An tarcaisne a chur i gceann na héagóra!

Adding insult to injury!

by | 2023/01/25 | Current Affairs, Language Affairs, International News, Opinion

Adding insult to injury!

I have an incredible story for you today, a story that awakens memories of our own history in Ireland, in relation to our language.

In September 2022, bad storms blew across northwest Alaska. They were caused by typhoon Merbok, and they caused a lot of damage in places where Native American people live. The United States government (Federal Emergency Management Agency – it's called FEMA) provided money to repair the damage. Many Indigenous people had to apply to get money. Because they have their own languages, FEMA had to provide them with instructions in Yup'ik and Inupiaq.

FEMA awarded the translation contract to a small company in California, called "Accent on Languages." It was an utter disaster!

Strange Phrases!

When candidates started working on their applications, they expected instructions to help them fill out the paperwork. But instead, all they had to read were gibberish and strange phrases. For example, here is one sentence: "Tomorrow, we will go hunting, and we will not take anything with us." Here's another: "Your husband is a polar bear, skinny!"

Another document was in the wrong language. Instead of being in the Iñupiaq language, it was written in Inuktitut, a language that uses its own alphabet. Inuktitut is spoken 5,000 kilometers away from the area in question, in Labrador and Quebec in Canada.

In one press release, the 'State News Desk' was translated as "When she said that, the dog ran further away from the curtain".

An abrupt response

Tara Sweeney, an Iñupiaq who previously worked for the US Department of Home Affairs, told the AP that there was "symbolism" in the errors that went back to when Alaska Native languages were being erased in residential schools. in the 1900s.

“Like thousands of others in Alaska, my mother was beaten because she spoke her own language at school. When you see the federal government now, distributing documents in our languages, , I can't describe the feeling that that symbolism inspires in me" said Sweeney, talking to 'Associated Press' (AP) .

Jaclyn Rothenberg, a spokeswoman for FEMA, told the AP that the company "Accent on Languages" was fired and FEMA redid the translation. The aid was not postponed as a result of the error, Rothenberg told the AP.

Caroline Lee, CEO of "Accent on Languages", said that in their 30 years of translating, they had never experienced such a catastrophic failure. She fired the translators who were responsible for the mistranslations. Following this disaster, new measures were put in place to ensure that this would not happen again. FEMA will also be reimbursed in full, she said.

Conclusion

This story informs us about the problems faced by minority languages around the world. Wherever various empires have oppressed the native peoples, they have almost wiped out their languages. They added insult to injury in making a terrible mess in their efforts to use the same languages they destroyed in the first place. I have to say that I fully and completely agree with what Tara Sweeney has to say on the subject. After understanding this story, it dawned on me that FEMA did not ask the tribes in question to make the transfers. Don't they know their own languages best? The United States government should have a policy in place to offer a contract like that to those who speak the minority languages.

Bad things happen in Ireland too, unfortunately, when it comes to our own language!

I remember one terrible example where Cork County Council - a county where the Múscráí Gaeltacht is located - used 'Google Translate' to provide original content on the County Council's website in Irish.

Or you may remember the major problems faced by the Central Statistics Office a few years ago, as their system for providing information about the most common names given to children did not include names with fadas on them. The CSO's explanation for their system being faulty was technological difficulties.

It was no surprise then, that both the HSE and "Bank of Ireland" said that technological issues were the cause of all the fadas being missing in their own systems.

The bottom line is that we all have to constantly put pressure on our governments, whether in Ireland or Alaska, to protect our native languages!

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Intleacht Shaorga Ghiniúnach!

Generative Artificial Intelligence

by | 2023/01/18 | Current Affairs, Science and Technology, International News, Opinion

Generative Artificial Intelligence

According to experts on the subject, artificial intelligence (AI) will reach a point, soon enough, where the machines will be more powerful than their creators. Undoubtedly, the power of AI is increasing faster and faster and the technology is just starting out! Like it or not, AI will play a central role in our lives before long.

