Author: Stilgherrian

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Weekly Wrap 403: A wedding, two podcasts, and many goats

View from North SydneyAll I’ll say about my week of Monday 12 to Sunday 18 February 2018 is that going to a wedding on Tuesday is dangerous, and you’re all kind of OK.

Many, many thanks to the 54 supporters who’ve contributed to The 9pm GoatFest Tasmania. Your generosity means that, yes, just five days from now I’ll be heading to Tasmania to record two podcasts. Scroll down for the details.

Meanwhile…

Articles, Podcasts

None, but piece I wrote has yet to appear, and look below for the big podcast news.

Media Appearances

  • On Thursday, I briefly rabbited on about goats on ABC Hobart. I won’t be posting the audio, because I don’t think it has value beyond the day it happened.

Corporate Largesse

  • On Thursday, I went to a lunchtime briefing at the North Sydney offices of CrowdStrike. There was sushi. I also walked away with a branded pen and walk calendar.

The Week Ahead

Right, this is the big one.

On Monday, I’m heading down to Sydney for a briefing by Motorola Solutions on the “Future of Public Safety”, as they put it. Apparently that includes a mixed-reality system to help firefighters, and “a new virtual voice partner, akin to a smart Siri or Alexa, providing vital, data-driven information to public safety officials in the heat of the moment”. En route there and back, I’ll be writing for ZDNet, and dealing with some client web work.

Tuesday and Wednesday are writing and editing days for ZDNet and DirectorTech.

Thursday is a preparation day for my Tasmania trip, which kicks off Friday with the train down to Sydney, then an afternoon flight to Launceston. Saturday is about exploring Launceston, and my final pre-production.

Sunday sees me spending the day at GoatFest Tasmania recording material for “The 9pm GoatFest Tasmania”, a special episode of The 9pm Edict podcast that will be streamed live from 2100 AEDT that night.

Further Ahead

On Monday 26 February, the morning is the bus ride from Launceston to Hobart, the afternoon is the highly-regarded Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), and the evening is dinner with some friends at Bar Wa Izakaya. Don’t worry, they’re paying.

On Tuesday 27 February, I’m preparing for and recording a Private House Forum episode of The 9pm Edict, a panel show like the Public House Forum episodes but without a live audience. I’m expecting that to be streamed live from around 2000 AEDT.

Looking way further ahead:

  • Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Conference, Canberra, 10–12 April.
  • Australian Cyber Conference, formerly the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference, Melbourne, 9–11 October.

[Photo: View from North Sydney. The view across Sydney Harbour to the south-east from the offices of CrowdStrike on level 18 of 141 Miller Street, North Sydney, photographed on 15 February 2018.]

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Weekly Wrap 402: When goats were being considered

Narrow PlatformMy fortnight from Monday 28 January to Sunday 11 February 2018 is documented here, along with some plans for the future.

Articles

A fourth piece I wrote has yet to appear.

Media Appearances

Podcasts

None. But as you’ll have seen, I’ve launched The 9pm GoatFest Tasmania crowdfunding campaign to finance a podcast from GoatFest Tasmania on Sunday 25 February, and then a Public House Forum on Tuesday 28 February. Stay tuned for updates.

Corporate Largesse

None.

The Week Ahead

I’ve avoided locking my goals into specific days of the week, because it just ramps up stress for no real benefit. But this week must have a fixed pattern.

On Monday, I’m shopping in Penrith Katoomba for various personal items, while writing for ZDNet and doing other bits and pieces en route.

On Tuesday, I’m heading to Sydney for the wedding of my ZDNet commissioning editor Chris Duckett during the afternoon and on into the evening. I plan to stay in Sydney overnight, which I consider to be a sensible precaution. I’ve kept Wednesday free of commitments too. On Thursday, there’s a media lunch with CrowdStrike, before a return train back to the Blue Mountains and, that evening, wrapping up the Pozible campaign.

Friday will be a writing day, I suspect.

Further Ahead

If all goes well, I’ll be at GoatFest Tasmania in Launceston on Sun 25 Feb, then recording a Public House Forum podcast in Hobart on Tue 27 Feb.

Looking way further ahead:

  • Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) Conference, Canberra, 10–12 April.
  • Australian Cyber Conference, formerly the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference, Melbourne, 9–11 October.

Update 12 February 2018: Edited to reflect a schedule change for Monday.

[Photo: Narrow Platform. A woman walks along Platform 2 at Wentworth Falls station just before a train arrives on 9 February 2018.]

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Announcing “The 9pm GoatFest Tasmania”

UPDATE 15 February 2018: The Pozible campaign was successful. Details of what I’ll be doing will be posted on Saturday 17 February.

Let’s talk about Goats! GoatFest Tasmania is Tasmania’s Only All-Breeds Goat Festival and Field Day, with everything you ever need to know about goats and goat products all under the one roof. It’s on Sunday 25 February in Launceston, and I want to go. I need to go.

What’s not to love? Like, goats, right!

Continue reading “Announcing “The 9pm GoatFest Tasmania””
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Talking life pre-Google on ABC Adelaide

ABC logoIt’s almost 20 years since Google was founded, and it’s fair to say that at least some of the company’s services have become a part of almost every internet user’s life. But what did we do before Google?

There were other search engines, of course, but what about before the web was a thing?

On Friday I discussed this question with ABC Adelaide presenter Peter Goers, along with librarian Nikki White from the National Library of Australia.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.9MB)

This audio is ©2018 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Talking Elon Musk on ABC Melbourne

ABC logoThe demonstration launch of SpaceX’s Dragon Heavy launch vehicle was for me the highlight of the week. It got some attention elsewhere too, and not just from space geeks.

By complete coincidence, I’d been booked for ABC Melbourne’s regular Wednesday night “Please Explain” spot, with the task of explaining Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX. Here’s the full conversation with Lindy Burns and Declan Fay.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (13.1MB)

This audio is ©2018 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Weekly Wrap 400: New year, with too many spiders

HuntsmanThis Weekly Wrap covers five weeks, from Monday 25 December 2017 to Sunday 28 January 2018. Much of this time I treated as a rough holiday.

So, spiders.

On 21 January, I had a Spider Adventure. Scroll down for an edited version of my Twitter thread. There’s lost of different spiders around here right now.

Articles

Podcasts

None. Announcements soon.

Corporate Largesse

  • There was plenty of food and drink at Linux.conf.au, but I can’t remember who all the sponsors were. IBM was one, though, sponsoring a professional networking event on Thursday night. And Wargaming.net paid for the conference’s coffee.

Media Appearances

The Week Ahead

I won’t plan ahead in too much detail. This is the week when Australia returns from its long summer slumber. I know I’ll have errands in Katoomba on Monday. But I’ll also be doing a bunch of writing during the first part of the week, and perhaps right through to the end.

I’ll also sketch out the first few months of the year, especially the podcasts and such. Expect announcements via Twitter.

Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 400: New year, with too many spiders”