Monday 7 to Sunday 13 February 2022 was for me, and for so many Australians who pay attention to politics, a frustrating and stressful mess. But I won’t go into that here. I’ll just celebrate an interesting article, an even more interesting podcast, and a slug. A pretty slug.
Podcasts
- The 9pm EPIC Convoy to Canberra Explainer or Maybe Confuser with Elise Thomas, recorded and posted on Tuesday. These protests are still under way in Canberra, so this is still a good backgrounder.
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Articles
- Beware of spies and radicalisation attempts online: ASIO chief, ZDNet, 11 February 2022. Based on the third annual threat assessment by ASIO chief Mike Burgess, a speech which is well worth reading in full.
- A reminder too that last week’s A challenge: Where is the Hill of Dead Pets? runs for one more week, until 8pm AEDT next Sunday 20 February.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning.
Photos
- The photos in the Waratah sequence 2021 now span 166 days. Progress continues to be slow so there’s only three new photos this week.
Videos, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse
None. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear.
Recommendations
- Updating this week’s podcast, at Crikey there’s The conspiracy community: Canberra protesters united in alienation and anger by Amber Schulz.
- In the Nine papers Caitlin Fitzsimmons has ‘Defend democracy’: The race to tackle conspiracy theories this election.
- According to The Wall Street Journal, Facebook’s own research shows that their algorithms drive divisiveness but they chose to do nothing about it. “64% of all extremist group joins are due to our recommendation tools,” says one slide in the presentation.
- John Birmingham writes about procrastination in his AlienSideBoob column, Nude Victor Hugo is here to help with your sick self-loathing and procrastination.
- If you haven’t listened yet, JB also spoke about his workflow techniques in a recent podcast. here’s a direct link to that segment.
- Speaking of podcasts, the new series Motherlode is a great history of the early hacking scene in Melbourne, one of the key places for such things globally. It’s in all the usual places.
- And the BBC’s Evil Genius podcast recently did an episode on Wernher von Braun; the rocket scientist who put man on the moon.
- The seductive glamour and decadent hedonism of Hollywood influences on Australian architecture.
The Week Ahead
The main focus of the week is that geek-work that I’m slowly plodding through. In the background I’ll be paying attention to the excitement of Senate Estimates, because it might inspire an article for ZDNet.
On Monday I’ll also try to catch Indigenous Technologies: Innovations Powering the Continuation of our Oldest Civilisations, part of the The Sydney Dialogue from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) .
On Tuesday there’s another ASPI webinar, Taking the low road: China’s influence in Australian states and territories. Webinar season has very much begun.
And on Thursday I’m recording a podcast with Justin Warren, “consultant, freedom of information tragic, hexagon enthusiast, and creator of the CyberRatingâ„¢ labelling scheme”, who was last on the Edict in October 2021 with The 9pm Double-Length Rights and Freedoms Philosophical Dreamscape with Justin Warren.
If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, by 5pm AEDT Thursday please.
Update 15 February 2022: On Friday I’m recording another episode with Leonardo Puglisi, boss-lad of 6 News Australia, who’s been in the news a bit lately because the 14yo has been copping attacks from some of the more deranged folk on Twitter and elsewhere. TRIGGER WORDS and CONVERSATION TOPICS by midday AEDT Friday please.
The podcast with Leo Puglisi will be posted on Saturday, and the one with Justin Warren early next week.
Sunday night at 8pm AEDT I’m revealing the answer to A challenge: Where is the Hill of Dead Pets?.
Further Ahead
- Increasing Resilience in a Post-Pandemic World, part of ASPI’s The Sydney Dialogue, online, 21 February 2022.
- The 9pm Edict recording with Scottish author and podcaster David F Porteous, 22 February 2022. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, by 5pm AEDT on Monday 21 February please.
Australian Computer Society’s Reimagination Thought Leaders’ Summit, Sydney, 23 February 2022 (TBC). So far the program looks a bit generic, and the whole “thought leaders” thing is such a turn-off, but I might go anyway.Nah, this probably won’t be a thing.- The geopolitics of climate and security in the Indo-Pacific, ASPI, 24 February 2022.
- APRICOT 2022 / APNIC 53, 28 February to 3 March 2022.
- Aaron Chen at the Enmore Theatre, 5 May 2022.
- Nigel Ng’s The Haiyaa World Tour, Enmore Theatre, 9 June 2022.
[Photo: A red triangle slug (Triboniophorus graeffei) photographed at Bunjaree Cottages on 12 February 2022. The hole placed asymmetrically on its back is its pneumostome, or breathing pore.]