The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

COVID 3.0??? NOOOOOO! About Apple’s Intelligence: they will have their own proprietary LLM function which will no doubt be connected to Siri. Two things about this: -How can you get Siri to automate tasks for you? Hello Automator and Shortcuts? -Will this be the death knell to the language teaching industry? (No.) BUT, think of this: ChatGPT + Blockchain + NFT = have I just lost my job?! -secured...

Tim Cook and Marques Brownlee - less time on your phone in the future? Newsletter out! All about automation. https://stevensirski.substack.com/p/an-update-on-automation Wondering, can I build a language learning bot? -Text, voice, video - all tailor made? Did you know the USD is no longer used as the settlement currency for oil? Euro 2024 has started. And the gf busted her phone, so we had to get...

Eesh half day! A bit of a technical incident. Old phone back, battery seems to be short lived and all the data is gone. Why do I even need this thing? Automation… not working. Will have to find another way to get this done. Website updated but Notion doesn’t allow embedding so can only link out. Maybe time to hire a website guy. Cooler, but still humid. Workout in, 6.79km in 1hr 2m 1s, plus all th...

I forgot what high humidity feels like! Thunder rumbles… but nothing! Automation working, got LinkedIn connected! Out for coffee, new language vlog! Xiaomi phone fixed but data is gone! Still not in my possession. Where’s Episode 45?! Hey you can donate to the show! PayPal link below! Pay Steven Sirski using PayPal. Me *** Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com And on Notion: https://stevensir...

Heat is up, run is on! Work is half! YouTube polyglots, truth or lies!?! "Exposing fake polyglots: Warning signs and red flags" on languagejones https://youtu.be/JoUXT2uuS38?si=wiI5w0HWwU0YgyiL Did you know you can change the size of the YouTube captions?? Loom and Gling AI video editors, something else to try, possibly even cheaper than other alternatives. Thinking, could I create a Not...

Half days seem like a nice amount of work to do. Will have time to work on Episode 45! Substack article BLOCKED on Facebook page, violation of what? Doldrums… do you know the word comes from? Lunchtime lifts in! What a thunderstorm! Official holidays are over, but summer vacation coming up! New tracks up on STVSKRSKI! Hey you can donate to the show! PayPal link below! Pay Steven Sirski using PayPa...

Happy Dragon Boat! Or is it Have a safe Dragon Boat Festival? Substack out! All about the festival. Looking at computers: new computer or just hire people? But how do you study and learn? Getting hot, but still got the lunch time run done, 7 km in 40.45, seems fast. Plus rope work and other add ons. Got some gear at Decathalon, but can I use it? And… good news? Old Xiaomi phone can be fixed! Free!...

Hope I don’t get sick! New burger from Blue Frog but I selected “rare” beef burger… it was very rare. PROBABLY should have cooked it a little more. Oof! Traditional Chinese class done! zhi and variations of cai: 支 - zhī - support, branch 枝 - zhī - branch, twig 补班 补课 - bǔ bān bǔ kè - make up work or class 菜 - cài - vegetables 採 采 - cǎi - pick, gather 彩 - cǎi - colourful 踩 - cǎi - step, s...

It’s Dragon Boat this weekend, does that mean we actually get some time off? Chinese class, how was it? Took me an hour to write! Language vlog a ticking up, new vid should be up tomorrow. Episode 45 in the works, need to book another episode soon, too! Looking for some help on this now. Hey you can donate to the show! PayPal link below! Pay Steven Sirski using PayPal. Me *** Show notes n tracks u...

Alright, break time, looks like things will start slowing down over the next few weeks! Had a tinge of anxiety like I should be doing more, the problem was that it’s not easy to settle down in the evening when it’s dark because I’m still staring at everything around me. Day time natural light and it’s a lot easier. Had to re-cut my long form vid for the language vlog should have that up this weeke...

Russian class done! Cantonese class done! Booked too much for myself, son! Getting hot in here, hun! And where’s episode 45, manh? Traditional characters, automations, and boy that ChatGPT API would be nice… looks fancy, or is there something else I could use? Hey you can donate to the show! PayPal link below! Pay Steven Sirski using PayPal. Me *** Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com And on...

We’re into June! How are plans coming along to go to Canada? I wish I knew! Traditional Chinese yet again, do I even need this class? Or do I just need to start writing out Traditional characters? Will complete this week of language learning and then take a break to plan some other things. Do Oh, it’s THAT time of year again! Don’t talk about it! Lunch time run and work out! Getting hot out there!...

