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This image reveals a temperature profile of a 22 Newton thruster using the green propellant LMP-103S during a 10-second pulsing test that ratchets the temperature upward. Using this data, engineers can determine how chemical reactions cause heat to flow around to the thruster over time.
To stay in the proper orbit, many satellites have thrusters--small rocket engines--that fire to change altitude or orientation in space. On Earth where gravity dominates, 5 pounds of thrust, equivalent to 22 Newtons of force, may seem small, but in space, it doesn’t take much thrust to move a large spacecraft.
Currently, most satellite thrusters are powered by hydrazine, a toxic and corrosive fuel that is dangerous to handle and store. In a quest to replace hydrazine with a more environmentally friendly fuel, NASA is testing thrusters propelled by green propellants that can provide better performance than hydrazine without the toxicity. These propellants could help lower costs by eliminating infrastructure needed for handling toxic fuels and reducing processing time--making it less expensive and safer and easier to launch both commercial and NASA spacecraft.
This perspective view shows the western side of the volcanically active Kamchatka Peninsula in eastern Russia. The image was generated using the first data collected during the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). In the foreground is the Sea of Okhotsk. Inland from the coast, vegetated floodplains and low relief hills rise toward snow capped peaks. The topographic effects on snow and vegetation distribution are very clear in this near-horizontal view. Forming the skyline is the Sredinnyy Khrebet, the volcanic mountain range that makes up the spine of the peninsula. High resolution SRTM topographic data will be used by geologists to study how volcanoes form and to understand the hazards posed by future eruptions. This image was generated using topographic data from SRTM and an enhanced true-color image from the Landsat 7 satellite. This image contains about 2,400 meters (7,880 feet) of total relief. The topographic expression was enhanced by adding artificial shading as calculated from the SRTM elevation model. The Landsat data was provided by the United States Geological Survey's Earth Resources Observations Systems (EROS) Data Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota. SRTM, launched on February 11, 2000, used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. To collect the 3-D SRTM data, engineers added a 60- meter-long (200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. SRTM collected three dimensional measurements of nearly 80 percent of the Earth's surface. SRTM is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense, and the German and Italian space agencies. Size: 33.3 km (20.6 miles) wide x 136 km (84 miles) coast to skyline. Location: 58.3 deg. North lat., 160 deg. East long. Orientation: Easterly view, 2 degrees down from horizontal. Original Data Resolution: 30 meters (99 feet). Vertical Exaggeration: 3 times.
Credit: NASA/JPL/NIMA
Image Number: PIA02740
Date: February 12, 2000 (STRM) August 1, 1999 (Landsat)
This perspective view shows the western part of the city of Pasadena, California, looking north towards the San Gabriel Mountains. Portions of the cities of Altadena and La Canada-Flintridge are also shown. The image was created from three datasets: the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) (STS-99) supplied the elevation data; Landsat data from November 11, 1986 provided the land surface color (not the sky) and U. S. Geological Survey digital aerial photography provides the image detail. The Rose Bowl, surrounded by a golf course, is the circular feature at the bottom center of the image. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is the cluster of large buildings north of the Rose Bowl at the base of the mountains. A large landfill, Scholl Canyon, is the smooth area in the lower left corner of the scene.
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), launched on February 11, 2000, used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. The mission was designed to collect three-dimensional measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast, an additional C-band imaging antenna and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission was a cooperative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and the German (DLR) and Italian (ASI) space agencies. It was managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, DC. This composite image was released to the public on February 16, 2000.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: PIA02718
Date: February 16, 2000
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Shaded Relief, Color As Height Patagonia, Argentina
This topographic image of Patagonia, Argentina shows a spectacular landscape formed by volcanoes, rivers, and wind. The area is located just east of the narrow range of the Andes Mountains, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the border with Chile. Interesting features include basalt-capped mesas with sink holes (lower center), arcuate ridges of windblown beach sands downwind from a salty desert lake (upper center), young volcanic cones (right), and at least one case of what geologists call 'inverted relief'. This happens when lava flows down a valley in soft material and then the soft material is eroded away leaving the former valley as a ridge of lava. These ridges can be seen on the slopes of the volcano in the upper right. Geologists will use SRTM topographic data to study the interaction of volcanic, climatic and erosional processes.
This shaded relief image was generated using topographic data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. A computer-generated artificial light source illuminates the elevation data to produce a pattern of light and shadows. Slopes facing the light appear bright, while those facing away are shaded. On flatter surfaces, the pattern of light and shadows can reveal subtle features in the terrain. Colors show the elevation as measured by SRTM. Colors range from blue at the lowest elevations to white at the highest elevations. This image contains about 1100 meters (3600 feet) of total relief. White speckles on the face of some of the mountains are holes in the data caused by steep terrain. These will be filled using coverage from an intersecting pass.
The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), launched on February 11, 2000, uses the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. The mission is designed to collect three-dimensional measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast, an additional C-band imaging antenna and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and the German (DLR) and Italian (ASI) space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, DC.
Size: 225 km (140 miles) x 170 km (105 miles)
Location: 41 deg. South lat., 69 deg. West lon.
Orientation: North toward upper right
Original Data Resolution: 30 meters (99 feet)
Date Acquired: February 19, 2000
Credit NASA/JPL/NIMA
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is home to the nation's largest organization of combined scientists, engineers and technologists that build spacecraft, instruments and new technology to study the Earth, the sun, our solar system, and the universe.
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Willow Bay
Dean, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California
Darrell Blocker
Chief Operating Officer, Mosaic Security
Frances Haugen
Data Engineer, Scientist, Advocate
Frances Haugen
Data Engineer, Scientist, Advocate
Karen Kornbluh
Senior Fellow and Director, Digital Innovation and Democracy Initiative, German Marshall Fund of the United States
Willow Bay
Dean, Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, University of Southern California
Darrell Blocker
Chief Operating Officer, Mosaic Security
Frances Haugen
Data Engineer, Scientist, Advocate
Sandia data engineer Rudy Garcia received the 2022 Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Technical Achievement and Recognition, or STAR, Award for his work in research and engineering of large software systems and remote-sensing applications, along with his expertise in cloud computing and big geospatial-data architectures.
He said his greatest professional strength is the ability to see the big picture and work collaboratively with his colleagues to meet Sandia’s mission.
Learn more at bit.ly/3FH6xtf
Photo by Craig Fritz.
ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2023. Rome, the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argetina - From ancient Ruins to Feline Haven: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your CatNip." The archaeological site re-opens to the public after a decade of Archaeological & Architectural Restortion works. The New York Times, REUTERS (20 June 2022) & ArchaeoReporter / (20/06/2023). Also: Dr. Marina Mattei; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012) & Dr. M. Mattei; in: CNN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012). wp.me/pbMWvy-499
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490026
1). ROME - Friends, Tourists, Countrymen, See Where Julius Caesar Was Killed
The site where Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C., nestled among four ancient temples, has been opened to the public for the first time in a century. The New York Times (20 June 2023).
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient / modern center of Rome, with the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina [4th thru 2nd centuries B.C.?] (on the far-left); with the nearby site of the ancient Theatre of Pompey (Theatrum Pompeii = Teatro di Pompeo) [61-55 B.C.] complex located in the center to the far-right. The ruins of the cavea or the seating area of the theater (the curved area) influenced the later construction of the overlying historic buildings of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, which is clearly seen in the aerial view to the far-right. Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990492546
For nearly a century, only cats (and presumably the rats they kept at bay) had free rein over an ancient archaeological site in the heart of central Rome. They would prowl among the ruins and preen for the tourists who gathered along the balustrades above, cellphones and cameras in hand.
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina with the new public walkway constructed and facing the ruins of the four-ancient Roman temple (= A, B, C & D). Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490086
But as of Tuesday, human visitors were allowed for the first time to descend and get a better glimpse of the site, believed to be where Julius Caesar was brutally assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C. The spot is nestled in an area with four temples, rare remnants of the Roman Republic, dating from the fourth to the first centuries B.C.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina as shown in the 24 hour live webcamera overlooking the ruins, the foto shows the area on (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time]. Source: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023) [see below].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990625434
The full site, called the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina, is the latest addition to Rome’s rich archaeological offerings. The Italian capital’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said at the inauguration on Monday that the attraction would add “tremendous value to a city that never ceases to amaze with its treasures and wonders.” Rome was discovering “its history to the fullest,” he added.
Foto: ROME – Former Mayor of Rome, Ms. Virginia Raggi (22 June 2016 – 21 October 2021) along with other staff members of the City of Rome, on 18 Feb., 2018, initiate the start of the later archaeological / architectural restoration work within the l’area sacra di Largo Argentina. Source: Ms. Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853150
--- ROMA - Rinasce l'area sacra di Largo Argentina. Il sito archeologico, nel centro di Roma, sarà di nuovo accessibile a romani e turisti; in: Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018). twitter.com/virginiaraggi/status/1097537131113791489
There is no X-marks-the-spot where Julius Caesar met his bloody end on — as tradition and the Shakespeare play “Julius Caesar” would have it — the Ides of March, about the 15th day of the month. The spot contains just a jumble of limestone rocks, bricks and tufts of grass.
That might surprise some, said the archaeologist Monica Ceci, who oversees the site.
Visitors “may have a hard time imagining this, because the Shakespearean drama induces you to think that the murder was in the forum,” she said.
Caesar was actually assassinated at the Curia of Pompey, a large rectangular meeting hall where the Senate of Rome met occasionally. The emperor Augustus later declared the hall a “locus sceleratus,” or “cursed place,” and it was walled up.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945653
But Shakespeare “could get away with” a little artistic license, Ms. Ceci laughed.
On the opposite side of the site, marble decorations and sculptures, for decades stored unseen in Rome’s archaeological warehouses, have been displayed in a long hall under the modern-day street. “It’s one thing to keep them in order on shelves, quite another to tell the history of this site through these fragments,” Ms. Ceci said.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArcheoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489991
Irina Lumsden, a data engineer visiting Rome from Melbourne, Australia, said that the site was transporting. “It’s amazing, you get such a feeling of ancient time here,” she said “They’ve done a great job of conserving the site.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945658
The area was rediscovered during excavations from 1926 to 1929, when the square was being demolished to make way for new buildings. The four temples unearthed were initially labeled with the first four letters of the alphabet because archaeologists were unsure which temples they had uncovered. Now they have been tentatively identified, though there is still scholarly debate: the Temple of Juturna, after a goddess of fountains, wells and springs, dating from the mid-third century B.C.; the Temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, or Fortune of the Present Day, built in the second century B.C.; the Temple of Feronia, a goddess of fertility, built about the end of the fourth century B.C.; and the Temple of Lares Permarini, dedicated to the protectors of navigation, or according to others to the Nymphs, and constructed in the early second century B.C.
— ROME – The Sacred Area of Largo Argentina with the three temples in series: Temple of Juturna, Temple of Fortuna and Temple of Feronia / ROMA – L’area Sacra di Largo Argentina con i tre templi in serie: Tempio di Giuturna, Tempio della Fortuna e Tempio di Feronia; in: Atavistic / FB (02 April 2021).
www.facebook.com/atavisticapp/posts/pfbid02UZniVUvokzf9rG...
After a fire devastated this part of Rome in A.D. 80, the emperor Domitian restored the temples and a travertine slab floor, still visible, was built on top of the surrounding rubble.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853100
Over the centuries, the area underwent various further transformations, remaining buried until the excavations in the 1920s. City officials at the time immediately understood the value of the archaeological find, and the site was closed off, to be admired only from above.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989888987
Monica Baraschi, a volunteer with a cat sanctuary that abuts one corner of the ancient site, said that even the feline residents — there were 86, she said — would feel some benefits from the opening up of the spot and the arrival of visitors.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945673
“They’ll get cuddled and caressed — the cats will be happy,” she said.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853110
In the past, there has been friction between archaeologists and the sanctuary (= ROME JOURNAL - Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11 - www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/world/europe/rome-drawn-into-t...). Ms. Ceci, the archaeologist, said that the cats had been “good workmates” during the two years that the site was undergoing work to prepare for the opening.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11.
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853115
Visitors on the first day also seemed glad to see a bit of ancient Rome up close. Simeon Peebler, a software engineer from Chicago, said, “In a world of virtual-reality experiences, to have a real reality experience is amazing.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489996
Romans were equally delighted. Sandro Lubattelli, a retired computer engineer and his wife, Rossana Cipressi, a retired teacher, said that they had spent a lifetime looking at the site from above and were thrilled to finally be able to go in.
“We always wondered why it was closed,” Mr. Lubattelli said. “We’re in seventh heaven.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853130
Note: A correction was made on June 20, 2023: Because of an editing error, a capsule summary with an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the role of Julius Caesar. He was a general and a political leader, but not emperor.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490006
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889017
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945618
Fonte / source:
--- The New York Times (20 June 2023).
www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/world/europe/rome-julius-caesa...
Fonte / source, Video & foto:
— ROMA – L’area sacra fatale a Giulio Cesare, visitabili finalmente i templi repubblicani di Largo Argentina; in: ArchaeoReporter / YouTube (20/06/2023) [04:05].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZT0eN6NK-Y
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889007
2). ROME - "Et tu, Brute?" - Rome to open ancient square where Julius Caesar was killed. REUTERS (20 June 2022).
ROME, June 19 (Reuters) - History buffs will be able to stroll close to the spot where legend says Julius Caesar met his bloody end, when Rome authorities open a new walkway on the ancient site on Tuesday.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945628
Accounts, embellished by William Shakespeare, tell how the Roman dictator was stabbed to death by a group of aggrieved senators on the Ides of March - March 15 - in 44 BC.
According to tradition, he died in the capital's central Largo Argentina square - home to the remains of four temples.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945583
They are all currently below street level and up until recently could only be viewed from behind barriers close to a busy road junction.
From Tuesday, visitors will be able to move through the site at ground level on the walkway and see the structures up close.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889047
Italian fashion house Bulgari funded the work at a site that was first discovered and excavated during building work in Rome in the 1920s.
— ROME – Interview Italian Archaeologist Marina Mattei, the Largo Argentina; Rome, Italy; in: CCN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012) [2:57].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaV14fTHB5c
The area - close to where Caesar is supposed to have exclaimed "Et tu, Brute?" as he saw his friend Brutus among his murderers - is these days also home to a sanctuary for stray cats.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945643
Fonte / source, foto & Video:
— ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q39bZmfvHms
Fonte / source:
--- REUTERS (20 June 2022).
www.reuters.com/world/europe/rome-open-ancient-square-whe...
Fonte / source, foto:
— ROMA – Roma – Largo di Torre Argentina Live webcam / Veduta delle rovine romane dell’Area Sacra di Largo Argentina a Roma; in: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time].
www.skylinewebcams.com/it/webcam/italia/lazio/roma/roma-l...
ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2023. Rome, the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argetina - From ancient Ruins to Feline Haven: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your CatNip." The archaeological site re-opens to the public after a decade of Archaeological & Architectural Restortion works. The New York Times, REUTERS (20 June 2022) & ArchaeoReporter / (20/06/2023). Also: Dr. Marina Mattei; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012) & Dr. M. Mattei; in: CNN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012). wp.me/pbMWvy-499
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490026
1). ROME - Friends, Tourists, Countrymen, See Where Julius Caesar Was Killed
The site where Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C., nestled among four ancient temples, has been opened to the public for the first time in a century. The New York Times (20 June 2023).
