What is a photogrammetrist and what do they do – Digit

Posted on by

Not many people have heard of the term photogrammetry, or they have, but they dont really understand what exactly this discipline of geography entails. Cartography, on the other hand, is a well-known profession of creating geographical maps. Both cartography and photogrammetry have professionals working in the same field geography, however, their approaches to achieving their end goals, and sometimes, their ends goals itself, are entirely different. Were going to delve into the lesser-known field of photogrammetry and everything you need to keep in mind if youre considering a career in this esoteric field.

Photogrammetry is the process by which metric information about an object or the Earths surface is derived through measurements such as shape, volume and depth, made from a photograph of the same surface or object. The method uses the parallax obtained from several images, of an object or terrain, taken from different angles. This allows photogrammetrists to get reliable information about the environment or physical objects through several processes such as recording, measuring, and interpreting photographs.

This process is actually as old as photography itself since it was first developed around 150 years ago. At the time of its inception, photogrammetry was a purely analogue technique, however, over the years, it has transcended to become an analytical process based on computer-aided mathematical algorithms. At its current stage, photogrammetry is purely digital and based on soft-copies of photographs where digital imagery and computer vision is used to map the Earths surface or other physical objects with no optomechanical hardware.

The images can be satellite imagery, aerial photographs or even regular handheld or tripod-taken photographs. It has multiple applications such as the measuring of coordinates, quantification of distances, creation of topographic maps, digital elevation models, and even orthophotographs.

A photogrammetrist specialises in the practice of utilising satellite images, aerial photographs, GPS, an array of software catered to this field, and even LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) to create 3D models of the Earths surface or a variety of other objects such as stones, buildings, interiors and more. They work on compiling and analysing spatial data such as distance and elevation to create maps and models. They collect all this information in order to create or update maps for regional planning, education and other purposes. Their target is designing user-friendly maps which can be accessed and understood by the masses easily and can also have GIS (geographic information system) overlayed on top of these maps.

A photogrammetrist usually spends a good chunk of their work lives in their office, analysing and interpreting images to create 3D models or maps out of it, however, they can be required to extensively travel as well to the locations that are being mapped. Some photogrammetrists will have to plan aerial and satellite surveys so as to ensure complete coverage of the area they are working on.

Photogrammetrists are increasingly working on online and mobile maps, and advanced ones, such as interactive maps are becoming exceedingly popular as well. It is essential that new-age photogrammetrists learn new techniques and software to help them collect data and design maps for mobile phones and navigation systems.

If you have a passion for aerial photography, geography and map-making, you may want to look into the field of photogrammetry. However, it is essential that you work to keep yourself updated with the advancements in technology. Typically, an aspiring photogrammetrist must hold a bachelors degree in geomatics, geography, and cartography or surveying. Sometimes, individuals holding bachelors degrees in computer science, engineering and forestry are also given the pass. It is integral that you familiarise yourself with certain tools and software utilised for image processing, light imaging detection and ranging technology (LiDAR), and remote sensing.You must also have some knowledge about web-based mapping technologies, as well as new methods of compiling data that incorporate the GPS capabilities of smartphones and in-car navigation systems. The exact qualifications for becoming a photogrammetrist vary from place-to-place and country-to-country, however, experience in working with computer data, coding and critical thinking skills, as well as an affinity for creating maps, signify that you may be able to pursue a career in this field.

Software for photogrammetry must be cautiously selected depending on your expectations. Do you need to upload multiple images? Are you focusing on aerial images? Are you a novice or experienced? Questions like these must be answered and you will be able to pick the software best-suited to your specific needs. Lets have a look at a few conventional software.

This is a stand-alone software which offers useful features such as photogrammetric triangulation, point cloud data, measurements for distances, volumes, areas, 3D model generation and textures, and more. You will have to choose between the standard and professional version. If you are a beginner or have limited needs, the standard version of Agisoft features all the basic software tools that you could possibly need which is why it is one of the most widely-used software for photogrammetry. However, if you need the ground control point option, you should upgrade to the professional version.

This software is lauded for being able to process data much quicker than its competitors. It can also handle a sizeable number of images on a regular-powered desktop as long as it comes equipped with an Nvidia GPU. Its quick align feature is extremely convenient since it allows you to align images in a few seconds, and while this feature is on Agisoft as well, Reality Capture is much faster.

This software is primarily dedicated to drone-based mapping. It has an advanced digital reconstruction technology that can turn images into precise geo-referenced 2D maps or 3D models. You can also render your project and work on textures on this software. Pix4Dmapper is quite versatile as well since it works well on both aerial images as well as close-ranged images.

Previously known as Autodesk Remake, Autodesk ReCap Pro is a reality capture software that allows users to create accurate 3D models using reality captures. It lets you work with aerial photogrammetry and measure and edit point cloud data. There is an array of tools present such as clearing unwanted objects to work specifically on a precise object.

Context Capture assists in creating complete 3D models using photographs with no human intervention whatsoever. This software also includes the ContextCapture Editor which allows users to edit meshes, generate cross-sections and extract ground and break-lines.

Read the original post:

What is a photogrammetrist and what do they do - Digit

Olivia de Havilland, a Star of Gone With the Wind, Dies at 104 – The New York Times

Posted on by

Olivia de Havilland, an actress who gained movie immortality in Gone With the Wind, then built an illustrious film career, punctuated by a successful fight to loosen the studios grip on contract actors, died on Sunday at her home in Paris. She was 104 and one of the last surviving stars of Hollywoods fabled Golden Age.

Her death was confirmed by her publicist Lisa Goldberg.

Ms. de Havilland was both a classic Hollywood beauty and an honored screen actress whose very name and bearing suggested membership in a kind of aristocracy of moviedom. Though she was typecast early in her career as the demure ingnue, she went on to earn meatier roles that led to five Academy Award nominations, two of which brought her the Oscar, for To Each His Own (1946) and The Heiress (1949).

Those roles came to her in no small part because of the resolve she showed when she stood up to the studios and won a battle that helped push Hollywood into the modern era, surprising the movie moguls, who may not have expected such steel in an actress so softly attractive and, at 5-foot-3, so unintimidatingly petite.

She had shown similar grit a decade earlier, in her breakthrough role, when she held her own against her formidable co-stars Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh and Leslie Howard in Gone With the Wind.

The 1939 Civil War epic was briefly pulled from the HBO Max streaming service last month and returned with an introduction saying that the film presents the Georgia plantation at its center as a world of grace and beauty, without acknowledging the brutalities of the system of chattel slavery upon which this world is based.

As Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, the fiance and then wife of Mr. Howards Ashley Wilkes, she brought intelligence and grace to her portrait of a woman whose shy, forgiving, almost too kindly nature stood in sharp contrast to the often venomous jealousy of her high-spirited sister-in-law, Scarlett OHara (Ms. Leigh).

Ms. de Havillands performance led to an Oscar nomination as best supporting actress, though the award went to another member of the cast, Hattie McDaniel, who played Mammy, Scarletts housekeeper. (Ms. Leigh won in the best-actress category.)

Ms. de Havilland was under contract to Warner Bros. when the films original director, George Cukor, working for MGM, invited her to audition for the role of Melanie. (He was later replaced by Victor Fleming.) After getting the part, she had to plead with her studio boss, Jack Warner, to lend her to the MGM production, which was being overseen by David O. Selznick.

By then she had established herself at Warner as a familiar heroine in some 20 films and had begun a long collaboration with the prolific director Michael Curtiz, encompassing nine films. Most notable was a string of action features and costume dramas opposite the dashing Errol Flynn, among them Captain Blood (1935), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), in which she played Maid Marian.

Ms. de Havilland and Flynn were such a popular onscreen couple that rumors flew of an on-set romance, fueled in part by Flynns reputation for bedding his co-stars and reports that he was infatuated with her. By all accounts there was no truth to the whisperings of an affair, though some years later Ms. de Havilland admitted to having had a great crush on Flynn and suggested that circumstances at the time he was married when they met stood in the way of a romance.

So naughty and so charming, she said of him.

Warner had signed Ms. de Havilland to a seven-year contract in 1935 on the strength of her performance that year as Hermia, the defiant daughter who resists an arranged marriage, in Max Reinhardts film adaptation of A Midsummer Nights Dream. (The year before, she had made her professional stage acting debut in the same role in a Hollywood Bowl production by Reinhardt.)

After her success in Gone With the Wind, Ms. de Havilland returned to Warner with the expectation of more challenging roles. For the most part, they did not materialize.

One exception was Hold Back the Dawn (1941), in which she played an American schoolteacher who is seduced in Mexico by a wily European exile (Charles Boyer). Her performance earned her another Oscar nomination, but this time she lost to her sister, Joan Fontaine, who won for Suspicion. The two were rarely on speaking terms after that. (They are the only sisters to win best-actress Academy Awards, and their sibling rivalry was called the fiercest in Hollywood history.)

The formula roles kept coming. When Ms. de Havilland complained, she was told that she had been hired because she photographed well and that she wasnt required to act.

