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!
The most remarkable event in the week of Monday 3 to Sunday 9 February 2020 was the rain. A lot of rain. In just three days Wentworth Falls received 279mm. With another 100mm expected before 9am Monday, that’ll be more than half the total rainfall of 2019.
Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 506: Parliament returns, and so do the rains”
This Weekly Wrap covers three weeks, Monday 3 to Sunday 23 July 2017, because I just simply didn’t get around to it. Sometimes the pace needs to be pulled back. Especially when you’re in Queensland.
There was plenty of productivity, but it was in the background. You’ll see hints of it in the lists.
None, but see below.
I probably won’t get around to posting audio of those last two.
None, apart from the food and drink provided at the conferences.
Monday through Wednesday will be days of writing and editing, for both ZDNet and the SEKRIT project. The latter is very close to completion now.
The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will finally be recorded this Thursday 27 July at 2100 AEST, and streamed live via stilgherrian.com/edict/live/. You still have time to support this podcast with a one-off contribution.
On Friday, I’m heading down to Sydney, and the University of NSW in particular, to help celebrate the 30th birthday of the Australian Privacy Foundation. How time flies.
At some point between 26 and 28 July, I’m recording the pilot episode of a new podcast. Even though it’s a variant of The 9pm Edict, it won’t be streamed live. It’s a different sort of thing. Details soon.
Later in the year, I’m covering SINET61 on 26 to 27 September; the iappANZ Summit 2017 on 3 October; the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) in Sydney from 10 to 12 October; and Ruxcon in Melbourne on 21 to 22 October.
If there’s anything I should add in there, please let me know.
[Photo: Approaching Gold Coast Airport (OOL/YBCG) from the north, photographed on 16 July 2017 from Virgin Australia flight VA517, served that day by Boeing 737-800 registration VH-YVA.]
My week of Monday 19 to Sunday 25 December 2016 was one of my more unusual weeks in 2016, and that’s saying something.
I mentioned last week that I planned to be in Adelaide, my home town, on Monday to Wednesday for a family funeral on Tuesday. What I didn’t mention was that my mother was the deceased. We were no longer close, so it felt more like a family duty than an emotional rollercoaster, but visiting your home town after a gap of more than 12 years is always… interesting.
And soon it was Christmas, and soon less than a week remained until 2017. Whose idea was this again?
None.
Monday and Tuesday are meant to be public holidays, but I’m working through. Monday is about tiding up a few loose ends. Then for the rest of the week it’s a bunch of work on the SEKRIT editorial project, and writing for ZDNet.
There will also be an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast recorded on Wednesday 28 December at 2100 AEST. It’ll be streamed live from stilgherrian.com/edict/live/.
Update 27 December 2016: No, let’s do this podcast in the first week of January.
I’m already scheduling events for 2017. It seems I’ll be covering the RSA Information Security Conference in San Francisco on 13 to 16 February, and the APRICOT 2017 / APNIC43 conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, at the end of February and into early March. Stay tuned.
[Photo: Exeter Hotel, Rundle Street, Adelaide, photographed on 19 December 2016.]
When mandatory telecommunications data retention legislation was first introduced — the so-called “metadata” retention laws — Australia’s favourite Attorney-General Senator George Brandis QC stressed that it wouldn’t be used for civil proceedings. Guess what just happened?
On Tuesday, Brandis’ office announced a review of the laws to see whether retained metadata could be used — wait for it — in civil proceedings.
On Wednesday I wrote about this in a ZDNet column titled Brandis rushes to release telco metadata for civil proceedings.
And on Wednesday afternoon I spoke about it with Kate O’Toole on ABC 105.7 Darwin. Here’s that conversation.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:53 — 4.2MB)
This audio is ©2016 Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
You may have noticed that I wrote nothing about my week of Monday 11 to Sunday 17 January 2016. That shall continue to be the case for some time. That was a terrible week. But this week, Monday 18 to Sunday 24 January 2016, has been much better. So far. And about that…
The key word, ladies and gentlemen, is “compartmentalisation”. And you’re in the wrong compartment. Move on. There’s nothing to see here.
Some of you will be wondering why I haven’t been paying attention to Twitter for a couple of weeks. Well, I’m busy dealing with a great many things, and it’s a lot to process. I don’t need the additional cognitive load of Twitter just now — neither the processing of a fast-moving information stream, nor the performance aspects.
Twitter will probably be added back into the mix a few days from now, once certain things have been dealt with.
None, but see below.
None.
