Word-whore. I write 'em. I talk 'em. Information, politics, media, and the cybers. I drink. I use bad words. All publication is a political act. All communication is propaganda. All art is pornography. All business is personal. All hail Eris! Vive les poissons rouges sauvages!
Monday 16 to Sunday 22 December 2019 was another week when Sydney’s sky was drenched in bushfire smoke. My belly cleared, I got a podcast done, and the podcast was good. I am pleased.
Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 499: More podcast, more smoke, more concern about revenue”
The entire week of Monday 9 to Sunday 15 December 2019 was lost to gastrointestinal wonders, thanks very much. I still don’t know what’s going on down there. But let’s not dwell on that, because it’s finally started improving.
Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 498: Many smoke, no work, very poo”
As bushfire smoke engulfed the Sydney region, giving the city the worst air quality in the world, my week of Monday 18 to Sunday 24 November plodded along in a satisfactory manner.
Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 495: Bushfire smoke, cybers, and a random magpie”
My week of Monday 11 to Sunday 17 November was spent in Sydney, apart from just one night. Friends persuaded me to avoid the Blue Mountains on Tuesday’s “catastrophic” fire danger day — though things turned out fine up there — and I stayed down for the rest of the week for a few Health Patrol duties.
Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 494: Avoiding fires, finding faults, reading court decisions”
As Monday morning kicked off, the Wentworth Falls bushfire that I mentioned in yesterday’s Weekly Wrap was of course a major news story.
ABC 702 Sydney breakfast presenter Robbie Buck asked for locals to talk about their experiences, so I gave him a call. Here’s the three-minute conversation that resulted.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (2.8MB)
The audio is ©2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
[Photo: Firefighters tackle the Wentworth Falls bushfire, 2 August 2015, via the NSW Rural Fire Service.]
My week of Monday 27 July to Sunday 2 August 2015 represented a remarkable turnaround — perhaps the turnaround that I’d been detecting in the winds since June. And then there’s the bushfire. It’s all so complicated!
Why? It was a full week with a properly-working computer — a week spent in a house with a properly-working kitchen, heating, and inspiring view — and that brought back some of the clarity of thought which I’ve been sorely lacking. I got plenty done, the most important in many ways being the launch — finally! — of The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh.
I was very pleased when people started contributing to this crowdfunding campaign just as soon as it was launched. I’m even more pleased to report that as I write this, roughly half-way through the campaign period, we’ve reached 54% of the initial target. That means we’re likely to succeed.
The stress of not having a working computer is subsiding, but I’m not counting my chickens before they’re hatched.
People who write or perform for a living will also understand the importance of the kind of reassurance that comes with people supporting the plan which, until then, had existed solely in your own head.
That has helped. Thank you. If you haven’t done so already, please check out The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh
Thanks also to the many people who asked whether I was in any danger from this weekend’s bushfire at Wentworth Falls. No, I’m not.
The fire is only 3km from Bunjaree Cottages, but between it and me there’s some significantly challenging terrain, and the wind has been taking the fire in a different direction. More than 100 volunteers from the NSW Rural Fire Service have been keeping us safe.
I’m certainly paying attention to what’s happening, though, and I see that there’s a wind change forecast for Monday. Depending on how the RFS people go with their plans for the rest of today and overnight, well, my risk assessment may change.
Just as I write this, the alert for the fire area has been raised from WATCH AND ACT to EMERGENCY WARNING — the latter being described thusly:
You may be in danger and need to take action immediately. Any delay now puts your life at risk.
I must stress again, though, that I am not in the alert area, and I currently face no risk.
The hiatus has ended. There were two editions, on Thursday and Friday. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones?
None. But there’s quite a bit scheduled for the coming week.
This is going to be a better-structured one, folks.
Monday will be a media production day — but I’ll decide the exact details on the day, depending on the bushfire threat level.
On Tuesday, I’ll be catching the 0706 train to Sydney, because on Tuesday and Wednesday I’ll be covering the ADMA Global Forum, presented by the Association for Data-driven Marketing and Advertising. Also, at 2030 AEST on Tuesday night, I’ll be a guest on ABC Local Radio around NSW. And on Wednesday night, I’ll be going to Text100’s (in)famous Christmas in August event, a preview of their clients’ consumer technology for Christmas.
On Thursday, I’ll be going to a lunchtime briefing by NetSuite, and writing something for ZDNet, before taking the train back to the Blue Mountains. Thursday is also the last day of The 9pm Urgent Hardware Refresh, with the campaign ending at 2100 AEST that evening.
On Friday, I’ll be confirming what’ll happen with the funds so raised.
[Photo: The Final Redoubt, photographed on 2 August 2015. Should I ever need a final hiding place from a severe bushfire — and everything has happened so quickly that we skipped straight past three levels of warning, the fire jumped the road and railway, and all escape routes were blocked — then this cutting on Railway Parade near Wentworth Falls is where I’d wrap myself in wet woollen items and hope for the best.]