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!
We explore one of the world’s greatest coincidences. President Donald Trump finally does something sensible. And we bring you the latest in science.
There’s also talk of Bitcoin, bin chickens, nuclear weapons, and UFOs. And Nicholas Fryer takes a look through The Arch Window.
Continue reading “The 9pm The Earth is Flat and So’s Your Mum”
This Weekly Wrap covers six weeks, Monday 24 July to Sunday 3 September 2017, because it was a Bad Time. Quite a bad time, clearly. But let’s focus on the good bits.
None, but I’ll announce my latest alleged plans in the next few days. Heh. Yeah, right.
I probably won’t get around to posting the audio from these, but we’ll see.
All I’ll say for now is that I’ll definitely be down in Sydney on Thursday for a couple of medical things. The rest I’ll make up as I go along. As always, watch for the details on Twitter.
Events I’m covering or speaking at include:
If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.
[Photo: Dawn at Wentworth Falls, looking east from Wentworth Falls railway station on the chilly morning of 21 August 2017.]
Earlier this month I was in Melbourne to speak at Pause Fest, as well as talk to the media about some of the issues surrounding digital surveillance and privacy.
Here’s the 19-minute conversation I had with Lindy Burns on ABC 774 Melbourne on Wednesday 10 February. As usual, we rambled all over the landscape of the topic, but I think you’ll find it interesting.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (11.2MB)
This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
[Note: Yes, I’m catching up on my blog posts, I should have them all caught up within the next 24 hours.]
Engineers at Beijing’s Tsinghua University and Hangzhou-based security company Tzekwan Technology have unveiled an ATM with face-recognition — and I discussed the implications on ABC 891 Adelaide on Monday.
I spoke with drive presenter Michael Smyth about why China might want to do this, including making more of their technology domestically, and linking ATM authentication with their growing national database of facial biometrics for… other purposes.
Here’s the full seven-minute conversation, which was broadcast live.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.6MB)
The audio is ©2015 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Monday night’s Four Corners episode claimed, amongst other thing, that Chinese hackers had stolen the plans to the new headquarters of the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). It made global news, and as a result, I ended up being interviewed on the BBC World Service program World Have Your Say.
The 15-minute live panel discussion also included Four Corners journalist Andrew Fowler, one of the BBC’s journalists based in China, and a journalist from The New York Times.
I quite enjoyed the chat, but it also showed how new all this stuff is to a mainstream audience.
Here’s the audio of the full 30-minute program. It starts off with a discussion of the current situation in Syria, and then we start at about the 14-minute mark.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (12.3MB)
The audio is of course ©2013 British Broadcasting Corporation. The audio player is linked directly to the BBC’s copy of the MP3 file. If that ever breaks, let me know and I’ll post my copy.
The week of Monday 4 to Sunday 10 February 2013 was… in the past. Shit, it’s already Wednesday night! I’ll just post this here now, with little commentary.
Well, one comment. We do seem to be getting back into the writing thing for 2013.
None. But wait.
Still none. Was it something I said?
It’s half gone, and I’m making it up as I go along. But Sunday morning I fly to Maroochydore for Kickstart Forum 2013, so I’ll probably be in Sydney on the weekend.
[Photo: Welcome to the People's Democratic Republic of Burwood, being a picture of a building in Sydney’s suburbs that disturbs me, photographed from a moving train.]