Social Experiments http://socialexperiments.posterous.com Most recent posts at Social Experiments posterous.com Fri, 09 Mar 2012 22:48:43 -0800 Goodbye Singapore. Until next time. http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/goodbye-singapore-until-next-time http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/goodbye-singapore-until-next-time

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Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:11:44 -0800 UWA should get one of these... http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/uwa-should-get-one-of-these-51848 http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/uwa-should-get-one-of-these-51848

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Sun, 04 Mar 2012 21:11:43 -0800 UWA should get one of these... http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/uwa-should-get-one-of-these http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/uwa-should-get-one-of-these

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Wed, 15 Feb 2012 03:17:28 -0800 The final meal - Peking Duck http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/the-final-meal-peking-duck http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/the-final-meal-peking-duck

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Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:56:26 -0800 Just spending time with my host family http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/just-spending-time-with-my-host-family http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/just-spending-time-with-my-host-family

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Sat, 04 Feb 2012 22:08:03 -0800 Grandpa's Birthday Lunch http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/grandpas-birthday-lunch http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/grandpas-birthday-lunch

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Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:21:37 -0800 I found this in my host family's car - you can buy them off the shelf. http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/i-found-this-in-my-host-familys-car-you-can-b http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/i-found-this-in-my-host-familys-car-you-can-b

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Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:06:14 -0800 Three countries http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/three-countries http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/three-countries

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Mon, 30 Jan 2012 03:08:32 -0800 The spoon my Chinese host family bought me in case I couldn't use chopsticks http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/the-spoon-my-chinese-host-family-bought-me-in http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/the-spoon-my-chinese-host-family-bought-me-in

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Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:51:09 -0800 When in China, don't ask what you are eating until afterwards. Tonight we dined on 海参,gourmet seaslugs http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/when-in-china-dont-ask-what-you-are-eating-un http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/when-in-china-dont-ask-what-you-are-eating-un

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Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:30:00 -0800 Side streets of Huzhou, Shanxi http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/side-streets-of-huzhou-shanxi http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/side-streets-of-huzhou-shanxi

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Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:32:15 -0800 Tie-Fighter in my tea http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/tie-fighter-in-my-tea http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/tie-fighter-in-my-tea

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Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:41:56 -0800 下雪一月 http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/95094946 http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/95094946

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Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:35:23 -0800 Skiing - 石家庄 http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/skiing http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/skiing

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Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:01:00 -0800 The simple things http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/the-simple-things http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/the-simple-things

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I am fully aware that I am guilty of becoming very absorbed in decisions that really have little impact the quality of my life. I sometimes have spent hours labouring over a small detail that would probably make my life 0.00005% better. It’s the rate of diminishing returns, and for some reason I manage to play myself into a corner where I become guilty of it. I managed to justify these hours that have seemingly inconsequential differences on the way I experience my life.  I attribute a lot of my realisations to a combination of living out of a suitcase, as well as living in a T3 city in China.

Yesterday, I got my bicycle fixed. In Australia, I have a car. In Shijiazhuang, I have what could be the cruddiest bike I could ever have. The front brakes are non-functional, which might have something to do with the severed break wire. The base of my frontbasket has been violently dismembered. The paint has decayed and peeled. The Australian police would have it ripped off the road - not only does it not have a bell, but it has no mirror. But here, it is perfect. I love it. Although I have only had it for two weeks, I treat it with love and respect, and having such a dependable asset can be a huge deal. The fact that it looks appalling could well be its greatest asset - in amongst the huge population of bikes within the city, a pretty two-wheeler stands out as a target for thieves. A beaten bike is just a part of the pack.

A couple of days ago, a terrible thing happened to my bike - the back tire completely gave in. It was flat. I managed to find a bike vendor who operates on the side of the road, and in my nearly-non-existent (but growing) Mandarin, managed to get my tire pumped up. The morning after, it was flat again. “So great,” I thought. I had a puncture. I needed to get the tire fixed. Judging from the state of my bicycle, I presumed that a simple tire repair would probably not do - it look so old that to replace the inner tube would have been the simplest option.

