

“This was at least a billion-dollar company,” said Edward Assad, a shareholder from Monticello, Fla. “They’ve got a treatment for lupus, a treatment for multiple sclerosis . . . If you look at the deal, Astellas is paying nothing for this. Management is giving the company away.”

The sale has been denounced in apocalyptic terms on InvestorStemCell, a website frequented by Ocata shareholders who warn of the dangers of transferring its technology abroad.

“What government would allow a proprietary science [like stem cells] to be sold to a foreign power?” asked a disgruntled writer with the Internet handle BF. “What this tells the world is pretty much any . . . trade secrets are open to be bought or taken from this country.”

Longtime investors, including many cell biologists and their associates, have an almost cult-like reverence for Robert Lanza, Ocata’s bearded chief scientific officer, who is considered one of the world’s leading authorities in stem cell biology and tissue engineering. Late last year, Lanza and his colleagues published an article in the Lancet, a leading scientific journal, offering evidence of the effectiveness and safety of stem cell progeny in treating diseases.

Lanza, who joined Ocata’s predecessor company in 1999, hasn’t commented publicly on the agreement to be acquired by Astellas. In an e-mail, he said he was prevented by US securities laws from talking until the deal has been completed. He said Astellas asked him to remain with the company after the buyout “but I need more information before I can make a final decision.”

Ocata’s chief executive, Paul Wotton, who took over last year and is the chief target of many of the company’s critics, declined through a spokesman to comment. The spokesman cited a confidentiality clause in the acquisition deal.

Founded in 1994, Ocata’s predecessor, Advanced Cell Technology, gained early notoriety in the emerging field of cloning. In 2001, it reported creating the first human embryos through cloning, though it later acknowledged many had died. The following year, it said it found a way to trick unfertilized monkey eggs into growing as if they were impregnated. Independent scientists suggested the company overstated its claims. In recent years, Ocata has focused on creating red blood cells for transfusions and developing drugs based on cell therapy.

Ocata has attracted some institutional investors, including BlackRock Inc. But its shares, which traded as high as $12 last year, tumbled as low as $3.06 this year. One factor cited by shareholders was an anonymous short seller who leveled criticism at the company on investment sites under the name Mako Research.

Shareholders say communications with Ocata’s management were strong in the past but have deteriorated under Wotton. Despite his large stake in the company, Aronson said, he has never been able to set up a face-to-face meeting with the chief executive.

“I made a number of suggestions on how the company should go,” Aronson said, referring to e-mail exchanges, “and maybe he [Wotton] didn’t like my suggestions.”

In a conference call with investors on Nov. 9, Wotton reviewed the company’s efforts to commercialize its technology but gave no hint it was considering a sale. Shareholders said they were blindsided when the Astellas deal was announced that evening.

It’s still not clear if the purchase will be completed. Many investors have indicated on InvestorStemCell that they don’t plan to tender their shares, though others say they sold some or all of their holdings when the stock climbed after the takeover was disclosed. If there is no other bidder, shareholders who register for an appraisal in the coming week could challenge the acquisition value of Ocata in the Delaware Court of Chancery. Ocata is incorporated in Delaware.

A group of shareholders is trying to block the deal outright. Writing on behalf of a constituent, US Representative Eric Swalwell, Democrat of California, last month asked the Securities and Exchange Commission to investigate the transaction. And investors have urged Obama to block the deal and keep Ocata’s patents under the US umbrella.

Summary: Many investors have been bitterly disappointed by the sale of Ocata Therapeutics Inc. to Japanese drug maker Astellas Pharma Inc.


I've always liked illustrated story books. As a child, I used to create my own story books. I've also always loved music, and I think my artistic sense developed in part from the art on record covers. Rock album leaflets from the 70s were especially important to me. In my recent installation at the Hayward Gallery, as part of the Walking in My Mind exhibition, I used two British records by John Bromley and Andwella. The music that plays in my studio is a bit like the toys I often use in my installations, which themselves are simply taken from my studio, and not prepared specifically for exhibitions. Small items and music create a comfortable working environment, which I like to reproduce in my collaborations with the creative design team, graf. When I found painting to be difficult, I instinctively turned to collaboration. Working collaboratively has brought a certain excitement, and a new sense of responsibility – the work is not only my work, but everyone's work.

Yoshitomo Nara was born in Hirosaki in 1959. He is represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London, Blum and Poe, Los Angeles, Tomio Koyama Gallery, Tokyo/Kyoto and Galerie Zink, Munich. His forthcoming solo exhibition,The Crated Rooms in Iceland with an installation by YNG will be at the Reykjavik Art Museum from 18 September to 3 January.

Summary: I've always liked illustrated story books. As a child, I used to create my own story books, says Yoshimoto Nara


IT happens from time to time in New York that the life of the city is frozen by an instant of shock. In that instant the people of the city are seized by the paralyzing realization that they are one, that each man is in some way a mirror of every other man. They stare at each other—or, really, into themselves—and a look quite like a flush of embarrassment passes over the face of the city. Then the instant passes and the beat resumes and the people turn away and try to explain what they have seen, or try to deny it.

The last 35 minutes of the young life of Miss Catherine Genovese became such a shock in the life of the city. But at the time she died, stabbed again and again by a marauder in her quiet, dark but entirely respectable, street in Kew Gardens, New York hardly took note. It was not until two weeks later that Catherine Genovese, known as Kitty,

THE day that the story of the witnessing of the death of Miss Genovese appeared in this newspaper became that frozen instant. “Thirty‐eight!” people said over and over. “Thirty‐eight!”

It was as if the number itself had some special meaning and in a way of course, it did. One person or two or even three or four witnessing a murder passively would have been the un

At first there was, briefly, the reaction of shared guilt. Even people who were sure that they certainly would have acted differently felt it somehow. “Dear God, what have we come to?” a woman said that day. “We,” not “they.”

For in that instant of shock, the mirror showed quite clearly what was wrong, that the face of mankind was spotted with the disease of apathy—all mankind. But this was too frightening a thought to live with and soon the beholders began to set boundaries for the illness, to search frantically for causes that were external and to look for the carrier.

There was a rash of metropolitan masochism. “What the devil do you expect in a town, a jungle, like this?” Sociologists and psychiatrists reached

People who came from small towns said it could never happen back home. New Yorkers, ashamed, agreed. Nobody seemed to stop to ask whether there were not perhaps various forms of apathy and that some that exist in villages and towns do not esist in great cities.

GUILT turned into masochism, and masochism, as it often does, became a sadistic search for a target. Quite soon. the target became the police.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the police in New York have failed, to put it politely, to instill a feeling of total confidence in the population. There are great areas in this city—fine parks as well as slums—where no person in his right mind would wander of an evening or an early morning. There is no central emergency point to receive calls for help. And a small river of letters from citizens to this newspaper testifies to the fact that patrols are often late in answering calls and that policemen on desk duty often give the bitter edge of their tongues to citizens calling for succor.

There is no doubt of these things. But to blame the police for apathy is a bit like blaming the sea wall for springing leaks. The police of this city are more efficient, more restrained and more responsive to public demands than any others the writer has encountered in a decade of traveling the world. Their faults are either mechanical or a reflection of a city where almost every act of police self‐protection is assumed to be an act of police brutality, and where a night‐club comedian can, as one did the other night, stand on a stage for an hour and a half and vilify the police as brutes, thieves, homosexuals, illiterates and “Gestapo agents” while the audience howls in laughter as it drinks Scotch from bootleg bottles hidden under the tables.

THERE are two tragedies in the story of Catherine Genovese. One is the fact that her life was taken from her. that she died in pain and horror at the age of 28. The other is that in dying she gave every human being — not just species New Yorker —an opportunity to examine some truths about the nature of apathy and that this has not been done.

Austin Street, where Catherine Genovese lived, is in a section of Queens known as Kew Gardens. There are two apartment buildings and the rest of the street consists of one‐family homes—red‐brick, stucco or wood‐frame. There are Jews, Catholics and Protestants, a scattering of foreign accents, middleclass incomes.

On the night of March 13, about 3 A.M., Catherine Genovese was returning to her home. She worked late as manager of a bar in Hollis, another part of Queens. She parked her car (a red Fiat) and started to walk to her death.

Lurking near the parking lot was a man. Miss Genovese saw him in the shadows. turned and walked toward a police call box. The man pursued her. stabbed her. She screamed, “Oh my God, he stabbed

Somebody threw open a window and a man called out: “Let that girl alone!” Other lights turned on, other windows were raised. The attacker got into a car and drove away. A bus passed.

The attacker drove back, got out, searched out Miss Genovese in the back of an apartment building where she had crawled for safety, stabbed her again, drove away again.

The first attack came at 3:15. The first call to the police came at 3:50. Police arrived within two minutes, they say. Miss Genovese was dead.

THAT night and the next morning the police combed the neighborhood looking for witnesses. They found them, 38.

Two weeks later, when this newspaper heard of the story, a reporter went knocking, door to door, asking why, why.

Through half‐opened doors, they told him. Most of them were neither defiant nor terribly embarrassed nor particularly ashamed. The underlying attitude, or explanation, seemed to be fear of involvement—any kind of involvement.

