Dr. Alan Rabinowitz has been called “The Indiana Jones of Wildlife Conservation” by Time magazine, a befitting title for the world’s leading big cat expert and a man of impressive accomplishment.

His extensive work has resulted in the creation of the world’s first jaguar reserve in Belize, the largest protected area in Taiwan, the first UNESCO World Heritage Site in Thailand, and no less than five new protected areas in Myanmar (formerly Burma), including the...

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Was it because of my early association with BMW motorcycles that I was drawn to Ural, or was it because a Ural looks like it’s poised to conquer the Sahara? I’m not sure and it doesn’t really matter.

Bloodlines or aggressive posture aside, it’s really the adventurousness of the Ural that’s appealing. The can-do, pioneering attitude that’s ingrained in the American psyche and the urge to see what’s beyond the horizon makes the allure of this twin boxer-engined machine magnetic.

There’s an unintimidating simplicity yet reassuring strength to the Ural. It conveys the sense that one can take it to the ends of the world and, in case of a break-down, it wouldn’t require NASA-endorsed hardware to mend.

In this modern, hyper-connected, over-scheduled, tech-obsessed world of ours, would a Ural really be...

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For the first in what we hope will be a long series of exclusive mini-interviews with men of distinction, we posed 10 Questions to Jason Lee, the former professional skateboarder and now talented actor whose long list of credits includes Chasing Amy, Vanilla Sky, The Incredibles (the voice of Incrediboy), My Name Is Earl (for which he was nominated for two Golden Globes), Alvin & The Chipmunks, Up All Night, and many more.

Where are you from and where do you now call home?  I’m from southern California and live in Pasadena (outside Los Angeles).

What's your favorite place in the world and why?  American highways in my '71 Dodge pickup, my film cameras to my right occupying the passenger side of the old bench seat, and nights spent sleeping in the camper with no knowledge of where the following day will take me.

What inspires you?  See...

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January and February have been very busy months. With market shows, gatherings and events scheduled just about every week, what normally would be a quiet winter has taken us to/from the following cities: Salt Lake, Las Vegas, Berlin, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boca Raton.

The best thing of course is that each place is completely different from the next. So while national and even global homogenization continues unabated, it’s refreshing and reassuring to find distinctions and inspiration with every visit, no matter how obvious or obscure. Louis Armstrong’s melody  What a Wonderful World still rings true.

Here are + / - for each city. Feel free to tell us yours.

Salt Lake: + Awe-inspiring Little Cottonwood Canyon, home to Snowbird and Alta ski resorts / - Utah drivers.

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