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Whether by necessity or choice, a quarter of Americans take at least one vacation by themselves each year. Some solo travelers are single. Some have partners who dislike travel or have different interests or can't get away. Some just crave freedom. But all face the same question: What's the best trip for the person traveling alone? "The key is to know yourself," said Beth Whitman, author of a guide for women traveling alone and founder of Wanderlustandlipstick.com , a website devoted to advice and tours for women on the go. "There are times when you just need to get away, to recuperate.

WASHINGTON - The FBI obtained a sealed search warrant to read a Fox News reporter's personal emails from two days in 2010 after arguing there was probable cause he had violated espionage laws by soliciting classified information from a government official, court papers show. In an affidavit, an FBI agent told a federal magistrate that the reporter had committed a crime when he asked a State Department security contractor, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, to share secret material about North Korea in June 2009.

In these troubled economic times, it's not hard to understand why people might want to protect their life savings by purchasing a hard asset like gold or silver. At least, that's the pitch of Monex, the big Newport Beach investment firm, which bills itself as "America's trusted name in precious metals investments" and assures clients that it's "committed to customer service. " So let's take a look at the experiences of some customers who say their trust in Monex was misplaced.

What's to live for? The price of wine continues to skyrocket, and Warren Buffett is now tweeting. What's next for us culturally? Bingo night at the Louvre? Meanwhile, the criminal justice system insists on hammering on poor Lindsay Lohan. It's only a matter of time before her work suffers, and then who takes over as the freckled queen of American cinema? Leonardo DiCaprio? That's the obvious answer. Yes, I have issues with him as Gatsby, but more on that in a moment. For now, I'll tell you what's to live for. Summer, that's what.

The yellowing government survey map of San Nicolas Island dated from 1879, but it was quite clear: There was a big black dot on the southwest coast and, next to it, the words "Indian Cave. " For more than 20 years, Navy archaeologist Steve Schwartz searched for that cave. It was believed to be home to the island's most famous inhabitant, a Native American woman who survived on the island for 18 years, abandoned and alone, and became the inspiration for "Island of the Blue Dolphins," one of the 20th century's most popular novels for young readers.

Sometimes it's hard to tell what's more annoying -- mosquitoes or mosquito repellent. If you spray yourself down with a typical repellent before a picnic, you can expect your potato chips and fried chicken to have a distinct DEET aftertaste. And the car ride home? Better roll down the windows if you value fresh air. But there's another option. As you may have seen on TV ads, SC Johnson has come out with Off! Clip-on, a product that promises to repel mosquitoes without any spray or odor.

Four years ago, "Child 44," Tom Rob Smith's debut thriller set in Stalinist Russia, was a literary sensation. An edgy, intense portrait of Russia's secret police and the lengths they would go to to protect their country's image as a crime-free society, "Child 44" managed to straddle a fine line between well-researched, absorbing historical fiction and propulsive thriller that would earn the book universal praise, sales of more than 1.5 million copies...

WASHINGTON - The FBI obtained a sealed search warrant to read a Fox News reporter's personal emails from two days in 2010 after arguing there was probable cause he had violated espionage laws by soliciting classified information from a government official, court papers show. In an affidavit, an FBI agent told a federal magistrate that the reporter had committed a crime when he asked a State Department security contractor, Stephen Jin-Woo Kim, to share secret material about North Korea in June 2009.

Pakistani rock icon Salman Ahmad is a singer-guitarist who includes Led Zeppelin among his influences and whose band, Junoon, has been called "the U2 of Asia." The autobiography's publisher, Simon & Schuster, describes Ahmad as being "in the center of a new generation of young Pakistanis who go to mosques as well as McDonald's." "Rock & Roll Jihad: A Muslim Rock Star's Revolution"

Reading: To learn what is and what was helps us to benefit from what will be. ERIC LINDMUIR Los Angeles

Arden Hayes is 5. He loves Legos and running so fast across the living room to flip onto the couch that his feet end up pointing at the ceiling. He also loves the presidents - especially 11 and 33. Arden knows all 44 U.S. presidents. In order. Ask him who was 29 and right away he'll say Warren G. Harding. As for 11 (James K. Polk) and 33 (Harry S. Truman), they're his favorites, he says, because "they're dark-horse candidates. " Also, Polk got us California, which happens to be Arden's home.

HOUSTON - On the morning of the first day of the National Rifle Assn. convention, before the doors opened, scores of visitors lined up outside the convention center, part of what organizers expect will be a record crowd. Among them was Tilman Hollifield, 63, a lifetime NRA member who drove 950 miles from Terre Haute, Ind., to support gun rights that he fears are more imperiled than ever since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. "There are so many people that are against guns," said Hollifield, who has worked in law enforcement, as an electrician and bricklayer.

Teams will fan out across the Sierra Nevada on Thursday to perform their final snow survey of the season, a closely watched rite of spring that helps determine how much water will flow to farms and cities in coming months. But 18,000 feet above the Sierra slopes, an airborne experiment is underway that could revolutionize that ritual. Starting in early April, researchers have made weekly flights over the upper Tuolumne River basin, taking sophisticated instrument readings of the snow depth and reflected sunlight.

Federal agents had to end what they termed "an urgent public safety interview" with Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev when a judge came to his hospital room, officials said Thursday, a disclosure that has renewed the debate over how the government should handle terrorism suspects. Tsarnaev has not answered any questions since he was given a lawyer and told he has the right to remain silent by Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler on Monday, officials said. Until that point, Tsarnaev had been responding to the interagency High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, including admitting his role in the bombing, authorities said.

If any line item in the state or federal budgets cries out for more resources, or even just a little more respect, it's the arts and humanities. Never mind that many writers, artists and scholars have the fresh ideas that our times so desperately need. When politicians and columnists call for increased spending on STEM projects - that's science, technology, engineering and mathematics - don't they know they're alienating at least half the country? Let's reckon with the extent of the neglect.

Second of two parts Phil Richards used to like his job driving a forklift in a produce and meat warehouse. He took pride in steering a case of beef with precision. Now, he says, he has to speed through the warehouse to meet quotas, tracked by bosses each step of the way. Through a headset, a voice tells him what to do and how much time he has to do it. It makes the Unified Grocers warehouse in Santa Fe Springs operate smoothly with fewer employees, but it also makes Richards' work stressful.

Russell Harvard plays the deaf brother in a dysfunctional family in "Tribes" at the Mark Taper Forum through April 14. The Austin, Texas-based actor, who won a Drama League Award for the role off-Broadway, will move with the production to the La Jolla Playhouse from June 25 through July 21. He spoke in his Taper dressing room. FULL COVERAGE: 2013 Spring arts preview Do you feel sympathetic to your character, who feels marginalized because he's deaf? I do, but not with my family.

Since its release in 1980, Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Stephen King's "The Shining" has firmly embedded itself into the pop consciousness with its shudder-inducing cry of "Here's Johnny!" and its blood-soaked hallways. "Room 237," which opens Friday in Los Angeles, digs into five of the myriad theories of interpretation that have sprung up around what is now a modern horror classic. The proponents of these theories, heard only in voice-over, function as narrators as they rather plausibly lay out "The Shining" as a metaphor for the genocide of Native Americans, for the Holocaust, as an exploration of the mythology of the Minotaur and/or as Kubrick's secret confession that he was involved in faking the Apollo 11 moon landing.