Pam Warren became known as Britain's "Lady in the Mask" after she survived a horrific train crash that killed 31 and wounded hundreds in 1999. She's now one of Britain's most sought-after professional speakers.

Especially for friends in the Bay Area, the panelists who presented on food addiction at the Commonwealth Club of California a few years ago have been invited back for Food Addiction 2.0, on May 9.

If you've checked out "10 Words or Less," which you really should do, you know that Dr. Pam Peeke, that never-resting whirl of outreach and authority — not to mention an NYT best-seling author — was a guest a while back. Good conversation.

So here's some news: I've been invited (and I've accepted!) to speak at TEDx in Eilat, Israel, on April 14.

Of course I'm excited. I have family in Israel, and have hopes that my mother will be able to travel from Jerusalem — almost certainly, it will be the only chance for her to see me, live, in my new profession. It'll also be the first time my sister has been in my audience.Georgie and Joey will join me after the speech in Jerusalem, and we'll all have a week with the family there.

Alex Beam, columnist for the Boston Globe, is not only a friend and former colleague, but one of the only columnists I've followed over time because he's deft at carving out niches that others never conceive.

But in his nutrition niche, he's not nearly as counterintuitive as he strives to be. He is a clueless wanker, repeatedly and again, just like everyone else.

Welcome to another episode of “10 Words or Less,” in which I ask brief questions of interesting people and request brief answers in return. I’m Michael Prager, an author, professional speaker, and lifestyle and wellbeing coach. I began this interview series in 2002 while working at the Boston Globe, so today’s guest joins a long and distinguished list. He’s an outspoken leader on corporate wellness programs who holds undergrad and law degrees from Harvard, and in 2013, Forbes Magazine named him one of “13 To Watch” in health care.

If it seems like I’m piling on with this, my second response to Al Lewis’s HuffPo column on wellness and overweight, that’s OK. I know Al can handle it. I’m making it a second post because the first one was 2,500-words plus, way longer than I (and many readers) prefer.

I’m fond of Al Lewis, but we don’t always agree. In this HuffPost column, which I’m just catching up on, he equates all efforts to address obesity within wellness programs as fat-shaming. And that’s just overstatement born of inadequate understanding.

It’s OK, Al, I’m here to help, in the spirit of sharing.

I’ve been very tardy in writing about this development, but today was the day, I guess.

Longtime readers will know that I pledged some time ago not to link to the Center for Consumer Freedom, a liar-ly named Rick Berman site. When I did insert a link, it was to this explanation of why I wouldn’t link to it.  

This story at BeverageDaily.com begins this way:

"Sweetened drinks shouldn’t even be subject to excise duty, never mind an elevated sugar tax, according to the Indonesian drinks industry." It goes on to say, of course, that up to X number of workers will lose their jobs if... (In this case, X=120,000.)