“I didn't want my husband to get involved,” a housewife said.

“We thought it was a lovers' quarrel,” said another woman. “I went back to bed.”

“I was tired,” said a man.

“I don't know,” said another man.

“I don't know,” said still another.

“I don't know,” said others. On March 19, police arrested a 29‐year‐old business‐machine operator named Winston Moseley and charged him with the murder of Catherine Genovese. He has confessed to killing two other women, for one of whose murders police say they have a confession from another man.

NOT much is said or heard or thought in the city about Winston Moseley. In this drama, as far as the city is concerned, he appeared briefly, acted his piece, exited into the wings.

A week after the first story appeared, a reporter went back to Austin Street. Now the witnesses no longer wanted to talk. They were harried, annoyed; they thought they should keep their mouths shut. “I've done enough talking,” one witness said. “Oh, it's you again,” said a woman witness ard siarrmmed the daor.

The neighbors of the witnesses are willing to talk. Their sympathy is for the silent witnesses and the embarrassment in which they now live.

Max Heilbrunn, who runs a coffee house on Austin Street, talked about all the newspaper

And this from Frank Facciola, the owner of the neighborhood barber shop: “I resent the way these newspaper and television people have hurt us. We have wonderful people here. What happened could have happened any place. There is no question in my mind that people here now would rush out to help anyone being attacked on the street.”

Then he said: “The same thing [failure to call the police] happens in other sections every day. Why make such a fuss when it happens in Kew Gardens? We are trying to forget it happened here.”

A Frenchwoman in the neighborhood said: “Let's forget the whole thing. It is a quiet neighborhood, good to live in. What happened, happened.”

EACH individual, obviously, approaches the story of Catherine Genovese, reacts to it and veers away from it against the background of his own life and experience, and his own fears and shortcomings and rationalizations.

It seems to this writer that what happened in the apartments and houses on Austin Street was a symptom of a terrible reality in the human condition—that only under certain situations and only in response to certain reflexes or certain beliefs will a man step out of his shell toward his brother.

To say this is not to excuse, but to try to understand and in so doing perhaps eventually to extend the reflexes and beliefs and situations to include more people. To ignore it is to perpetuate myths that lead nowhere. Of these the two most futile philosophically are that apathy is a response to official ineptitude (“The cops never come on time anyway”), or that apathy is a condition only of metropolitan life.

Certainly police procedures must be improved—although in the story of Miss Genovese all indications were that, once called into action, the police machine behaved perfectly.

S far as is known, not one witness has said that he remained silent because he had had any unpleasant experience with the police. It is a pointless point; there are men who will jump into a river to rescue a drowner; there are others who will tell themselves that a police launch will be cruising by or that, if it doesn't, it should.

Nobody can say why the 38 did not lift the phone while Miss Genovese was being attacked, since they cannot say themselves, It can be assumed, however, that their apathy was indeed of a big‐city variety. It is almost a matter of psychological survival, if one is surrounded and pressed by millions of people, to prevent them from constantly imping

Indifference to one's neighbor and his troubles is a conditioned reflex of life in New York as it is in other big cities. In every major city in which I have lived—in Tokyo and Warsaw, Vienna and Bomnbay—I have seen, over and over again, people walk away from accident victims. I. have walked away myself.

Out‐of‐towners, and sometimes New Yorkers themselves, like to think that there is something special about New York's metropolitan apathy. It is special in that there are more people here than any place else in the country—and therefore more people to turn away from each other.

FOR decades, New York turned away from the truth that is Harlem or BedfordStuyvesant in Brooklyn. Everybody knew that in the Negro ghettos, men, women and children lived in filth and degradation. But the city, as a city turned away with the metropolitan brand of apathy. This, most simply, consists of drowning the person‐to‐person responsibility in a wave of impersonal social action.

Committees were organized, speeches made, budgets passed to “do something” about Harlem or Bedford‐Stuyvesant—to do something about the communities. This dulled the reality, and still does, that the communities consist of individual people who ache and suffer in the loss of their individual prides. Housewives who contributed to the N.A.A.C.P. saw nothing wrong in going down to the daily shape‐up of domestic workers in the Bronx and selecting a mmaid for the day after looking over the coffle to see which “girl” among the Negro matrons present looked huskiest.

Now there is an acute

Nor are Negroes in the city immune from apathy—toward one another or toward whites. They are apathetic toward one another's right to believe and act as they please; one man's concept of proper action is labeled with the group epithet “Uncle Tom.” And, until the recent upsurge of the integration movement, there was less action taken within the Negro community to improve conditions in Harlem than there was in the all‐white sections of the East Side. It has become fashionable to sneer at “white liberals” — fashionable even among Negroes who for years did nothing for brothers even of their own color.

IN their own sense of being wronged some Negroes of New York have become totally apathetic to the sensitivities of all other groups. In a night club in Harlem the other night, an aspiring Negro politician, a most decent man, talked of how the Jewish shopkeepers exploited the Negroes, how he wished Negroes could “save a dollar like the Jews,” totally apathetic toward the fact that Jews at the table might be as hurt as he would be if they talked in clichés of the happygo‐lucky Stepin Fetchit Negro. When a Jew protested, the Negro was stunned—because he was convinced he hated anti‐Semitism. He did, in the abstract.

Since the Genovese case, New Yorkers have sought explanations of their apathy toward individuals. Fear, some say—fear of involvement, fear of reprisal from goons, fear of

The self‐protective shells in which we live are determined not onlyby the difference be tween big cities and small. ihey are determiriedby economics and socialclass,by caste andd by color, and by re‐ligion, andbypolitics.

IF were to see a beggar starving to death in rags on the streets of Parisor New York or London I would be mmoved to take some kind of action. But many times I have seen starving men lying like broken dolls in the streets of Calcutta or Madras and have done nothing.

I think I would have called the police to save Miss Genovese but I know that I did not save a beggar in Calcutta. Was my failing really so much smaller than that of the people who watched from their windows on Austin Street? And what was the apathy of the people of Austin Street compared, let's say, with the apathy of non‐Nazi‐ Germans toward Jews?

Geography is a factor of apathy. Indians reacted to Portuguese imprisoning Goans. but not to Russians killing Hungarians.

Color is a factor. Ghanaians reacted toward Frenchmen killing Algeriarns, not toward Congolese killing white missionaries.

Strangeness is a factor. Americans react to the extermination of Jews but not to the extermination of Watusis.

There are national as well as individual apathies, all inhibiting the ability to react. The “mind‐your‐own‐business” attitude is despised among individuals, and clucked at by sociologists, but glorified as pragmatic national policy among nations.

ONLY in scattered moments, and then in halting embarrassment, does the United States, the most involved nation in the world, get down to hard cases about the nature of governments with which it deals, and how they treat their subject citizens. People who believe that a free government should react to oppression of people in the mass by other governments are regarded as fanatics or romantics by the same diplomats who would react in horror to the oppression of one single individual in Washington. Between apathy, regarded as a moral disease, and national policy, the line is often hard to find.

There are, it seems to me. only two logical ways to look at the story of the murder of Catherine Genovese. One is the way of the neighbor on Austin Street — “Let's forget the whole thing.”

The other is to recognize that the bell tolls even on each man's individual island, to recognize that every man must fear the witness in himself who whispers to close the window.

This article can be viewed in its original form. Please send questions and feedback to archive_feedback@nytimes.com

Summary: A M Rosenthal article on pub apathy toward persons in distress


02/02/2016 AT 03:10 PM EST

Prosecutors in Oklahoma have filed rape charges against four high school wrestlers who for an alleged hazing incident on a team bus following a tournament earlier this month, PEOPLE confirms.

A source at the Garvin County District Attorney's Office tells PEOPLE that only one of the four defendants is an adult: Tanner Shipman, who is 18.

The names of the other three suspects are being withheld because they are minors.

According to investigators, Shipman allegedly held down one of the victims – a 16-year-old boy – while two other suspects assaulted him with their fingers.

After the bus returned to Norman, Oklahoma, detectives claim Shipman and the other suspects confronted a 12-year-old wrestler between two cars in the Norman North High School parking lot before similarly assaulting him with their fingers.

All four suspects turned themselves into police on Tuesday, the source says, and the defendants are due to be arraigned in court later on today.

It was unclear whether the four suspects have attorneys representing them.

Summary: Investigators claim two boys were digitally penetrated following a Jan. 9 wrestling tournament


Courtesy of Penguin Random House

03/02/2016 AT 08:55 AM EST

knows what it takes to become a champion. And the dedicated athlete is ready to share her inspiring journey in her new memoir.

In PEOPLE's exclusive cover reveal of the four-time Olympic gold-medalist's book,

, due out on December 6, 2016, the athlete looks just as fierce and captivating as she does before a competition.

The family memoir tells the story of Franklin's journey to swimming superstardom and was written by Franklin, 20, and her parents, D.A. and Dick Franklin.

"This book isn't just about swimming. Yes, swimming is a big part of it, but it's ultimately a story about our family, the strong bond we share, and the decisions we've made as a family to get to where we are today," the eleven-time World Champion says. "It's very exciting to tell our story in our own words."