When we think of IS, it seems that we think of robots and machines. Although we are correct, it is essentially software. When you run AI software on the distributed computing system called the Cloud, that forms a very powerful platform. AI software uses algorithms to process data located on the internet, to make decisions without any human intervention. The AI branch called Generative AI generates images, text - including poetry, music and artwork.

As a new field of AI, Generative AI is developing rapidly. There are now products online that allow users to try Generative AI for themselves, for free. One organization is responsible for that – OpenAI.

OpenAI

OpenAI was started in San Francisco in 2015 as a non-profit organization. In 2019, however, OpenAI partnered with Microsoft. Microsoft invested $1 billion in it at that time, and they are thinking of investing 10 billion soon. Microsoft intends to integrate Generative AI with their search engine, Bing (similar to Google).

In 2020, OpenAI announced GPT-3, a language model trained on trillions of words from the internet. In 2021, OpenAI released DALL-E, a deep learning neural network that can generate digital images from textual descriptions.

Around December 2022, OpenAI received widespread media coverage after they launched a free preview of ChatGPT, their new chat bot. According to OpenAI, over a million people logged in in the first week.

DALL-E and ChatGPT

You can create images with DALL-E and create text with ChatGPT.

I asked DALL-E to create a picture of 'a clock in the desert in the style of the artist Salvador Dali', and DALL-E drew some amazing computer generated images that were all very interesting. I recommend you try DALL-E. There is an app available for your smartphone, and you will have a lot of fun playing with it.

When I asked the question "do many people speak Irish?" on ChatGPT, part of its response was as follows (with a few corrections):

"Many people speak Irish in this country, where the language was a living language before. Irish is the official language in this country and it is also being used as a language of education in some schools and as a spoken language in some areas of the country, including the Gaeltacht areas."

I suggest you try ChatGPT as well. Go to the site https://chat.openai.com/chat and you will be able to use it for free!

Advantages and Disadvantages

We need to discuss the pros and cons of Generative AI. Undoubtedly, it is a controversial topic. On the one hand, this technology puts powerful new tools in our hands, to help us in new ways that were not available before. Writers, artists, musicians and the like will be able to quickly create comprehensive frameworks using Generative AI, and will be able to spend more time in creative thinking!

On the other hand, there are great challenges to be solved because of important issues. It will be difficult for the law to keep up with the rapid pace of technology. Because Generative AI relies on the data available on the internet – data of all kinds both good and bad, the system is fundamentally biased as a result. Basically, this system is unable to distinguish between high quality and poor quality data. There are also issues of copyright, intellectual property and plagiarism of other people's work. Perhaps even worse, cybercriminals will be able to use technology to commit more sophisticated cybercrime online.

Conclusion

Whether we like it or not, there is no stopping the development of this revolutionary technology. We need to reduce any negative impact as much as possible. We will have to implement new rules and regulations to do that, both nationally and internationally.

In my opinion, when Generative AI is used correctly, new miraculous abilities are placed in our hands, abilities that will improve year after year.

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Tuartha 2023!

Predictions for 2023!

by | 2023/01/11 | Personal, Opinion

Predictions for 2023!

 Ag deireadh na bliana, bíonn go leor daoine agus eagraíochtaí ag déanamh tuartha agus tairngreachtaí don bhliain nua. Táthar ann a chreideann cuid acu, ach ní áirím mé féin ina measc siúd. Ina ainneoin sin, tá na tuartha céanna an-suimiúil agus is ábhar machnaimh iad den chuid is mó. Ar a laghad, feiceann tú cruinneshamhail duine eile, agus uaireanta bainfidh sé sin geit asat, toisc go bhfuil sé go hiomlán éagsúil le do chruinneshamhail féin. Seo dhá shraith de thuartha, ceann amháin foilsithe san almanag dar teideal ‘Old Moore’s Almanac’ (foilsíodh é den chéad uair in 1764), agus an ceann eile fógartha ag iar-Uachtarán na Rúise, Dmitry Medvedev.

