Semi-Random Topics Of The Day
Jan. 28th, 2011 03:37 pm* Egypt. Al-Qaida disappoints me. I would have thought they'd take advantage of the "political speech" going on in Cairo to storm/bomb/wreck the American Embassy there and and so on.
Remember, Egypt is our indispensible ally in the region. If their government changes, the Camp David Peace will be burned to ashes, and we can expect regular wars in the Sinai and Suez--with the possible new wrinkle of nuclear strikes. Mubarak goes and we have Armageddon.
* Afganistan. When was the last time the mainstream sources told us how the war is going in general terms? Nobody seems to be interested.
I wonder if some Republican/Tea Party state governor is going to say, "Now that we've deployed our entire National Guard contingent to Afganistan, I'm giving them die-in-place orders. They'll only return if they win the war--and will have to pay their own way. No resupply, no support, and not one more penny from the taxpayers."
* Media Technology. On my post the other day about the possibility of computers understanding tone-of-voice...it turns out that Avatar Creators Like This Man have been coming at the solution from another direction. By making virtual homonculi capable of modeling the full array of human emotion, a computer intelligence can, in theory, work backwards and recognize the meanings of human expression through the settings of the model.
Meanwhile, I saw an advertisement on TV for Shirley Temple movies that had been remastered and colorized for DVD last night. Colorization of monochrome movies has been around since the Eighties, and while it can be great if done correctly, I haven't exactly been impressed by it.
I think it has to do with our basic level understanding of photography in general...how we see the world through our own eyes. When I saw the sample footage on the commercial, I couldn't help but notice the gray zones underneath the color. I guess the technique will improve in the years to come, but I still have my doubts. *shrug*
Remember, Egypt is our indispensible ally in the region. If their government changes, the Camp David Peace will be burned to ashes, and we can expect regular wars in the Sinai and Suez--with the possible new wrinkle of nuclear strikes. Mubarak goes and we have Armageddon.
* Afganistan. When was the last time the mainstream sources told us how the war is going in general terms? Nobody seems to be interested.
I wonder if some Republican/Tea Party state governor is going to say, "Now that we've deployed our entire National Guard contingent to Afganistan, I'm giving them die-in-place orders. They'll only return if they win the war--and will have to pay their own way. No resupply, no support, and not one more penny from the taxpayers."
* Media Technology. On my post the other day about the possibility of computers understanding tone-of-voice...it turns out that Avatar Creators Like This Man have been coming at the solution from another direction. By making virtual homonculi capable of modeling the full array of human emotion, a computer intelligence can, in theory, work backwards and recognize the meanings of human expression through the settings of the model.
Meanwhile, I saw an advertisement on TV for Shirley Temple movies that had been remastered and colorized for DVD last night. Colorization of monochrome movies has been around since the Eighties, and while it can be great if done correctly, I haven't exactly been impressed by it.
I think it has to do with our basic level understanding of photography in general...how we see the world through our own eyes. When I saw the sample footage on the commercial, I couldn't help but notice the gray zones underneath the color. I guess the technique will improve in the years to come, but I still have my doubts. *shrug*
Hey.
This season there are all sorts of ads on TV from IBM about how they're developing software systems that can so analyse written language to nail down meaning that they could possibly beat Jeopardy!'s double-entendre-laden game model.
I'm intrigued, but not so concerned yet.
The reason being that I wonder if anybody has found a way to analyse "tone of voice".
On DeviantArt, there is a worksheet created by Nancy Lorenz called "25 Essential Expressions Challenge", intended to train cartoonists and comic artists in designing characters that are consistant no matter what mood they are in, but still easy to read mood-wise.