None. But should 5at5 ever reappear, you’ll know about it if you subscribe.
None.
On Monday morning, I’ll spend a couple of hours on my tax accounting, the first of many such sessions in the coming weeks I’ve got a production meeting at 1000, and then I’ll be writing for ZDNet. In the afternoon, I’ll make the long commute down to Sydney and back, because errands. En route, I’ll update various client projects.
Tuesday is Australia Day. But despite the public holiday, I plan to spend the afternoon on pre-production for the next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast.
On Wednesday, I’ll spend a couple of hours on my tax accounting, the first of many such sessions in the coming weeks, and then write for ZDNet.
The 9pm Edict will be recorded on Thursday night 28 January, streamed live through Spreaker from 2100 AEDT.
On Thursday, I’ll finally finish a column for ZDNet, and then spend a couple of hours on my tax accounting, the first of many such sessions in the coming weeks. After that, I’ll sort out some loose ends on my geek-for-hire projects. Well, it might not be in precisely that order.
On Friday, I’ll head down to Sydney again, for a meeting with my accountant, and to record a Corrupted Nerds podcast with Leslie Nassar, and perhaps some social activities.
The weekend is as yet unplanned.
On Saturday, I’ll be dealing with whatever critical loose ends remain from the working week.
The 9pm Edict will be recorded on Sunday night 31 January, streamed live through Spreaker from 2100 AEDT.
On 10 to 12 February, I’ll be in Melbourne for the Pause Fest. I’m on a panel on Thursday 11 titled “The security paradox: individual privacy vs digital driftnets”. I’ll be staying in Melbourne until Saturday afternoon. If you’d like to catch up, let me know.
Update 25 January 2016: Edited to reflect schedule changes. Update 27 January 2016: Edited to reflect further schedule changes. Update 28 January 2016: Edited yet again to reflect even more schedule changes.
[Photo: The controls which operate the external torpedo tube hatches in the forward torpedo room of USS Pampanito, San Francisco, photographed on 10 December 2010.]
My week of Monday 12 to Sunday 18 October 2015 was a marked return to productivity — despite a severe lack of sleep along the way.
Apart from generating three quite adequate articles, and recording plenty of audio for future projects, I also made some excellent contacts at the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference and elsewhere, and certain geekery went pretty much to plan.
I was especially pleased that the Pozible campaign Send Stilgherrian To Ruxcon 2015 was fully funded. I’ll have more to say about that on Monday.
I also recorded an interview with Joe Franzi, Assistant Secretary Cyber Security with the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD), Australia’s equivalent to the US National Security Agency (NSA). It’s the first recorded interview he’s ever done in that role, and it’ll turn into an article for ZDNet on Monday. The full audio will appear in due course. Stand by.
None, but a new episode of The 9pm Edict will appear on Tuesday.
I’ve also been commissioned to produce an episode of ABC Radio National’s Future Tense, which will appear in late November.
There’s still nothing from 5at5, and that continues to be terrible. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones when they eventually appear?
It’s another busy week ahead. On Monday, I’m dealing with administrative loose ends, and at 1600 AEDT being a guest for the recording of Mark Pesce’s podcast TWISTA – This Week in Startups Australia, before finally returning to the Blue Mountains some time on Tuesday.
On Tuesday Wednesday, I’m doing the shopping in Katoomba, and wrapping up starting on another episode of The 9pm Edict. But mostly, it’ll be spent writing for ZDNet.
Wednesday is a day off.
On Thursday, I’m writing for ZDNet, before heading into Sydney for the evening. Once there, I’ll complete the podcast, I’ll waste much of the day tying up idioti lcoose ends.
Friday starts extremely early, waking at 0230 to pack and catch the 0358 train to Sydney in time for my 0715 AEDT flight to Melbourne. The rest of the day will be spent catching up with various people, and doing some location scouting in a stupor of tiredness, before some sort of drinks and dinner thing with a few people.
Saturday and Sunday will be spent covering Ruxcon, another of Australia’s key information security conferences. This will include recording material for Corrupted Nerds as well as Future Tense.
On Monday and Tuesday 26-27 October, I’ll still be in Melbourne doing various things. That includes a Monday night radio spot on ABC 774 Melbourne at 1930 AEDT.
Update 19 October 2015: Edited to reflect a change of plans. Update 20 October 2015: Edited to reflect further change to the plan. Update 25 October 2015: Edited once more to reflect continuing change.
[Photo: Lumpy Weather, photographed from seat 29A of VA830 on 13 October 2015.]