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Superwomen and the streetlight effect in research on family-related career challenges among scientists in Africa
Title: Superwomen and the streetlight effect in research on family-related career challenges among scientists in Africa
Author: Prozesky H.
Abstract: Evidence collected since the late 1960s on the way in which family responsibilities may cause women scientists to be less productive than their male colleagues, generally disconfirms such a hypothesis, leading some to caution against an over-reliance on an explanatory framework that positions family-related variables as central to the research productivity gender gap. In this paper, I argue that such a conclusion is premature with regard to the African context, which has been largely absent from literature on the topic. A recent, continent-wide study of African scientists, the first of its kind, shows that that women's scientific production is indeed negatively impacted by these family responsibilities. The results of a further analysis of the survey data on African scientists are presented here, showing that women scientists carry a heavier domestic and childcare burden than their male counterparts, and are more likely to perceive balancing work and family demands as a career challenge. However, the women scientists' likelihood to report having children and/or other dependents, and the number they report, are lower than for men scientists. A sociological interpretation of these results leads to a critical reflection on the past 50 years of research on the issue of women in science in terms of its tendency to be systematically biased in favour of "surviving superwomen". It is argued that, if such research were to contribute to policy aimed at a more gender-diversified scientific workforce, it needs to address the gaps left by a "streetlight" of easily accessible data sources.
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Piazza di Spagna is one of the most romantic and evocative sights in the Eternal City, as well as the most well-known meeting point in Rome. Its beautiful scenery has acted as a backdrop to many performances, fashion shows, events, and even floral exhibits.
Piazza di Spagna, with its famous Spanish Steps and several other artworks adorning it, is one of the symbols of Rome, as well as one of the most famous squares of the capital.
In the heart of the city center, it is considered a key place for art aficionados, but also for those interested in fashion and luxury brands. The square owes its name to the Palazzo di Spagna, which is located here and houses the Spanish Embassy.
Brief history of Piazza di Spagna
Piazza di Spagna (Spanish Square in English) did not initially go by this name, it was instead known as Piazza di Francia, meaning French Square. This magnificent building had in fact become a symbol of the rivalry between the two European powers. What really makes it famous though, are the wonderful steps, and these were not added until the early 1700s.
In this section, you can find out more about the history of this monument and about the many famous artists, poets, and authors who lived here throughout its history.
Renaissance (1492 - 1789)
Piazza di Spagna is part of the Colonna and the Campo Marzio district, between Via dei Due Macelli and Via del Babuino. The construction of this area dates back to the 16th century. The main objective was having a space that could hold the large number of pilgrims visiting medieval Rome. At the time, other public spaces were struggling to do so.
A new route was then engineered, welcoming and gathering visitors arriving from the north of the city, through Porta del Popolo and towards the Vatican.
To the north, the square met Via San Sebastianello, which split into two at its top. To the right, it went towards the Franciscan church of Trinità dei Monti, and to its left, it went towards Villa Medici. Both of these were located at the top of the Colle Pincio (Pincio Hill).
The other important street was Via del Babuino, through which northern visitors were led from the Porta del Popolo gate, through the square, into the city center.
Through time, the square acquired its famous butterfly shape—that is, two triangles whose vertices meet in the middle. These are tied together by the line that runs through Via Condotti - Barcaccia Fountain - Trinità dei Monti. The square used to be surrounded by houses with tall windows, in the typical ocher, cream, and rusty red tones. Over time, it started filling up with hotels.
The current structure of the area started becoming clearer in the 1500s when the Trinità dei Monti church and its twin bell towers were built on Pope Sixtus V's orders. Towards the end of the century, the Pope had an Egyptian obelisk placed in front of the facade.
At the beginning of the 16th century, in the location where we can now find the Spanish Steps, there were still just cultivated land and two palaces. One, towards the fields, belonged to the Ferratini family, and later became the Palazzo del Collegio di Propaganda Fide, and the other, belonging to the Monaldeschi barons, was sold to the Spanish ambassadors.
The name of the square, as mentioned above, comes from Palazzo di Spagna—built in 1647 by Antonio del Grande—which houses the Embassy of Spain. King Filippo IV had in fact already paid for the whole building in 1620. The entirety of the surrounding area was considered Spanish territory.
The properties in the area were initially considered the estate of the surrounding monasteries, later going to the French and Spanish states. In a way, they highlighted the seclusion of the area. The states were at the time the two greatest powers in Europe, and they settled in the area firmly and in contrast to one another, as well as in contrast to the State of the Church. This is even more evident if one considers that, before the 1600s, the Spanish Square was known as Piazza di Francia (that is, French Square).
Having become a point of attraction for the biggest European powers, the square started to represent the city's center of cultural and touristic life. For a long time, it was chosen as a destination by artists, poets, and distinguished public figures.
At the center of the square, we can find one of its notable works of art, the Barcaccia. It is one of the most beautiful fountains of Rome, so-called because of its shape of a half-sunken ship (barca means ship in Italian). It lays on an oval-shaped basin, slightly under street level. It was built between 1626 and 1629 by Pietro Bernini, father to the more famous Gian Lorenzo, and commissioned by Urbano VIII Barberini.
However, the most notable architectural element of the square was inaugurated by Pope Benedict XII in 1725, on the occasion of the jubilee. Its function was that of linking the Spanish Embassy and the Trinità dei Monti church. It was the famous Spanish Steps, built by Francesco de Sanctis.
Contemporary Age (1789 - present)
Another work of art, known as the Column of the Immaculate Conception (Colonna dell'Immacolata Concezione), was commissioned by Pio IX in 1857, in honor of the dogma of the immaculate conception, established three years prior. The piece is from the architect Luigi Poletti, who designed a complex monument, as we will see in the next section, The Piazza's Buildings and Monuments.
On the right-hand corner of the Steps, we can also visit another important site: the Keats–Shelley Memorial House. It was here that the poet Keats lived and died in 1821, as well as Percy Bysshe Shelley. Inside, the atmosphere is that typical of the '800, adorned by books and antique furniture.
Another prominent building in the square, inaugurated fairly recently, is the Giorgio de Chirico House Museum, by Palazzetto del Borgognoni. The house, which originally dates to the 16th century, was bought by the painter de Chirico in 1948. He transformed it into his family house and studio. The museum was opened in 1998, with the approval of the painter's widow, who wished to preserve his artistic heritage.
Piazza di Spagna currently represents the Roman Baroque, it is the most well-known meeting point in the city, but also one of the most elegant, artistic, and fashionable areas of the capital. The square gained fame as a spot for luxury shopping, but also thanks to Cinema, as we will later discuss in the Curiosities section.
The Piazza's buildings and monuments
As mentioned before, this place is full of magnificent buildings, monuments, and artwork from different times in the history of Rome. Some of the most relevant are referenced in the historical section of this article and will be now discussed more in-depth.
The Spanish Steps
The world-famous Steps (Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti, in Italian) that look down on the square are made up of 137 individual steps in travertine and decorated with commemorative stones. They were built between 1723 and 1726 by the Roman architect Francesco De Sanctis, as a scenographic junction for the slope of Pincio Hill.
The idea of connecting the two parts of this drop with steps dates back to 1559, but it was only in 1660 that the first projects were drawn up. What came up then was the controversy about the ownership of the land, between the Church and the French State. This is one of the reasons why works on the project did not start until later on.
In 1717 Pope Clement XI launched a contest for the project, to which the major architects of the time all participated, including De Sanctis. Due to the aforementioned controversy, it was only possible to start working on the Steps under Pope Innocent XIII. To this day, his heraldic symbols—the eagles of the Conti Noble House—are visible at the foot of the steps, alternating with the French lily. The work was finished under Benedict XIII, with a cost of over 50,000 scudi.
Decorated with garden terraces, the Steps alternates ramps and balconies. These elements part and reunite throughout the length of the steps, creating movement and a lively, varied scenery. This way, the construction is free from the usual regular structure of a series of steps, instead of integrating graciously with the surrounding space.
The sumptuous, noble structure was built with the intent of seeming more and more evocative as one got closer to it.
This was in fact a feature of Baroque-style architecture, where long and deep perspectives were preferred, perhaps ending with a monumental backdrop.
In 1728, due to the heavy rainfall that hit Rome, only two years after the end of the works, the Steps saw the collapse of the wall on the left-hand flank. Filippo Juvarra took care of the restoration work in 1731.
Since then, it has been used as a backdrop or set for films, events, and shows, becoming one of the most famous roman corners.
Since 1951, every year in April, there has been a floral exhibit taking place on the 137 steps. During the Christmas Holidays, it is possible to see the Presepe Pinelliano, a papier-mache nativity scene.
Trinità dei Monti Church
The Trinità dei Monti Church, overlooking the square with its two bell towers, was consecrated in 1594. Just like the adjacent convent, it owes its origin to Saint Francis of Paola. In 1494, Charles VIII, son of the King of France Luis XI, wanted to express his gratitude towards San Francis for the spiritual guidance he had offered to his father. Charles thus ordered the construction of the church on the Pincio Hill, with the intent of welcoming the French religious order of the Minims, founded by Francis of Paola.
The construction lasted for the entirety of the 16th century, and was then on considered the "Roman church of the French Kings". It was initially designed in gothic style, with stones from the Narbonne region. It had only one nave, bordered by six chapels. Two transept chapels were added. It is believed that the two architects were Annibale Lippi and Gregorio Caronica.
Around 1774, the ancient main vault of the nave was modified, with a project by Giuseppe Pannini. The gothic structures were changed and the harmony in the ratio between the ogival cruise and the side chapels did too. A tall wrought iron gate was positioned in correspondence of the ogival cruise. It was supposed to preserve the traditional monastic life.
Trinità dei Monti Obelisk
In 1788 Pope Pius VI had the architect Antinori put up the Sallustiano Obelisk, the penultimate among the great obelisks placed in Rome. These were obelisks built at the time of the Roman Empire, in clear imitation of the Egyptian obelisks.
This one was built by Augustus and originally placed in the Circo Massimo, then transferred to Trinità dei Monti in 1789. The monument came from the Horti Sallustiani and might have been placed on the spina of the horse track. The original granite foundation was discovered in 1912 between Via Sicilia and Via Sardegna, and can now be found in the Campidoglio.
The Palace of Spain
As mentioned before, the square owes its name to the presence of the Spanish Embassy for the State of the Church. The building dates to 1647 and it is located on the south side of the square. The northern part, towards Via del Babuino, was originally called Piazza di Francia, due to the French ownership of the land and the church.
Spanish diplomats decided to renovate the palace in 1653 and employed Antonio del Grande to do so. He most likely used Borromini's plans—the artist had been asked to collaborate on the project but couldn't personally take part in the construction due to other commitments.
The facade was then embellished with two wooden balconies that grouped together five windows on the left and three on the right. However, the biggest changes happened inside. The new great hall now had archways held up by double columns, the great stairway was decorated with a banister with pillars, and the courtyard with an open gallery ornate with large windows and columns representing the Spanish Kings' coat of arms.
Between 1685 and 1693 many changes were made to the facade, while the 1700s saw various decorations being made in the interior, as well as the construction of a private theatre.
After the short-lived French domination of Rome, which implied an occupation of the building by Napoleon's army, there was a radical renovation of the facade, thanks to the Spanish architect Antonio Celles. He got rid of the balconies and the windows on the penultimate floor and substituted all the others.
Another alteration took place in 1857, following the Column's blessing. For this ceremony, the facade was covered with a wooden structure that had a stage built in correspondence with the principal floor, from which the Pope could give his blessing. After the ceremony, the structure was taken down but two balconies for the side windows were built.
Another important change happened in 1898, with the decoration of the entrance stairway. Here, a marvelous fresco was placed, representing the "Delivery of the Keys of Granada", by F. Ballester.
The last alteration was in 1932 when a central balcony connecting three windows on the main floor was built. The facade presents three arched doorways, connected by one rustic ashlar. Above these is the balcony. In total there are three floors, the main one having three loggias.
Column of the Immaculate Conception
Next to the square, there is a monument dedicated to the dogma of the Immaculate Virgin. It was established by Pope Pius IX in 1854, three years prior. The bronze statue of the Virgin Mary, by Giuseppe Obici, is located on the top of a cipollini marble column, almost 12 meters high, which rests on a base decorated by bas-reliefs.
It was found during the excavations of Campo Marzio, in 1778. The base is decorated by four statues in bronze, representing Moses, David, and the prophets Isaia and Ezekiel. The total height of the monument is 29 meters.
To put it up, on the 25th of December 1856, a fire brigade team had to intervene. 240 bishops and other prelates attended the ceremony. The Pope arrived on a chariot, followed by almost the entire Sacred College of Cardinals and the Apostolic Curia.
To this day, every year on the 8th of December, a team of firefighters, in the presence of the Pope, the Municipality, and State authorities, climb the height of the column on a ladder to place a flower crown on the highest point of the statue.
The Propaganda Fide Palace
The Palazzo di Propaganda Fide (Palace of the Propagation of the Faith), is a property under the jurisdiction of the Holy See. It hosted the Pontifical Urban College, an institution whose purpose was the education of Catholic missionaries and the management of their work around the world. From the start, it also served as headquarters for the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, and to this, it owes its name.
The structure was commissioned by Pope Urban VII to Gian Lorenzo Bernini, but it ended up being completed by Francesco Borromini, as requested by Pope Innocent X. In 1644, Bernini designed the facade overlooking the Spanish Square, highlighting the Pope's coat of arms. The sculptor also added a chapel for Pope Urban VIII.
Some years later, Bernini completed the right-hand facade. In what was going to be his last project, the artist kept his characteristic style, with non-architectural curves, capitals, and such elements.
Inside the Palace, the pontiff ordered the construction of the Chapel of the Three Wise Men. However, Borromini destroyed it completely in order to rebuild it between 1662 and 1664. Cardinal Bernini was the one to request the subject to be the Wise Men. They symbolized the first pagans converted to Christianity, and thus a sign of recognition of the spiritual values promoted by the congregation.
The Palace, which then housed the ethnographic-missionary collection of the Borgia Museum (currently kept in the Vatican), can now be visited upon agreement. It now hosts a museum where several unpublished works are held. Among these, are the extraordinary paintings: Diluvio Universale (Great Flood) by Salvator Rosa, Romolo e Remo (Romulus and Remus) by Marco Tullio Montagna, Annunciazione (Annunciation) believed to have been made by Denijs Calvaert, and Pentecoste (Pentecost) by Corrado Giaquinto.
The Keats - Shelley House
To the sides of the church, there are two elegant buildings. On the right is the one called Casina Rossa (Little Red House), which belonged to a lady named Anna Angeletti, who used to rent rooms to tourists visiting Rome.
In 1820, English poet John Keats stayed here, in the house at the foot of the steps, with his friend and painter Joseph Servern. Keats, suffering from phthisis, was sent to Rome in the hopes that the climate would help his health recover. However, he died just a year after, depressed by the strong critiques of his writings and saddened by unrequited love.
After his death, the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote his poem Adonais, and the following year died in a shipwreck in the Gulf of La Spezia. The artists are buried in the Protestant Cemetery of Rome. In 1906 the House was bought by an Anglo-American association. Today, it houses the museum, the Keats-Shelley Memorial House, inaugurated in 1909 in the presence of King Vittorio Emanuele III.
The museum also has a library, dedicated to the most renowned English Romantic poets. It holds about 8,000 books, as well as memorabilia and pictures which previously belonged to famous poets, like Byron. Keats' room and place of comfort, facing the fountain, is nowadays almost a place of worship. The original furniture was however burned under the order of the Pope, and today we only have a few remains left.
Giorgio de Chirico House Museum
"They say that Rome is at the center of the world and that Piazza di Spagna is in the center of Rome, therefore, my wife and I would indeed be living in the center of the center of the world, which would be the apex of centrality and the apogee of anti-eccentricity".
