My week of Monday 18 to Sunday 24 September 2023 was a typical example of recent weeks for me. Not very productive, with the need to sleep a lot, and in between some work for clients that I can’t really tell you about yet. But the flowers were nice.
Articles
- Digital developments from Canberra 54. A national digital ID system is back on the table with draft legislation released this week. Also a covid-19 inquiry, hints about our national cybersecurity strategy, and a few stories about AI in government.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning.
Media Appearances
- Do university course notes count as “media appearances”? Anyway, my ZDNet article from 2021, Why Australia’s Online Safety Act is an abdication of responsibility, has turned up as “not essential reading, but an interesting critique” in the notes for the University of Newcastle (Australia) course Internet Law (LAWS5039), via Studoco.
Podcasts, Videos, Photos, Corporate Largesse
None of these. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear.
Recommendations
Elon Musk continues to be Elon Musk.
- Elon Musk Says Twitter Might Charge Everyone For Access, which amuses me because that was an option Twitter could have taken way, way back. After a debate which divided the company they went with the advertising-funded model. And here we are.
- “What makes Elon Musk tick? I spent months following the same people as him to find out who fuels his curious worldview,” from the Guardian.
- The Gruesome Story of How Neuralink’s Monkeys Actually Died.
- Elon Musk woos world leaders, courting controversy.
- Elon Musk keeps publicly begging celebrities to post on X and gets pouty if they choose other platforms.
- “Larry David Confronted Elon Musk at a Wedding Over Voting Republican: ‘Do You Just Want to Murder Kids in Schools?’”
- And finally from The Washington Post, Things both my toddler and Elon Musk do that are signs of genius, apparently.
In other news:
- This week’s If You’re Listening is the fascinating story behind India’s partition and dual name. Why Modi picked a fight over India’s true name in audio, and The controversial history of India’s name as video.
- In the UK, Home Office used Gillette shaving report to assess migrants’ ages.
- First Google Search Result for Tiananmen Square ‘Tank Man’ Is AI Generated Selfie, so this is all going to be very helpful.
- Scientists Devised a Way to Tell if ChatGPT Becomes Aware of Itself, though I’m somewhat sceptical that this can ever be a thing.
- The game Cities: Skylines II will be released next month, at least in some form. But if you still want to play the original, there’s currently a bargain-priced Cities: Skylines Humble Bundle on offer with the base game and a bunch of downloadable content.
The Week Ahead
Client-related tasks should dominate Monday to Wednesday. This week my Sydney trip is on Thursday, and I’ll be having drinks with a client before staying overnight. Not with the client. They’re not that sort of client.
Then it’s the long weekend for Labour Day, although for me it won’t be very different from any other weekend. On Saturday I’ll be pottering at home. On Sunday I’ll be having lunch with a co-conspirator (yes that one). [Update 27 September 2023: Sunday will be catch-up on work day, kinda.] Who knows what Monday will bring.
Somewhere in there I will definitely have news about more podcast episodes because, yes, it’s been a while and I’m very, very sorry.
Further Ahead
- Housesitting in Sydney, 7–31 October 2023. If you’re wanting to catch up with me, this would be a good time in which to extend invitations. Except for…
- The 9pm Hobart Expedition, 22–25 October 2023. Snarky Platypus and I have locked in a voyage south. I may well be recording a podcast there. We’re definitely going to MONA on the Monday, and there will be an anyone-can-come evening at a bar on Tuesday 24 October, venue TBA.
[Photo: Two years ago I started posting a series of photos of a New South Wales waratah flower (Telopea speciosissima) unfolding from a bud all the way to the emptied seed pods, which many people enjoyed. This year that same plant has produced four flowers! Here’s two of them, photographed on 24 September 2023.]