The studio had misread her determination. She began to refuse roles she considered inferior. Warner retaliated by suspending her several times, for a total of six months, and, after her contract expired, insisting that because of the suspensions she was still the studios property for six more months.

Ms. de Havilland sued. The case dragged on for a year and a half but David finally beat Goliath when the California Supreme Court upheld a lower-court ruling in her favor in 1945. What became known as the de Havilland decision established that a studio could not arbitrarily extend the duration of an actors contract.

When she resumed her career, Ms. de Havilland appeared in four films in rapid succession, all released in 1946. In one, The Dark Mirror, she played twins, one good and one evil. In her Oscar-winning performance in To Each His Own, she was an unwed mother who must give up her infant son when his father, her lover, a World War I flying ace, is killed in action.

Ms. de Havilland soon took on one of her most demanding roles, that of a young bride who becomes mentally ill and is sent to an institution, in The Snake Pit (1948). The film, directed by Anatol Litvak, was an unflinching study of mental illness and the treatments available then, from narcotics to electroshock. Ms. de Havilland was nominated for a best-actress Oscar but did not win.

She captured her second Oscar the next year with The Heiress, directed by William Wyler and adapted by Ruth and Augustus Goetz from their Broadway play based on Henry Jamess Washington Square. Ms. de Havilland presented an affecting portrait of a repressed, spinsterish young woman dominated by her rigidly protective father (Ralph Richardson).

It was one of Ms. de Havillands favorite roles. The films I loved, she said in 1964, the great loves, are The Snake Pit, The Heiress and, of course, Gone With the Wind.

But she did not love Hollywood, and in the 1950s she startled the town when she abandoned it to live in Paris with a new husband, though she kept her American citizenship.

For Olivia, William Stadiem wrote in a profile of her in Vanity Fair magazine in 2016, there was a whiff of decay and disappointment about Hollywood.

Olivia Mary de Havilland was born on July 1, 1916, to British parents in Tokyo, where her father, Walter, a cousin of the aviation pioneer Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, ran a firm of patent lawyers, though he was not a lawyer himself. In 1919 her mother, the former Lillian Ruse, an elocution teacher, moved with Olivia and Joan, her younger sister by 15 months, to Saratoga, Calif., near San Francisco. The de Havillands divorced and Lillian married George M. Fontaine, a department store executive, whose surname Joan later took as her stage name.

Ms. de Havilland was married twice. Both marriages ended in divorce. The first, in 1946, was to Marcus Aurelius Goodrich, a Texas-born novelist, screenwriter and journalist; they had a son, Benjamin, and divorced in 1952. She married Pierre Galante, the author of military histories and at one point editor of the magazine Paris Match, in 1955 after the couple met in France. They moved to Paris, had a daughter, Gisele, and divorced in 1979. Ms. de Havillands son died of Hodgkins disease in 1991.

Before she was married, Ms. de Havilland had romantic relationships with James Stewart, Howard Hughes and the director John Huston, with whom she reunited for a time after her first divorce. By her account she also turned away a smitten young John F. Kennedy, who was visiting Hollywood after his PT-boat service in World War II.

She is survived by her daughter, Giselle Galante Chulack. Joan Fontaine died in 2013 at 96.

Though she had decamped to Paris, Ms. de Havilland remained a creature of Hollywood for most of her career. But she did try her hand at theater again, making her Broadway debut in 1951, to good reviews, as Juliet in a short-lived production of Romeo and Juliet.

She returned to Broadway in 1952 for another brief run in Shaws Candida and was last seen there in 1962, when she starred with Henry Fonda in A Gift of Time, adapted by Garson Kanin from Lael Tucker Wertenbakers book Death of a Man, about the last days of the authors husband, Charles, who died of cancer.

The movies kept calling, however. In 1952 she starred in My Cousin Rachel, based on the best-selling novel by Daphne du Maurier. She played the bride of an older man, and Richard Burton, in his Hollywood debut, played the son who thinks his attractive new stepmother may be capable of murder.

By the time she traveled to Italy to film The Light in the Piazza (1962), in which she played the protective mother of a beautiful but mentally impaired young woman (Yvette Mimieux), Ms. de Havilland had appeared in some 40 movies and was living in semiretirement in Paris. She also published a book in 1962, a collection of lighthearted observations about life in France titled Every Frenchman Has One.

Ms. de Havilland made only a handful of films after that. She was in her mid-40s by then, receiving fewer acting offers and finding many scripts too prurient for her tastes.

One she liked, however, was Hush Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), which gave her the opportunity to co-star with Bette Davis, another Hollywood legend nearing the end of her career.

The film, a weaker echo of the similarly gothic Bette Davis-Joan Crawford melodrama, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, tells the tale of an increasingly demented woman (Ms. Davis) and a scheming relative who comes to live with her (Ms. de Havilland, who replaced Ms. Crawford after filming began).

From the mid-60s onward, Ms. de Havillands acting was largely confined to sporadic roles in television series like The Love Boat; television movies like The Royal Romance of Charles and Diana (1982), in which she played the Queen Mother; and mini-series like Roots: The Next Generation (1979). Her work in the 1986 NBC mini-series Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna, in which she played a Russian empress, brought her a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination.

In 1965 she became the first woman to head the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

She returned to feature films only occasionally, among them the hugely successful 1977 disaster movie Airport 77, in which she joined a ensemble cast of veteran actors. Her last Hollywood film was The Fifth Musketeer (1979), in which she played the mother of Louis XIV (Beau Bridges).

But even when she was well into her 80s, she had not entirely given up the idea of returning to the spotlight. She was a presenter at the Academy Awards in 2003. She narrated I Remember Better When I Paint, a 2009 documentary about the positive impact of art therapy on people with Alzheimers disease.

In Paris, Ms. de Havilland had lived in a five-story townhouse, built around 1880, since 1958 (in recent years next door to the former French president Valry Giscard dEstaing), all the while never missing Hollywood, she said.

I loved being around real buildings, real castles, real churches not ones made of canvas, she told Vanity Fair.

She maintained an active lifestyle there into her second century, defying her advancing years.

Olivia doesnt seem 99, Mr. Stadiem wrote in his 2016 Vanity Fair profile. Her face is unlined, her eyes sparkling, her fabled contralto soaring (only Orson Welles had an equally imposing instrument), her memory photographic. She could easily pass for someone decades younger.

She was in the news and in court once again in 2018, when she sued the FX network and Ryan Murphy Productions over her portrayal by Catherine Zeta-Jones in the mini-series Feud: Bette and Joan, about the rivalry between Davis and Crawford.

She maintained that her portrayal constituted unauthorized use of her name and likeness and showed her in a false light as a hypocrite with a public image of being a lady and a private one as a vulgarity-using gossip. A California appellate court dismissed the suit, ruling that the portrayal was not highly offensive to a reasonable person as a matter of law.

Ms. de Havillands readings of scripture on Christmas and Easter at the American Cathedral, on the Avenue George V, became annual events in Paris. In 2010, Nicolas Sarkozy, then the president of France, awarded her the Lgion dHonneur. And her association with a distant era of Hollywood glamour made her a living legend in her adopted city.

In 1999 she was honored with a party in Paris to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Gone With the Wind. At one point, one of the hosts recalled, with a glass in hand, she toasted the film and its leading actors, reminding the room that she was the last one still standing.

Let us raise a mint julep to our stars, she proclaimed, on that great veranda in the sky!

Allyson Waller contributed reporting.

Read the original here:

Olivia de Havilland, a Star of Gone With the Wind, Dies at 104 - The New York Times

Life after fatality: Male’s shock experience of immortality ‘I terribly wanted to remain’ – Entertainment Overdose

Posted on by

A person named James was pronounced clinically dead following complications during surgery, before being resuscitated. However, while he was briefly dead, James believes he was offered a glimpse of the afterlife, and claimed it to be the most peaceful yet emotional time he has ever experienced. Writing on the Near Death Experience Research Foundation (NDERF), James said: The first thing I remember was seeing a huge, round, and colourful opening or pathway. At the end of the pathway was a white church and other small white buildings.

The sky was blue. I no longer felt anger, sadness, or regret. I also had a strange feeling that I cant explain. I dont know what love is, but I guess that this feeling ws tht someone loved me nd forgve me. I bdly wnted to sty.

The emotions were so strong. There were four mle figures on my left side. They were dressed in long grey overcots. They didnt hve fces s we know them. Rther, their fces were glowing with strong, bright light shining from their fce.

We didnt hve verbl communiction. We communicted through emotionl feelings. Three other figures ppered on my right side. They looked like the other figures with the sme colour cots nd fces of bright light. They cme towrds me in non-thretening wy.

Then I woke up. The doctor told me wht hppened, but I didnt cre becuse I wnted to go bck there.

Before, I didnt believe in life fter deth. But now, I m confused. This ws not hllucintion becuse it ws so rel. I cn never forget the feelings, wrmness, nd the knowledge tht I ws loved.

I did not wnt to tlk to nyone bout this, but I mde n ppointment to spek to priest.

