The main lesson from my week of Monday 23 to Sunday 29 August 2021 was that Spring is early this year. Very early. And I have the photographs to prove it. After a moist grey start to the week it ended up being bright and sunny, which improved my mood no end.
I wasn’t hugely productive, though I learned a lot from the ANU Thai Update 2021 seminar series. I’ll have links to the recordings next week, but for now here are my Twitter threads for the seminars on Economy and COVID-19, Protests, Parliament, and Foreign Policy.
Media Appearances
- My photo of Craig Kelly’s election campaign sign has been used to illustrate a story at Upstart, Craig Kelly to lead United Australia Party.
Articles, Podcasts, Videos, Corporate Largesse
None, but there’s two podcasts in the coming week.
You can also 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.
It’s so long since I’ve enjoyed some corporate largesse I’ve almost forgotten what it even means.
Recommendations
- The UTS:ACRI seminar “The Hugh White Thesis – Ten Years On” was fascinating. Check out the audio and video recordings. They say transcript will appear soon.
- This video is pure engineering porn. America’s Iron Giants – The World’s Most Powerful Metalworkers, on the history of giant closed-die forging presses. What amazes me is how few of these massive machines exist, which makes them into strategic assets.
- “During most of the 20th century Australia was one of the strictest censors in the western world. Most imported publications were closely inspected before being released, and Australia would frequently ban what was considered suitable reading in England, Europe and America.” It’s true, and you should definitely go through this online exhibition from the National Archives of Australia, Banned: The Secret History of Australian Censorship.
- The wonderful ABC Radio show Rear Vision, which “puts contemporary events in their historical context”, has two episodes related to Afghanistan: Who are the Taliban? and Afghanistan — the land of failed invasion.
- The Chook in the Australian Unconscious (1986) by Judith Brett.
- And finally, from the wonderful Parliamentary Library, Vaccination requirements for government payments: a brief history.
The Week Ahead
This will be week ten of the current COVID-19 lockdown for Greater Sydney, and it starts way busy. Wish me luck.
On Monday I’ll drop into the Australian Strategic Policy Institute discussion, Cybersecurity, critical technologies and energy: Japan and its role in the Indo-Pacific, but mostly I’ll be preparing for Tuesday.
Tuesday lunchtime I’m recording an episode of the The 9pm Edict podcast on Antarctic and Arctic geopolitics and the like with Dr Liz Buchanan from the Australian War College.
If you’re a podcast supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC to cash in this episode, I’ll need them by 3pm AEST that day.
On Tuesday night it’s the livestreamed recording of the final episode in the Late Winter Series, starting at 9pm AEST. At the appointed hour go to the9pmedict.com/live or listen on Spreaker apps for the audio stream.
Supporters of the pod will also be emailed a YouTube live link, so you can watch the sausage being made. Not a euphemism.
If you want to throw in TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC I’ll need them by 8pm AEST, but I’ll also be watching Twitter and the live chat so you can probably make comments as we go along.
The edited versions of both podcasts will be posted on Wednesday.
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.
Also on Wednesday I’ll check out the United States Study Centre session The Alliance 70th anniversary with distinguished guests former Prime Ministers Julia Gillard and John Howard.
In the latter part of the week I’ll try to get some writing done for ZDNet, and try to figure out what the hell I’ll be doing through spring. I actually have some client geekery to work on, so I should probably start on that.
Further Ahead
It’s all about the anniversaries of the ANZUS Treaty and 9/11 this month.
- Trust and Diversify: A geoeconomic strategy for the Australia-US alliance, United States Study Centre, online, 8 September 2021.
- The road from 9/11: The evolution of counterterrorism and extremism, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, online, 13 September 2021.
- APNIC 52 conference, online, 14–16 September 2021.
- NetThing 2021, online, 4–5 November2021 (TBC).
- Australian Cyber Conference, Melbourne, 15–17 November 2021 (TBC).
- linux.conf.au 2022, online, 14–16 January 2022 (TBC).
[Photo: Almond blossom at Bunjaree Cottages photographed on 25 August 2021. This is part of a sequence of daily photos. The flowering process is running about two weeks ahead of a similar sequence from 2016, which was itself an early Spring. Things are changing.]