This eloquent and passionate statement was made by Giorgio de Chirico in his Memoirs, in 1945.
The artist arrived in Rome in 1944, after much traveling through European cities and a prolonged stay in New York. De Chirico finally settled in Rome in his Piazza di Spagna house in 1948, at the age of sixty. He spent the last thirty years of his life here, together with his second wife Isabella Pakszwer. She stayed here until 1990, the year of her death.
The flat is composed of the living quarters, the study, and a large balcony on the last of the three top floors belonging to the Palazzetto dei Borgognoni.
Thanks to Isabella's will, the House Museum is today accessible to the public. Its inauguration was on the 20th of November 1998, on the twenty-year anniversary of the artist's death. It offers a unique opportunity to admire de Chirico's private and everyday world, as well as giving the visitors access to his artistic imagination, in a striking encounter between life and art.
The sumptuous rooms on the main floor show us the grandeur of 1600s-style halls with a great number of works. Some of these are framed in gold, red damask curtains, silver, wooden angels, marble coffee tables, and Louis XVI-style armchairs. This is the most vital part of the house, used for the reception of guests. The works here exposed by the Foundation aim to show the visitors the subjects and themes preferred by the artist.
Going up the stairs, visitors can see the more private and intimate rooms of the house, the bedroom, and the study. Surely, the latter is the most evocative space in the house. The easel and other craft objects are arranged in such a manner that suggests they might be used again any time now. Various plaster models representing ancient statues, gladiators, and horses are scattered throughout the artist's personal library, also full of precious monographs.
A large terrace (limited access for the public) makes up the top floor of the house. Here de Chirico loved to ponder over the beauty of Rome and nature.
The Barcaccia Fountain
At the foot of the Spanish Steps, in the middle of the Spanish Square, we find the Barcaccia (the Bad Ship, in Italian), one of the most beautiful fountains in Rome. It is so-called because of its portrayal of a half-sunken ship, resting inside an oval basin, slightly under street level. The bow and stern are identical and much higher compared to the sides, which are just above the basin level.
In the middle of the ship, a short baluster holds up another smaller basin, which stands shorter than the bow and stern edges. Water flows from this basin and into the ship itself. Here, the water flows over the flared side edges of the ship, into the bigger basin, under the ship.
Water also flows from another six spots—three at the bow and three at the stern. Two of them are sun-shaped human faces, and the other four face outside the boat, resembling cannons. Apart from the suns, the other decorations are two pontifical coats of arms at the two external extremities of the ship. These decorations between the two cannons, display the crown and the bees, symbols of the Barberini family (the Pope at the time).
The Fountain was commissioned by Urbano VIII Barberini and built between 1626 and 1629 by Pietro Bernini, father of the more famous Gian Lorenzo. The Pope's intention was that of completing an old project from 1570, that would have seen the construction of a fountain in each of the major squares of the city, after the restoration of the Acqua Vergine aqueduct.
To this day, it's still possible to drink from this historical fountain, even if the monument saw several restorations throughout the centuries, often due to vandalism.
The first restoration started in 1993 and lasted until 1999. In 2007, a group of drunk tourists damaged the papal coat of arms with a screwdriver. In 2015, the Fountain was damaged by a group of Dutch football fans, visiting Rome to support their team, Feyenoord, in a Europa League match against A.S. Roma. The group damaged greatly the monument, stepping into the fountain and throwing bottles, trash, and smoke bombs. This led to a massive restoration in 2015.
The Villa Medici
Located in the Viale della Trinità dei Monti, in the Campo Marzio district, the land and the existing buildings were acquired by cardinal Ricci's family from Montepulciano. The project for the construction was assigned to Annibale Lippi in 1544. The villa then went to the Medici family—where it takes its name—from them to the grand dukes of Tuscany and finally to the French State.
In 1803 Napoleon transferred here to the French Academy, originally located in the Salviati Palace. The academy was founded by Louis XIV in 1666 to allow young French painters to study in Rome. The institution still stands today.
In front of the Villa Medici, we can find the Vasca del Pincio (Pincio Hill basin): a simple fountain, with a huge basin and a cannonball in the middle. This has given the fountain the alternative name of Fountain of the Ball. This monument was also made by Annibale Lippi.
Curiosities about the Spanish Square
As mentioned in other articles about this city, Roman love for satire is centuries old and well documented. But did you know that this, combined with the funny appearance of a statue, led to a nearby street having its name changed? In this curiosities section, you will find out which statue we are referring to, together with several other interesting facts.
Babington's: the English-style Tea Room
In 1893, two English ladies, Isabel Cargill and Anna Maria Babington decided to open a tea room where the waiters would serve tea and food wearing traditional English clothing.
The shop was named Babington's, and it soon became a meeting point for the Anglo-Saxons in the capital, as well as many Roman intellectuals. Initially, the tea shop opened in a nearby street, but following its success, it was relocated to Piazza di Spagna 23, right next to the Steps.
After surviving the bombings of World War II and the arrival of fast food, Babington's is still a tourist attraction and institution among political and artistic figures.
Among its famous clients, the tearoom has hosted Federico Fellini, Elizabeth Taylor, and many more. Near the entrance, there is a plaque that reads part of Cesare Pavese's poem Passerò da Piazza di Spagna (I'll Pass by the Spanish Square).
The Barcaccia Legend
According to popular belief, Bernini was inspired to build the fountain by an event that happened during the Christmas period of 1598. At this time, Rome was hit by an incredibly strong flood. It seems that, when the overflowing water from the Tiber river receded, a fishing boat was deposited in the center of the square, and couldn't be moved for a time.
Thirty years later, the artist modeled his sculpture after this event. This would have led him to shape the boat with a flat bottom, like those typically used in river barges to transport goods along the Tiber.
It is said that in reality, Pietro Bernini was struggling to solve the problem of the low water pressure from the Acqua Vergine aqueduct. After observing a semi-sunken boat in the river, he decided to sculpt a fountain representing a similar subject, thus solving the problem of the low water pressure in that area of the city.
Via Condotti and Fashion
This is a well-known street that goes from Spanish Square to Largo Goldoni, still in the Campo Marzio district. The name derives from the ducts (condotte in Italian) that led water to the Agrippa Baths, near the Pantheon.
As already mentioned, the area surrounding Piazza di Spagna is one the most glamorous and elegant in Rome, and it hosts high fashion shops. Among some of the most famous Italian luxury brands that have a shop here, we can find Prada, Ferragamo, Gucci, Beltrami, as well as many more non-Italian brands.
In Via Borgognona, parallel to Condotti, one can find ateliers from other brands, such as Fendi, Ferrè, Versace. Valentino stores are located in Via Bocca di Leone and Via Mario de Fiori, while Armani has his emporium in Via del Babuino, a street renowned for its art galleries, antique stores, and exclusive furniture shops.
One can certainly say that fashion contributed to the Piazza and surrounding areas' reputation. In fact, it is said that it was Bulgari to finance the restoration works in 2015, after the vandalic acts that affected various monuments in the square, as exposed in the former section of this article.
The Spanish Square and Cinema
Another form of art that contributed to making the Spanish Square internationally recognized and famous, was Cinema. Many directors chose the location as a film set for their works, featuring many famous Hollywood stars.
Among these was Roman Holiday (1953), in which the actors Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn meet by the Square.
The film, directed by William Wyler, tells the story of Princess Ann (Hepburn). She is a member of a non-specified royal family, traveling from one capital to the other for diplomatic reasons. With the help of a journalist (Peck), she decides to escape her embassy and discover Rome. The film is considered to be the one that made Hepburn famous.
Another notable film that used the Piazza as its main stage is the 1999 Anthony Minghella's psychological thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley, with Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow as protagonists.
The Column, the Pasquinata, and the Baboon
As mentioned previously in this article, the Column of the Immaculate Conception lays on a base where four sculptures have been put. One of these represents Moses.
It seems that the sculpture of the prophet was given a mouth too small for its stature. The poor execution inevitably led to a pasquinata (from Pasquino, the most famous among the talking statues of Rome).
With the name pasquinate we indicate the satirical gestures by the Roman public, aimed at criticizing the powers that be and their corruption. In order to do so, papers with anonymous rhymes making fun of well-known public figures were hung on the statues' necks at night, to be found in the morning.
In this case, the statue is asked to speak, if possible. Because of its small mouth, the statue replies "No, I can't". Then the statue is asked to whistle, to which it replies "yes I'll whistle, but against the sculptor that made me".
In the street that links Piazza del Popolo with Piazza di Spagna, also part of the street complex known as Trident, we can find the Silenus Statue. This is a mythological character, half man and half goat, here depicted in the center of a minor fountain. With time, this statue too came to be known as one of the talking statues giving voice to the public's complaints.
Its appearance was so peculiar that the public compared it to a monkey, specifically a baboon. It was in its name that the street where it resides changed its name from Via Paolina to Via del Babuino (Baboon street).
The Azaleas Exhibit
Every year since 1951, in the month of April, an azaleas exhibit takes place on the 137 steps of the Square. No Roman spring is complete without this colorful exhibition on the Spanish Steps. The flower show has been happening for almost a century and every year it is a delight for tourists. At this time, visitors can enjoy the already beautiful Steps, built by Francesco De Sanctis, in an even more fascinating context.
Normally these plants are kept in the San Sisto plant nursery, where the municipality's gardeners take care of these plants, belonging to the Rhododendron Indicum species, a type of azalea not available on the market, and particularly apt to the Roman climate.
This spectacle features about 250 plants, traditionally white and lilac. The white ones are generally already in full bloom, while the lilac ones—located at the bottom of the Steps—will start blooming soon after. This is one of the most scenic and appreciated urban views in Rome.
The French Mass
In the previous section, the relationship between the Trinità dei Monti Church and the State of France was discussed. There is, however, a detail worth mentioning that ties the aforementioned church to this country.
It has to do with the fact that mass is celebrated in French, but that is not all. The church has in fact two bell towers with two clocks, representing the two capitals, Rome and Paris.
Antico Caffè Greco
It is one of the most elegant cafés of the city, founded in 1760. It is the second oldest cafè still open to date.
It can be found in Via Condotti and it has always been a meeting place for intellectuals and artists. The main hall, called Omnibus, still has many artifacts and works linked to these figures.
Among them, we can name María Zambrano, the Spanish philosopher, who was a recurring customer of the cafè.
How to get to Piazza di Spagna
Piazza di Spagna is one of the most beloved tourist sites, and as such, it is not hard to reach, both with public and private transportation, as well as on foot.
By metro
Piazza di Spagna has its own metro stop, indeed called "Spagna", on line A. The stop has two entrances/exits, one at the top, and one at the foot of the Steps.
The cost of a single ticket (BIT) is €1.50, but the metro also offers 24h, 48h, 72h, or weekly tickets.
More info about the metro in Rome.
See details on tickets and subscriptions for public transportation in Rome.
As the Spanish Square is located in a central and commercial area of the city, there are no tram stops near enough to justify choosing this transportation method.
Find more info about the trams in Rome.
See details about tickets and subscriptions for public transportation in Rome.
This is the transportation method that usually offers more options, even though the speed of the bus service is slowed down by the heavy traffic in the downtown areas.
Line 119 is for sure the most convenient, as it can drop you off either at the top or the foot of the steps. The other lines detailed underneath will drop you off in the vicinity of the Square, a short walk away from the Piazza.
Fermata piu vicina*
Fermata piu vicina* Spagna or Trinità dei Monti Mercede Tomacelli or Augusto Imperatore/Ara Pacis Lgt Marzio/Porto Di Ripetta or Augusto Imperatore/Ara Pacis
Itinerario An almost circular route, departing from Piazza Venezia, going around Piazza del Popolo and then returning to the initial stop. It covers a small distance in the city center, departing and returning to the same stop at Porta Pinciana. It connects an area in the north of Rome with the city center, ending its journey at the Tiburtina train station. It connects two areas respectively to the north and south of Rome, passing by the city center and following the course of the river for a time.
The city buses use the same tickets that are also valid for the metro, trams, and suburban trains. The cost of a single bus ticket is therefore always €1.50 (BIT) and is valid for all other means of public transportation.
Find more info about buses in Rome.
Cabs are obviously the most comfortable option, but they are also the most expensive and, depending on where you are starting your journey, are not guaranteed to be the fastest way to get to Piazza di Spagna, due to the heavy traffic in the central area of Rome.
However, this means of transport is a good option if you feel like chatting with a cab driver, who can tell you a few secrets of the city or entertain you with his typical Roman humor.
The best way to get a cab in Rome is to book it by phone, mobile apps, or simply by going to a cab stand.
See detailed information on taxis in Rome.
Surely the most recommended option to make the most of the monumental beauty of Rome. Luckily, Piazza di Spagna is in the vicinity of many other interesting spots to visit.
You could, for example, choose to start from the bottom of the Steps to admire them and what surrounds them in their entirety, and then climb them in order to visit the Trinità dei Monti church at the top. Then, you could continue to the left, and arrive at the Terrazza del Pincio (Pincio Hill Terrace). From here, you will be able to enjoy a magnificent panoramic view over the Eternal City.
Afterward, you could go down towards Piazza del Popolo, and even continue towards and along the Tiber river, or alternatively, go back to the area near the Piazza to visit some luxury brand shops.
We would like to remind you that the Museum visits imply a ticket purchase, while the visit to the Trinità dei Monti church is free.
Since 2019 it is not allowed to sit on the steps of the Spanish Square. This decision, made by the government, aims at allowing the visitors to enjoy the view of the Spanish Steps in its entirety.
Normally, it is also forbidden to consume food or alcohol on the Spanish Steps.
If you choose to visit the Piazza in a warm season, it is recommendable to do so in the spring, as you would be able to see the beautiful flower exhibit.
In the historical center of the city, Piazza di Spagna is not far from many other architectural monuments and tourist sites. In this list, you will find some of those within walking distance.
It is one of the most famous squares in Rome. It is located near Via Flaminia and, at the time of the Roman Empire, it used to be the main entrance to the city.
Since the late 1600s, it also features two beautiful twin churches, one next to the other and almost identical. They are Santa Maria in Montesanto and Santa Maria dei Miracoli.
It's 700 m from Piazza di Spagna (8-minute walk).
This is one of the most famous monumental squares in Rome. Emperor Domitian had a large stadium built on this spot for athletic competitions, which had room for 30,000 people.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Romans built houses on the former tribunes. The athletics track itself remained unbuilt and evolved into a large square over the centuries. In the 17th century, Pope Innocent X gave it its current shape.
Piazza Navona is 1,2 km from Piazza di Spagna (15-minute walk).
Piazza Venezia with the Altare della Patria is among the iconic sights of Rome. It's located at the foot of Campidoglio hill, where five of the city's main streets intersect. It's named after the nearby Palazzo Venezia, which was used as the embassy of the Venetian Republic in Rome.
A few sights in this square include Palazzo Bonaparte, the Monument to Victor Emanuel II, Palazzo Venezia, Basilica San Marco, and the bust of Madame Lucrezia.
Piazza Venezia is 1,4 km to the south of Piazza di Spagna (an 18-minute walk).
Imperial Fora
The Fori Imperiali consists of a series of monumental fora (public squares). They were built over a total period of 150 years, between 46 BC and 113 AD. Over the years, Caesar, Vespasian, Augustus, Nerva, and Trajan contributed to its development.
The Imperial Fora were built to replace the Roman Forum after it became too small due to strong population growth and could no longer fulfill its purpose as the center of Rome.
The entrance to the Imperial Fora is 1,7 km from Piazza di Spagna (a 20-minute walk).
Palazzo Castellesi
Castellesi Palace, also known by the name Torlonia, is an important renaissance building, in the Borgo district, near Saint Peter's Basilica. From the time of its construction until today, it has had many different roles, among which are the British Embassy, ecclesiastical college, hospice, and private residence.
Saints Ambrogio and Carlo al Corso Basilica
It is a minor basilica in Rome, known as the "national" church for the Lombardi (people from the region of Lombardy) in Rome. Its construction began in 1612, substituting an X-century building. Its bright interior is a great example of late-Baroque Roman style, and it holds two of the biggest statues of Rome, those of the two Saints after which it takes its name.
It's located 450 m from the Square (a 6-minute walk).
Introduction Piazza di Spagna
Ilnur Kalimullin

