Racist technology?

This TIME article talks about some frustrations non-Caucasians find when using face recognition software in cameras. Asians found the camera couldn’t recognize when their eyes were open, as well as a darker skinned person found another camera couldn’t locate  his face.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1954643,00.html?xid=rss-fullworld-yahoo

So even technology is biased? Well certainly the same kinds of problems were referenced with voice recognition software originally, so it’s a matter of time and complaints before things get changed. I think the user-friendly category is another area that follows this progression. People tell me their software is user-friendly, but when you try to use it, suddenly it’s not so ‘friendly’. I still wish my friend Bill at MS would fix some ‘bugs’ with Word where the default settings always revert to Japanese even while making a document (even though I never type in this language) and the font size always seems to do an auto adjustment as well.

It’s the same problem with cookies on websites that adjust the language of the site you go to even though you searched for it in English! Why would I suddenly want the Japanese version of a site if I searched for it in Yahoo or Google in English? Oh, because my IP shows I’m in Japan?

Well, I could on about that, but it probably wouldn’t change anything overnight.

No way?

No way in Japan often means I don’t like it because…..

No way?

.. I’m lazy

..I don’t want to share that info

..I think that is too new for me

..I don’t get why it’s needed

Editing mode

I finally went through my blog and updated my posts as well as changed the title. It got me to thinking that perhaps if life could be edited as easily, events would lose some of their permanence and we would worry less. Less stress, fewer problems right? I’m not sure if that is always true, as a little stress is actually good for you.

But who is to say how much is enough? That is  sticky call to make, as too much stress may see us as another suicide stat whereas not enough my see us lingering as some social malcontent.

Rocking back

Rocking back

I’m keeping my sanity by typing. My second CD just went (the first shattering inside the drive, damn expensive to have fixed). and this last one cracking in the CD case.　The second one, Max Payne, I had just installed on my new Acer as the graphics card supported it. I guess I won’t finish all the levels on that any time soon.

I want to also come up with an idea for another JALT presentation, but I’m stuck on doing a variation of last year’s (think video) or doing something with  set of activities.

That and moving has me stressed, as construction is coming up.

making the dough

I keep wondering what I’ll be doing this year to change my life. I seem to be doing the usual things, getting presentation ideas ready, and trying to organize a book. What else can I do? I’d like to have a  bigger web presence, but I lack the confidence to start loading photos and what not.

Making the dough

I’m also not sure that is what I want to do. Life is a compromise, and then you wonder if that is all there is to it. Well, I guess for right now, that’s it!

Waiting

Well, my current employer in my off uni time is slow, so I have a lot of down time. I am considering what else I can do, besides studying Japanese. I really should keep putting out feelers to try and get some copywriting and/or rewriting work. That and write the book my wife was talking about, an activities guide for Japanese-English teachers.

But, I really wonder what I should be doing, and whether it’s what I should be doing. Isn’t that the way it goes, people doing what they hate, people not knowing what they should be doing, and that small lucky minority that know what they want to do, and feel passionate about doing it. That leap of faith to that category is tough, that and finding what that is (and hoping it’s something that you can make enough money for the lifestyle that you want to have.

Must it be security or passion?

I keep thinking I need a job with a pension, but then I wonder if I would live long enough with the boredom. Sound like a cliche for a car ad? I suppose it is a dlilemna that many of us face, whether we can do something we enjoy and become financially ‘fit’, or do we have to buckle down and do what we have to or need to do to get by.

I’m considering applying for that DOD ESL  job, but I keep thinking I’ll be teaching ‘waterboarding’, though perhaps Obama’s emergence might save me the trouble. My wife keeps objecting only considering that if we renovate, she doesn’t want to leave the house?!  Beginning to sound like a ball and chain to me. I can understand not wanting to leave, but also after we do this full scale renovation, we can get a regular renter fairly easily I would imagine, and one that would pay top dollar for a small house in central Tokyo.

I think flexibility is key. I just am not sure what else I can do in Japan, I’m not as swift as Sam when it comes to figuring out what can be done online. Oh well, we can’t all be young geniuses, guess I’ll have to settle for being an average whatever.

Getting in touch

I had an emotional moment yesterday during karaoke.  I know, sounds like an odd place to get in touch with a lost feeling, but for some reason music does trigger that sometimes, even music using cheezy synthesizers to emulate rocking guitars. I just started tearing up, and the worse part of it was one time I was in the middle of singing.

Getting in touch

This happened twice,  the earlier time I was just thinking about a Chinese song my wife was singing called ‘I believe myself’.  Discounting the bad grammar in the song (‘I believe in myself’ would make a lot more sense), the Ayaka version features a simple piano melody with soaring vocals. It often makes me consider what I do believe that I can do. Right now, I feel puzzled and stuck as to where I want to go, and some things that I do want to do seem impossible to do. I feel vulnerable, and I’m not sure that is the feeling that I want to deal with, but you have to deal with the hand you’re dealt.

On a related note, I was thinking about something in a Donald Trump book  I read yesterday, ‘Think like a Billionaire’. I don’t agree with some of his opinions, but one of his comments really struck home.  He said that very rich people are often passionate about what they do. They don’t think of their jobs or business as work because because it’s something they really enjoy doing. He commented that if you have a job that you don’t feel passionate about, you should fire yourself and find something you enjoy doing and are good at.  Life is too short to spend your time doing something that doesn’t draw you in fully.

Of course he didn’t consider having to make a  living, and the other things you might enjoy doing besides work.  Sometimes it seems to be really wealthy, you have to be obssessed about what it is you want, which was another point that he made. So the question is, which obsession do you want to go with?

Zonked at the wheel

Zonked at the wheel

Sometimes I find the best ideas when I am half baked. I wonder if many other people find it the same way?

Sometimes while working as a teacher, being half asleep makes the day go by quicker, or perhaps it just seems that way.  I get in these auto-pilot modes where things just flow and I follow my lesson plans as well as innovate where necessary. I think this is quite common for a university language teacher where little issues pop up and often you have to decide whether to deal with them. Also, some things you thought would be somewhat of interest turn out to be more exciting (or boring) than you thought they would be.

Getting into that ‘zen’ frame of mind takes time or does it come naturally? Sometimes I’m not sure as a little sleep deprivation can make you feel relaxed, but it can also make it more difficult to concentrate. It’s a fine balance between being aware and be willing to dare and just be flexible enough to not have to always conform to a fixed lesson plan and semester schedule.

This also allows your students time to do things at their pace rather than always thinking about what you want to fit in your planned class time. I often am making  a mess out of my lesson plan books, as things that i thought we’d have time for don’t come off as planned. Sometimes it’s the time needed for directions, other times how students spend time on doing a task (including messing it up, which itself is a learning opportunity), and finally if you allow time for review of the task or not. It all adds up, and making productive use of the 90 minutes or so is a real challenge.

Revving up

I recently am almost chasing my own tail as I try to kick my social life and my work life up a notch. Doesn’t always seem to be working. Sometimes it seems I don’t have the energy to do both, and I wonder if I’m playing two different games, neither of which I particularly relish, at the same time.

Revving it up

Running in place has never appealed to me, yet it seems like this treadmill I’m on doesn’t go any slower. Now, there is more weight attached to my end as well, as my significant other has too much time on her hands, and doesn’t seem to know how to use it.

Of course there are times when I too have too much time, and that’s why I can work on this blog, ha ha!