My week of Monday 13 to Sunday 19 June 2022 was a short one, and relatively easy. Or to put it another way, I was lazy. There was a podcast. There was some planning. And there was clear, sunny weather — if a little cold. A nice change after weeks of La Niña, and a strange contrast to last year’s June snow.
Podcasts
- The 9pm Extensive Salad-Tossing of the Monarchy with David F Porteous, recorded on Thursday morning Sydney time and posted on Saturday. Just like last time it’s another long conversation, but it has some twists that are worth following.
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Photos
- The photos in the Waratah sequence 2021 now span 292 days. The seed pods are getting quite woody, and in a tweet earlier today I showed what they will look like at some point in the future .
Media Appearances
- Having blurted out the news of the demise of ZDNet Australia, I was quoted by Influencing and Mumbrella.
Articles, Videos, Corporate Largesse
None of these. You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear.
Recommendations
- Mike Seccombe’s second piece for The Saturday Paper on the decline of the Liberal Party is out: Part two: The Howard battlers joined the party.
- This has always been something that irritated me: A century-old double standard: like Labor leaders before him, Albanese is being told he can’t manage money.
- How the AEC faced the online trolls and won, from the Australian Financial Review. There’s been quite a few pieces about how the Australian Electoral Commission operated on Twitter during the election campaign, but this one has some nice quotes about the strategy.
- Apropos of nothing in particular, remember that 12ft.io can usually help you jump over a paywall.
- TimeGhost TV has done a 4-part miniseries as part of their World War 2 project titled Vatican at War. Fascinating stuff. Did you know the Pope was personally involved in a plot to assassinate Hitler?
- This is from 2016 but it’s still relevant: Patrick Stewart sketch: what has the European Convention on Human Rights ever done for us?.
- A brief Twitter thread on The Danger of Minimalist Design (archived).
The Week Ahead
My main work focus this week will be on the continuing SEKRIT geek-work and editorial consulting. I’ll also assemble a list of some of my better writing so I can look for freelance journalism gigs in the new financial year.
On Tuesday I’m heading down to Sydney for some health-related things and to mark the Solstice, which for me is the Winter Solstice at 7.08pm AEST or whatever that is in your timezone.
Immediately after that it’s Bond on Tuesday time. This week we return to the main sequence of Eon films with You Only Live Twice (1967) starring Sean Connery. Get ready at 8.30pm AEST. We press PLAY at 8.40pm.
I’ll return to the Blue Mountains on Wednesday after some more errands and lunch with a co-conspirator and shopping.
[Update 23 June 2022: Let’s adjust this a little.] On Thursday At the end of the week I’m recording a solo episode of The 9pm Edict, because I want to chat about the first month of the new Albanese government. And other things too. It’ll be posted same-day Friday or perhaps Saturday.
Further Ahead
We’re slowly starting to slot in some things for the second half of the year.
- See that featured image on the front page of this website? It’s coming up to 20 years old. On 4 July 2022 I’ll re-create it.
- TechLeaders Forum 2022, Leura NSW, 21–22 August 2022. After a hiatus during the Quarantimes, this once-annual gathering for tech journalists is returning for 2022. Its purpose is for industry PR people to meet the journos who cover their clients.
- APNIC 54, Singapore and online, 13–15 September 2022. I daresay I wont be travelling physically to Singapore, but we’ll see.
- NetThing: Australia’s Internet Community Forum, online, 27–28 October 2022 (TBC).
[Photo: Following all the weeks of wet and windy weather of La Niña, it’s now sunny and dry in the Blue Mountains. Around this time last year it was snowing. As proof, here’s the Alexandra Hotel, Leura, photographed on 10 June 2021.]