In my week of Monday 11 to Sunday 17 December 2023 I posted two podcasts and recorded a third, as well as solving some geekery problems for a client, and posting the usual Friday blog. A very productive week indeed.
Podcasts
- The 9pm Capitalist Supply Chain of Medical Problems with tropical cyclone avoider Dr Trent Yarwood, recorded on Monday and posted on Wednesday.
- The 9pm Chia Seed Protein Pudding with John Birmingham, recorded on Friday and posted on Sunday very early.
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Articles
- Digital developments from Canberra 66. Australiia gets a data and digital government strategy, the online services industry codes come into force, Services Australia blows $52 million but gets a new boss, the treasurer drops the mini-budget, and more.
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
- On Thursday I did ABC Radio’s RN Drive Big Tech spot, Big Tech: The top tech stories of 2023. It was inevitable that we spoke about generative AI and Elon Musk’s X/Twitter, but if we’d had the time we were also prepped to talk about the Optus outage and others, the surge in Bitcoin, and the guilty verdicts against Sam Banksman-Fried and Changpeng Zhao.
Videos, Photos, Corporate Largesse
None of these. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear and when livestreams are scheduled. I plan to catch up on posting photos and videos over summer.
Recommendations
Nothing surprises me about Elon Musk any more, particularly his increasingly obvious far-right tendencies.
- Elon Musk’s Big Lie About Tesla Is Finally Exposed, reports Rolling Stone. “More than 2 million of the cars are being recalled — because Tesla’s “self-driving” systems have always been anything but.”
- Elon Musk says oil and gas should not be demonised, quite possibly because he’s well in debt to Gulf State oil producers.
- At the same “right-wing festival” in Italy, Elon Musk urges people to have more babies.
- Or as Fox Business put it, ‘make more Italians’ to counter migration.
- Elon Musk spends $100m to open new university in Texas.
- US judge tentatively rules Musk must testify again in SEC’s Twitter probe.
- And finally, a blog claim: Elon Musk’s luck has finally run out.
In other news:
- I love dark comedy. If you do too you may like Fern Brady’s stand-up show Power & Chaos from 2021.
- The World’s Fastest Robot Dog is Faster Than Most Humans, This is Nothing to Worry About, Right?.
- “Standard Ebooks is a volunteer-driven project that produces new editions of public domain ebooks that are lovingly formatted, open source, free of U.S. copyright restrictions, and free of cost.”
- Parrots learn to make video calls to chat with other parrots, then develop friendships, Northeastern University researchers say.
- And there’s a new nature film from Ze Frank, True Facts: The Rise of the Kitten Snake.
The Week Ahead
Monday is about work-related loose ends, shopping and errands in Katoomba. In the evening I’ll do the video streaming technical tests that I didn’t get to this week. Watch my socials for details of a potential test livestream you can watch.
On Tuesday night it’s The 8pm Quiz of the Year 2023 Part 1, a video livestream starting at 8pm AEDT. Gather some friends at your place, have pencil and paper (or equivalent) at hand, and be ready to answer some questions.
On Friday it’s the Solstice and you’ll get to hear the podcast with Dr Alice Gorman aka Dr Space Junk and astrophysicist Rami Mandow. It’ll be posted nice and early in the morning.
And then it’s the long weekend for Christmas, so don’t expect much from me. That said, on Sunday, which is Christmas Eve, I’ll be heading down to Sydney for a few days of cat-sitting, and I will still have a regular Weekly Wrap that evening.
Further Ahead
- NEW DATES: Record The 9pm Edict podcast with Snarky Platypus, 26 December 2023. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC specifically for this episode, please get them to me by 11am AEDT that day. The finished podcast will be posted on Friday 29 December and will be a bonus episode that doesn’t count toward the summer series total of six.
- The 8pm Quiz of the Year 2023 Part 2, Thursday 28 December 2023, 8pm AEDT.
[Photo: An old man banksia (Banksia serrata) in flower at Bunjaree Cottages. This was photographed on 4 December 2023 but it’s still in flower and attracting the red wattlebirds.]