Turboscribe.ai is an app that I now use to take my recorded sermon and have it transcribed to text. Since I preach in what appears to be an extemporaneous fashion, I have never been able to easily capture what I said in print. Now, upon uploading my video sermon to my website, I then take the YouTube address and place it within turboscribe.ai. Within less than four minutes I have a very accurate rendition of what I said that I can put Into Word for subtle editing. You can see this in practice at wctcoach.com.
It's coming so fast and I'm still not using it enough. That's what is alarming to me as a tech specialist. Besides throwing myself into it every day, I see lots that I would like to do, but simply cannot (time constraints are real.) When I say "lots" I mean there are right now at least 6 AI tools (that I catch an idea about off a blog, YouTube video or just the news) that I would love a day or two each to fully explore, internalise and apply to my work to leverage optimisations - which they would all do.
Then I look at comments made on social media and the random "surveys" I do with the public ("So hey, do you use AI at all?") and I'm blown away at how far people are even behind me... and I feel I'm lagging.
I loved the "time machine experience" reflected in today's stories as I was right there in 1995 buying my first pc. The debates at school (pre pc-release) were "would pc's (aka robots) take over the world and our jobs?" Even before PC's became the norm a few years later I knew that the "greatest" efficiency tool at the time was the type writer and I immediately threw myself into taking a typing course to gain the advantage.
It feels just like AI discussions now and I'm left feeling, no matter what happens with AI or any tech, you just have to grab a little of it by the horns and get applying it to your work and learn how it can help you. This is less about AI, or age, or ability and more about mindset - so don't make the mistake of getting caught up in the AI hate and make a plan.
If you don't, you will be left behind and that will only be your undoing.
Oh, and don't forget to say "thank you" and "please" to your ChatBot - I'm hoping the AI Terminator overlords will remember ;)
love the AI story & naysayers, & loving the commenters on the story!!
Big Optimum lacking comment possibility:
commenting on yesterday's 10/14 Captain Chuck Yeager - great info!
And today - anniversary of 'I Love Lucy'. Bill, your research & filling in the gaps on everything Lucille Ball did was marvelous! What a woman! I never knew to give her credit for Star Trek. I love scifi & that was a great show. I have a t-shirt w/ a pic of a humanish skull & the words "I Love Lucy".
You had a chance to comment last week when you challenged me about adoptions and I told you I have an adopted daughter. Then, you deleted your challenge comment.
I want to say I am proud of the news outlets refusal to sign on to the restrictive new guidelines. But it begs the question: is this what the Trump administration wants them to do? If they refuse to sign on then the government will operate without any oversight by the press. This is Trumps' attempt to not just circumvent the constitution but to obliterate it.
Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt recently wrote an article about fascism. Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism.
#6. Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
I don't play favorites. I don't think what Trump is attempting is good. The following is during Biden's administration:
Reduced Access: The administration faced criticism for the limited number of press conferences and interviews with President Biden compared to past presidents.
Pentagon Restrictions: The Pentagon implemented new rules requiring journalists to be escorted outside limited areas and significantly reduced briefings, raising concerns about restricted access to information.
Hard Pass Restrictions: The White House Press Office tightened rules for "hard passes" (allowing regular access to the White House), leading to some journalists, particularly from conservative outlets, losing their credentials.
Prosecutions: The Biden DOJ continued the prosecution of Julian Assange under the Espionage Act and also pursued the prosecution of journalist Timothy Burke for obtaining and reporting on leaked information.
Social Media Pressure: While the Supreme Court ultimately sided with the Biden administration, lower court claims were made alleging unlawful pressure on social media companies to remove content, raising concerns about potential impacts on freedom of speech.
Lack of Support for Shield Law: The administration did not actively advocate for the passage of the PRESS Act, a bipartisan bill that would have provided federal protection for journalist-source confidentiality.
