Author: Stilgherrian

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Weekly Wrap 237: The week before Christmas, kinda

Wires: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 15 to Sunday 21 December 2014 was more stressful than I thought it might be, for reasons which may be alluded to in a future edition. However I will say that Mistress Insomnia was a persistent guest in my life. I hate her.

But on with the show…

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5at5

Another full week for 5at5, with emails going out on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You might want to subscribe so you receive them all.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

This is barely even a tentative plan, because it’s based on the assumption that a certain large media organisation will pay their goddam bills. If that doesn’t happen on Monday, then a lot of this will have to change. Nevertheless, we have to start somewhere, right?

Monday sees the Solstice, which happens at 1003 AEDT, followed by the New Moon at 1236. I’ll conduct a small ritual centred around those times. Before that, though, certain urgent organisational tasks need to be dealt with. And after that, I’ll start work on the next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, which has the working title “The 9pm Christmas Nazis”.

On Tuesday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet Australia in the morning, I think, before heading to Sydney for some errands and the ABC at Ultimo to do the 720 Perth spot. I may stay in Sydney overnight, or I may not.

On Wednesday, I’ll be completing The 9pm Edict, as well as tying up several billion loose ends before the holidays descend.

Thursday is Christmas Day, which will be spent quietly because family is small and distant. I’m not sure whether I’ll be in Wentworth Falls or Sydney or somewhere else at this stage.

While Friday is a public holiday, I’d originally scheduled a server migration to start that day. However that’s now looking like that’ll have to change too. The weekend is unplanned, at least at this stage.

Update 1750 AEDT: Edited to add the New Moon time and to clarify some of the exposition.

[Photo: Wires, a view from Katoomba railway station in the Blue Mountains, photographed on 15 December 2014.]

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Talking technology on ABC 720 Perth, first of several

ABC logoLast week’s conversation about the future of jobs apparently went so well that it’s become a regular weekly spot over summer. “Tech Wreck” is now on ABC 720 Perth each Tuesday at 1430 AWST / 1730 AEDT.

This week we spoke about:

The presenter is Jamie Burnett. If there’s any topics you’d like us to talk about in coming weeks, please let us know. Or phone in during the program on +61 8 9220 2700.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (14.9MB)

The audio is ©2014 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Weekly Wrap 236: Summer and swirling water

The ferry departs: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 8 to Sunday 14 December 2014 was decent enough, though everything in the latter part of the week was rearranged as it went along. Planning. Why bother?

Since this post is already rather late getting online, I’ll stick to the facts, ma’am. Well, I’ll make one observation: Summer seems to have arrived.

Podcasts

  • “The 9pm Personal Brand Enhancement Journey”, being The 9pm Edict episode 33. It’s nearly an hour long and contains, um, special sounds. I’ve also launched The 9pm Summer Scrounge subscriber drive, but there’ll be more about that tomorrow.

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5at5

It was a full week for 5at5, more or less, at least in the sense that five editions went out. Tuesday morning (being the one that was meant to go out on Friday), Tuesday evening, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. You might want to subscribe so you receive them all. Eventually.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

By the time you see this, most of Monday will have already happened — despite the date on the post. Monday is mostly about catching up on many, many loose ends.

On Tuesday, I’ll be writing for Crikey, and then catching the train to Sydney to run a few errands and then drop in to the ABC at Ultimo to do spot for ABC 720 Perth. That’s at 1730 AEDT / 1430 AWST, and this will be regular thing every Tuesday afternoon across summer. I’m toying with the idea of staying in Sydney overnight. Make me an offer.

On Wednesday, I’ll be starting work on a server migration. On Thursday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet Australia. Friday is as yet unplanned. Much of the weekend is unplanned too, although I’ll be doing the bulk of the server migration at some unpleasant hour in that period.

[Photo: The ferry departs, a rather heavily processed photo of the wake left by a ferry departing Circular Quay in Sydney on 8 December 2014.]

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Talking the future of jobs on ABC 720 Perth

ABC logo“As many as half a million accountants, supermarket cashiers, secretaries, typists and bank tellers in what are largely white-collar jobs are threatened by automation, Department of Industry modelling shows,” said a report in the Australian Financial Review today.

It’s true. In the first industrial revolution, the physical movement of atoms went from being done by animals, including humans, to being done by machines. In the second industrial revolution, the same thing has been happening for the movement and manipulation of information.

I spoke about some of these things just now with Jamie Burnett on ABC 720 Perth.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (6.3MB)

If you want some further reading, try The onrushing wave at The Economist.

The audio is of course ©2014 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

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Weekly Wrap 235: More scallops, less disruption

Wentworth Falls awaits tonight's storm: click to embiggenMy week of Monday 1 to Sunday 7 December 2014 was reasonably pleasant. Not much output, but I absorbed three “webinars” (ugh!) and one very fine lunch, and tried to de-stress as much as possible.

Articles

5at5

It was a full week for 5at5, with emails being sent on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday — although it appears that Friday’s didn’t get delivered properly. I’ll be chasing up that little problem tomorrow. Either way, you should subscribe so you receive them all.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

The Week Ahead

On Monday, it’s a morning of administrivia and mapping out my work between now and Christmas — well, at least as much as it can ever be planned. In the afternoon and evening I’m producing an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, including setting up a subscription drive.

On Tuesday, I’m heading down to Sydney for a lunchtime briefing by Symantec, as well as running some errands. While I’m in transit, I’ll be doing research and writing some story pitches. I’ll also finish the podcast and post it on Tuesday evening, to coincide with the subscription drive kicking off.

Wednesday has been set aside for writing, but don’t know what yet, nor for whom. I’m assuming that one of the story pitches will be successful.

On Thursday, I’m writing my column for ZDNet Australia, then heading down to Sydney for VMWare’s end-of-year drinks — and I daresay some further social life after that. Whether I stay in Sydney overnight will depend on whether certain people have decided to pay me or not.

Friday is scheduled to be a day off, because at some point on the weekend I’ll be doing a big chunk of systems administration, and I’m trying to have at least one day a week without work-related thoughts. I’m rarely successful in that, but that’s another story. But when that work will be done, and what personal and social activities will also happen on the weekend, is still to be determined.

Update 1840 AEDT: Edited to reflect a slight change of plans, finishing the podcast on Tuesday rather than Monday.

[Photo: Wentworth Falls awaits tonight’s storm, photographed at Wentworth Falls railway station on 4 December 2014. There have been thunderstorms every day this week. Sydney is becoming a sub-maritime tropical climate.]