I m not frid of deth now.

Some reserchers, however, hve sid these visions re norml phenomenon nd not necessrily sign of n fterlife.

Dr Sm Prni, director of criticl cre nd resuscittion reserch t NYU Lngone School of Medicine in New York City, told n Oz Tlk: People describe senstion of bright, wrm, welcoming light tht drws people towrds it.

They describe senstion of experiencing their decesed reltives, lmost s if they hve come to welcome them.

They often sy tht they didnt wnt to come bck in mny cses, it is so comfortble nd it is like mgnet tht drws them tht they dont wnt to come bck.

A lot of people describe senstion of seprting from themselves nd wtching doctors nd nurses working on them.

Dr Prni sid there re scientific explntions for the rection, nd sys seeing people is not evidence of the fterlife, but more likely the brin just scnning itself s survivl technique.

Go here to see the original:

Life after fatality: Male's shock experience of immortality 'I terribly wanted to remain' - Entertainment Overdose

Tesla’s Colorado Springs lab and a World Series MVP stationed at Fort Carson | Did You Ever Wonder – Colorado Springs Gazette

Posted on by

Editors note: Several years ago The Gazettes Linda Navarro wrote a long-running series on Colorado Springs historical facts and answered questions from readers about what was going on around town. Today were restarting that series with a modern twist.

Teslas Colorado Springs Lab

Nikola Tesla moved to Colorado Springs in 1899 to experiment with electricity, but where was his lab?

Teslas lab has often been depicted in the mountains above Colorado Springs in film, but that was for dramatic effect and is a Hollywood-generated myth.

For example, in the 2005 Christopher Nolan movie The Prestige, in which Tesla is played by David Bowie, he has a mountain laboratory overlooking Colorado Springs.

Tesla, born in modern-day Croatia, was best known for his contributions to the design of the modern alternating current (AC) electricity supply system.

According to the Pikes Peak Library District video Tracing Tesla: The Search of his Lost Laboratory, the lab was on top of a hill near East Kiowa Street and North Foote Avenue. It was between the Union Printers Home and the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind.

Somewhat surprisingly, there is nothing marking the site although there is a plaque nearby in Memorial Park noting its general location. The area is now residential and is a short walk north from the park.

The World Series MVP stationed at Fort Carson

Colorado Springs has had its share of celebrity visitors.

From presidents giving speeches to actors taking on the Manitou Incline, seeing the occasional famous face isnt unheard of. But one famous athletes time in Colorado Springs was truly unique.

New York Yankees legend Billy Martin was drafted into the Army in 1954 and after basic training was stationed at Fort Carson, which at the time was called Camp Carson.

The Yankees second baseman was in the prime of his playing career and had been the MVP of the 1953 World Series, leading teammates Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra to New Yorks fifth consecutive world championship. At Fort Carson, Martin would march, go on grueling training missions, perform kitchen patrol duty and was eventually assigned to run the post gym and manage the baseball team.

During his stint at Fort Carson, which spanned the majority of his 22 months of Army service, Martin batted over .500 and his Army teams finished 25-4.

In August 1955, Martin was given a 30-day furlough and rejoined the Yankees. He hit .300 in 20 games and would again lead New York to the World Series, where they eventually lost to the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Martin would return to Fort Carson and would eventually be given an honorable discharge and left the Army as a corporal with a good conduct medal, ironic considering his well-known temper.

Martin would write about his Army service in two autobiographies. He passed away on Dec. 25, 1989.

Hollywood icons link to a Colorado Springs school

Many know that silent film star Lon Chaney, renowned for his work in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, is from Colorado Springs.

What you might not know is his connection to the Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind.

Chaneys maternal grandparents, John and Mary Kennedy, had three children, all of whom were born with impaired hearing.

John Kennedy would establish what would become the Colorado School for the Deaf and Blind with a $5,000 appropriation from the Colorado Territorial Legislature and land donated by Gen. Palmers Colorado Springs Co. in 1874.

Chaney stayed connected to the school and in 1925 even held a special screening of The Phantom of the Opera for students.

Have a question about Colorado Springs or its history? Know something interesting about the history of Colorado Springs? Send questions, comments and suggestions to terry.terrones@gazette.com with Column Question in the subject line to avoid spam.

See the rest here:

Tesla's Colorado Springs lab and a World Series MVP stationed at Fort Carson | Did You Ever Wonder - Colorado Springs Gazette

StarLux to boost flights to Macau and Penang –

Posted on by

By Kao Shih-ching / Staff reporter

Starting next month, StarLux Airlines Co () is to increase its number of flights to Macau and Penang, Malaysia, to meet rising air cargo demand and help its pilots build up flight hours, the airline said yesterday.

From Aug. 1, Starlux is to offer four round-trip flights from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Macau International Airport every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, compared with three per week now, it said in a statement.

It would also operate three round-trip flights per week from Taoyuan to Penang International Airport every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, from two at present, it said.

Photo courtesy of StarLux Airlines

Although air travel is unlikely to rebound quickly in the third quarter as the COVID-19 pandemic shows no signs of slowing, Starlux decided to expand its operations on expectations that the air cargo business would remain rosy, spokesman Nieh Kuo-wei () told the Taipei Times by telephone.

The start-up airline, which was struck by the pandemic after beginning operations on Jan. 23, has been concentrating on cargo services between Taiwan and Macau and Penang to mitigate the effects of a faltering passenger business amid travel restrictions.

Frankly speaking, we would operate the flights even without any passenger, as the cargo revenue would be enough to cover variable costs, Nieh said.

However, StarLux has yet to resume its operations to Da Nang, as Vietnam has not eased its restrictions on air travel and cargo demand is low, he said.

Starlux also wants its pilots to accumulate more flight hours, which would give it an advantage when applying to the Civil Aeronautics Administration to launch new flights, Nieh said.

In related news, EVA Airways Corp () yesterday said it is likely to increase its flights in the third quarter, as many countries ease border controls.

We adjust our flight schedules on a rolling basis depending on the pandemic, official measures and consumer demand, it said.

In the short term, domestic air travel would continue to outperform international travel, as a mandatory 14-day quarantine for returning citizens has dampened desire to travel abroad, it said.

As EVA lends its planes to Uni Air (), which has been increasing its flights to outlying islands due to high demand, it also benefits from the domestic travel boost, it said.

Comments will be moderated. Keep comments relevant to the article. Remarks containing abusive and obscene language, personal attacks of any kind or promotion will be removed and the user banned. Final decision will be at the discretion of the Taipei Times.

Read more from the original source:

StarLux to boost flights to Macau and Penang -

Macau casinos expected to lose over $1B in Q2 earnings – Yogonet International

Posted on by

M

acau casino operators are expected to post a loss of over $1 billion collectively in their earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) for the quarter ended June 30, according to a Bloomberg survey of analyst estimates.

Each of the six operators will likely have negative quarterly EBITDA when they start reporting earnings in the coming weeks, according to the survey of eight brokerages. SJM Holdings Ltd. and MGM China Holdings Ltd. are expected to lead the tally of year-on-year declines.

Macaus casino industry saw gaming revenues plunge by more than 90% for three straight months starting April as the pandemic-causing novel coronavirus forced countries to shut borders.Recovery prospects brightened for the worlds largest gambling hub after neighboring Chinese province Guangdong lifted quarantine requirements for travelers returning from Macau this month.

China restarting the individual visas, called IVS, is the next awaited step. The initial enthusiasm around border easing is a sign of some pent up demand, but without IVS restart, V-shape recovery is not expected, Sanford C. Bernstein analyst Vitaly Umansky said in a July 20 note.

See the original post:

Macau casinos expected to lose over $1B in Q2 earnings - Yogonet International

How to Travel from Hong Kong to Macau by Ferry – Out of Town Travel News

Posted on by

The metropolises of Macau and Hong Kong are two Chinese special administrative regions along the coast of China. Macau is also known as the Las Vegas of Asia due to a series of casinos and glamorous malls on the strip of Cotai, which serves as the junction between the Islands of Taipa and Coloane. The two cities are on opposite sides of the Pearl River Delta. The two cities can be visited via helicopters, ferries, or by driving the longest sea bridge in the world that joins these two cities. Taking a ferry ride from Hong Kong to Macau is very relaxing and does not take much of your money or time.

When there was no bridge present to connect the two cities, taking a ferry ride was the best option to travel. The ferry from Hong Kong to Macau takes about 1 hour. Turbo Jet and Cotai Water Jet are two of the many services that provide ferry rides from Hong Kong to Macau several times during a day. All the ferries depart from the Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal. The basic traveling cost starts from 171 dollars and goes way up according to the traveling class and services.

There are 4 ferry terminals for traveling from Hong Kong to Macau; each one of these terminals provides the most hassle-free transport to people.

This is the most chosen terminal for traveling due to its frequent ferry departures. The Hong Kong Macau Ferry Terminal is located close to the IFC Towers, Shun Tak Centre, Hong Kong Island. There is a ferry available at this terminal every 15 minutes.