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient / modern center of Rome, with the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina [4th thru 2nd centuries B.C.?] (on the far-left); with the nearby site of the ancient Theatre of Pompey (Theatrum Pompeii = Teatro di Pompeo) [61-55 B.C.] complex located in the center to the far-right. The ruins of the cavea or the seating area of the theater (the curved area) influenced the later construction of the overlying historic buildings of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, which is clearly seen in the aerial view to the far-right. Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990492546
For nearly a century, only cats (and presumably the rats they kept at bay) had free rein over an ancient archaeological site in the heart of central Rome. They would prowl among the ruins and preen for the tourists who gathered along the balustrades above, cellphones and cameras in hand.
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina with the new public walkway constructed and facing the ruins of the four-ancient Roman temple (= A, B, C & D). Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490086
But as of Tuesday, human visitors were allowed for the first time to descend and get a better glimpse of the site, believed to be where Julius Caesar was brutally assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C. The spot is nestled in an area with four temples, rare remnants of the Roman Republic, dating from the fourth to the first centuries B.C.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina as shown in the 24 hour live webcamera overlooking the ruins, the foto shows the area on (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time]. Source: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023) [see below].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990625434
The full site, called the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina, is the latest addition to Rome’s rich archaeological offerings. The Italian capital’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said at the inauguration on Monday that the attraction would add “tremendous value to a city that never ceases to amaze with its treasures and wonders.” Rome was discovering “its history to the fullest,” he added.
Foto: ROME – Former Mayor of Rome, Ms. Virginia Raggi (22 June 2016 – 21 October 2021) along with other staff members of the City of Rome, on 18 Feb., 2018, initiate the start of the later archaeological / architectural restoration work within the l’area sacra di Largo Argentina. Source: Ms. Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853150
--- ROMA - Rinasce l'area sacra di Largo Argentina. Il sito archeologico, nel centro di Roma, sarà di nuovo accessibile a romani e turisti; in: Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018). twitter.com/virginiaraggi/status/1097537131113791489
There is no X-marks-the-spot where Julius Caesar met his bloody end on — as tradition and the Shakespeare play “Julius Caesar” would have it — the Ides of March, about the 15th day of the month. The spot contains just a jumble of limestone rocks, bricks and tufts of grass.
That might surprise some, said the archaeologist Monica Ceci, who oversees the site.
Visitors “may have a hard time imagining this, because the Shakespearean drama induces you to think that the murder was in the forum,” she said.
Caesar was actually assassinated at the Curia of Pompey, a large rectangular meeting hall where the Senate of Rome met occasionally. The emperor Augustus later declared the hall a “locus sceleratus,” or “cursed place,” and it was walled up.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945653
But Shakespeare “could get away with” a little artistic license, Ms. Ceci laughed.
On the opposite side of the site, marble decorations and sculptures, for decades stored unseen in Rome’s archaeological warehouses, have been displayed in a long hall under the modern-day street. “It’s one thing to keep them in order on shelves, quite another to tell the history of this site through these fragments,” Ms. Ceci said.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArcheoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489991
Irina Lumsden, a data engineer visiting Rome from Melbourne, Australia, said that the site was transporting. “It’s amazing, you get such a feeling of ancient time here,” she said “They’ve done a great job of conserving the site.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945658
The area was rediscovered during excavations from 1926 to 1929, when the square was being demolished to make way for new buildings. The four temples unearthed were initially labeled with the first four letters of the alphabet because archaeologists were unsure which temples they had uncovered. Now they have been tentatively identified, though there is still scholarly debate: the Temple of Juturna, after a goddess of fountains, wells and springs, dating from the mid-third century B.C.; the Temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, or Fortune of the Present Day, built in the second century B.C.; the Temple of Feronia, a goddess of fertility, built about the end of the fourth century B.C.; and the Temple of Lares Permarini, dedicated to the protectors of navigation, or according to others to the Nymphs, and constructed in the early second century B.C.
— ROME – The Sacred Area of Largo Argentina with the three temples in series: Temple of Juturna, Temple of Fortuna and Temple of Feronia / ROMA – L’area Sacra di Largo Argentina con i tre templi in serie: Tempio di Giuturna, Tempio della Fortuna e Tempio di Feronia; in: Atavistic / FB (02 April 2021).
www.facebook.com/atavisticapp/posts/pfbid02UZniVUvokzf9rG...
After a fire devastated this part of Rome in A.D. 80, the emperor Domitian restored the temples and a travertine slab floor, still visible, was built on top of the surrounding rubble.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853100
Over the centuries, the area underwent various further transformations, remaining buried until the excavations in the 1920s. City officials at the time immediately understood the value of the archaeological find, and the site was closed off, to be admired only from above.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989888987
Monica Baraschi, a volunteer with a cat sanctuary that abuts one corner of the ancient site, said that even the feline residents — there were 86, she said — would feel some benefits from the opening up of the spot and the arrival of visitors.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945673
“They’ll get cuddled and caressed — the cats will be happy,” she said.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853110
In the past, there has been friction between archaeologists and the sanctuary (= ROME JOURNAL - Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11 - www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/world/europe/rome-drawn-into-t...). Ms. Ceci, the archaeologist, said that the cats had been “good workmates” during the two years that the site was undergoing work to prepare for the opening.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11.
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853115
Visitors on the first day also seemed glad to see a bit of ancient Rome up close. Simeon Peebler, a software engineer from Chicago, said, “In a world of virtual-reality experiences, to have a real reality experience is amazing.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489996
Romans were equally delighted. Sandro Lubattelli, a retired computer engineer and his wife, Rossana Cipressi, a retired teacher, said that they had spent a lifetime looking at the site from above and were thrilled to finally be able to go in.
“We always wondered why it was closed,” Mr. Lubattelli said. “We’re in seventh heaven.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853130
Note: A correction was made on June 20, 2023: Because of an editing error, a capsule summary with an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the role of Julius Caesar. He was a general and a political leader, but not emperor.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490006
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889017
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945618
Fonte / source:
--- The New York Times (20 June 2023).
www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/world/europe/rome-julius-caesa...
Fonte / source, Video & foto:
— ROMA – L’area sacra fatale a Giulio Cesare, visitabili finalmente i templi repubblicani di Largo Argentina; in: ArchaeoReporter / YouTube (20/06/2023) [04:05].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZT0eN6NK-Y
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889007
2). ROME - "Et tu, Brute?" - Rome to open ancient square where Julius Caesar was killed. REUTERS (20 June 2022).
ROME, June 19 (Reuters) - History buffs will be able to stroll close to the spot where legend says Julius Caesar met his bloody end, when Rome authorities open a new walkway on the ancient site on Tuesday.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945628
Accounts, embellished by William Shakespeare, tell how the Roman dictator was stabbed to death by a group of aggrieved senators on the Ides of March - March 15 - in 44 BC.
According to tradition, he died in the capital's central Largo Argentina square - home to the remains of four temples.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945583
They are all currently below street level and up until recently could only be viewed from behind barriers close to a busy road junction.
From Tuesday, visitors will be able to move through the site at ground level on the walkway and see the structures up close.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889047
Italian fashion house Bulgari funded the work at a site that was first discovered and excavated during building work in Rome in the 1920s.
— ROME – Interview Italian Archaeologist Marina Mattei, the Largo Argentina; Rome, Italy; in: CCN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012) [2:57].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaV14fTHB5c
The area - close to where Caesar is supposed to have exclaimed "Et tu, Brute?" as he saw his friend Brutus among his murderers - is these days also home to a sanctuary for stray cats.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945643
Fonte / source, foto & Video:
— ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q39bZmfvHms
Fonte / source:
--- REUTERS (20 June 2022).
www.reuters.com/world/europe/rome-open-ancient-square-whe...
Fonte / source, foto:
— ROMA – Roma – Largo di Torre Argentina Live webcam / Veduta delle rovine romane dell’Area Sacra di Largo Argentina a Roma; in: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time].
www.skylinewebcams.com/it/webcam/italia/lazio/roma/roma-l...
ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2023. Rome, the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argetina - From ancient Ruins to Feline Haven: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your CatNip." The archaeological site re-opens to the public after a decade of Archaeological & Architectural Restortion works. The New York Times, REUTERS (20 June 2022) & ArchaeoReporter / (20/06/2023). Also: Dr. Marina Mattei; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012) & Dr. M. Mattei; in: CNN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012). wp.me/pbMWvy-499
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490026
1). ROME - Friends, Tourists, Countrymen, See Where Julius Caesar Was Killed
The site where Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C., nestled among four ancient temples, has been opened to the public for the first time in a century. The New York Times (20 June 2023).
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient / modern center of Rome, with the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina [4th thru 2nd centuries B.C.?] (on the far-left); with the nearby site of the ancient Theatre of Pompey (Theatrum Pompeii = Teatro di Pompeo) [61-55 B.C.] complex located in the center to the far-right. The ruins of the cavea or the seating area of the theater (the curved area) influenced the later construction of the overlying historic buildings of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, which is clearly seen in the aerial view to the far-right. Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990492546
For nearly a century, only cats (and presumably the rats they kept at bay) had free rein over an ancient archaeological site in the heart of central Rome. They would prowl among the ruins and preen for the tourists who gathered along the balustrades above, cellphones and cameras in hand.
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina with the new public walkway constructed and facing the ruins of the four-ancient Roman temple (= A, B, C & D). Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490086
But as of Tuesday, human visitors were allowed for the first time to descend and get a better glimpse of the site, believed to be where Julius Caesar was brutally assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C. The spot is nestled in an area with four temples, rare remnants of the Roman Republic, dating from the fourth to the first centuries B.C.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina as shown in the 24 hour live webcamera overlooking the ruins, the foto shows the area on (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time]. Source: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023) [see below].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990625434
The full site, called the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina, is the latest addition to Rome’s rich archaeological offerings. The Italian capital’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said at the inauguration on Monday that the attraction would add “tremendous value to a city that never ceases to amaze with its treasures and wonders.” Rome was discovering “its history to the fullest,” he added.
Foto: ROME – Former Mayor of Rome, Ms. Virginia Raggi (22 June 2016 – 21 October 2021) along with other staff members of the City of Rome, on 18 Feb., 2018, initiate the start of the later archaeological / architectural restoration work within the l’area sacra di Largo Argentina. Source: Ms. Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853150
--- ROMA - Rinasce l'area sacra di Largo Argentina. Il sito archeologico, nel centro di Roma, sarà di nuovo accessibile a romani e turisti; in: Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018). twitter.com/virginiaraggi/status/1097537131113791489
There is no X-marks-the-spot where Julius Caesar met his bloody end on — as tradition and the Shakespeare play “Julius Caesar” would have it — the Ides of March, about the 15th day of the month. The spot contains just a jumble of limestone rocks, bricks and tufts of grass.
That might surprise some, said the archaeologist Monica Ceci, who oversees the site.
Visitors “may have a hard time imagining this, because the Shakespearean drama induces you to think that the murder was in the forum,” she said.
Caesar was actually assassinated at the Curia of Pompey, a large rectangular meeting hall where the Senate of Rome met occasionally. The emperor Augustus later declared the hall a “locus sceleratus,” or “cursed place,” and it was walled up.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945653
But Shakespeare “could get away with” a little artistic license, Ms. Ceci laughed.
On the opposite side of the site, marble decorations and sculptures, for decades stored unseen in Rome’s archaeological warehouses, have been displayed in a long hall under the modern-day street. “It’s one thing to keep them in order on shelves, quite another to tell the history of this site through these fragments,” Ms. Ceci said.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArcheoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489991
Irina Lumsden, a data engineer visiting Rome from Melbourne, Australia, said that the site was transporting. “It’s amazing, you get such a feeling of ancient time here,” she said “They’ve done a great job of conserving the site.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945658
The area was rediscovered during excavations from 1926 to 1929, when the square was being demolished to make way for new buildings. The four temples unearthed were initially labeled with the first four letters of the alphabet because archaeologists were unsure which temples they had uncovered. Now they have been tentatively identified, though there is still scholarly debate: the Temple of Juturna, after a goddess of fountains, wells and springs, dating from the mid-third century B.C.; the Temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, or Fortune of the Present Day, built in the second century B.C.; the Temple of Feronia, a goddess of fertility, built about the end of the fourth century B.C.; and the Temple of Lares Permarini, dedicated to the protectors of navigation, or according to others to the Nymphs, and constructed in the early second century B.C.
— ROME – The Sacred Area of Largo Argentina with the three temples in series: Temple of Juturna, Temple of Fortuna and Temple of Feronia / ROMA – L’area Sacra di Largo Argentina con i tre templi in serie: Tempio di Giuturna, Tempio della Fortuna e Tempio di Feronia; in: Atavistic / FB (02 April 2021).
www.facebook.com/atavisticapp/posts/pfbid02UZniVUvokzf9rG...
After a fire devastated this part of Rome in A.D. 80, the emperor Domitian restored the temples and a travertine slab floor, still visible, was built on top of the surrounding rubble.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853100
Over the centuries, the area underwent various further transformations, remaining buried until the excavations in the 1920s. City officials at the time immediately understood the value of the archaeological find, and the site was closed off, to be admired only from above.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989888987
Monica Baraschi, a volunteer with a cat sanctuary that abuts one corner of the ancient site, said that even the feline residents — there were 86, she said — would feel some benefits from the opening up of the spot and the arrival of visitors.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945673
“They’ll get cuddled and caressed — the cats will be happy,” she said.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853110
In the past, there has been friction between archaeologists and the sanctuary (= ROME JOURNAL - Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11 - www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/world/europe/rome-drawn-into-t...). Ms. Ceci, the archaeologist, said that the cats had been “good workmates” during the two years that the site was undergoing work to prepare for the opening.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11.
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853115
Visitors on the first day also seemed glad to see a bit of ancient Rome up close. Simeon Peebler, a software engineer from Chicago, said, “In a world of virtual-reality experiences, to have a real reality experience is amazing.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489996
Romans were equally delighted. Sandro Lubattelli, a retired computer engineer and his wife, Rossana Cipressi, a retired teacher, said that they had spent a lifetime looking at the site from above and were thrilled to finally be able to go in.
“We always wondered why it was closed,” Mr. Lubattelli said. “We’re in seventh heaven.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853130
Note: A correction was made on June 20, 2023: Because of an editing error, a capsule summary with an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the role of Julius Caesar. He was a general and a political leader, but not emperor.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490006
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889017
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945618
Fonte / source:
--- The New York Times (20 June 2023).
www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/world/europe/rome-julius-caesa...
Fonte / source, Video & foto:
— ROMA – L’area sacra fatale a Giulio Cesare, visitabili finalmente i templi repubblicani di Largo Argentina; in: ArchaeoReporter / YouTube (20/06/2023) [04:05].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZT0eN6NK-Y
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889007
2). ROME - "Et tu, Brute?" - Rome to open ancient square where Julius Caesar was killed. REUTERS (20 June 2022).
ROME, June 19 (Reuters) - History buffs will be able to stroll close to the spot where legend says Julius Caesar met his bloody end, when Rome authorities open a new walkway on the ancient site on Tuesday.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945628
Accounts, embellished by William Shakespeare, tell how the Roman dictator was stabbed to death by a group of aggrieved senators on the Ides of March - March 15 - in 44 BC.
According to tradition, he died in the capital's central Largo Argentina square - home to the remains of four temples.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945583
They are all currently below street level and up until recently could only be viewed from behind barriers close to a busy road junction.
From Tuesday, visitors will be able to move through the site at ground level on the walkway and see the structures up close.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889047
Italian fashion house Bulgari funded the work at a site that was first discovered and excavated during building work in Rome in the 1920s.
