The Audio Blog of Steven Sirski

How were sales? What was there to buy? Don’t know cause… I gotta get rid of stuff instead of bringing it in!
Off to Tianjin for the weekend? Gotta go! Remove the drone!
Energy stocks a move… in Canada. But in China? Down they go!
And I bought pie, 吃派来财! The last time I bought from her, I quit my job!
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***Show notes n tracks available on stevensirski.com
Episode summaries in Chinese: https://stevensirski.github.io/ssab-zh/
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It won’t be a million dollars, Steve! Figure something else out!
An ESL podcast? Sounds like work! Ech! How do we make it easy?
Speaking midterms over, writing on Friday. how are they doing so far?
Chinese classes over! Does anyone like their job?
And Lest We Forget, another reading of In Flanders Fields.
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders fields, the poppies grow
     Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived...

Gotta record! Chinese class at 7!
Cold in the morning, warm in the afternoon! Still too hot for the big jacket just yet!
Speaking tests begin! How are they going and what are they doing?
More dashboards! Can I build a multi-utility? What about an AI meter?
And energy stocks a crushed! Time to buy?
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***Show notes n tracks available on stevensirski.com
Episode summaries in Chinese: https://stevensirski.github.io/ssab-zh/
Newsletter over at stevensirski...

STOP TALKING ABOUT HOW THE SHOW GETS MADE, STEVE! AI DOESN’T CARE!
It got cold! And rainy!
Rest week begins, is this just age? Should I get my testosterone tested?
First the herpaderps! Then the cameras! And now the bed bugs! Makes you want to stay at home!
The holidays are announced! What can we look forward to next year?!
And are the agents unsubscribing people from my Substack? Then what’s the point?
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Getting late and getting dark! Only six more weeks until Christmas! And 2027!
I have homework! Time to read some essays! Just for practice!
Speaking practice begins! Teacher, how do we even talk about this stuff? And why do we care? Good question!
And would you consider watching a TV show the same as reading a book? What about a movie? What if just in terms of time spent?
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***Show notes n tracks available on stevensirski.com
Episode...

Skies cleared up! Looking good so far. How long will it last? (Even managed to go for a run today. 7 km in 43.10.)
GOLD a moving! Stonks a moving! How did Google do?
Has AI replaced your teacher yet? NOPE! Losing subscribers on Substack!
Steve, do you think you could actually run a business?
And hey, I almost own my computer! Time for a new one?!
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***Show notes n tracks available on stevensirski.com
Episode summaries in...

Grey skies over Beijing! Maybe it’s a good thing I haven’t gotten rid of my treadmill yet?!
GOOGLE CRUNCHED! Time to buy?! That RSI is looking good!Presidential cycles: https://stockcharts.com/freecharts/historical/presidential.html
Chinese company of the week for most unbreakable product goes to: 河南平定山市恒兴峰企业! Even the French rioters can’t get through! (not publicly traded).
Did Canada get rid of Daylight Savings Time? YES! Wow! About time?
Midterms here, midterms there, what do they even mean? What are they worth?!
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Steve, why don’t you just focus on one channel, instead of many? Good question. I think I tried. And failed.
Enough of the AI! How’s China? How are the students?-Had some donkey burger over the weekend… long time no had. Why? And it was expensive!-Leaves a changing, looking nice and getting cold.
Two more gym visits and then I think time for a break. Bench 80 kg the other day!
And finished American Gods by Neil Gaiman, what’s next?
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Welcome to November! Hope you enjoyed those episodes last week! Sure took a while to get them done.
Party meeting over, how did it affect markets? Let me check my dashboard!
Grading begins, time to get busy.
Thinking Meta’s Muse might very well be the next AI purchase. Why? Because it can take care of the big social medias.
Hey Steve, for all your tech savviness, why don’t you just do that instead of trying to be a travel vlogger? Yea, could be. But I’d probably suck at it.
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And it’s over! Just like that, 19 years a show, now no more. No Agenda ends its illustrious run in style. FIVE HOURS! No, I did not listen to it all. Yes, I did donate. No, my name was not read. :(
How were yesterday’s stories? Today we’ll do another! And yes, AI helped me once again!
And got the workout in, these make the days speed on by.
St. John’s Eve.
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THEY SAID THEY WOULDN’T! But then they did. Apple with the new touchscreen MacBook. Does it matter? (No iPhone Duos in class just yet!) But WOW are they expensive!
Chinese class a go go! Whoops! Forgot about Tuesday’s class! Building up a Chinese course for myself!
It’s the end of October, time for some stories. What shall we read? (The Baba Yaga and Vasilissa the Fair)
Oh, and the No Agenda Show is ending. Last episode will be today, Thursday October 29th.
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AI for the win! More dashboards! More editing! More music! More articles!
Poor Mbappe! He’s in the news and in China’s shitcan! You can be guaranteed freedom of speech, but there’s no guarantee of freedom after speech. “It’s like saying Lincoln was a slave owner and mistreated the Indians.” Nope, don’t think so.
The students don’t care about my IELTS Buddy program! But… it’s such a good idea! But how much should I press?
And ya, it’s getting cold outside! Where are all the colourful leaves? I gotta get out more!
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Back into class and how did it go? Now we’re discussing how arguments grow! Why you can’t start an essay with a question or an idiom. WHY, Teacher, WHY?!-On the effectiveness of teaching writing courses-The challenge of the obvious and the academic, “as we all know” (then why are you writing it?)
Halloween selections! Which ones should we do this year? Should I read more or should I read less? (And how is your other reading going, Steve?)
And tell us more about what you do. What is it exactly that you can do more of or be...

