The Waltons was a popular television series in the 1970s that told the story of a large family living in Virginia during the Depression era. An episode from the show's eighth season, entitled "The Lost Sheep," focuses on Erin Walton (Mary Beth McDonough), the fourth oldest of seven children. She has been dating a young army officer named Ashley (Jonathan Frakes) off and on for a few years. While on ...

In 1977, fish merchant Lee Lantz traveled to Chile and "discovered" the toothfish, a species the locals deemed too oily to eat. Thirty years and a name change later, Chilean sea bass is so popular with American palates that it's almost on the verge of extinction.

After Canadians developed an oil from the rapeseed plant, they still had to deal with the name. So, in 1988, the FDA approved a name change ...

The Waltons was a popular television series in the 1970s that told the story of a large family living in Virginia during the Depression era. In this particular episode, one of the Walton children, John-Boy, aspires to publish his own county newspaper—The Blue Ridge Chronicle. He enlists the help of his younger brother, Ben, and they soon stumble upon their first headline story. The county judge, ...

In the first season of the popular TV show 24, Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland) is a federal agent charged with protecting a presidential candidate from an assassination plot. He was given that responsibility because in the uncertain world of espionage he possesses that rare character trait of integrity.

In the show’s first episode, Jack’s integrity is already put to the test. Because he turned in other ...

We're all probably familiar with the Roman Catholic Church's list of seven deadly sins: pride, envy, gluttony, greed, lust, wrath, and sloth. But did you know the Roman Catholic Church recently added seven more? Pope Benedict XVI was concerned about the "decreasing sense of sin" in today's world, evidenced by the declining interest in the disciplined act of confession. The list, published in the Vatican ...

When I was a kid, my dad told me two stories all the time. In the first one, a couple goes to Harvard University and asks to see the president, because they want to give a donation to the university. The president agrees to see them, but he doesn't know them, and because they're from somewhere way out west, he treats them curtly. After a few moments, the woman finally turns to her husband and says, ...

I read a story in the L. A. Times a long time ago. A guy goes to the house where he grew up and knocks on the door. Because he hadn't been there for 20 years, he finds himself getting sentimental. He asks the owners if he can walk through the house, and they let him. While in the attic, he finds an old jacket of his. He puts it on, reaches into the pocket, and pulls out a stub. It's a receipt from ...

If any athlete was known for focus, it was Michael Jordan. In Jordan's book, Driven from Within, Fred Whitfield, president and chief operating officer of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats basketball team, tells a fascinating story about something Jordan did while getting ready to go out one evening. When Jordan asked if he could borrow a jacket from Whitfield, he found that Whitfield's closet was filled ...

In the movie Lucky You, Huck Cheever (Eric Bana) plays a hotshot poker player who is trying to raise enough money, $10,000, to enter a poker tournament in Las Vegas. In an attempt to raise the money he makes a bet with Ready Eddie (Horatio Sanz). Huck has to run five miles and shoot 18 holes of golf in 78 strokes or under in three hours. The ball has to be in the cup before the time expires—and ...

The patience of Alexander Kuzmin, mayor of Megion in western Russia, has worn thin. In September 2007, Kuzmin published a list of 27 excuses he will no longer tolerate. Civil servants who use such excuses as "I don't know," "It's lunchtime," or "I was on sick leave at the time," will lose their jobs. Other banned excuses include "I can't," "It's impossible," or "It's not my job."

The reason for Kuzmin's ...