My week of Monday 22 to Sunday 28 August 2022 began in Leura in the Blue Mountains but was mostly spent in Sydney, housesitting in Surry Hills. I spent almost all that time inside, which was perhaps a wasted opportunity, but I recorded a great podcast and got some things done in the background.
The crowdfunder for The 9pm Spring Series 2022 wrapped up on Thursday night, reaching 91% of Target Two. That means we’ll have five special-guest episodes of The 9pm Edict podcast for the season — unless I run some more crowdfunding before the end.
Thanks, everyone. Stay tuned to your emails or the podcast itself for the plans as we go along.
That said, I’ve already pencilled in Toby Walsh, Laureate Fellow & Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at UNSW Sydney, author of Machines Behaving Badly; and Scottish author and social researcher David F Porteous (who’s been on the pod previously).
I’m also still trying for Economist Umair Haque, author of The New Capitalist Manifesto and Betterness: Economics for Humans, chronicler of the decline of America and maker of disco.
Further guests will mostly be less male, and of course there will also be the occasional solo episodes.
Podcasts
- The 9pm Infectious Backpacker Sex Study with Dr Trent Yarwood recorded on Wednesday and posted on Saturday. This is the final episode in the winter series. Hope you’ve enjoyed them.
Articles
- Digital developments from Canberra 3, 28 August 2022. I started this series as a weekly list of action in and connected with Parliament. Here’s week 1 and week 2. But from now on I’ll just do one whenever I reckon there’s enough to bother with.
You can read my own previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning.
Corporate Largesse
- As mentioned last week, in the first instance of corporate largesse since the Beforetimes, since late February 2020 to be precise, my attendance at the Tech Leaders Forum 2022 in Leura was covered by the organisers, Influencing. As for key sponsors, Thrive PR covered dinner on Sunday night, I got a multi-format USB charging cable from NetApp, and Media-Wize bought me a coffee.
Photos, Videos, Media Appearances
None. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear.
Recommendations
- “Researchers looked at thousands of spider news stories to study how sensationalized information spreads. In Australia, home to many dangerous spiders, spider news is consistently accurate and rarely charged with emotion.†From The New York Times, Spiders Are Caught in a Global Web of Misinformation.
- Like many Australians, I would kill the white-tailed spider because the whole idea of “necrotic ulcers” sounds bad. But today I discovered that’s a myth. Oops.
- University of Toronto researchers have proposed making skins for buildings to protect them from the sun, thereby saving air conditioning costs, that work the same way as krill.
- Sesame Street has joined TikTok and their first video is delightful.
- Finally have a new song from SHOW-GO, Otonashi. Such a stunning video.
The Week Ahead
On Monday I’ll be tidying up and bumping out of my stint of housesitting in Sydney, and in the evening I’ll get the train back to Wentworth Falls.
On Tuesday night, Bond on Tuesday sees the final outing of Roger Moore in the role in A View to a Kill (1985). Find a stream and get ready at 8.30pm AEST. We press PLAY at 8.40pm.
The rest of week is still TBA but it probably won’t be anything of interest to you, just that semi-SEKRIT work I keep hinting at. Any major changes will the subject of an update right here.
Further Ahead
- UNSW AI Institute Launch, University of New South Wales Sydney, 13 September 2022.
- APNIC 54, Singapore and online, 13–15 September 2022. I won’t be travelling to Singapore.
- Aussie Backyard Bird Count, 17–23 October 2022.
- Federal Budget, 25 October 2022.
- NetThing: Australia’s Internet Community Forum, online, 27–28 October 2022.
- Victoria state election, 26 November 2022. I’m sure I’ll do something special.
[Photo: Oxford Street, Surry Hills NSW, photographed on 31 July 2020.]