In my seemingly fortnightly cycle of productivity levels, the week of Monday 19 to Sunday 25 July 2021 was less productive than the previous week, but there was some excellent news.
My latest crowdfunding campaign, The 9pm Late Winter Series 2021, wrapped up on Thursday night having achieved Targets One and Two, and a bit more. Thank you all so much. That means six episodes of The 9pm Edict podcast with special guests between now and the end of August, and I’ll make the last one a bit more special in some way.
The ,lockdown and the cold weather has kept me indoors or very close to home, but I’ve noticed a lot more birds at Bunjaree Cottages lately. That’s why there’s been photos of them in most of the recent Weekly Wraps.
Media Appearances
- I spoke about NSO Group’s Pegasus spyware on this week’s Vertical Hold podcast, Netflix woos gamers, Pegasus spyware attacks iPhones: Vertical Hold Ep 338.
Articles, Podcasts, Corporate Largesse
None. But 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
- The YouTubers who blew the whistle on an anti-vax plot, a BBC report on an attempt to get popular influencers to spread disinformation.
- The free weekly cybersecurity newsletter Seriously Risky Business is back.
- I was reminded of the excellent book by British comedian Mark Thomas, As Used On the Famous Nelson Mandela: Underground Adventures in the Arms and Torture Trade (2007). The title comes from the advertising copy for some prisoner restraint devices, “As used on the famous Nelson Mandela”. You’ll learn how to become an international arms dealer.
- This week I’ve been watching the British action-drama TV series Callan (1967–1972) starring Edward Woodward. Many of the early episodes of been lost, but every extant episode can be found on YouTube.
- Lutheran Insulter, a website that delivers random insults in English from the works of Martin Luther.
- The animals that can live forever. “To date, there’s only one species that has been called ‘biologically immortal’: the jellyfish Turritopsis dohrnii. These small, transparent animals hang out in oceans around the world and can turn back time by reverting to an earlier stage of their life cycle.”
The Week Ahead
This will be the fifth COVID-19 lockdown week for Greater Sydney in the current outbreak, and there’s no real sign of it being able to end soon.
I’m heading down to Sydney on Monday for a couple of medical things. One could be done remotely but the other not, and I’ve already delayed it a couple of weeks. Needless to say I’ll be minimising the potential for exposure, and I’ve already had one dose of vaccine, so I’m not too worried. Well, I’m a bit worried.
The rest of the week will be a mix of writing for ZDNet and producing the first podcast in The 9pm Late Winter Series 2021. I’ll set the dates as I go along.
The 9pm Edict is supported by the generosity of its listeners. You can always subscribe for special benefits or throw a few coins into the tip jar. Please consider.
Further Ahead
Still looking a bit bleak.
- Australia’s 2021 Census, 10 August 2021.
- Second COVID-19 vaccination, Sydney, 16 August 2021.
- APNIC 52 conference, online, 14–16 September 2021.
- Australian Cyber Conference, Melbourne, 15–17 November 2021 (TBC).
- linux.conf.au 2022, online, 14–16 January 2022 (TBC).
[Photo: A grey butcherbird (Cracticus torquatus) making off with some food I’d given it at Bunjaree Cottages on 22 July 2021.]