— ROME – Interview Italian Archaeologist Marina Mattei, the Largo Argentina; Rome, Italy; in: CCN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012) [2:57].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaV14fTHB5c
The area - close to where Caesar is supposed to have exclaimed "Et tu, Brute?" as he saw his friend Brutus among his murderers - is these days also home to a sanctuary for stray cats.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945643
Fonte / source, foto & Video:
— ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q39bZmfvHms
Fonte / source:
--- REUTERS (20 June 2022).
www.reuters.com/world/europe/rome-open-ancient-square-whe...
Fonte / source, foto:
— ROMA – Roma – Largo di Torre Argentina Live webcam / Veduta delle rovine romane dell’Area Sacra di Largo Argentina a Roma; in: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time].
www.skylinewebcams.com/it/webcam/italia/lazio/roma/roma-l...
Two women in action at the 2015 Formula Renault 3.5 test at Jerez: AVF's Beitske Visser watching the laptop of her data engineer.
Chicago seeking 'smart-city' tech solutions to improve city life
Argonne Laboratory's Array of Things project
The "Array of Things" project at the Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016.
Kathy BergenContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
Come late June, city electricians are expected to start strapping beehive-shaped sensor boxes to municipal light poles — environmental Fitbits for neighborhoods, essentially.
How's the air quality? Where does rainwater pool? Where do air temperatures spike?
The 14-inch-high cylinders filled with sensors and cameras — developed by computer scientists and designers at Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago — should shed light on stubborn urban problems — everything from asthma clusters and flood-prone intersections to so-called "heat islands," densely developed corners of the city that trap heat. Ultimately, the data should lead to affordable, energy-efficient solutions to those problems and others.
The project, dubbed the Array of Things, is the most aggressive element of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's push to transform Chicago into "the most data-driven government in the world," as his top tech lieutenant recently put it. But the emerging quiver of public-private experiments aimed at honing a high-tech image for the city is fraught with risk.
Chicago bets on 'smart city' projects
Chicago, a relative newcomer in the so-called smart city game, is playing catch-up to established global leaders such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, London and Singapore.
Chicago, a relative newcomer in the so-called smart city game, is playing catch-up to established global leaders such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, London and Singapore — cities that already excel in harnessing technology to run more efficiently.
But already the city's nascent efforts to collect environmental data are sparking concerns about further erosion of individual privacy in a city already outfitted with police cameras, red light cameras, in-store cameras and public transit cameras. And, perhaps most critically, some observers question whether the collection and analysis of data will lead to meaningful improvements to urban life, as advocates suggest, or just enrich big tech vendors.
"How do we connect these abstract, big-picture, big-data initiatives to the needs of the residents of Chicago who are struggling under a failure to fund education and under a police force that thwarts the will of the people?" asked Daniel X. O'Neil, executive director of Smart Chicago Collaborative, a civic group that aims to improve residents' lives through technology.
Even for a city like Barcelona, widely viewed as the smart-city poster child, "the jury is very much still out," said Adie Tomer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program. "If you are advanced in your investment in digital infrastructure … does that lead to a difference in economic performance? Does it drive more jobs? Does it make it a better place to live?
"There is no research on this," he said. "Not even close."
ct-smart-cities-sensors-20160419
A selection of some of the sensor devices used in Barcelona to increase efficiency and convenience.
The potential of the smart city concept, however, intrigues municipal leaders and tech executives around the world. Scores of city delegations trek to Barcelona each year to see how the ancient seaside capital of Catalonia branded itself as the world's leading smart city.
Nearly hidden among the captivating Gaudi architectural gems and tourists sipping cava at sidewalk cafes are an array of sensors. Some let drivers know where street parking is available, others trigger park irrigation systems when soil dries out or inform police when an outdoor gathering turns rowdy.
A retooled bus system uses natural gas/electric hybrids and solar panels on shelters, which also are equipped with Wi-Fi, USB ports and interactive screens with tourist information. LED streetlights with motion sensors lower energy use. And the city hosts an extensive network of Wi-Fi hot spots. In all, more than 20 smart-city programs are under way.
"Barcelona is and was a showcase," said Juan Blanco, business development director for southern Europe at Cisco, an early partner in Barcelona's efforts. While the city represents a small slice of business for the Silicon Valley networking giant, it serves as a living showroom for potential clients around the world, he said.
Chicago and its corporate and academic partners on smart-city initiatives hanker to play the same sort of "test bed" role on this side of the Atlantic. "Chicago, like so many other cities, is facing some truly intractable problems that can be solved not by existing technologies but by new technologies that are being invented now," said Brenna Berman, the city's chief information officer.
Brenna Berman
Brenna Berman, Chicago's chief information officer, on Feb. 25, 2015. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
As Adam Hecktman, Microsoft's director of technology and civic innovation for Chicago, put it: "If we can solve problems here in Chicago, then we can scale that to other cities."
Microsoft is a partner on a key collaboration here, City Digital, which in September launched two pilot projects. One uses sensors to test "green" ways to curtail urban flooding. The other uses sonar technology to produce virtual maps of the mess of cables and pipes beneath the city's streets, a potentially valuable tool for construction crews. The endeavor, part of the city's year-old UI Labs research consortium, is housed in a former window factory in the Goose Island industrial hub.
City Digital hopes its flood-control findings will help guide the city as it invests $50 million over five years on infrastructure designed to reduce the flow of pollution into the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, said Steve Fifita, executive director of City Digital.
"That's exactly why we're doing this kind of pilot — to inform the decision," he said, gazing out of the lab's soaring front windows as rain fell on a lightly planted mound of dirt, or "bioswale," that was being monitored for its ability to absorb and filter precipitation.
Chicago is hardly alone among American cities rolling out smart-city initiatives, though observers say it is one of the most aggressive. New York is moving on multiple fronts, including plans to turn 7,500 payphone booths into Wi-Fi hot spots. Boston offers a cellphone app for reporting neighborhood problems and is installing solar-powered park benches that function as outdoor charging stations and collectors of data on air quality and noise.
In September, President Barack Obama's administration committed $160 million for data-driven efforts across the country to reduce traffic congestion, fight crime, foster economic growth, manage the effects of climate change and improve city services. Chicago's Array of Things project was among the recipients, with a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
Sensors at Argonne
A sensor box testing unit is placed on a building as part of the Array of Things project at Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
To a large extent, the U.S. is playing catch-up to Europe and Asia, earlier adopters of the smart-city trend, which was fostered by IBM and other tech multinationals during the recession, when corporate business was tailing off.
"By its nature, it's a conservative market," said Eric Woods, research director for Navigant Research, which tracks the clean-tech sector. "Cities are not flooded with money, so cities either have to find additional funding or new models that allow them to invest in these technologies, like energy savings or public-private partnerships."
Navigant estimates the smart-city market will be worth $12.1 billion this year, rising to $27.5 billion annually by 2023. What it will be worth to cities and their residents remains an open question.
In Barcelona, for instance, the economy has improved since smart-city efforts began in the recessionary years, but much of the progress is tied to broader trends in Spain and the European Union, said Jonathan Wareham, dean of faculty and research at ESADE Business & Law Schools at Ramon Llull University in Barcelona. "Is there a correlation between smart cities and economic recovery? Yes. Is there a causal link? I would be more doubtful about that.
"If you ask someone in London," Wareham continued, "if they are planning a trip to Barcelona because it's a smart city, they would say, 'What?'"
Still, Wareham believes smart-city initiatives hold promise if they are tackling serious problems rather than taking a "cute" path to apps for tourists. "Some of it's just bells and whistles and gimmicky things, like knowing when the bus is going to come or knowing how far down the street this cafe is. It's in the nice-to-have category but nothing that the mobile app industry isn't addressing anyway," he said.
Chicago appears to be taking the more sober route, he said.
In addition to the Array of Things project, which will roll out 500 monitoring devices between this summer and the end of 2017, and City Digital, which plans more research into infrastructure-related issues, the city of Chicago has used data analytics to streamline its restaurant inspection and rat-baiting programs.
"You can use predictive analytics anywhere that cities have a shortage of resources, which is everywhere," said Berman, who is commissioner of the city's Department of Innovation and Technology, which employs two data engineers and gets pro bono help from corporations such as Allstate.
Much of the smart-city work underway in cash-strapped Chicago wouldn't have been feasible without outside help. The Array of Things project relies on its $3.1 million National Science Foundation grant and about $2 million in internal research funding from Argonne, with the city providing sites for the monitors and electricians to mount the devices.
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The City Digital projects at UI Labs, meanwhile, are supported by corporate membership fees as well as project assistance from corporate and academic partners, with the city providing test sites and some technical assistance. The future of smart-city work depends on such collaborations holding up and growing, which is not a guaranteed outcome.
One major challenge will be how to handle the intellectual property that is developed, Siemens executive Dave Hopping told civic and business leaders at a City Club luncheon last summer. Siemens is among the corporate and academic partners who work together on City Digital projects, with the aim of devising technologies that can be commercialized.
"You bring a lot of companies to the table, some big, some small, and you're going to create something new," he said. "Who owns that? How do you share in the success of that? That's one of the risk topics if we don't figure that out."
Fifita, of City Digital, said those arrangements are made on a project-by-project basis.
A second issue is whether residents will welcome the Array of Things monitoring devices in their neighborhoods, particularly since they include a downward-facing camera that will track not just flooding, but pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Array of Things
One of two data sensor nodes in the city used in 2013 to collect the atmospherics and movement of people hangs on the exterior of the Logan Center at the University of Chicago. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)
In an effort to protect privacy, the cameras are designed to capture shapes but not distinguishing details. Data will be gleaned from the images within the individual monitoring device, then the images will be destroyed, said Argonne senior computer scientist and project leader Charlie Catlett. Any additional sensors or cameras added to the monitoring boxes in the future will have to be reviewed by a National Science Foundation-funded independent panel, he said.
But a prominent privacy advocate remains concerned.
"Smart cities is a very double-edged concept," said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and adviser to Chicago's project. "The idea is to capture more data and utilize more data about what's going on in a city. By definition, unless you exclude people, that is the same as conducting more surveillance."
It is critical that the city devise a strong privacy policy and clear governance structure, he said. "Who says 'no' to the cops if they want to do something against the privacy principle?"
Lane Tech students work on Array of Things-related projects
Students at Lane Tech High School devise sensor kits to gather data on school life as part of a six-week curriculum that ties into the city’s Array of Things environmental sensor initiative.
The city will unveil a privacy policy, a governance structure and a data management policy in mid- to late May, Berman said, adding that there will be public hearings before they are finalized.
But the city already is working to get the word out, with its first beachhead at Lane Tech High School, where nearly 150 computer science students are building their own sensing devices — part of a six-week curriculum devised by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Urban Center for Computation and Data at the University of Chicago and Argonne. The plan is to share the program with other schools.
In a lab filled with laser cutters, 3-D carvers and power tools, groups of students hunch over small wooden or acrylic boxes filled with sensors and wires, figuring out how to track the temperature and humidity outside the pool's door, the gases present in the lunchroom or the traffic in the staircases.
For Kameron Jackson, a sophomore from the Kenwood neighborhood who aspires to be an engineer, the project has been an eye-opener.
"It was more difficult than I imagined because there's a lot of errors you encounter along the way that you really don't prepare for," Jackson said. "You've got to be quick on your feet to assess the situation and figure out a solution."
Sensor restart
Lane Tech students Rafael Trinidad, from left, Misael Jaimes and Konrad Rula restart their humidity, temperature, hydrogen, carbon and methane sensor in the school's lunchroom on April 7, 2016. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Those lessons likely will apply to Chicago as well as it pursues its smart-city strategies. O'Neil, of the Smart Chicago Collaborative, suggests the city and its partners keep their eyes on one overarching goal.
"I find immense value in what they are doing (but) I continue to drive them, and drive all of us and anyone in the smart-cities movement, to work harder at finding out how we can make lives better," he said. "I continue to have consternation at how all this fits together."
kbergen@tribpub.com
Copyright © 2016, Chicago Tribune
A version of this article appeared in print on May 01, 2016, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Will making Chicago a `smart city' make it a better city?" — Today's paper | Subscribe
Chicago seeking 'smart-city' tech solutions to improve city life
Argonne Laboratory's Array of Things project
The "Array of Things" project at the Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016.
Kathy BergenContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
Come late June, city electricians are expected to start strapping beehive-shaped sensor boxes to municipal light poles — environmental Fitbits for neighborhoods, essentially.
How's the air quality? Where does rainwater pool? Where do air temperatures spike?
The 14-inch-high cylinders filled with sensors and cameras — developed by computer scientists and designers at Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago — should shed light on stubborn urban problems — everything from asthma clusters and flood-prone intersections to so-called "heat islands," densely developed corners of the city that trap heat. Ultimately, the data should lead to affordable, energy-efficient solutions to those problems and others.
The project, dubbed the Array of Things, is the most aggressive element of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's push to transform Chicago into "the most data-driven government in the world," as his top tech lieutenant recently put it. But the emerging quiver of public-private experiments aimed at honing a high-tech image for the city is fraught with risk.
Chicago bets on 'smart city' projects
Chicago, a relative newcomer in the so-called smart city game, is playing catch-up to established global leaders such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, London and Singapore.
Chicago, a relative newcomer in the so-called smart city game, is playing catch-up to established global leaders such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, London and Singapore — cities that already excel in harnessing technology to run more efficiently.
But already the city's nascent efforts to collect environmental data are sparking concerns about further erosion of individual privacy in a city already outfitted with police cameras, red light cameras, in-store cameras and public transit cameras. And, perhaps most critically, some observers question whether the collection and analysis of data will lead to meaningful improvements to urban life, as advocates suggest, or just enrich big tech vendors.
"How do we connect these abstract, big-picture, big-data initiatives to the needs of the residents of Chicago who are struggling under a failure to fund education and under a police force that thwarts the will of the people?" asked Daniel X. O'Neil, executive director of Smart Chicago Collaborative, a civic group that aims to improve residents' lives through technology.
Even for a city like Barcelona, widely viewed as the smart-city poster child, "the jury is very much still out," said Adie Tomer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program. "If you are advanced in your investment in digital infrastructure … does that lead to a difference in economic performance? Does it drive more jobs? Does it make it a better place to live?
"There is no research on this," he said. "Not even close."
ct-smart-cities-sensors-20160419
A selection of some of the sensor devices used in Barcelona to increase efficiency and convenience.
The potential of the smart city concept, however, intrigues municipal leaders and tech executives around the world. Scores of city delegations trek to Barcelona each year to see how the ancient seaside capital of Catalonia branded itself as the world's leading smart city.
Nearly hidden among the captivating Gaudi architectural gems and tourists sipping cava at sidewalk cafes are an array of sensors. Some let drivers know where street parking is available, others trigger park irrigation systems when soil dries out or inform police when an outdoor gathering turns rowdy.
A retooled bus system uses natural gas/electric hybrids and solar panels on shelters, which also are equipped with Wi-Fi, USB ports and interactive screens with tourist information. LED streetlights with motion sensors lower energy use. And the city hosts an extensive network of Wi-Fi hot spots. In all, more than 20 smart-city programs are under way.
"Barcelona is and was a showcase," said Juan Blanco, business development director for southern Europe at Cisco, an early partner in Barcelona's efforts. While the city represents a small slice of business for the Silicon Valley networking giant, it serves as a living showroom for potential clients around the world, he said.
Chicago and its corporate and academic partners on smart-city initiatives hanker to play the same sort of "test bed" role on this side of the Atlantic. "Chicago, like so many other cities, is facing some truly intractable problems that can be solved not by existing technologies but by new technologies that are being invented now," said Brenna Berman, the city's chief information officer.
