I’ve sometimes said that I seem to operate on a two-week productivity cycle. It therefore comes as no surprise that my week of Monday 18 to Sunday 24 July 2022 was a relatively quiet compared with last week’s burst of productivity.
I don’t know why, but my sleep patterns were all over the place. The’ve improved as the week comes to a close, but I still needed a three-hour nap this afternoon. Sigh.
As for this week’s photo, since I didn’t take any particularly exciting new images I’ve gone back a decade. That’s the P&O cruise ship Pacific Jewel as it was then in 2012. In 2018 it was sold to Jalesh Cruises and renamed Karnika, then scrapped after that company went bust during the Quarantines. It’s moored at what was for a time a cruise passenger terminal but is now Barangaroo. The Sydney Harbour Bridge, on the left, is still there.
A few weeks later I was in San Francisco for one of my then-regular visits. It seems an eon ago.
Photos
- The photos in the Waratah sequence 2021 now span 327 days, with some amazing scenes this week. In the earlier part of the week, when it was sunny, the seed pods started to split open. But then when the rain set in, they closed up again! They’re very clever.
Media Appearances
- For reasons which are not entirely clear, BoingBoing quoted my very ordinary tweet in Bizarre pink glowing sky in Australia revealed to be a sign of a higher power. All I did was tweet a link to the Guardian.
- The same tweet was then quoted by two Romanian websites with the headlines Lumina bizară de pe cerul Australiei. Ce se întâmpla pe pământ, chiar sub ea FOTO and FOTO – Un portal către alte lumi, sau o invazie extraterestră?: O lumină bizară a apărut pe cerul unui oraÈ™ din Australia, and in Moldova as „Un portal către alte lumi?â€. O lumină bizară a apărut pe cerul unui oraÈ™ din Australia (FOTO).
From the Archive
Each weekday this month I’m tweeting links to things from my archives with the hashtag #StilArchive2022 and collecting them on the web. This week I’ve chosen:
- Cyber attacks on COVID-19 vaccine production are not quite a war crime, ZDNet Australia, 6 December 2020.
- Prying Eyes: How personal surveillance invades our lives 24/7, Crikey, July 2018. I was series editor for this 18-story feature which ran over three weeks, I wrote five of the stories, including the opening Welcome to a world where your privacy is being sold for billions, and the closing The mess we’re in. I’m really pleased how this all turned out, and so much of it remains readable and relevant today.
- To win the cloud, remember George Westinghouse, ZDNet Australia, 27 May 2014.
- NBN: too bold for timid Australia?, ABC The Drum (as it was then), 24 September 2010.
- Microsoft sucked into ever-growing NSA vortex: who’s next?, ZDNet Australia, 12 July 2013. I continue to be way too proud of this piece because I kicked it off with a 95-word single-sentence lede. Some people might say you shouldn’t do that. I say that true expertise is knowing when to break the rules.
Articles, Podcasts, 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
- Discovery of WW1 graphic novel might re-write history books. It’s a German cartoonist’s account of life in an Australian WWI internment camp.
- I am definitely not a fan of the Top Gear chaps. However once the worst of them is removed — and you know who I mean — the other two can be bearable. You may therefore enjoy Hammond & May try to play chess while downing shots.
- There’s a remarkable Twitter account called “There is no cat in this image” @Thereisnocat_, except in every case there is. Some of them are very, very hard to see.
- The Australian Government has updated its official Australian Flags booklet, “an educational resource and a source of general information about the history and proper use of the Australian National Flag and other flags of Australia for the Australian community, flag marshals and visitors to Australia”. Please send a copy to every reactionary arsehat who goes on about “the flag”.
- Some amazing photos by Darya Rybalchenko, who was born in Kemerovo, an industrial city located in the southwest of Siberia. “This harsh region became the inspiration for her minimalist photographic works,” says the blog post.
- To mark former Australian treasurer Josh Frydenberg scoring a job with Goldman Sachs just weeks after his election loss — because of course he has — Adam Zwar has collected his favourite Goldman Sachs jokes ever.
- Why the Straddling Bus Failed and, at the end of the video, some even sillier ideas, by Adam Something. All this is solid reminder that if you can’t fix things with a monorail, and you can’t fix things with a gyroscope, then what you need is a monorail with a gyroscope.
- And finally, something for the pure cringe value. Former foreign minister Julie Bishop has fronted a new employee induction video for Mineral Resources Limited (MinRes). Enjoy.
The Week Ahead
Monday is about editing some documents for a client.
Tuesday is a big day because it’s the Opening of Parliament in Canberra. I’ll be watching online. Here’s the proposed parliament sitting calendar (PDF) for the rest of 2022.
In the evening, Bond on Tuesday continues with The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) starring Roger Moore. Find a stream and get ready at 8.30pm AEST. We press PLAY at 8.40pm.
Thursday involves a number of errands down in Penrith.
[Update 29 July 2022: The Penrith excursion also included a long dinner and drinks with a friend. It’s now late Friday morning so I’ll have to rearrange this last bit of the week.]
On Friday Saturday I’m recording a solo episode of The 9pm Edict, which will doubtless be a reflection on the first week of Parliament under the Albanese government. All three days of it.
The 9pm Edict is supported by the generosity of its listeners. Do feel free to contribute to my upkeep.
I wrap up the week with a personal planning weekend. This is On Sunday and Monday I’ll be running through the two-day process for implementing David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) system, as described last week. You won’t be seeing much of me online during this period.
Further Ahead
- Launch of The 9pm Spring Series 2022 crowdfunding campaign, 1 August 2022. Yes, the days are screaming by, and it’ll soon be time to start thinking about what I’ll be doing in spring.
Covid-19 vaccination booster and an afternoon out in Blaxland, 2 August 2022.- Covid-19 vaccination, and an afternoon and evening out in Sydney, 3 August 2022.
- The 9pm Edict recording with SpaceAustralia.com’s Rami Mandow, 5 August 2022. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, we’ll need them by 8pm AEST on Thursday 4 August.
- Win the Week recording, ABC Ultimo. 9 August 2022. I’ve booked for four out of the eight episodes, starting with this one which is episode two. I may well cancel a couple, however, because heading to Sydney for all of them might prove a bit much.
- The 9pm Edict recording with Justin Warren, 11 August 2022. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, we’ll need them by midday AEST that day.
- Tech Leaders Forum 2022, Leura NSW, 20–22 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 won’t be travelling physically to Singapore, but we’ll see.
- NetThing: Australia’s Internet Community Forum, online, 27–28 October 2022 (TBC).
[Photo: P&O cruise ship Pacific Jewel at the temporary cruise ship terminal at what is now Barangaroo, Sydney, photographed on 5 July 2012.]