Favored for its good location, the China Ferry Terminal is located in Tsim Sha Tsui. It is located a kilometer away from the Tsim Sha Tsui Star Ferry and can be reached by walk or by taking a cab to 33 Canton Road.

Traveling from Hong Kong to Macau has become easy for international tourists as well. The Sky Pier Terminal located next to the airport allows the visitors to board the ferry directly after they arrive at the Hong Kong International Airport.

Tuen Mun Ferry Terminal is not for those people who are living in the central part of the city and people living near the New Territories can take advantage of this terminal. However, the departure schedule of the ferries must be considered since only 10 ferries depart from this terminal in a day.

Book your ticket online

Book your ticket online

Book your ticket online

Macau has two terminals that host the arrival of ferries from Hong Kong. Both of these terminals are best for arrivals as they have bus and taxi services ready to take you wherever you want at reasonable prices.

The Macau Maritime Ferry Terminal also referred to as the Outer Harbour Ferry Terminal is the main terminal in the North of Macau closer to downtown Macau. The terminal is in the vicinity of San Ma Lo architectural sites and about 23 casinos. Bus services are available for 2.5 HKD from San Ma Lo to the ferry terminal.

Taipa Terminal is situated in the South of Macau near the strip of Cotai. This terminal is close to some of the largest casinos like the City of Dreams and Venetian. It is also very close to Macau International Airport. To reach this terminal you need to get on the Cotai Jet from any of the terminals in Hong Kong.

To help you plan out your visit to Hong Kong, we listed places to visit and other amazing activities to do in Hong Kong. We also listed some of the best Hong Kong travel and tour packages, as well as excellent flight deals and accommodation.

Searching for the best Hong Kong hotels, resorts, and affordable flights in the nearby Cities? Check out our list of affordable hotels and resorts via Agoda,or you may also see availableAirbnbproperties in the city.

Want more updates about new tourist attractions in Hong Kong? Follow #TeamOutofTown,onFacebook, andTwitter,Instagram, andPinterestfor more travel ideas.

Also read:

Continue reading here:

How to Travel from Hong Kong to Macau by Ferry - Out of Town Travel News

Macau Pass to still refund SMEs involved in consumer card scheme – Macau Business

Posted on by

Macau Pass S.A. indicated to Macau News Agency (MNA) today (Friday) that although a fee will be collected for the use of their payment terminals in the second phase of the local government consumer e-card scheme, it will still partially refund SMEs.

Yesterday, the Macau government announced the second e-card consumer voucher round expected to inject MOP3.6billion (US$450.8 million) in the local economy will start on August 1 and finish on December 31.

As with the first round between May and July, the cards can be used in businesses equipped with Macau Pass payment terminals, however, while in the first round no fees were collected from businesses, this time the company responsible for the local MPay mobile payment system and Macau Pass payment cards will charge a 0.5 per cent transaction fee.

The Director of Macau Pass S.A., Joe Liu, indicated that the company does not receive any commission from the payments or for installing the terminals, having committed with authorities to fully absorb the costs.

The company noted that the rebate offered in the first phase of the consumer card scheme amounted to sone MOP11.5 million, while Macau Pass has incurred MOP30 million in operating costs.

Macau Pass is also affected by the epidemic, but we still hope we can work with the society to fight the epidemic and boost the economy. Therefore, we have decided to charge 0.5 per cent of the merchant service charge handling fee at the second phase as part of the operating cost, a company spokesperson told MNA.

The company added that it will charge in accordance with the current procedure, and then refund SMEs a service charge other than 0.5 per cent.

Yesterday, Macau Economic Bureau (DSE) Director Tai Kin Ip had indicated that the average surcharge taken by Macau Pass ranges from 0.7 per cent to 1.2 per cent per transaction, but that the company had pledged to charge a maximum of 0.5 per cent.

However, he still underlined that the actual amount depended on the agreement made between the company and the businesses.

The second round will have a higher MOP5,000 provided to each resident but will maintain the MOP300 limit used in the first round which handed MOP3,000 to each resident from May to July and covered some MOP2.2 billion with other requirements and locations for the use of the cards also maintained.

Continue reading here:

Macau Pass to still refund SMEs involved in consumer card scheme - Macau Business

VR study shows how easy it is to get people to incorrectly think theyre in the presence of another … – PsyPost

Posted on by

Humans have a tendency to incorrectly detect another person or creature in their environment, a phenomenon sometimes referred to as hypersensitive agency detection. New research utilized virtual reality technology to examine whether agency detection was associated with belief in the supernatural.

The study suggests that people with a stronger belief in supernatural agents are not more likely to falsely perceive other beings. This type of false perception, however, might be associated with certain superstitions.

The findings appear in the journal Religion, Brain & Behavior.

I became interested in this topic through a combination of me-search and research, said researcher Adam E. Tratner, a doctor of psychology (PhD) affiliated with Oakland University.

Throughout my life I have met many people who believe in supernatural agents (e.g., ghosts, spirits, bigfoot, etc) and claim to have had direct encounters with them. Despite the lack of evidence for the existence of the supernatural, these beliefs and experiences are so common across human societies that I began to wonder if there were reasonable scientific explanations for them.

Fast forward to graduate school and I was introduced to scholarly work that attempted to address this from a psychological standpoint, so I decided to conduct some research that investigated whether cognitive and perceptual processes are related to such beliefs, Tratner explained.

For their study, Tratner and his colleagues first had 107 college students complete a survey regarding their beliefs in paranormal and supernatural phenomena. The students were then fitted with an Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and played an exploration-themed video game for approximately 30 minutes.

The students were asked to explore a virtual forest and click the right mouse button whenever they believed there was someone or something else in the virtual environment. However, no other people or creatures were actually present.

Even though the participants were alone the entire time, the researchers found that 90% of them reported perceiving the presence of another being in the environment at least once. The participants falsely reported another being in their virtual environment about 13 times on average.

We demonstrated that its very easy to get people to think that they are seeing things around them in a virtual reality environment, Tratner told PsyPost.

Surprisingly, we found that the tendency to falsely perceive agents in the environment was unrelated to actual beliefs in supernatural agents (e.g., ghosts, bigfoot, etc), but was related instead to beliefs in Feng Shui. This was unexpected because Feng Shui is more similar to superstition, whereas we hypothesized that individuals who are more likely to falsely perceive agents would have stronger beliefs in supernatural agents.

One possibility for this finding is that individuals who believe in Feng Shui may be more prone to faulty causal reasoning, which may lead them to think that the things they perceive in the virtual reality environment (e.g., sounds, movement) are being caused by an agent in the environment, Tratner said.

Agency detection doesnt appear to be related to individual differences in supernatural beliefs. But the general tendency to falsely perceive other beings in ones environment still may have played a role in facilitating belief in the supernatural over the course of human history.

The researchers hope future research can address the current studys methodological limitations and provide more information on the topic.

I interpret the findings of this study with caution because there are different issues surrounding different aspects of the study that could have affected the results. This study used a relatively small convenience sample of undergraduate students, which means that the findings could be a fluke, Tratner said.

There are also issues with the studys procedures. For instance, we explicitly told participants to be on the lookout for agents in the environment, which may have prompted them to mistakenly perceive agents more than they would have if we did not tell them anything. Also, we only assessed their agency detection in one virtual environment, which was admittedly spooky, ominous, and filled with ambiguous stimuli.

The study would have really benefited from recruiting a larger, more representative sample, and using multiple virtual reality environments in order to compare the differences in agency detection across different environments, Tratner added.

The study, Fear the unseen: supernatural belief and agency detection in virtual reality, was authored by Adam E. Tratner, Todd K. Shackelford, Virgil Zeigler-Hill, Jennifer Vonk, and Melissa M. McDonald.

(Photo credit: Sergey Galyonkin)

Read more here:

VR study shows how easy it is to get people to incorrectly think theyre in the presence of another ... - PsyPost

Global Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps Market 2020 Trends Analysis and Coronavirus (COVID-19) Effect Analysis | Key Players Market With…

Posted on by

Global Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps Market: Competitive Analysis

The latest report on the globalAugmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps marketpublished by theMarket Data Analyticsprovides a comprehensive study of the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps market. This research study includes historical data from 2015-2018 and the forecast from 2019 to 2026. The Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps report covers the latest impact ofCOVID-19on the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps market. The pandemic has affected every market around the globe in a negative way. As the world still struggles to recover from the COVID-19 situation it will take a long time for every market to recover its losses. The latest report on the global Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps market provides you with each and every details about the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps market, that is, the current and the future market scenario along with how it was in the past few years.

Request a sample copy of this report::https://www.marketdataanalytics.biz/global-augmented-reality-and-virtual-reality-apps-market-report-46540.html#request-sample

As per our research analysts the impact of COVID-19 has strongly affected the future market opportunities, revenue growth graph, and the profit gains of the business. The report on the global Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps market consists of more than 25 tables and above 30 figures. The complete report includes more than 150 pages and is available in PDF format.

