The 9pm Secrets of Dinosaur Club on Ketamine with Snarky Platypus

A vast strange robotic creature only vaguely like a whale drifts through an aquatic environment. In the foreground, silhouetted against the bright blue scene, is a crowd of onlookers.
China’s aquariums utilise robotic whales to reduce the costs associated with keeping live animals. Photo: SCMP composite / Shutterstock / Weibo. Platypus inset photo by Taronga Conservation Society Australia / Chris Wheeler. Digital composition by Stilgherrian.

No, we’re not really on ketamine. But as the spring series continues we’re going sideways with a bonus episode featuring my good friend Snarky Platypus and many, many topics.

In this episode we talk about robot whales, the secrets of Dinosaur Club, Australia’s proposed social media age restrictions (again), the truly horrible side effects of ketamine addiction, how Donald Trump and Elon Musk might change our world, the problem with our news media, and premix drinks.

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  • A platypus of many talents. Interested in politics, food, pop music & basketball.
  • International Men's Day (IMD) is a global awareness day for many issues that men face, including parental alienation, abuse, homelessness, suicide, and violence, celebrated annually on November 19.
  • In which a not-actually-peer-of-the-realm waffles rubbish about bits of history as and when it pleases him. And possibly whiskey too. I have been known to use very bad language.
  • World Toilet Day has been an annual United Nations Observance since 2013. It was first celebrated in 2001 by the World Toilet Organization. World Toilet Day is held every year on 19 November to celebrate toilets and raise awareness of people living without access to safely managed sanitation.
  • Soda has become one of the most popular drinks in the world, and its all due to the people of the past experimenting with carbonated water.
  • [15 September 2012] For all those Jager lovers out there it now comes in a premixed can!!!
  • Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH.
  • [15 November 2024] The election of Donald Trump as the United States’ next president has triggered anxiety in Australia over the future of its plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines as part of a security pact involving the two countries and the United Kingdom.
  • [15 November 2024] The election of Donald Trump as America’s next president has triggered anxiety in Canberra over the future of its plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines as part of a security pact involving the two countries and the United Kingdom. ARCHIVED VERSION OF PREVIOUS ITEM.
  • The Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider is an American strategic bomber in development for the United States Air Force (USAF) by Northrop Grumman. Part of the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B) program, it is to be a stealth intercontinental strategic bomber that can deliver conventional and thermonuclear weapons. Named "Raider" in honor of the Doolittle Raiders of World War II, the B-21 is meant to replace the Rockwell B-1 Lancer and Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit by 2040, and possibly the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress after that.
  • Strategic Analysis Australia exists to provide policy insights into national security, defence and international relations challenges for government and corporate users, and to inform the public debate.
  • From Wikipedia: The Straits Times (also known informally by its abbreviation ST) is a Singaporean daily English-language newspaper owned by the SPH Media Trust. Established on 15 July 1845, it is the most-widely circulated newspaper in the country and has a significant regional audience. The newspaper is published in the broadsheet format and online, the latter of which was launched in 1994. It is regarded as the newspaper of record for Singapore.
  • From Wikipedia: The Bangkok Post is an English-language daily newspaper published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is published in broadsheet and digital formats. The first issue was sold on 1 August 1946. It had four pages and cost one baht, a considerable amount at the time when a baht was a paper note. It is Thailand's oldest newspaper still in publication. The daily circulation of the Bangkok Post is 110,000, 80 percent of which is distributed in Bangkok and the remainder nationwide. It is considered a newspaper of record for Thailand.
  • From Wikipedia: The Nation is an English-language daily online newspaper founded in 1971, published in Bangkok, Thailand. It is one of two English-language dailies in Bangkok, the other being the Bangkok Post. On 28 June 2019, it published its final broadsheet edition, leaving only its online edition.
  • RNZ Pacific (formerly RNZI) provides comprehensive Pacific coverage with the very latest Pacific stories and an extensive online news archive. Podcasts, a live audio feed and on-demand programmes are also available.
  • [2 June 2024] Its colonial history, the fight for independence and why this archipelago in the heart of the pacific is so important to France.
  • Erin Cook's newsletter about South-East Asia.
  • The mullets or grey mullets are a family (Mugilidae) of ray-finned fish found worldwide in coastal temperate and tropical waters, and some species in fresh water. Mullets have served as an important source of food in Mediterranean Europe since Roman times. The family includes about 78 species in 26 genera.
  • From Wikipedia: The South China Morning Post (SCMP), with its Sunday edition, the Sunday Morning Post, is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained Hong Kong's newspaper of record since British colonial rule.? Editor-in-chief Tammy Tam succeeded Wang Xiangwei in 2016. The SCMP prints paper editions in Hong Kong and operates an online news website that is blocked in mainland China.
