Monday 21 to Sunday 27 December 2020 was a suitably lazy Christmas week, even quieter than usual thanks to the ’rona fears. But I did record plenty of stuff for next week’s end-of-year podcast, and I made a video.
Meanwhile, it’s just 5 days until 2021. How does that make you feel?
The television question from last week has been resolved. The big fat very slim smart TV that I won has gone to someone who’ll get way more enjoyment from it. Instead, I’ve bought myself a RØDECaster Pro podcast production studio plus a few little bits and pieces.
Offloading the audio processing from my MacBook Pro to separate hardware has quite a few benefits for livestreaming, especially when video is added. All this will become handy in 2021.
Some of you may find it odd that my gift to myself is work-related. Thing is, I have a relatively simply lifestyle and there’s nothing that I really want “for myself”. This, however, will give me a sense of having received something special — way more than a TV.
Videos
On Christmas Eve, Dr Alice Gorman issued her #BoxOfWhackiness challenges, and my task was to “Go outside and ring the doorbell. Enter the house as if you are a mysterious stranger”. Well, I don’t have a doorbell so I just knocked.. And I decided to make a film about it. That’s a screenshot above.
Articles, Podcasts
None, but you can always read some of my previous writing at Authory, or subscribe to get a weekly compilation of new stories by email each Sunday morning, if there are any.
Media Appearances
- ABC Radio National has repeated an episode of Rear Vision from April, What happened to the NBN, Australia’s ‘information superhighway’?, with me as one of the alleged experts. I’ve re-listened to it, and yes it’s still a great summary of the political shenanigans that resulted in Australia’s national broadband network being so rubbish.
Corporate Largesse
None. And thus ends 2020. I hadn’t realised how much the travel and conferences were a key part of my routine, and important opportunities to learn things. Online conferences simple aren’t the same.
Recommendations
- It’s probably offline now but there’ll be a recording. Triadex Muse Electronic Yule Log Live Stream, a long-form performance by the Triadex Muse, a remarkable digital musical instrument created in 1972 by Marvin Minsky and Edward Fredkin. Here’s a Triadex Muse emulator you can play with yourself.
- Reverse Engineering the source code of the BioNTech/Pfizer SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine, which is indeed an explanation of how the genetic code works. Anyone want to get me a “DNA printer”? I promise not to misuse it.
- The Rise and Fall and Rise of the Chemistry Set (2012). “Banning toys with dangerous acids was a good idea, but was the price a couple generations of scientists?” It’s an interesting question.
- Old Fashioned 101: The classic American cocktail. What the title says. Make one for yourself. Send me some rye whisky and I’ll make one too.
- Once you’ve made that drink, watch this bizarre Christmas message from Melania and Donald Trump.
The Week Ahead
It’s week 41 of the Quarantimes at Bunjaree Cottages at Wentworth Falls, and it’s that quiet week between Christmas and New Year’s Eve where very little gets done.
That said, on Monday and Tuesday I’m putting together the end-of-year episode of The 9pm Edict. It’s a long one, featuring some fabulous guests:
- Award-winning satirist Mark Humphries (@markhumphries) of 7.30 fame etc.
- Journalist Osman Faruqi (@oz_f), editor of the 7am podcast, among other things.
- Tegan Taylor (@teegstar), co-presenter of ABC Radio’s excellent Coronacast.
- Yun Jiang (@yun_aus), editor of The China Story blog at ANU and a director of China Policy Centre. Also one of the people that Senator Eric Abetz kicked off at.
That will all be punctuated by my own musings on the magnificent year that was 2020.
The 9pm Edict is supported by the generosity of its listeners. You can subscribe for special benefits or throw a few coins into the tip jar. Please consider.
Thursday and Friday are of course New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day respectively. I have no idea what I’ll be doing, but I’m sure that whatever it is it’ll be relaxing.
Further Ahead
The following week 4–10 January 2021 I’ll map out the podcast-related things I’ll be doing through the rest of January and February. I’m really starting to like the idea of a weekly pub trivia style video stream, and a series of three of four episodes as a pilot sounds good. I’ll also lock in another short series of The 9pm Edict, its exact form still to be decided.
Also in the calendar:
- Key players in the Biden administration, US Studies Centre, online, 20 January 2021
- Linux.conf.au 2021, online, 23–25 January 2021 (TBC).
- Mimecast Connect 2021, online, 25 February 2021.
- APRICOT 2021 / APNIC 51, online, 1–4 March 2010.
- Australian Cyber Conference, Canberra, 14–16 March 2021 (TBC).
- AusCERT 2021, Gold Coast and online, 11–13 May 2021 (TBC).
[Photo: A frame grab from Mysterious Stranger, the stupid short film I made today for Dr Alice Gorman.]