With me being distracted by thoughts of nuclear submarines, my week of Monday 20 to Sunday 26 September 2021 wasn’t as productive as I’d hoped — but then it was the off week of my fortnightly cycle. That said, there was plenty of birdlife in the sunny weather.
Videos
- Bowerbird + Currawong 001, which is pretty much what it says. Over the course of 52 seconds and one edit, a satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) and a pied currawong (Strepera graculina) take turns to grab some food at Bunjaree Cottages on Sunday morning.
You can always subscribe to my YouTube channel for more, although new videos don’t appear very frequently.
Articles, Podcasts, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse
None. But you can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to get a compilation of any new stories by email each Sunday morning. Or you can just send me presents.
Recommendations
- The Lawfare Podcast is a wonderful thing, and this recent episode is an awesome backgrounder on the issues surrounding ad tech: The Broken Rube Goldberg Machine of Online Advertising.
- Peter Thiel’s Origin Story. “His ideology dominates Silicon Valley. It began to form when he was an angry young man,” and you’ll also earn how his attitude permeates PayPal, Facebook, Palantir, Clearview AI, and much more.
- How Los Angeles Became the City of Dingbats, the architecture style not the typographical thing, part of the series The Iconic Home Designs That Define Our Global Cities. This led me to…
- A brief history of single-family zoning in the San Fernando Valley, because why not.
- China’s Hot New Rental Service: Men Who Actually Listen. It’s demanding work though.
The Week Ahead
This will be week 13 of the current COVID-19 lockdown for Greater Sydney, which is still envisaged to end on Monday 18 October or with luck a week earlier. Not a total removal of all restrictions, of course, but a relaxation of restrictions for those of us who’ve been vaccinated. Nothing official yet though.
Update 28 September 2021: I forgot to mention that there’s a bunch of geekery to do for clients, which will sit here in the first part of the week.
At some point I’ll be producing an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast about Australia’s plan to obtain some nuclear submarines. I’ll also put together the plan for a spring series. Probably.
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.
On Thursday there’s a seminar from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Stronger together: how cyber defence alliances could create a stronger digital economy, which looks fruitful.
Friday will see a day trip to Sydney for some health-related appointments. It will have been more than six weeks since the last trip, which is a little too long. Update 30 September 2021: I think I’ll manage without treatment for another week. May God bless all the pain killers.
And finally it’s the long weekend for Labour Day on the Monday. We’ll still be in lockdown, so it won’t be anything special for me.
Further Ahead
- Aussie Backyard Bird Count, 14–24 October 2021.
- NetThing 2021, online, 4–5 November2021.
- Australian Cyber Conference, Melbourne, 15–17 November 2021 (TBC).
- The Sydney Dialogue, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, 17–19 November 2021 (TBC).
- NSW local government elections, 4 December 2021.
- linux.conf.au 2022, online, 14–16 January 2022 (TBC).
[Photo: A satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus) coming in to land at a feeding spot at Bunjaree Cottages on 26 September 2021. Yes, this is a frame grab from the video listed earlier.]