So yesterday, I set the challenge of getting my bicycle restored. When living in a country where you don’t speak the native tongue, it’s the simple things that can be exceptionally challenging. Sure I can have basic conversation with people, I couldn’t even begin to imagine how to go about explaining to a bike vendor that I needed to get my inner tire replaced. Nevertheless, I prepared a small dialogue in preparation. In Australia, it would have been such a subconscious effort it would be a no-brainer. Here, it was the most stressful thing all day.

Despite having prepared a small dialogue in order to help, it turns out that one of my fellow students had the same issue with his front tire. He was much more fluent in Mandarin than myself, and made no issue whatsoever of explaining what happened to the vendor. We went and got coffee, and within an hour it was fixed. Just like that, my bicycle had gone from almost unusable to my most useful possession once again.

It’s in the absence of material possessions that you value the simple things. I fully admit that I am not in the absence of material possessions. I think that I pack exceptionally heavily as a traveller, which I convince myself is a necessity for my work. But that said, my life right now has been distilled into 30-odd kilograms. For me having my bicycle repaired meant the world to me. I can only imagine for many people around the world, how things even simpler than a bicycle repair would be even more exciting. I think it’s important for me to stop falling for the law of diminishing returns, and start focusing on the things that really do make a difference. 

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Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:55:17 -0800 Reminds me of Jade Empire training grounds... in Suzhou http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/reminds-me-of-jade-empire-training-grounds-in http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/reminds-me-of-jade-empire-training-grounds-in

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Sun, 04 Dec 2011 06:58:09 -0800 Check-in at Sky Rainbow International Hotel http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/check-in-at-sky-rainbow-international-hotel http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/check-in-at-sky-rainbow-international-hotel

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Thu, 01 Dec 2011 18:43:18 -0800 Goodbye piano http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/goodbye-piano http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/goodbye-piano

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Mon, 28 Nov 2011 04:39:00 -0800 iPhone playing two tracks at once - Trance Mandarin http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/iphone-playing-two-tracks-at-once-trance-mand http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/iphone-playing-two-tracks-at-once-trance-mand

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In my preparations for my upcoming China trip, I've been listening to some audiobooks to give me a headstart with Mandarin. I don't expect it to teach me huge amounts in the time that I have, but anything I expose myself to can't hurt.

While listening to audiobooks is OK, they can get bland. It's just voice. Literally, voice. At least there are a few different voices, but I am always aware that the rest of the spectrum can be filled up with something. Hence I was determined to find a way to play music at the same time as listening to these podcasts. On a computer, it's easy - open up two media players and run them at the same time. But on iPhone it's a little more difficult.

I imagined that there must be an app out there that allowed you to have separate audio streams with their own levels, mixed into a final channel. I began by searching in the App Store for 'simultaneous songs/audio', and found no results. I tried forums as well - there were a couple of posts on the Apple Community Forums from 2010 that had no useful responses. One suggestion mentioned reversing those y-audio cables you can get to split an audio signal into to headphones.... bit of a shame. As it wasn't a huge problem to me to have music with my audiobooks, I decided to let it be for the time being, and just put up without the music.

Then on the bus on the way back from the east, I had a stupidly brilliant thought. That app I was imagining with separate audio streams already exists and I've been using similar apps for the last eight years... it's a digital DJ deck! I felt so stupid. I immediately downloaded Djay as it's constantly refered to as a brilliant app and is now on sale for $1.99 over Thanksgiving.

And quite rightly, it's a wicked piece of programming. I run ASOT on one deck, and then load my audiobooks into the other deck. There are a number of shortcomings - the first is that a 200MB, 2hr ASOT podcast takes about three minutes to load into the deck. This is fine as you can listen to the audiobook first, and then the ASOT kicks in when it's ready. The second is that although there is an automix function, you can't have one deck continually push track after track from a playlist once the previous track finishes. The automix is for mixing between decks. But that's fine - loading tracks is a breeze and manageable.

The app as well is buttery smooth. No doubt it is killing my battery - I had it crash my phone already today, but then I don't think having a full 2hr podcast on the decks is the way it was meant to be used.

At the end of the day, it works and I'm happy. Now I've just gotta learn to speak. Zai jian!

 

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Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:52:21 -0800 SG at night http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/sg-at-night http://socialexperiments.posterous.com/sg-at-night

P168

After the rain, the roads shine.

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