Rolls Royce! How did it go? I can’t buy because it’s awkwardly listed in New York.-RYCEF: Ordinary shares traded over the counter in the USThe company’s ordinary equity, quoted in US dollars. RYCEY: Sponsored American Depositary Receipt (ADR) A bank-issued receipt representing one ordinary Rolls-Royce share. It also trades in US dollars. RLLCF: Series C non-cumulative redeemable preference shares. A special share class historically used to distribute cash to shareholders. It does not provide the same participation in company growth as ordinary shares.
AI still making things fun, but how useful is it? I built my own...

I thought he’d say no! Lunch with a student and how were the classes today?-Didn’t figure it out until the last class! Oops.
Smog a go go, is it because of El Nino? Whatever it is, it’s going to cause more pollution throughout China. Ok?
Transferring files all over the place, apparently I have duplicates and my drives are getting full. What could we get rid of? And where are those compilations?
Markets are crashing! WTF?! Damn Trump! Or… is it just the October sell off?
And there’s been an earthquake in Tibet!<...

Stevie, you sound distracted! You said you wanted to focus and then you never explained how you got stuck in the gym!
Closing the windows and trying to stay warm! Trees are thinning and leaves slowly changing colour.
Creating creative projects for the class, will they work?
Alberta had a referendum?! How did that go?
And a new piece of technology in my apartment, am I okay with this?
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***Show notes n tracks available on stevensirski.com<...

How were the steaks? One was over done, the other was alright… that’s what I get for leaving them in the oven while I recorded the podcast.
Sorry about the botched intro to yesterday’s episode, it felt a bit weak. To say nothing about the technical issues!
Workout in! Got stuck in the gym! Am I not supposed to be taking a week off? Hit the major lifts today: squats, rows and shoulder press.
And student questions:-How do you use Claude?-How much do you pay?-Do you think AI will take your job?-And w...

Academic English? What’s the difference?!
Had a very good IELTS talk with one of the students today. Positive vs negative responses. And should we record these to playback and analyze?
Thinking… what would an online degree in Chinese be like? And why would I want to do one?-More recognition than HSK-A variety of topics-In depth knowledge (but why do I need this?)
And there seems to be more Jesus and God talk as of late. Why? Well, I think it’s become clear that the USA has some issues as of late and the Church has es...

AI continues to astound me! Editable titles in FCP? No problem! Website for the podcast? Sure! Show analysis? Done! Now if I could only get this to work offline.
Thinking about focusing the podcast a little more, or at least a little more often. Chinese history, language, finance, etc.
Workouts in and how is the creatine going, Steve? Getting big? Yea, kinda.-125 kg deadlift on Saturday x 1 rep-Quick leg workout yesterday morning-Squats and bench this morning, run done in the afternoon (7 km in 45.05, why do I run faster after gym workouts?)-And gaining weight, up ~1 kg in...

Steve! Enough with the AI! Or is this podcast simply going to be all about your little workflow?! (Well, next job is to create a Super Folder of ESL Content)
New gym cycle begins (or at least a new pass). Still recovering from Wednesday’s session.
They’re changing the elevator! Finally!
Blueberries a falling?! Why are they getting CHEAPER?!
WOW did I get the price movement of COAL wrong! I was thinking Guanghui Energy was a coal company when really they’re an LNG company… or they are now?
And Adam Curry is leaving the No A...

