If you are are a young professional between the ages of 25-40 and are employed full-time, the Rotary Clubs of Greater Los Angeles wants you - to represent them on a cultural and vocational exchange to Mexico or the Philippines.

If you are are a young professional between the ages of 25-40 and are employed full-time, the Rotary Clubs of Greater Los Angeles wants you - to represent them on a cultural and vocational exchange to Mexico or the Philippines. Trips are four weeks in duration and all expenses are paid by Rotary International and host clubs. (not including personal expenses).

REQUIREMENTS:
Be between the ages of 25-40.
Be employed full-time in a recognized vocation or profession.
Not be a Rotarian or closely related to one.
Not be accompanied by a spouse, companion, or dependent.

DATES:
Mexico, May 2- May 30,2007.
Yucatan Peninsula, including cities of Merida, Cancun, Oaxaca, Cozumel, Escarcega.

Philippines, March 17 April 14, 2007.
Island of Mindanao, located in the south and is the second largest island of the Philippines.

The deadline for applications is February 17, 2007.

HOW TO APPLY:
More information and applications on web site, www.rotary5280.org.
Click on Group Study Exchange.
Contact Chuck Hanchett at 310-547-1973 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. document.getElementById('cloak222c629fa51fe41a2c51f863c2d1bc9c').innerHTML = ''; var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var...

Karen Lowe's Pig Tales are scrumptious hand-decorated sugar cookies-spotted pigs and golden pigs- with notes of fragrant Meyer lemon and rich Madagascar Bourbon vanilla.

Over dinner with Karen Lowe of six persimmons, inc., a New York based cookie company dedicated to creating iced cookies with a chic artisanal edge, I discovered that for the Year of the Boar, she has created Pig Tales, a collection of cookies in the shapes of spotted pigs and golden pigs (painted with edible gold leaf.) Scrumptious, freshly baked, hand-decorated sugar cookies with notes of fragrant Meyer lemon and rich Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, Karen packages them in a boxed set of 18 for $75. (plus delivery) Each cookie measures approximately 2 3/4" w x 2 3/8" d. They are marvelous for gifts and will add a special touch to your Chinese New Year festivities.

To order, visit www.6persimmons.com or call six persimmons, inc. at 646.265.0015.

Today, January 1, 2012 marks the day that a major hotel chain, The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels, Limited (HSH), owner of the Peninsula Hotels finally made it official - no more shark fins will be served. We hope many more hotels, restaurants, and fishermen will also stop killing the millions of sharks for their fins for soup.  

Let's make 2012 a year that you also take measures in your own hands to help our world become a better place. 

This is one of the most important stories of our lives, our Earth.

Not only is banning shark fins from menus one tiny step forward (and not ordering shark fins if it is still on other menus), eating fish, particularly the larger fish is not necessarily healthy.

Dr. Sylvia Earle, 75, scientist and National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence has been studying our oceans for more than 50 years. Dr. Earle urges everyone, "We have the power to make a difference and its time that we use that power positively not just for the dolphins, not just for the whales and the fish. It all comes back to us. We all share space on this little Blue Planet."

Earle told AsianConnections' Steven Joe at a Greenbuild Conference for GreenPlanet.TV "What we are doing to the oceans, we are doing to ourselves." She told Steven Joe in a video interview that it is a myth that eating all fish is healthy. She warns that eating larger fish-eating fish is not healthy at all. She says the larger fish such as swordfish, tuna, and marlin...

On Kaua'i, I tapped into Hawai'i's distinct nature as a community rich in culture and history during my Environmental Journalism fellowship at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG).

On Kaua'i, I tapped into Hawai'i's distinct nature as a community rich in culture and history during my Environmental Journalism fellowship at the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG).

In 1999, after devoting many years to chronicling Asian America, I took a sojourn in search of serenity. Discovering my new muse on the garden isle of Kaua'i, the oldest and the lushest of the Hawaiian Islands, I knew I would return one day to capture the other-worldly landscapes on film.

This Spring, my NTBG fellowship, gave me a special entre to learn about Hawaiian culture and revisit my childhood interest in botany. During my intensive week studying ethnobotany and tropical ecology, I sat down with world-renowned plant ecologists, horticulturalists and ethnobotanists who have dedicated their life's work to finding a cure for illnesses, feeding the world, and saving the planet.

Globally, nine percent of the world's 250,000 plant species are endangered. Half of Hawai'i's native plants are threatened with extinction, as the situation is far more critical on oceanic islands.

Chartered by Congress in 1964, the National Tropical Botanical Garden administers a network of five gardens and three preserves in Hawai'i and Florida focusing on tropical flora. Everyday, I have class in one of the three...

September 21, 2012

Los Angeles

In life, its sometimes having the luck of perfect timing that counts!

Mike Kai was on a flight today to LAX when the captain of his aircraft announces he is diverting his plane to make way for Endeavour's historic arrival.

Mike could see Endeavour on the back of a Boeing 747 right outside his plane window. 

As soon as Mike lands, he runs and jumps into a cab and asks the driver to take him to the South runway to watch Endeavour arrive.

Mike shoots this 32 second video just in time as Endeavour lands!