 

 

Predictions from Old Moore's Almanac

 

 

Here are some of the predictions in the Almanac for the year 2023.

 

 

• There will be a "big reset" of the financial system in 2023. It's hard for me to go from the general thing to the specific things that could happen as a result.
• An "Atlantic event" will affect the west coast of Ireland next year. It is a big event, according to this prediction. It is not mentioned what kind of incident it is.
• The increases in house prices here will be slower, but still increasing. I don't agree with that, because I think we're going to see a significant drop in house prices.
• Limerick will win in Hurling, and Kerry in Football. What about Kilkenny? What kind of prediction is this?
• There will be a "serious health warning" for Donald Trump. He is not in good health, and there is a good chance that something will happen to him in the coming year, I think.
• The internet will suffer a global outage. I do not agree with that, because it is a distributed system and it would be very difficult to imagine how the whole system can be broken - pieces of it, maybe.
• Britain's Prince Harry and Meghan Markle will have "marriage and money problems". I don't care about them!
• We will have a new Pope. There is a decent chance of that, because he's not in good health and he's also getting old!

 

 

Predictions from Dmitry Medvedev

 

 

"On New Year's Eve, everyone is making predictions," Medvedev tweeted. "Many come up with wild predictions, as if they were competing with the craziest and even the most absurd ones," Medvedev said adding to such predictions.

 

 

• Part of Ukraine will be held by Poland and Hungary. The "Fourth Reich" will be created, which will include the territory of Germany and its satellites - Poland, the Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and a few other places as well. Then, there will be war between France and the "Fourth Reich" and, in the process, Europe will be divided. This prediction makes no sense or reason. Poland and Hungary are part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (ECAT), which is allied with Ukraine. Germany has no ambition to establish an empire either, due to its shameful history.
• Northern Ireland will separate from the United Kingdom and join the Republic of Ireland. As we all know, this is an absurd prediction, as Irish reunification is a complex process, and a majority in the North needs to be in favor of reunification before anything else. The majority isn't there right now, and that won't change for the foreseeable future.
• Civil war breaks out in the United States, and California and Texas become independent states as a result. Texas and Mexico will be allied states. Although there are political problems in the United States, there is no sign that civil war will break out anytime soon. Texas and Mexico don't like each other, and it's hard to imagine them ever being allies!
• Elon Musk will win the presidential election in the states that, after the end of the civil war, side with the Republican Party. This is the most absurd prediction! No doubt Musk thought Medvedev's predictions (and especially this one) were hilarious, as he responded with his own tweet, saying: "Epic Tweet!"

 

 

Conclusion

 

 

The difference between those two sets of predictions is night and day, and while 'Old Moore's Almanac' predictions are kind of believable, Dmitry Medvedev's predictions are laughable. The difference? In my opinion, Medvedev does not know the trade secret. Here's the secret: 'Use vague expressions in your predictions, and then no matter what happens, there's a good chance that your prophecy will come true!

 

 

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Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh – Cuid a Dó!

Happy New Year to You - Part 2!

by | 2023/01/04 | Personal, Opinion

Happy New Year to You - Part 2!

Last week, I was looking back at some of the highlights of 2022. It is now time for us to say goodbye to 2022. Alfred Tennyson said goodbye to the old year like this:

“Ring out wild bells to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty lights;

The year is dying in the night,

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

It is time for us too to welcome the new year. In the same poem, Tennyson welcomed the new year like this:

Ring out the old, ring in the new,

Ring, happy bells, across the snow:

The year is going, let him go;

Ring out the false, ring in the true…”

It is a great poem, written by Tennyson in 1850. In almost every verse, we bid farewell to the bad things that happened in the old year and we welcome the opportunities we will have in the new year to do positive things instead. In this way, the new year is seen as an opportunity for us to make improvements in our lives and in society itself. Isn't that a great idea!