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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The Pioneers Program is a post-apocalyptic, town building board game for 3-6 players. At its core it is a fun and easy to learn game featuring great art by the Mico and offering incredible value at just £20 (Under $26!).
Research: You can undertake the Arc's research projects, allowing you to gain favour with the Arc and reap the benefits as well.
Step 2 the towns generate their production and pay any maintenance costs, discarding what they can't afford the upkeep of.
Turn order is essential in The Pioneers Program, the survivor you pick each round will give you asymmetric strengths and leadership scores. Allowing you to do things your opponents can't this round but also determining the turn order and who will get to strike first.
Deputy Smith and the RV card are both Kickstarter edition exclusive cards. More Kickstarter exclusive cards will be unlocked as the campaign progresses, the Mayor is the next exclusive card, he will be unlocked when we get 100 signed up to our Thunderclap HERE. Be sure to get these unique images by the Mico while you can.
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Read the rules, watched the 'How to Play' now have a go at the game on Tabletopia HERE.
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There is however always the possibility of hiccups when dealing with overseas manufacturers. We are as prepared as possible for these and have experience from our successfully funded and delivered Kickstarter for Rise of the Kage.


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V částicové fyzice je foton (z řeckého φως, světlo) elementární částice, kterou popisujeme kvantum elektromagnetické energie. Bývá značen řeckým písmenem γ (gama).