Franklin first captured the world's attention with her youthful joy (and exuberant tweets!) at the

, where she wowed viewers with a

Her fitting nickname in London was, "Missy the Missile."

Got my nails done before I swim tomorrow (AH!) and I am officially ready to race!!! pic.twitter.com/xfkmSVUL

Franklin, who is training in Colorado for the

, has said it is

to become the most decorated female swimmer Olympian of all time.

After Rio, Franklin will return to University of California Berkeley to continue her studies in psychology.

Summary: "It's ultimately a story about our family, the strong bond we share, and the decisions we've made as a family to get to where we are today," four-time Olympic gold medalist Missy Franklin says


03/19/2016 AT 12:45 AM EDT

is doing her best to be a

-ful role model for superhero-loving boys and girls.

The star stressed the importance of being a strong female example for all ages including

"I have a 4-year-old daughter and she adores princesses at the same time she will tell me the princess is so weak, she falls asleep and the prince will come and kiss her and save her and he is the hero," Gadot shared at the

press conference in Los Angeles on Friday.

Adding, "So I am so happy to be the one who is going to tell the Wonder Woman story. It is such an important story to tell. It is so important for girls and boys to have a female, strong, super hero to look up to. The more the merrier and there is plenty of room for many more women to come and I am very happy to be a part of it."

Itâs almost here!! One more week!! Canât wait to finally share this with you all!! #WonderWoman #WhoWillWin #BVS pic.twitter.com/NsJMqconUe

The Israeli actress, who grew up in a small town, never imagined she would get the chance to portray such an empowering role as Diana Prince a.k.a. the Princess of the Amazons.

"It's a huge honor for me to be the one to get this amazing opportunity to tell such an important story. I feel very grateful," Gadot said. "I never planned on being an actress or Wonder Woman but everything just happened and I am grateful and happy and in love with what I do. I am enjoying everything but it will take me sometime until I really understand what is going on."

surrounding the DC Comics film, Gadot chooses to ignore the haters.

"For me being an actress, my responsibility is not to pay attention to all the noise around me and to pay attention to the script and the director and protect the character and try to tell her story the best I can," she explained.

Also on Friday, Gadot shared a new photo of herself as her on-screen alter ego on Twitter writing, "It's almost here!! One more week!! Canât wait to finally share this with you all!!"

Summary: "There is plenty of room for many more women to come and I am very happy to be a part of it," Gadot said.


03/28/2016 AT 04:00 PM EDT

was a worst-case scenario for

and me. The judges were not feeling our tango at all. But Artem had prepared me for that kind of feedback – maybe a little too much.

Artem is very serious in rehearsals – with Russian being his first language, I have a hard time telling if he doesn't understand my jokes or he just doesn't think they're funny – but at first he was very careful with how he gave me criticism.

Mischa Barton and Artem Chigvintsev

But once I told him I could handle a tough critique, he definitely did not hold back. I respond well to criticism, but there is a balance between criticism and support that we are still working to find.

I do wonder if Artem constantly preparing me to hear the worst from the judges sort of willed their feedback into being.

That said, I totally understand their criticism.

Our tango was a very serious and isolating routine and what we are doing on the show didn't really kick in for me until we stepped out in front of that live audience last week. As a professional dancer, Artem is all about being in the dance studio. But as an actor, I had to wrap my head around the fact that this is a performance and we are putting on a show just like we would if we were performing a play.

I'm excited for Latin week tonight because we are doing a cha-cha-cha. It's a bright, fun dance and I'm excited to get to show off that side of my personality.

I also think it will help us get better scores because this routine is a lot more engaging than our tango. Hopefully the judges will be able to appreciate our smiley, happy dance and not have to focus as much on posture and other details that were way more noticeable during last week's dance.

I know I'm never going to be a professional ballroom dancer. So for me, this experience is about having as much fun as possible. I got to pick our song this week and I love getting to have a say in what we wear. And I love that I'm picking up the routines faster and faster.

I just hope that comes across tonight because I'm having a blast.

Summary: The former O.C. actress blogs exclusively for PEOPLE


Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy

04/01/2016 AT 08:30 PM EDT

In a recent interview with

reveals that her and co-star,

, didn't exactly get along on set.

"From what I hear, he's not like that on every movie – I hear he's had good experiences," Theron said of working with Hardy. "Maybe the movie is what it is because we struggled so much with each other, and those characters had to struggle so much with each other. If we were chum-chum, maybe the movie would have been 10 times worse."

, says "the trajectory of the character can't help but seep into the work."

"When they first meet each other, they're trying to kill each other. As the two characters come together out of necessity and rather reluctantly, they have to find a degree of trust. And to some extent that was the trajectory of their relationship as well."

Theron also used the interview as a platform to put all the rumors regarding her

"There is this need to sensationalize things," the actress said. "When you leave a relationship there has to be some f–––ing ghosting thing, like literally I still don't even know what it is."

Theron continued, "It's just its own beast. We were in a relationship and then it didn't work anymore. And we both decided to separate. That's it."

Summary: "If we were chum-chum, maybe the movie would have been 10 times worse," the actress said.


With tech stocks heading into their March Madness season of traditional strength, analysts say that stock plays on the Apple ecosystem and the so-called "Internet of Things" are the top buys in the sector.

"The broader market is investing in technology," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist at Voya Investment Management. It's a "cycle that's only going to accelerate as we move to cloud (computing). … This tech cycle is new and different because of cloud computing, mobile and the Internet of Things."

Summary: With tech stocks moving into its March Madness season, analysts say that stock plays on the Apple ecosystem and the so-called "Internet of Things" are buys.


05/23/2016 AT 01:05 PM EDT

has heard her fair share of terrible pickup lines, but there are a few things that guys do that really grind her gears.

The reality star took to her

on Monday to explain that there are two major things that a guy should refrain from doing if he wants a

send Khloé, 31, free alcohol.

"Whenever I'm in Vegas with Malika and Khadijah [Haaq], guys try to pick us up by sending bottles of champagne to our table. It's nice, but honestly I'd rather buy my own," the youngest Kardashian sister admits. "If we accept the drink, it never ends there – the guys always want something else. They want to sit with us or dance with us and I don't like feeling obligated to anyone."

"I don't use men for alcohol, LOL. I can take care of myself!!!" she adds. "I know, I know – champagne problems."

Second, don't mix her up with her sisters. She's Khloé, so don't think if you call her

you'll still have a chance to win her over.

"Pickup lines are so corny and cliché, too," Khloé admits. "A guy will usually come up to me and say something like, 'Oh my god, you're the prettiest one, Kourtney.' I'm like, 'Uhhh, CLEARLY you have no clue who I am.' It happens to Kourt all the time as well."

author adds, "Fans will yell, 'Khloé, you're my favorite!!!' to her. I seriously don't get it – we're like

together!!!" she jokes. "How do they mix us up?!"

She concludes, "So, if you're trying to pick me up in a club, please don't confuse me with my sisters, LOL."

airs Sundays (9 p.m. ET) on E!

Summary: "How do they mix us up?! So, if you're trying to pick me up in a club, please don't confuse me with my sisters," Kardashian reveals


Serial has become so popular, there’s even a theory that its host and longtime This American Life producer Sarah Koenig is actually the guilty party behind the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee—that’s how good the case has been for her career.

But on the other end of the spectrum, many fans are worried that they won’t get answers in tomorrow’s final episode.

“Maybe we’ll never know who killed Hae Min Lee,” fictional Sarah Koenig says in this Funny or Die parody of the finale. “JK, JK, I know, I guess I know exactly who did it.”

Summary: "What do you want, I do a podcast, it was supposed to be for four people!"


The U.S. Department of Transportation has explicitly banned the use of electronic cigarettes, or vape pens, on commercial plane flights. The rule applies to all scheduled flights in, to, and from the U.S.

“This final rule is important because it protects airline passengers from unwanted exposure to aerosol fumes that occur when electronic cigarettes are used onboard airplanes,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, said in a statement. “The Department took a practical approach to eliminate any confusion between tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes by applying the same restrictions to both.”

The restriction will be formally published in the Federal Register, clarifying current regulations that ban smoking of tobacco products. The regulation doesn’t clearly state what falls under the “smoking” ban, though the DOT considered it broad enough previously to include no use of e-cigarettes on planes. Hover, there was still some lingering confusing over vaping.

There’s some evidence that e-cigarette aerosol can contain harmful chemicals, and the DOT wants to ensure that all passengers are able to avoid any potential harm within the confined space of an airplane. The ban includes electronic cigarettes in all forms, including “electronic cigars, pipes, and devices designed to look like everyday products like pens,” the DOT said.

Passengers are also not allowed to carry battery-powered portable electronic smoking devices in checked package or charge the devices onboard an aircraft, according to the DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Summary: The "no smoking" rule applies to e-cigarettes.


Secretary of State John Kerry said that the Republican presidential candidates' rhetoric on Muslims is an "embarrassment" to the US.

In an interview with CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday, Kerry said that world leaders are "shocked" by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's proposal to bar Muslims from entering the US and bring back waterboarding, as well as Sen. Ted Cruz's proposal to ramp up surveillance of "Muslim neighborhoods."