New Year's Resolutions

Around this time I tend to make new year's resolutions, trying to improve myself and do things that have been on the long finger. Years ago, I used to break my resolutions before long. But, gradually, I learned how to formulate realistic resolutions, and then how to implement them. If you are interested in learning more about that approach, I recommend you read this book: 'Tiny Habits: The Small Changes that Change Everything', written by behavioral scientist BJ Fogg.

In that book, the author advises us to make only small changes at first, but to make them regularly. For example, if I'm trying to get fitter, I might start with a short walk (one kilometer) every day. After a while when I was happy with that, I would go for longer walks every day. I would continue like that, until I was satisfied with the amount of exercise I was doing. If you set out to achieve a big goal at first, it's all too easy to lose heart and give up on the goal.

My New Year's Resolutions

Here are my resolutions regarding the Irish language, because I intend to improve my Irish. The following activities will be carried out through the medium of Irish.

• Listening. I will listen every day – at least half an hour. I have apps on my phone, and I have both live television and radio and podcasts available in Irish.
• Reading. I will read every day – at least half an hour. I already have both e-books and regular books. For example, I recently received the book 'Madame Lazare' from the site siopaleabhar.com, and I intend to read it this year. I also love Tuairisc.ie, and I read at least one or two articles every day.
• Speaking. This is a difficult one, because people (or at least one person) need to be available, who speak Irish. Pop-up Gaeltachts both live and virtual (Zoom) are available and many people like them. Unfortunately, they don't suit me well, and because I'm not comfortable in them so I'm reluctant to say anything. Although my wife and I are reluctant to speak Irish, we will reserve half an hour every week, to speak Irish together.
• Writing. I will continue to write these pieces, for the Kilkenny People, as long as the learned Editor of this great newspaper is willing to give me space, and add to that, that I am now determined to speak out more boldly and forcefully than as I did, up till now. A government reshuffle is in place with Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach and the new Minister of State for the Gaeltacht Patrick O'Sullivan in office. Therefore, I have decided to keep a close eye on language matters, and on political matters, together, in the coming year.
• New website. I will be launching my website in Irish and making this article available online for my readers!

Parting Shot

All I have to do now is to wish you all a very happy New Year, and many happy returns.

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Athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh!

Happy New Year to You!

by | 2022/12/28 | Personal, Opinion

Happy New Year to You!

Isn't it hard to believe that the year of our Lord 2022 is on the way out, but it is! It is a time of reflection and remembrance as we look back on the year that is passing, and at the same time look forward to the new year that is now stretching ahead of us. It's a sort of threshold and we're in between. It is also a time of commemoration and celebration, as we say goodbye to the past year and welcome the new year.

2022 was an eventful year, in which many important things happened around the world. I don't have the room to write a lot in the space I have, so I'll mention a few things that really impressed me, and especially ones that I haven't written much about during the year. Although many things that happened in 2022 were on the negative side, there were also many positive things that happened. I decided to focus my attention today exclusively on art and sports, because aren't those mostly positive things? This is not the time to be negative - so, no mention of politics, wars, inflation, global warming and more! Without further ado, here are a few highlights in the arts and sports that really impressed me in 2022.

Great Films

A number of films came out with directors and actors from Ireland - including 'An Cailín Ciúin' (in Irish) and 'The Banshees of Inisherin' (in English). I wrote reviews about them during the year in this column. I love 'The Quiet Girl', based on the wonderful book 'Foster' by Claire Keegan.   

Books

A number of great books by Irish authors were published in 2022, both in Irish and English. I can't mention them all here, but I've started reading a few of them and they've been great so far. I will no doubt enjoy them. Which books? English books: 'We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland', by Fintan O'Toole and 'Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story', by Bono. Irish books: 'Madame Lazarre', by Tadhg Mac Dhonnagáin. I will write reviews about these books after I finish them myself.

