My week of Monday 21 to Sunday 27 October 2024 began on the Gold Coast, progressed through Sydney to the Blue Mountains, and ended up back in Sydney — and as a result, the Weekly Wrap is once again running late. That said, I did some planning for the future. As opposed to planning for the past.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #41. Parliamentary inquiry recommends a digital affairs ministry, internet industry proposes a code for adult content, 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.
Podcasts, Photos, Videos, Media Appearances, Corporate Largess
None of these. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear and when livestreams are scheduled.
Recommendations
One week out from the US elections, Elon Musk is firmly in bed with Donald Trump. And if that mental image isn’t bad enough…
- “The X factor: How Trump ally Elon Musk is using social media to prime voter mistrust ahead of 2024 election”.
- “The Justice Department warned Elon Musk’s America PAC in recent days that his $1 million sweepstakes to registered voters in swing states may violate federal law,” reports CNN.
- The Wall Street Journal reported on Elon Musk’s Secret Conversations With Vladimir Putin. That’s paywalled, but this copy isn’t.
- “Elon Musk has met with politicians from at least 13 different countries: Here’s what he has talked about,” according to CNN.
- Elon Musk worked in US illegally in 1995 after quitting school, apparently.
- I ran Twitter’s civic integrity team. Elon Musk has no idea how elections work. “Everything looks suspicious when you don’t know how anything works.”
- What does Elon Musk want from all this politicking? Deregulation, essentially.
- Some
eminently punchable muppet“Money contributor” at Ninefax reckons ‘Visionary’ Elon Musk is back in his prime, and we should be excited. Really? Here’s a copy. He’s billed as a “freelance business journalist and day trader”, which says it all.
In other news:
- Friend of the pod Dr Alice Gorman aka Dr Space Junk has been blogging about space archeology for 20 years. Here’s her top ten most-read posts. She’ll also be on the pod next month some time, so stay tuned for that.
- I hadn’t heard of this conspiracy theory, so check out The Tartarian Candidate. “How did a bizarre architectural conspiracy theory insert itself into the US political discourse — and why do so many adherents insist that Donald Trump is a believer?”
The Week Ahead
On Monday and Tuesday I’ll try to catch some of the Australian Internet Governance Forum (auIGF) 2024, formerly known as NetThing, online. But I’m guessing it won’t be for very long.
The rest of the week will focus on client work, I think, as well as some increasingly overdue administrivia.
Some time this week I’ll record a solo episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, and I’ll update this paragraph when I lock it in.
Update 30 October 2024: I’ve ended up being very sleepy this week so this podcast will happen on Sunday, and it’s likely to be relatively short. Update 2 November 2024: Nah, it can wait a day or three.
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On Saturday I’ll probably pop across the Harbour for the North Sydney Festival.
Further Ahead
- NEW: Engineering the Future: Unlocking the Digital Frontier, UNSW Engineering, Sydney, 7 November 2024.
- NEW: The 9pm Edict recording with Scottish author and social researcher David F Porteous, some time 7–9 November 2024 (TBC). If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, please let me know by 3pm AEDT on Thursday 7 November. Don’t worry, we’ll definitely talk about what’s happening in The America.
- NEW: The 9pm Edict recording with satirist Mark Humphries, 11 November 2024. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, please let me know by midday AEDT that day.
- NEW: The 9pm Edict recording with Snarky Platypus, 16 November 2024. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, please let me know by midday AEDT that day.
- Victoria expedition, 6–9 December 2024. Includes a friend’s birthday event on the Mornington Peninsula Friday 6 to Sunday 8, heading to Melbourne for social things on Sunday night before flying back to Sydney on Monday evening. This trip will almost burn off the last of my frequent flyer points from the Beforetimes, when I used to do a lot more travelling.
- NEW: Sydney days, 26 December 2024 to 3 January 2025 (TBC). I’m taking every opportunity to spend time in Sydney for reasons which by now you may well understand.
[Photo: The clock tower of Sydney Central station caught by the late afternoon light on 25 October 2024. Yes, from some angles it can be seen towering (literally, hah!) above treeline in glorious isolation.]