Quick! Before the good lighting disappears!
AI tooling and training continues! How about some code-driven animations? Do I still have to flag them as “AI generated”? Gives me an idea for May You Make Your Movie.
Chinese markets a moving! It’s that time of year for the Chinese markets to move to the groove played by the big man! What’s moving and where?
And listener question: Steve, do you have any microphone recommendations? A few. :) -DJI microphones, -Shure MV7+ (SM7B is the one that Joe Rogan uses), -Blue Yeti, -iPhone microphone is pretty good on its o...

More tests! But having fun! Just like English class! Today’s test: using Quicktime as a monitor, pros and cons.
The Garrison of Content seems within reach as we speak!
Should I charge for Chinese site access??
IELTS cancellation debacle continues! Who’s fault? Have they been hacked? What happens now?
And I think YouTube Shorts are paying more? Better keep publishing!
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***Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com
Chinese summaries: https://stevensirski.github.io/ssab...

More camera tests! Trying out the BlackMagic Cam APP with remote control, might replace the need for any external monitor.
Github repo up live! What could go wrong? https://stevensirski.github.io/ssab-zh/
And what about those vibe cloned Adobe APPs? Any good? A few things to keep in mind:-Open source has been around a while (Audacity, Kdenlive, Blender, Inkscape)-Just because you download these APPs don’t mean they don’t have other charges (hello AI subscriptions)-Thinking of programming your own? Good luck maintaining it!
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Cycle completed! Deadlifts done! How’s the creatine?
AI making things fun again but being blocked by limits! How and why? Don’t forget those limits! How to work around?-The trap is… hey, now I can do this, but I can ALSO do that!-Camera tests-Workflows
Working on a github repository.
And in memoriam, hometown neighbour Lynda, and long time fellow expat and former colleague, Octavio. Good bye to my hometown neighbour, Lynda, and good bye to a former colleague, Octavio. He appeared on Episode 34 of my big podcast (recorded on October 1, 2022).https://open.spotify.com/episod...

No deadlifts today, will get them done tomorrow!
First week back done! How was it?! Trying out some new features! Speaking of mp3s, got the students recording their conversations these days. I think they’re surprised by how much AI I’m letting them use in class. The idea is that they don’t struggle with the technical aspects of the language but are able to practice speaking with confidence.
The problem with AI on device: it needs updating. But Terminal is a POWERHOUSE! Why? Multiple windows!
Is Facebook Muse worth it? It’s Manus by another...

Just back from a run… but it’s kinda smoggy out there. Musta done legs right yesterday cause I’m feeling it!
Replaced the air filter, hopefully that will help!
Videos a posted and reactions a muted! Why do the Shorts get so much attention yet the long form is neglected?! What else should I do?
AI success! Got Claude to summarize and translate the daily podcast! Want in?
And it’s back to work and the markets are open, how are they doing?
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Feeling better, was it the medicine or the time? Was it the chemicals or simply nature?
Are passports necessary? YouTube reactions and today’s live streams!https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/10AWDYSVfl3BF0nuhZhFzjpjJYGau-CbcWVU04uWN_FA/edit?usp=sharing
Looking to change up the supplement stack, what’s staying and what’s going? Pea protein, creatine and Korean red ginseng. Why?
Last day of the break, back to work on Friday. Better get ready. And yes, we got paid.
**Lei Jun is the founder of Xiaomi, I misread his name yesterday. **And the problem with AI: it...

Let the publishing begin! Videos up and out on the YouTube! Or, at least beginning to!
Video editing continues, seeing what worked and what didn’t.
Should I bother even taking photos while travelling?
And I finished a book in Chinese! What was it about? Something about entrepreneurism!
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***Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com
Transcript and more available on Google Drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1om1Geup1o6Adi-A8kTAnCf12Zo7nDkAt?usp=sh...

Blue skies and holidays, but getting cold outside.
Automation success! On-device transcription done! But is it a good idea?
Terminal AI!? Better or worse? It’s very… computery. Claude Terminal could look at a JSON and create FCPXML files. The problem? Is it safe? Now someone knows which files I have on my computer and how I structure my system. Security risk? Or paranoia?
And videos getting done, almost time to publish!
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***Show notes n tracks up on stev...

Enjoy yesterday’s show? Thinking I might do another China-focused episode. And yes, I need to get my website in order so I can line up all these different episodes
Videos getting sorted and I may not have as many as I thought I would!
Out to Taco Fest to see some old folks, where are they and what are they doing now?
And time to talk about bonds. WTF are they and how do they matter so much?
BondsQuestions and brief answers here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xrc_B55l66_xokBKdogDNN8fugzi7NbKz_DW...

