Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Microsoft Bing image AI solves the refugee age problem

There was a story from here in Canada a while back 29 year old Sudanese caught posing as a 17 year old and attending high school in Canada. I went to high school in Canada and in general varsity basketball, football and hockey players are quite popular among the high school girls, just saying.

It's a known issue. Refugees often have missing or unreliable identity documentation. Also by claiming to be the magic number of 17, they are considered children, or unaccompanied minor. As children they have special and additional services and protections in their host countries in North America and western Europe. As in the case of Jonathan Nicola, often these claims of being 17 are shall we say wildly inaccurate.

Fish have otoliths. Trees have rings. But it was thought there was no reliable way to determine someone's age. Until now, Microsoft Bing AI to the rescue to solve this "stated age" problem.

Check out the Bing site https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/cognitive-services/face/, scroll down to the Face detection section. Here is the image with some highlighted key areas


Amazingly, Bing is able to determine the age, 23.4 in this case, down to the tenth of the year. So this solves the refugee age problem. Load the AI machine learning with a decent data set of known age by ethnic group and country of origin. Run the refugee child claimant through Bing AI. If Bing comes in substantially different, over say, 19, that would be considered reasonable evidence that the claimant is not providing an accurate age. Host country officials vetting the application take appropriate action.

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

The one man running for Premier of Ontario

So the Ontario PC party has a new leader. Doug Ford won. I don't pay much attention to Ontario politics but this story has been blanket coverage, and the Ford name is recognizable and entertaining. I hope Ford wins a majority and becomes Premier of Ontario.

So Doug Ford won the PC leadership vote over 3 women. There were no other men on the ballot. Did anyone beside me notice that? I wonder if some of Ford's votes were just because they voted for the man. If so then how many? We don't know and it seems some effort was made not to enquire.

So onto the general election. and hmmm what do we have? PC party led by Ford, once again the lone man. His opponents are another all-female cast of Liberal and NDP led by women. So for those who want to vote for the man, Doug Ford is again the choice.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Canada and India

I wish Justin Trudeau had said this when he was in India and asked about separatists there.

  • India is indivisible
  • The territorial integrity of India cannot be challenged
  • India's territory is backed by nukes
  • Kashmir is India's land

Wednesday, March 07, 2018

Justin Trudeau, Liberals, Jaspal Atwal

So the trip to India did not go so well. The lowlight seems to be the invitation of one Jaspal Atwal to an official state dinner. Mr. Atwal was convicted in 1986 of attempted murder of an India cabinet minister visiting British Columbia Canada. Also charged but not convicted of an 1985 attack on Ujjal Dosanjh, more political violence. In Atwal's story there is also a 2010 automobile fraud conviction.

While it seems poor judgment to be hosting Atwal over in India, was it really?  Here in Canada, from the NP story "Atwal had a position on a federal Liberal riding association executive in Surrey" as recently as 2012. So the Liberals are comfortable in Canada with Atwal, his views, his background in political violence, and general criminality.

The thing about the crime is, ordinary crime one can recover and rehabilitate from, and then the reformed individual, former criminal, can become political. However political violence is a crime against democracy, it's a different thing. I can't see how any respectable mainstream political party could associate itself with an individual twice accused, once convicted, of extreme political violence.

So if the Liberals are fine with Atwal in Canada - I guess as long as he can deliver votes and seats from certain target communities. Then it is consistent for the Liberals to be fine with Atwal in India. You can hardly renounce and non grata Atwal over in India, then come back in Canada and somehow flip and be friendly and comfortable with the individual.

To be clear it was correct for the Trudeau and the Liberals to distance themselves from Atwal overseas. Proper and long, long overdue. It was also correct to stay clear and disassociate from Atwal long ago in Canada as well.

Tuesday, March 06, 2018

Dalhousie University affirmative action

So there's a recent job posting at Dalhousie. The details are apparently "'racially visible' or Indigenous candidates" only.

The leading figures on the Dal side of this job post from the NP article are apparently Carolyn Watters and Jasmine Walsh. Feel free to click the image search links on those names.

hmmm. I read this originally in the comments on a YouTube video. But I will repost and apply it here as a comment.

If Carolyn Watters and Jasmine Walsh are so motivated to bring in minorities to Dalhousie, if the composition of Dal staff is perhaps too white for Carolyn and Jasmine. Then perhaps they should resign their own positions at Dalhousie as a gesture to make room for more minority hiring there as their own replacements.