The U.S. Supreme Court on June 1 handed down a whole bunch of rulings—five to be exact. Included were rulings on the retroactivity of a sex-offender registration law and a case between Alabama and North Carolina. The big ruling of the day involved the Miranda protections—the “warnings” that police must read suspects upon arrest. The court ruled that suspects must explicitly tell police they want to be silent to invoke their Miranda protection during interrogations. Click here for the WSJ story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704875604575280392747737022.html;
here for the opinion: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/09pdf/08-1470.pdf
A right to remain silent and a right to a lawyer are the first of the Miranda-rights warnings, which police recite to suspects during arrests and interrogations. But the justices on Tuesday said suspects must tell police they are going to remain silent to stop an interrogation, just as they must tell police that they want a lawyer. WSJ Law Blog June 1, 2010

He was not a mathematician – he never even took a math class after high school – yet Martin Gardner, who has died aged 95, was arguably the most influential and inspirational figure in mathematics in the second half of the last century. Through his monthly column in Scientific American, which ran for 24 years, Gardner popularised mathematical puzzles and games, bringing serious research to new audiences and revolutionising the field of recreational math. But his contribution to math represents only a fraction of a versatile and remarkably prolific literary career. Gardner wrote fiction, books on philosophy, physics, religion, magic and word games, and The Annotated Alice (1960), a definitive guide to Alice in Wonderland. In 1957 he wrote the first bestselling book to debunk pseudoscience.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/may/27/martin-gardner-obituary

Top 10 Best Roof-to-Table Dining
In this year's version of farm-to-table eating, restaurants in big cities are literally raising their roofs, harvesting everything from herbs and chiles to tomatoes and beans
Oliverio Beverly Hills
Pura Vida Atlanta
Frontera Grill Chicago
Uncommon Ground Chicago
Roberta's Brooklyn
Noble Rot Portland, Oregon
Gracie's Providence, Rhode Island
Pyramid Retaurant & Bar Dallas
The Grove Houston
Bastille Café & Bar Seattle See descriptions, addresses, Web sites and phone numbers at: http://www.bonappetit.com/magazine/2010/04/top_10_best_roof_to_table_dining

Easy Pumpkin Pancakes taste-tested by four muse readers
2 1/2 c. flour
2 tbsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
6 tbsp. oil
1/2 c. pumpkin butter*
1 c. milk
Mix dry ingredients. Make a well in center of bowl; add remaining ingredients; mix them well, then incorporate them into dry ingredients. Add additional milk gradually until the batter is desired consistency. Makes 24
* Cherry pancakes, substitute cherry butter or cherry topping; Apple pancakes, substitute apple butter, applesauce or diced fresh apples.

Shopsin’s Pumpkin Pancakes Chef Kenny Shopsin serves this popular breakfast dish at his much-loved namesake restaurant in New York City’s Essex Street Market.
http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Shopsins-Pumpkin-Pancakes

The word pumpkin originated from the Greek word Pepõn which means large melon. The word gradually morphed by the French, English and then Americans into the word "pumpkin." Pumpkins and squash are believed to have originated in the ancient Americas. These early pumpkins were not the traditional round orange upright Jack-O-Lantern fruit we think of today when you hear the word pumpkin. They were a crooked neck variety which stored well. Without pumpkins many of the early settlers might have died from starvation. The following poem is a testament to the Pilgrims dependence upon pumpkins for food:
For pottage and puddings and custards and pies
Our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies,
We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon,
If it were not for pumpkins we should be undoon.
Pilgrim verse, circa 1633
The Pilgrims were also known to make pumpkin beer. They fermented a combination of persimmons, hops, maple sugar and pumpkin to make this early colonial brew. In early colonies, pumpkin shells were used as a template for haircuts to ensure a round and uniform finished cut. As a result of this practice, New Englanders were sometimes nicknamed "pumpkinheads".
http://www.allaboutpumpkins.com/history.html