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!
It’s September, and that means that here in the Southern Hemisphere, Spring has sprung. In the United States, there’s a thing called Spring Break. But in Australia, things didn’t quite break. It was more of a bruise, though a pretty bad one.
In this podcast there’s talk of Mark Zuckerberg, crime, science, journalism, bruising, the Sydney Push, and more.
Continue reading “The 9pm Spring Bruise”
My week of Monday 29 August to Sunday 4 September 2016 was full of pain. I didn’t realise how seriously I’d been injured last weekend. Somehow, however, there’s plenty of things to report.
The injury I mentioned last week turned out to be a severe contusion — that’s bruising — of the ribs. It was just short of a fracture, but oddly enough the bruising is usually more painful, and that pain will be with me for several weeks. It’s strong painkillers, anti-inflammatories, and rest for me.
I strongly recommend never getting severe rib contusions.
All last week’s planned events were cancelled. It’s a good thing, therefore, that things emerged from the pipeline.
None, but next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed live on Tuesday 6 September at 2100 AEST.
None.
Monday is a relatively quiet day. I’m being interviewed about The Code at 1430, but apart from that it’s production planning and administrivia, I think.
On Tuesday, it’s an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast.
Past that, well, it depends on the pain levels and the mood. This much pain doesn’t exactly cheer one up. But I’d like to get down to Sydney for at least one day. Stay tuned.
I’m going to the Palo Alto Networks Cyber Security Summit in Sydney on 22 September, the AISA National Conference in Sydney on 18-20 October, the Ruxcon Security Conference in Melbourne on 22-23 October, and an event in Melbourne I can’t tell you about yet on 17 November.
[Photo: Almond Blossom at Bunjaree Cottages, Day Four, one in a series of daily photos taken of an almond tree at Bunjaree Cottages near Wentworth Falls, 100km west of Sydney — although the images are of different parts of the tree. This one was taken on 2 September 2016.]
My week of Monday 22 to Sunday 28 August 2016 began well, but ended in pain.
Monday and Tuesday went to plan, but after that the fatigue set in right through until Saturday. The cat’s humans returned on Saturday evening, rather than Sunday as I’d expected, and that night became a bit… rowdy.
I awoke Sunday morning in pain, thanks to falling onto the edge of a coffee table, and copping the hard corner in the ribs. Do not trust coffee tables. That made the return to Wentworth Falls… interesting. But hey, here I am.
None, but I’ve gathered plenty of material for writing over the next few weeks.
It’s my first week back in the Blue Mountains for three months, and it’s the start of Spring. I’m looking forward to it.
On Monday I’m keeping quiet to rest my back, then staying in to watch an episode of ABC TV’s Four Corners on Cyber War. On Tuesday I’m doing an early-morning interview, reviewing Four Corners for Crikey, and in the afternoon running errands in Katoomba.
On Wednesday, it’s the long commute down to Sydney for a briefing by Nokia’s Fixed Networks division that morning, then writing for ZDNet. I may or may not stay in Sydney overnight. Then on Thursday I’ll be at the Trend Micro CLOUDSEC conference.
There’s a chance all that might be reshuffled or even cancelled if the pain lingers too long.
It most certainly was reshuffled. It turns out that while I haven’t broken any ribs or damaged my kidneys, it’ll take two to four weeks for the injury to settle down. Resting is a more sensible idea than long train commutes. I’ll do some writing and suchlike from where I am.
I reckon Friday will see some more writing for ZDNet, and then the weekend is unplanned.
The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed on Tuesday 6 September.
I’m going to the Palo Alto Networks Cyber Security Summit in Sydney on 22 September, the AISA National Conference in Sydney on 18-20 October, the Ruxcon Security Conference in Melbourne on 22-23 October, and an event in Melbourne I can’t tell you about yet on 17 November.
Update 30 August 2016: Edited to reflect pain-related schedule changes.
[Photo: Sydney Central Station on a spring morning, photographed not this year but on 15 August 2012.]
My week of Monday 8 to Sunday 14 August 2016 did not go to plan at all. I had to cancel everything from Wednesday onwards thanks to severe back pain.
None.
None, though the Census disaster would have generated a few media appearances had I not been in pain. Messages started coming in from 0600 the morning after, and eventually totalled requests for nine or more radio spots and three TV spots — not that I could have done them all.
It’s yet another week in Sydney, which will make it 12 weeks in a row. I’m kinda glad I’ve avoided being in the Blue Mountains during the coldest part of winter.
It’s also another jumbled week of updating all the geek projects, writing for ZDNet, and trying to sort out my never-ending cashflow disaster. Details via Twitter each day.
On Thursday evening, I’ll be going to Text100’s infamous Xmas in August event, where they preview their clients’ products for Christmas and no-one ever drinks any alcohol whatsoever. On Friday, I’ll migrate to Ashfield in Sydney’s inner west, where once more I’ll be cat-sitting.