Brenna Berman
Brenna Berman, Chicago's chief information officer, on Feb. 25, 2015. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
As Adam Hecktman, Microsoft's director of technology and civic innovation for Chicago, put it: "If we can solve problems here in Chicago, then we can scale that to other cities."
Microsoft is a partner on a key collaboration here, City Digital, which in September launched two pilot projects. One uses sensors to test "green" ways to curtail urban flooding. The other uses sonar technology to produce virtual maps of the mess of cables and pipes beneath the city's streets, a potentially valuable tool for construction crews. The endeavor, part of the city's year-old UI Labs research consortium, is housed in a former window factory in the Goose Island industrial hub.
City Digital hopes its flood-control findings will help guide the city as it invests $50 million over five years on infrastructure designed to reduce the flow of pollution into the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, said Steve Fifita, executive director of City Digital.
"That's exactly why we're doing this kind of pilot — to inform the decision," he said, gazing out of the lab's soaring front windows as rain fell on a lightly planted mound of dirt, or "bioswale," that was being monitored for its ability to absorb and filter precipitation.
Chicago is hardly alone among American cities rolling out smart-city initiatives, though observers say it is one of the most aggressive. New York is moving on multiple fronts, including plans to turn 7,500 payphone booths into Wi-Fi hot spots. Boston offers a cellphone app for reporting neighborhood problems and is installing solar-powered park benches that function as outdoor charging stations and collectors of data on air quality and noise.
In September, President Barack Obama's administration committed $160 million for data-driven efforts across the country to reduce traffic congestion, fight crime, foster economic growth, manage the effects of climate change and improve city services. Chicago's Array of Things project was among the recipients, with a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
Sensors at Argonne
A sensor box testing unit is placed on a building as part of the Array of Things project at Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
To a large extent, the U.S. is playing catch-up to Europe and Asia, earlier adopters of the smart-city trend, which was fostered by IBM and other tech multinationals during the recession, when corporate business was tailing off.
"By its nature, it's a conservative market," said Eric Woods, research director for Navigant Research, which tracks the clean-tech sector. "Cities are not flooded with money, so cities either have to find additional funding or new models that allow them to invest in these technologies, like energy savings or public-private partnerships."
Navigant estimates the smart-city market will be worth $12.1 billion this year, rising to $27.5 billion annually by 2023. What it will be worth to cities and their residents remains an open question.
In Barcelona, for instance, the economy has improved since smart-city efforts began in the recessionary years, but much of the progress is tied to broader trends in Spain and the European Union, said Jonathan Wareham, dean of faculty and research at ESADE Business & Law Schools at Ramon Llull University in Barcelona. "Is there a correlation between smart cities and economic recovery? Yes. Is there a causal link? I would be more doubtful about that.
"If you ask someone in London," Wareham continued, "if they are planning a trip to Barcelona because it's a smart city, they would say, 'What?'"
Still, Wareham believes smart-city initiatives hold promise if they are tackling serious problems rather than taking a "cute" path to apps for tourists. "Some of it's just bells and whistles and gimmicky things, like knowing when the bus is going to come or knowing how far down the street this cafe is. It's in the nice-to-have category but nothing that the mobile app industry isn't addressing anyway," he said.
Chicago appears to be taking the more sober route, he said.
In addition to the Array of Things project, which will roll out 500 monitoring devices between this summer and the end of 2017, and City Digital, which plans more research into infrastructure-related issues, the city of Chicago has used data analytics to streamline its restaurant inspection and rat-baiting programs.
"You can use predictive analytics anywhere that cities have a shortage of resources, which is everywhere," said Berman, who is commissioner of the city's Department of Innovation and Technology, which employs two data engineers and gets pro bono help from corporations such as Allstate.
Much of the smart-city work underway in cash-strapped Chicago wouldn't have been feasible without outside help. The Array of Things project relies on its $3.1 million National Science Foundation grant and about $2 million in internal research funding from Argonne, with the city providing sites for the monitors and electricians to mount the devices.
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The City Digital projects at UI Labs, meanwhile, are supported by corporate membership fees as well as project assistance from corporate and academic partners, with the city providing test sites and some technical assistance. The future of smart-city work depends on such collaborations holding up and growing, which is not a guaranteed outcome.
One major challenge will be how to handle the intellectual property that is developed, Siemens executive Dave Hopping told civic and business leaders at a City Club luncheon last summer. Siemens is among the corporate and academic partners who work together on City Digital projects, with the aim of devising technologies that can be commercialized.
"You bring a lot of companies to the table, some big, some small, and you're going to create something new," he said. "Who owns that? How do you share in the success of that? That's one of the risk topics if we don't figure that out."
Fifita, of City Digital, said those arrangements are made on a project-by-project basis.
A second issue is whether residents will welcome the Array of Things monitoring devices in their neighborhoods, particularly since they include a downward-facing camera that will track not just flooding, but pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Array of Things
One of two data sensor nodes in the city used in 2013 to collect the atmospherics and movement of people hangs on the exterior of the Logan Center at the University of Chicago. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)
In an effort to protect privacy, the cameras are designed to capture shapes but not distinguishing details. Data will be gleaned from the images within the individual monitoring device, then the images will be destroyed, said Argonne senior computer scientist and project leader Charlie Catlett. Any additional sensors or cameras added to the monitoring boxes in the future will have to be reviewed by a National Science Foundation-funded independent panel, he said.
But a prominent privacy advocate remains concerned.
"Smart cities is a very double-edged concept," said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and adviser to Chicago's project. "The idea is to capture more data and utilize more data about what's going on in a city. By definition, unless you exclude people, that is the same as conducting more surveillance."
It is critical that the city devise a strong privacy policy and clear governance structure, he said. "Who says 'no' to the cops if they want to do something against the privacy principle?"
Lane Tech students work on Array of Things-related projects
Students at Lane Tech High School devise sensor kits to gather data on school life as part of a six-week curriculum that ties into the city’s Array of Things environmental sensor initiative.
The city will unveil a privacy policy, a governance structure and a data management policy in mid- to late May, Berman said, adding that there will be public hearings before they are finalized.
But the city already is working to get the word out, with its first beachhead at Lane Tech High School, where nearly 150 computer science students are building their own sensing devices — part of a six-week curriculum devised by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Urban Center for Computation and Data at the University of Chicago and Argonne. The plan is to share the program with other schools.
In a lab filled with laser cutters, 3-D carvers and power tools, groups of students hunch over small wooden or acrylic boxes filled with sensors and wires, figuring out how to track the temperature and humidity outside the pool's door, the gases present in the lunchroom or the traffic in the staircases.
For Kameron Jackson, a sophomore from the Kenwood neighborhood who aspires to be an engineer, the project has been an eye-opener.
"It was more difficult than I imagined because there's a lot of errors you encounter along the way that you really don't prepare for," Jackson said. "You've got to be quick on your feet to assess the situation and figure out a solution."
Sensor restart
Lane Tech students Rafael Trinidad, from left, Misael Jaimes and Konrad Rula restart their humidity, temperature, hydrogen, carbon and methane sensor in the school's lunchroom on April 7, 2016. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Those lessons likely will apply to Chicago as well as it pursues its smart-city strategies. O'Neil, of the Smart Chicago Collaborative, suggests the city and its partners keep their eyes on one overarching goal.
"I find immense value in what they are doing (but) I continue to drive them, and drive all of us and anyone in the smart-cities movement, to work harder at finding out how we can make lives better," he said. "I continue to have consternation at how all this fits together."
kbergen@tribpub.com
Copyright © 2016, Chicago Tribune
A version of this article appeared in print on May 01, 2016, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Will making Chicago a `smart city' make it a better city?" — Today's paper | Subscribe
Chicago seeking 'smart-city' tech solutions to improve city life
Argonne Laboratory's Array of Things project
The "Array of Things" project at the Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016.
Kathy BergenContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
Come late June, city electricians are expected to start strapping beehive-shaped sensor boxes to municipal light poles — environmental Fitbits for neighborhoods, essentially.
How's the air quality? Where does rainwater pool? Where do air temperatures spike?
The 14-inch-high cylinders filled with sensors and cameras — developed by computer scientists and designers at Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago — should shed light on stubborn urban problems — everything from asthma clusters and flood-prone intersections to so-called "heat islands," densely developed corners of the city that trap heat. Ultimately, the data should lead to affordable, energy-efficient solutions to those problems and others.
The project, dubbed the Array of Things, is the most aggressive element of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's push to transform Chicago into "the most data-driven government in the world," as his top tech lieutenant recently put it. But the emerging quiver of public-private experiments aimed at honing a high-tech image for the city is fraught with risk.
Chicago bets on 'smart city' projects
Chicago, a relative newcomer in the so-called smart city game, is playing catch-up to established global leaders such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, London and Singapore.
Chicago, a relative newcomer in the so-called smart city game, is playing catch-up to established global leaders such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, London and Singapore — cities that already excel in harnessing technology to run more efficiently.
But already the city's nascent efforts to collect environmental data are sparking concerns about further erosion of individual privacy in a city already outfitted with police cameras, red light cameras, in-store cameras and public transit cameras. And, perhaps most critically, some observers question whether the collection and analysis of data will lead to meaningful improvements to urban life, as advocates suggest, or just enrich big tech vendors.
"How do we connect these abstract, big-picture, big-data initiatives to the needs of the residents of Chicago who are struggling under a failure to fund education and under a police force that thwarts the will of the people?" asked Daniel X. O'Neil, executive director of Smart Chicago Collaborative, a civic group that aims to improve residents' lives through technology.
Even for a city like Barcelona, widely viewed as the smart-city poster child, "the jury is very much still out," said Adie Tomer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program. "If you are advanced in your investment in digital infrastructure … does that lead to a difference in economic performance? Does it drive more jobs? Does it make it a better place to live?
"There is no research on this," he said. "Not even close."
ct-smart-cities-sensors-20160419
A selection of some of the sensor devices used in Barcelona to increase efficiency and convenience.
The potential of the smart city concept, however, intrigues municipal leaders and tech executives around the world. Scores of city delegations trek to Barcelona each year to see how the ancient seaside capital of Catalonia branded itself as the world's leading smart city.
Nearly hidden among the captivating Gaudi architectural gems and tourists sipping cava at sidewalk cafes are an array of sensors. Some let drivers know where street parking is available, others trigger park irrigation systems when soil dries out or inform police when an outdoor gathering turns rowdy.
A retooled bus system uses natural gas/electric hybrids and solar panels on shelters, which also are equipped with Wi-Fi, USB ports and interactive screens with tourist information. LED streetlights with motion sensors lower energy use. And the city hosts an extensive network of Wi-Fi hot spots. In all, more than 20 smart-city programs are under way.
"Barcelona is and was a showcase," said Juan Blanco, business development director for southern Europe at Cisco, an early partner in Barcelona's efforts. While the city represents a small slice of business for the Silicon Valley networking giant, it serves as a living showroom for potential clients around the world, he said.
Chicago and its corporate and academic partners on smart-city initiatives hanker to play the same sort of "test bed" role on this side of the Atlantic. "Chicago, like so many other cities, is facing some truly intractable problems that can be solved not by existing technologies but by new technologies that are being invented now," said Brenna Berman, the city's chief information officer.
Brenna Berman
Brenna Berman, Chicago's chief information officer, on Feb. 25, 2015. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
As Adam Hecktman, Microsoft's director of technology and civic innovation for Chicago, put it: "If we can solve problems here in Chicago, then we can scale that to other cities."
Microsoft is a partner on a key collaboration here, City Digital, which in September launched two pilot projects. One uses sensors to test "green" ways to curtail urban flooding. The other uses sonar technology to produce virtual maps of the mess of cables and pipes beneath the city's streets, a potentially valuable tool for construction crews. The endeavor, part of the city's year-old UI Labs research consortium, is housed in a former window factory in the Goose Island industrial hub.
City Digital hopes its flood-control findings will help guide the city as it invests $50 million over five years on infrastructure designed to reduce the flow of pollution into the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, said Steve Fifita, executive director of City Digital.
"That's exactly why we're doing this kind of pilot — to inform the decision," he said, gazing out of the lab's soaring front windows as rain fell on a lightly planted mound of dirt, or "bioswale," that was being monitored for its ability to absorb and filter precipitation.
Chicago is hardly alone among American cities rolling out smart-city initiatives, though observers say it is one of the most aggressive. New York is moving on multiple fronts, including plans to turn 7,500 payphone booths into Wi-Fi hot spots. Boston offers a cellphone app for reporting neighborhood problems and is installing solar-powered park benches that function as outdoor charging stations and collectors of data on air quality and noise.
In September, President Barack Obama's administration committed $160 million for data-driven efforts across the country to reduce traffic congestion, fight crime, foster economic growth, manage the effects of climate change and improve city services. Chicago's Array of Things project was among the recipients, with a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
Sensors at Argonne
A sensor box testing unit is placed on a building as part of the Array of Things project at Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
To a large extent, the U.S. is playing catch-up to Europe and Asia, earlier adopters of the smart-city trend, which was fostered by IBM and other tech multinationals during the recession, when corporate business was tailing off.
"By its nature, it's a conservative market," said Eric Woods, research director for Navigant Research, which tracks the clean-tech sector. "Cities are not flooded with money, so cities either have to find additional funding or new models that allow them to invest in these technologies, like energy savings or public-private partnerships."
Navigant estimates the smart-city market will be worth $12.1 billion this year, rising to $27.5 billion annually by 2023. What it will be worth to cities and their residents remains an open question.
In Barcelona, for instance, the economy has improved since smart-city efforts began in the recessionary years, but much of the progress is tied to broader trends in Spain and the European Union, said Jonathan Wareham, dean of faculty and research at ESADE Business & Law Schools at Ramon Llull University in Barcelona. "Is there a correlation between smart cities and economic recovery? Yes. Is there a causal link? I would be more doubtful about that.
"If you ask someone in London," Wareham continued, "if they are planning a trip to Barcelona because it's a smart city, they would say, 'What?'"
Still, Wareham believes smart-city initiatives hold promise if they are tackling serious problems rather than taking a "cute" path to apps for tourists. "Some of it's just bells and whistles and gimmicky things, like knowing when the bus is going to come or knowing how far down the street this cafe is. It's in the nice-to-have category but nothing that the mobile app industry isn't addressing anyway," he said.
Chicago appears to be taking the more sober route, he said.
In addition to the Array of Things project, which will roll out 500 monitoring devices between this summer and the end of 2017, and City Digital, which plans more research into infrastructure-related issues, the city of Chicago has used data analytics to streamline its restaurant inspection and rat-baiting programs.
"You can use predictive analytics anywhere that cities have a shortage of resources, which is everywhere," said Berman, who is commissioner of the city's Department of Innovation and Technology, which employs two data engineers and gets pro bono help from corporations such as Allstate.
Much of the smart-city work underway in cash-strapped Chicago wouldn't have been feasible without outside help. The Array of Things project relies on its $3.1 million National Science Foundation grant and about $2 million in internal research funding from Argonne, with the city providing sites for the monitors and electricians to mount the devices.
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The City Digital projects at UI Labs, meanwhile, are supported by corporate membership fees as well as project assistance from corporate and academic partners, with the city providing test sites and some technical assistance. The future of smart-city work depends on such collaborations holding up and growing, which is not a guaranteed outcome.
One major challenge will be how to handle the intellectual property that is developed, Siemens executive Dave Hopping told civic and business leaders at a City Club luncheon last summer. Siemens is among the corporate and academic partners who work together on City Digital projects, with the aim of devising technologies that can be commercialized.