The Expressions:
* Happy * Sad * Pleased * Angry * Confused * Tired * Surprised/Shocked * Irritated * WTF?! * Triumphant * Afraid * Bereft * Flirty * Serious/Interested * Silly * Hollow/Blank * Incredulous * Confident * Fierce * Despondent * Impaired * Raging * Ironic/Sarcastic * Disgusted * Ill/Nauseous
Now, in theory each and every one of those Expressions corresponds to a tone of voice, as spoken or as heard. If we can get artificial intelligences to both recognize just those 25, and respond correctly to those, we'll have come a very very long way toward fulfilling the technology's potential.
Besides, I wish Xtranormal could upgrade its dialogue system to include expressions as the above. Not only would it make the resulting videos more fun to watch, it would make it more attractive to use Xtranormal.
FP
This season there are all sorts of ads on TV from IBM about how they're developing software systems that can so analyse written language to nail down meaning that they could possibly beat Jeopardy!'s double-entendre-laden game model.
I'm intrigued, but not so concerned yet.
The reason being that I wonder if anybody has found a way to analyse "tone of voice".
On DeviantArt, there is a worksheet created by Nancy Lorenz called "25 Essential Expressions Challenge", intended to train cartoonists and comic artists in designing characters that are consistant no matter what mood they are in, but still easy to read mood-wise.
The Expressions:
* Happy * Sad * Pleased * Angry * Confused * Tired * Surprised/Shocked * Irritated * WTF?! * Triumphant * Afraid * Bereft * Flirty * Serious/Interested * Silly * Hollow/Blank * Incredulous * Confident * Fierce * Despondent * Impaired * Raging * Ironic/Sarcastic * Disgusted * Ill/Nauseous
Now, in theory each and every one of those Expressions corresponds to a tone of voice, as spoken or as heard. If we can get artificial intelligences to both recognize just those 25, and respond correctly to those, we'll have come a very very long way toward fulfilling the technology's potential.
Besides, I wish Xtranormal could upgrade its dialogue system to include expressions as the above. Not only would it make the resulting videos more fun to watch, it would make it more attractive to use Xtranormal.
FP
Tags:
Ell!Ay!Pee!Pee!Tee!Oh!Pee!Pee!--
Aug. 6th, 2010 09:15 pm( LAPPTOPP! )
PS: At the time of this post, my Meez avatar was shown playing with a laptop computer in a Goth dive. It has since changed.
PS: At the time of this post, my Meez avatar was shown playing with a laptop computer in a Goth dive. It has since changed.
Tags:
Meez-ing Myself Halfway
Feb. 14th, 2008 03:13 pmI finally succeeded in cobbling a Meez.com avatar for myself, tho' it took a high-speed Internet connection (at the public library) and I'm not as pleased with it as I am with my Yahoo! avatar, which also sort of falls short of my expectations. I'll probably make a habit of going back to the library every time I get a Meez.com newsletter so I can further "tweak" it. I think I'll need to make some suggestions for stuff to them as well.
If you feel the need to look me up and have a Meez.com account, my account name is the same as my LJ account name. 'Nuff said.
If you feel the need to look me up and have a Meez.com account, my account name is the same as my LJ account name. 'Nuff said.
I Gotta Try Out EVERYTHING, Don't I?
Dec. 9th, 2007 12:04 amBecause of ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
danihana:
This was the first "Guys" spritely creator I could find, and even then, this is rather a stretch. I'm just not fashionable. :/
FP
PS: Producers Are Money-Grubbing Scum.
danihana:This was the first "Guys" spritely creator I could find, and even then, this is rather a stretch. I'm just not fashionable. :/
FP
PS: Producers Are Money-Grubbing Scum.
Useless Meme
Mar. 13th, 2006 12:02 amPS:
Okay, so I altered the slate a little. I did this one three times and this was the best of the three.
PPS:
EXITS pursued by 
Figment What's Your Ultimate Fandom OTP?
Shiver My Timber--A Pirate RPG
Did this four times. Two of them, I didn't "get". All of them were this weird. (Figment, if you don't know, is one of the mascot characters for Disney's EPCOT Center theme park.)