PHOTOS: Ted Cruz on the campaign trail

John Kerry: Republican presidential candidates' rhetoric on Muslims is 'an embarrassment' to the US

STAFFORD-MARCH 1: Ted Cruz holds his victory rally at the Redneck Country Club in Stafford, Texas. On the left is his wife, Heidi and their two daughters and on the right is the Lt. Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick. (Photo by Lucian Perkins /for The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, stands on stage during a Super Tuesday night event in Houston, Texas, U.S., on Tuesday, March 1, 2016. Cruz said Monday in Dallas that Super Tuesday will make the Republican primary a 'two-man race,' predicting that he and Donald Trump will finish far ahead of rivals Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ben Carson in terms of delegates. Photographer: Matthew Busch/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, greets attendees with his wife Heidi Cruz and children during a campaign event in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., on Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. Cruz said Monday in Dallas that Super Tuesday will make the Republican primary a 'two-man race,' predicting that he and Donald Trump will finish far ahead of rivals Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ben Carson in terms of delegates. Photographer: Matthew Busch/Bloomberg via Getty Images *** Local Captions *** Ted Cruz; Heidi Cruz

US Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at a presidential campaign rally in Dallas, Texas on February 29, 2016 one day before the 'Super Tuesday' primaries. Americans in a dozen states head to the polls for a slew of primaries and caucuses March 1 on what is considered the most important day of the presidential nominations calendar. / AFP / Laura Buckman (Photo credit should read LAURA BUCKMAN/AFP/Getty Images)

UNITED STATES - FEBRUARY 27: Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, arrives for a campaign rally near the Georgia State Capitol Building in Atlanta, Ga., February 27, 2016. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

HOUSTON, TX - FEBRUARY 24: Republican presidential candidate U.S. Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) greets people during a campaign rally at the Mach Industrial Group on February 24, 2016 in Houston, Texas. The process to select the next Democratic and Republican Presidential candidates continues. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

AMES, IA - JANUARY 30: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) arrives at a campaign event at the Gateway Hotel on January 30, 2016 in Ames, Iowa. The Democratic and Republican Iowa Caucuses, the first step in nominating a presidential candidate from each party, will take place on February 1. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

DES MOINES, IA - JANUARY 31: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks to Iowa voters at the Iowa State Fairgrounds January 31, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa. The U.S. presidential election kicks off tomorrow with the state's caucuses. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

HAMLIN, IA - JANUARY 30: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks at a campaign event at Darrell's Place on January 30, 2016 in Hamlin, Iowa. The Democratic and Republican Iowa Caucuses, the first step in nominating a presidential candidate from each party, will take place on February 1. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

HAMLIN, IA - JANUARY 30: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) (C) greets an audience member as he is introduced at a campaign event at Darrell's Place on January 30, 2016 in Hamlin, Iowa. The Democratic and Republican Iowa Caucuses, the first step in nominating a presidential candidate from each party, will take place on February 1. (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speaks during a campaign stop at the Freedom Country Store, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2016, in Freedom, N.H. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, departs a campaign stop, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, in Washington, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Shown is Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, shadow as he speaks during a campaign stop Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016, in Hollis, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Delaney Anne tries to make a selfie with Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during a campaign stop, Monday, Jan. 18, 2016, in Tilton, N.H. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Republican Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, campaigns at Penny's Diner in Missouri Valley, Iowa, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)

LAS VEGAS, NV - DECEMBER 17: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during a campaign rally at the Siena Community Center on December 17, 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Two days after participating in the fifth GOP presidential debate, Cruz began a swing through eight Super Tuesday states in five days. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks during a town hall meeting at Furman University on Monday, Dec. 7, 2015, in Greenville, S.C. (AP Photo/Rainier Ehrhardt)

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks Saturday, Dec. 5, 2015, during the Rising Tide Summit at the US Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Scott Morgan)

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speaks to supporters on the Statehouse steps in Concord, N.H., Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015, after filing papers to be on the nation's earliest presidential primary ballot. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 03: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) leads a moment of silence for victims of the San Bernardino shooting prior to his address to the Republican Jewish Coalition at Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center December 3, 2015 in Washington, DC. Candidates spoke and took questions from Jewish leaders and activists. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, shops for jewelry from ChildVoice International with his daughters Catherine, left, and Caroline during a campaign stop at the Deerfield Fair Friday, Oct. 2, 2015, in Deerfield, N.H. ChildVoice International is a non-profit organization seeking to restore the voices of children silenced by war.(AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, speaks with fellow Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during a rally opposing the Iran nuclear deal outside the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during a Tea Party Patriots rally against the Iran nuclear deal on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2015. A revolt among U.S. House Republicans delayed action on the Iran nuclear deal today as some members insisted they aren't bound by a Sept. 17 deadline in their efforts to kill the agreement. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, center, right, posses for a photo with Timothy Lewis after a campaign event at the Stockyards in Forth Worth, Texas, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2015. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Photographed through attendees, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Americans for Prosperity Road to Reform event Friday, Aug. 14, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

DES MOINES, IA - AUGUST 21: Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks to supporters at his Religious Liberty Rally on August 21, 2015 in Des Moines, Iowa. Earlier in the day Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) visited and spoke to guests at the Iowa State Fair. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks at the Iowa State Fair Soapbox in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. A day after Jimmy Carter appeared on national television to talk about the cancer that's ravaging his body, Cruz criticized the former president's administration in a speech in Iowa. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, eats a pork chop at the Iowa Pork Producers tent during the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. A day after Jimmy Carter appeared on national television to talk about the cancer that's ravaging his body, Cruz criticized the former president's administration in a speech in Iowa. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks at the Rally for Religious Liberty in Des Moines, Iowa, U.S., on Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. A day after Jimmy Carter appeared on national television to talk about the cancer that's ravaging his body, Republican presidential candidate Cruz criticized the former president's administration in a speech in Iowa. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

UNITED STATES - AUGUST 8: Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) spends a few moments with his daughter Catherine before the start of the Cruz bus tour rally in a field behind Sprayberry's BBQ in Newnan, Ga., on Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015. (Photo By Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Texas Senator Ted Cruz participates in the Republican presidential primary debate on August 6, 2015 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

UNITED STATES - JULY 29: Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, awaits for the elevator doors to close as he arrives in the basement of the Capitol, July 29, 2015. (Photo By Al Drago/CQ Roll Call)

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 28: Republican presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaks during a Anti-abortion rally opposing federal funding for Planned Parenthood in front of the U.S. Capitol July 28, 2015 in Washington, DC. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) announced a Senate deal to vote on legislation to defund Planned Parenthood before the Senate goes into recess in August. (Photo by Olivier Douliery/Getty Images)

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks to reporters following a rare Sunday Senate session on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sunday, July 26, 2015. Senior Senate Republicans lined up Sunday to rebuke Cruz for attacking Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, an extraordinary display of intraparty division played out live on the Senate floor. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

WASHINGTON, USA - JULY 23: Republican Presidential Candidate Senator Ted Cruz speaks out against the nuclear deal with Iran during a demonstration that was interrupted by counter protestors in Lafayette Park across the the street from the White House in Washington, DC on July 23, 2015. (Photo by Samuel Corum/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 U.S. presidential candidate, speaks during The Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, U.S., on Saturday, July 18, 2015. The sponsor, The FAMiLY LEADER, is a 'pro-family, pro-marriage, pro-life organization which champions the principle that God is the ultimate leader of the family.' Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

AMES, IA - JULY 18: Republican presidential hopeful Senator Ted Cruz of Texas fields questions at The Family Leadership Summit at Stephens Auditorium on July 18, 2015 in Ames, Iowa. According to the organizers the purpose of The Family Leadership Summit is to inspire, motivate, and educate conservatives. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, stands outside while waiting to speak during the Faith and Freedom Coalition's 'Road to Majority' legislative luncheon in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Thursday, June 18, 2015. The annual Faith & Freedom Coalition Policy Conference gives top-tier presidential contenders as well as long shots a chance to compete for the large evangelical Christian base in the crowded Republican primary contest. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 04: Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) participates in a Judiciary Subcommittee hearing on the Affordable Care Act on Capitol Hill June 4, 2015 in Washington, DC. The hearing is billed as 'Rewriting The Law, Examining the Process That Led to the ObamaCare Subsidy Rule'. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during a press conference at the Hampton Inn and Suites in Seneca, South Carolina, U.S., on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2016. Cruz says Donald Trump sent his lawyers cease and desist letters over a Cruz campaign ad that portrays Trump as pro-choice saying that if the Cruz campaign doesn't pull ad, they'll see immediate legal action to prevent the continued broadcast of this ad, according to Cruz. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg via Getty Images

"Everywhere I go, every leader I meet, they ask about what is happening in America. They cannot believe it. I think it is fair to say that they're shocked," Kerry said. "They don't know where it's taking the United States of America. It upsets people's sense of equilibrium about our steadiness, about our reliability."

"To some degree, I must say to you, some of the questions, the way they're posed to me, it's clear that what's happening is an embarrassment to our country."

In recent weeks, the Obama administration has criticized both Trump and Cruz over their proposals to curb terrorist threats.

During a press conference in Argentina on Wednesday, President Barack Obama slammed Cruz for suggesting patrols of Muslim neighborhoods, saying the patrols would contradict American values and would not help thwart ISIS attacks.

