In my years as PR director of the San Diego Zoo, the worst case of human decimation of a beautiful animal species occurred in Saudi Arabia.

During the early ’60s, rich Arab hunters  chased this animal through the desert in their Cadillacs and shot them with high-powered rifles.

How sporting was that,  folks?

I’m talking about the princely Arabian Oryx, once hunted to extinction in the wild. (more…)

My brave son nearly became the victim of a homicide attempt in the local Pacific Beach area recently. (It was kept out of the paper.)

Though over 50, but trim and in good shape, Craig went to the rescue of an unknown young woman being beaten by a druggie in an alley.

While taking a walk around the block during an evening church meeting-break, Craig spotted this low-life character beating a young lady beside a car in the alley.  Without consideration of the possible consequences or harm to himself, he went to her rescue. (more…)

I owe a good part of my longevity and excellent health to water exercise.

At 80, I still swim twice a week in a pool.  (I gave up ocean body-surfing years ago due to pollution at nearby San Diego beaches!)

To me, there’s no better way to work the kinks out my aging body than in a swimming pool.  I’ve been using water religiously for part of my exercise routine since I was about seven.

I literally “swam” my way to health after a several operations for osteomyelitis, which left me in braces and cast at the age of five.  This chronic bone infection proved to be fatal to nearly 75 percent of patients in the ’30s - before “wonder drugs.” (more…)

Friends and relatives in Alabama, Florida, Arkansas and North Carolina had to batten down the hatches and get out the rubber boots during recent visits by hurricanes Gustav and Hanna.

A friend in Mobile lost the front porch of a beach house which had just been re-built after being destroyed by Katrina. My brother in a new Arkansas retirement community had a drenching 7.5 inches of rain in a day.

I couldn’t help drawing a mental comparison to the arid summer we experienced this year in Southern California. San Diego, for example, must have had all of about .10 of an inch of moisture this summer (and been drenched by about 1.7 inches to date for the year!) (more…)

Pet rescue groups perform a great service - but it’s wise to make sure they are reputable before you adopt.

Some organizations are a little too eager to give away pets and so they skimp on temperament evaluation, health issues and/or sterilization. (more…)

I just finished breathing.

Not permanently, of course.

I refer to my “magic fitness/mental health exercise.”

It’s called meditative breathing. And it’s popularity is growing, according to latest press reports.

This basically involves taking time out to think about and focus on your breath. Its harder than it sounds, but the results are totally awesome. (more…)

A peaceful afternoon African game drive was shattered by a rhino whirling to lumber toward our Land Rover!

Seeing an angry rhino thundering your way, with seemingly increasing momentum, ranks right up there as one of the perspiration-producing moments in my years with the San Diego Zoo.

I admit, I may have been damp in more places than one.

We had riled a mother black rhino (calf trotting along beside her) who thought our photo safari had come a bit too close. But instead of just a warning with a short charge before veering off, she seemed bent on ramming us with that ominous-looking horn. (more…)

I just returned from air travel after a week wandering around amazing Yellowstone National Park. During the usual three-hour flight delay in Salt Lake City my wife and I waited on a hard bench in Terminal 402Z with other dozing citizens.

I stayed alert. None of that giving in to the usual “flight fatigue” for me. I think it was the good night’s sleep in the mountains, the high-energy breakfast, and the way my wife jabbed what I believe was a hat pin into my buttocks every ten minutes. (more…)

We’re back, broke, but content.

It was a memorable seven days in Jackson Hole, Wyo. and Yellowstone National Park.

Halfway through, I thought we’d slipped back in time. Not just because the famous park’s pace and landscape has a calming, almost hypnotic effect, changing your perceptions.

My wife, Lovae and I were momentarily stunned upon arriving mid-week at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. No elevator. No phone. (And almost no cell phone reception!) No closets. No TV. No radio.

Jeez, can we survive three nights? we asked. (more…)

One of the most profound and simplistic characterizations of human personalities came from a lovely, vivacious woman I knew many years ago. Her name was Rita Holt, wife of a tattooed ex-mariner and fellow editor at the Army Times Publishing Co. in Washington, D.C.

It seems she once spent six months in a tuberculosis (TB) sanitarium (the prescribed treatment in those days). During a social gathering of journalists, she told us how tedious life was there for patients.

“My roommate and I grew real bored after the first few months,” Rita said. “We finally hit upon a plan to categorize all the people with whom we came into contact over the next few months. That included doctors, nurses, orderlies, janitors, visitors and other patients.”

“And what did you come up with?” I asked out of burning curiosity, having once spent long, boring weeks in a hospital ward myself.

Mrs. Holt said that she and her roommate eventually came to the conclusion that all of mankind fit into one of three general categories:

“Absolutely everyone,” she told us with a sweep of her arm, “was either:

1. A dull nut;

2. An interesting nut; or

3 A dangerous nut.

We all tried for a few minutes to challenge that, or improve on it, but couldn’t.

I have since used that as a personal gauge for everyone I ever met, before or after. But it seems to be unfailingly true. Everyone is some kind of “nut.”

The only improvement, as far as I can determine, might be to use the word “semi-” in front of the adjective in some cases (as in “semi-dangerous”).

Can you improve on it?