Things were relatively quiet during my week of Monday 3 to Sunday 9 April 2023, and relatively cold on the Easter weekend, but then it was supposed to be. So I’ve gathered a lot of links for you.
Fox Update
The fox was seen again at Bunjaree Cottages on three nights this week. Its days are numbered — and not just because I’m counting them.
Articles
- Digital developments from Canberra 31. It was a short working week, but there was lots of action in Canberra: a TikTok ban, news of the cybersecurity strategy and a new robotics strategy, online safety, Medicare, Centrelink, military satellites, and more.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning.
Media Appearances
- One of my random tweets was cited by News.com.au‘s Body+Soul section in Mobile phones to be banned in NSW schools this year, and people aren’t happy. Was this really one of the top few tweets that were available to use?
Podcasts, Photos, Videos, Corporate Largesse
None of these things. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear. .
Recommendations
The Musk-Twitter saga continues with even more really stupid events.
- Elon Musk’s Twitter Teases Dogecoin Support, Sending Its Price Soaring Amid $258 Billion Row. So yeah, just as his lawyers are trying to argue that he didn’t deliberately boost Dogecoin’s price in, shall we say, dodgy actions, Musk deliberately pushes Dogecoin through his Twitter branding in an obviously dodgy action.
- Elon Musk says he’s ‘dumb way more often than I’d like to be’ as Tesla strategy questioned.
- Musk randomly labelled the Twitter account of NRP, America’s National Public radio network, as “state-affiliated media”. Which is wrong. So now he says it’s “government-funded media”. It’s all very confusing and very stupid, and this Forbes update is as good as any.
- Mother Jones asks: Does Elon Musk Know What He’s Even Doing?.
- Finally, Forbes reports: This Week’s Biggest Billionaire Loser: Elon Musk’s Fortune Plunges $15 Billion As Other Tech Titans Rake It In.
And in other news:
- Since it’s Easter, this piece from The Conversation may be of interest: The crucifixion gap: why it took hundreds of years for art to depict Jesus dying on the cross.
- From the wonderful Dave Milner at The Shot, It’s not a mystery: the Liberal Party is unelectable because it sucks.
- Teen Vogue continues to provide a more progressive version of reality to its young audience in A Boston High School History Assignment Asked Students to List ‘Positives’ of Imperialism.
- Beijing-based rail enthusiast David Feng has produced an English-language guidebook for users of the Chinese railway network, and had started The David Feng Trains Despatch, “a newsletter about trains — railways, metros, and trams” — although there’s no posts yet.
- The folks at TimeGhost TV have launched the YouTube channel for their D-Day 24 Hours project. The main block of content will be loaded on 6 June, of course, but for now they’ve started posting trailers.
- This week I discovered the YouTube channel of Little Chinese Everywhere. “Hey Nihao! I am Yan, and I am a human geographer! After my first season The Longest Way Back Home (Switzerland to China), I am now starting season 2 which is about China! The plan is to visit every province in Chinese mainland and share its uniqueness!” It’s remarkable what’s she’s achieving by herself with a prosumer-grade Sony camera, a GoPro, and a DJI Mavic drone.
- Stobie poles are a South Australian icon, but how did they come about?
- Naked man driving stolen school bus with dead deer inside leads police on chase, as you do.
- And finally, since we can’t ignore it, The 28 most stunning lines from Donald Trump’s Mar a Lago speech.
The Week Ahead
Monday is still part of the Easter holiday weekend, but I’ll be catching up on work. I’ve been quite successful at this Friday to Sunday.
Tuesday is a Sydney expedition day, mostly for some healthcare-related appointments, but I may combine it with a social catch-up. Wednesday contains four hours of meetings, which feels excessive but I’ll be getting a whole bunch of things out of the way.
Then it’s back to more client work, and somewhere in there I really must lock down some details for the next Public House Forum.
Further Ahead
- The 9pm Public House Forum 7 livestream and recording, Sydney venue TBA, Saturday 29 April 2023, 1pm. Guests include Sydney Morning Herald cartoonist Cathy Wilcox and satirist Mark Humphries. Please click through to book a free ticket, or just tell me, so I know how many people might be coming and I can tell you when I choose the venue.
- Coronation of Charles III, 6 May 2023, although I have no idea what I’ll actually do about it.
- AusCERT Cyber Security Conference, Gold Coast and online, 9–12 May 2023 (TBA).
- The 9pm Public House Forum 8 livestream and recording, 13 May 2023 at 1pm (TBA). This is also World Cocktail Day.
- Truth, Trust and Hope, “a global dialogue on disinformation and the erosion of public understanding and trust in science”, Nobel Prize Outreach, Washington DC and online, 24-26 May 2023.
[Photo: A Royal Australian Air Force F-35A Lightning II fighter aircraft photographed at the Australian International Airshow at Avalon Airport on 5 March 2023. Yeh it’s from a month ago, but I haven’t been taking many photographs lately.]