The weekend is unplanned.
I’ll be going to the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit in Sydney on 22-23 August, the Palo Alto Networks Cyber Security Summit in Sydney on 22 September, the AISA National Conference in Sydney on 18-20 October, and the Ruxcon Security Conference in Melbourne on 22-23 October.
[Photo: Stripes in KL. A snapshot of contrasting stripes taken when I was wandering the streets of Kuala Lumpur on 12 September 2011.]
My week of Monday 5 to Sunday 11 October 2015 was a strange pause, a transition between weeks of pain and discomfort, and what appear to be some very busy weeks indeed.
I shall let the facts speak for themselves…
None, but research is under way for a ZDNet column to be published early on Monday.
There were no editions of 5at5 at all this week either, and that’s terrible. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones?
The last few weeks have been rather unstructured. Not so the week ahead. It’s both busy and tightly scheduled.
On Monday, I’ll finish a column for ZDNet, deal with an errand to Penrith, conduct some audio equipment tests, and prepare myself for the rest of the week.
On Tuesday, I catch the 0636 train to Sydney, and then VA830 to Melbourne, sneaking in a quick work session at Meanjin in the afternoon, before a reception kicks off the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference. I’m covering that event for ZDNet, as well as recording material for my own Corrupted Nerds podcast, through until Thursday.
On Thursday evening, I’ll be wrapping up the Pozible campaign Send Stilgherrian To Ruxcon 2015, which closes at 2230 AEDT. As I write this, it stands at 34% funded.
On Friday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet before flying back to Sydney on VA879 that evening. Whether I continue through to the Blue Mountains, or stay in Sydney overnight, has yet to be decided.
On Monday 19 October, I’m wrapping up another episode of The 9pm Edict, as well as appearing on Mark Pesce’s podcast TWISTA – This Week in Startups Australia. The middle part of the week has yet to be mapped out, but if things go to plan, on Friday I’ll be heading back to Melbourne for Ruxcon.
[Photo: Crossing the Nepean, with boats, photographed on 9 October 2015.]
My week of Monday 28 September to Sunday 4 October 2015 was another pain-ridden ocean of chaos, but nevertheless there were a few solid achievements.
I launched Send Stilgherrian to Ruxcon 2015, a Pozible crowdfunding campaign with an obvious aim. As I write this, it’s already reached 29% of its initial target, which is promising.
On the health front, the broken tooth was repaired again. As for my shoulder, the X-rays and ultrasound imagery taken last week showed no permanent damage or signs of specific problems. It’s “just” strained muscles and tendons, and all that’s needed is rest. It does seem to be getting better, albeit very slowly.
I got most of an episode of The 9pm Edict recorded, but was too tired to complete it on Sunday night. Stand by.
There were no editions of 5at5 at all, and that’s terrible. Why not subscribe so you’ll get all the future ones?
Having migrated the final batch of a long-standing client’s websites to new virtualised infrastructure, I finally shut down my remaining hard-iron Linux server, a leased machine somewhere in a rack in San Francisco. Typing halt for the last time also ended my business relationship with ServePath, which later became GoGrid, and which was recently acquired by and absorbed into Datapipe. I’ll miss the excellent support their engineers have provided over the years.
Meanwhile, I’ve picked up a quick little job: building what is in essence a paywall for the website of the literary magazine Meanjin, so they can start selling digital subscriptions.
None.
Once more, most of this week is over. It’s already the end of Thursday! But there’s still plenty of things to do…
On Friday, it’s the long train commute to Sydney for a lunchtime briefing on smart cities and the Internet of Things with Alcatel-Lucent’s expert on such things, Marc Jadoul. I’ll knock off some errands while I’m down there, and certain SEKRIT planning on the train.
On the weekend — note that I’m not predicting a specific day for each item — I’ll finish that episode of The 9pm Edict, finish the video of my UTS lecture, do some audio equipment tests, and do the preparatory work for Meanjin.
The week beginning Monday 12 October will be a hectic one. Monday is the calm before the storm, when I’ll collect my thoughts and prepare myself.
On Tuesday, I fly to Melbourne, sneaking in a quick work session at Meanjin in the afternoon, before a reception kicks off the Australian Information Security Association (AISA) National Conference. I’m covering that for ZDNet, as well as recording material for my own Corrupted Nerds podcast. My thanks got to security vendor Tanium for covering my costs.
On Friday, I’ll be writing for ZDNet before flying back to Sydney. Some time on the weekend, I’ll produce another episode of The 9pm Edict.
The week starting… no, I’ll tell you about that next time.
[Photo: Waratah in bloom at Bunjaree Cottages, photographed on 8 October 2015. This waratah flower is slightly past its peak, but the intensity of its colour still manages to dominate the camera’s sensors.]