"I just left a country that engages in that kind of neighborhood surveillance, which, by the way, the father of Senator Cruz escaped for America, the land of the free," Obama said, referencing his recent trip to Cuba.

"The notion that we would start down that slippery slope makes absolutely no sense. It's contrary to who we are, and it's not going to help us to defeat ISIL."

Summary: In an interview Sunday, Kerry said that world leaders are 'shocked' by GOP candidate Donald Trump's proposal to bar Muslims from entering the US.


John Lansdale Jr., the head of security for the Manhattan Project who helped lead American forces to Germany's atomic bomb project before Soviet forces could reach it, died on Aug. 22 at his home near Annapolis, Md. He was 91.

In April 1945, as Allied and Soviet troops were pushing through Germany on their way toward Berlin, top American officials began a mission, known as Alsos, to track down Germany's secret atomic bomb project and nuclear scientists before they could fall into the hands of the Soviet Union.

Mr. Lansdale, an Army lieutenant colonel who was in charge of intelligence and security for the American project to develop nuclear weapons, had been chosen by the project's director, Gen. Leslie R. Groves, to lead a strike on a factory in Stassfurt in northern Germany, where General Groves suspected the Germans had a cache of bomb materials.

On April 17, Colonel Lansdale and his team raided the plant and found about 1,100 tons of ore, some in the form of uranium oxide, a basic material of atomic bombs. In less than a week, the Alsos mission had also captured several prominent German atomic scientists, including Werner Heisenberg and Otto Hahn.

The story of Alsos was chronicled in Richard Rhodes's book "The Making of the Atomic Bomb," published in 1986.

In the mid-50's, at the height of the anti-Communist fervor, Mr. Lansdale was called before Congress to testify about a decision he had made 10 years earlier to approve the appointment of Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer as head of the Manhattan Project's scientific team.

Dr. Oppenheimer was accused of being a Communist, branded a security risk by the government and his security clearance was revoked. Mr. Lansdale, outraged by Dr. Oppenheimer's treatment, ardently defended him as a loyal American citizen in the Congressional hearings and continued to do so for the rest of his life, Sally Lansdale, his daughter, said.

Born in Oakland, Calif., John Lansdale Jr. earned his bachelor's degree from Virginia Military Institute and his law degree from Harvard. In 1936 he went to work for Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, first in Cleveland and later in Washington.

He remained with the firm until his retirement in 1987, aside from his military service.

In 1995, Mr. Lansdale added a surprising twist to the surrender of the Nazi submarine U-234 to American forces in May 1945. Bound for Tokyo, the submarine was carrying 10 containers filled with uranium oxide. For years, historians had wondered what the American military did with it.

In an interview with The New York Times in 1995, Mr. Lansdale said the material, originally intended for Japan's atomic program, instead ended up in the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

"It went to the Manhattan District," he said. "It certainly went into the Manhattan District supply of uranium."

Mr. Lansdale's wife of 65 years, Metta Virginia Tomlinson, died in 2001.

He is survived by five daughters, Helen Lansdale of Oregon City, Ore., Chloe Lansdale Pitard of Philadelphia, Mary Lansdale Hartmann of Millville, Del., Metta T. Lansdale Jr. of Ann Arbor, Mich., and Sally Lansdale of Omaha; 10 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.

Summary: John Lansdale Jr., the head of security for the Manhattan Project, helped lead American forces to Germany's atomic bomb project before Soviet forces could reach it.


DEADWOOD, S.D.— Kevin Costner became a hero among American Indians five years ago for his movie "Dances With Wolves," a tribute to the Lakota Sioux culture before whites swarmed the Black Hills in the 1870's to snatch the land and search for gold.

In fact, the actor was presented by tribal leaders with a hand-woven quilt and honored with a ceremony in which a sacred eagle feather was tied in his hair, a gesture of appreciation for his sensitivity to Sioux traditions.

But now that Mr. Costner wants to build a huge new casino and resort here, some Sioux feel betrayed. The resort would be partly built on National Forest land that tribal leaders believe belongs to the Indians.

"After the movie, I thought he was pretty cool," said Joe Pulliam, a 26-year-old Sioux artist who lives on the Pine Ridge reservation in Shannon County, the poorest county in America. "But now, it seems like he's just another white guy coming here to take what he can get."

The complicated dispute over the land sought by Mr. Costner and his business partner and brother, Dan Costner, dates to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. Under that agreement, the Sioux were granted land from the Missouri River in South Dakota west to the Bighorn Mountains in Wyoming, in exchange for a promise from the tribe to vacate vast sections of the Great Plains.

When gold was discovered in the Black Hills in the 1870's, however, settlers from the East began to swarm into Deadwood's famous gulch and other areas. And in 1877, Congress passed a law that took back the land, an act that many historians believe was intended to punish Indians for the defeat of General George Armstrong Custer and the Seventh Cavalry in the Battle of Little Bighorn a year earlier.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1980 on behalf of the tribes, ordering the Federal Government to compensate the Indians for the property loss. But the tribes have refused to accept the money, insisting that they be given National Forest lands in the Black Hills, which they consider sacred. The monetary compensation has been held in escrow, drawing interest, and is now about $380 million.

The Costners, who also own the Midnight Star casino in Deadwood, which is on private land, want to use about 600 acres of National Forest land for an 18-hole golf course for their new project. The proposed $100 million resort, to open in 1997, would also include a 350-room lodge and an outdoor amphitheater built on adjacent private land.

In exchange for the Federal land, the Costners would swap a 600-acre parcel they own in Spearfish Canyon, about 10 miles from Deadwood. The National Forest Service says it will probably approve the trade because the private land being offered is pristine and spectacular.

But the tribes contend that no National Forest land in the Black Hills should be traded, since they consider the compensation issue unresolved. Over the years, tribal leaders have tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade members of Congress to sponsor legislation that would return the Black Hills to the Indians.

Among whites in South Dakota, any talk of returning the Black Hills to Indians is overwhelmingly opposed. And they welcome the proposed Costner project, especially since jobs are scarce in this remote section of the Dakotas and could become even more scarce if Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, the largest employer in the area, is shut down in the Pentagon's effort to save money.

Some Sioux express concerns that a huge new casino would hurt business on eight Indian-run gambling halls in South Dakota. But others believe the huge Costner project would increase business for the tribal halls by attracting tourists who could then be lured into making the three-hour drive to the closest reservations.

"We've got plenty of history in Indian country, and we can compete with the casinos in Deadwood for tourism," said Wayne Barber, the general manager for the new Prairie Wind casino on Pine Ridge reservation. "They've got Wild Bill Hickok and we've got Crazy Horse. They've got Potato Creek Johnny and we've got Chief Red Cloud. We've got a herd of bison, an elk refuge, the grasslands, the Badlands."

Kevin Costner, who is working on a movie in Hawaii, could not be reached. Publicists for the actor have declined to comment. Dan Costner did not return telephone calls requesting an interview, but he released a statement earlier contending that their resort would not hurt tribal casinos and that it would have a "strong, positive, measurable impact on Deadwood and the surrounding communities' economies."

Sioux leaders have also expressed resentment over the $14 million in Federal, state and local tax breaks and incentives that have been promised for the Costner project.

"When the tribes wanted gambling, the state fought them every step of the way," said Tim Wapato, the executive director of the National Indian Gaming Association in Washington. "Along come the Costners, who don't even need the money, and they get subsidies. It seems racist to me."

The Costner resort would be named Dunbar, after the United States Army officer played by the actor in "Dances With Wolves." Mr. Costner earned an estimated $60 million from the movie. At the time, some tribal officials suggested that the actor invest some of his profits in Indian casinos. But he has not done so.

Tim Giago, the publisher of the Indian Country Today newspaper in Rapid City, said many of the Sioux people who revered "Dances With Wolves" wanted to give Mr. Costner the benefit of the doubt, speculating that he was "so busy with his movies" that he had not kept track of the dispute in South Dakota.

Doris Leader Charge, a Sioux who taught Mr. Costner some of the Lakota language and had a role in the film, remembers as a small child going to the store and interpreting for her grandmother, who spoke no English. Invariably, the girl would ask for candy. "When I get my Black Hills back," her grandmother would answer.

"Now I'm a woman of 70 myself," said Ms. Leader Charge. "And we're not any closer to getting back our Black Hills than we were then."

As for Mr. Costner, Ms. Leader Charge said that by "making a movie that told people all over the world that the Lakota people still live -- will always live," he has already given American Indians a gift more valuable than money.

Photos: Joe Pulliam, left, lives on the Pine Ridge reservation in Shannon County, South Dakota, and is among those Sioux who feel betrayed by plans for a casino in the Black Hills by the actor Kevin Costner. Mr. Costner is developing the project with his brother, Dan, shown viewing the site at right. (Photographs by Steven McEnroe for The New York Times) Map of Deadwood, S.D.


Cutting-edge amenities include a rearview camera with top-down side-view perspectives for easier and safer parking, a lane-departure warning system that warns the driver if the vehicle is inadvertently veering past highway lane markers and an infrared Night Vision system that displays an other-worldly view of the road ahead beyond the reach of the car’s headlamps. It’s base-priced at around $45,500 and is rated at 22/32 mpg.