Foton je částice zprostředkující elektromagnetickou interakci a řadí se tedy mezi tzv. intermediální částice.

Jeho studiem se zabývá kvantová elektrodynamika.

Podle některých, jako je Willis Eugene Lamb, je označení foton, které zavedl roku 1926 chemik Gilbert Newton Lewis (tedy až několik let poté co Albert Einstein dostal Nobelovu cenu za fotoelektrický jev), zavádějící a mělo by se podobně jako flogiston opustit.

Vlastnosti
Všechno elektromagnetické vlnění, od radiových vln po záření gama, je kvantováno na fotony, jež popisuje vlnová délka, frekvence, energie a hybnost.

Životnost fotonu je nekonečná, ve smyslu nekonečného poločasu rozpadu. Foton je tedy stabilní částicí. Fotony mohou vznikat a zanikat při interakcích.

Částicové vlastnosti elektromagnetického záření se projevují především při vysokých frekvencích (tedy při vysokých energiích fotonů), v opačném případě převažují vlnové vlastnosti elektromagnetického záření, tzn. záření se projevuje jako vlna.

Elektrický náboj fotonu je nulový.

Foton má spin roven 1, jedná se tedy o boson.

Podle některých (například nobelistů jako Willis Eugene Lamb, Charles Hard Townes) nelze foton zjednodušeně považovat za reálnou částici (podobně jako fonon).

Energie, hmotnost
Foton existuje pouze v pohybu. Ve vakuu se vždy (v souladu s postulátem speciální teorie relativity) pohybuje rychlostí světla ve vakuu. Má proto nulovou klidovou hmotnost. Důsledkem jeho neustálého pohybu je však nenulová energie, která je definovaná vztahem
,
kde  je Planckova konstanta,  frekvence,  je rychlost světla ve vakuu a  je vlnová délka.

Na základě relativistického vztahu ekvivalence energie a hmotnosti, tzn.
,
lze fotonu přiřadit také určitou hmotnost (nejedná se však o klidovou hmotnost, která je nulová, ale o pohybovou hmotnost), projevující se setrvačnými i gravitačními vlastnostmi. Tato energie (a tedy i hmotnost) způsobuje, že na foton působí gravitace dle obecné teorie relativity a on sám gravitačně působí na okolí. Tyto jevy byly potvrzeny pozorováním (např. pozorovaným ohybem záření kolem kosmických těles).

Hybnost fotonu
Pomocí relativistického vztahu pro energii pohybující se částice  a ze skutečnosti, že klidová hmotnost fotonu je nulová, tzn. , lze hybnost fotonu  vyjádřit jako
.

Přestože je klidová hmotnost fotonu nulová, můžeme určit jeho relativistickou hmotnost z předchozího vztahu. Pokud uvážíme, že , dostaneme
.

Vznik
Fotony vznikají mnoha způsoby, například vyzářením při přechodu elektronu mezi orbitálními hladinami, či při anihilaci částic.

Speciální přístroje jako maser a laser mohou vytvořit koherentní svazek záření.

Odkazy

Reference

Související články
 Elektromagnetická interakce
 Elementární částice
 Intermediální částice
 Temný foton

