My week of Monday 14 to Sunday 20 June 2021 included another episode of The 8pm Quiz, some writing, some thinking, and far too many birds. Overall, it was quite good.
Articles
Nationally-known Australian company lawyered up to resist ASD help, ZDNet, 15 June 2021. This article about evidence given to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security also contains unregulated libertarian cyberplanes and pirates.
Videos
- The 8pm Quiz S02 E05, being the final episode of this series of the Quiz, livestreamed on Thursday night. This one has the best lighting of all, but even streamed at a less hungry 720p the quality of the camera image is still substandard. This is something I’ll need to look at before I even consider another series.
- Cockatoos 001: Dusk Screech. Ah, the gentle sounds of the Australian bush! A flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) screech their lungs out at Wentworth Falls just after sunset on Monday. The photo at the top of this post is a frame from that video.
The 9pm Edict and The 8pm Quiz are supported by the generosity of its listeners. You can subscribe for special benefits or throw a few coins into the tip jar. Please consider.
Podcasts, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse
None of these things. You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to get a compilation of new stories by email each Sunday morning, when there are some.
Recommendations
- When Pop History Bombs: A Response to Malcolm Gladwell’s Love Letter to American Air Power. The Los Angeles Review of Books eviscerates Gladwell’s latest book, The Bomber Mafia. “It takes some of the most oft-repeated fallacies about the shift to area bombing [during WW2] and wraps them in a shiny new package… As a piece of writing, The Bomber Mafia is engaging. As a work of history, it borders on reckless.”
- Crayfish behave more boldly after exposure to antidepressants – study. Oh great. So now we have to deal with drugged-up crayfish.
- An excellent twitter thread (archived version) on the bullshit of “flying car” announcements.
- How to Start A Cult, a handy guide.
- 177 Completely WTF Stock Photos You Won’t Be Able To Unsee.
The Week Ahead
Monday is the Winter Solstice, at 1332 AEST to be precise. I’ll finish off at least work on a story for ZDNet in the morning before marking the occasion in some way.
On Wednesday I’ll try to catch Mapping China’s Tech Giants: Covid-19, supply chains and strategic competition from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, although I have a bad track record on getting to these things lately.
Friday will be another Sydney day, with some medical things and some social things.
In between all that, I want to write a second piece for ZDNet, and sort out the final podcast in the autumn series of the Edict.
Further Ahead
This is still looking a bit thin, but I’ll address this in the first week of July.
- Australian Cyber Conference, Melbourne, 15–17 November 2021 (TBC).
[Photo: A flock of sulphur-crested cockatoos (Cacatua galerita) screech their lungs out at Wentworth Falls just after sunset on 14 June 2021.]