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Weekly Wrap 177: Fire, travel, hacking and alcohol

The view from 29A: click to embiggenMy week Monday 21 to Sunday 27 October 2013 was just insanely busy, including everything from bushfires to fine food to hacking, little sleep and far, far too much alcohol.

In the one week, I felt guilty for leaving the Blue Mountains when the locals were about to face what looked like a severe bushfire threat, especially when the very next day I enjoyed a luxury lunch, and spent four solid days absorbing deep, deep information security information and, in the evenings, alcohol.

I survived.

Articles

Podcasts

None.

Media Appearances

Corporate Largesse

  • On Wednesday I went to a lunchtime media briefing by Amazon Web Services at the O-Bar, the restaurant at the top of Australia Square tower. The food and wine was delightful.
  • On Thursday I had dinner with Michael McKinnon from AVG Technologies AU and a chap from a government agency at Syracuse Restaurant and Wine Bar in Melbourne. AVG paid for that one.
  • On Sunday I had dinner with Michael McKinnon from AVG Technologies AU at Ishiya Japanese Stonegrill. I can thoroughly recommend the “sake degustation” options. But McKinnon again? I know. He even acted as my driver for an errand on Saturday afternoon. People are starting to talk…

The Week Ahead

Well, it’d almost over now. All I’ll say is that tonight is Thursday night and I’ll be returning to the Blue Mountains tomorrow. The weekend is unplanned, at least in detail, but I’ll be producing some media objects between now and the end of Sunday. Stay tuned.

[Map: The view from 29A, taken at Sydney Airport on 23 October 2013.

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The Cicadas! The Cicadas!

If you’ve been watching my Twitter stream recently, you’ll know that I’ve been complaining about the cicadas. Here’s why.

I recorded the ambient sound here at Bunjaree Cottages about half an hour ago. Please put on your headphones, turn it up full, and press the play button.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:05 — 940.5KB)

Now imagine that going continuously for about ten hours. All day. Every day. You’re welcome.

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Weekly Wrap 176: Largely largesse, then looming bushfires

Bushfires near me, 1350 AEDT: click to embiggenI’m finding it difficult to switch into that mode where I can concentrate on my writing today. The map above explains why.

I’m at the red marker near Wentworth Falls, and the only two escape routes are the road or railway east towards Sydney or west then north-west towards Lithgow.

The smaller Mt Victoria fire on the left has, remarkably, been contained to much the same boundaries as yesterday, thanks to the hard work and backburning activities of the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS). So far.

The enormous State Mine Fire to the north, however, is growing. The winds, while currently forecast to be relatively mild, are nevertheless pushing the fire in this direction. And while it might look a long way away, given adverse weather conditions a bushfire can travel that distance in mere hours.

Both fires have the potential to reach Wentworth Falls, and earlier this afternoon the RFS chief said that the entire Blue Mountains could end up at risk in the coming days.

While I’m not particularly worried, I do need to stay alert in case the RFS escalates their warnings. I’m already as step ahead: I’ve packed my bug-out bag and have an evacuation plan. But that still makes it difficult to switch off that little stay-alert part of my brain and get down to writing.

So for now, here’s the quick summary of my week Monday 14 to Sunday 20 October 2013, plus the week ahead.

Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 176: Largely largesse, then looming bushfires”

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Target achieved, indulgent food, bushfire pensiveness

Bushfire sunset, as seen from Camperdown, Sydney: click to embiggenI’d scheduled time tonight to write about my crowdfunded journalism project — the initial target was achieved in under 17 hours! — but after a complex day I’m mentally exhausted.

I woke up happy that I’d raised the funds to cover the Breakpoint and Ruxcon hacker conferences in Melbourne next week. I booked my flights.

Then I enjoyed breakfast with a magnificent view of Sydney Harbour while being briefed by executives from data centre provider Equinix. Then a magnificent lunch at Rockpool while being briefed by NEC and analyst firm Telsyte.

And then the smoke rolled over Sydney.

Some of the more serious fires are in the lower Blue Mountains, between where I am in Sydney tonight and where I’m based at Bunjaree Cottages in the upper Blue Mountains.

The magnificent sunset, pictured at the head of this post, is the result of destruction. Towns have been evacuated, dozens of homes have been destroyed. I’m scheduled to return to Wentworth Falls tomorrow evening, but that assumes that transport lines are still open.

My journalism project is ahead of schedule. That’s enough for now. What I’ll need most tomorrow is energy. My thoughts are with the people with real problems to deal with. Goodnight.

[Photo: Bushfire sunset, as seen from Camperdown, Sydney, earlier this evening.]

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Is crowdfunded journalism a thing? My first experiment…

I’m getting sick of the “journalism is dying” meme. The old media factories are in trouble, sure, but I reckon journalism can do just fine without them. Stockholm Syndrome, people! So I’m going to put my money where my mouth is.

Well, your money.

I’ve just launched a Pozible crowdfunding campaign to send me to the Breakpoint and Ruxcon hacker conferences in Melbourne at the end of next week.

I won’t go into too much detail here. Just click through to the Pozible project page. All I’ll say for now is that there’s just seven days to raise $1800 more. Tight, but possible. More thoughts tonight.

[Update 2240 AEDT: Wow. Just, wow. It’s less that 17 hours since the Pozible project was launched, and it’s just passed 100% of the initial target. That means I’m definitely going to Breakpoint and Ruxcon, thanks to a raft of generous people. The project remains open until 1200 AEDT on Tuesday 22 October, though, with further funds going to the production of “Stream 2” items. See the Pozible project page for details of how that works. Thank you.]