Externí odkazy

Elementární částice

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Showing posts with label Quantum Consciousness. Show all posts
The Jet Stream Procrastination Before the Apocalypse
Some claim that willpower and training emotion is the key to managing procrastination and achieving goals. Maybe we should ask what instincts we're trying to manage when dealing with time and Cyberspace. Image Source: Sugarroy Coaching.
A lot of New Year's resolutions probably concerned procrastination and the Internet. Einstein once said he was not much more intelligent than other people, but he felt he was able to focus on any given particular problem without getting distracted longer than anyone else. He did not lose the thread of concentration and followed questions to their ends.
I have discussed cyber-procrastination before and the transformation of reality and the economy (here, here - and here). Over a few months, I ran across two apparently contradictory blog posts on how to control time and life in the Cyber Age. One was a site on women's wellbeing and self-improvement run by Tara Mohr. The other was The Art of Manliness, devoted to the self-improvement of Millennial men. Although they come at the problem of willpower from two very different perspectives, they actually both point to the same thing: take the long view and encourage the factors needed to maintain focus over the long term. In other words, do not lose track of the big picture. Do not lose the plot.
But the plot, they both conclude, depends on underlying emotions, the great subjective unconscious. I have a question for both of these bloggers. What do you do when consciousness, the very unquantifiable, nebulous stuff from which our emotions hail, has been radically redefined by Virtual Reality in less than a decade?
Is the Internet really only a distraction, something negative - a sick, proto-obsession, an addiction indulged in by millions - or are we collectively building a new world? Regardless, confronted by the Internet, could we do anything else at this time other than be totally immersed in it? Is Cyberspace not a collective project where the world labours on a new global collective unconscious and renders it visible, in a way that has never been seen before in all of human history? How does one deconstruct one's emotions about, and manage responses to, that?
Labels: Albert Einstein, Astrology, Carl Jung, Collective Unconscious, Informatics, Metatime, Quantum Consciousness, Sigmund Freud, Tech Revolution, Virtual Reality
DCnU: Another Day, Another (Real?) Multiverse
All images in this post are from: Before It's News. Image from Another Earth (2011) © Fox Searchlight Pictures.
There have been a lot of loud complaints and a hell of a lot of kicking and screaming in the fanbase about DC Comics' September 2011 reboot, in which the famous pulp company tossed 75 years' worth of history out the window in an effort to catapult itself into the 21st century. The open wound that is DC's handling of the Titans aside, I have written a post on how DC's shifts to new entertainment genres and new media (such as digital publishing) correspond with the transformation of the comic publisher's fictional universe. I have asked whether those Fourth Wall and metafictional turns may lead to the discovery of new standards for heroic values in pop culture. I've also talked about how comics stories, especially at DC, are the only forum in pop culture where quantum physicists' ideas of a multiverse have been consistently and constantly considered over several decades.
"There may be inifinite Earths being infinitely created."
DC's characters, stories and tumultuous reboots actually contend with the problem of what it would mean to live in a mulitverse, assuming it existed. What would happen to reality? Well, DC speculates, some of us would become superhuman, but at a terrifying price. What would happen to people in that reality? What would happen to values of right and wrong? Good and evil? No one else, not even the quantum physicists who are looking at the multiverse as a possible scientific fact, are pondering would it would mean for all of us if their wild theories aren't just theories.
"Reality may be more tenuous than imagined."
Now, some weird online stories about 'real' cases of people have surfaced (here) who claim they have shifted from one parallel universe to our world; these accounts are exactly mimicked in the storyline of an upcoming May 2012 DC title, World's Finest (with the great George Perez serving as co-artist): "Stranded on our world from a parallel reality, Huntress and Power Girl struggle to find their way back to Earth 2." The oldest team of comic superheroes, the Justice Society of America, finds itself on the alternate Earth 2 in another new series, simply called Earth 2.
Labels: Carl Jung, Collective Unconscious, Comics, DC, Dystopias, Fantasy, Fiction, George Perez, Informatics, Quantum Consciousness, Quantum Physics, Sci-Fi, Tech Revolution, Titans, Weird Fiction, Zeitgeist
Configurations of a Third: The Multiverse
From the Internet emerging from binary code, to the extratemporal dimension between the virtual and the real, to Dark Matter generated between the Matter and Antimatter of the Big Bang, to a bizarre cosmic consciousness arising out of gravity's mesh with space-time - the Millennial idea that our dualist Cartesian reality, split between mind and matter, can form a third, post-Cartesian reality is everywhere. See below the jump for Brian Greene's recent discussion on Nova's The Fabric of the Cosmos: Universe or Multiverse. While the Multiverse is not yet generally accepted among physicists, since 2010, the idea that there were and are many Big Bangs, generating many universes, has been gaining ground among quantum physicists, string theorists, and theoretical physicists studying cosmic inflation. Their critics argue vehemently that accepting an unprovable theory like this could undermine the very foundations of science. What is perhaps more important than the challenging theory is the overall pattern - a fundamental sea-change in outlook - these Millennial Configurations of a Third, everywhere we look (see my earlier post on tripartite aspects of Millennial thought, here and here).
In the American TV show, Fringe, there are prime and parallel universes. The parallel universe Manhattan is spelt with one 't.' Image Source: Fox via Wiki.
If the Multiverse is our reality and we don't know it, what would it be like to live there if we did know it? According to Signs of the Times: "The trouble is that in an infinite multiverse, everything that can happen will happen - an infinite number of times. In such a set-up, probability loses all meaning. 'How do you compare infinities?' asks Andrei Linde of Stanford University in California." Multiverses have been consistently popular fictional narrative devices that address Linde's question. Multiverses are constants in fantasy and sci-fi works, most recently in the American FOX television show, Fringe, and of course, Scenes from a Multiverse. But the only place where the cultural and social implications of a real Multiverse have been systematically and continually explored is in comic books. Since the early 1960s, Marvel has produced stories about a bunch of alternate realities, pocket universes and multiple dimensions. Marvel tends to have a single narrative represent a single reality: their main narrative continuity is Earth-616. Their Ultimate imprint has presented popular alternate universe stories since the year 2000. TVTropes sees Marvel's Multiverse affected by a hierarchy of positive and negative realities: English writer "Warren Ellis' run on X-Man utilized another conception of the multiverse, where in addition to Parallel Universes, there's a 'spiral of realities' stretching above and below, with the universes 'downspiral' being significantly more chaotic and difficult for li[f]e to develop/survive in than the the relatively advanced and idyllic universes located 'upspiral.'" Marvel also has an omniverse, a collection of all possible universes and realities, inhabited by characters from other fictions and pulp houses, including its rival, DC.
Infinite Crisis #5 (April 2006).
DC Comics' assessment is even more complex, with frayed narratives and equally divided fictional realities; its Multiverses collide and break apart, causing total chaos, infinite crises, and a constant reevaluation of its characters and degrees of heroism. Since Wonder Woman #59 (1953), writers at DC have symbolically considered what living in a real, tangible Multiverse would do to our mentalities, lives and consciousness. Since 1985's Crisis on Infinite Earths, when DC attempted to crunch the whole Multiverse into one single fictional universe, America's oldest comics publisher has allowed events on the Multiversal level to dominate its main narrative storyline with increasing frequency and intensity. DC soon uncrunched their single universe and brought the Multiverse back. DC's writers have reevaluated our understanding of death, of time, of narrative sequence and continuity, and of morality (see also: here); and all of this arises when the unseeable and unmeasurable beyond our perception collides theoretically with tangible reality and coughs up a third synthetic unknown.
nU Alec Holland meets nU Abby Arcane. DCnU Swamp Thing #3 (January 2012).
In short, alternate realities and parallel dimensions have of course appeared in many modern works of literature and drama, some great, some popular; but only DC has been consistently speculating on what a collective Multiversal reality would be like, month in, month out, over almost sixty years. DC's Multiverse has evolved over that time, with its most radical stories ever published this fall. The editors and writers at DC are saying the fabric of time and space could tear, turn itself inside out, and we could all find ourselves, the same but different, living in new realities, haunted by memories of our other existences.
Labels: Big Bang, Comics, Cosmology, DC, Doppelgangers, Dualism, Informatics, Marvel, Pulp Fiction, Quantum Consciousness, Quantum Physics, Rene Descartes, Sci-Fi, Tech Revolution, Zeitgeist
Image Source: Psychology Today.
A couple of years ago, I went to a conference where some new-fangled techniques in economic studies were discussed in one of the sessions. The novel methods involved presenting test subjects with economic choices, and then administering blood tests or brain scans to observe changes in hormonal levels and brain activity; it is an idea I touched on in an earlier post. At the time, I had a laugh; this bizarre hybrid of economics and psychobiology was chilling, yet funny, because of its dull literal-mindedness.
When the economy tanks and everyone finds economists without answers, then economic analysts sometimes poach on other disciplines' territories to find new methods. Occasionally, they move right into another field and make themselves at home. For example, they have been camping in the field of history, with an area of research they call Cliometrics. They've also expressed some interest in economics as an applied philosophy. As one of my friends who works in philosophy said, if the economists were to stop by, he would go down to the front gate and say: "Nothing to see here, Boys, move on, move on."
And move on they have, with zero sense of irony - to neuroscience, psychology and biology. It's a sign of how desperate economic researchers are. They need to find solutions to serious problems that their theories partly engendered. So far, they have come up empty-handed. Rather than containing the recession, their methods have been politicized; their ideas have been appropriated by practitioners in politics; and the economy is not improving. And so since 2008, with pressing urgency, the economists have been moving on, in a bid to develop whole new ways of economic thinking and remake the world economy.
Labels: Collective Unconscious, Dystopias, Metatime, Millennium, Neuroscience, Omens, Politics, Precognition, Quantum Consciousness, Religion, Superstitions, World Trade
Where are we going again? One of Inge Morath's rediscovered 1955 Parisian ball photos. (Thanks to -T.) Image Source: Time via The Inge Morath Foundation / Magnum Photos.
Although I've criticized the Baby Boomers' iconoclastic destruction of social values and institutions (here and here), it's time to give them some due in that regard. Their influence has been compounded by the parallel effect of the Tech Revolution, which has rendered past perspectives and morals obsolete. However, the ensuing Millennial aporia - a confusion or lack of values - may not be entirely bad. One thing the Boomers initially successfully attacked, not without some justification, was the external labeling imposed by social behaviour and cultural expectations that stifled people and held them back. The only problem is they replaced the old labels with new ones and they also questioned people's capacity to devise alternatives.
We are at the turning point. People without external reference points or viable directions coming to them from society can have trouble orienting themselves. What is expected from society when the outside prompts and social signposts are gone? What can one do, when everything, especially on the Internet, is a tabula rasa? What do the faithful do when organized religions seem to have lost capacity for building communities with motives grounded in genuine spirituality? What do the politically-minded do when political faiths furnish nothing but empty 18th and 19th century slogans unsuited to current conditions? Will they really take refuge in self-righteous blindnesses, vicious polarities, and internecine mutual accusations between Left and Right? The decline of externally imposed orders and cultural traditions is fracturing personal egos like so many billion eggshells.
On this blog, I've written posts (here, here and here) that indicate that economic troubles intensify aporia. People experience heart-breaking levels of stress as they face the upheavals of the global economy. The middle classes are dying or evolving. Going bankrupt, losing everything, losing a house (or never having the chance to own one), losing faith in the system, losing faith in the American dream (if you're American) - or being absorbed into a grand global culture (no matter where you're from) - all of this is deeply unnerving.
In social, spiritual and material vacuums, conflicts grow. Yesterday, I posted pieces on the intenstification of weapons research and the implementation of psychological testing on military personnel, which is being conducted with a view toward civilian applications. Ignoring the signs on the horizons won't help. Those reports made me think of a passage in Daniel Deronda: "There comes a terrible moment to many souls when the great movements of the world, the larger destinies of mankind, which have lain aloof in newspapers and other neglected reading, enter like an earthquake into their own lives--where the slow urgency of growing generations turns into the tread of an invading army or the dire clash of civil war, and gray fathers know nothing to seek for but the corpses of their blooming sons, and girls forgot all vanity to make lint and bandages which may serve for the shattered limbs of their betrothed husbands." One day, the chaos that grew in the obscure distance is on your doorstep.
The obliteration of externally imposed values leaves one real option. As we turn the bend toward the unimaginable and accelerating future, and the institutions that once defined authority and stability in our societies remain only as gin palace exteriors, there is a time lag that allows for individual and collective introspection. There is a need to find new values internally.
Labels: Baby Boomers, Biosemiotics, Collective Unconscious, Post-Postmodernism, Quantum Consciousness, Tech Revolution, Zeitgeist
The Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program
The Watchmen's blood-spattered smiley face symbolized the bone-cracking ironies of pacifist, free love America during the Vietnam War, exemplified by the character the Comedian, a cynical, ruthless battlefield government op who wears a smiley face button.
From the 2011 annals of Millennial Anxieties, I bring you this tidbit from the Chronicle of Higher Education, the Ivory Tower's main paper in the United States. The Chronicle recently ran an interesting and chilling little piece on something called the Comprehensive Soldier Fitness Program. It has all the weirdness of military psych projects that I've blogged about here and here. It is a completely real, $125 million attempt to use positive psychology techniques among military personnel, and it is being implemented as you read this without prior testing.
The aim of the program is to train soldiers to be psychologically healthy and resilient and prevent conditions like post traumatic stress disorder. Of course that's a good thing. And it's to be expected that the military would explore dimensions of psychological warfare, which include tactics to make soldiers cope with extreme conditions and chaos. Yet the program has been developed by a researcher who induced a reaction called 'learned helplessness' by shocking canine research subjects for the CIA. He's also written a book on how to be genuinely happy, which is described as a "user-friendly roadmap for human emotion." Uhm. What?
Several prominent American psychologists have expressed concern about the program, but as one put it, "the train has already left the station." And just in case you think this has nothing to do with you, it looks like the idea is to use the military as a test case for broader application to the civilian population and make everyone happier.
I've never been quite clear on why happiness is generally assumed to be the only mood possible to indicate mental health. After all, depression is a mental reaction that occurs naturally and it serves certain functions. Within limits, it protects the individual from further stresses while the psyche seeks to heal. Since when was it 'healthy' to be 'happy' after being traumatized? And while being psychologically stronger and happier is obviously ultimately desirable, why are we farming out control over enabling our happiness, and our capacity to be happy, to outside parties?
Regarding mass application of psych techniques among civilians: think of sites like Facebook that already monitor our personal data, friends, behaviour and values, and manipulate the data for marketing purposes. Consider that mass psych techniques have been implemented in the creation of some dating services. In these systems, people willingly create intimate personal psych profiles of themselves and pay to hand that information over to private companies; is it not inconceivable that some dating services are in fact big psych tests - rat-in-the-maze scenarios - wherein a private company (aka dating service) monitors clients' behavioural reactions when presented with various choices? Now, would you like some military psych test mass results with that? I ask you: Who Watches the Watchmen? See the details of the report below the jump.
Labels: Alan Moore, Collective Unconscious, Comics, Conspiracy Theories, DC, Dystopias, Quantum Consciousness, War, Watchmen, Zeitgeist
The Illusion of Time and the Multiverse
Image © Tiffany. Image Source: PBS.
PBS has a new 4-part series entitled The Fabric of the Cosmos on this month every Wednesday night. You can watch it in North America at 9:00 PM ET/PT on PBS (check local listings). Tonight's episode is called, "The Illusion of Time."
I09 reported on the series (the premiere was last week) and how popular Columbia prof and physicist Brian Greene is explaining something dear to the hearts of comic book editors everywhere: the existence of the multiverse and multiple copies of ourselves, inhabiting multi-realities. Is time the barrier between these dimensions?
Over the next month, NOVA is going to confirm what most sci-fi enthusiasts already suspect-that everything we've been taught about space and time just might be total B.S. The past is not just a series of faded events, the future isn't yet defined, and despite what science prudes say, we probably aren't alone.
