Dialog for Communication

http://www.mattrees.net/2015/07/06/6-tips-for-writing-dialogue-that-you-havent-heard-before/

Stupid has been practicing dialog for a very long time, many decades.

Doing that has come to a practical application, making film of Stupid and Alex’s ongoing conversation that can be watched by certain people. Their notes can make subsequent versions of the film better for a wider audience.

P.S. Recovery from Birth: episode X

© 2015 Buzz Hill

Dialog Trial: Buzz with ALEX

--adding the circuity for SpeakAgain prototype:

Buzz: I would like to record Alex while maintaining the audio status quo in the Hibbard Control Room.

Alex: You bought a 3.5 mm plug to mono phone plug cable that lets you do this.

Buzz: Yes, but it requires a plug change at the iMac audio-out which is on the back of the computer. Not convenient.

Alex: Using an extender, at least, makes it easier. You don't need to look at the back to swap plugs.

--Editor edits Stupid (Buzz) and computer (voiced by Alex) into a filmed dialog clip. Here is the result, bad performance by Stupid and all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsVCaofxz8I

© 2015 Buzz Hill

Not a Unicorn

photo by Hyun Hill

A beautiful afternoon for a walk in the woods. One of our favorites is just a few miles from Hibbard Studio on the Lief Ericsson trail in Forest Park right off Germantown Road.

After a mile, Hyun wanted to walk faster and so she and the dog went ahead. They saw a Scimitar Oryx and a man. Hyun took a picture with her iPhone. Luna, of course, supervised.

Do I remember seeing the animal at the Taronga zoo in Sydney Australia 15 years ago? Hyun did not recall seeing the Oryx back then. It occurred to me after I looked up the Wikipedia entry with a picture taken at Taronga zoo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scimitar_oryx

PS: Turns out it was on OPB and other news outlets.

http://www.opb.org/news/article/oryx-roams-forest-park/

© 2015 Buzz Hill

Alex as Buzz's Interpreter

Mac’s OS X Automator services creates an Alex spoken file that can be imported to Final Cut Pro as an element of a production for sharing.

As such, using the computer can help with my stroke recovery and showing the techniques I have developed to help others by authoring continuing episodes on YouTube.

© 2015 Buzz Hill

New Tool Practice

Luna wakes up in the middle of the night and licks the carpet incessantly. What was she doing? It only happens occasionally but as a result , Hyun, said dog and yours truly spent a lot of time -NOT- sleeping.

Papa-Bear and Luna could sleep in. However my beautiful wife had to work at 8 o'clock.

What is the meaning of this, Luna?

[the above post is a test of Dictation and Speech in OS X working with Text Edit under Buzz Hill's command]

PS: Maybe you don't want to know but here is the explanation courtesy of sister, Shari. Buzz walks around the house barefoot. Luna likes to lick his feet. You know the rest.

© 2015 Buzz Hill

Design Log Continues...

She's the Boss

The voice you are hearing is Apple’s Alex. What Buzz is writing is what I will speak. Alex will point out errors as Buzz enters sentences in to TextEdit. This combination will act as a proofreading tool.

Rather than using a third party app, Dragon, I will try to use the Dictation tool that is part of OS X.

Apple suggests using AppleScript to configure and operate Buzz's new package of software and OS X calls.

"This tax is buses dictation into text edit." It should be, "This text is Buzz's dictation into TextEdit".

Buzz can now exercise speaking, hearing, writing, and speaking with the aid of apps running on the iMac. And not rely exclusively on the dog for that purpose.

© 2015 Buzz Hill

Missing No Longer

Another component of the aforementioned app has been tested, text to speech.

Apple’s Alex will speak whatever the patient says - the speech will be dictated into text first.

Since Buzz Hill has had an aphasic stroke, converting from voice to text and back could be a subjective measure of his speech accuracy.

© 2015 Buzz Hill

Dictation with Dragon

Idea: Voice into Dragon iPhone app.
Use it to practice reading out-loud, text.
Use TextEdit on the iMac to compose the text to be. read out-loud.
Den, doctor-patient-and-brother to give notes on our production.
First topic. this configuration for helping me to give direction in both writing and reading. With a view toward being able to do direction in real-time.

The little exercise above has an important piece missing, text to synthesized speech. Hopefully with my voice as a prototype. It can be useful even is it does not close the loop.

Idea for an app - closing the circle and measuring the performance.

NOTE: Some of the foregoing in this BuzzTheHill post is not fictional. Consider its appearance here as a public disclosure and as such, to the degree something novel and not obvious to those skilled in the art has been discussed herein, the specific intent was/is to put it in the PUBLIC DOMAIN.

© 2015 Buzz Hill

Mote

Crossing the mote, originality is one of the key components.

People who get it have baggage like said mote.

The 'damsel in distress' is worth the cunning, bravado, courage etc. to rescue her.

Who can change a seeming intractable problem? They can, along with a certain inspiration.

That is a ticket to ride, so-to-speak.

© 2015 Buzz Hill