My week of Monday 1 to Sunday 7 April 2024 saw me kick off the autumn series of my terrible podcast for grown-ups, the recording of which was spread across two days and two locations .
I’ve noticed once again that I have stopped saying much personal in these posts. Should I? Or should I split off those sorts of things to somewhere else? After all, I already post one of that on the socials.
I should also therefore mention again that I have pretty much abandoned X/Twitter. My main stream of consciousness is on Bluesky, which is now open to all comers. I also exist on Mastodon, but less so.
[Update, moments later: I have also just noticed that I used this exact same image four weeks ago. I forgot to tag it in my image database. What’s really annoying is that I did actually scroll back through my posts to check, but didn’t see it. Lesson: Don’t scroll too quickly.]
Podcasts
- The 9pm Keeping the Moon Nice with Dr Alice Gorman and Rami Mandow, recording on Monday and Tuesday, and posted on Friday night. This episode kicks off the autumn series.
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Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #12. The ATO creates a new logo for myID but continues to be under fire for robotax, Elon Musk sues the eSafety Commission, and much more. Written and posted on Saturday, a day late.
You can read my previous writing at Authory, where you can also subscribe to an email compilation of any new stories each Sunday morning.
Photos, Videos, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse
None of these. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear and when livestreams are scheduled.
Recommendations
Elon Musk continues to be Elon Musk. I continue having an unhealthy fascination with his chaos field.
- In another demonstration of his inability to take direction, Elon Musk is suing the eSafety commissioner after X was issued with a takedown order. “The furore kicked off in late February when Canadian man Chris Elston slammed the proposed appointment of Australian trans activist Teddy Cook to a World Health Organisation panel on healthcare delivery,” reports News.com.au, not quite capturing in that paragraph just how nasty Elston was.
- Elon Musk and X sued by ex-Twitter GM Nick Caldwell over millions in unpaid severance.
- Elon Musk hired safety chiefs for X. Will it actually get safer?.
- Elon Musk Restores Blue Checks on X for ‘Influential’ Users, Some of Whom Clarify They ‘Would Never Pay for This’.
- Tesla scraps low-cost car plans amid fierce Chinese EV competition. So what’s he doing instead?
- Tesla Is Going All In on Robotaxis — Buckle Up.
- That said, Elon Musk Denies Report That Tesla Will Cancel Its Low-Cost Electric Vehicle Option. Who shall we believe?
- How much is Elon Musk to blame for Tesla sales slip?.
- From Adam Something, a video: Tesla Cybertruck: A Tragedy On Four Wheels.
- Investors in talks to help Elon Musk’s xAI raise $3 billion, WSJ reports.
In other news:
- Something to cheer you up. ‘Simply mind-boggling’: world record temperature jump in Antarctic raises fears of catastrophe. “An unprecedented leap of 38.5°C [69.3°F] in the coldest place on Earth is a harbinger of a disaster for humans and the local ecosystem.”
- The True History of Pink for Girls and Blue for Boys. A well-researched video which shows how recent this is. US-centric, and traces is to Europe, but doesn’t cover other cultures.
- A curious 1970 propaganda film from the Asbestos Information Committee, Why Asbestos?, intending to counter the emerging information the asbestos was dangerously unhealthy.
- Sydney has grown like a tumour, spreading along transport lines. The peer-reviewed research is titled The angiogenic growth of cities also like that at the end there’s a Declaration of AI use: “We have not used AI-assisted technologies in creating this article”.
- Australian lab-grown meat cultured from quail cells hits the market in Singapore.
The Week Ahead
After a couple of short and unproductive weeks straddling the Easter long weekend I’m going to settle into some productive days. No really. Nothing has been scheduled into specific days, apart from The Weekly Cybers on Friday. Watch my socials for details as they unfold.
I’ll also produce a solo episode of The 9pm Edict podcast, unless I suddenly lock in a guest, and I’ll be organising the remaining episodes in the autumn series.
Further Ahead
- Meanjin Autumn 2024 launch, Gleebooks, Glebe NSW, 24 April 2024.
- Aaron Chen’s Funny Garden, Sydney, 27 April 2024. I am thrilled for Aaron because he’s now doing six performances at the State Theatre. As a prelude, you might like to watch his show from last year, If Weren’t Filmed, Nobody Would Believe. As he says, “Lucky were filmed”.
- He Huang Tiger Daughter versus the World, Chatswood NSW, 5 May 2024.
- NEW: 1,000,000 Years Celebration,
11May 2024. Details TBA. - Nina Oyama is Coming, Marrickville NSW, 12 May 2024.
- The Sydney Dialogue, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Sydney and online, 2–3 September 2024 (TBC).
[Photo: I’m pretty sure this is a False Garden Mantis (Pseudomantis albofimbriata), and a female one at that, photographed at Bunjaree Cottages on 5 March 2024. We still don’t have a formal identification at iNaturalist, however. Also, what is a “false garden”?]