My week of Monday 25 November to Sunday 1 December 2024 was finally a bit more productive. There’s yet another podcast. There were billable hours. And most importantly, we’re in the final stages of this season’s crowdfunder.
FINAL DAYS: Please support this season’s crowdfunder
Official summer began today, which means we’re in the final days of the new season’s crowdfunding campaign, The 9pm Summer Series 2024.
The funding goes towards making more special-guest episodes of my inappropriate and often disturbing podcast for grown-ups, The 9pm Edict, and other projects.
Indeed, I’ve just aded two projects to the campaign: an Untitled Music Podcast, and a couple end-of-year episodes of The 8pm Quiz video livestream.
At the time of posting we’ve passed Target One and we’re 73% of the way to Target Two, which is wonderful, but there’s just four days left.
Please click though, read, and consider. You have until 9pm AEDT this Thursday 5 December.
Podcasts
- The 9pm Scruffy Share House in Space with Dr Alice Gorman, posted on Wednesday but recorded the previous Wednesday.
The 9pm Edict is supported by the generosity of its listeners. See the crowdfunder mentioned above? You know what to do.
If you miss that deadline you can always throw a few coins into the tip jar or subscribe for special benefits. Please consider. These methods also charge lower fees, and direct payments charge none in Australia.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #46. A massive week for digital policy, including social media age bans for under-16s, new cybersecurity laws, a call for national AI regulation, and even — finally! — updates to the Privacy Act.
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
- I said a small number of words in The Age today. ‘Peak popularity’: Why names go in and out of vogue (archive).
- It’s not from this week, but from 2009, but I only discovered it today. In the Telecommunications Journal of Australia, volume 59 number 2 (2009), UNSW Law School’s David Vaile has an article titled “Internet Filtering and Young People – An Annotated Bibliography”, and a lot of my writing on Labor’s plan for an internet filter is included.
Photos, Videos, 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
Elon Musk is now the world’s dark overlord, or some such shit. I dunno, but here’s just a few stories to choose from. I’m kind of overwhelmed.
- From The Conversation, “Elon Musk’s team-up with Donald Trump is different to how media barons operated in the past. Here’s why“.
- ‘Terrifying’: Elon Musk warns US is heading for ‘bankruptcy’, proving he knows literally nothing about how a nation’s economy works.
- Tesla owners turn against Musk: ‘I’m embarrassed driving this car around’.
- From Patrick Boyle, Can Elon Musk Cut Two Trillion Dollars From the US Budget? Short answer: No. Or at least not without ruining everything.
- It’s from last week, but it’s well worth reading: a The Economist analysis of how Musk’s own X posts reveal the change in his life. Elon Musk’s transformation, in his own words (archive).
- Or more pointedly, from The Daily Beast, “Elon Musk’s former pal, philosopher Sam Harris, claimed the billionaire is in the throes of social media addiction, ‘snorting ketamine and tweeting at all hours of the day and night’.”
In other news:
- This week Matt Bevan’s excellent If You’re Listening asks the question Did this Chinese Ship just cut off the internet?, with plenty of background on the global data networks we call the internet.
- From Asianometry, The Computer Revolutionized Weather Forecasting.
- “The pink elephant test: what your visual imagination predicts about your ability to control your thoughts.”
- Huskies Go WILD for FIRST Snow! Long-awaited Dogs Meet With Their Friend.
The Week Ahead
Monday is a day of client work, or at least part of it is.
On Tuesday I’m heading down to Sydney for some health-related matters, and in the evening the first corporate Christmas parties for the year — and of course there’s two of them, both of which would be useful to attend, and they clash. I’ll try to get to both.
On Wednesday I’m recording the final spring series episode of the The 9pm Edict with Justin Warren, “consultant, freedom of information tragic, hexagon enthusiast, and creator of the CyberRating™ labelling scheme”. We’re bound to talk about the social media bans for under-16s legislated this week, but there’s much more.
If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, please get them to me by 9am AEDT this Wednesday 4 December.
Thursday is when I deal with a thousand loose ends, including wrapping up the crowdfunder, because…
Friday is the start of a brief expedition to Victoria, with a flight leaving Sydney at 9.00am AEDT for a day of logistics and faffing about in Melbourne before heading to the Mornington Peninsula that evening.
Saturday is the reason I’m doing this, a day to celebrate a friend’s birthday. Then on Sunday I’m heading back to Melbourne to catch up with friends in evening and stay overnight.
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 for work.
Further Ahead
- Sydney days, 26 December 2024 to 3 January 2025. I’m taking every opportunity to spend time in Sydney for reasons which by now you may understand.
This section has thinned out, sure, but don’t worry. By next Sunday I’ll have populated it with a bunch of plans for the podcast and other activities across summer.
[Photo: An Australian king parrot couple (Alisterus scapularis) photographed at Bunjaree Cottages on 1 December 2024. These two have been frequent visitors, with the male even coming inside to attract my attention.]