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Underway in Ireland
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21 September 2002 |
DUBLIN, Ireland -- A funny thing happened to me while passing through Immigration at the Dublin Airport. I was refused "leave to land" which means I don't get to return to my Kilkenny home just yet. Instead, I will comply with an order issued by Detective Garda Michael Walsh, a member of the Garda Immigration Bureau put into place to stem the rise of immigrants to Ireland.
Getting refused leave to land has happened to other Americans before. The Brits refused Captain Beefheart's Magic Band leave to land years ago. At least 10 other hopeful passengers were rebuffed at Irish gates on the 20th of September, when I was punted out of the land where I pay my taxes. I will collect my thoughts for a possible consideration by the Irish Council on Civil Liberties.
This will be an interesting interlude. If my blog goes blank, listen to Technoculture about my saga. The server logs for this Web site shows a steady stream of concerned readers, visiting me in the riparian solitude of warmly received support.
"Auld Triangle Going Jingle Jangle" by Karlin Lillington, 23 Sep 02.
"Ireland's Racist No Attitude," Topgold Blog, 25 Sep 02.
"Get a Work Permit or Go to Jail" by Bernie Goldbach, Irish Examiner, 27 Sep 02.
"Source of Most Referrals," Topgold Blog, 2 Oct 02.
"Closing the Door" by Nick Mulcahy, Business Plus, November 2002.
"INS in the USA Detains Hundreds" by Maura McHugh in Babblogue, 19 December 2002.
Joi Ito ruminates on how some of the current policies to round up and discharge aliens is a throwback to the attitude that surrounded Japanese-Americans in the 1940s. A wide swath of opinion has percolated from the Joi Ito blog and is getting linked and watched in the blogosphere.
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20 September 2002 |
 ISOLA BELLA -- In 1844, Charles Dickens wrote, "For however fanciul and fantastic the Isola Bella may be, and is, it still is beautiful." Count Vitaliano Borromeo began the construction of the monumental Baroque palace in 1632 and the majestic and scenic gardens, which have made the island famous and which to this day bear witness to the splendours of an era. The Borromeo family home contains priceless works of art such as tapestries, furniture, statues, paintings, and stuccoes. It also has an unusual mosaic grotto, a cool and delightful place. Its classic gardens form an extraordinary, flowered monument laid out over a series of ornate and overlapping terraces.
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19 September 2002 |
Exploring Taormina  TAORMINA -- We're exploring the extremely rare straight streets found in Taormina.
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18 September 2002 |
Walking in Historical Taormina  TAORMINA, Sicily -- History oozes from the pavement here. The first Greek colony in Sicily was at Naxos, founded by the Chalcidians from Euboea in 734 BC. When Dionysius the Elder, Tyrant of Syracuse, destroyed Naxos, the survivors fled to Taormina and joined the Sicilians that had been living there since the 4th century BC. In 215 BC it became a federal state under the Roman Empire, and when Syracuse fell became the capital of Byzantine Sicily. The remains of this period prevail to this day, the most important being the ruins of Naumachia, a monumental nymphaeum, and the Odeon, a small imperial theatre used for rehearsals. The Arabs destroyed Taormina twice in the 10th century, while under the Normans it became a flourishing centre of art. Taormina shared the fate with the rest of the island, declining as it fell under the Swabians, the Aragons, the Angevins and Spanish, the Houses of Savoy and Habsburg of Austria.
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17 September 2002 |
Capo Taormina  CAPO TAORMINA, Sicily -- What a uniquely chromatic display of flowers, palaces, coves, and bays. Driving from Messina, we reached Taormina after climbing Capo St Andrea, which juts out into the sea between the inlets of Mazzaro on the left and Isola Bella on the right. Capo Taormina falls 50m to the sea with its steep hills full of villas reaching up 204 metres.
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16 September 2002 |
 BOTANICAL GARDENS, Sicily -- Orto Botanico of Palermo are among the oldest modern centers for botanical studies in the Mediterranean region. The park houses a greenhouse, seed and dried plant repository, catalogue archive, and more than ten hectares of outdoor gardens in the busy centre of what is today Sicily's largest city. The medieval kings of Sicily had vast gardens around the palaces known as the Cuba and the Zisa. The garden's neo-classical structures are based on designs by Trombetta, Marabitti and the famous Venanzio Marvuglia. One section of the gardens is arranged based on the Engler system, the other on the Linnaean system.
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15 September 2002 |
Sighting: Live Audio Comments Adam Curry --  Harold left behind an audio comment about standardizing audiblogging following a Live Curry blog item.
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Taormina's Beaches
 TAORMINA -- This warm Mediterranean city lies 689 feet above sea level with the coastline directly north and south. Several picturesque bays, with rocky coves and smooth sandy beaches, can be easily reached by cable car from the hotels.
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Taormina's Ampitheatre  AMPITHEATRE, Taormina -- Around 10 years ago, I was flying in and out of Sicily when Europe's highest and most active volcano was acting up. If you sit in the Taormina Ampitheatre during those eruptions, you will be treated to wonderful nocturnal fireworks. Seen from my aircraft flying out of the island, the dazzling blue Mediterranean frames the lizard-like slopes of the mountain.
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