My week of Monday 27 January to Sunday 2 February 2025 was relatively routine. I produced a podcast, amusing with a medical theme, because soon thereafter I had some medical scans done. I’ll let you know the results as soon as they’ve been checked out.
I must admit, with it being a short week due to the Australia Day holiday, and me being somewhat more social than usual because I was in Sydney, I didn’t get as much done as I’d have hoped. But I needed it.
Podcasts
- The 9pm Medical Semiotics of Bow Ties, Long Covid, and Poo with Dr Trent Yarwood, recorded on Tuesday evening and posted on Wednesday afternoon.
- Another Untitled Music Podcast | Trailer 2, recorded on Sunday and posted slightly late on Monday. As mentioned last week, Snarky Platypus and I have already recorded the first of two pilot episodes, but we can’t post it until the music license is finalised. Stay tuned.
The 9pm Edict and Another Untitled Music Podcast are supported by the generosity of their listeners. You can always throw a few coins into the tip jar or subscribe for special benefits. Please consider.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #53. Chinese AI DeepSeek breaks people’s brains, the UK reports on AI safety, Donald Trump dabbles in cryptocurrency, and much more. Posted on Saturday rather than Friday, sorry.
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, 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 — not that there’s been either of those things for ages.
Muskwatch
In the second week of Elon Musk’s de facto vice-presidency things are hotting up, and not in a good way.
- Elon Musk’s team now has access to Treasury’s payments system, a gift link to the New York Times.
- Musk aides have locked workers out of computer systems at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), essentially the US government’s HR department.
- Senior USAID security officials have been put on leave after attempting to refuse Musk’s DOGE access to agency systems. It’s worth noting that USAID is an independent agency, not part of executive government, and they were probably well within their rights to refuse access.
- Elon Musk’s Doge accused of ‘illegal’ job posting by federal workers’ union, reports the Guardian. “Union leader claims Trump-created organisation is ‘corrupt’ as X owner posts vague request for applications.”
- Bill Gates calls Elon Musk’s embrace of far-right politicians abroad ‘insane shit’.
- Is Elon Musk steering Tesla into a brand crisis?
Some Interesting Links
- Patrick Boyle has been getting a lot of my attention lately. Here’s his video on The South Sea Bubble – The First Financial Crash. It is relevant today.
- From Matt Bevan’s If You’re Listening, What will Trump’s tariffs on Canada and Mexico cost you?, with some excellent history of Australia’s most to colour TV in 1975.
- I didn’t see it before posting The Weekly Cybers yesterday, but it’s well worth reading the Guardian‘s Marina Hyde, Oh, I’m sorry, tech bros – did DeepSeek copy your work? I can hardly imagine your distress.
- And from Dan Toomey, Nvestigating Nvidia’s world domination. It was produced before this week’s price drop, but it’s still 100% relevant.
The Week Ahead
Monday is about turning the ever-expanding to-do list into a plan for the month, plus some administrivia. Tuesday and Wednesday are then about client work, kinda.
On Thursday I’ll check out the “webinar” Election essentials: Data visualization for journalists. While I don’t particularly want to visualise election data, I do want to see how it’s done.
On Thursday evening I’ll try to catch Safeguarding Australian elections: Addressing AI-enabled disinformation from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. You can also attend in person in Canberra.
Friday is about The Weekly Cybers and, perhaps, shopping.
On the weekend Snarky Platypus and I are recording the second pilot episode of Another Untitled Music Podcast, whether or not we’ve managed to post the first pilot.
Further Ahead
- NEW: Cabramatta Lunar New Year, Cabramatta, 15 February 2025.
- NEW: Mardi Gras Fair Day, Victoria Park, Sydney, 16 February 2025. It’s been a good few years since I’ve been to any Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, so I’ve allowed myself to be talked into going this year.
- NEW: Australian-Chinese voters’ concerns and priorities, UTS:ACRI, Sydney and online, 27 February 2025. Something to consider before this year’s federal election.
Writer and columnist John Birmingham will likely be joining us for a podcast later in February. And there’s one more special guest episode of the Edict to come before the end of summer, which might well be about conspiracy theories like the Flat Earth.
[Photo: Two modern apartment buildings in Granville, Sydney, photographed on 11 January 2025. These are the same apartments as I posted three weeks ago.]