"You bring a lot of companies to the table, some big, some small, and you're going to create something new," he said. "Who owns that? How do you share in the success of that? That's one of the risk topics if we don't figure that out."
Fifita, of City Digital, said those arrangements are made on a project-by-project basis.
A second issue is whether residents will welcome the Array of Things monitoring devices in their neighborhoods, particularly since they include a downward-facing camera that will track not just flooding, but pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Array of Things
One of two data sensor nodes in the city used in 2013 to collect the atmospherics and movement of people hangs on the exterior of the Logan Center at the University of Chicago. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)
In an effort to protect privacy, the cameras are designed to capture shapes but not distinguishing details. Data will be gleaned from the images within the individual monitoring device, then the images will be destroyed, said Argonne senior computer scientist and project leader Charlie Catlett. Any additional sensors or cameras added to the monitoring boxes in the future will have to be reviewed by a National Science Foundation-funded independent panel, he said.
But a prominent privacy advocate remains concerned.
"Smart cities is a very double-edged concept," said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and adviser to Chicago's project. "The idea is to capture more data and utilize more data about what's going on in a city. By definition, unless you exclude people, that is the same as conducting more surveillance."
It is critical that the city devise a strong privacy policy and clear governance structure, he said. "Who says 'no' to the cops if they want to do something against the privacy principle?"
Lane Tech students work on Array of Things-related projects
Students at Lane Tech High School devise sensor kits to gather data on school life as part of a six-week curriculum that ties into the city’s Array of Things environmental sensor initiative.
The city will unveil a privacy policy, a governance structure and a data management policy in mid- to late May, Berman said, adding that there will be public hearings before they are finalized.
But the city already is working to get the word out, with its first beachhead at Lane Tech High School, where nearly 150 computer science students are building their own sensing devices — part of a six-week curriculum devised by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Urban Center for Computation and Data at the University of Chicago and Argonne. The plan is to share the program with other schools.
In a lab filled with laser cutters, 3-D carvers and power tools, groups of students hunch over small wooden or acrylic boxes filled with sensors and wires, figuring out how to track the temperature and humidity outside the pool's door, the gases present in the lunchroom or the traffic in the staircases.
For Kameron Jackson, a sophomore from the Kenwood neighborhood who aspires to be an engineer, the project has been an eye-opener.
"It was more difficult than I imagined because there's a lot of errors you encounter along the way that you really don't prepare for," Jackson said. "You've got to be quick on your feet to assess the situation and figure out a solution."
Sensor restart
Lane Tech students Rafael Trinidad, from left, Misael Jaimes and Konrad Rula restart their humidity, temperature, hydrogen, carbon and methane sensor in the school's lunchroom on April 7, 2016. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Those lessons likely will apply to Chicago as well as it pursues its smart-city strategies. O'Neil, of the Smart Chicago Collaborative, suggests the city and its partners keep their eyes on one overarching goal.
"I find immense value in what they are doing (but) I continue to drive them, and drive all of us and anyone in the smart-cities movement, to work harder at finding out how we can make lives better," he said. "I continue to have consternation at how all this fits together."
kbergen@tribpub.com
Copyright © 2016, Chicago Tribune
A version of this article appeared in print on May 01, 2016, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Will making Chicago a `smart city' make it a better city?" — Today's paper | Subscribe
Chicago seeking 'smart-city' tech solutions to improve city life
Argonne Laboratory's Array of Things project
The "Array of Things" project at the Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016.
Kathy BergenContact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
Come late June, city electricians are expected to start strapping beehive-shaped sensor boxes to municipal light poles — environmental Fitbits for neighborhoods, essentially.
How's the air quality? Where does rainwater pool? Where do air temperatures spike?
The 14-inch-high cylinders filled with sensors and cameras — developed by computer scientists and designers at Argonne National Laboratory, the University of Chicago and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago — should shed light on stubborn urban problems — everything from asthma clusters and flood-prone intersections to so-called "heat islands," densely developed corners of the city that trap heat. Ultimately, the data should lead to affordable, energy-efficient solutions to those problems and others.
The project, dubbed the Array of Things, is the most aggressive element of Mayor Rahm Emanuel's push to transform Chicago into "the most data-driven government in the world," as his top tech lieutenant recently put it. But the emerging quiver of public-private experiments aimed at honing a high-tech image for the city is fraught with risk.
Chicago bets on 'smart city' projects
Chicago, a relative newcomer in the so-called smart city game, is playing catch-up to established global leaders such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, London and Singapore.
Chicago, a relative newcomer in the so-called smart city game, is playing catch-up to established global leaders such as Barcelona, Copenhagen, London and Singapore — cities that already excel in harnessing technology to run more efficiently.
But already the city's nascent efforts to collect environmental data are sparking concerns about further erosion of individual privacy in a city already outfitted with police cameras, red light cameras, in-store cameras and public transit cameras. And, perhaps most critically, some observers question whether the collection and analysis of data will lead to meaningful improvements to urban life, as advocates suggest, or just enrich big tech vendors.
"How do we connect these abstract, big-picture, big-data initiatives to the needs of the residents of Chicago who are struggling under a failure to fund education and under a police force that thwarts the will of the people?" asked Daniel X. O'Neil, executive director of Smart Chicago Collaborative, a civic group that aims to improve residents' lives through technology.
Even for a city like Barcelona, widely viewed as the smart-city poster child, "the jury is very much still out," said Adie Tomer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program. "If you are advanced in your investment in digital infrastructure … does that lead to a difference in economic performance? Does it drive more jobs? Does it make it a better place to live?
"There is no research on this," he said. "Not even close."
ct-smart-cities-sensors-20160419
A selection of some of the sensor devices used in Barcelona to increase efficiency and convenience.
The potential of the smart city concept, however, intrigues municipal leaders and tech executives around the world. Scores of city delegations trek to Barcelona each year to see how the ancient seaside capital of Catalonia branded itself as the world's leading smart city.
Nearly hidden among the captivating Gaudi architectural gems and tourists sipping cava at sidewalk cafes are an array of sensors. Some let drivers know where street parking is available, others trigger park irrigation systems when soil dries out or inform police when an outdoor gathering turns rowdy.
A retooled bus system uses natural gas/electric hybrids and solar panels on shelters, which also are equipped with Wi-Fi, USB ports and interactive screens with tourist information. LED streetlights with motion sensors lower energy use. And the city hosts an extensive network of Wi-Fi hot spots. In all, more than 20 smart-city programs are under way.
"Barcelona is and was a showcase," said Juan Blanco, business development director for southern Europe at Cisco, an early partner in Barcelona's efforts. While the city represents a small slice of business for the Silicon Valley networking giant, it serves as a living showroom for potential clients around the world, he said.
Chicago and its corporate and academic partners on smart-city initiatives hanker to play the same sort of "test bed" role on this side of the Atlantic. "Chicago, like so many other cities, is facing some truly intractable problems that can be solved not by existing technologies but by new technologies that are being invented now," said Brenna Berman, the city's chief information officer.
Brenna Berman
Brenna Berman, Chicago's chief information officer, on Feb. 25, 2015. (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
As Adam Hecktman, Microsoft's director of technology and civic innovation for Chicago, put it: "If we can solve problems here in Chicago, then we can scale that to other cities."
Microsoft is a partner on a key collaboration here, City Digital, which in September launched two pilot projects. One uses sensors to test "green" ways to curtail urban flooding. The other uses sonar technology to produce virtual maps of the mess of cables and pipes beneath the city's streets, a potentially valuable tool for construction crews. The endeavor, part of the city's year-old UI Labs research consortium, is housed in a former window factory in the Goose Island industrial hub.
City Digital hopes its flood-control findings will help guide the city as it invests $50 million over five years on infrastructure designed to reduce the flow of pollution into the Chicago River and Lake Michigan, said Steve Fifita, executive director of City Digital.
"That's exactly why we're doing this kind of pilot — to inform the decision," he said, gazing out of the lab's soaring front windows as rain fell on a lightly planted mound of dirt, or "bioswale," that was being monitored for its ability to absorb and filter precipitation.
Chicago is hardly alone among American cities rolling out smart-city initiatives, though observers say it is one of the most aggressive. New York is moving on multiple fronts, including plans to turn 7,500 payphone booths into Wi-Fi hot spots. Boston offers a cellphone app for reporting neighborhood problems and is installing solar-powered park benches that function as outdoor charging stations and collectors of data on air quality and noise.
In September, President Barack Obama's administration committed $160 million for data-driven efforts across the country to reduce traffic congestion, fight crime, foster economic growth, manage the effects of climate change and improve city services. Chicago's Array of Things project was among the recipients, with a $3.1 million grant from the National Science Foundation.
Sensors at Argonne
A sensor box testing unit is placed on a building as part of the Array of Things project at Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
To a large extent, the U.S. is playing catch-up to Europe and Asia, earlier adopters of the smart-city trend, which was fostered by IBM and other tech multinationals during the recession, when corporate business was tailing off.
"By its nature, it's a conservative market," said Eric Woods, research director for Navigant Research, which tracks the clean-tech sector. "Cities are not flooded with money, so cities either have to find additional funding or new models that allow them to invest in these technologies, like energy savings or public-private partnerships."
Navigant estimates the smart-city market will be worth $12.1 billion this year, rising to $27.5 billion annually by 2023. What it will be worth to cities and their residents remains an open question.
In Barcelona, for instance, the economy has improved since smart-city efforts began in the recessionary years, but much of the progress is tied to broader trends in Spain and the European Union, said Jonathan Wareham, dean of faculty and research at ESADE Business & Law Schools at Ramon Llull University in Barcelona. "Is there a correlation between smart cities and economic recovery? Yes. Is there a causal link? I would be more doubtful about that.
"If you ask someone in London," Wareham continued, "if they are planning a trip to Barcelona because it's a smart city, they would say, 'What?'"
Still, Wareham believes smart-city initiatives hold promise if they are tackling serious problems rather than taking a "cute" path to apps for tourists. "Some of it's just bells and whistles and gimmicky things, like knowing when the bus is going to come or knowing how far down the street this cafe is. It's in the nice-to-have category but nothing that the mobile app industry isn't addressing anyway," he said.
Chicago appears to be taking the more sober route, he said.
In addition to the Array of Things project, which will roll out 500 monitoring devices between this summer and the end of 2017, and City Digital, which plans more research into infrastructure-related issues, the city of Chicago has used data analytics to streamline its restaurant inspection and rat-baiting programs.
"You can use predictive analytics anywhere that cities have a shortage of resources, which is everywhere," said Berman, who is commissioner of the city's Department of Innovation and Technology, which employs two data engineers and gets pro bono help from corporations such as Allstate.
Much of the smart-city work underway in cash-strapped Chicago wouldn't have been feasible without outside help. The Array of Things project relies on its $3.1 million National Science Foundation grant and about $2 million in internal research funding from Argonne, with the city providing sites for the monitors and electricians to mount the devices.
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory near Lemont on April 4, 2016. (Antonio Perez / Chicago Tribune)
The City Digital projects at UI Labs, meanwhile, are supported by corporate membership fees as well as project assistance from corporate and academic partners, with the city providing test sites and some technical assistance. The future of smart-city work depends on such collaborations holding up and growing, which is not a guaranteed outcome.
One major challenge will be how to handle the intellectual property that is developed, Siemens executive Dave Hopping told civic and business leaders at a City Club luncheon last summer. Siemens is among the corporate and academic partners who work together on City Digital projects, with the aim of devising technologies that can be commercialized.
"You bring a lot of companies to the table, some big, some small, and you're going to create something new," he said. "Who owns that? How do you share in the success of that? That's one of the risk topics if we don't figure that out."
Fifita, of City Digital, said those arrangements are made on a project-by-project basis.
A second issue is whether residents will welcome the Array of Things monitoring devices in their neighborhoods, particularly since they include a downward-facing camera that will track not just flooding, but pedestrian and vehicular traffic.
Array of Things
One of two data sensor nodes in the city used in 2013 to collect the atmospherics and movement of people hangs on the exterior of the Logan Center at the University of Chicago. (Anthony Souffle / Chicago Tribune)
In an effort to protect privacy, the cameras are designed to capture shapes but not distinguishing details. Data will be gleaned from the images within the individual monitoring device, then the images will be destroyed, said Argonne senior computer scientist and project leader Charlie Catlett. Any additional sensors or cameras added to the monitoring boxes in the future will have to be reviewed by a National Science Foundation-funded independent panel, he said.
But a prominent privacy advocate remains concerned.
"Smart cities is a very double-edged concept," said Lee Tien, senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation and adviser to Chicago's project. "The idea is to capture more data and utilize more data about what's going on in a city. By definition, unless you exclude people, that is the same as conducting more surveillance."
It is critical that the city devise a strong privacy policy and clear governance structure, he said. "Who says 'no' to the cops if they want to do something against the privacy principle?"
Lane Tech students work on Array of Things-related projects
Students at Lane Tech High School devise sensor kits to gather data on school life as part of a six-week curriculum that ties into the city’s Array of Things environmental sensor initiative.
The city will unveil a privacy policy, a governance structure and a data management policy in mid- to late May, Berman said, adding that there will be public hearings before they are finalized.
But the city already is working to get the word out, with its first beachhead at Lane Tech High School, where nearly 150 computer science students are building their own sensing devices — part of a six-week curriculum devised by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Urban Center for Computation and Data at the University of Chicago and Argonne. The plan is to share the program with other schools.
In a lab filled with laser cutters, 3-D carvers and power tools, groups of students hunch over small wooden or acrylic boxes filled with sensors and wires, figuring out how to track the temperature and humidity outside the pool's door, the gases present in the lunchroom or the traffic in the staircases.
For Kameron Jackson, a sophomore from the Kenwood neighborhood who aspires to be an engineer, the project has been an eye-opener.
"It was more difficult than I imagined because there's a lot of errors you encounter along the way that you really don't prepare for," Jackson said. "You've got to be quick on your feet to assess the situation and figure out a solution."
Sensor restart
Lane Tech students Rafael Trinidad, from left, Misael Jaimes and Konrad Rula restart their humidity, temperature, hydrogen, carbon and methane sensor in the school's lunchroom on April 7, 2016. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)
Those lessons likely will apply to Chicago as well as it pursues its smart-city strategies. O'Neil, of the Smart Chicago Collaborative, suggests the city and its partners keep their eyes on one overarching goal.
"I find immense value in what they are doing (but) I continue to drive them, and drive all of us and anyone in the smart-cities movement, to work harder at finding out how we can make lives better," he said. "I continue to have consternation at how all this fits together."
kbergen@tribpub.com
Copyright © 2016, Chicago Tribune
A version of this article appeared in print on May 01, 2016, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Will making Chicago a `smart city' make it a better city?" — Today's paper | Subscribe
ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2023. Rome, the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argetina - From ancient Ruins to Feline Haven: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your CatNip." The archaeological site re-opens to the public after a decade of Archaeological & Architectural Restortion works. The New York Times, REUTERS (20 June 2022) & ArchaeoReporter / (20/06/2023). Also: Dr. Marina Mattei; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012) & Dr. M. Mattei; in: CNN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012). wp.me/pbMWvy-499
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490026
1). ROME - Friends, Tourists, Countrymen, See Where Julius Caesar Was Killed
The site where Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C., nestled among four ancient temples, has been opened to the public for the first time in a century. The New York Times (20 June 2023).
