Stilgherrian Live episode 28, the Totally Natural Edition, is now online for your viewing pleasure.

The audio problems which had plagued us recently were gone, and we started on time. The talk flowed smoothly through the first part of the program, and it was maybe 15 minutes before we hit our first technical glitch. I must find a way to present images in Cam Twist that allows me to preview the picture that’s about to go to air!

For the second week running, the US Federal Reserve (pictured) was the clear winner of “Cnut of the Week”, beating nominees John McCain, Sydney Anglican archibishop Dr Peter Jensen and the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

I failed to make contact with Nathanael Boehm to talk about the big day of geekery in Sydney, including the Web Directions South conference — I wasn’t watching my Twitter messages during the program — but First Dog on the Moon phoned in again and that filled an awkward gap when I completely forgot about “Stilgherrian’s Street View”. That’s a shame, because that would have triggered more of a rant. About clueless taxi drivers.

The after-show chat included some interesting thoughts about the nature of the program, and they’ll be reflected next week. Stay tuned.

• Australia: Twitter statistics | Laurel Papworth: Twitter usage is up 518.12% in Australia, if you believe (1) that website traffic is the relevant metric, and (2) you can possibly measure this stuff to 5 significant figures.
• Wotnews Australian News Search: Wotnews used to be called Plugger, but they’re now associated with Wotif in some way. Wotnews harvests news from over 3500 different sources including mainstream publishers, niche blogs, direct from companies and government bodies as well as from the relentless stream of company announcements coming out of the Australian Stock Exchange.
• Tax Plans (that’s one for you, nineteen for me) | chartjunk: Viveka Weiley’s re-drawing of charts comparing John McCain and Barack Obama’s tax plans. The difference is pretty obvious.
• Text Messages Seen as Dangerously Distracting | NYTimes.com: “The act of texting automatically removes 10 I.Q. points” and many other scare-quotes.

Yes, Stilgherrian Live has returned, and last night’s episode of Stilgherrian Live Delta, episode 25, is online for your (re)viewing pleasure.

I was grumpy because we started 40 minutes late. A technical fault at Ustream prevented people hearing the audio, so we just had to wait. I’m not good at waiting. I was rude. Sorry.

Still, when we finally got on air I introduced “Stilgherrian’s Street View” and pondered the ideal 8-person orgy. People chose the striking Fairfax journalists as Cnut of the Week, the clearest winners ever, beating Glenn Milne and the strange cheer squad at The Australia who want Peter Costello to lead the Liberal Party, and US Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

There was also Sheena Easton. Twice.

Have a squizz and let me know what you think!

• Victorian Railways’ Telegraph Code Book | Railpage Australia: Yes, it’ what it says: the code book used by Victorian railways for sending telegraphic messages. Arum = Trucks loaded with timber.
• He Said It First | YouTube: This 2.5-minute movie is NOT something to play with the kids around. It takes a little-known fact about US presidential candidate John McCain and turns it into a nasty viral piece. It’s funny because it explains itself as it goes along, and drops the C-bomb liberally.