Examples of Youtube auto transcribing to captions = crap

I find it hard to be too critical of this free service from Google (Transcriptions of voice on Youtube into captions - to aide the hearing impaired) - but these 2 fellows did approach their critique with an unabashedly enterprising and enthusiastic vigour that I enjoyed.   In particular their readings of 5 classics - Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice"; George Orwell's "1984"; Vladimir Nabokov's "Lolita"; J.R.R Tolkien's "The Hobbit"; Albert Camu's "L'Etranger"; Charles Dicken's "A Tale of Two Cities"  and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" are very well done (right down to the accents).

Originals

Google Transcribed

Are Liberals More Intelligent than Conservatives?

I saw this in Psychology Today and just shook my head (even though it was suggested by one of my favourite bloggers there) - but luckily, other psychologists are now weighing in to dispute this crazy notion. Here was the graph that started it all.

Among the things you should know are 1) Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT) and 2) Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC) 3) verbal intelligence (VIQ) and performance intelligence (PIQ) 4)  It is common among the highly educated for VIQ to be significantly higher than PIQ (see for example Kaufman & Lichtenberger, 1999). 5) Moreover, children who struggle with VIQ but who have perfectly solid PIQ scores are more likely than their counterparts to drop out of school (Romi & Marom, 2007). 6) Instead, his definition of “more intelligent” is biased toward those with relatively higher VIQs and away from people with relatively higher PIQs. 7) In an in-depth study of the political orientation of college professors, Gross & Simmons (2007) reported that 62.2 percent of professors identified as liberal, while only 19.7 identified as conservative.  Also as people age (especially men) they become more Conservative.


Well that was some of it anyway.  Read the whole article.

Donna Laframboise - noconcensus.org

I came across this writers blog and website the other day and I was drawn in by it's detail and muck-racking, common-sense approach.   The author was once a favourite writer in the National Post, but fell from favour and took off work for a while (among other things).  This new site www.noconsensus.org - is a strongly sceptical, global warming critic - and for that I thank her.

Here was one of her most valuable observations was this:

Global Warming, Fanatics, and Freedom

People who claim to be making the world a better place have often delivered misery. The Soviets, for example, said they were building a more equal society. Instead, they murdered tens of millions. 

The environment is important. But so are other things. The freedoms that generations of our forbearers sacrificed and died for cannot be brushed aside in the name of saving the planet. Do we want to live in a world: 

• where asking questions is considered immoral? 
• where industries that have helped us achieve long, prosperous lives are demonized? 
• where elected politicians who think differently than unelected activists are jailed? 

Most people concerned about global warming are sensible individuals who know the ends don't justify the means. But every movement has its extremists. And in this case, those extremists are hearing some disturbing messages about our right to hold different points-of-view.

What I can't figure out is why she would be led astray so easily by someone else.

The other foot

Mark Steyn eviscerates the liberal left in "So now, it’s no business of the state - Funny that the ‘Toronto Star’ writer had the opposite view when it came to my columns" in MacLeans magazine this week on the decision of Quebec to"nix the niqab" as it is a symbol of oppression.

Steyn argues that - yes - why should the state NOT ban it, given all the other infringements advocated by special interests groups like "*Editorial Editor Emeritus" Haroon Siddiqui who supported the CHRC removing MacLeans right to criticize Islam, as it would any other religious "hatemongering".

*p.s I thought this title was Steyn poking fun at this pompous writer, until I realized it was true!

The Hapiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

This women has attempted to define her own personal Happiness Project.  In her bio, she was a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day-O'Connor until she realized she wanted to be a writer. She has written a book and here is how she described it in a Google Authors talk.

• Reflect about your own nature - clutter is banal but make your bed in the morning - tidy up at end of night - write 1 sentence a day - can you be happier?

Google Scripts and Apps add impressive functionality

About a month ago I read of a new Google Doc's feature for Spreadsheets - Scripts.   Here is the Google help Blog overview of these powerful services, including one that automates sending a personalized email from a Google Spreadsheet.

The Google Apps Marketplace provides independently created software that uses the Google API's.  There are some great little services and many are free to small users.   I liked this simple scheduling app called Doodle at www.doodle.com but there are many more.

Digital Due Process - overhaul US Electronic Communications Privacy Act

I saw this interesting post about updating the federal Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), which was written in 1986.  They are in favour of updating this and have begun lobbing the act through a group called Digital Due Process. It advocates modernizing ECPA in four ways:

• Better protect your data stored online: The government must first get a search warrant before obtaining any private communications or documents stored online;
• Better protect your location privacy: The government must first get a search warrant before it can track the location of your cell phone or other mobile communications device;
• Better protect against monitoring of when and with whom you communicate: The government must demonstrate to a court that the data it seeks is relevant and material to a criminal investigation before monitoring when and with whom you communicate using email, instant messaging, text messaging, the telephone, etc.; and
• Better protect against bulk data requests: The government must demonstrate to a court that the information it seeks is needed for a criminal investigation before it can obtain data about an entire class of users.

Then of course I read this!

Australia’s communications minister Stephen Conroy had some strong things to say about Google.  They haven’t been seeing eye-to-eye recently on matters relating to censorship. Google submitted a 24-page document (pdf), in which Google made the following point:

• “Exposing politically controversial topics for public debate is vital for democracy. Homosexuality was a crime in Australia (...) Political and social norms change over time and benefit from intense public scrutiny and debate. The openness of the Internet makes this scrutiny and debate all the more possible, and should be protected.”

On the assumption that internet filtering is likely to be introduced, Google then proposes in considerable detail how to minimise the harm it causes.

April 4, 1968 - MLK Assination

April 4th was the 42nd Anniversary of the assassination of remarkable American Civil Rights leader, Martin Luther KING Jr in 1968.

Lund Appeals the Decision by Alberta Court Overturning AHRC Boission Charge

Minister Lindsay Blackett, Minister responsible for the AHRC - has said that the human rights complaint against Red Deer pastor Stephen Boissoin shouldn't have ever gone to the commission.  CBC reported that:

"[The commission's] not there to mediate hurt feelings caused by some words or not," Culture Minister Lindsay Blackett told CBC. "If it's hateful, then that's a hate crime. And that's something for the Crown attorneys and the police services to investigate.”

"But the goal of the commission is to make sure people are protected against discrimination where they work, or access to accommodation, access to government services,” he added.

The commission ruling was overturned by the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench on December 4th, where Justice Earl C. Wilson held that the letter was protected under free speech laws.

Lund announced late last month that he was appealing Justice Wilson's decision.

Ellen Ocran - NDP Assistant not Student

Last week when Ann COULTER was denied the opportunity to speak at the UofOttawa there was a VERY angry encounter between a "student" and a "free speech" advocate - recorded on video and in the press.  Here was the clip from the CP article:

"Ann Coulter should go back to where she came from because we don't want her back here," shouted Ellen Ocran, a University of Ottawa student in a shouting match with a Coulter backer.

In this AP clip (below) note angry young black women - vociferously chanting and yelling  with others in extremely confrontational manner.   It is remarkable that someone did not get into a fight.   Certainly for a "student" she was louder than anyone else. 



Then I saw this blog comment.  This young women - Ellen OCRAN - is not a "student" but an assistant for NDP Pat Martin.  As this blog suggests, is this not as bad as a CPC staffer using her unmarried name when writing letters to the press to support her MP?

OCRAN, like a number of other protesters, had buttons identifying them as members of the Cdn Federation of Students.   Interestingly, this groups has ruled for decades as a totally undemocratic organization almost immune from democracy.  Here is website dedicated to removal of the group from Concordia University in Montreal.    Quite shocking.

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