Alzu Petroport

Location: Middelburg, South Africa
Address: N4, Alzu Petroport,
Date: October 2018
Website:  www.alzu.co.za

  We left Johannesburg and we were headed towards Kruger National Park.  We were still more than half way to our destination when our tour group stopped for refuelling at Alzu Petroport.  So far we had not seen any large mammals on our trip and did not expect to see any until we were closer to the Kruger boundary.  What awaited for us at the rest stop was very unexpected.

  Behind the rest stop was a large watering hole surrounded by animals.

  The closest animals to us was a group of southern white rhinoceros.  Sadly all of these rhinos had been dehorned due to the poaching threat.  Don't worry the horns will grow back in a few years.

  The Petroport has a small museum set up explaining the plight of the rhino.  In the photo above there is a hippo skull on the left and a rhino skull on the right.

  Rhinos are hunted mainly for their horns.  The horns are made of keratin like our toes and fingernails.  Killing a rhino for their horn is like killing a person in order to clip their toenails.

  The Petroport also has a lot of artwork around the grounds.  There was a large rhinoceros sculpture outside.

  On our way to the washrooms there was a beautiful rhino mosaic on the wall.  This mosaic was sponsored by Nando's which was one of the restaurants in the Petroport.

  After visiting the facilities we came outside again onto a balcony.  Below us was a charging elephant bursting forth from the gift shop.  From the balcony we could get a better view of the animals.
 

  We could see cape buffalo as well as a group of eland (above).

  Far back along the fence was a group of antelope called red hartebeest. 

  For some reason there was an emu.  Emu are native to Australia.  Emu are the second largest bird in the world after the African ostrich.

  We also saw a few smaller birds like this cape sparrow which flew onto the fence.

  Greater striped swallow swirled around above our heads.

  As our tour group prepared to depart we had to leave these animals and the very entertaining Petroport behind.   We spotted a triangular spotted pigeon up in the rafters as we left the balcony.  Soon we would be spotting wildlife in the Greater Kruger area.  We never did see any wild rhinos, but hope that there will still be some to see when we have a chance to return.

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Map of Our World

Alzu Petroport

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Post # 234

Robo Sushi

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Address:  865 York Mills Rd #9
Date: September 2018
Website:  www.robosushi.ca

  A new sushi place has arrived in Toronto and offers something a little different.  Robots are nothing new, but we are not yet used to them serving us our food.  Robo Sushi still has human workers, but we went there to see the robotic staff and of course to eat all that we could eat.

  As we entered the restaurant we were greeted by a talking mannequin.

  There was another mannequin standing behind us, but despite being plugged in she didn't have anything to say.  We headed through the next set of doors and into the restaurant.

  Three robots waited for us.  Two of them had cute, smiling bellhop heads and one had a head full of trays.  They stood at attention waiting to serve us.

  The human being at the counter greeted us and typed something into the tablet on the top of the purple robot's head.  The little guy rolled away and we followed closely behind.  On a screen on top of his head was a video of a person following a robot.  We felt we were doing quite well.

   Our host turned a corner and then stopped at a booth.  He said something but we couldn't hear him over the restaurant noise.  We sat down and then our host turned and rolled off again.

  We have visited Robo Sushi twice since it opened.  The first time the robots seemed less sensitive to something in their way.  We witnessed a host and trayhead collision and a few near misses between robot and human staff.  One trayhead robot even went straight into a customer's chair.

  On our second visit we noticed that the human staff often had to push a host or trayhead robot until it felt nothing was blocking its path.  Once the robot was satisfied it would roll away again.  Eventually the programming will be just right.

  When a trayhead robot arrived with your food it would turn and face the table with its blinking eyes.  You could start to offload the food yourself, but usually a human staff member would come to assist.

  When you wanted the trayhead robot to leave again you were supposed to tap it on the head.  This worked sometimes because we were probably doing it incorrectly.  We think you have to just place your hand on top of a little hand symbol on the robot's head.

 To order your food you use a tablet placed at your table and submit your request from there.  Soon it won't be long until a trayhead arrives loaded with your carefully selected items.

  We tend to order quite a lot on our first round so when our robot arrived it was fully loaded.  Soon afterwards our table was filled with tiny trays and dishes.

  You could also place a small order and a trayhead would come to drop that off as well.  When it comes to All You Can Eat you need to pace yourself.  At least the robots never gave us a disapproving look based on our food choices or quantities.  They just give the same look all the time.

  We enjoyed our food at Robo Sushi and the robots made our meal even more fun.  As we rolled ourselves out of the restaurant we waved good-bye to our robot hosts.  They smiled back at us.

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Map of Our World
Robo Sushi

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Post # 233

Hammering Man (Frankfurt)

Location: Frankfurt, Germany
Address:  60327 Frankfurt am Main
Date: October 2018
Website:  www.borofsky.com

  As we walked through Frankfurt, a large silhouette appeared in the road.  As we got closer we realized it was moving.  One of its arms was going up and down.  This was Hammering Man.

  Hammering Man is the work of  Jonathan Borofsky.  It stands 21 meters tall and is made out of painted steel.  He hammers all day long.  He hammers all night long.  He is a symbol for the worker in all of us.

  Upon closer inspection we can tell that he is working with steel. He is wearing a protective visor/helmet and holding something in his gloved hand.  He continues to hammer on.

  From a side angle he is very thin and it is hard to tell exactly what these moving pieces of metal are.

  There are several Hammering Men around the world.  The one we visted in Frankfurt has been there since 1990.  There are smaller indoor Hammering Men in many cities.  There are larger outdoor sculptures in places such as Seattle, Washingtion and Seoul, South Korea.  The one in Seoul is the largest and is one meter taller than the German Hammering Man.

  The artist likes the fact that these men are all hammering around the world in unison.  They represent how people work with their hands to build the world around them.  We like that idea too.  Keep up the good work!

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Map of Our World
Hammering Man (Frankfurt)

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Post # 232