Sports

It was a great year from a sporting point of view. Finally, the impact of the pandemic was greatly reduced, so that we were able to attend sporting events again. In this column, I don't have space to mention all the highlights, and I have chosen a piece of national news and a piece of international news that had a big impact on me.

National Sports - Hurling

Brian Cody resigned as Kilkenny hurling manager. He dedicated 24 years to the task and his teams won 11 All-Ireland championships. Unfortunately, Limerick defeated Kilkenny in the 2022 final, Brian's last final. The Cats did their best in that game, and although they fought with passion and heart, Limerick was better on the day! 

In ainneoin sin, níl aon dabht faoi ach gurb é Brian Cody an bainisteoir is rathúla agus is fearr i stair na hiomána.  Caithfimid a oidhreacht a cheiliúradh agus is rud dearfach é sin.  Go maire tú an céad, a Bhrian Cody!

International Sports - Soccer/Football

The 2022 Soccer World Cup in Qatar initially attracted a lot of controversy from a human rights perspective, but as soon as the games started, people forgot about those matters, and focused entirely on soccer. No wonder - It was a great Cup - maybe the best ever. Although we were surprised by many results, the crowning highlight was the final, with Argentina against France. The game was almost over with Argentina leading 2 to 0, when Argentina conceded a penalty kick with almost 20 minutes left on the clock. Kylian Mbappé flicked the ball into the back of the net, and then the game really started! There was a sharp conflict in the game from then on, with Messi from Argentina against Mbappé from France, from a scoring point of view. The game went to penalty kicks, and Messi and Mbappé scored first for their teams. But then Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez made a brilliant save, and France could not catch up with Argentina again. Argentina and its national hero, Lionel Messi, won.

Happy New Year to all our readers!!

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Meabhrúchán Scanrúil!

Meabhrúchán Scanrúil!

by | 2022/04/13 | Current Affairs, National News, Opinion

Tugann cúrsaí an domhain orainn cúis dúinn athsmaoineamh a dhéanamh maidir le méim atá san fhaisean le déanaí mar gheall ar chineálacha rialtais, a mhaíonn go bhfuil Údarásaíochas níos fearr ná Daonlathas agus go bhfuil sé ag fáil an lámh in uachtar faoi láthair mar chóras rialtais ar fud an domhain.  Is é bunéirim na hargóinte ar son an údarásaíochais ná go bhfuil deachtóirí in ann rudaí a dhéanamh níos tapúla agus níos éifeachtaí ná aon saghas ceannairí eile. Tá sé níos moille dóibh siúd comhaontú a chothú roimh a gcinntí a chur i bhfeidhm, i gcodarsnacht le deachtóirí, nach bhfuil orthu cead a fháil chun a gcinntí féin a chur i bhfeidhm. Ar an gcéad amharc, tá cuma áititheach ar an argóint sin go háirithe mar, beagnach i gcónaí, tá maorlathas spadánta ag baint le rialtas daonlathais i gcomparáid le rialtas údarásach. Ach tá sé ró-éasca dóigh a dhéanamh dár mbarúil!  

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Lúb ar lár

Deirtear gurb é an Daonlathas an saghas rialtais is measa, seachas gach saghas eile ar baineadh triail as riamh. Focail eagnaí iad sin.  Dhá thrian moille le deifir, mar a déarfá. Tá deachtóir in ann cinneadh a dhéanamh go han-tapa, ach is í an fhadhb leis sin ná bíonn an deachtóir ag feidhmiú mar Dhia, ach is mór an difear idir deachtóir agus Dia! I gcás an daonlathais, bíonn go leor daoine ag comhoibriú le chéile chun cinneadh a dhéanamh, agus níl an chumhacht i lámha duine amháin. I ndeireadh na dála, mar sin, déanann daonlathas cinntí níos fearr ná deachtóir.  Cruinníonn deachtóirí lútálaithe thart orthu, agus mar sin, go minic níl na fíricí bainteach ar fáil dóibh.