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient / modern center of Rome, with the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina [4th thru 2nd centuries B.C.?] (on the far-left); with the nearby site of the ancient Theatre of Pompey (Theatrum Pompeii = Teatro di Pompeo) [61-55 B.C.] complex located in the center to the far-right. The ruins of the cavea or the seating area of the theater (the curved area) influenced the later construction of the overlying historic buildings of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, which is clearly seen in the aerial view to the far-right. Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990492546
For nearly a century, only cats (and presumably the rats they kept at bay) had free rein over an ancient archaeological site in the heart of central Rome. They would prowl among the ruins and preen for the tourists who gathered along the balustrades above, cellphones and cameras in hand.
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina with the new public walkway constructed and facing the ruins of the four-ancient Roman temple (= A, B, C & D). Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490086
But as of Tuesday, human visitors were allowed for the first time to descend and get a better glimpse of the site, believed to be where Julius Caesar was brutally assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C. The spot is nestled in an area with four temples, rare remnants of the Roman Republic, dating from the fourth to the first centuries B.C.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina as shown in the 24 hour live webcamera overlooking the ruins, the foto shows the area on (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time]. Source: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023) [see below].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990625434
The full site, called the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina, is the latest addition to Rome’s rich archaeological offerings. The Italian capital’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said at the inauguration on Monday that the attraction would add “tremendous value to a city that never ceases to amaze with its treasures and wonders.” Rome was discovering “its history to the fullest,” he added.
Foto: ROME – Former Mayor of Rome, Ms. Virginia Raggi (22 June 2016 – 21 October 2021) along with other staff members of the City of Rome, on 18 Feb., 2018, initiate the start of the later archaeological / architectural restoration work within the l’area sacra di Largo Argentina. Source: Ms. Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853150
--- ROMA - Rinasce l'area sacra di Largo Argentina. Il sito archeologico, nel centro di Roma, sarà di nuovo accessibile a romani e turisti; in: Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018). twitter.com/virginiaraggi/status/1097537131113791489
There is no X-marks-the-spot where Julius Caesar met his bloody end on — as tradition and the Shakespeare play “Julius Caesar” would have it — the Ides of March, about the 15th day of the month. The spot contains just a jumble of limestone rocks, bricks and tufts of grass.
That might surprise some, said the archaeologist Monica Ceci, who oversees the site.
Visitors “may have a hard time imagining this, because the Shakespearean drama induces you to think that the murder was in the forum,” she said.
Caesar was actually assassinated at the Curia of Pompey, a large rectangular meeting hall where the Senate of Rome met occasionally. The emperor Augustus later declared the hall a “locus sceleratus,” or “cursed place,” and it was walled up.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945653
But Shakespeare “could get away with” a little artistic license, Ms. Ceci laughed.
On the opposite side of the site, marble decorations and sculptures, for decades stored unseen in Rome’s archaeological warehouses, have been displayed in a long hall under the modern-day street. “It’s one thing to keep them in order on shelves, quite another to tell the history of this site through these fragments,” Ms. Ceci said.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArcheoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489991
Irina Lumsden, a data engineer visiting Rome from Melbourne, Australia, said that the site was transporting. “It’s amazing, you get such a feeling of ancient time here,” she said “They’ve done a great job of conserving the site.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945658
The area was rediscovered during excavations from 1926 to 1929, when the square was being demolished to make way for new buildings. The four temples unearthed were initially labeled with the first four letters of the alphabet because archaeologists were unsure which temples they had uncovered. Now they have been tentatively identified, though there is still scholarly debate: the Temple of Juturna, after a goddess of fountains, wells and springs, dating from the mid-third century B.C.; the Temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, or Fortune of the Present Day, built in the second century B.C.; the Temple of Feronia, a goddess of fertility, built about the end of the fourth century B.C.; and the Temple of Lares Permarini, dedicated to the protectors of navigation, or according to others to the Nymphs, and constructed in the early second century B.C.
— ROME – The Sacred Area of Largo Argentina with the three temples in series: Temple of Juturna, Temple of Fortuna and Temple of Feronia / ROMA – L’area Sacra di Largo Argentina con i tre templi in serie: Tempio di Giuturna, Tempio della Fortuna e Tempio di Feronia; in: Atavistic / FB (02 April 2021).
www.facebook.com/atavisticapp/posts/pfbid02UZniVUvokzf9rG...
After a fire devastated this part of Rome in A.D. 80, the emperor Domitian restored the temples and a travertine slab floor, still visible, was built on top of the surrounding rubble.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853100
Over the centuries, the area underwent various further transformations, remaining buried until the excavations in the 1920s. City officials at the time immediately understood the value of the archaeological find, and the site was closed off, to be admired only from above.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989888987
Monica Baraschi, a volunteer with a cat sanctuary that abuts one corner of the ancient site, said that even the feline residents — there were 86, she said — would feel some benefits from the opening up of the spot and the arrival of visitors.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945673
“They’ll get cuddled and caressed — the cats will be happy,” she said.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853110
In the past, there has been friction between archaeologists and the sanctuary (= ROME JOURNAL - Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11 - www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/world/europe/rome-drawn-into-t...). Ms. Ceci, the archaeologist, said that the cats had been “good workmates” during the two years that the site was undergoing work to prepare for the opening.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11.
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853115
Visitors on the first day also seemed glad to see a bit of ancient Rome up close. Simeon Peebler, a software engineer from Chicago, said, “In a world of virtual-reality experiences, to have a real reality experience is amazing.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489996
Romans were equally delighted. Sandro Lubattelli, a retired computer engineer and his wife, Rossana Cipressi, a retired teacher, said that they had spent a lifetime looking at the site from above and were thrilled to finally be able to go in.
“We always wondered why it was closed,” Mr. Lubattelli said. “We’re in seventh heaven.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853130
Note: A correction was made on June 20, 2023: Because of an editing error, a capsule summary with an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the role of Julius Caesar. He was a general and a political leader, but not emperor.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490006
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889017
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945618
Fonte / source:
--- The New York Times (20 June 2023).
www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/world/europe/rome-julius-caesa...
Fonte / source, Video & foto:
— ROMA – L’area sacra fatale a Giulio Cesare, visitabili finalmente i templi repubblicani di Largo Argentina; in: ArchaeoReporter / YouTube (20/06/2023) [04:05].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZT0eN6NK-Y
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889007
2). ROME - "Et tu, Brute?" - Rome to open ancient square where Julius Caesar was killed. REUTERS (20 June 2022).
ROME, June 19 (Reuters) - History buffs will be able to stroll close to the spot where legend says Julius Caesar met his bloody end, when Rome authorities open a new walkway on the ancient site on Tuesday.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945628
Accounts, embellished by William Shakespeare, tell how the Roman dictator was stabbed to death by a group of aggrieved senators on the Ides of March - March 15 - in 44 BC.
According to tradition, he died in the capital's central Largo Argentina square - home to the remains of four temples.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945583
They are all currently below street level and up until recently could only be viewed from behind barriers close to a busy road junction.
From Tuesday, visitors will be able to move through the site at ground level on the walkway and see the structures up close.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889047
Italian fashion house Bulgari funded the work at a site that was first discovered and excavated during building work in Rome in the 1920s.
— ROME – Interview Italian Archaeologist Marina Mattei, the Largo Argentina; Rome, Italy; in: CCN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012) [2:57].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaV14fTHB5c
The area - close to where Caesar is supposed to have exclaimed "Et tu, Brute?" as he saw his friend Brutus among his murderers - is these days also home to a sanctuary for stray cats.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945643
Fonte / source, foto & Video:
— ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q39bZmfvHms
Fonte / source:
--- REUTERS (20 June 2022).
www.reuters.com/world/europe/rome-open-ancient-square-whe...
Fonte / source, foto:
— ROMA – Roma – Largo di Torre Argentina Live webcam / Veduta delle rovine romane dell’Area Sacra di Largo Argentina a Roma; in: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time].
www.skylinewebcams.com/it/webcam/italia/lazio/roma/roma-l...
The Worst Health Scam on the Internet Today!
thehealthyskeptics.com/worst-health-scam-on-the-internet/
Hello, this is the healthy skeptics video for Thursday, February 20 second. I'm Steven Cherniskei. Uh, I promised that I would announce the winner of the, of the worst health, skimp on the Internet. And I know that some of you have your own favorite worst health site. Um, and so tell me if you think you got one that's worse than mine, but here's, here's my, my nominee for the worst health site. It starts with something like this, five acidic foods you should never eat, right? So it's as dire warning that there are foods and that will cause you to fall apart and you click on that and so you get to, you get to where you can sign up for a free program. It tells you that over 19,000 people have already signed up for this program. I don't doubt that because the scam has been running for over a year on multiple sites.
So you're definitely going to see it if you click on that, but you get is a video and they videotape to alkaline foods.net alkaline foods. Dot Net starts with a video. This is what unhealthy blood looks like. Whenever you see a picture of a slide of unhealthy blood or it's all brown and ugly, you know you're looking at a scam. A live blood analysis is very, very often used to scam you into sell products. I've seen it happening in health. Joseph seen it happening in, in, in health professionals offices. Why? Blood analysis is valuable when it's being used by a train hematologists, but with someone you know, kind of basically just looking at blood under a sliding, going to tell you without any training whatsoever what all that means. It's a scam and in this case the slide is being read by a just because this comes up on the screen right after she tells you what's what horrible stuff is going to happen when your blood looks like that.
She says, I'm Emma DeAngela, I'll be sharing your secret with you. The problem is what? Emma DeAngela is a fabrication. She's a non entity invented by a marketing company in Singapore. She does not exist. Not only is she not a treating hematologists, she doesn't even exist. She was invented by a marketing company and she is all over the internet or the, the image or the voice of angels all over the Internet. Long ago, I mean years ago, um, my wife and I, when we were starting to healthy skeptics, I was scratching my head wondering whether this woman even existed, um, and, and my wife said, well, you know, let's, let's write to them and invite her to be on our show. And we did a and we got no response and we sent another letter saying, we're willing to pay a lot of money for Angela to be on our show.
She doesn't have to come to Olympia, Washington. We can do it, you know, if they're a zoom. And we offered a lot of money for her to actually appear on the show. And of course, still no response because she does not exist. Now, when you click on research on the, on that site, here's what you get, what the scientific community is has to say about the alkaline diet right now. Look at this. They get it into the frame here talking about, about Kirsten dunst. Anthony Robbins. Gwyneth paltrow, that's their scientific community now. I'll bet. I'll bet the Christine does. Gwyneth paltrow and Tony Romm was our, I'll bet that they have not given their permission for their images and names to be used by stm outside. Um, and so if you are one of those people, when you feel like getting a of them, um, be my guest now, it gets even worse of course.
Um, and that is the Emma DeAngela phenomenon has spread now to other sites. Another one that you might see on your news feed is called Diet Sage, right? And what is she saying there? Six essential oils that may help cure cancer. Cancer is a Buzzword, obviously essential oils as a very big topic, which we'll talk about in the future on this show, but essential oils to cure cancer. Each one of the essential oils that she identifies, right? The research has been done what? In a test tube or a petri dish. So if you take the cancer cells in a petri dish and you expose them directly to essential oils, they usually contain compounds that are fairly cytotoxic. It doesn't surprise me that in a petri dish you would either reduce the growth of those cells or possibly even kill them. Great. Does that mean anything? No, it doesn't mean anything.
You can pour gasoline on those sales and it would kill all of them. Immediately does. I mean we should drink, so we rub gasoline and the bottoms of her feet. No, so we have to understand that the, the, the killing cancer cells in a petri dish is a good start, but in order to understand any relevance to human health, you have to take that information and then you have to feed those compounds to a lab rat and see if it has any effect when those compounds are ingested. To see something in a petri dish is meaningless unless you do the hard work. Now, in this case, no one has done the hard work. Everybody's just out there saying, oh, it's because I recorded on a petri dish than the sales. The proliferating. Then it must be a cure for cancer is unconscionable. In other words, it is unconscionable and this is what's happening on the Internet every day. Thousands and thousands of people getting sucked in to these scams, right, and I think the empty Angela is the worst. If you got one that's even worse, let me hear about it because it will bring it up on healthy skeptics, but for now this is data engineers. You signing off and hoping you've got. You've got a wonderful weekend ahead of you. You can check out all of our videos that the healthy skeptics.com, the ld skeptics facebook page, or the healthy skeptics youtube channel. Bye for now.
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
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Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2023. Rome, the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argetina - From ancient Ruins to Feline Haven: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your CatNip." The archaeological site re-opens to the public after a decade of Archaeological & Architectural Restortion works. The New York Times, REUTERS (20 June 2022) & ArchaeoReporter / (20/06/2023). Also: Dr. Marina Mattei; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012) & Dr. M. Mattei; in: CNN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012). wp.me/pbMWvy-499
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490026
1). ROME - Friends, Tourists, Countrymen, See Where Julius Caesar Was Killed
The site where Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C., nestled among four ancient temples, has been opened to the public for the first time in a century. The New York Times (20 June 2023).
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient / modern center of Rome, with the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina [4th thru 2nd centuries B.C.?] (on the far-left); with the nearby site of the ancient Theatre of Pompey (Theatrum Pompeii = Teatro di Pompeo) [61-55 B.C.] complex located in the center to the far-right. The ruins of the cavea or the seating area of the theater (the curved area) influenced the later construction of the overlying historic buildings of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, which is clearly seen in the aerial view to the far-right. Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990492546
For nearly a century, only cats (and presumably the rats they kept at bay) had free rein over an ancient archaeological site in the heart of central Rome. They would prowl among the ruins and preen for the tourists who gathered along the balustrades above, cellphones and cameras in hand.
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina with the new public walkway constructed and facing the ruins of the four-ancient Roman temple (= A, B, C & D). Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490086
But as of Tuesday, human visitors were allowed for the first time to descend and get a better glimpse of the site, believed to be where Julius Caesar was brutally assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C. The spot is nestled in an area with four temples, rare remnants of the Roman Republic, dating from the fourth to the first centuries B.C.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina as shown in the 24 hour live webcamera overlooking the ruins, the foto shows the area on (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time]. Source: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023) [see below].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990625434
The full site, called the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina, is the latest addition to Rome’s rich archaeological offerings. The Italian capital’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said at the inauguration on Monday that the attraction would add “tremendous value to a city that never ceases to amaze with its treasures and wonders.” Rome was discovering “its history to the fullest,” he added.
Foto: ROME – Former Mayor of Rome, Ms. Virginia Raggi (22 June 2016 – 21 October 2021) along with other staff members of the City of Rome, on 18 Feb., 2018, initiate the start of the later archaeological / architectural restoration work within the l’area sacra di Largo Argentina. Source: Ms. Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853150
--- ROMA - Rinasce l'area sacra di Largo Argentina. Il sito archeologico, nel centro di Roma, sarà di nuovo accessibile a romani e turisti; in: Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018). twitter.com/virginiaraggi/status/1097537131113791489
There is no X-marks-the-spot where Julius Caesar met his bloody end on — as tradition and the Shakespeare play “Julius Caesar” would have it — the Ides of March, about the 15th day of the month. The spot contains just a jumble of limestone rocks, bricks and tufts of grass.
That might surprise some, said the archaeologist Monica Ceci, who oversees the site.
Visitors “may have a hard time imagining this, because the Shakespearean drama induces you to think that the murder was in the forum,” she said.
Caesar was actually assassinated at the Curia of Pompey, a large rectangular meeting hall where the Senate of Rome met occasionally. The emperor Augustus later declared the hall a “locus sceleratus,” or “cursed place,” and it was walled up.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945653
But Shakespeare “could get away with” a little artistic license, Ms. Ceci laughed.
