My week of Monday 19 to Sunday 25 February 2024 was full of adventure. A big chunk of Tuesday was spent watching a 2.2-metre diamond python do its thing. I produced one podcast and recorded another. And I ran into a podcast listener at the pub and had a lovely conversation.
I even got through the week without any long afternoon naps. Well, except for Sunday. But I think that’s allowed. Overall, this pleases me.
Please support The 9pm Autumn Series 2024
Last week I launched this season’s Pozible crowdfunding campaign The 9pm Autumn Series 2024.
This will fund another series of special-guest episodes of my terrible podcast for grown-ups, The 9pm Edict.
Please click through, read the usual blurb, and maybe even pledge your support — or at least tell your friends about the podcast. It’s in all the apps..
You have until 7 March at 9pm AEDT, so that’s just 11 days away. At the time of writing we’re 21% of the way to Target One, which is good, but the line needs to keep going up and to the right. You know what to do.
Podcasts
- The 9pm Nine Years of Nemesis and Chocolate Cake with Snarky Platypus, recorded on Saturday last week and posted on Friday. I hope you’re not sick of the ABC TV political documentary Nemesis yet, because we talk about that a lot — as well as the complexities of Lunar New Year, comedians, absinthe, magpies, Prague, trifle, lab-grown meaty rice, and the frustrations of the job search process.
- On Saturday night I recorded a podcast with Scottish author and social researcher David F Porteous III, who’s been on the podcast several time before. That episode will appear some time in the coming week. It’ll take a while to edit because it’s possible that I might have had a few drinks.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #6. A new plan for the Navy, failures at the BoM, robotax dramas, cyber failures, and criticisms of eSafety’s scan plan.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning. That will include a link to The Weekly Cybers if you don’t mind clicking through.
Photos
- It’s been ages since I uploaded any photos to Flickr, so today I uploaded five photos that diamond python you can see above. Here’s the first.
Videos, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse
None of these. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear and when livestreams are scheduled.
Recommendations
Another busy week for one of the worst people in the world, Mr Elon Reeve Musk.
- Neuralink implant patient can move computer mouse by thinking, Musk says, but then he says a lot of things. I’ll believe it when I see it in a peer-reviewed paper.
- Twitter security staff kept firm in compliance by disobeying Musk, FTC says.
- Elon Musk’s xAI has filed paperwork to raise cash, reports The Verge. “The pitch seems pretty thin — and the AI space is very competitive. What, exactly, does Musk bring to the party?” It’s a solid analysis, but you can probably sum it up as “Musk brings Musk but little else”.
- Elon Musk quietly visited the Biden White House in September, apparently. “Musk and President Joe Biden, who didn’t meet during the visit, have had a frosty relationship driven by differing views on labor unions and more.”
- Sweden Is Right to Stand Firm Against Elon Musk is the headline on a letter in… wait what? The Wall Street Journal? “If Tesla wants to do business there, it should adapt to the country’s rules and norms. In “Musk Fights Sweden’s Unions” (op-ed, Feb. 14), Lars Jonung presents Elon Musk as a beacon of liberal democracy and argues that Tesla’s refusal to enter into a collective agreement in Sweden is a great gift to the Swedish economy and society. But most Swedes don’t see it that way.” The rest is behind the paywall but I think the message is clear.
- How Elon Musk’s SpaceX was boosted in Indonesia by a Chinese rocket failure.
- And on the other side of the fence, “The staff of Reuters has received a George Polk Award for its coverage of how Elon Musk’s manufacturing operations harmed consumers, workers and laboratory animals.”
In other news:
- China’s Rush to Dominate A.I. Comes With a Twist: It Depends on U.S. Technology, reports the New York Times. “China’s tech firms were caught off guard by breakthroughs in generative artificial intelligence. Beijing’s regulations and a sagging economy aren’t helping.”
- China has a fifth station in Antarctica. As the writer warns, “Keep calm and do science and inspections”. But let’s all Fear the Chy-nah!
- I’ve been enjoying British comedian Michael Spicer’s work for some time. Recently he launched a series of video essays. You might enjoy them
- The BBC Archives channel is also fun. This week I enjoyed a Nationwide story from 1969, Has ENGLAND Embraced “EXOTIC” Food?. Stay with it for the cook’s vinyl pants, because they’re magnificent.
- And given there’s a big snake at the top of the post, check this from National Geographic: “According to a study published today in the open-access journal MDPI Diversity, the animal known as the green anaconda, or Eunectes murinus, is actually two genetically distinct species. This despite each species looking so similar that even experts can’t tell them apart.”
The Week Ahead
I’ve got plenty to do this week but most of it hasn’t been locked into specific days. There will be an attempt at doing a chunk of client work in the first half of the week. I’ll edit and post the podcast with David F Porteous in the middle somewhere. I’ll slot some errands in Penrith, probably. On Thursday, probably. The Weekly Cybers will be done on Friday afternoon. But all is flexible.
Further Ahead
- NEW: The 9pm Edict podcast recording with Professor Johanna Weaver, former cyber diplomat, head of Tech Policy Design Centre at ANU, and presenter of the podcast Tech Mirror: Reflecting on technology and society. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC, please get them to me by 9pm AEDT on Wednesday 6 March. This episode is intended to wrap up the summer series, so I am declaring March to be part of summer this year.
- Sydney housesitting period, 22 March to 2 April 2024 (roughly). Should you be wanting to catch up with me in Sydney, this would probably be a good time.
- Aaron Chen’s Funny Garden, Sydney, 27 April 2024. I am thrilled for Aaron because he’s now doing six performances at the State Theatre. As a prelude, you might like to watch his show from last year, If Weren’t Filmed, Nobody Would Believe. As he says, “Lucky were filmed”.
- He Huang Tiger Daughter versus the World, Chatswood NSW, 5 May 2024.
- Nina Oyama is Coming, Marrickville NSW, 12 May 2024.
- NEW: The Sydney Dialogue, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Sydney and online, 2–3 September 2024 (TBC).
[Photo: A diamond python (Morelia spilota spilota), a sub-species of carpet python. Photographed at Bunjaree Cottages, near Wentworth Falls in the Blue Mountains roughly 100km west of Sydney, on 20 February 2024.]