Happy 40th Kwanzaa
midtowngrid.com

[Dec. 26 was] the first day of Kwanzaa, an African American holiday, created by Dr. Maulana Karenga, a professor at California State University in 1966. That makes it the 40th Anniversary of this beautiful, still flowering tradition. Each year, Kwanzaa has become more popular and active.
In Sacramento, several people and institutions are responsible for its growth as a tradition, particularly Michael Harris, Wo'se Church, Carol's Books, and Straight Out Scribes, the team of mother-daughter poets that rarely performs in Sacramento unfortunately.
The Guru first encountered Kwanzaa in San Diego in 1993, invited by several friends who were members of the African American Student Union at U.C. San Diego. One of the community rooms on campus was packed to the gills as the ceremony first began. At the time, the Guru didn't know that it was a specifically African American holiday but assumed that it grew out of African tradition and was simply being reclaimed. In many ways, that's what it was intended to be, a revival and celebration of African roots.
But in the African diaspora of the United States, Kwanzaa has much meaning beyond reclaiming roots, it is about building the context of community, umoja, out of the foundation of those historical roots and modern choices. People choose to adopt Kwanzaa's traditions, to learn about them, and to teach them. That is powerful, magical, and spiritual. ...
 
The test for the future
chrisminnick.com

Happy New Year. As I've done every year since 2000 I hereby declare that I am hopeful that the future is officially started. I would also like to announce a new test for whether it is actually true. I've humbly named this test the Minnick Test of the Future. The test is quite simple: when an article about speech recognition software that aims to be funny or make a point about how speech recognition software doesn't work correctly yet isn't funny then the future has officially begun. ...
With the release of windows vista upon us and it's integrated speech recognition capabilities I was hopeful that this might just be the year for that start of the future that I was looking forward to as the child. ...
As the future rather? I suppose that. I mean that I suppose knocked. Both Reagan. I'm going to try one more time. The future has not yet arrived. Of the understood that Simpson's just five.
I'm using Microsoft's speech recognition software and I suspect that it would work much better if I didn't write or call so smoothly and was frequently in middle of sentences.
One of the problems with replacing keyboards with speech recognition software is the many writers are notoriously careful and will cause for several minutes in the middle of sentences while they are dictating. Computers have no way of knowing this and speech recognition software often uses context two were improved accuracy. This results in some sentences that were spoken quickly being perfectly readable but other sentence is that may have taken longer to construct being completely garbage.
Another problem the speech recognition is that other people are listening and is not so easy to just dictate something stupid as to see if it works. Speech recognition seems to be in direct conflict with the latest thinking about open offices and may actually stifle creativity.
However speech recognition may also result in more polite comments on blocks and fewer flame wars. In the same way that the anonymity of the Internet makes people feel comfortable with saying things that they normally wouldn't say, the public nature of speech recognition could have the effect of artists is talk to Peter Davidson, like like the proposition as it is the topic is writing down everything and people are wrong you're listening and every call for her for whatever gets written down right now it's even writing down to write down everything them saying his home and the eighties microphone by two. Also, I tend to mumble.
Despite his perfect this 5/8 product got damages but he's really talking perfect. Certain frequently used words in blog comments don't seem to show up very well and speech recognition text for instance: that should or you got him of the Fokker.
So what does it take for us to achieve this glorious future of reduced carpal tunnel syndrome and improved human computer interfaces? Apparently, the cost of a keyboard less computing environment is a new computer capable of running windows vista high quality microphone a private office and membership in your local toastmasters.
 
Wii will kill us all
mkfreeberg.webloggin.com

Maybe I've been a little too tough on the newfangled video games. Some of these pictures taken with Nintendo's Wii look pretty good... . 
But Will Payne of the Harvard Crimson remains a skeptic. His article diligently warns us against our upcoming fate, that it's only a matter of time before someone pokes a friend's eye out with a renegade Wiimote. On the popular gaming message board 1up.com, poster Shadowfamicom warns ominously that "the Wii will kill us all."
Hey, it's good to know we're destined to survive global warming after all.
 

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