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!
Tonight is the end of official winter in Australia, although spring has already arrived in the Blue Mountains. So to mark the end (almost) of the Late Winter Series of this podcast, the recording of this episode was streamed live.
Continue reading “The 9pm End of Winter LIVE”
My week of Monday 3 to Sunday 9 June 2019 was rather nice, and rather productive. More time exploring Brisbane, and four decent articles written for ZDNet, and not too much stress at all.
Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 471: Two cities, less whisky, no gin, and some more cybers”
My week of Monday 12 to Sunday 18 June 2017 was steadily more productive than the last, despite appearances.
I did foreshadow last week that I’d be recording the pilot episode of a new podcast. I’ve put that back a few weeks, for various reasons, but as you’ll see below there will be a podcast soon.
None.
I’ll be working on the SEKRIT editorial project and writing for ZDNet, with a break mid-week to celebrate the Winter Solstice. At some point I’ll probably pop down to Sydney, but I haven’t set a date yet.
The next episode of The 9pm Edict podcast will be recorded and streamed live on Thursday 29 June 6 July from stilgherrian.com/edict/live/, starting at 2100 AEST. You still have time to support this podcast with a one-off contribution.
I’m covering the Data + Privacy Asia Pacific conference in Sydney on 12 July; the 5th International Conference on Cybercrime and Computer Forensics (ICCCF) on the Gold Coast from 16 to 18 July, I hope; the national conference of 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.
Update 26 June 2017: Edited to reflect schedule changes.
[Photo: Approaching the Bridge. The approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, off-camera to the right, photographed on 30 October 2012.]
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.]
My presentation from the Saasu Cloud Conference 2012, which I told you about previously, is now online: Security and the Cloud: Hype versus Reality.
I’ll leave the article to explain itself once you click through, but to provide some Googlejuice here are the words hacking, infosec, cybercrime, cyberwar, information security, malware and cows.
[Update 2.25pm: Comments on Twitter have persuaded me to emphasise that the question here is specifically about “personal safety” only, not lame and replaceable possessions, and my personal safety at that. As the second-last paragraph says, the risk profile might not be the same for everyone. These are the choices I’ve made with open eyes.]
“How do you think that tweeting your day plans affects your personal safety?” asked Ravneel Chand a short time ago. Overall, I reckon it actually increases my safety. Here’s why.
Background first. Here’s today’s “daily plan” tweet which, like those on pretty much every other day, is tweeted shortly before I settle down to work.
Thu plan: Bump out Waratah Cottage; 1032 train to Sydney; lunch (where?); errand Newtown/Enmore; write something; evening TBA.
Later in the morning I mentioned that I’d be catching a later train. And then, just as I left the house:
Mobile: Cab, shortly, to Wentworth Falls; 1132 train to Sydney Central; train to Town Hall station; 1335 walk to SEKRIT hotel and check in.
Clearly the fear being expressed is that by knowing my movements some bad person could more easily do me harm. But let’s do a proper risk assessment. You start one of those by enumerating the risks, and then you look at how this additional information might change those risks.
Continue reading “Why tweeting my movements isn’t a safety risk”