There, we done with May! Language vlog, tried to get a long vid up but it just took too long. Need to rethink my scheduling. Cantonese class done, re-learning sound associations! Lunch time run: 7.02km in 1 hr and 29s. Ran much quicker overall, complete with pull ups, push ups, squats and lunges, etc. the days you don’t want to work out can be some of the strongest. Oh, and Trump got indicted on s...

End of the month already? Did I drop the ball on MYMYM? How could I make up for this? Getting hot in here! Turn on all your fans! Looking ahead five years, what could reasonably happen? xAI looking for people to help build their ai tools, who do you trust more? Google, Facebook, or Elon? Russian class - how far do I go with this? And some good news in that one of my other teachers is getting marri...

P trap fixed! I think. Notion database created! What should I talk about on this week’s language vlog? How was Cantonese class? Sounds are sinking in… but I’m not practicing very much. Do I need to relearn how to learn a language? What skills should young people be working on? AUTOMATION! Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com Newsletter over at stevensirski.substack.com Language vlog on YouTu...

Money in, money out! Let’s all scream and shout! Long vid doing well and the comments continue from around the world! What will this week’s vid be? Should I do more “this is my life in China”? But I really don’t want to go too much down that road. How is automation going? Didn’t get a chance to work on creating that Notion database, but I think it’s a good idea. Worked on another long video, a col...

Last week of the month! Long vid on YouTube doing well, lots of talk about the social credit score system here in China… is it all Western propaganda? New taps all around! Chinese class done Looking at MORE automation.. auto-splicing of content? What about a Notion database? Lunch run done 6.44km in 39.08! US and European markets closed, but Canada is OPEN! Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.c...

Rethinking those morning classes! Knackered this morning! A walk arounds the neighbourhood, another long vid posted to the language vlog. Lunch time run done, slow going, but got it in. 6.45km in 1.03.09, plus all the pull ups, push ups, squats, lunges, and jumps, and duck walks but at half pace. FYI, TikTok works if you switch your SIM card to the second slot but keep it as your primary number. J...

Back hurting! What am I doing wrong? Sitting too much? Traditional Chinese character class, how was it? （太）陽 湯 燙 （機）場 手 雙 拿 手掌 左右 - the picture of a man A note on the iTalki whiteboard usage Prepping for Episode 2 of the Language Podcast, it’s a neat idea. New York has drones supporting the police service?? Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com, newsletter over at stevensirsk...

Knackered, woken up by a falling plant. Has Apple fallen behind? Is there marketing all splish no splash? CoPilot+ PC https://www.wsj.com/video/series/joanna-stern-personal-technology/ai-is-coming-to-gadgets-theres-one-you-may-actually-want/6ABF6807-D4D5-4FD9-85D3-0F7047DEF0C0 Watching flights zoom by, why? Saving on plastic bags ain’t gonna do jksht, and… while I’m here doing my thing, someone el...

Low altitude flights to be offered by 2027?! Cantonese… what were you going to say? Getting shtuff proofread, so hopefully will have a few more longer reads put out soon. Never done this before so no idea how it will all work. Morning Chinese class: did you know the word 我 is comprised of two Chinese characters 戈 (gē) which means “weapon”. So, the 我 character is actually about two fisting weapo...

20/2024! Wu Er Ling ainiyou pengyou!  Post-pandemic leave! Some people coming back, some people leaving, the great foreigner shuffle (within the circle I know) is on the move. Tried drinking again this weekend and… actually didn’t like it! Edeilweis sent a free four pack with the purchase of my 12 of Heineken Zero. Remember me saying that life would suck if I didn’t have beer or chocolate, well, w...

Friday up! End of week! Still work tomorrow… Getting HOT! Lunch time run: 7.01km in 1.04.03, full of pull ups, squats, lunges and drinking water! Should ai change this up? NEW PODCAST up on the language vlog, all about… well, an introduction to the podcast idea. Have look n listen and see what you think. And… Episode 44 is LIVE! Denny Goin returns once again to give us his view and learning from y...

Day off! No work out, body’s a bit sore from yesterday! Off to the cafe to work on… South Korea travel video, wondering… how much work would it be to soundtrack this? Cafe or stay at home? Gotta get out some times. Episode 44 is uploaded, will have this out tomorrow. Now to work on Episode 45. Compiling PDFs from South Korean trip and reading them over, wondering how I would make that into a publi...

Day off tomorrow! Am I tired? Blue Frog Haoshijie / Hujialou gone! Any other big changes around town? Babies! Does China really need more babies? The country has so many people than even if a fraction of them have children, it’s still sustainable for decades. The US only has a third of the size of population, Canada even less. Europe? Remembering that Korea only had 4G, not 5G like China… but Chin...