  • From Wikipedia: Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; Arabic: ???????, romanized: Al-Jaz?rah, lit.?'The Island' [æl (d)?æ?zi?r?]) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar.
  • [15 November 2024] Australia’s War on Social Media continues, with platforms to be hit with duty-of-care responsibilities as well as age restrictions, but there’s also plenty more.
  • [14 November 2024] Nationals’ Matt Canavan warns ban ‘could go way too far’ while Greens’ Sarah Hanson-Young says big tech should not be let off the hook
  • [14 November 20245] Snapchat will argue that it is a messaging service, rather than a social media platform, to avoid being included in the federal government‘s new social media ban for children under 16 years old.
  • [15 November 2024] Deep Dive: The federal government has introduced a world-first plan to ban kids younger than 16 from accessing social media
  • [13 November 2024] "The Government does not pretend any solution from industry will be 100 per cent effective, or that children won’t find a way around it. The reality is: some will. But the fact is: the normative value of the age limit will be immense, because parents will draw on this reference point during their kitchen table discussions with their children." — Michelle Rowland
  • Supersaurus (meaning "super lizard") is a genus of diplodocid sauropod dinosaur that lived in North America during the Late Jurassic period... It is among the longest dinosaurs ever discovered, with the three known specimens reaching 33–40 meters (108–131 ft) in length, with the largest individual possibly exceeding 40 meters (130 ft) in size. Mass estimates for the WDC and BYU specimens tend to be around 35–44 metric tons (39–49 short tons) in body mass.
  • Borrowed into English as empleomania, it has meant specifically ‘overweening desire to hold public office’.
  • Philip Maxwell Ruddock AO (born 12 March 1943 in Canberra) is an Australian politician and former Mayor of Hornsby Shire Council. He is a Vice Chair of the Global Panel Foundation Australasia... He is the second longest-serving parliamentarian in the history of the Australian Parliament; only Billy Hughes has served longer.
  • The Pacific Solution is the name given to the Government of Australia policy of transporting asylum seekers to detention centres on island nations in the Pacific Ocean, rather than allowing them to land on the Australian mainland. Initially implemented from 2001 to 2007, it had bipartisan support from the Coalition and Labor opposition at the time.
  • [14 November 2024] Musk has been a near-constant presence at Mar-a-Lago, where he has sat in on important meetings and calls.
  • [15 November 2024] Elon Musk joined Trump on Capitol Hill for a meeting with Republicans—and the president-elect used the opportunity to ridicule the richest man in the world.
  • [15 November 2024] Although whale sharks can live for 80 to 130 years in the wild, they typically do not survive beyond 5 years in aquariums
  • Umberto Eco OMRI (5 January 1932 – 19 February 2016) was an Italian medievalist, philosopher, semiotician, novelist, cultural critic, and political and social commentator. In English, he is best known for his popular 1980 novel The Name of the Rose, a historical mystery combining semiotics in fiction with biblical analysis, medieval studies and literary theory, as well as Foucault's Pendulum, his 1988 novel which touches on similar themes.
  • Il costume di casa (Faith in Fakes) was originally an essay written by the Italian semiotician Umberto Eco, about "America's obsession with simulacra and counterfeit reality." It was later incorporated as the centrepiece of the anthology bearing the same name, a collection of articles and essays about Italian ideologies. The anthology contains a selection of essays taken from two Italian books by Eco: Il costume di casa (first published in 1973) and Sette anni di desiderio (1983). It was translated into English in 1986 as Faith in Fakes and later updated as Travels in Hyperreality in 1995.
  • [7 November 2024] Wastewater monitoring reveals cannabis is most widely used illegal drug, with use in regional areas double that in cities
  • Report 23 of the National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program is based on data collected in April (capital city and regional sites) and June 2024 (capital city sites only). The report covers approximately 56% of the population and provides a comprehensive picture of Australia’s illicit drug markets and drug consumption habits for 12 substances.
  • Ketamine is used as a recreational drug for its hallucinogenic and dissociative effects. When used recreationally, it is found both in crystalline powder and liquid form, and is often referred to by users as "Special K" or simply "K". The long-term effects of repeated use are largely unknown, and are an area of active investigation. Liver and urinary toxicity have been reported among regular users of high doses of ketamine for recreational purposes.
  • [5 November 2024] It is gen Z’s recreational drug of choice in the UK and US – and with rising use come big problems, including incontinence, bladder damage, renal failure, depression and extreme pain
  • Twilight anesthesia is an anesthetic technique where a mild dose of sedation is applied to induce anxiolysis (anxiety relief), hypnosis, and anterograde amnesia (inability to form new memories). The patient is not unconscious, but sedated. During surgery or other medical procedures, the patient is under what is known as a "twilight state", where the patient is relaxed and "sleepy", able to follow simple directions by the doctor, and is responsive. Generally, twilight anesthesia causes the patient to forget the surgery and the time right after.

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Thank you, Media Freedom Citizenry

Photo of a late middle-aged white man with short hair, fat cheeks, and spectacles. It's Stilgherrian! He wears a grey sweater. In the background is a wooden jetty running towards you from a distant beach with Norfolk pine trees and a bright blue sky. The text reads: The 9pm Summer Series 2024.

The 9pm Edict is supported by the generosity of its listeners. Today we launch the new season’s crowdfunding campaign, The 9pm Summer Series 2024.

The funding goes towards me making more special-guest episodes of this inappropriate and often disturbing podcast and other projects.

At the time of posting we’re 38% of the way to Target One.

Please click though, read, and consider. You have until Thursday 5 December.

If you miss that deadline, you can always throw a few coins into the tip jar or subscribe for special benefits.

For this episode it’s thanks again to everyone who supported  The 9pm Spring Series 2024 crowdfunding campaign.

CONVERSATION TOPICS: Peter Viertel, and two people who choose to remain anonymous.

THREE TRIGGER WORDS: Andrew Best, Bernard Walsh, Joanna Forbes, Joanna Forbes again, Paul Williams, Peter Lieverdink, and Rami Mandow.

ONE TRIGGER WORD: Benno Rice, Bic Smith, Dave Gaukroger, Elissa Harris, Emma Cooper, Frank Filippone, Grant Butler, Jamie Morrison, kofeyh, Mark Newton, Martin English, Michael Cowley, Mindy Johnson, Oliver Townshend, Peter Blakeley, Ric Hayman, Ross Floate, and Tom Carding

PERSONALISED VIDEO MESSAGE: One person who chooses to remain anonymous.

PERSONALISED AUDIO MESSAGE: Andrew Wright, Matthew Tayloe, Michael, and one person who chooses to remain anonymous.

FOOT SOLDIERS FOR MEDIA FREEDOM who gave a SLIGHTLY LESS BASIC TIP: Brenton Realph, Brenton Realph again, Charles Gutjahr, Craig Askings, Errol Cavit, Garth Kidd, Gavin C, James Henstridge, Lindsay, Matthew Crawford, Michael, Michael Harris, Peter McCrudden, Sam Spackman, and three people who choose to remain anonymous.

MEDIA FREEDOM CITIZENS who contributed a BASIC TIP: Wendy MsGator.

And another seven people chose to have no reward, even though some of them were the most generous of all. Thank you all so much. You know who you are.

Series Credits