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Decision Time!

Sin é an teoiric, ar aon nós, agus tá súil agam gur fíor é! Déanta na fírinne, ní bhreathnaíonn an teoiric róláidir le déanaí, agus tír i ndiaidh tíre ag sleamhnú i dtreo údarásaíochais, fiú amháin na Stáit Aontaithe, an India agus cúpla tír san Aontas Eorpach (AE).  An bhfuil ré órga an daonlathais ag dul in éag?   

Tá súil agam nach bhfuil, mar is aoibhinn liom an tsaoirse atá againn i dtíortha daonlathacha, agus is fuath liom drochiompar na deachtóirí ó thaobh cearta daonna. Ach chun a bheith réalaíoch faoin ábhar, caithfidh mé a rá gur mór na bagairtí in aghaidh ár gcóras rialtais ón taobh amuigh agus ón taobh istigh.  Tá fadhbanna móra laistigh fiú amháin sna Stáit Aontaithe – eiseamláir féincheaptha mar gheall ar an daonlathas.  Baineadh preab asainn go léir nuair a chonaiceamar éirí amach ar siúl sa Chaipeatól ar an séú lá January 2021.

Ach anois tá bagairt ann atá i bhfad níos práinní ón taobh amuigh, agus sin an bhagairt ó Vladimir Putin sa Rúis. Tá an Úcráin faoi ionsaí uafásach ón Rúis, atá ag iarraidh an tír neamhspleách dhaonlathach sin a chur faoi chois. I mo thuairim, tá uair na cinniúna sroichte againn agus is é seo cogadh, ní hamháin idir an Rúis agus an Úcráin, ach idir an Údarasaíochas agus an Daonlathas.

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Bealach chun cinn

Tá sé ríthábhachtach nach mbuafaidh an Rúis an cogadh uafásach seo a thosaigh siad san Úcráin. Nocht muintir na hÚcráine ainghníomhartha barbartha a rinne arm na Rúise i mBucha agus áiteanna eile san Úcráin, agus caithfidh an pobal idirnáisiúnta seasamh go láidir in aghaidh an mhí-iompair inghlactha seo. Rinne Putin an cinneadh uafásach go ndéanfaí ionramh ar an Úcráin. Is í sin díreach an fhadhb nuair a luíonn cumhacht mar sin le duine amháin – níl aon duine in ann iad a stopadh! Agus ní fheadair aon duine, go háirithe má tá an bua ag Putin san Úcráin, cad é an chéad chéim eile atá ar intinn aige.

Ar an dea-uair, tá go leor tíortha ag seasamh le chéile in aghaidh na Rúise, agus chuir siad smachtbhannaí géara ar an Rúis. Ar an drochuair, tá tíortha ann nach bhfuil ag seasamh in aghaidh na Rúise – an tSín, an India, an Tuirc, Aontas na nÉimíríochtaí Arabacha, Iosrael, Meicsiceo, agus an tSeirbia san áireamh. Is náire shaolta é agus ní féidir aon leithscéal a dhéanamh dó sin.

Cé gur tír neodrach í Éire, tá sí ag tabhairt cúnamh don Úcráin agus a dteifigh. De bharr cad atá ar siúl le déanaí, tá an Taoiseach ag rá go gcaithfimid athsmaoineamh a dhéanamh maidir leis ár neodracht. Ceapaim go bhfuil an ceart aige agus go bhfuil sé in am an díospóireacht sin a bheith againn. Tá tuiscint intuigthe againn mar thír neodrach nach ndéanfaí ionsaí orainn, nó dá dtarlódh a leithéid go dtiocfadh tíortha eile chun ár dtír a chosaint. Ar a laghad, tá sé in am dúinn Óglaigh na hÉireann a nuachóiriú agus a láidriú, ionas go mbeimid in ann muid féin a chosaint níos fearr!

  

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