Polignano A Mare

I have returned from my vacation in Italy, where I stayed in the Adriatic seaside town of Polignano a Mare.  Located in the southeastern region of Apulia (a.k.a. Puglia), Polignano is definitely "off the beaten path", so to speak.  But even while being relatively obscure, the town is connected to one of the world's best-known songs.  In 1958, a native of Polignano named Domenico Modugno wrote (with his friend Franco Migliacci) and recorded a tune called Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu, which became world-famous under its alternate title Volare.

As we tourists approached our hotel, we were greeted by a statue of Modugno.

The hotel was located on the top of a cliff overlooking a small cove.  The other side likewise was a cliff, with the old section of town built right on top of it.  Here's a view from the hotel:

After walking over to the old section, we got this view of the hotel:

Here's another view of our hotel, from a different direction:

Between the two facing cliffs is this beach:

Here's another section of the cliff on which our hotel sits:

The old section of Polignano includes this narrow pedestrian alley:

Also in the old section is the town hall:

A kilometer or so to the northwest of our hotel is this old abandoned trullo home, with the Adriatic in the background:

The plants at the base of the trullo are prickly pear cactus.  In the Apulia/Puglia region, both the prickly pear and the trulli are ubiquitous.  While most of the trulli around Polignano appear to be uninhabited, we also saw some that were incorporated into, or grouped to form, modern homes.  In fact, there is an entire town built around refurbished trulli, which will be the subject of a future post.

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Labor Day Links

As summer winds down, I look forward to going on vacation starting tomorrow.  Meanwhile, the Democrats kick off their convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Continuing a theme started by Clint Eastwood at the Republican convention, a whole bunch of us vast rightwing conspirators, teabaggers, hobbits, astroturfers, or whatever the left is calling us these days has designated today as Empty Chair Day, posting pictures of an empty chair, symbolizing the president, at the social media of their choice.  With that, on to some stories about the Democrat convention and other news:

From WBTW News, two convention delegates from California were sent home after allegedly getting drunk and causing a "ruckus".

At Frontpagemag, Bruce Thornton gives us a preview of the Democratic National Convention.

Ricochet editor Mollie Hemingway, whose husband is in Charlotte, gives us a ''grim list of speakers".

From the Daily Caller, the convention begins.

From Fox News, the Democrats have made plans to bus in college students and black church members to fill Bank of American Stadium for the president's speech on the last night of the convention.

Also from Fox News, gas prices for Labor Day have hit record highs this year.

From BreitbartTV, an ad that shows President Obama recycling talking points from four years ago.

From SFGate, Nigerian authorities have arrested a man for attempting to smuggle cocaine - stuffed inside a roasted chicken.

From The Sun, the actor and former wrestler known as The Rock chases away hoodlums who were trying to break into a van.

And from Weird Asia News, a Chinese fisherman catches a giant yellow croaker, and sells it for the equivalent of about $472,000.

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Flight 93 Memorial

During my recent roadtrip to some western parts of Maryland, I took a swing up into Pennsylvania and visited the memorial to Flight 93, which crashed near Shanksville on 9/11/2001, after some of the passengers and crew tried to wrest control of the airplane from the highjackers.  This was my third visit to the memorial, the others having been in 2006 and 2008. 

The memorial and its environs have changed since 2008.  During my previous visits, there was only a temporary memorial, reached by some back roads extending between Shanksville and Lambertville to the north.  Now, there is a new road extending southward from US 30, leading to a paved parking lot, some restrooms, and a walkway to the memorial itself.

I remember quite a bit of controversy about some plans for the memorial's design, which was alleged to contain quite a bit of Islamic symbolism, including a large circular wall with a gap, which from the center of the circle allegedly would point to Mecca.  The actual memorial, at least for now, does not include the circular design, but some straight wall sections.  However, according to the link above, the memorial is not yet complete, and thus could still in the future incorporate design features that some find objectionable.

Here is the wall and a pretty good crowd of visitors.

The wall is made of panels, bearing the names of passengers and crew.

Along the walkway between the parking lot and the memorial are some kiosks and a seating area.

Extending along the walkway is this wall, set at what appears to be a 45 degree angle, and including some niches.  Flags, flowers and other offerings have been placed in these niches, continuing a tradition that began with the temporary memorial.

As an added note, my 2008 visit was reported in a post on AndRightlySo, the blog that took me in, so to speak, a few months before.  While the blog is now longer on the web, two of my blogmates created a backup site at Wordpress, which is still around and contains some of our posts from that year.  At it turns out, this includes the post about my 2008 visit.

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Obamanation: The Interactive Painting

Artist Jon McNaughton has created a painting which illustrates the wrongdoings of the Obama presidency.  On his website, he has made an interactive version, in which you can hover your mouse pointer over its various features and read a brief summary of what is illustrated.  If you click, a new window will open, which has some links, where you can find more detailed information.  Here's a video introduction:

Go here to see and interact with the painting.  (H/T Pat Dollard)

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Isaac Hits Gulf Coast, LA and MS Start To Recover

Hurricane Isaac has weaken into a tropical depression and moved northward, allowing some residents of Louisiana and Mississippi to slowly move back toward their normal lives.  Others will be dealing with damage from coastal flooding, but the waters have receded, allowing roads to open and utility workers to restore services.  One situation that could have caused more damage was a potential breach of the earthen dam that holds back Lake Tangipahoa, along the river of the same name in Percy Quin State Park in Mississippi, but the Pike County Emergency Management Agency has made plans to create a spillway or a "controlled breach" to relieve pressure on the dam.  Residents along the Tangipahoa River downstream from the dam had previously been asked to evacuate.  Read the story at CNN, which includes pictures such as this one:

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Presidential Quotes

Shamelessly pilfered from a pic posted on Twitter.  A comparison of Obama's most notable recent saying with one each from three of his predecessors.

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Bigfoot Imitator Becomes Eligible For Darwin Award

A man in Montana decided to imitate Bigfoot.  Not yours truly, mind you, but the large, furry, quasi-human, possibly non-existent primate whose name I have appropriated.  After donning a military-style camouflage outfit known as a Ghillie suit, and possibly imbibing some adult beverages, Randy Lee Tenley tried to haux a Bigfoot sighting.   His attempt ended tragically when he was hit by a car while walking on US 93, and then struck a second time while lying in the road.

Mr. Tenley has apparently become eligible for the Darwin Award, given to someone who improves the human gene pool by removing himself from it.  The most obvious way to do this is to die, but another way is to render oneself unable to reproduce while remaining alive.

Read the story at the Daily Inter Lake.

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