Inconsistency on International Press Freedom: Critics noted that while the administration spoke out against attacks on journalists in some countries, it was perceived as less vocal in condemning actions against journalists by allied nations, according to Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Forcible Removal of Journalists: In the final week of the Biden administration, two journalists were removed from a State Department press briefing after interrupting the Secretary of State, a move criticized as further normalizing the suppression of challenging questions.
Biden, Biden, Biden! That is the past. Now is the time to pay attention to what is happening in the present, setting the stage for the future.
From a 10/14 Politico article:
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.
They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.
Together, the messages reveal a culture where racist, antisemitic and violent rhetoric circulate freely — and where the Trump-era loosening of political norms has made such talk feel less taboo among those positioning themselves as the party’s next leaders.
“The more the political atmosphere is open and liberating — like it has been with the emergence of Trump and a more right wing GOP even before him — it opens up young people and older people to telling racist jokes, making racist commentaries in private and public,” said Joe Feagin, a Texas A&M sociology professor who has studied racism for the last 60 years. He’s also concerned the words would be applied to public policy. “It’s chilling, of course, because they will act on these views.”
Just finished watching a creepy AI video about the changes coming up with Social Security. All I could think of was it was like watching Plastic Man. Also the droning “voice” almost put me to sleep and what’s with it asking people where they are watching from and their age? NOTB.
Peace plan? More like a concept of a peace plan. Also was pointed out by several outlets that this was the Biden/Blinkin plan that was being negotiated before Netanyahu and trump got together at Mar a Lago and decided not to give Biden the “win” although in that region, a win is fleeting as history has taught us over and over again. Also, this was more of a cease fire than any sort of signed by all parties involved, peace deal.
Vance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’
The vice president called the texts 'edgy, offensive jokes.
The comments came in response to POLITICO’s exclusive reporting that a trove of Telegram messages between Young Republicans — including state group leaders and at least one Trump administration staffer — was rife with racist, antisemitic and homophobic content, including jokes about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
That report was met with widespread condemnation and a cascade of firings.
Turboscribe.ai is an app that I now use to take my recorded sermon and have it transcribed to text. Since I preach in what appears to be an extemporaneous fashion, I have never been able to easily capture what I said in print. Now, upon uploading my video sermon to my website, I then take the YouTube address and place it within turboscribe.ai. Within less than four minutes I have a very accurate rendition of what I said that I can put Into Word for subtle editing. You can see this in practice at wctcoach.com.
It's coming so fast and I'm still not using it enough. That's what is alarming to me as a tech specialist. Besides throwing myself into it every day, I see lots that I would like to do, but simply cannot (time constraints are real.) When I say "lots" I mean there are right now at least 6 AI tools (that I catch an idea about off a blog, YouTube video or just the news) that I would love a day or two each to fully explore, internalise and apply to my work to leverage optimisations - which they would all do.
Then I look at comments made on social media and the random "surveys" I do with the public ("So hey, do you use AI at all?") and I'm blown away at how far people are even behind me... and I feel I'm lagging.
I loved the "time machine experience" reflected in today's stories as I was right there in 1995 buying my first pc. The debates at school (pre pc-release) were "would pc's (aka robots) take over the world and our jobs?" Even before PC's became the norm a few years later I knew that the "greatest" efficiency tool at the time was the type writer and I immediately threw myself into taking a typing course to gain the advantage.
It feels just like AI discussions now and I'm left feeling, no matter what happens with AI or any tech, you just have to grab a little of it by the horns and get applying it to your work and learn how it can help you. This is less about AI, or age, or ability and more about mindset - so don't make the mistake of getting caught up in the AI hate and make a plan.
If you don't, you will be left behind and that will only be your undoing.
Oh, and don't forget to say "thank you" and "please" to your ChatBot - I'm hoping the AI Terminator overlords will remember ;)
love the AI story & naysayers, & loving the commenters on the story!!
Big Optimum lacking comment possibility:
commenting on yesterday's 10/14 Captain Chuck Yeager - great info!
And today - anniversary of 'I Love Lucy'. Bill, your research & filling in the gaps on everything Lucille Ball did was marvelous! What a woman! I never knew to give her credit for Star Trek. I love scifi & that was a great show. I have a t-shirt w/ a pic of a humanish skull & the words "I Love Lucy".