The research on the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps market includes the latest opinions of the market experts as to how the market has been affected by COVID-19 and how the market scenario has changed in the past four months. The research analysts have done a thorough research and have achieved the latest market numbers and the compound annual growth rate.

Read Full Research Report@https://www.marketdataanalytics.biz/global-augmented-reality-and-virtual-reality-apps-market-report-46540.html

The report details are segregated into the market overview, scope of the market, research methodologies used, market drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges. The other quantitative and qualitative data includes the market segmentation, regional bifurcation, and the profiling of the industry players.

The market is segmented into{For Non-Immersive Systems, For Semi-Immersive Projection Systems, For Fully Immersive Head-Mounted Systems};{Education and training, Video Game, Media, Tourism, Social Media}. The geographical presence of the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps market is categorized mainly into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa. Some of the major industry players included within the Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps market study includesAugmented Pixels, Aurasma, Blippar, Catchoom, DAQRI, Wikitude, AR Circuits, SkyView, Anatomy 4D, Blippar, BuildAR.com, Virtals, EON Reality Inc., Google, Zappar, Wikitude, Reza Moh.

The data provided in the global Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps market is highly accurate and reliable thus enabling the client to better understand the current market size and position.

If Any Inquiry of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps Report:https://www.marketdataanalytics.biz/global-augmented-reality-and-virtual-reality-apps-market-report-46540.html#inquiry-for-buying

Benefits of Buying this Market Research Report:

1.Analyst advocacy:Get correct answers of your queries from our analysts team of experts before and after purchasing the report.2.Meet Customers Requirements:Our expert team will assist with all your research requirements and customize the report.3.Unique Expertise:We centre around the quality standards and reliability of the report.4.One of a kind Expertise:Experts will give splendid bits of knowledge about the report.

Originally posted here:

Global Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality Apps Market 2020 Trends Analysis and Coronavirus (COVID-19) Effect Analysis | Key Players Market With...

Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality Market Segmentation By Qualitative And Quantitative Research Incorporating Impact Of Economic and Non-Economic…

Posted on by

New Jersey, United States,- The recent report on Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality Market offered by Verified Market Research, comprises of a comprehensive investigation into the geographical landscape, industry size along with the revenue estimation of the business. Additionally, the report also highlights the challenges impeding market growth and expansion strategies employed by leading companies in the Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality market.

This is the most recent report inclusive of the COVID-19 effects on the functioning of the market. It is well known that some changes, for the worse, were administered by the pandemic on all industries. The current scenario of the business sector and pandemics impact on the past and future of the industry are covered in this report.

In market segmentation by manufacturers, the report covers the following companies-

Exploring the growth rate over a period

Business owners looking to scale up their business can refer this report that contains data regarding the rise in sales within a given consumer base for the forecast period, 2020 to 2027. Product owners can use this information along with the driving factors such as demographics and revenue generated from other products discussed in the report to get a better analysis of their products and services. Besides, the research analysts have compared the market growth rate with product sales to enable business owners to determine the success or failure of a specific product or service.

By Type

Type 1

Type 2

By Application

Application1

Application 2

Global Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality Market Report 2020 Market Size, Share, Price, Trend and Forecast is a professional and in-depth study on the current state of the global Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality industry.

The report at a glance

The Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality market report focuses on economic developments and consumer spending trends across different countries for the forecast period 2019 to 2026. The research further reveals which countries and regions will have a better standing in the years to come. Apart from this, the study talks about the growth rate, market share as well as the recent developments in the Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality industry worldwide. Besides, the special mention of major market players adds importance to the overall market study.

Market segment by Region/Country including:

North America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Russia and Spain etc.)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India, Australia and Southeast Asia etc.)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Chile etc.)Middle East & Africa (South Africa, Egypt, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia etc.)

The research provides answers to the following key questions:

What is the expected growth rate of the Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality market? What will be the market size for the forecast period, 20202027?

What are the major driving forces responsible for transforming the trajectory of the industry?

Who are major vendors dominating the Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality industry across different regions? What are their winning strategies to stay ahead in the competition?

What are the market trends business owners can rely upon in the coming years?

What are the threats and challenges expected to restrict the progress of the industry across different countries?

What are the key opportunities that business owners can bank on for the forecast period, 20202027?

Why Choose Verified Market Research?

To summarize, the global Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality market report studies the contemporary market to forecast the growth prospects, challenges, opportunities, risks, threats, and the trends observed in the market that can either propel or curtail the growth rate of the industry. The market factors impacting the global sector also include provincial trade policies, international trade disputes, entry barriers, and other regulatory restrictions.

About us:

Verified Market Research is a leading Global Research and Consulting firm servicing over 5000+ customers. Verified Market Research provides advanced analytical research solutions while offering information enriched research studies. We offer insight into strategic and growth analyses, Data necessary to achieve corporate goals, and critical revenue decisions.

Our 250 Analysts and SMEs offer a high level of expertise in data collection and governance use industrial techniques to collect and analyze data on more than 15,000 high impact and niche markets. Our analysts are trained to combine modern data collection techniques, superior research methodology, expertise, and years of collective experience to produce informative and accurate research.

Contact us:

Mr. Edwyne Fernandes

US: +1 (650)-781-4080UK: +44 (203)-411-9686APAC: +91 (902)-863-5784US Toll-Free: +1 (800)-7821768

Email: [emailprotected]

Read more from the original source:

Augmented Reality And Virtual Reality Market Segmentation By Qualitative And Quantitative Research Incorporating Impact Of Economic and Non-Economic...

Dallas Startup Week goes virtual this year. Will it be the same? – The Dallas Morning News

Posted on by

Dallas Startup Week, one of the entrepreneurial communitys biggest annual networking events, is going virtual this year.

Originally planned for late April, the event fell victim to COVID-19 pandemics first surge in cases. The DEC Network, which puts on the event, postponed it to Aug. 30 a date that, at the time, seemed well beyond when the virus would run its course.

Then came the pandemics second wave.

Instead of canceling again, event organizers decided to move the sixth annual event online as a free, six-day series of sessions.

While we would have loved to do Dallas Startup Week in person, this technology will allow us to have the closest thing possible to a face-to-face event, DEC Network CEO Bill Chinn said in a statement.

With the uncertainty of the pandemic, Chinn said the organization had no choice but to prioritize the health and safety of attendees over an in-person event.

We felt our only option was to go virtual, Chinn said. But we promise a robust event with prominent speakers, engaging events and beneficial sessions to help entrepreneurs no matter where in the process they are.

The event will consist of more than 100 sessions over six days on 16 topics, including arts and entertainment, augmented reality and virtual reality, blockchain, coding, cybersecurity, health care, and gaming and esports.

The event will feature high-profile speakers including five-time Olympic medalist and entrepreneur Nastia Liukin, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson and Google for Startups boss Jewel Burks Solomon.

Last year, the event served as a matchmaker of sorts for large corporations and entrepreneurs.

This years sessions will be hosted on the online events platform Hopin.to and will have a corresponding Slack workspace with channels that go with each of the events focus areas.

Several sessions will directly address the business climate under the pandemic. Topics include How to start a nonprofit in times of crisis and The lasting effects of the pandemic on local arts.

In-person events have been a major casualty during the pandemic as Texas and the rest of the U.S. struggle to get control of the virus. The cancellation of SXSWs 400,000-person tech and music festival in Austin sent shockwaves through the live events industry in March, and most events have yet to return.

But a virtual future for events like Dallas Startup Week could be here to stay, even after the pandemic subsides, according to industry polling.

A majority of marketing and ad professionals anticipate that large events will have a virtual component in the future, regardless of public health conditions, according to a June survey of several hundred industry executives by The 614 Group.

Go here to see the original:

Dallas Startup Week goes virtual this year. Will it be the same? - The Dallas Morning News

Eugenics In The Shadow Of Fairview . News – OPB News

Posted on by

When Ruth Morris was a teenager, her family was given a choice their daughter could either be sterilized by the state or stay in an institution. Her father signed a paper allowing the surgery, and forever taking away her ability to have achild.

I had to do it. They told me after it was done. I was unhappy but I couldnt do anything about it, Ruthsaid.

At the time, Ruth lived at Fairview Training Center, Oregons primary state-run institution for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). For decades, just about anyone leaving the institution faced compulsory sterilization before returning to the community. It was a policy known aseugenics.

In the early twentieth century, more than 30 states passed eugenicslaws.

Simply put, eugenics policy advocated improving the human race through selective reproduction. People considered ideal citizens were encouraged to have children together, while those deemed unfit weresterilization.

In Oregon, Bethenia Owens-Adair, one of the regions earliest female physicians, helped write and promote state-mandated sterilization legislation. A supporter of womans suffrage, and prohibition, Owens-Adair advocated that eugenics would improvesociety.

We can and must protect our nation from insanity, epilepsy, and the varied train of abnormalities that follow in their wake.Dr. Bethenia Adair Owens said in1915.

Oregons 1923 law targeting people deemed feeble-minded, insane, epileptic, habitual criminals, moral degenerates, and sexualperverts.