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Summary: When it comes to quality cars, the terms ''luxurious'' and ''economical'' needn't be mutually exclusive.


Tim Cook, chief executive of Apple, is up against his company’s own phenomenal history of success. The iPhone’s ubiquity and dominance have combined to deliver Apple a soaring share price and an astoundingly high percentage of the total mobile phone profit pool. Competitors are either losing boatloads of cash, or delivering marginal profits. Apple has a market cap of $555 billion—with roughly 90% of its value delivered in phones.

But now a number of other promising players are out to eat Apple’s aapl lunch—and the U.S. government is after Cook to unlock the iPhone. The FBI wants encrypted data on the phone to help build its case against a murderous extremist in San Bernardino. Cook is resisting, arguing that encryption is the right thing to do to protect customer privacy. Certainly, a protracted fight with the federal government is a recurrent nightmare for any manager.

Five years ago, Cook was appointed CEO of a company with a market cap of $360 billion and $108 billion in sales; its revenue has continued to grow, to $234 billion, and its recently volatile market cap has increased by nearly $200 billion. During Steve Jobs’ last five years, revenue had soared more than fivefold, to $108 billion, while market cap ballooned six-fold, from $61 billion.

Cook’s tenure has seen a remarkable growth in iPhone share and global usage. Jobs would certainly have been proud of the trajectory. But Jobs’ most famous quote was: “Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful, that’s what matters to me”

The new “wonderful” is what Apple needs most now.

Other notable chief executives have faced similarly overwhelming challenges, and have fought to stay true to core company values and deliver ongoing value. Cook, of course, when he isn’t fighting the federal government, is trying to reinvigorate Apple’s growth.

Last week, Italian luxury sweater king Brunello Cucinelli told me that shortly after his IPO, his newfound investors told him, “Give us 30% growth.” Cucinelli bcucf created his company to deliver more than sales and profits. His orientation has been to treat his network of local suppliers fairly, pay his employees substantially above market, and ensure that the “human” side of relationships be cherished and reinforced. Cucinelli, who calls himself the company’s custodian and not just CEO, stared down the new investors. He told them 10% is a sustainable growth rate and that anything higher would hype the company. He has delivered on his promise. He believes he is setting the direction for his company for the next 50 years or more.

When Howard Schultz returned to Starbucks sbux after temporarily “retiring” in 2000 as chief executive, he shut every store down for a day. During Schultz’s retirement, there was intense pressure to deliver 20% growth in sales and profits. In 2008, when he returned, Schultz decided that the company needed to stress speed, service, and quality product.

In a memo to Starbucks employees, he lamented the “watering-down of the Starbucks experience” and “commoditization of our brand.” Insisting on a return to quality and experience control was a bold act at a time when same-store sales had slipped and consumer ranking had dropped. It was a clear statement about values and value, a push for reinvention, programmed expansion, and an emotional connection between employee and customer.

Since Schultz’s return, Starbucks market cap has soared 600%, to $88 billion today. Big bets around expansion, global flag planting, investment ahead of everyone else in electronic loyalty cards, new day parts and the core business have delivered beyond anyone’s expectations.

In what’s close to a bet-the-company move, Co-CEO John Mackey has a new plan to reinvent Whole Foods wfm with a limited product assortment, more limited customer service, and a lower-price second brand called “365 by Whole Foods Market.” Mackey is also launching a book to convince Americans to eat minimal processed food diet and instead focus on a diet rich in plant-based protein, whole grains, beans, fruits, and vegetables. This is another counterintuitive move: processed foods are traditionally the profit core for typical grocers. If 365 by Whole Foods Market is successful, it will be a move serve the 60 million middle income households in the country, not just the top 20 million. It will define a next wave of growth.

Mackey is attempting to reinvent Whole Foods to take it to the next level. Sales have plateaued at $14 billion. In some markets, same-store sales are flat or declining slightly. To maintain a high P/E and upward trajectory, Whole Foods needs to deliver at least 5% real growth. An alternative to a second brand would have been a price rollback, which would have certainly destroyed value: Whole Foods’ above-average profits are derived from high-margin prepared food, very pricey health supplements, higher sales per square foot and net higher prices on fresh produce, fish, and meats. Whole Foods’ operating margins are three times that of average grocery chains, with up to three times the sales per square foot.

All the leaders above take great satisfaction in leading their organizations and providing a moral compass for employees. They live by a belief that brands are not stable–they are either rising or declining, and that trajectory is a function of invention and innovation.

Steve Jobs famously said, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do whatever I am about to do today?” He added . . . “Avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose . . . There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Samsung, LG, Huawei, HTC all want what Apple has. Relying on predictable, incremental improvements is no longer good enough.

For companies like Apple facing the legacy of outsized success—as well as hungry competitors—the following are some tough rules for delivering sustainable growth:

You have many fans and supporters, Mr. Cook. This fall, it’s time to bring that faithful core a next-generation phone that is a rocket, a must-have, a can’t-do-without.

Michael J. Silverstein is a Chicago-based senior partner of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and coauthor, most recently, of Rocket: Eight Lessons to Secure Infinite Growth (2015).

Summary: Stay true to Apple's core and deliver ongoing value


Johnny Depp and Amber Heard

06/14/2016 AT 02:50 PM EDT

is dropping her request for temporary spousal support from

– because she says it's distracting from the "real issue of domestic violence"

Heard's lawyer filed a declaration Monday to withdraw the actress' request for temporary spousal support, which previously would have been addressed during Friday's

In the court documents obtained by PEOPLE, Heard, 30, states that she feels her request for spousal support is being twisted in the media and taking away from the real issue of domestic violence. She says it's being "used against me to distract and divert the public away from the very serious real issue of domestic violence."

The actress said she originally asked for spousal support because it is "standard operating procedure," especially when "there is a great disparity between the relative incomes of the parties," she says in the court papers.

In the request for a temporary restraining order filed on May 27, Heard requested $50,000 a month in spousal support from Depp.

Depp's high-powered divorce attorney Laura Wasser said in a

to Heard's request for a protective order that "Amber is attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse."

At the time, a judge granted the protective order that Depp stay away from Heard, but

all of Heard's other requests, including financial support, until the June 17 hearing.

In the documents, Heard claims the actor made $30 million last year, and says the court could have ordered Depp to pay temporary spousal support "in the amount of $943,744 per month."

"My very initial request for

spousal support is only about 5 percent of what I could have requested and the Court could have ordered.

But while Heard has withdrawn her request for spousal support in the domestic violence case, the actress can still ask for financial support in the

In a second filing obtained by PEOPLE, Heard's friend iO Tillet Wright submitted a declaration chronicling Wright's own account of the alleged abuse that occurred on May 21 between Depp and Heard.

"I heard Johnny launch into a cruel and vicious rage," Wright says. "I called 911 to save Amber's life."

In the declaration, Wright claimed to be willing testify on behalf of Heard if called as a witness.

Summary: Amber Heard says says the spousal support is distracting from the "real issue of domestic violence"


Close watchers of a General Electric Co. smartphone app (yes, companies have apps) got an inadvertent sneak peek of at least the company’s vision for its headquarters campus along Fort Point Channel.

An image of the campus – a new tall, glassy building rising alongside two refurbished brick warehouses on Necco Court – appeared Friday night and Saturday morning on GE Boston, an app devoted to the company’s move here. It was taken down late Saturday morning after Globe inquiries, but not before popping up on Twitter, thanks to a few eagle-eyed GE observers.

Here's what @ge new HQ in Boston's Fort Point will look like according to their app pic.twitter.com/a2VSnPe4Z1

The rendering is very preliminary, said GE spokeswoman Sue Bishop, “one of many options” the company and its architects at Gensler are considering. And it was posted accidentally, as an image alongside a piece on a speech here last week by the company’s general counsel.

But it’s not that informal – the rendering was part of the presentation general counsel Alex Dimitrief gave at the New England General Counsel Symposium on Wednesday.

And it hints at what GE has in mind for the 2.5-acre site it’s buying from Procter & Gamble to become its global headquarters as it moves from suburban Fairfield, Conn.. A mix of new and old, with public space – there’s a wide covered atrium between the two buildings – and places for GE to show off what it’s up to, and visitors to come learn about one of the world’s biggest tech and industrial companies. There are pedestrians and and a gently sloping staircase down toward Fort Point Channel. It’s unclear how tall the new building would be, but it appears to be at least eight stories.

Bishop made clear that it’s just an idea at this point.

“We’re still considering several options,” she said.

More formal plans aren’t far off. GE plans to file a proposal with the Boston Redevelopment Authority by August, and wants to occupy the complex by 2018.

Summary: The company inadvertently -- and briefly -- released what it called “one of many options” for its new Boston campus along Fort Point Channel.


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

Gone in (less than) 60 seconds.

A man learned pretty quickly that the law isn't always on your side when he lost his court case in just 26 seconds on

The culprit was on the reality court show to dispute the claim that he and his friend had robbed a woman's purse.

Plaintiff Gina Paradeza was recounting all the items she had in her purse at the time -- "I had 50 dollars, an earpiece, a calculator..."