The Fabric of The Cosmos, the four-part follow up to acclaimed physicist Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe, takes an intensely in-depth look at all we think we know-and then turns it upside down. So in the weeks leading to the November 2 series premiere on PBS, we'll be giving you a brief primer on what to expect from each brilliant episode. So far we've explored space, time, and a little concept known as quantum mechanics. Today, we take one step farther into the unknown, in order to understand the theory of the multiverse.
Just when you were positive that you were indeed a unique snowflake, "Universe or Multiverse?"—the final installment of The Fabric of The Cosmos—melts all those notions away. Brian Greene ventures to explain the hard-to-swallow, yet scientifically plausible theory of alternate realities. Imagine a world, eerily similar to our own, populated with familiar faces—namely, yours. Some physicists believe that it's entirely possible that somewhere out there, in the infinite abyss, we each have a doppelganger. Explore each of these Bizarro worlds with Brian Greene, and learn about the concrete science that continues to awe even the hardest of skeptics.
Check it out if you can! See below the jump for the preview.
Addendum: To watch this episode, go here on Youtube. (Dec. 3, 2011)
Labels: Astronomy, Comics, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Doppelgangers, Metatime, Quantum Consciousness, Quantum Physics, Time Warps, Zeitgeist
Hallowe'en Countdown 15: Skeptics and the Shadow People
Shadow People: Hat Man and the Hooded Figure. Image Source: Paranormal People Presents.
For the most part, skeptics pretty much dismiss the findings of ghost hunters and psychics. But skeptics and non-skeptics alike acknowledge certain phenomena as verifiable aspects of human perception, even if they disagree on the sources of those aspects. Shadow People are great examples; in German, they are called Shattenwesen.
Image © Jason Jam. Image Source: Dr. Fong's House of Mysteries.
First off, a recap on how far we've gotten in this Countdown to Hallowe'en regarding skeptics and their investigations of ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. Most modern ghost hunting shows are a type of Reality TV, with equally bad acting, but the additional prop of night vision cameras.
There is a special brand of ghost hunter who dismisses other ghost hunters with a real tone of authority. This is the low tech ghost hunter who nonetheless claims to be more 'scientific.' I actually love it when technology loses some of its automatically-assumed scientific cachet and when low tech solutions are considered to have more street cred.
Labels: Afterlife, Aliens, Countdowns, Ghosts, Horror, Immortality, Omens, Paranormal, Quantum Consciousness, Quantum Physics, Superstitions, Tech Revolution, Time Travel
Artificial Intelligence Grows: From DNA to Telepathy
Image Source: Geeky Gadgets.
There are some new developments in artificial intelligence. There are two paths in the field of A.I., which sooner or later are set to converge. One is the deliberate creation of artificial intelligence systems. The other is the artificial intelligence system we already have - the Internet and Cyberspace. Two reports indicate that researchers are pushing the boundaries on both fronts.
The 21 July issue of Nature published results from researchers at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech). Geeky Gadgets: "What they did was build simple neural networks composed of four neurons each that exhibited a capability to employ an input/output network." This artificial neural network was created "out of DNA, creating a circuit of interacting molecules that can recall memories based on incomplete patterns, just as a brain can." They "asked, instead of having a physically connected network of neural cells, can a soup of interacting molecules exhibit brainlike behavior?" The answer is yes; moreover this system can complete an incomplete pattern, an essential component of conscious recognition. See the report here (ref: Nature, Volume: 475, Pages: 368–372 Date published: (21 July 2011) DOI: doi:10.1038/nature10262 Received 31 December 2010 Accepted 31 May 2011 Published online 20 July 2011) .
Meanwhile Business Insider is reporting that the National Security Agency (NSA) is building an artificial intelligence system that can read minds (Hat tip: Dobroyeutro). It's based on the personal information accumulated on the internet, through marketing schemes, and on social networks:
It's called "Aquaint" (Advanced QUestion Answering for INTelligence), and PBS's James Bamford takes a stab at explaining how it works: "As more and more data is collected -- through phone calls, credit card receipts, social networks like Facebook and MySpace, GPS tracks, cell phone geolocation, Internet searches, Amazon book purchases, even E-Z Pass toll records -- it may one day be possible to know not just where people are and what they are doing, but what and how they think. "Whether it works or not, we know that it's so intrusive that at least one researcher has quit over the idea of placing such a powerful system in the hands of the an agency with little to no accountability."
Labels: A.I., Genetics, Millennium, Quantum Computers, Quantum Consciousness, Tech Revolution
Google Consciousness: The Antisocial Network
Graphic pushing the latest arrival in social networking: Google Plus.
When he sent me a Google Plus invitation last week, my friend C. jubilantly declared that Google has finally hit on a, "Facebook killer, Skype killer, Twitter killer." Everyone is stampeding off Facebook's guerilla marketing ghetto to join the new network. I'm always struck by the intense popular desire for things on the Internet that are practically impossible on the Internet: exclusivity, no ads, peace and quiet - and ironically - individuality through mass conformity. The herd is running as fast as it can to the newest place on the Web where 'you can just be yourself,' a 'real individual,' again. One more time! That's its selling point - it's the anti-Facebook.
I have written about problems with Facebook (here, here and here). Facebook annoyingly erodes natural memory, reviving acquaintances from decades ago, who under normal circumstances would have faded into obscurity; it attacks privacy behind a smiley face; its highly sophisticated and integrated marketing platforms and harvesters sell private data to God only knows whom; and its info leaks recently came home to the Mother Ship, when Harvard sociologists got into hot water for turning the entire Harvard class of 2009 into unwitting guinea pigs, making them them the unconsulted subjects of a university Facebook study.
Now, we have this shiny alternative. Paul Allen estimates that despite the fact that Google Plus launched on 28 June, is in beta 'field-testing' status, and you can only get into it by invitation, it will have 20 million users by this weekend:
According to independent analysis done by Paul Allen, founder of Ancestry.com, Google's new social network Google Plus will hit 20 million users by this weekend. And he estimates that the current user base has already surpassed the 10 million mark. What's most surprising about Google Plus, however, is how quickly it has grown. The size of the user base has increased by 350% in just 6 days, says Allen.
Six days! Imagine if people mobilized like that to do something good in this world. The exponential growth of the Internet is hard to grasp. I was going to wait to put up this post until later this month, but by that point, Google Plus will probably be at 1 billion users and this will be old news. Some social media strategists think that this rapid network growth will open the doorway to new utopias (see below the jump).
"The Antisocial Network" (12 July 2011) © Jonathan Rosenberg. Image Source: Scenes from a Multiverse.
Labels: A.I., Cognitive Science, Comics, Informatics, Memory, Millennium, Quantum Consciousness, Tech Revolution, Virtual Reality, Zeitgeist
Freud would have a Field Day
Gray and Gold (1942). Oil on canvas. By John Rogers Cox.
Thank you very much to J. for sending me a link to extensive work by John Suler of the Department of Psychology at Rider University about individual and group behaviour online. His work is called The Psychology of Cyberspace (read it here). It examines how the mentality of people is changing as they interact on the internet, which he calls cyberpsychology; he investigates how cyberpsychology is altering our whole society, starting with the way computers have split the already-fractured self. He covers topics such as anonymity, disinhibition, the psychology of avatars, cyberspace as dream worlds, addiction to computers, online gender-switching, apocalyptic thinking, integrating online and offline living, in-person versus cyberspace relationships, virtual communities, and the ethics of cyberspace research.
Labels: Cognitive Science, Collective Unconscious, Doppelgangers, Dualism, Fantasy, Globalization, Gnosticism, Informatics, Millennium, Post-Postmodernism, Quantum Consciousness, Tech Revolution, Visual Arts
Cause and Effect: Time and Western Civilization?
Time as a chessboard, not an arrow. Ballet on Time Chessboard by Lawrence Alfred Powell. Image Source: Redbubble.
In my post from November 25th, I discussed Stephen Hawking's assumption that time travel backwards is impossible. From MSNBC's report: "'Down at the smallest of scales, smaller even than molecules, smaller than atoms, we get to a place called the quantum foam. This is where wormholes exist. Tiny tunnels or shortcuts through space and time constantly form, disappear, and reform within this quantum world. And they actually link two separate places and two different times. The tunnels, unfortunately, are far too small for people to pass through — just a billion-trillion-trillionths of a centimeter -- but physicists believe it may be possible to catch a wormhole and make it big enough for people, or spaceships, to enter,' Hawking writes. 'Theoretically, a time tunnel or wormhole could do even more than take us to other planets. If both ends were in the same place, and separated by time instead of distance, a ship could fly in and come out still near Earth, but in the distant past. Maybe dinosaurs would witness the ship coming in for a landing. ... Ultimately, scientists may find that only travel into the future is possible, as the laws of nature may make travel to the past impossible so the relationship between cause and effect is maintained.'"
I noted Hawking's reservations in my earlier post, "that time, the entire Fourth Dimension, must follow the rules of cause and effect. Incidentally, the principle of causality underpins the entire conception of western civilization, so it's interesting that Hawking has run headlong up against that brick wall and steadfastly backed away from it." Two things struck me here: first, that Hawking's assessment is so dependent upon the notion of this causality that he had to invent a wall of radiation or similar force to prevent the universe from acting in a way that he considers to be illogical. It looks like there is room for a blind spot here. Second, the principle of causality underpins practically every area of human inquiry, especially in the Western tradition, in everything from theology to the scientific method.
Labels: Cosmology, Gnosticism, Greeks and Romans, Philip K. Dick, Philosophy of Time, Quantum Consciousness, Quantum Physics, Religion, Stephen Hawking, Time Capsules, Time Travel, Time Warps
New: The Brain Scan Job Interview
Image: Wellcome Images via MRI-scam.com.
Coming soon to a job interview near you: the brain scan job interview. This is just what the doctor ordered to get us out of the recession! I09 is reporting via BBC that UK employers have discovered a new way to assess prospective employees: "A study in the UK aims to figure out what the brains of business leaders look like, at least inside an fMRI machine. The brain images could be used in future as models for "ideal brains" in a business setting." Once corporations start with this level of bio-psychometric testing, the schools and service and entertainment industries won't be far behind.
Labels: Fin-de-Siecle, Millennium, Post-Postmodernism, Posthumanism, Quantum Biology, Quantum Computers, Quantum Consciousness, Tech Revolution, Transhumanism, World Trade
The Problem with Memory 2: The Science of Memory
Memory chip. Image Source: Venture Beat.
How do we remember? What does the brain do, exactly, to create memories? What are we to make of a report like this one at Live Science, which states that memory is not just a product of brain cells forming connections - wherein nerves reorganize themselves and send messages between themselves to establish a memory; but individual brain nerve cells can also hold short-term memories? There's a piece here from October 25 at Phys.org which further explains how memories are born. A memory is created when our brain makes groups of its cells "fire in unison" - each memory has a different pattern. Scientists are trying to find treatments or prevention for Alzheimer's and dementia by administering drugs to older rats which stimulate their neurotransmitters. This research has been headed by Profesor Etan Markus at the University of Connecticut. An earlier report from 2006 on memory creation in the brain is here.
Aside from the obvious fears of aging Baby Boomers, why is there pressure to figure out how memory works? Consider that those who know exactly how neurobiology and neuropsychology overlap in order that we may comprehend differences in time will conceivably be able to control, manufacture and bend memories - in advertising, in cinema, in public life, on the internet, in the military. Phys.org just came out with a report that scientists have discovered how to erase memory: "Researchers working with mice have discovered that by removing a protein from the region of the brain responsible for recalling fear, they can permanently delete traumatic memories."
Labels: A.I., Baby Boomers, Dante, Empiricism, H. G. Wells, Memory, Neuroscience, Philosophy of Time, Positivism, Post-Postmodernism, Postmodernism, Quantum Biology, Quantum Consciousness
On Distant Horizons: The Anti-Tech Backlash
Image © Josh Neuman.
For those of us who feel a sense of unease about the exponential pace of technological change, the relentless pressure to absorb the flood of blinking information, to respond to the plugged-in socializing, there is a question as to whether some quieter aspects of life from the past are being irretrievably lost. One of my friends recently commented on people who are old enough to remember life before the Tech Revolution hit full force, which is the common experience of anyone belonging to Generation X or older. He remarked that life before technology hit in earnest had a certain tempo and mood, and computers came along like two uninvited guests at the end of a dinner party, who spoil the dynamic. He said that some people who remember the way things were before computers hit have 'drunk the Kool Aid' and are now hardcore tech enthusiasts; they seem to have forgotten the completely different pace and quality of life that once existed. Knowledge, even about things like pop culture, was once hard won and required real dedication. Even now, topics that require deep, quiet and focussed contemplation over time in order for their truths to come to light are swamped by a daily ocean of shallow facts that take up a lot of our time, concentration and energy. Are our simian brains even able to engage in addictive, repetitive behaviour like this - indulging in these elaborate proxies for living - over long periods without sustaining damage?
Labels: Baby Boomers, Film, Generation X, Matrix, Metatime, Millennium, Nostalgia, Quantum Computers, Quantum Consciousness, Retro-Futurism, Steampunk, Tech Revolution, Virtual Reality
Historical First: Atom Photographed, Quantum Computers Steps Away
A picture of a single Rubidium 85 Atom (2010). Image: M. Andersen/ T. Grünzweig/A. Hilliard/M. McGovern/U. of Otago.
There is a story out at Physorg (here; hat tip: Lee Hamilton's blog) about scientists at the University of Otago who have managed to hold a Rubidium 85 atom in a laser beam and photograph it through a microscope. Scientists, led by Mikkel Andersen of the Department of Physics, laboured for three years to take this photo. Andersen has given an interview to NPR which you can listen to here.
By proving they can trap individual atoms, the Otago team is steps away from creating quantum computing circuits of communicating atoms, which can perform complex calculations simultaneously at the atomic level. Andersen: "What we have done moves the frontier of what scientists can do and gives us deterministic control of the smallest building blocks in our world." Earlier developments in this field had already prompted physicist Michio Kaku to say that the Silicon Valley will become a rustbelt within the next twenty years (in a 2008 interview here). Kaku uses Moore's Law to predict how quickly computing will evolve in the next generation. By about 2030, he assumes we could build machines that could run at the speed of human thought, that is, 500 trillion bytes per second. But right now our most advanced computers have the intelligence of a "retarded cockroach."
Labels: A.I., Futurism, Generation Y, Informatics, Philip K. Dick, Posthumanism, Quantum Computers, Quantum Consciousness, Quantum Physics, Robots, Sci-Fi, Tech Revolution, Transhumanism, Weird Fiction
Retrocognition, or, Psychic History
Matter of Time (2009). © By lone-momo. Reproduced with kind permission.
The turn of the Millennium is a relentless, clichéed reality, important only because of how we set up our calendar. We expect these years to be significant, even if they're not. And if they're not, we have to make them important with strange ideas. Today's fringe theory is Retrocognition or Postcognition. This is a fad from the turn of the last century, wherein people claim to be able to see past events psychically, and experience trapped pockets of former times.
Labels: Comics, Genetics, Marvel, Metatime, Occult, Paranormal, Post-Postmodernism, Quantum Consciousness, Retro-Futurism, Steampunk, Superstitions, Time Capsules, Time Travel, Visual Arts, X-Men
Robots: Reading Your Mind
A participant in the P300 study practices for the deception detection test. Courtesy Rosenfeld Lab.
Time is reporting that Northwestern University researchers are coming closer to the infamous, oft-rumoured, conspiracy-theory-inspiring technology of reading brainwaves in order to track terrorists.
Labels: Cognitive Science, Comics, Conspiracy Theories, DC, Post-Postmodernism, Posthumanism, Quantum Biology, Quantum Computers, Quantum Consciousness, Robots, Tech Revolution, Titans
The Arrow of Time - A Physics Problem Solved by Biologists?
Arrow of Time, by Vladimir Kush.
Yesterday, I blogged about Deepak Chopra's efforts to link problems related to theories of gravity to the Arrow of Time problems in physics. This kind of speculation on the meaning and direction of time, if locked into the mysteries of how gravity works at macro- and microcosmic levels, will lend itself to debates on aging, consciousness and death - and thus to issues of spirituality and religion. This is all pretty dicey. Now enter the biologists.
Labels: Albert Einstein, Astronomy, Cosmology, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Evolution, Extinction, Genetics, Immortality, Metatime, Quantum Consciousness, Quantum Physics, Sir Isaac Newton
How is Gravity Related to Time?
Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. Copy of original by Pieter Breughel the Elder.
There are some strange, strange ideas floating around right now on the edges of quantum physics. What's brewing is a peculiar and unfortunate marriage of science and religion, all of it hinging on the relationship between gravity and time.
Labels: Albert Einstein, Astronomy, Cosmology, Metatime, Quantum Consciousness, Quantum Physics, Religion, Sir Isaac Newton, Visual Arts


