We spent Day 3, 1January2026, of this Ritz-Carlton Luminara cruise moored off Koh Samui, Thailand. Never been there, and have no particular wish to see a fisherman's village, Wat Khunarum, Secret Buddha Garden ( right ) and Chawan Noi Beach (below). Also too because we would need to catch a boat to the pier.  And Koh Samui would still be 19 miles away. Oh yes, and the cost is $339/person. According to the write-up:  Koh Samui's charm extends beyond its sun-drenched beaches, etc.  They believe in siestas.  Temperature is supposed by be 82F, but it feels like 90F on our veranda. Wikipedia  spells the city as Ko Samui, but locals just call it Samui. Off the east coast of Thailand, and is the country's second largest island after Phuket, Is beginning to approach 3 million tourists annually. Was not troubled by the great tsunami of 2004, and actually had a boom, for visitors avoided Phuket, located on the west side. The top global events in 2026: January 11:  Go...

We leave today for San Diego.  Probably will go to the zoo, some rank as  #1 in the world .  Here is another video of  how to visit the zoo .  There is also a hop-on-hop-off trolley system, with a stop at our hotel, the Marriott Marquis. But our primary purpose for this trip is Paso Robles to taste Petite Sirah.  We have relatives in the San Diego area, and four of us will drive from San Diego to Paso Robles, then back a few days later. The cities are 332 miles apart, a drive of 6 hours without stopping.   If you're a fan of this blog, you know by now that my favorite wine is Petite Sirah from Paso Robles.   There is a lot of history going back more than half a century . I tasted a very early version of this wine when it was not yet bottled.  I was spending a summer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the early 70s and knew a colleague whose last name was Concannon.   James Concannon founded the company in 188...

But first, maybe  President Donald Trump's 20-point Gaza Peace Plan is showing some progress .   No one expects the Hamas to accept all of them, but they did agree to release all captives and the act of handing over administration to Palestinian technocrats. So far, in the Gaza Strip, 66,288 have been killed and 169,165 wounded.   On 7October2023, almost two years ago, 1139 were killed in the initial Hamas-led attack. About my topic of the day, I've long been lamenting the overflow of watchable films and series available on Netflix and Prime.  Why expand into the plethora of other streaming options when I can't keep up with what I have, which costs me around $30/month.  And, of course, why venture out to a movie theater to end up watching a film that will cost me around that amount of money, when you add the popcorn, drink, gasoline cost, time it takes to get there and back, and the risk of a car accident or worse.  Oh, also getting infected with ...