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!
Stilgherrian is joined by Snarky Platypus, who’s recently returned to the socials after a two-year break, for a long conversation about everything from food to conspiracy theories to stupid names for Sydney suburbs. Quite a lot about food, actually.
Continue reading “The 9pm Bad Nasi Goreng Makes the Merlion Sad with Snarky Platypus”
My week of Monday 30 January to Sunday 5 February 2017 has just ended, with some pleasing results.
It seems that once we moved from January into February, and Australia returned from its traditional extended holiday season, that things started moving. I also managed to get rid of some of the pain that had been plaguing me over summer.
None. But wait until you see what happens over the coming few weeks.
I’m based up at Wentworth Falls this week, but on Monday I’m doing the long commute to Sydney for an appointment at the US Consulate, a couple of errands, and maybe a meeting or two. I’ll also finish off a column for ZDNet en route.
For the rest of the week, I’m working on that SEKRIT editorial project. I’ll tell you more about that mid-week. I’ll probably also write a thing or two for ZDNet, because the Australian Parliament starts a new session this week, and there’s some legislation being debated that’s relevant to my interests.
Assuming everything goes to plan, on Sunday I’m flying to San Francisco to cover the RSA Information Security Conference (RSAC), which runs 13 to 16 February.
I see that I’ll be in San Francisco when the anti-Trump general strike has been planned, Friday 17 February. That should be interesting.
I’m covering the APRICOT 2017 / APNIC43 conference in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, from 26 February to 3 March; and the annual conference of the Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) in Canberra from 14 to 16 March.
Further details are at stilgherrian.com/inpublic/.
[Photo: Indian-Pacific, stalled. The Indian-Pacific is the longest rail journey in Australia, running between Sydney and Perth via Adelaide. For some reason, on 1 February 2017 is was waiting just outside Sydney Central Station. That must be frustrating at the end of a four-day journey.]
NASA sends a boy band to Pluto. Prime Minister Crusader Rabbit makes sense of the Middle East, more or less. And we hear some presciently ironic words from Singapore.
In this podcast, there’s talk of Singapore, censorship, wine, and taxes. Amongst other things.
Continue reading “The 9pm I Can’t Believe It’s Not a Planet”
Monday 5 to Sunday 11 November 2012 was nearly all about Singapore, and the bits that weren’t were about sore throats, diarrhoea and pain.
Since this is being posted late, I’ll spare you the details and cut to the chase. That means I don’t have to talk about the interesting encounter with someone from my past.
It’s another busy week this week. I arrived in Sydney around lunchtime today, Monday, and will be focusing on logistics for the rest of the day. I think.
On Tuesday I’ll be writing my presentation for the local government IT conference, attending the VMWare lunch to launch their Cloud Index, and later meeting with Martin Roesch from Sourcefire.
On Wednesday I’m flying to Coffs Harbour for said local government IT conference. I’m staying in Coffs until Saturday, covering the conference and going for a walk on Saturday morning. I fly back to Sydney on Saturday afternoon.
I’m not sure what the weekend holds.
[Photo: Approaching storm, Singapore, a view from my room at the Parkroyal on Beach Road. The green tinge is caused by the coating on the window.]
Monday 29 October to Sunday 4 November 2012 was a busy week, made slightly less busy by the need to recover from the throat infection identified last week and then, because I was run down, fatigue that was probably a mix of a cold and hay fever.
Hence the photograph of the wattle I’ve posted here. It is to blame.
Dear Plant Kingdom, if I spread my genetic material all over you the way you do over me, I’d be arrested! Please behave yourself.
[Update 1545 AEDT: I am reliably informed that the hay fever is unlikely to be caused by wattle pollen.]
Also, the Sydney Opera House has posted the video of my Festival of Dangerous Ideas panel, I Share Therefore I Am. I’ll write more about that in due course.
Next week is pretty much all about Singapore. On Monday I’ll head down to Sydney and get some writing out of the way. Then on Tuesday it’s Singapore Airlines flight SQ212 departing Sydney at 0905 AEDT and arriving in Singapore mid-afternoon local time.
Wednesday is Verizon Business’ APAC Media Day, a five-hour meeting followed by cocktails. On Thursday I’m visiting the hospitality tent at the Barclays Singapore Open golf tournament as Verizon’s guest. Friday through Sunday has yet to be finalised, but there’ll be at least two articles to write and a podcast to produce.
Oh, and a social life.
My flight back to Sydney SQ231 leaves Singapore at 45 minutes past midnight Sunday night — so technically that’s Monday morning.
[Photo: Wattle near Railway Parade, near Wentworth Falls, one of the causes of my hay fever this week.]
Verizon has noticed that most Australians know them only for their US mobile phone business — if they know them at all. So as part of their process of fixing that, they’re sending me to Singapore.
The main focus of the trip is a media briefing day on Wednesday 7 November, where I’ll learn more about Verizon Enterprise Solutions and, of course, the information security work they do. So I daresay I’ll be writing about that sort of thing at some point.
I’m arriving in Singapore on the evening of Tuesday 6 November and, since it’s my first visit to Shopping Mall and Container Terminal Island, I’ll be staying through to Sunday night before returning to Sydney.
Verizon has also invited me to their hospitality tent at the Barclay Singapore Open. Golf. Yes, I know, I’m not the least bit interested in golf. But it’ll be a handy “networking opportunity”. Yes, I know.
So, what do I need to know about Singapore? Where must I go? And who must I meet?