Following on from the release of their 'SCREAM: The Essentials' album at the end of last year, SOiL are now gearing up for their european tour supporting ALIEN ANT FARM which kicks off in the UK in February.
Formed in 1997, Chicago Heavy Rock band SOiL quickly took the scene by storm. The band has sold over 2 million albums worldwide and is best known for the hit singles Halo, Unreal, Redefine, The Lesser Man, and Shine On.
After celebrating their 20th anniversary in January of 2017, SOiL entered into the studio to record new material to be included on 'SCREAM: The Essentials', a Greatest Hits collection featuring the songs that solidified SOiL as Hard Rock mainstays, as well as alternate versions of popular tracks and unreleased material. The new studio track "Gimme Some Lovin" is a cover song originally featured in the 1980 smash hit cult classic movie 'The Blues Brothers'. "We felt it was a perfect song to add the album" states bassist Tim King. "It tied in our Chicago roots and the 20th anniversary of the band perfectly".
Watch 'Gimme Some Lovin' by Soil (official music video).
Other tracks included on "SCREAM…" include an acoustic version of "Can You Heal Me" recorded at Dimebag Darrell's home studio and produced by Vinnie Paul. Also included is a special version of "Give It Up" featuring the late Wayne Static of Static-X contributing verse, chorus, and bridge vocal lines throughout the song.
SOiL will embark upon a worldwide tour in support of the new release "SCREAM: The Essentials" throughout 2017 and 2018.


