Elephants are amazing animals. They never forget anything. In Nepal, an elephant gave me a bath in the river by splattering me with several trunks full of water. I was lucky enough to feed this same elephant later. She remembered me and allowed me to “pet” her several times after our first encounters. Elephants...

I hate flying. But I love to travel, so I must fly. In the multiple trips back and forth across the globe, I’ve seen my share of weird things trying to make it through TSA. I’ve seen people arrested, people frisked, and people “making a run for it.” I’ve also had my own run-ins with TSA personnel....

It was reported last week that two dead people were married in China. “‘Til death, then you wed” was part of the catch phrase they used in the article. But in China, ghost weddings, as they call them, is a common occurrence. Tradition has it that if a single man dies before he is wed, his family...

A few years ago I was leaving the Writer’s Guild in Beverly Hills, carefully and slowly backing out of a parking spot. Behind me was only one lane of traffic, and it had cordially stopped for me to finish backing out. There were no other cars in the lot near me or behind me. I was keeping my eye on...

Just as we sit somewhat passively watching the Great Barrier Reef floundering in distress, a new reef is discovered. Ninety-five percent of the Great Barrier Reef is turning white and yellow, which happens when ocean temperatures increase. This is the most severe bleaching of the coral we have ever seen...

Ninety-six percent of all confirmed Lyme disease cases are reported from 14 states: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and Wisconsin. That’s why most people in California never even think...

The Valencia Green Team from Boston Scientific is known for its tremendous virtue of giving back to the community. On April 2, team members joined forces again with the Community Hiking Club to tackle the overgrown East Canyon Native Plant Garden, located at the base of East Canyon (southeast of Newhall)....

It’s amazing when you realize that each and every Californian consumes an average of more than 300 gallons of water per week. How is that possible? You are eating food that is produced in California. California farmers produce more than one-third of the nation’s produce. They also produce two-thirds...

What will your last words be? Will they be witty? Will they be repeated long after you are gone? Perhaps they will be legendary or dull. When George Washington (1732-1799), the founder of our country died, his last words were, “’Tis well.” Maybe all was well; maybe not. After all, he did die. I...

“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” – Hippocrates, the father of Western Medicine Your mother told you to eat your broccoli, remember? She might not have known it, but broccoli is one of Mother Nature’s cancer-fighting foods. Broccoli is a cruciferous vegetable. This group...