My week of Monday 8 to Sunday 14 February was another pleasant step forward through the early wonders of 2021. An article written, many things organised, and a decent amount of de-stressing as La Niña continued to deliver a cool, damp summer.
Next week I’ll tell you more about the magpies. The whole magpie situation is getting out of hand.
Podcasts
- Updating “The 9pm Autumn Series 2021 and more”, another brief promo for my latest Pozible crowdfunding campaign. Please pledge your support before 9pm AEDT this Thursday 18 February for another series of The 9pm Edict with special guests in March and April.
Articles
- Indo-Pacific tech sector ‘ripe for investment’ and cyber defence cooperation: Research, ZDNet, 10 February 2021. There’s some fascinating detail in these research papers for the new Quad Technology Network.
- Not an article as such, but a Twitter thread for World Radio Day recounting a few stories from my time in radio in Adelaide. (Threadreader, Internet Archive)
- Along the way I mentioned my 1984 interview with David Attenborough, which is still worth revisiting.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to get a compilation of new stories by email each Sunday morning, if there are any.
Media Appearances
- One of my photos of a NSW TrainLink V-Set #purpletrain has ended up illustrating the Wikipedia article Blue Mountains Line. This is far from the best one I’ve taken, so I should probably upload a bunch more to Flickr with a CC-BY license.
- My mediocre Instagram photo of the Australian-Hellenic Memorial, which commemorates those who lost their lives in Greece and Crete during World War Two, was used to illustrate this Advisor.Travel page, Hellenic Memorial, Canberra.
Videos, Corporate Largesse
None, though I was offered my first largesse in almost a year.
Monday 15 February is the 75th birthday of the first programmable, electronic, general-purpose digital computer, ENIAC. Unisys, the successor to Sperry UNIVAC, the company founded by ENIAC inventors J Presper Eckert and John Mauchly, offered to send a “Philly-inspired treat”. Alas, this perishable item couldn’t be shipped 100km on the day, and in any event I’ll be out and about.
Recommendations
- The movie Cats came out in 2019, but this is still worth reading. This live review by a guy watching Cats on mushrooms is much more fun than the film. And now you can get the t-shirt.
- One of my recommendations the other week was Miss S, the Chinese re-make of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries. While I enjoyed the first story very much, as the series progressed I noticed a few things that might put people off, especially Miss Fisher fans. The stories are heavily sanitised. For example, the doctor being a lesbian is completely removed, and Miss Fisher’s nightclub appearance is simply her singing a song, not performing an erotic fan dance. It’s overacted, more a Chinese melodrama than a light drama. That’s fine, but the stories are also padded out to double the length of the originals. Far too many words, far too many recaps, and long reveal-the-clues speeches while everyone else just stands around. Nevertheless I’m still enjoying it for what it is: Overacted Chinese melodrama.
- The queen’s gambit — new evidence shows how Her Majesty wields influence on legislation.
- Melania Is Reportedly Seething With Jealousy at the Spa. I came for the schadenfreude, I stayed for the snark. This is most ungracious of me.
The Week Ahead
Week 48 of my Quarantimes continues at Bunjaree Cottages at Wentworth Falls, though I’ll be in Sydney on both Monday and Friday for various porpoises.
I’ll finally be re-drafting my paper for the Carnegie Foundation for International Peace, The Encryption Debate in Australia, because I’ve finally received the reviewer comments. I should be able to knock off a ZDNet article as well.
On Thursday night it’s the launch of The 8pm Quiz Series Two at 8pm AEDT. Make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel so you don’t miss out. After that it’s the third Thursday of each month through to June.
During the livestream, The 9pm Autumn Series 2021 Pozible campaign comes to an end at 9pm AEDT. Please consider.
Further Ahead
- TikTok & WeChat, where to now?, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, online, 24 February 2021
- Mimecast Connect 2021, online, 25 February 2021.
- APRICOT 2021 / APNIC 51, online, 1–4 March 2010.
- Australian Cyber Conference, Canberra, 14–16 March 2021 (TBC).
- AusCERT 2021, Gold Coast and online, 11–13 May 2021 (TBC).
[Photo: A moth, believed to be a female Anthela acuta, photographed at Bunjaree Cottages on 13 February 2021. ]