On the opposite side of the site, marble decorations and sculptures, for decades stored unseen in Rome’s archaeological warehouses, have been displayed in a long hall under the modern-day street. “It’s one thing to keep them in order on shelves, quite another to tell the history of this site through these fragments,” Ms. Ceci said.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArcheoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489991
Irina Lumsden, a data engineer visiting Rome from Melbourne, Australia, said that the site was transporting. “It’s amazing, you get such a feeling of ancient time here,” she said “They’ve done a great job of conserving the site.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945658
The area was rediscovered during excavations from 1926 to 1929, when the square was being demolished to make way for new buildings. The four temples unearthed were initially labeled with the first four letters of the alphabet because archaeologists were unsure which temples they had uncovered. Now they have been tentatively identified, though there is still scholarly debate: the Temple of Juturna, after a goddess of fountains, wells and springs, dating from the mid-third century B.C.; the Temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, or Fortune of the Present Day, built in the second century B.C.; the Temple of Feronia, a goddess of fertility, built about the end of the fourth century B.C.; and the Temple of Lares Permarini, dedicated to the protectors of navigation, or according to others to the Nymphs, and constructed in the early second century B.C.
— ROME – The Sacred Area of Largo Argentina with the three temples in series: Temple of Juturna, Temple of Fortuna and Temple of Feronia / ROMA – L’area Sacra di Largo Argentina con i tre templi in serie: Tempio di Giuturna, Tempio della Fortuna e Tempio di Feronia; in: Atavistic / FB (02 April 2021).
www.facebook.com/atavisticapp/posts/pfbid02UZniVUvokzf9rG...
After a fire devastated this part of Rome in A.D. 80, the emperor Domitian restored the temples and a travertine slab floor, still visible, was built on top of the surrounding rubble.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853100
Over the centuries, the area underwent various further transformations, remaining buried until the excavations in the 1920s. City officials at the time immediately understood the value of the archaeological find, and the site was closed off, to be admired only from above.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989888987
Monica Baraschi, a volunteer with a cat sanctuary that abuts one corner of the ancient site, said that even the feline residents — there were 86, she said — would feel some benefits from the opening up of the spot and the arrival of visitors.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945673
“They’ll get cuddled and caressed — the cats will be happy,” she said.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853110
In the past, there has been friction between archaeologists and the sanctuary (= ROME JOURNAL - Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11 - www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/world/europe/rome-drawn-into-t...). Ms. Ceci, the archaeologist, said that the cats had been “good workmates” during the two years that the site was undergoing work to prepare for the opening.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11.
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853115
Visitors on the first day also seemed glad to see a bit of ancient Rome up close. Simeon Peebler, a software engineer from Chicago, said, “In a world of virtual-reality experiences, to have a real reality experience is amazing.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489996
Romans were equally delighted. Sandro Lubattelli, a retired computer engineer and his wife, Rossana Cipressi, a retired teacher, said that they had spent a lifetime looking at the site from above and were thrilled to finally be able to go in.
“We always wondered why it was closed,” Mr. Lubattelli said. “We’re in seventh heaven.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853130
Note: A correction was made on June 20, 2023: Because of an editing error, a capsule summary with an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the role of Julius Caesar. He was a general and a political leader, but not emperor.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490006
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889017
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945618
Fonte / source:
--- The New York Times (20 June 2023).
www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/world/europe/rome-julius-caesa...
Fonte / source, Video & foto:
— ROMA – L’area sacra fatale a Giulio Cesare, visitabili finalmente i templi repubblicani di Largo Argentina; in: ArchaeoReporter / YouTube (20/06/2023) [04:05].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZT0eN6NK-Y
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889007
2). ROME - "Et tu, Brute?" - Rome to open ancient square where Julius Caesar was killed. REUTERS (20 June 2022).
ROME, June 19 (Reuters) - History buffs will be able to stroll close to the spot where legend says Julius Caesar met his bloody end, when Rome authorities open a new walkway on the ancient site on Tuesday.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945628
Accounts, embellished by William Shakespeare, tell how the Roman dictator was stabbed to death by a group of aggrieved senators on the Ides of March - March 15 - in 44 BC.
According to tradition, he died in the capital's central Largo Argentina square - home to the remains of four temples.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945583
They are all currently below street level and up until recently could only be viewed from behind barriers close to a busy road junction.
From Tuesday, visitors will be able to move through the site at ground level on the walkway and see the structures up close.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889047
Italian fashion house Bulgari funded the work at a site that was first discovered and excavated during building work in Rome in the 1920s.
— ROME – Interview Italian Archaeologist Marina Mattei, the Largo Argentina; Rome, Italy; in: CCN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012) [2:57].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaV14fTHB5c
The area - close to where Caesar is supposed to have exclaimed "Et tu, Brute?" as he saw his friend Brutus among his murderers - is these days also home to a sanctuary for stray cats.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945643
Fonte / source, foto & Video:
— ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q39bZmfvHms
Fonte / source:
--- REUTERS (20 June 2022).
www.reuters.com/world/europe/rome-open-ancient-square-whe...
Fonte / source, foto:
— ROMA – Roma – Largo di Torre Argentina Live webcam / Veduta delle rovine romane dell’Area Sacra di Largo Argentina a Roma; in: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time].
www.skylinewebcams.com/it/webcam/italia/lazio/roma/roma-l...
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
JSC2000-E-02628 PIA#2707 (Release Date: 16 February 2000) --- This perspective shows the western side of the volcanically active Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. The data are from the first C-band mapping swath of the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). In the foreground is the broad, flat floodplain of the Amanina River, shown in blue. In background of the image is the Sredinnyy Khrebet, the volcanic mountain range that makes up the "spine" of the peninsula. The cluster of hills in the upper right is a field of small dormant volcanoes. High resolution SRTM topographic data will be used by geologists to study how volcanoes form and understand the hazards posed by future eruptions. This shaded relief perspective view was generated using topographic data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. A computer-generated artificial light source illuminates the elevation data to produce a pattern of light and shadows. Slopes facing the light appear bright, while those facing away are shaded. On flatter surfaces, the pattern of light and shadows can reveal subtle features in the terrain. Colors show the elevation as measured by SRTM. Colors range from blue at the lowest elevations to white at the highest elevations. This image contains about 2300 meters (7500 feet) of total relief. To emphasize subtle differences in topography, the relief is exaggerated by a factor of 5. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM), launched on February 11, 2000, uses the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. The mission is designed to collect three-dimensional measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter-long (200-foot) mast, an additional C-band imaging antenna and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) and the German (DLR) and Italian (ASI) space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, DC. Size: 80 km (50 miles) x 100 km (62 miles) Location: 57.5 deg. North lat., 158.8 deg. East lon. Orientation: View toward the East Data Resolution: 30 meters (99 feet) Date Acquired: February 12, 2000 Image: NASA/JPL/NIMA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
Engineers are preparing to test the parachute system for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. During the test, planned for Wednesday, Aug. 26, a C-17 aircraft will carry a representative Orion capsule to 35,000 feet in altitude and then drop it from its cargo bay. Engineers will test a scenario in which one of Orion’s two drogue parachutes, used to stabilize it in the air, does not deploy, and one of its three main parachutes, used to slow the capsule during the final stage of descent, also does not deploy. The risky test will provide data engineers will use as they gear up to qualify Orion’s parachutes for missions with astronauts. On Aug. 24, a C-17 was loaded with the test version of Orion, which has a similar mass and interfaces with the parachutes as the Orion being developed for deep space missions but is shorter on top to fit inside the aircraft.
Photo: Radislav Sinyak / NASA
ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2023. Rome, the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argetina - From ancient Ruins to Feline Haven: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your CatNip." The archaeological site re-opens to the public after a decade of Archaeological & Architectural Restortion works. The New York Times, REUTERS (20 June 2022) & ArchaeoReporter / (20/06/2023). Also: Dr. Marina Mattei; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012) & Dr. M. Mattei; in: CNN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012). wp.me/pbMWvy-499
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490026
1). ROME - Friends, Tourists, Countrymen, See Where Julius Caesar Was Killed
The site where Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C., nestled among four ancient temples, has been opened to the public for the first time in a century. The New York Times (20 June 2023).
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient / modern center of Rome, with the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina [4th thru 2nd centuries B.C.?] (on the far-left); with the nearby site of the ancient Theatre of Pompey (Theatrum Pompeii = Teatro di Pompeo) [61-55 B.C.] complex located in the center to the far-right. The ruins of the cavea or the seating area of the theater (the curved area) influenced the later construction of the overlying historic buildings of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, which is clearly seen in the aerial view to the far-right. Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990492546
For nearly a century, only cats (and presumably the rats they kept at bay) had free rein over an ancient archaeological site in the heart of central Rome. They would prowl among the ruins and preen for the tourists who gathered along the balustrades above, cellphones and cameras in hand.
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina with the new public walkway constructed and facing the ruins of the four-ancient Roman temple (= A, B, C & D). Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490086
But as of Tuesday, human visitors were allowed for the first time to descend and get a better glimpse of the site, believed to be where Julius Caesar was brutally assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C. The spot is nestled in an area with four temples, rare remnants of the Roman Republic, dating from the fourth to the first centuries B.C.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina as shown in the 24 hour live webcamera overlooking the ruins, the foto shows the area on (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time]. Source: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023) [see below].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990625434
The full site, called the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina, is the latest addition to Rome’s rich archaeological offerings. The Italian capital’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said at the inauguration on Monday that the attraction would add “tremendous value to a city that never ceases to amaze with its treasures and wonders.” Rome was discovering “its history to the fullest,” he added.
Foto: ROME – Former Mayor of Rome, Ms. Virginia Raggi (22 June 2016 – 21 October 2021) along with other staff members of the City of Rome, on 18 Feb., 2018, initiate the start of the later archaeological / architectural restoration work within the l’area sacra di Largo Argentina. Source: Ms. Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853150
--- ROMA - Rinasce l'area sacra di Largo Argentina. Il sito archeologico, nel centro di Roma, sarà di nuovo accessibile a romani e turisti; in: Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018). twitter.com/virginiaraggi/status/1097537131113791489
There is no X-marks-the-spot where Julius Caesar met his bloody end on — as tradition and the Shakespeare play “Julius Caesar” would have it — the Ides of March, about the 15th day of the month. The spot contains just a jumble of limestone rocks, bricks and tufts of grass.
That might surprise some, said the archaeologist Monica Ceci, who oversees the site.
Visitors “may have a hard time imagining this, because the Shakespearean drama induces you to think that the murder was in the forum,” she said.
Caesar was actually assassinated at the Curia of Pompey, a large rectangular meeting hall where the Senate of Rome met occasionally. The emperor Augustus later declared the hall a “locus sceleratus,” or “cursed place,” and it was walled up.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945653
But Shakespeare “could get away with” a little artistic license, Ms. Ceci laughed.
On the opposite side of the site, marble decorations and sculptures, for decades stored unseen in Rome’s archaeological warehouses, have been displayed in a long hall under the modern-day street. “It’s one thing to keep them in order on shelves, quite another to tell the history of this site through these fragments,” Ms. Ceci said.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArcheoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489991
Irina Lumsden, a data engineer visiting Rome from Melbourne, Australia, said that the site was transporting. “It’s amazing, you get such a feeling of ancient time here,” she said “They’ve done a great job of conserving the site.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945658
The area was rediscovered during excavations from 1926 to 1929, when the square was being demolished to make way for new buildings. The four temples unearthed were initially labeled with the first four letters of the alphabet because archaeologists were unsure which temples they had uncovered. Now they have been tentatively identified, though there is still scholarly debate: the Temple of Juturna, after a goddess of fountains, wells and springs, dating from the mid-third century B.C.; the Temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, or Fortune of the Present Day, built in the second century B.C.; the Temple of Feronia, a goddess of fertility, built about the end of the fourth century B.C.; and the Temple of Lares Permarini, dedicated to the protectors of navigation, or according to others to the Nymphs, and constructed in the early second century B.C.
— ROME – The Sacred Area of Largo Argentina with the three temples in series: Temple of Juturna, Temple of Fortuna and Temple of Feronia / ROMA – L’area Sacra di Largo Argentina con i tre templi in serie: Tempio di Giuturna, Tempio della Fortuna e Tempio di Feronia; in: Atavistic / FB (02 April 2021).
www.facebook.com/atavisticapp/posts/pfbid02UZniVUvokzf9rG...
After a fire devastated this part of Rome in A.D. 80, the emperor Domitian restored the temples and a travertine slab floor, still visible, was built on top of the surrounding rubble.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853100
Over the centuries, the area underwent various further transformations, remaining buried until the excavations in the 1920s. City officials at the time immediately understood the value of the archaeological find, and the site was closed off, to be admired only from above.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989888987
Monica Baraschi, a volunteer with a cat sanctuary that abuts one corner of the ancient site, said that even the feline residents — there were 86, she said — would feel some benefits from the opening up of the spot and the arrival of visitors.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945673
“They’ll get cuddled and caressed — the cats will be happy,” she said.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853110
In the past, there has been friction between archaeologists and the sanctuary (= ROME JOURNAL - Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11 - www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/world/europe/rome-drawn-into-t...). Ms. Ceci, the archaeologist, said that the cats had been “good workmates” during the two years that the site was undergoing work to prepare for the opening.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11.
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853115
Visitors on the first day also seemed glad to see a bit of ancient Rome up close. Simeon Peebler, a software engineer from Chicago, said, “In a world of virtual-reality experiences, to have a real reality experience is amazing.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489996
Romans were equally delighted. Sandro Lubattelli, a retired computer engineer and his wife, Rossana Cipressi, a retired teacher, said that they had spent a lifetime looking at the site from above and were thrilled to finally be able to go in.
“We always wondered why it was closed,” Mr. Lubattelli said. “We’re in seventh heaven.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853130
Note: A correction was made on June 20, 2023: Because of an editing error, a capsule summary with an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the role of Julius Caesar. He was a general and a political leader, but not emperor.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490006
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889017
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945618
Fonte / source:
--- The New York Times (20 June 2023).
www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/world/europe/rome-julius-caesa...
Fonte / source, Video & foto:
— ROMA – L’area sacra fatale a Giulio Cesare, visitabili finalmente i templi repubblicani di Largo Argentina; in: ArchaeoReporter / YouTube (20/06/2023) [04:05].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZT0eN6NK-Y
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889007
2). ROME - "Et tu, Brute?" - Rome to open ancient square where Julius Caesar was killed. REUTERS (20 June 2022).
ROME, June 19 (Reuters) - History buffs will be able to stroll close to the spot where legend says Julius Caesar met his bloody end, when Rome authorities open a new walkway on the ancient site on Tuesday.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945628
Accounts, embellished by William Shakespeare, tell how the Roman dictator was stabbed to death by a group of aggrieved senators on the Ides of March - March 15 - in 44 BC.
According to tradition, he died in the capital's central Largo Argentina square - home to the remains of four temples.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945583
They are all currently below street level and up until recently could only be viewed from behind barriers close to a busy road junction.
From Tuesday, visitors will be able to move through the site at ground level on the walkway and see the structures up close.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889047
Italian fashion house Bulgari funded the work at a site that was first discovered and excavated during building work in Rome in the 1920s.
— ROME – Interview Italian Archaeologist Marina Mattei, the Largo Argentina; Rome, Italy; in: CCN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012) [2:57].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaV14fTHB5c
The area - close to where Caesar is supposed to have exclaimed "Et tu, Brute?" as he saw his friend Brutus among his murderers - is these days also home to a sanctuary for stray cats.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945643
Fonte / source, foto & Video:
— ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q39bZmfvHms
Fonte / source:
--- REUTERS (20 June 2022).
www.reuters.com/world/europe/rome-open-ancient-square-whe...