That's when the man interrupted her, saying, "There was no earpiece in there, ma'am."

By doing that, the man accidentally confessed to the crime. Oops.

The confession only made Judge Judy cackle in delight.

"I love it," the judge exclaimed before dubbing the two men "Dumb" and "Dumber."

Lesson of the day: Think before you speak. Also, don't steal.

Summary: A man learned pretty quickly that the law isn't always on your side when he lost his court case in just 26 seconds on 'Judge Judy.'


Backers of Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders have launched a campaign to win over some of his rival Hillary Clinton’s most prized supporters — the superdelegates who can make the difference in a tight race for the party’s nomination.

But some emails, phone messages and petitions sent by the Sanders boosters have backfired, upsetting superdelegates with their aggressive tone and leading many to dig in their heels for Clinton, according to interviews conducted by Reuters.

The drive to flip Clinton’s superdelegates has not been sanctioned by Sanders’ campaign, said his spokesman Michael Briggs.

“Bernie’s campaign is focused on reaching out to all voters and earning delegates at primaries and caucuses,” he said in a statement, stressing that the Sanders campaign was not coordinating with supporters to contact superdelegates.

However, the unofficial push could complicate the Vermont senator’s efforts to woo the critical bloc in the coming months.

The effort has at times taken an angry tone, some of the messages reviewed by Reuters showed, reflecting the anti-establishment tinge of the 2016 presidential race in which many voters are unhappy with Washington insiders.

Some 85 percent of the 4,763 delegate votes to the Democratic National Convention that will decide who will face a Republican rival in the November election are determined by the results of states’ nominating contests. But the remaining 15 percent are held by superdelegates, who get to vote however they like — meaning they could hold the key to a tight contest.

Superdelegates are party leaders and elected senators, members of Congress and governors. The Democratic Party adopted the system in the early 1980s as a way of giving party leaders more control over the nominating process, though they have yet to play a decisive role in a nomination.

“The idea there is that you’ve got people who have a long view … who have, arguably, the best interests of the party at heart,” said Terri Fine, a professor of political science at the University of Central Florida.

At least one superdelegate who has backed Sanders, however, finds the system that can overturn the will of regular voters flawed. “I’m a superdelegate to fight to end superdelegates,” said Larry Cohen, a former president of the Communications Workers of America union who volunteers full-time for the Sanders campaign.

Among superdelegates who have tipped their hand so far, Clinton holds 453 to 20 for Sanders, according to the New York Times delegate tracker. Among regular delegates, won through nominating contests, Clinton leads by 91 to 65 after the South Carolina primary.

The Republican Party does reserve slots for members of its national leadership, but they do not have such influence as Democratic superdelegates.

Interviews with 10 of the 505 superdelegates supporting Clinton whom Reuters has reached show that nine of them have been approached by people purporting to back Sanders, and nearly all the superdelegates were displeased by the tone of the outreach.

For example, Isabel Framer of Ohio, a superdelegate for Clinton, got a voice mail last week urging her to vote for Sanders “in accordance with the will of the people.”

On the voice mail, heard by Reuters, the anonymous male caller says: “I think it’s crap that you get to vote whichever way you want … I’ll be watching your vote.”

“I’m not easily frightened,” Framer told Reuters. “I’m not going to change a vote over threats.”

Akilah Ensley, a North Carolina superdelegate, said she started hearing more often from Sanders supporters after her name appeared on a Wikipedia list noting her support for Clinton. “Some of them were nice, and some were rather abrasive,” she said, adding that “attacking my decisions is probably not the best way” to change her mind.

Luis Heredia, an Arizona superdelegate for Clinton, said he has received over 30 phone calls, emails and instant messages from Sanders supporters. “The majority of them are more angry, and the tone is more demanding,” Heredia said.

Lacy Johnson, an Indiana superdelegate backing Clinton, said he had received a mix of messages, including one that he said threatened: “We will make you pay.”

Andres Ramirez, a political consultant in Las Vegas, Nevada, and a superdelegate supporting Clinton, said in the past, campaigns would typically try to soft-sell their candidates rather than use pressure tactics.

“The way this has gone down, in my experience, has never happened before,” said.

While it is unclear who is directing some of the calls and emails to Clinton’s superdelegates, Seattle resident Justin Renquist has pushed for some of the outreach, although he stressed that such contacts needed to be civil. Renquist calls himself part of the “Superdelegate Task Force Army” that rallies Sanders supporters to reach superdelegates via Facebook, Twitter and other means.

“There are 3,000 in my group who have been slamming these guys as politely and nicely as we can … basically saying, look, this system is undemocratic,” Renquist said.

On Friday, the group issued a statement saying it did not support, condone or engage in any communication with superdelegages that was “vulgar, threatening, harassing or intimidating.”

Other Sanders fans, meanwhile, have gathered more than 300,000 signatures under at least two petitions on MoveOn.org asking superdelegates to vote in line with the results of the primaries and caucuses.

A third petition, on the Democracy for America site, also asks superdelegates to follow state nominating contests. It was started by Robert Reich, who was a secretary of labor under Bill Clinton and who has endorsed Sanders.

The Sanders campaign plans its own effort to win over superdelegates, possibly in April.

“That’s when we’ll make a much stronger approach to superdelegates,” said Tad Devine, a senior adviser to the Sanders campaign.

Clinton’s campaign, meanwhile, started officially courting superdelegates months ago.

“We are proud to have the support of these Democratic Party leaders, who have been in the trenches,” said Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign.

Summary: Backers of Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders have launched a campaign to win over some of his rival Hillary Clinton’s most prized supporters — the superdelegates who can make t…


"I have lived with the prospect of an early death for the last 49 years,” he told the newspaper.

“I'm not afraid of death, but I'm in no hurry to die. I have so much I want to do first.

"I regard the brain as a computer which will stop working when its components fail.”

He added: “There is no heaven or afterlife for broken down computers; that is a fairy story for people afraid of the dark.”

Asked how we should live he replied: "We should seek the greatest value of our action."

He is due to speak at the Google Zeitgeist meeting in London, in which he will address the question: "Why are we here?"

He will argue that tiny “quantum fluctuations” in the very early universe became the seeds from which galaxies, stars, and ultimately, human life began.

He will join other speakers including George Osborne, the Chancellor and Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel prize-winning economist.

In A Brief History of Time, Prof Hawking's most famous work, he did not dismiss the possibility that God had a hand in the creation of the world.

He wrote in the 1988 book: "If we discover a complete theory, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason — for then we should know the mind of God.”

In his new book he rejects Sir Isaac Newton's theory that the Universe did not spontaneously begin to form but was set in motion by God.

In June last year Prof Hawking told a Channel 4 series that he didn't believe that a "personal" God existed.

He told Genius of Britain: "The question is: is the way the universe began chosen by God for reasons we can't understand, or was it determined by a law of science? I believe the second.

“If you like, you can call the laws of science 'God', but it wouldn't be a personal God that you could meet, and ask questions."

In his latest book, The Grand Design, Prof Hawking claimed that no divine force was needed to explain why the Universe was formed.

It led to a backlash from Religious leaders.

Prof Hawking was previously Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge, a post previously held by Newton.

He fell seriously ill after a lecture tour in the US in 2009, sparking grave fears about his health.

He has since returned to his Cambridge department as director of research.

Summary: Prof Stephen Hawking, the eminent Cambridge scientist and cosmologist, has   dismissed heaven as a “fairy story for people afraid of the dark”.


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.

Margie Blanchard, Ph.D. has been a driving force behind The Ken Blanchard Companies’ growth as a premier management consulting firm. She heads up their Office of the Future, a study of emerging trends in the workplace.

When I interviewed Margie a few years ago, I was taken by her keen insights and profound reflections. During our discussion, she shared her perspective after she and Ken lost their beloved home in a San Diego fire. She said, “Everything I had held onto I lost, and everything I ever gave away I still had.” Hmm. Think about that.

Our society emphasizes accumulation of wealth, possessions, power, recognition, etc. In truth, our lives were meant to give away.

So, here are twelve behaviors just about every leader wants more of and twelve simple way to get them.

1. Want enthusiasm? Give it. 2. Want change? Become the change. 3. Want forgiveness? Give it. 4. Want more autonomy? Give it. 5. Want to be heard? Lend an ear. 6. Want recognition? Give it. 7. Want respect? Show it. 8. Want consideration? Give it. 9. Want help? Offer yours. 10. Want gratitude? Express it. 11. Want leadership? Be the leader. 12. Want more? Give more.

Summary: Simple steps for anybody


There is an archetype of the struggling artist in the city, waiting tables for extra cash or working temp jobs to support a craft.

Then there is Rabbit Movers, a moving company in Brooklyn that employs, exclusively, artists, musicians, writers and other creative types whose passions seem similarly incongruous with the hard, sweat-inducing labor associated with moving furniture around New York City.

“The whole ‘How can they lift anything?’ — we get that from time to time,” Shawn Lyons, the owner of Rabbit Movers, said in an interview. “There are, obviously, many artists out there that couldn’t lift a couch. We find the ones that can.”