The state set up a Board of Eugenics that had the final decision over who would be sterilized. The board ordered its last forced sterilization in 1981. In 1983, Oregons eugenics law was repealed. By that time, over 2,600 Oregonians had undergone compulsory sterilization by thestate.

In 2002, then-Governor John Kitzhaber officially apologized for the policy of forced sterilization. Ruth, and others who had also been forcibly sterilized, attended the event at the state capitol. Ruth says she was happy to take part in the ceremony, I felt good that heapologized.

See more here:

Eugenics In The Shadow Of Fairview . News - OPB News

Conspiracy Theory About Bill Gates, COVID Vaccine Doesn’t Make Logical Sense – American Council on Science and Health

Posted on by

Conspiracy theories are a funny thing.

Like the most tempting lies, they incorporate some truth. They also appeal to a fundamental need that we all have to make sense of our world. Though our planet is increasingly a safer and wealthier place to live (at least until the coronavirus pandemic), the media portrays a society that is in utter chaos. People desire an explanation, so as Michael Medved would say, they point to the "hidden forces behind perplexing and painful present events."

However, the overall narrative of a conspiracy theory is utterly false and entirely divorced from reality. In fact, conspiracy theories are often self-contradictory. Yet, that doesn't deter people from believing in them. For instance, one research paper showed that people who believe that Princess Diana's death was faked are also likely to agree that she was murdered.

Conspiracy Theories About Bill Gates Don't Make Logical Sense

The coronavirus pandemic was bound to generate a substantial number of conspiracy theories. We documented several of them previously. They included all sorts of ridiculous claims, from the virus being a Chinese biological weapon to 5G wireless technology being the ultimate cause. Now, we must add another to the list: Bill Gates wants to use a coronavirus vaccine to inject people with microchip tracking devices.

Let's pause a moment to examine if this conspiracy theory even remotely makes sense. Why would Bill Gates want to track people? So he can sell them a copy of Windows '95? There is no incentive, financial or otherwise, for Mr. Gates to be interested in something like this.

Those who are worried about being tracked will be disturbed to learn that you already can be tracked relatively easily. Every time you use your credit card, that provides location data. And those tiny supercomputers in your pocket otherwise known as smartphones are a treasure trove of location data. According to CNET:

"By design, wireless carriers always know where you are because your phone checks every few seconds for the strongest signal from nearby cell towers. They're also tracking you to ensure you can be found in an emergency."

So, Bill Gates doesn't need to track you. Other companies are already doing it. And if companies are doing it, that means the government can do it, too, provided that it gets a warrant.

Despite all this, a substantial number of Americans (28%) believe this conspiracy theory about Bill Gates. Another 32% are "unsure," which means they're at least open to the idea. Combined, that's a stunning 60% of Americans. And like everything else, belief in this conspiracy breaks down along partisan lines. See the following poll conducted by Yahoo/YouGov:

This isn't the only conspiracy theory about Bill Gates and the Gates Foundation. Others believe that he is using eugenics to depopulate the planet. Once again, this makes no sense; the Gates Foundation is fighting disease in poor countries (which are largely non-white). This single fact contradicts both the eugenics claim and the depopulation claim.

No matter. I still get emails like this:

"Mr Microchip himself has transformed himself into the human God of Vaccinations. We're now at least hearing of nanoparticles in vaccines. I suspect there's cellular compatible nanochips in the works also.

I am no conspiracy theorist."

I have no response, other than to post this, which has been circulating on the Internet.*

*Note: I haven't fact-checked the cited stats, but I did censor a couple of potty words.

Read more from the original source:

Conspiracy Theory About Bill Gates, COVID Vaccine Doesn't Make Logical Sense - American Council on Science and Health

New Study Reveals Economic Drivers Behind The Sterilization of Black North Carolinians – WUNC

Posted on by

Between 1929 and 1974, North Carolina officials sterilized an estimated 7,600 people, many by force or coercion. The states eugenics program targeted people deemed feebleminded, sick or living with a disability.

Host Anita Rao discusses how and why the North Carolina Eugenics Board targeted poor Black people in its more than 40-year-long program with University of New Orleans professor Gregory Price and attorney Valerie Johnson of Johnson and Groninger, PLLC.

A recent study finds that it also targeted Black people considered economically unproductive in society. University of New Orleans professor Gregory Price led the research with co-authors William Sandy Darity, Samuel DuBois Cook Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at Duke University, and Rhonda Sharpe, founder and president of the Womens Institute for Science, Equity and Race.

The scholars found that for Black populations in North Carolina counties in a 10-year period, the number of sterilizations increased with the number of people who were unemployed and supported by the county budget. For other racial groups, the researchers found no correlation between sterilizations and county-supported individuals, which backs their claim that the racial bias of the North Carolina Eugenics Board program had economic motivations.

Host Anita Rao speaks with Price about the study and its implications. She also talks with Valerie Johnson, a Durham-based attorney for Johnson & Groninger PLLC, who helped sterilization survivors file claims for compensation from the state.

Read more:

New Study Reveals Economic Drivers Behind The Sterilization of Black North Carolinians - WUNC

ALS patients fear ‘mercy killing’ case will promote death over life : The Asahi Shimbun – Asahi Shimbun

Posted on by

People with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and support groups expressed shock over the supposed mercy killing of an ALS patient that led to the arrests of two doctors on suspicion of murder.

I hold strong concerns about some of the responses that have appeared on the internet indicating the posters would have done the same thing, Yasuhiko Funago, an ALS patient who won a seat in the 2019 Upper House election, said in a statement released on July 23. That makes it even more difficult for those with uncurable diseases to hold the feeling that they want to continue living.

Funago, a member of the Reiwa Shinsengumi party, said he also initially felt like dying when he was first diagnosed with the degenerative muscle disease.

However, through peer support, I realized that my own experience was beneficial to other patients and I made the decision to continue living, Funago wrote. What is most important is creating a society that protects a right to live rather than a right to die.

Hiroki Okabe, an ALS patient who heads the nonprofit organization Sakai wo Koete (overcoming boundaries), touched upon the fact that the woman who died had contacted the two doctors through social media.

Because ALS patients suffer from a strong sense of loneliness and isolation, they may turn to social media as a way to seek out connections with others, Okabe said. Amid the novel coronavirus pandemic, I am worried about the greater possibility of becoming isolated.

Taku Watanabe is a member of the Kyoto-based Japan Center for Independent Living, which provides support to those with uncurable diseases or disabilities.

He mentioned the case of Satoshi Uematsu, who was sentenced to death for murdering 19 disabled people at the Tsukui Yamayurien care home in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture.

Uematsu had argued that people with serious disabilities should be euthanized.

If euthanasia is thought of in a more positive way, that could lead to eugenics, Watanabe said. I believe it is the responsibility of society to provide support to allow for continued living regardless of what situation an individual is placed in as well as to change the environment that may force some to feel that they would rather die.

Doctors in the past have been found guilty of murder for carrying out what they thought constituted euthanasia through, for example, lethal injections. However, the halting of life-prolonging treatment has not been treated in the same way.

Although some doctors who removed respirators from patients who eventually died were referred to prosecutors, those cases have ended up without murder indictments.

But such cases have prompted medical professionals to become more hesitant about carrying out requests from patients to stop treatment.

And even with an increase of patients with uncurable diseases and requests from their families to end treatment, the national debate on euthanasia has not deepened.

The health ministry in 2007 released guidelines for end-of-life care that called for sufficient discussions between the patient and doctor as well as keeping a record of what was discussed.

The Japanese Association for Acute Medicine and the Japan Geriatrics Society have issued guidelines that also include the procedures for stopping medical treatment and nutritional support.

The emphasis in both sets of guidelines is for the medical team to make what it believes is the best choice for the patient.

Shoichi Maeda, a professor of medical ethics at Keio University, said there were many puzzling aspects about why the two arrested doctors acted in a manner that clearly goes against generally accepted wisdom among medical professionals.

He added that legal precedent makes clear that the use of drugs leading to death is not allowed, even if the patient had a desire to be relieved of suffering as soon as possible.

(This article was compiled from reports by Yoko Tanaka, Atsuko Hatayama, Miki Morimoto and Senior Staff Writer Tokiko Tsuji.)

Go here to read the rest:

ALS patients fear 'mercy killing' case will promote death over life : The Asahi Shimbun - Asahi Shimbun

100 Days Out from the Election, Immigration is on the Ballot – The Bulwark

Posted on by

After nearly 50 immigration policy changes since COVID-19 arrived at our shores, and an untold number since President Trump came into office, he has brought immigration to the United States to a near standstill.

In 100 days, the American people will decide how long the darkness will last.

The presidents ruminations on DACA and merit-based immigration should not lead us to believe he now thinks immigrants and immigration are a benefit to the nation. There is significant evidence showing that Trumps re-election campaign will rely on anti-immigrant fabrications. And it is unlikely he will cast aside build the wall, bad hombres or any of his other favorite applause lines.