Hey it’s National Day break! Golden Week Number One!
Let’s look at the history of China, who, what, where and why are they important?
It’s National Day here in China and the country is celebrating its Golden Week, a time when workers and students alike take an extended time off from their duties and often go travelling. In today’s episode I wanted to cover a bit of the history of the country as I’ve learned about it in my time here. From the people, the places, the food, the culture, and the language, to the bro...

Classes done and now it’s time for a break! These kids must feel a little bit relaxed!
Russian class done and it hurt! Why do I do this to myself? How do you even prepare for a first class? And what is the Callan Method? (Rapid fire questions.)
We don’t get paid until the 5th! Whoa! But it’s a good time to buy GOLD! Or is it?
And how are those videos coming along? Singapore a singing, should I have gone to New York? And when will they start being published?!
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I liked yesterday’s episode, I think it was an actually valuable discussion. So much so, I might re-record it for Substack.
Is the market about to correct? Wouldn’t be a surprise at all… unless you don’t follow these things.https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/investing/opinion/2026/09/17/dont-fight-the-fed-opportunity-coming-up-brooke-thackray/-Markets tend to decline in October, I’ve noted this before. Usually turns around at the end of October.-Midterm election year-Sixth year of Trump Presidential Cycle (meaning he can’t get re-elected): check Stock Traders Almanac or Equity Clock-Let’s look at the Stock Tracker-What about Bitcoin? (4-yr cycle)-How does infl...

He took a degree in Chinese history… in Chinese?!? I must be doing something wrong!
Stay away from the market! Says her father, who has a PhD in Economics! I don’t blame him!
Meeting with the head faculty… about those office hours!
Video editing getting done and my Singapore video taking off… why?
Chinese classes a go go and trying to keep up the writing!
And, what’s the use of learning Chinese? Oh, well it can count towards your visa. But does that matter?
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Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! Got the moon cakes!
Feeling better! Maybe it’s my only fan?!
My breakfast place is STILL CLOSED! WTF happened?
Video editing getting done, should I move this podcast onto video?
New Chinese class! How was it? Talked about eating pig’s ears.
And, Steve, have you seen any changes in the neighbourhood?-“Older” lady who worked at April Gourmet no longer there.-Cass beer no longer available-Workers aren’t using the bicycles in the morning… though maybe I’m leaving at different times. -Lots of the shops by DaoXiangCun are empty-I’m told...

Hey we got rain! Probably the last for a while! Why haven’t the leaves turned colour yet?
Up and out early to… study Chinese? Practicing Chinese writing once again! Gotta get into the habit! Last Chinese class today with one of my teachers, but signed up with another one AND… another language? Why?
Out to the gym for deadlifts then back to the apartment to run on the treadmill! Steve, is that the one you’re trying to get rid of? YES!
Video editing started! Gotta get this done!
And what am I reading now? American...

It’s the weekend! No work tomorrow, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday! Two classes next week!
Up and out for a workout this morning, feeling alright, mostly back workout today. No run yet.
Meetings all day and it seems like a better idea than classes… but, it’s more work. How much do I have to carry the conversation and listen to the same responses?
And, many plans for the upcoming holiday? Other than video editing, maybe get back into doing some AI building?!
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Too soon on the “I don’t hurt!” post-gym sesh! Owie!
Up and out for a run early this morning, and wondering how workouts actually change. Is it because you stop doing the things you don’t like? If you continue to work out for a while, then you start to add some variations and if you stop, you’re like, why am I doing this?
Thinking all these books… did some math on how much time I spend doing each thing each day and… not sure I’ll ever finish these books!
And hey, I found a rehearsal stud...

I’ve been PSB’d! Passport gone until October 8th! Now the lovely yellow paper is all I got!
Class prep and podcasts, will they work?
Off to the gym and hitting 75 kgs on the bench! Could I bench my body weight? Squats lagging bigly.
Missed a Chinese class! And thinking… 1100 RMB for teaching an infant? Where do I sign up?!
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***Show notes n tracks up on stevensirski.com
Transcript and more available on Google Drive: https://drive...

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First week done and it already feels like it’s going faster! Gotta keep the students speaking! So far, so good!
Evening orientation for the newbies: don’t talk sht about sht!
Up and out this morning for a workout, deadlifts, pull ups and upper body. When can I get my run in?
And Beijing has banned drones! Like, even having them in the city!
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