Mr. Lyons, 35, started out as a “man with a van” in 2004, shortly after moving to Brooklyn with aspirations to write. But as he encountered a considerable demand for his services — and found that he had a knack for the work — what had been conceived as a side gig for extra cash began to dominate his time.

He hired more people to support his growing business, but quickly experienced what he described as “a ton of personality conflicts.” His first few employees, Mr. Lyons said, were strong movers, but shared few of his values or interests outside work.

Within a few months, he decided that, for better or worse, he would hire only people who were passionate about art, as he was, and had creative ambitions, as he did.

Today, Rabbit Movers owns three trucks and employs 40 people. Its reputation continues to grow through positive word of mouth and almost uniformly strong endorsement on Web sites like Yelp.com.

Mr. Lyons estimated that the company took in $400,000 last year, though he was unsure because he only recently began managing his books. But he remains in debt, he said, partly due to his devotion to an exciting byproduct of the endeavor: Rabbit’s growth as an artists’ collective.

Among other talents in the group, there are Justin Lin, 28, an accomplished fashion photographer and musician, and Blair Gimma, 26, a singer and songwriter who has been compared to Liz Phair. The company’s dispatcher, Kate Cantrill, 37, is working on a novel, which she hopes to finish this year, based on the stories she has heard and eccentric characters she has encountered while working for Rabbit.

“Everyone has the same goals, the same problems,” said Zach Rose, 26, a bass player and stand-up comedian. “Everything’s a bit easier because Shawn knows where we’re coming from.”

The artists of Rabbit, he said, benefit from a dynamic of collaboration and mutual inspiration. Several bands, for example, have formed from within the company’s ranks.

Rabbit also owns a gallery and performance space in Dumbo called Rabbithole Studio, previously a short-term storage facility, where the artists have gathered for impromptu gatherings and organized formal events to showcase their work.

Most of Rabbit’s clients remain oblivious to its artistic bent.

Kyra Kverno, a 33-year-old photographer, hired Rabbit early one recent morning to move her belongings out of a dusty Park Slope walk-up and into a neat duplex around the corner. She was happy to learn that in some roundabout way she was supporting the arts.

She was mostly just happy, though, with the move.

“I called them because my best friend told me they were the best,” Ms. Kverno said, checking the time on her cellphone as a stream of boxes was relayed out her door.

Mr. Lyons pays his workers a minimum of $11.50 an hour, but offers more to those with more experience and responsibilities. He even encourages them to steal away and pursue artistic opportunities.

“Shawn could be making a lot more money,” said Michael Tumbarello, 29, who raps under the alias Baje (pronounced “beige”) One in an underground hip-hop duo called Junk Science. “He doesn’t have to pay what he pays.”

Mr. Lyons’s background is predictably diverse. While studying literature at Temple University, in Philadelphia, he spent his summers in Alaska, working on salmon fishing boats and living alone in the woods. After college, he moved to San Francisco and spent three months digging a “hobbit hole” into the side of a hill at Lands End Park. He installed wood flooring, shelves and a rudimentary plumbing system, and, he said, lived in the burrow for three years.

And now, his employees say, he has found himself an unlikely patron of the Brooklyn art scene, content to set aside his own writing, for the time being, to provide a valuable platform for others.

“Shawn, in a way, is empowering all these people,” said Terence Degnan, 31, a poet who has released an album of spoken word performance. “He wants them to achieve their dreams.”

A version of this article appears in print on , on page A16 of the New York edition with the headline: Creative Opportunity: Heavy Lifting Required. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

Summary: Rabbit Movers employs, exclusively, artists, musicians, writers and other creative types whose passions seem incongruous with the hard labor of moving furniture.


My friends and I had been fishing for striped bass for a few weeks, working the sandy flats of Peconic Bay, on Long Island, exactly as if we were chasing bonefish or permit across the shallows of the Bight of Acklins, in what are known as the Family Islands, northwest of Turks & Caicos. For dinner, I wanted to extend the fantasy, to make almost real the notion that we were not 100 miles from New York City in the middle of summer but 10 times that distance, and eating within sight not of oak trees but of mangroves, cascarilla and endless azure sea.

The idea was to fashion a New England clam fritter in the style of a Bahamian conch one — to add to the clams some peppery island heat and a zip of lime. There are no conchs in Peconic Bay. So I shucked some clams, and I chopped them roughly and mixed them with batter. The fritters had an island flair. They were studded with bell pepper and celery and jalapeño, and I served them with an ocher-hued rémoulade of mayonnaise, ketchup, hot sauce and lime. But their texture would be deeply familiar and inviting to anyone who has spent time eating fried food near the summer ocean along the American East Coast. A crisp exterior giving way to a soft center, beneath a sheen of fat stippled with salt: our boardwalk empire, on a plate.

I had no fear of frying. You needn’t, either. You don’t even need to shuck the clams if you don’t want to face the labor. Simply steam them lightly until they’ve just opened, then pluck the meat from the shells. Once you have a batter made, the process of cooking the fritters is repetitive and soothing. It is easy work in a Dutch oven or deep pan, and if you have a gas grill, you can do it outside. Use a small ladle to put the fritters into the oil, and use a slotted spoon to remove them. When you’re finished cooking, leave the oil and deal with it in the morning. (If it’s absolutely a no-go to fry, the batter makes for superlative pancakes.)

For the batter, I used as my starting point a simple recipe Fannie Farmer put in her “Boston Cooking-School Cookbook” in 1918: chopped clams, eggs and flour, moistened with milk and energized with baking powder. Then, looking South, I added red onion and red pepper, jalapeño, celery, garlic and, in place of the milk (milk’s hard to come by, on those sandy shores), a healthy dose of liquor from the opened clams.

You might expand your horizons even further. Matt Jennings, the chef and an owner at Townsman in Boston, adds a touch of honey to his batter for sweetness, and scallops and scraps of fish because he’s a chef and has those things at hand. (At the restaurant he served the resulting fritters with chorizo-spiced aioli, but no one ordered the dish. “Too cheffy,” he said. He replaced the aioli with tartar sauce: “Now they fly.”) And down in South Florida, the chef Norman Van Aken uses beer. “Those who eschew beer in their batter in favor of baking soda are missing the point of the Bahamas,” he told me.

Point taken, though I find that beer can make the batter a little runny, and a key to great fritters is a batter that’s not too thin. You can bulk up a runny batter with a spray of corn meal or a little more flour, Jennings told me, “but it’s always better just to thicken with more clams.”

Which is one reason I’ve specified three dozen cherrystones — hard clams of the genus Mercenaria mercenaria, found along the Atlantic coast from the Canadian Maritimes to the edge of the Caribbean — to serve a party of six or eight. You could certainly use fewer. (You could also use conch or whelks, which you can sometimes find canned in the supermarket, labeled scungilli.) Use what you have. Mix the batter and fry it, and enjoy the fruits of your labor.

“You spend a long time at the beach in the summer, you’re sun-beaten, you’re tired, you want something that satiates — that’s fritters,” Jennings said. It may seem counterintuitive, he added. “For me, I think it’s a part of the mystique of oceanside living.”

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A version of this article appears in print on July 24, 2016, on page MM22 of the Sunday Magazine with the headline: Under the Sea. Today's Paper|Subscribe

Summary: Peppery heat and a zip of lime add an island flair to the familiar.


I’m in Philadelphia this morning, but rather than dwell on the Democratic convention, I want to focus on what it symbolizes. We live in a time of unprecedented prosperity – the last two decades have seen more people around the globe lifted out of poverty than at any time in human history. Yet, we also live in a time of growing uncertainty, especially in developed countries – as the Brexit revolt in the U.K. and the rise of the Sanders and Trump in the U.S. indicate. Support for the twin drivers of post-World War II prosperity – globalization and digitization – is eroding.

How should global business respond? Rich Lesser and Martin Reeves of BCG have an interesting piece out this morning that calls on business leaders to adopt a new “corporate leadership manifesto.” It “won’t be easy,” they say; but failing to adopt it may mean companies lose their “freedom to operate.”

You can read the full piece

, or read my summary of their “seven imperatives” for business below:

1) Use technology to rethink globalization. In the future it must be less about global supply chains and low-cost offshoring, and more about serving the needs of individual markets.

2) Create business platforms and ecosystems that allow more people to participate. That’s not just for tech businesses, but also for things like energy, with decentralized grids, or manufacturing, with decentralized supply chains.

3) Deploy technology from front to back. Business often adopts technology with a view toward increasing efficiency and eliminating jobs. Lesser and Reeves says they should start with serving the needs of customers, and work back from there.

4) Invest in human capital. The rapid pace of change requires people to constantly be acquiring news skills to survive. Companies should facilitate that re-skilling.

5) Apply a social business mindset. Business must think about the effects of their operations on communities and underserved populations. The Milton Friedman construct – that the social responsibility of business is to make a profit – is no longer sufficient.

6) Rethink compensation. Workers need a living wage, and exorbitant pay for corporate leaders, particularly when not linked to performance, undermines support for business.

7) Own the narrative. Business leaders need to do a better job explaining to the world how capitalism solves problems and creates prosperity.

Simple enough? Let me know your thoughts.

Summary: Leaders need to observe seven key principles