Fonte / source, foto:
— ROMA – Roma – Largo di Torre Argentina Live webcam / Veduta delle rovine romane dell’Area Sacra di Largo Argentina a Roma; in: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time].
www.skylinewebcams.com/it/webcam/italia/lazio/roma/roma-l...
Friday paddock atmosphere at the 2017 WEC round at the Nürburgring: Spirit of Race data engineer choosing a comfy workplace for himself.
Cpl McGee joined 7 Infantry Battalion in 2004. He has since served with 65 Inf Bn, 27 Inf Bn and currently serves with 2 2 Brigade Communications and Information Services. He finished 1st on his Potential NCO course in 2011. He completed the Physical Training Leader course in 2013, the Specialised Instructors Course in 2016 and has instructed on career courses with 2 BTC in 2012, 2016 and 2018. In 2019 he received a Chief of Staff Innovation Award for his work on Project MORIGEN. Cpl McGee is a Senior Data Engineer with Verizon Connect and enjoys running, hiking and all things motorbikes. He and his fiancée Debra recently welcomed baby Maeve into their family.
ROMA ARCHEOLOGICA & RESTAURO ARCHITETTURA 2023. Rome, the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argetina - From ancient Ruins to Feline Haven: "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your CatNip." The archaeological site re-opens to the public after a decade of Archaeological & Architectural Restortion works. The New York Times, REUTERS (20 June 2022) & ArchaeoReporter / (20/06/2023). Also: Dr. Marina Mattei; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012) & Dr. M. Mattei; in: CNN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012). wp.me/pbMWvy-499
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490026
1). ROME - Friends, Tourists, Countrymen, See Where Julius Caesar Was Killed
The site where Caesar was assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C., nestled among four ancient temples, has been opened to the public for the first time in a century. The New York Times (20 June 2023).
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient / modern center of Rome, with the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina [4th thru 2nd centuries B.C.?] (on the far-left); with the nearby site of the ancient Theatre of Pompey (Theatrum Pompeii = Teatro di Pompeo) [61-55 B.C.] complex located in the center to the far-right. The ruins of the cavea or the seating area of the theater (the curved area) influenced the later construction of the overlying historic buildings of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, which is clearly seen in the aerial view to the far-right. Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990492546
For nearly a century, only cats (and presumably the rats they kept at bay) had free rein over an ancient archaeological site in the heart of central Rome. They would prowl among the ruins and preen for the tourists who gathered along the balustrades above, cellphones and cameras in hand.
Foto: ROME – Aerial view of the ancient the ruins / archaeological complex of the Largo di Torre Argentina with the new public walkway constructed and facing the ruins of the four-ancient Roman temple (= A, B, C & D). Source: Google Earth / Maps (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490086
But as of Tuesday, human visitors were allowed for the first time to descend and get a better glimpse of the site, believed to be where Julius Caesar was brutally assassinated by a group of senators in 44 B.C. The spot is nestled in an area with four temples, rare remnants of the Roman Republic, dating from the fourth to the first centuries B.C.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina as shown in the 24 hour live webcamera overlooking the ruins, the foto shows the area on (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time]. Source: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023) [see below].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990625434
The full site, called the Sacred Area of Largo di Torre Argentina, is the latest addition to Rome’s rich archaeological offerings. The Italian capital’s mayor, Roberto Gualtieri, said at the inauguration on Monday that the attraction would add “tremendous value to a city that never ceases to amaze with its treasures and wonders.” Rome was discovering “its history to the fullest,” he added.
Foto: ROME – Former Mayor of Rome, Ms. Virginia Raggi (22 June 2016 – 21 October 2021) along with other staff members of the City of Rome, on 18 Feb., 2018, initiate the start of the later archaeological / architectural restoration work within the l’area sacra di Largo Argentina. Source: Ms. Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853150
--- ROMA - Rinasce l'area sacra di Largo Argentina. Il sito archeologico, nel centro di Roma, sarà di nuovo accessibile a romani e turisti; in: Virginia Raggi / Twitter (18 Feb. 2018). twitter.com/virginiaraggi/status/1097537131113791489
There is no X-marks-the-spot where Julius Caesar met his bloody end on — as tradition and the Shakespeare play “Julius Caesar” would have it — the Ides of March, about the 15th day of the month. The spot contains just a jumble of limestone rocks, bricks and tufts of grass.
That might surprise some, said the archaeologist Monica Ceci, who oversees the site.
Visitors “may have a hard time imagining this, because the Shakespearean drama induces you to think that the murder was in the forum,” she said.
Caesar was actually assassinated at the Curia of Pompey, a large rectangular meeting hall where the Senate of Rome met occasionally. The emperor Augustus later declared the hall a “locus sceleratus,” or “cursed place,” and it was walled up.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945653
But Shakespeare “could get away with” a little artistic license, Ms. Ceci laughed.
On the opposite side of the site, marble decorations and sculptures, for decades stored unseen in Rome’s archaeological warehouses, have been displayed in a long hall under the modern-day street. “It’s one thing to keep them in order on shelves, quite another to tell the history of this site through these fragments,” Ms. Ceci said.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArcheoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489991
Irina Lumsden, a data engineer visiting Rome from Melbourne, Australia, said that the site was transporting. “It’s amazing, you get such a feeling of ancient time here,” she said “They’ve done a great job of conserving the site.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945658
The area was rediscovered during excavations from 1926 to 1929, when the square was being demolished to make way for new buildings. The four temples unearthed were initially labeled with the first four letters of the alphabet because archaeologists were unsure which temples they had uncovered. Now they have been tentatively identified, though there is still scholarly debate: the Temple of Juturna, after a goddess of fountains, wells and springs, dating from the mid-third century B.C.; the Temple of Fortuna Huiusce Diei, or Fortune of the Present Day, built in the second century B.C.; the Temple of Feronia, a goddess of fertility, built about the end of the fourth century B.C.; and the Temple of Lares Permarini, dedicated to the protectors of navigation, or according to others to the Nymphs, and constructed in the early second century B.C.
— ROME – The Sacred Area of Largo Argentina with the three temples in series: Temple of Juturna, Temple of Fortuna and Temple of Feronia / ROMA – L’area Sacra di Largo Argentina con i tre templi in serie: Tempio di Giuturna, Tempio della Fortuna e Tempio di Feronia; in: Atavistic / FB (02 April 2021).
www.facebook.com/atavisticapp/posts/pfbid02UZniVUvokzf9rG...
After a fire devastated this part of Rome in A.D. 80, the emperor Domitian restored the temples and a travertine slab floor, still visible, was built on top of the surrounding rubble.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853100
Over the centuries, the area underwent various further transformations, remaining buried until the excavations in the 1920s. City officials at the time immediately understood the value of the archaeological find, and the site was closed off, to be admired only from above.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter / Video / Foto (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989888987
Monica Baraschi, a volunteer with a cat sanctuary that abuts one corner of the ancient site, said that even the feline residents — there were 86, she said — would feel some benefits from the opening up of the spot and the arrival of visitors.
Foto: ROME – the Sacred Area of the Largo di Torre Argentina: One of the many cats that live within the archaeological complex in the ancient, historic & modern center of the City of Rome. Source: Google / Italy (06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945673
“They’ll get cuddled and caressed — the cats will be happy,” she said.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853110
In the past, there has been friction between archaeologists and the sanctuary (= ROME JOURNAL - Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11 - www.nytimes.com/2012/11/08/world/europe/rome-drawn-into-t...). Ms. Ceci, the archaeologist, said that the cats had been “good workmates” during the two years that the site was undergoing work to prepare for the opening.
Foto: ROME JOURNAL – Strays Amid Rome Ruins Set Off a Culture Clash; in: NYT [8 Nov. 2012]: Section A, Page 11.
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853115
Visitors on the first day also seemed glad to see a bit of ancient Rome up close. Simeon Peebler, a software engineer from Chicago, said, “In a world of virtual-reality experiences, to have a real reality experience is amazing.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990489996
Romans were equally delighted. Sandro Lubattelli, a retired computer engineer and his wife, Rossana Cipressi, a retired teacher, said that they had spent a lifetime looking at the site from above and were thrilled to finally be able to go in.
“We always wondered why it was closed,” Mr. Lubattelli said. “We’re in seventh heaven.”
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: REUTERS (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990853130
Note: A correction was made on June 20, 2023: Because of an editing error, a capsule summary with an earlier version of this article referred incorrectly to the role of Julius Caesar. He was a general and a political leader, but not emperor.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990490006
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889017
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945618
Fonte / source:
--- The New York Times (20 June 2023).
www.nytimes.com/2023/06/20/world/europe/rome-julius-caesa...
Fonte / source, Video & foto:
— ROMA – L’area sacra fatale a Giulio Cesare, visitabili finalmente i templi repubblicani di Largo Argentina; in: ArchaeoReporter / YouTube (20/06/2023) [04:05].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZT0eN6NK-Y
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889007
2). ROME - "Et tu, Brute?" - Rome to open ancient square where Julius Caesar was killed. REUTERS (20 June 2022).
ROME, June 19 (Reuters) - History buffs will be able to stroll close to the spot where legend says Julius Caesar met his bloody end, when Rome authorities open a new walkway on the ancient site on Tuesday.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945628
Accounts, embellished by William Shakespeare, tell how the Roman dictator was stabbed to death by a group of aggrieved senators on the Ides of March - March 15 - in 44 BC.
According to tradition, he died in the capital's central Largo Argentina square - home to the remains of four temples.
Foto: ROME – A view of the ruins of the Largo Argentina during Italian press and foreign media tour visiting the newly restored archaeological complex, along with the new educational onsite materials and the display of related archaeological archaeological artifacts and architiectural remains and artistic elements discovered at the site since the mid-1920s onwards. Source: ArchaeoReporter (20/06/2023).
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945583
They are all currently below street level and up until recently could only be viewed from behind barriers close to a busy road junction.
From Tuesday, visitors will be able to move through the site at ground level on the walkway and see the structures up close.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52989889047
Italian fashion house Bulgari funded the work at a site that was first discovered and excavated during building work in Rome in the 1920s.
— ROME – Interview Italian Archaeologist Marina Mattei, the Largo Argentina; Rome, Italy; in: CCN, USA / YouTube (27/10/2012) [2:57].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=PaV14fTHB5c
The area - close to where Caesar is supposed to have exclaimed "Et tu, Brute?" as he saw his friend Brutus among his murderers - is these days also home to a sanctuary for stray cats.
Foto: ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.flickr.com/photos/imperial_fora_of_rome/52990945643
Fonte / source, foto & Video:
— ROMA – Marina Mattei Curatore Archeologo dei Musei Capitolini illustra l’area archeologica di Largo Argentina ed il ritrovamento; in: Raiuno Uno / YouTube (17/10/2012 [12:00].
www.youtube.com/watch?v=q39bZmfvHms
Fonte / source:
--- REUTERS (20 June 2022).
www.reuters.com/world/europe/rome-open-ancient-square-whe...
Fonte / source, foto:
— ROMA – Roma – Largo di Torre Argentina Live webcam / Veduta delle rovine romane dell’Area Sacra di Largo Argentina a Roma; in: Skyline / Webcams (21/06/2023 [09:25 am Rome time].
www.skylinewebcams.com/it/webcam/italia/lazio/roma/roma-l...
Hall C Physicist Liguang Tang poses for a photo in Experimental Hall C at Jefferson Lab Newport News, Va., Feb. 25, 2025. (Lindsay Cunningham | Jefferson Lab)
Dr. Louis K. Sarno-Smith from the Microsoft Data Engineer/Science team in Outlook Universal Email, receives the 2017 Ralph B. Baldwin Prize in Astrophysics and Space Science. She received her PhD from the University of Michigan Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering in 2016 and has come back to give a talk on her non-linear path to success.
On March 16, 2018 in the SRB Auditorium, following Sarno-Smith's presentation of her journey and lessons she learned from low energy plasma to Super Bowl ads and Outlook Email, she is presented with the Walph B. Baldwin Prize.
Photo: Somya Bhagwagar/Michigan Engineering, Communications & Marketing
9,600x7,240 copy available at photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/pia03377
This image of North America was generated with data from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). For this broad view the resolution of the data was first reduced to 30 arcseconds (about 928 meters north-south and 736 meters east-west in central North America), matching the best previously existing global digital topographic data set called GTOPO30. The data were then resampled to a Mercator projection with approximately square pixels (about one kilometer, or 0.6 miles, on each side). Even at this decreased resolution the variety of landforms comprising the North American continent is readily apparent.
Active tectonics (structural deformation of the Earth's crust) along and near the Pacific -- North American plate boundary creates the great topographic relief seen along the Pacific coast. Earth's crustal plates converge in southern Mexico and in the northwest United States, melting the crust and producing volcanic cones. Along the California coast, the plates are sliding laterally past each other, producing a pattern of slices within the San Andreas fault system. And, where the plates are diverging, the crust appears torn apart as one huge tear along the Gulf of California (northwest Mexico), and as the several fractures comprising the Basin and Range province (in and around Nevada).
Across the Great Plains, erosional patterns dominate, with streams channels surrounding and penetrating the remnants of older smooth slopes east of the Rocky Mountains. This same erosion process is exposing the bedrock structural patterns of the Black Hills in South Dakota and the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. Lateral erosion and sediment deposition by the Mississippi River has produced the flatlands of the lower Mississippi Valley and the Mississippi Delta.
To the north, evidence of the glaciers of the last ice age is widely found, particularly east of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and around the Great Lakes. From northeastern British Columbia, across Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba to North Dakota and Minnesota, huge striations clearly show the flow pattern of the glaciers. And southwest of Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie, arcing ridges of sediment, called terminal moraines, show where glaciers dumped sediment at their melting ends.
In eastern Canada, New York, and New England, the terrain has been scoured by glaciers, and eroded by streams, particularly along fractures in the bedrock. In Labrador and Quebec, the Mistastin, Manicougan, and Clearwater Lakes meteor impact craters can also be seen. Further south, narrow curving ridges of upturned and eroded layered rocks form most of the Appalachian Mountains. In contrast, around the Caribbean Sea region (Yucatan, Florida, and the Bahamas), flat-lying, stable limestone platforms are common, while the most eastern islands of the Caribbean include active volcanoes along another convergence zone of tectonic plates.
Two visualization methods were combined to produce the image: shading and color coding of topographic height. The shade image was derived by computing topographic slope in the northwest-southeast direction, so that northwest slopes appear bright and southeast slopes appear dark. Color coding is directly related to topographic height, with green at the lower elevations, rising through yellow and tan, to white at the highest elevations.
Elevation data used in this image were acquired by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour, launched on Feb. 11, 2000. SRTM used the same radar instrument that comprised the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) that flew twice on the Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1994. SRTM was designed to collect 3-D measurements of the Earth's surface. To collect the 3-D data, engineers added a 60-meter (approximately 200-foot) mast, installed additional C-band and X-band antennas, and improved tracking and navigation devices. The mission is a cooperative project between NASA, the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) of the U.S. Department of Defense and the German and Italian space agencies. It is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., for NASA's Earth Science Enterprise, Washington, D.C.
Location: 15 to 60 degrees North latitude, 50 to 130 degrees West longitude
Orientation: North toward the top, Mercator projection
Image Data: shaded and colored SRTM elevation model
Original Data Resolution: SRTM 1 arcsecond (about 30 meters or 98 feet)
Date Acquired: February 2000
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL