ai – Stilgherrian

03 December 202503 December 2025

The 9pm Social Media Ban and the Special Duck with Justin Warren

Close-up photo of middle-aged white man with neatly-trimmed grey stubble and black-rimmed spectacles. He wears an open-necked white collared shirt and a black jacket — *Justin Warren looks quite respectable when he tries. (Photo: Supplied)*

It’s just one week until Australia’s controversial social media age restrictions come into force, so I decided to chat with Justin Warren, noted “consultant, freedom of information tragic, hexagon enthusiast, and creator of the CyberRating™ labelling scheme”.

28 November 202528 November 2025

The 9pm Miracle Medical Reality with Dr Trent Yarwood

A middle-aged white man in a black t-shirt stands in front of some tropical tree or other, smiling, with his hands clasped behind his back. His hair is brown, as is his beard. He wears spectacles . The t-shirt has a green print in the style of, and indeed taken from, an old video game called Oregon Trail. It shows a covered wagon and the text: You Have Died of Dysentery. — *Dr Trent Yarwood wears the uniform of his people. (Photo: Cassandra Yarwood, The Time Thief Photography)*

Earlier this month I saw several news stories about new antibiotics, some even developed with AI. Miracle medical breakthrough, or not? Why not ask infectious diseases physician and overall medtech nerd Dr Trent Yarwood?

16 March 202522 March 2025

Weekly Wrap 772: Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be

In the blue sky above a typical inner west Sydney red-brick block of flats a skywriter has scrawled WASH HANDS.

My week of Monday 10 to Sunday 16 March 2025 was slightly more productive than the previous week, thank the gods, but for some reason I found myself thinking about the past. Wash your hands.

27 January 202530 January 2025

Weekly Wrap 765: Feed me, said the magpie

Close-up of the head and chest of a juvenile Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), still in its lighter grey feathers rather than black, its orange eyes staring straight into the camera. In the background, way out of focus, sunlit scrubland.

My week of Monday 20 to Sunday 26 January 2025 was both productive and enjoyable, because I’m a hero. Yes, the music podcast thing is starting to happen. And the younger magpies are starting to get quite insistent.

12 December 202403 December 2025

The 9pm Chickens of Cyber Necromancy with Justin Warren

Justin Warren smiles as he summons the spirits of dead computers at a conference. (Photo: *Supplied*)

It’s the final episode of the spring series, finally. And with all the weird digital policy action in Australia in recent weeks, I figured we’d better chat once more with Justin Warren, “consultant, freedom of information tragic, hexagon enthusiast, and creator of the CyberRating™ labelling scheme“.

18 November 202424 November 2024

Weekly Wrap 755: Watch out for the podcasts!

Nighttime, looking from a city footpath up towards a pair of surveillance cameras in their black domes under white bodies. Across the street are the upper floors of an art deco brick office building, in front of which is another surveillance camera, this one steerable.

My week of Monday 11 to Sunday 17 November 2024 included the making of podcasts and the launching of a crowdfunding campaign. Not much client work, but some much-needed socialising. It’s all about balance, right? And talking smut with Mark Humphries is always fun.