Author: kenritley

La Spezia – two views

kenritley

La Spezia is a smallish city in the south of a smallish area called Liguria, which is a smallish region in the northern part of the smallish country of Italy, along the coast.

Here is the business part of the city:

And here is the leisure part of the city:

Although I never captured one of them on camera, the mosquitos were the size of small birds – and, they were the anopheles species known for carrying malaria. However, there is not much malaria in Italy these days, so a major loss of blood is about the only thing to worry about if you get bit by one of these giant flying velociraptors.

The 20th of September: Italian Risorgimento

kenritley

The wonderful thing about photography as a hobby is that you always get to learn new things.

I saw this sign for a street named “20th September” (Via XX Septembre) in many, many Italian cities, this one being La Spezia at the furthest tip of the Italian Ligurian coast:

This is to highlight an historical event that took place in the year 1870: Italians completing their conquer of the Italian peninsula.

Interesting aside: I find it quite interesting that many countries name streets after important dates in history – but not the Americans. To my knowledge, there is no “July 4” street – at least not anywhere that I’ve seen.

So the very interesting question is: do other cultures feel inspired — or worse, perhaps obligated — to commemorate events in their history?

Rise of the machines – the AMAZING French Robo-Food

kenritley

You’ve got to hand it to the French – they are an amazing, amazing people who firmly believe a Zombie revolution is unstoppable. So they are taking incredible measures to limit contact between humans, which both lowers the risk of vulnerability to a possible attack as well as lowers the risk of exposure to any Zombie-causing pathogens.

I’ve written about the  French Robo-Hotels, where you can pay via a kiosk, check yourself in, and avoid all contact with humans.

And I’ve written about the French Robo-Stores, where you can select your merchandise online, travel to a pick-up center, and have it loaded directly into your vehicle, and avoid all contact with humans.

And now . . . just when I though I had seen it all . . . French Robo-Food!  It’s a kiosk that displays menus from local restaurants. You can order your food, pay for it, then have it delivered to your doorstep, and avoid all contact with humans.

The mighty Niesen supervolcano, deep in the Berner Oberland

kenritley

The central mountainous region of Switzerland is known as the Berner Oberland, and it contains a danger so frightening that most scientists are reluctant to discuss it at all.

For here is a breathtaking view of none other than the Niesen Supervolcano:

There are around 9 supervolcanos in the world, and an eruption by any one of them would permanently change the face of the planet.

Scientists and geologists universally agree that when (not if) the Niesen Supervolcano erupts, all life in Europe will be extinguished.

Cheese that boggles the mind

kenritley

Switzerland has two chains of supermarkets, Migros and Coop.

Generally speaking, the Migros chain of supermarket is far superior in every way to the Coop chain of supermarket.

Although it is doubtful they will ever get there, due to the tremendous talent and creativity of the people who work at Migros, nevertheless the Coop chain is trying hard to make inroads and catch up, as this snap from my local Coop shows:

It’s a little hut inside of the supermarket where a sprayer keeps the air very moist, where the temperature is almost freezing, and where you can buy (and I am not making this up) pieces of cheese with prices in the triple digits!

Taking my freight train on an early morning walk

kenritley

OK, it is not in fact my freight train.

But it is, in fact, a freight train, and the fellow in the orange clothes on the left is not, in fact, an escapee from a prison. But he is, in fact, a hard working member of the Cargo Division of the Swiss Federal Railways.

I captured him taking his massive freight train on a remote controlled walk through the center of the city of Zurich, at about 5 AM in the morning.

To be fair, I am stretching the term remote control. In Germany, they really do use radio controlled technologies to drive freight trains from outside of the cabin. But in Switzerland, this fellow above is using a radio-controlled device to talk with a train driver (not shown).

Herriot’s potions

kenritley

Continuing the series, the amazing Herriot museum in Yorkshore has recreated the pharmacy where the veterinarian stored his many potions:

Today both physicians and veterinarians use drugs specially tailored for specific purposes, but back in the day before these luxuries the veterinarian would have many chemicals that he would specially mix for treating specific conditions.

The mind blowing New York robo-train

kenritley

Continuing the series, this is a snap as the mind blowing New York robo-train pulls into the Howard Beach JFK robo-train station:

When I lived in New York, the John F. Kennedy airport was not attached to any train systems, so it was necessary to take a taxicab to access the hotel. Now, a fully automated robo-train will take you to a nearby Long Island Railroad station, from which you can catch many trains and other forms of public transportation.

Here is another snap which I took up front, which is where the train operator would sit, if it were not being operated by a robot.

I am not sure what the robot looks like, where he sits, or even what his name is.