Another AMAZING day here at the Advanced Study Weekend in Santa Rosa. Since yesterday’s check in, I already have about 5 more stories to tell. And it’s so late I really should just turn out the light and catch some zzzs but there’s such a full agenda again tomorrow, the backlog will be enormous!

Let’s start with the end of the day. Dan Piraro of Bizarro fame had us rolling in the aisles with his after-dinner show tonight. Briefly? A hilarious life story told in slides, and a take-no-prisoners jump right into a boatload of Bizarro cartoons with Piraro’s strong environmental and humanitarian vegan message. You’ve seen it in his work. We got to see a pile of them all at once with inside anecdotes and spontaneous hilarity.

Other stories from today? Oh, man! Where to start?

Breakfast with Dr. Michael Greger (left), Director of the Humane Society of the U.S. Full of energy and ready to go with an amazing arsenal of research reports from the Clinical Journals, Michael educated and entertained us TWICE today with a wildly informative and entertaining presentation which he delivered game show style.

The facts and jokes were so fast and furious I didn’t have time to keep up with my notes!

Dr. John McDougall took stage early today with a jam-packed presentation about diet and Multiple Sclerosis. Deeply woven into the presentation was his work with Dr. Roy Swank, his mentor and inspiration from decades ago, who pioneered investigative research into the connection between diet and M.S. A moving, and quite technical presentation, though quite clear, in Dr. McD’s usual well-illustrated style.

Dr. Daphine Miller delivered a fascinating and colorful piece about her work The Jungle Effect: The Healthiest Diets from Around the World.

Daphine traveled all over the world spending time in medical practice, volunteer work, and pure investigation to find out the health secrets of selected cultures and discovered several commonalities: whole foods, simple traditional edibles from their gardens and farms, sense of community, and simplicity.

She had some amazing photographs from Peru, Crete, Camaroon, Iceland, and more.

More surprises! I shared a meal with Ann and Larry Wheat (below) , owners of Millenium (world famous vegan restaurant in San Francisco!)

Their restaurant (long-standing success at 16 years and running!) according to the buzz is THE place to go for a good meal in San Francisco, no matter what your dietary persuasion. I’ve got a copy of their menu and more details so that I can put together a great feature for my Healthy Living San Francisco column at examiner.com. Watch for that!

Oh! Millenium chef Stephanie Boston did a LIVE cooking presentation with Savory South Indian Breakfast Foods. And passed around samples. Indian food? BIG fan. Perfect.

Jeff Novick, R.D., amazed us all with his presentation on “Nuts and Health: What the Science Really Says”. How he gets all the facts from the papers organized into simple graphs, logical interpretation, and with his usually entertaining and humorous flair is always impressive.

More to tell but it’s almost tomorrow and we start EARLY around here. Tomorrow Dr. Dean Ornish, Doug Lisle, John Robbins, more Jeff Novick and John McDougall and Hans Diehl. Whew!