Did you know that over seven thousand commercially bonded wineries exist in the United States alone?

Add in the large number of international wineries and you quickly get to a number which is hard to comprehend, let alone when you count retailers who also have their own wine club.

The question is, how do you find a truly great and memorable wine club?

First, it always makes sense to stay as local as possible. One of the great aspects of wine clubs is that they offer a wide range of added features and events.  If you live thousands of miles away, it’s virtually impossible to take advantage of those events! After that, simply find one which offers the best wine you can find!  Simple, right?

It’s been a long quest for me and to be honest one that has been dormant for some time.  I’ve always enjoyed watching shows about whales but circumstances have meant that seeing one has not been practical.  Let me tell you that these wonderful, huge yet graceful animals will not disappoint when you see them in real life.  The reason I restarted my quest to see a whale was two fold – firstly I had a promotion and funds were not quite as limited as in previous times.  The second reason was a little bizarre but I like to think it was fate.

I have a friend who has come to work in the same company as me for 12 months.  He’s orginally from the UK and works in Sales, he called me in as he knew I worked in the IT department.  He had a problem that he was feeling a bit homesick and missing lots of things about his homeland.  One of the big things was that he missed watch the British news and had tried to watch it online but kept getting blocked.  He asked me if I could figure out a way to watch the News on his computer.  Turns out it was fairly simple, the reason he was being blocked was that the BBC site restricted access to Non-UK IP addressess.  This was fairly simple to bypass he just needed a BBC Iplayer proxy , this was a computer which would present a British address rather than his real one.

It turned out this worked perfectly and my friend was very happy.  But how did this related to Whales I hear you ask – well when texting this solution I visited the BBC website to test it.  On their site I found a truly incredible nature show called The Blue Planet.  It was presented by David Attenborough and a fabulous show all about whales – seek it out, it’s wonderful.  My spark was reunited after watching the show and the rest as they say is history.

Reverse engineering continued in the same vein during the Cold War. In 1960 China fell out with the Soviet Union and as a result the country spent the next 20 years reverse engineering Soviet military hardware for its army. It is this hard work that has given China such a head start in the modern race to produce mass consumner goods for export. China has successfully reverse engineered TVs, computers and even large passenger planes from European and American models. This is of course much to the chagrin of companies and governments in the West.

There is, however, several legitimate uses for reverse engineering other than military espionage and industrial theft. Software engineers will often attempt to reverse engineer source code where the original is lost. It is also a good way to test computer codes for bugs and buried security problems. There is also a certain amount of reverse engineering invloved in trying to understsand archaeological finds and their purpose.

It is also possible that in the future we might encounter alien technology. Without aliens to help us, reverse engineering might be our best chance to understand their technology, and the culturte that produced it.

The desire to take things apart to find how they work, and then to try and build another one is as old as humanity; and it is a desire that is behind our ability to adapt and thrive as a species.

The beaches in the Khao Lak region start with Bangsak in the north, then Pakarang, then Khuk Khak, then Bang Niang, then Nang Tong, then Lamru and Finally Khao Lak beach. The two busiest beaches are Nang Tong and Bang Niang. This is because they are the closest to all the shops, bars, restaurants and facilities of the main town (that is also sometimes called Nang Tong or Bang La On). On all of the beaches of Khao Lak you will find long stretches of nearly deserted beach. The resorts are well spread out and several make the slightly false boast that they offer private beach front.

Rooms in resorts with air-con, hot water and TV normally start at about $30 a night in the low season. The cheapest place to stay is probably Khao Lak Youth Hostel. The more expensive places include the Beyond Resort Khao Lak (Bangsak), and the JW Marriott Khaolak (Khuk Khak).

The drawcards of Khao Lak are the diving opportunities just off the coast at the Similan Islands and Surin Islands, and a visit to Khao Lak Lamru National Park. It is usual for people to do a 2 or 3 night liveaboard cruise of the best diving spots of the Similan Islands. It is the best place in Thailand to dive and in the top 10 diving areas in the world. You can see mantas, whale sharks, sharks, moray eels, turtles as well as an abundance of fish and colorful corals. Lamru National Park is composed of rainforest rich in flora and fauna and a stretch of coast that is great for relaxing and snorkeling.

For those who enjoy beach culture, diving, snorkeling, laid back ambience and peaceful accommodation Khao Lak is definitely worth a visit. If you just want to party then go to Phuket.

I decided, I would try and get some information out there about a sub market of gift baskets, specifically wine gift baskets.

One reason I think wine works well in gift basket offerings is that it pairs incredibly well with food.  Specifically a great wine red can pair well with steak (obviously) as well as nuts and other delicacies.

One of the most important aspects to selecting a wine gift basket, in my estimation, is to find a gift basket which is centered around quality wines which are not freely available in your local market.

