An incredible treasure in Las Vegas – 2

kenritley

Continuing the series, a lot of people go to Las Vegas, at least before Covid. Some of them travel to nearby sights, such as the Hoover Damn. But in my book, the most incredible, mind-blowing thing to see in Las Vegas is a state park buried deep, deep within the city – in a location so remote that no tourists ever come here.

It’s called The Springs Preserve, and it is a “patch” of native desert that is kept in its pristine form, almost 200 acres in size. Believe it or not, it is built on the site of the very first water spring discovered in the desert, making city life here at all possible.

Here is a historical water derrick, located directly as the site of the spring:

Inside the preserve you’re free to walk around on trails they’ve set up.  In upcoming photos I’ll show some of the amazing, mind-blowing things you can find in this wonderful place!

 

Maibaum – Maypole

kenritley

I took this snap a while back while driving through South Germany, sometime just after May. It’s what the Germans call a Maibaum – roughly translated as maypole.

I would not even pretend to know the ins and outs of maypoles in Germany – I think the traditions change a bit depending on where you are in Germany. In general they are erected to celebrate the various trades (plumber, carpenter, etc.), they are erected by the local fire department (who else has a big ladder?), some people tell me the tree at the top must be higher than the highest point in the village – and in this snap, you can see a set of flags hanging from the tree, each flag corresponding to a trade.

Occasional shooter

kenritley

I am just an occasional shooter, but still I have little trouble achieving better than a 2-inch grouping with a target at 50 yards, such as I’m doing with my father at a shooting range with this Springfield Armory 1911 handgun here chambered in 45 ACP.

My father is a regular shooter, at this distance his groupings are so tight that after a few rounds the target just has a big hole.

An incredible treasure in Las Vegas – 1

kenritley

A lot of people go to Las Vegas, at least before Covid. Some of them travel to nearby sights, such as the Hoover Damn. But in my book, the most incredible, mind-blowing thing to see in Las Vegas is a state park buried deep, deep within the city – in a location so remote that no tourists ever come here.

It’s called The Springs Preserve, and it is a “patch” of native desert that is kept in its pristine form, almost 200 acres in size. Believe it or not, it is built on the site of the very first water spring discovered in the desert, making city life here at all possible.

Inside the preserve you’re free to walk around on trails they’ve set up.  In upcoming photos I’ll show some of the amazing, mind-blowing things you can find in this wonderful place!

Arrogant storks

kenritley

Sorry, there’s no other word to describe it. Stop in any rest area in the Alsace area of France, and you’ll be sure to see plenty of storks strutting around.

But, try to walk up to one. They won’t attack you. They won’t run away. Instead, they shrug their shoulders and turn their heads away, to send a “oh pleeeeeeeease” message: I am a stork, you idiot, haven’t you seen a stork before? Just go away, you jackass, and let me look for some tasty frogs to eat.

Rheinfelden flowers

kenritley

Type in Rheinfelden into Google, and you’ll be surprised. There is a Rheinfelden, Switzerland; and there is a Rheinfelden, Germany. The two cities of the same name in the two countries of different names are divided by the river Rhine.

Anyway, I took this snap in the downtown area of the German Rheinfelden:

Rhein power

kenritley

I think there has to be a law in Switzerland: if there is any flowing water slightly larger than a garden hose, then you must build a hydroelectric power plant to capture its energy. Well, if there is such a law, it’s not a bad law to be sure! This is the hydroelectric power station along the Rhine river in Schaffenhausen, in north central Switzerland.

Baccarat

kenritley

Even if you are not rich and famous, you’ve probably heard of the finest in French crystal, known as Baccarat Crystal.

Well, it gets its name not from the most famous company that manufactures it (Baccarat Crystal) but from the village of the same name.

The village is nestled deep, deep within the Vosges Mountains of Eastern France – and it’s quite a bit like Appalachia, in the United States. Yes, you can come here. No, nobody will try to stop you. But let’s just say, if you were to ask the French Gendarmes about the wisdom of your decision, they would probably encourage you to go somewhere else.

Here is a snap from the village:

And here is another snap:

And here is another snap:

French cow

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Since the times of the Holy Roman Empire scholars have continued to ask whether it is possible to take a bad photograph of a good cow – and despite the best efforts of the finest religious scholars and philosophers, the answer is – always – time and time again – a resounding NO!

I took this snap in the south of France, Les Pays des Portes du Haut-Doubs, just a few kilometers from the border to the Jura region of Switzerland.

Under the wing

kenritley

Under the wing of an Airbus A380, that is. In any European airport it would probably be unthinkable, but here I am in a car at the international terminal of the LAX airport in Los Angeles, driving directly underneath the wing.  There was plenty of clearance – but still, things of this nature are not allowed at most European airports.

In a previous job I worked for Swissport, at the time the world’s largest ground handling company that earned its money by tending to airplanes after landing and before take-off.

But what does this post have to do with IT?

Airports are divided into roughly two groups: those that are private and want to make a profit, and those that are public.

The airport at Zurich is a good example of a „normal“ private airport: if you are a company doing business there like Swissport, just ask for what you need (networks, WiFi, offices) – and the airport is more than happy to sell you what you need.

But Los Angeles is more of a public works type of airport. There are regions at the airport that are totally empty of any IT services or even wireless connections. How do you bring in innovate IT solutions when you can‘t connect to an Internet? Our talented IT crew like Rui and Juan always found clever approaches, but they weren‘t always the best approaches. For example, the network connection to our refueling facilities at LAX was accomplished via a satellite connection, but with a bandwidth measured in the high KB/sec.

Long story short: it‘s really a myth to think good IT services can be rolled out to the whole world. Many companies struggle with overcoming challenges that are no fault of their own!

FAKE – Alsace drainage

kenritley

As artistic a snap as I thought I could take of water pouring out of a drainage canal in Alsace, on its way to the Rhein river:

Just for the record: the photos I post are never in any way retouched or enhanced or changed – except for cropping. OK, and maybe a very simple color correction a la Google.

But in this series of blog posts entitled FAKE I publish some rather interesting images I have enhanced in some way. This picture was enhanced using a more severe color correction option offered by Google Photos.