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Three very different things which probably don't belong together in one post but which are going together in one post anyway because I am lazy and also very very tired.
1. A UN report has declared women's health care to be a human right. (There's also finger-snapping snark-filled article at Jezebel.) In short: Women, like anyone, should be free to make their own choices (with their doctors) about their bodies and health care. Among other things, this includes abortions. Any law infringing on that will be considered a human rights violation. The report is bluntly worded and makes strong arguments. Unfortunately, it comes from the UN so no one really cares. (And many anti-abortion activists probably consider the UN siding against them as further proof that they're right.)
2. "Lego Man" washes up on a Florida beach. (Not too far from where we have a place, actually. It's a 100lb, 8ft sculpture. No one knows where it came from or who owns it or why it's there. (Though a new Legoland store did recently open about 70 miles inland.) Lego Man has been taken into police custody (AKA the lost and found) until claimed (or for 90 days, whichever comes first).
3. You know the game Portal? There's an evil computer named GLaDOS who is basically the only speaking character in the first game (and a major character in the second). Also, she sings the songs at the end credits (which are very funny and got stuck in my head for days). Thing is she was voiced by a human voice actor. But to improve her delivery, she listened to a text-to-speech program go through her lines before recording. In post production, her voice was digitally altered (autotuned, mostly, I think) so it would sound more like a computer. To sum up:
A human imitated a computer imitating a human and then had her voice altered by a human expert using a computer in order to voice a computer with (super) human intelligence.
1. A UN report has declared women's health care to be a human right. (There's also finger-snapping snark-filled article at Jezebel.) In short: Women, like anyone, should be free to make their own choices (with their doctors) about their bodies and health care. Among other things, this includes abortions. Any law infringing on that will be considered a human rights violation. The report is bluntly worded and makes strong arguments. Unfortunately, it comes from the UN so no one really cares. (And many anti-abortion activists probably consider the UN siding against them as further proof that they're right.)
2. "Lego Man" washes up on a Florida beach. (Not too far from where we have a place, actually. It's a 100lb, 8ft sculpture. No one knows where it came from or who owns it or why it's there. (Though a new Legoland store did recently open about 70 miles inland.) Lego Man has been taken into police custody (AKA the lost and found) until claimed (or for 90 days, whichever comes first).
3. You know the game Portal? There's an evil computer named GLaDOS who is basically the only speaking character in the first game (and a major character in the second). Also, she sings the songs at the end credits (which are very funny and got stuck in my head for days). Thing is she was voiced by a human voice actor. But to improve her delivery, she listened to a text-to-speech program go through her lines before recording. In post production, her voice was digitally altered (autotuned, mostly, I think) so it would sound more like a computer. To sum up:
A human imitated a computer imitating a human and then had her voice altered by a human expert using a computer in order to voice a computer with (super) human intelligence.