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Watch #InMyFeed: Steve McQueen Wants To 'Shake Off The Blues' And Direct A Musical
We're also sending our condolences to Angela Simmons and side-eyeing on Rebel Wilson's rom-com comments.
By Sydney Scott · Updated December 6, 2020
Welcome to #InMyFeed, ESSENCE's daily digital show that offers you a cheat sheet of the hottest topics already on your timeline. We're sending prayers to Angela Simmons and her family following news that her former fiancé, Sutton Tennyson, was shot and killed in his Atlanta home. Police have few details about the shooting and an investigation is currently underway. Academy Award-winning director Steve McQueen wants to brighten things up with a musical. The director recently shared his plans, adding, "Right now, [the world] is dark, it's heavy, there's no ifs, buts, maybes about it, it's so unsure and uncertain and I think I need to shake off the blues and make us all happy." And, actress Rebel Wilson has resorted to blocking Black critics who called her out over her recent rom-com comments. While promoting her upcoming movie Isn't It Romantic, the star wrongfully stated, "I'm proud to be the first ever plus-sized girl to be the star of a romantic comedy." Um, ever heard of Queen Latifah?! Follow these stories and more in #InMyFeed.
TOPICS: Angela Simmons Sutton Tennyson Steve McQueen Viola Davis Widows


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Cruises to Seoul (Incheon)
Seoul (Incheon) (Photo:CJ Nattanai/Shutterstock)
About Seoul (Incheon)
A 5,000-year-old culture blended with startling modernity makes South Korea's capital, Seoul, a fascinating place to visit. You'll find old-fashioned tea shops and centuries-old temples with ornate roofs sitting between skyscrapers and smart malls selling the latest electronic gadgets, while the rocky peaks of Bukhansan National Park form a scenic backdrop.
Tradition is important to Koreans and, even among hip young Seoulites, Confucian principles like respect for elders still hold sway. Visiting a Buddhist temple, sampling some fancy royal cuisine or tucking into a tabletop barbecue are simple ways you can get a taste of the local culture for yourself, even on a short visit. You might even choose to hang out with the friendly locals in the steam rooms and lounges of one of the popular bathhouses.
South Korea is a relatively new destination on the cruising scene. You'll dock at Incheon in its Northwest, which is about 90 minutes from the capital and handily also the location of the International Airport. This peninsula was the site of the pivotal U.N.-led Incheon landings in the Korean War. For those with an interest in modern history, there are other fascinating sites to visit, including the Demilitarized Zone just outside Seoul, which marks the divide between South Korea and its secretive northern neighbours.
More about Seoul (Incheon)
Why go to Seoul (Incheon)?
Seoul (Incheon) Cruise Port Facilities?
Cruisers' Choice
2019 Best for Shore Excursions
61 Night
Cruise to Seoul (Incheon)Details
Leaving:Sydney
Cruise Line:Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Leaving:Los Angeles
Cruise Line:Oceania Cruises
2019 Best for Embarkation
Leaving:Yokohama
Cruise Line:Silversea Cruises
Leaving:Hong Kong
2019 Best for Cabins
Leaving:Tokyo
2019 Best for Value
It's a convenient port location for Incheon International Airport, and it offers clean, modern facilities
The port is in Incheon, around 90 minutes from Seoul, with no sights in the immediate vicinity
It offers good transport connections to the sights of Seoul and the Demilitarized Zone to the north
Incheon is a fairly basic cruise port at present, more used to container shipping and ferries, with a new international passenger terminal scheduled for completion in 2014. The existing terminal does, however, include a caf?, Internet cafe, ATM and tourist information desk. There are also banks and Internet cafes at Incheon subway station, about 15 minutes away.
Good to Know?
Kimchi. This ubiquitous foodstuff makes an appearance at every meal and is considered so important that Korean astronauts were sent into space with a freeze-dried version. Chilli-spiced fermented vegetables (cabbage, most commonly) may sound unappetizing, but give it a go -- it's a refreshing side dish.
Getting Around?
By Bus: Buses making routes around Incheon include Nos. 3-1, 17-1, 23 and 24.
To get to Seoul, take an intra-city bus from Incheon inter-city bus terminal (Gwangyo-dong) into Seoul which takes around 90 minutes. You will need to change at Inha University Hospital Station to bus No.3-1. You'll probably find it easier, as a tourist, to take the subway; it's also more reliable, as Seoul traffic can be very slow at times.
By Subway: Seoul has an extensive underground system that is relatively easy to use. You can take a taxi or bus from the port to the Dong-Incheon subway station (Line 1), 10 to 15 minutes away. From there, it will take about an hour and 20 minutes to get to the Seoul city center. Look out for Express trains that don't stop at every station. The rechargeable T-money Card, available from subway ticket counters, can be used to pay for public transport and some Seoul taxis.
By Taxi: Taxis are plentiful and metered. It's best to have your destination address written in Korean.
Currency & Best Way to Get Money?
South Korea's currency is the Won (KRW); visit oanda.com or xe.com for current rates. ATM's are widely available, but you will need to find one displaying symbols for global credit cards like Visa; subway stations are a good bet. More budget shops and restaurants may accept cash only.
Korean is the official language, but many young people learn English. Seoul locals are friendly and keen to help tourists, so if they can't direct you themselves they will often find you someone who can. It helps to have your destination written in Korean for taxi drivers.
Where You're Docked?
Incheon is set on a peninsula in South Korea's Northwest. It's a 90-minute drive from the capital, Seoul, over the grand Incheon Bridge.
Seoul (Incheon) Cruise Reviews
Transportation into Seoul from Incheon can get confusing/ long. We took the cruise provided bus into downtown Incheon then the train into Seoul. Took about 1.5 hours total and very little English is spoken. Again, I Read More
icsinger08
It was so easy to travel to Seoul from Incheon, we had a lovely day, visiting the palace and enjoyed the shopping. We also visited China town in Incheon. The curtesy bus enabled us to do this.Read More
RomeAlot
The ship arrived late due to fog in the area. The ship offered free shuttle service from the pier to the City of Incheon. We walked around the city and then purchased a one way ticket on the train to Seoul. We visRead More
SALAMANCA2014
Not much to see here. There is a HOHO bus route that does not allow HOHO. If you get off you'll have to buy another ticket. Strange.Read More
thankssocialsecurity
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