We have come full circle to a century ago. In the 1920s, nationalism, global conflict, and simmering racial hostilities combined to pave the way for the Immigration Act of 1924. The laws national origin racial quotas curtailed immigration from southern and eastern Europe and halted arrivals from Asia. With few exceptions, the door to America had slammed shut.

The ensuing 40 years was a fight for the future of America, as Jia Lynn Yang describes in her new book, One Mighty and Irresistible Tide. It was a period that shamefully included a burgeoning eugenics movement, the United States turning its back on displaced Jews fleeing death, and McCarthyism that quickly stretched beyond fighting communism to target political opponents who supported, among other ideas, a more expansive approach to immigration.

Podcast July 24 2020

On today's Bulwark Podcast, Bill Kristol joins Charlie Sykes to discuss the conventions, the debate on policy vs. punish...

As we move into the 2020s, the presidents spectacular mismanagement of multiple crisesrising nationalism, a global pandemic, and exploding racial hostilitieshas created a dangerous environment for America to close its door to the world.

It is getting harder and harder for the vulnerable to seek protection in the United States from persecution of any kindreligious, political, or social. Attorney General William Barr is reopening asylum cases to potentially remove protections. Children as young as 1 year old, are being detained in hotels. Our immigration courts are stacked with leadership focused on denying cases and curtailing due process. Enforcement at the border now means deporting people without following the law. Under the presidents April proclamation even family members of lawful permanent residents may not be able to enter the country, and also affects recipients of diversity visas. And, barring action from Congress, the administrations approach to immigration is in danger of bankrupting U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services before the summer is over.

America is clearly better than this. Because, much to his chagrin (and political peril), President Trump has forged a new consensus on American immigration.

In polling completed at the end of May, as the nation continued to be racked by COVID-19 and as George Floyds death was launching a new kind of conversation about racial justice, Gallup found that more Americans wanted an increase in immigration than a decreasea first since Gallup started asking this question in 1965.

Look closely and you see something surprising: a 7-point rise since 2018 in independents support for increased immigration. Among people older than 55, 63 percent want the present level or an increase and 73 percent think immigration is a good thing. The numbers are 77 percent and 80 percent among those with some college education, and 79 percent and 86 percent among moderates.

The very coalition that boosted Trump to victory in 2016 is cracking under the weight of his hardline immigration policies.

Not only have a handful of Trump-skeptical evangelical leaders, such as Russell Moore of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, criticized Trump on immigration, but even the staunch Trump supporter Franklin Graham said in 2018 of the administrations efforts to separate families at the border, I think its disgraceful, its terrible to see families ripped apart and I dont support that one bit. All of this is seared into the minds of suburban women.

And the rescission of DACA looms large for business leaders. The expansion of interior enforcement operations leads farmers to worry if their skilled workforce will make it to work. The end of refugee resettlement and asylum processing leaves people of faith asking if their government shares their values. Patients in Appalachia hope their foreign-born doctor will be there the next time they need care.

If the United States is to avoid decades of nativism and nationalism that could result from a second Trump term, the deciding factor will be moderate and independent voters who may have supported Trumps vision of America in 2016 but now reject it for what it is: an agenda that skirts the rule of law, champions authoritarianism, and strips all of us, immigrant and native-born, of our dignity.

Restoring Americas dignity begins on November 3.

More here:

100 Days Out from the Election, Immigration is on the Ballot - The Bulwark

How we recruited albatrosses to patrol the high seas for illegal fishers – MENAFN.COM

Posted on by

(MENAFN - The Conversation) Wandering albatrosses have long been considered exceptional creatures. They can fly 8.5 million kilometres during their lifetimes the equivalent of flying to the Moon and back more than ten times. Their three-and-a-half-metre wing span is the same length as a small car and they can weigh as much as 24 puffins. Their body shape means they can effortlessly glide over the ocean waves, flying in some of the strongest winds on Earth. Now research led by the Centre d''tudes biologiques de Chiz in France has found that these seabirds may have promising careers in the fight against overfishing.

Accidental bycatch in fishing lines and nets when fishers unintentionally snare animals they weren''t trying to catch, like albatrosses kills hundreds of thousands of birds and mammals each year .

In the past few decades, countries have worked together to implement cross-border policies to directly address the causes of bycatch, particularly for albatrosses and petrels which have been severely affected . With onboard human observers or electronic devices tracking activity, albatross bycatch rates have fallen dramatically on monitored vessels. But what about illegal fishing boats? Military vessels and aeroplanes patrol the Southern Ocean looking for criminal fishers, but there are no observers or monitoring to ensure these boats are using methods to protect albatrosses, and without these, we know that bycatch rates are very high.

Read more: Small-scale fisheries have unintended consequences on tropical marine ecosystems

Boats that are legally fishing are generally registered and licensed, and so must adhere to laws regarding where and when they fish, and what and how much they can catch. Monitoring fishery activity around land masses is one thing, but beyond these limits, the open ocean is deemed international waters and doesn''t come under the jurisdiction of a single nation. Patrolling this enormous area by ship or air is rarely effective.

But what if there were 100 officers that could cover 10,000 kilometres each in a 30-day stretch? Meet the albatross ocean sentinels who patrol the seas for illegal fishers.

Wandering albatrosses breed on remote islands around Antarctica. These are usually only accessible by boat, and researchers must brave the '' furious 50s '' of the Southern Ocean to get there, across some of the roughest seas in the world.

So many birds were dying as a result of getting caught in fishing lines that researchers started studying the overlap between albatrosses and fishing boats. Understanding where the birds came into contact with fisheries, and which birds followed boats the most, helped explain which parts of the population were most at risk of bycatch.

Researchers mapped the distribution of boats using data transmitted from onboard monitoring systems, but these records are often only available around land and rarely in real time. Given the amount of time the birds spend in the open ocean, this meant that researchers had little idea of how many birds overlapped with fishing boats and for how long.

To address this problem, researchers developed loggers that could be attached to an albatross . The logger detects the radar of boats, collecting information on where boats are in real time. The loggers took years to perfect and I can still remember the excitement of getting the first one back that had successfully detected a boat''s radar.

The data showed how the sex, age or personality of each bird affected how likely the bird was to come into contact with fishing boats. For example, males tend to forage to the south, closer to Antarctica where fishing boats are rarer, while females forage further north, bringing them closer to the tropics and into contact with hotspots of fishing activity. Understanding this variation was the primary aim of the research, to help ecologists understand how deaths in subsections of the population can have dramatic effects on the population as a whole. But the loggers also provided bonus data that could transform fishery management and conservation in the open oceans.

Originally this work began to differentiate between fishing boats and other vessels, to test whether birds were more likely to be attracted to fishing boats. But when we combined the data collected by the loggers with a global map, we could see the location of all boats with an active Automatic Identification System (AIS). This radar allows vessels to detect each other, preventing collisions. But our study found that over 20% of boats within French waters didn''t have their AIS on, rising to 35% in international waters. Since the AIS is intended to keep vessels safe, it''s likely that these vessels operating without it in international waters were doing so to avoid detection, and so could be fishing illegally.

The albatross data had unintentionally revealed the potential extent and scale of illegal fishing in the Southern Ocean.

It''s difficult to imagine a human patrol boat being able to cover enough area to efficiently track illegal fisheries. But each wandering albatross could potentially cover the same area of ocean as a boat, and when its logger detects a fishing boat with its AIS turned off, it can relay that information to the authorities, who can alert nearby vessels to investigate.

Data collection on this scale would not only improve our ability to detect and manage illegal fisheries, but also to identify high risk areas for conservation. This would help conserve fish stocks, protect albatrosses and other seabirds, and manage the marine ecosystem as a whole. As ocean sentinels, albatrosses have a unique ability to collect the data needed for their own conservation. Their pioneering role in animal-led data collection paves the way for other species to track the human activities that risk their persistence in the wild.

MENAFN20720200001993603ID1100512645

View original post here:

How we recruited albatrosses to patrol the high seas for illegal fishers - MENAFN.COM

10 Movies To Watch If You Liked Greyhound | ScreenRant – Screen Rant

Posted on by

Starring and written by Tom Hanks, Greyhound is a VOD war drama. For those looking to binge movies of this genre, check out these recommendations.

Amidst all the films forgoing the theater reason in favor of VOD, Greyhoundis one of the larger-scale projects. The film stars Tom Hanks, who also wrote the script forthisWorld War II drama. Hanks plays the commanding officer of a military convoy of ships crossing the Atlantic without air support.

RELATED:Top 10 Tom Hanks Movies, According To IMDb

Though it is a fairly contained film,it serves as a tense and exciting war story with non-stop threats and effective naval battle sequences. It is a worthy inclusion in the genre of war movies and there are plenty of exciting films from that genre worth checking out if you were a fan of Greyhound.

When seeing Tom Hanks as a commanding officer in World War II, it's hard not to be reminded of Saving Private Ryan. The Steven Spielberg film followed a group of soldiers who go on a dangerous mission to find one soldier who is being sent home.

