My week of Monday 28 November to Sunday 4 December 2022 represented a pause before a couple of very busy weeks. The weather was lovely, as was the continuing schadenfreude from You Know What.
I’ve made my decision about the dates for those episodes of The 8pm Quiz, the livestreamed video quiz show which hasn’t been seen since the beginning of the year. Scroll down to “Further Ahead” for those details.
Articles
- Digital developments from Canberra 16, 26 November 2022. Parliament wrapped up for 2022, and a whole bunch of important things happened — including the passing of legislation for the National Anti-Corruption Commission and bigger data breach penalties, and an interesting selection of new bills.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning.
Podcasts, Media Appearances, Photos, Videos, Corporate Largesse
None of any of these things. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear.
Recommendations
First, a whole bunch of links on the Musk-Twitter drama and of course Mastodon. I won’t call these an “update” anymore, because things continue to move way too quickly for this weekly post.
- Musk’s Beloved Twitter Polls Are Bot-Driven Bullsh!t, Ex-Employees Say, which probably won’t come as much of a surprise.
- This recent episode of the Moderated Content podcast is wonderful, as evelyn douek and her guest Whitney Merrill explore that statement by Musk’s lawyer, “Elon puts rockets into space, he’s not afraid of the FTCâ€.
- “Here’s the thing about @Tesla. It’s not a car company. Tesla is a company that has to make cars in order to sell its real product: Emissions Credits,” tweets Patrick S Tomlinson. A couple of people have tweeted at me to disagree with the numbers on an annualised basis, but as far as I know the figures for the quarter cited are correct.
- Elon Musk’s ‘hardcore’ management style: a case study in what not to do.
- Musk posted a photo of his bedside table and it’s weird.
- And finally, I haven’t checked this out properly, but from Blogs of War, Five Videos (And a Lot of Resources) to Get You Started with Mastodon.
And in other news:
- This episode of ABC RN’s Rear Vision was produced before the US mid-terms but that’s not important. This is fantastic. The Republican Party and its embrace of far-right extremism. Yes, this has some relevance to the previous block of links.
- “The Netflix remake of All Quiet on the Western Front is every bit as powerful as the original film,” tweets defence industry analyst Nicholas Drummond. “Whenever a significant new war film comes out, I like to see how it stacks-up against the all time greats. So here’s a thread on 12 war movies you must watch.”
- Some interesting commentary on the updated list of The Greatest Films of All Time.
- Jonathan Green has wrapped up his time as editor of literary quarterly Meanjin, a client of mine. He’s also been my commissioning editor at Crikey and the ABC, so I have obvious biases. But that said, you may like to subscribe to his new Substack, Other Green Worlds.
- From 2018, a well-crafted diorama here: Doll Photographer Reimagines Barbie and Ken as Soviet Civilians Living in the USSR.
- And from 2014, some lovely photos: Post-Soviet Construction Is Totally Weird And Futuristic.
The Week Ahead
It’s a busy week for me, with plenty of work in the queue for two different clients, a crowdfunding campaign to get going, and more. I’ll juggle those priorities as I go.
On Thursday night I’m launching The 9pm Hardware Refresh 2023 crowdfunding campaign, accompanied by a solo episode of The 9pm Edict podcast. This campaign is about replacing my now 7-year-old MacBook Pro that supporters bought me before it becomes critical. [Update 11 December 2022: This has been pushed back until Thursday next week due to a heaver client workload than expected.]
The final special-guest episode of The 9pm Edict spring series is running late, but I’ve pencilled in a few potential guests and plans will congeal very soon.
The 9pm Edict is supported by the generosity of its listeners. You can throw a few coins into the tip jar or subscribe for special benefits. Please consider.
There’s a social thing down in Sydney on Sunday afternoon, which I might go to.
Further Ahead
- NEW DATE: Launch of The 9pm Hardware Refresh 2023 crowdfunding campaign
,15 December 2022. - The 8pm Quiz of the Year 2022 Part 1, 20 December 2022, 8pm AEDT. Note that this first one is on a Tuesday while all the rest are on Thursdays. Placeholder links will be in place next week.
- The 8pm Quiz of the Year 2022 Part 2, 29 December 2022, 8pm AEDT.
- The 8pm Quiz of Everything 2023 Part 1, 5 January 2023, 8pm AEDT.
- The 8pm Quiz of Everything 2023 Part 2, 12 January 2023, 8pm AEDT.
- NEW DATE: End of The 9pm Hardware Refresh 2023 crowdfunding campaign, 19 January 2023 (TBC).
- Everything Open conferece, Melbourne, 14–16 March 2023 (TBA).
- NSW state election, 25 March 2023. I’ll definitely do something special for this one.
- The Sydney Dialogue, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, online, 4–5 April 2023.
- Coronation of Charles III, 6 May 2023, although I have no idea what I’ll actually do about it.
[Photo: A male Australian king parrot (Alisterus scapularis) who’s decided that he needs to be fed individually at the end of my desk, photographed on 30 November 2022.]