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!
If you’ve been watching my Twitter stream recently, you’ll know that I’ve been complaining about the cicadas. Here’s why.
I recorded the ambient sound here at Bunjaree Cottages about half an hour ago. Please put on your headphones, turn it up full, and press the play button.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 2:05 — 940.5KB)
Now imagine that going continuously for about ten hours. All day. Every day. You’re welcome.
I’m finding it difficult to switch into that mode where I can concentrate on my writing today. The map above explains why.
I’m at the red marker near Wentworth Falls, and the only two escape routes are the road or railway east towards Sydney or west then north-west towards Lithgow.
The smaller Mt Victoria fire on the left has, remarkably, been contained to much the same boundaries as yesterday, thanks to the hard work and backburning activities of the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS). So far.
The enormous State Mine Fire to the north, however, is growing. The winds, while currently forecast to be relatively mild, are nevertheless pushing the fire in this direction. And while it might look a long way away, given adverse weather conditions a bushfire can travel that distance in mere hours.
Both fires have the potential to reach Wentworth Falls, and earlier this afternoon the RFS chief said that the entire Blue Mountains could end up at risk in the coming days.
While I’m not particularly worried, I do need to stay alert in case the RFS escalates their warnings. I’m already as step ahead: I’ve packed my bug-out bag and have an evacuation plan. But that still makes it difficult to switch off that little stay-alert part of my brain and get down to writing.
So for now, here’s the quick summary of my week Monday 14 to Sunday 20 October 2013, plus the week ahead.
Continue reading “Weekly Wrap 176: Largely largesse, then looming bushfires”
So here’s my week Monday 23 to Sunday 29 September 2013, posted without further comment because quite frankly I couldn’t be bothered.
It was looking like the only media items I’d publish this week would be on Monday, my article and subsequent radio spot about the National Broadband Network — both of which are now distinctly out of date because the story has moved on — but today I managed to knock out another podcast episode.
I’ve also half-written two articles that will be published in due course. So I am catching up.
None.
Monday will see me doing an end-of-month writing burst, so that’ll keep me out of trouble. Tuesday, being the start of a new quarter, is an administration day for me — though I may head to Sydney in the afternoon to get a head start on the rest of the week’s adventures.
On Wednesday I’m heading to Newcastle for the DiG Festival and Conference, which will keep me busy through to Saturday.
[Photo: Sunday evening in the village, being a photograph of Wentworth Falls village taken this evening, Sunday 29 September 2013. Not exactly a brilliant photo, but I was determined to post an image produced this week.]
My week Monday 5 to Sunday 11 August 2013 saw the return of productivity. While I didn’t get everything done that I’d planned, I’m very happy with what did appear.
And that’s despite Thursday night being much later than planned, thanks to further train delays and a strange incident with a drunk and potentially violent man, and losing Saturday to a sore throat. But I won’t dwell on that.
I’m pleased to say that Corrupted Nerds is now available in Apple’s iTunes Store.
I had hoped to kick off The 9pm Election podcast too, but the sore throat put an end to that plan. To be honest, I’m now thinking that it’d be adding just a little too much to my workload. That, plus the fact that I’m starting to find the obsession with the minutiae of the election campaign to be really, really boring.
Both these stories generated quite a bit of interest, it seems. I also wrote for Technology Spectator, but that piece has been held over until next week.
I’m keeping things relatively flexible, but there’ll be quite a few media objects produced. Another episode of Corrupted Nerds is almost ready to post and will likely appear on Tuesday, and I’m committed to writing two pieces for Crikey and one each for ZDNet Australia and Technology Spectator.
I’ll be in Sydney on Friday night for the launch of Dom Knight’s new book, Man vs Child, and may well stay in town overnight.
[Photo: Railway Parade), photographed about 1km east of Wentworth Falls on 5 August 2013. Spring is coming very early this year.]
“‘Day 10’? But the last post was Day 5,” I hear you complaining. Well, the dynamic of my Nokia Lumia 925 / Windows Phone 8 trial changed a bit last week, so I’m skipping over the dull bits.
Day 10 is Thursday 8 August 2013, and the photograph with this post was taken one minute before dawn on that day.
In the intervening days, I had continued to use the Lumia 925 much as I had been, and I continue to appreciate the quality of the camera and the ability to customise the start screen in Windows Phone 8. It makes the iOS grid of icons look positively old-fashioned.
However you may remember that I was having trouble with the Wi-Fi link dropping out when the phone was physically handled. Well, I put that question to Nokia and Microsoft on Monday.
Continue reading “Nokia Lumia 925 and Windows Phone 8 trial: Day 10”
I didn’t leave home base today, so I just gave the Nokia Lumia 925’s camera another quick try-out. I continue to be impressed.
It was an overcast winter’s day here at Wentworth Falls, but everything was looking nice and crisp after some early rain. I figured that a few snapshots around Bunjaree Cottages would be in order.
So, for Day 2 of my Nokia Lumia 925 / Windows Phone 8 trial, here’s 24 photos. All of them have been uploaded to Flickr exactly as they came out of the camera.
The image at the top of the post is a good example of the close-up capability — and I’m pleased that Nokia calls it “close-up” and not “macro”. The image certainly holds up when you zoom in and tweak the contrast.
Continue reading “Nokia Lumia 925 and Windows Phone 8 trial: Day 2”