Once again, Hanks proves to be a completely believable leader and military man who also brings a level of everyman to the role. The battle sequencesare brutal and intense, making Saving Private Ryanone of the most harrowing war movies ever made.

While war is dangerous for all soldiers involved, there is something extra terrifying about being atwar on the high seas, especially inside a submarine. U-571 is a WWII thriller about a group of American soldiers attempting to steal an encryption machine from a damaged German sub. When their own ship is attacked, they must survive onboard the damaged enemy boat.

RELATED:5 War Films From The 00s That Are Way Underrated (& 5 That Are Overrated)

While it plays loose with history, the movie effectively captures the claustrophobic feel of being trapped inside a sub underwater with the enemy above.

It is not just WWII films that share the same intense depiction of naval warfare. Crimson Tide is a modern take on that kind of story, which also deals with the idea of leadership in highly tense situations.

Denzel Washington plays the second-in-command onboard a nuclear sub while the world is on the verge of nuclear war. Cut off from the outside world, Washington begins to question the commands of the captain, played by Gene Hackman.

Most of theactioninGreyhound is seen within the battleship Hanks' officer commands. While the world is at war, it is fascinating to see a war movie that has such a specific focus.

Furyis another WWII film that tells a small-scale story of a tank team in the dying days of the war. Brad Pitt plays the commanding officer, a man very different from Hanks' character yet one with a similar sense of battle. It makes for a unique look at war in a way audiences have rarely seen.

A big aspect of Greyhound, and one of the most interesting aspects of the film, is its look at Hanks' character as a leader of men. This is his first big assignment in the military and he is put in charge of an entire convoy of ships.

RELATED:5 War Films From The 90s That Are Way Underrated (& 5 That Are Overrated)

This focus of the film is reminiscent of the classic war film Patton. George C. Scott plays the titular real-life American general in this glimpse at his campaign in WWII. The film is a fun exploration of his brilliant commanding style and his many flaws.

Since Greyhound deals with the early days of America's involvement in WWII, a great film to watch along with it would be Tora! Tora! Tora!, which deals with the attack on Pearl Harbor that prompted America's involvement.

The film is a spectacular epic, depicting both the American and Japanese side of the story. It makes for a thrilling look into military tactics and one of the most significant military moments in history.

Another film that expertly depicts the many threats and feelings of paranoia involved in naval warfare is the stunning German film Das Boot. The film centers around the crew of a German U-boat, who are battling the stress and anxiety of their position while beginning to question their fight in this war.

Das Bootis a harrowing film that gives rare insight into the other side of the battle. Like Greyhound, it is a film that focuses on the senselessness of war even as the soldiers fight with all their strength.

For a movie that is basically set in one location, Greyhound makes it a pulse-pounding adventure. It is also a unique war film in that much emphasis is put on the importance of survival rather than fighting.

RELATED:10 Great Anti-War Films To Watch If You Like Da 5 Bloods

Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk delivers a similar message. The film depicts the rescue mission of British troops from the beaches of France. There arefew heroic battle sequences, with the film focusing on people trying desperately to survive so they can live to fight another day.

There is a non-stop excitement to Greyhound that few movies can pull off. Asviewers follow Hanks' commander during the several days at sea, he bounces from one threat to another. As one catastrophe is averted, another arises just as fast. It makes for an edge-of-your-seat experience.

Sam Mendes' 1917 pulled off a similar feat. The World War I film follows two soldiers carrying a message across a battlefield. The one-shot look of the filmadds to the suspense and will leave audiences holding their breath until the credits roll.

Naval battles are not often depicted in Hollywood movies. Greyhound manages to make them realistic and exciting throughout the entire film. Another film that achieves this, albeit from a much earlier era, is Master and Commander.

Russell Crowe plays the commander of a British ship during the Napoleonic War as he and his crew do battle with the French on the high seas. Crowe makes for a stirring lead and the battle sequences are spectacular.

NEXT:5 Best & 5 Worst World War II Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes

Next The Little Mermaid: Ariel's 5 Worst & 5 Best Traits

A writer and film fan. I always enjoy keeping up with the latest films in theaters as well as discovering some hidden gems I may have overlooked. Glad to be a part of Screen Rant's positive and fun community and have the opportunity to share my thoughts with you.

Continued here:

10 Movies To Watch If You Liked Greyhound | ScreenRant - Screen Rant

How to stop China completing its takeover of the South China Sea – The Strategist

Posted on by

China appears to be accelerating its campaign to control the South China Sea and the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. Beijing does itself no favours with the highly ambiguous nature of its claims in the region. Its internationally condemned nine-dash line sometimes appears to be delineating its claims to the island features within it. More ominously, Beijing sometimes insinuates the line as a maritime delineation, carving out sovereign control of the sea itself as well as the airspace above it.

Chinas ongoing militarisation of many artificial features in disputed waters is well known. A less well known, but highly consequential implication of this militarisation is the vastly increased capacity it gives China to project power not only to control the reefs and rocks of the South China Sea, but, in the future, to assert control over the high seas and airspace above it. Beijing is vocal about its opposition to innocent passage and other military activities within its 200-nautical mile exclusive economic zones.

Beijing has tried hard to keep its dispute resolution efforts focused on bilateral negotiations between itself and the various claimants, effectively fracturing a united response by ASEAN. Pushback in the region is only now beginning. Chinas sweeping claims also impact many countries that lie far beyond the shores of the South China Sea. The US, Japan, Australia, India and many others around the world have critical interests in using the sea directly for economic, scientific and military purposes. More urgently, maintaining an open and free system of movement through the high seasand in the future, in outer spaceis of critical importance.

The decisive rejection of Chinas claims in the South China Sea by an arbitral tribunal under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 2016 only accelerated Beijings continued bad-faith efforts to construct features, militarise them, and extend administrative control over others presence and activities to the furthest reaches of the nine-dash line. In fact, the ruling decisively rejects both Chinas claims to many rocks and maritime features and the idea that these islands can generate territorial seas and exclusive economic zones.

This studied strategic ambiguity by China (on display on other fronts as well) should encourage the international community to confront an alternative and altogether darker explanation for Beijings behaviourthat it is building forces and positions in the region so that over the long term it can assert sovereign authority over the South China Sea.

This interpretation of Chinas actions, though difficult to accept, should be considered as a possibility in military and strategic planning efforts around the world with an eye towards avoiding this worst-case outcome. It is important to remember that the scope and scale of Chinas claims are unprecedented in international law and have no real analogue anywhere else on earth. An unwillingness to confront this scenario risks ceding Beijing permanent control over economic and military activities over a large and critical section of the worlds oceansand beyond.

The South China Sea is a third larger than the Mediterranean Sea and more than twice as large as the Gulf of Mexico. Acknowledging Chinas sweeping claims to sovereignty over this massive space would increase the possibility of a future international environment in which ever larger portions of the global commons are cut off and controlled by individual nations.

Either the international community believes in maintaining a free and open global commons and protects international law or it doesnt. If it doesnt, then Chinas potential annexation of this vast space will guarantee similar claims over the worlds oceans. To foreclose on this future will require an active and aggressive response by the widest grouping of states possible. Regardless of how individual claims over the various land features in the South China Sea are resolved, the entire globe has a stake in free and open access to the region.

For this reason, the US, along with all major allies and partners, should explicitly link Chinas own access to the global commons with its behaviour in the South China Sea. Washingtons announcement of its rejection of Beijings maritime claims, underscored by the US Navy dual aircraft carrier strike group exercises in the region, is a good beginning. However, operations in the South China Sea play to Chinas strengths. The US and the widest range of allies and partners in the international community should begin to articulate and apply escalating administrative and technical restrictions globally on Chinese shipping, air travel and transport in and through exclusive economic zones around the world by participating countries.

Restrictions on economic and military transit and scientific exploration should be pre-planned and scalable so that they are similar to Chinese moves in the South China Sea. These allied grey zone competitive activities could be problematic for Beijing; they would drastically increase the cost and complication of accessing the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. For example, contiguous US, Japanese and Philippine zones restrict direct Chinese access to the Western Pacific. This possibility should be communicated to Beijing should it attempt to assert sovereign control in the South China Sea through force.

Securing the highest degree of freedom and access throughout the global commons should be the ultimate goal of this international effort. Focused and reciprocal restrictions on China throughout the exclusive economic zones of the world should be coupled with strong assurances that they remain open for participating nations. Moreover, these restrictions on China should be easily and quickly reversible. When Beijing comes to its senses on the use of the South China Sea, its access to the global maritime commons should be both restored and encouraged.

Although this strategic approach to countering Beijings most aggressive designs in the South China Sea appears to be rather drastic, like-minded nations around the world should be prepared to deliver a decisive shock to Beijings calculations about any gains it may achieve by limiting access to the South China Sea and rejecting the free use of the global commons more generally. Even hinting that a global response on this scale is possible should concentrate minds in Beijing on their strong and growing dependence on the global commons to reach their much vaunted centenary goals. Together, allied nations should encourage China to support an open and free global commons today in the South China Sea.

Follow this link:

How to stop China completing its takeover of the South China Sea - The Strategist