Personally speaking I hate paying for shipping, so seeing a bottle of wine that I paid $8, or more, for shipping sitting on a grocery store shelf doesn’t work for me.

Despite this, perhaps because it’s heart is in the right place, it’s actually quite an enjoyable movie.  

SO the plot is basically about three whales, one of them an infant, that are trapped under the Alaskan Ice at the most Northern point.  This happens at the start of the long Artic Winter of 1988.  The scene is set as an journalist (played by John  Krasinski) comes across the whales accidentally whilst filming a report.  This leads to global headlines as the stroy goes viral across the world.    From this point the journalist is joined by many people across the world as hundreds of celebraties join the campaign to save the whales. However there are also loads of sub plots mainly based around an eco friendly theme which can get a little confusing.  The film is fairly predictible, mainly because most of  the plots are obvious.

But this doesn’t detract completely from this film. The ’Big Miracle’ is a huge stereotype of other fims in the animal rescue genre.But again, there are some great performances and although the whole thing is verly melodramatic some scenes are genuinely moving.If you have any interest in Whales, the Environment in general then you’ll probably enjoy this film.It’s not great but it had a feelgood ending and is an enjoyable way to while away a couple of hours.

But until recently I have been willing to let them, be themselves, a long way away. But now that I am retiring, I think I want to dedicate more time to the animals I love so much. Early retirement is a great thing because you still have the energy to the physical things you’ve always wanted to do, but didn’t think you be able to when you retired. I’m still out there climbing mountains, I’m still going to enter races. Not a thing but my doctor is going to slow me down especially now that I don’t have to worry about work.

Some of the best knowledge I have gained, has come from my job. But now I think I’m ready to learn in a different way. Learn from nature, and from my body. I desperately want to understand where I sit in the universe and with these beautiful whales. I’m looking for properties to rent near the Pacific Ocean, Oregon, Washington. So that I can be near the whales that I have loved my whole life. Even though that life has only crossed its 35th year.

But before that wonderful day I driffted from country to country sneaking round visa requirements and working under the table, sometimes doing things that i’d rathe not mention.
Then came the whales. I had some spare cash and something just drew me to the whale watching trip. Onboard we didn’t see anything for the first hour and then they came. One whale in particular ( an Orca i later learned) came up so close to the boat and kind of rolled on it’s side and looked at me with its beutiful big eye. It doesn’t sound that intense but i felt lifted by this whale, it seemed to see right through to my soul. The next day i returned home to Britain, my travelling was done and i wanted a fresh start. I went for tattoo removal to get rid of all my amateur self inflicted tattoos that i thought chronicled my life but i now reealise was something to hide behind. With clean skin and a clear head i trained as a social worker and am now helping kids like myself to avoid the mistakes i made. I still wonder about that whale. I hope i see it again one day, was it sent to save me or did i just need a living creature to look at me with no judgement?

Whale oil, despite being incredibly expensive, was very popular in the 1800s and was used as a lubricant for all sorts of products, including trains. Because of this, many species of whales were driven to the brink of extinction.

However, that all changed in 1857 with Michael Dietz’s kerosene lamp invention. Almost immediately the demand for whale oil dropped and kerosene, also known as coal oil, production skyrocketed. It is estimated that had coal oil not been introduced onto the market when it had, nearly every species of whale would have been extinct in only another ten years.

Whales face a whole new set of challenges today than they did back in the 1800s when whale oil was popular. Luck was on the whales’ side back in the 1800s; let’s hope it happens again.

The business case is this. Stop the hunt for whales and use tourism as the solution for keeping them in our oceans.

With more than three centuries of devastation in our oceans it is time to put a stop to the whaling industry and let whales and dolphins regain the numbers that they have lost after years of whale hunting.

Who eats whale meat these days? It is not a staple food for most cultures. The world can do without whale meat. Whale oil has alternatives now. It has out grown its use when kerosene, petroleum, and jojoba oil were developed. We can leave whale oil to the whales and use the alternative oils for commercial use. Even the baleen that was so prized in the 17^th century for use as collar stiffeners, buggy whips, and parasol ribs have out grown their use. The industrial revolution made sure of that.

The times are saying to give the whales and dolphins back the ocean. They need to be able to live in their habitat without threat of being hunted down for parts that can be easily manufactured by 21st century technology. If countries want to earn from their whale population the best solution is tourism. Encourage people to see the whales living happily in their natural environment. Allow them to appreciate the beauty of these magnificent animals that have been in our oceans longer than the existence of civilization.

Some countries have caught on to the value of tourism as a sustainable industry for making the most of the presence of whales and dolphins in their waters. It’s a great solution to hunt them down to observe the gentle giants way of life in the waters. People and these regal animals of the sea should be able to exist harmoniously with each other from now on. Whales can benefit from the willingness of people to understand and care for them as harmless inhabitants of the sea.