You had a chance to comment last week when you challenged me about adoptions and I told you I have an adopted daughter. Then, you deleted your challenge comment.
Why did you suddenly get so quiet?
I want to say I am proud of the news outlets refusal to sign on to the restrictive new guidelines. But it begs the question: is this what the Trump administration wants them to do? If they refuse to sign on then the government will operate without any oversight by the press. This is Trumps' attempt to not just circumvent the constitution but to obliterate it.
Of course all of the above is true.
Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt recently wrote an article about fascism. Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism.
#6. Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.
I don't play favorites. I don't think what Trump is attempting is good. The following is during Biden's administration:
Reduced Access: The administration faced criticism for the limited number of press conferences and interviews with President Biden compared to past presidents.
Pentagon Restrictions: The Pentagon implemented new rules requiring journalists to be escorted outside limited areas and significantly reduced briefings, raising concerns about restricted access to information.
Hard Pass Restrictions: The White House Press Office tightened rules for "hard passes" (allowing regular access to the White House), leading to some journalists, particularly from conservative outlets, losing their credentials.
Prosecutions: The Biden DOJ continued the prosecution of Julian Assange under the Espionage Act and also pursued the prosecution of journalist Timothy Burke for obtaining and reporting on leaked information.
Social Media Pressure: While the Supreme Court ultimately sided with the Biden administration, lower court claims were made alleging unlawful pressure on social media companies to remove content, raising concerns about potential impacts on freedom of speech.
Lack of Support for Shield Law: The administration did not actively advocate for the passage of the PRESS Act, a bipartisan bill that would have provided federal protection for journalist-source confidentiality.
Inconsistency on International Press Freedom: Critics noted that while the administration spoke out against attacks on journalists in some countries, it was perceived as less vocal in condemning actions against journalists by allied nations, according to Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Forcible Removal of Journalists: In the final week of the Biden administration, two journalists were removed from a State Department press briefing after interrupting the Secretary of State, a move criticized as further normalizing the suppression of challenging questions.
Biden, Biden, Biden! That is the past. Now is the time to pay attention to what is happening in the present, setting the stage for the future.
From a 10/14 Politico article:
‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat
Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
Leaders of Young Republican groups throughout the country worried what would happen if their Telegram chat ever got leaked, but they kept typing anyway.
They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.
Together, the messages reveal a culture where racist, antisemitic and violent rhetoric circulate freely — and where the Trump-era loosening of political norms has made such talk feel less taboo among those positioning themselves as the party’s next leaders.
“The more the political atmosphere is open and liberating — like it has been with the emergence of Trump and a more right wing GOP even before him — it opens up young people and older people to telling racist jokes, making racist commentaries in private and public,” said Joe Feagin, a Texas A&M sociology professor who has studied racism for the last 60 years. He’s also concerned the words would be applied to public policy. “It’s chilling, of course, because they will act on these views.”
Just finished watching a creepy AI video about the changes coming up with Social Security. All I could think of was it was like watching Plastic Man. Also the droning “voice” almost put me to sleep and what’s with it asking people where they are watching from and their age? NOTB.
Peace plan? More like a concept of a peace plan. Also was pointed out by several outlets that this was the Biden/Blinkin plan that was being negotiated before Netanyahu and trump got together at Mar a Lago and decided not to give Biden the “win” although in that region, a win is fleeting as history has taught us over and over again. Also, this was more of a cease fire than any sort of signed by all parties involved, peace deal.
Trump always takes credit for the work of others. All he wants is a Nobel prize and a resort in Gaza.
Vance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’
The vice president called the texts 'edgy, offensive jokes.
The comments came in response to POLITICO’s exclusive reporting that a trove of Telegram messages between Young Republicans — including state group leaders and at least one Trump administration staffer — was rife with racist, antisemitic and homophobic content, including jokes about gas chambers, slavery and rape.
That report was met with widespread condemnation and a cascade of firings.