Can I just say that stabbing back pain is far from being one of my favourite things? My week of Monday 12 to Sunday 19 May 2024 was punctuated by pain, so my productivity was way, way down. Next week, though. Next week…
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #18. It’s a Budget special! Also, Digital ID laws passed, an update on eSafety Commissioner vs X Corp in the Federal Court, and much 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.
Podcasts, Media Appearances, Photos, Videos, 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
It was interesting to see how the Federal Court of Australia case eSafety Commissioner vs X Corp was reported this week.
The court rejected the commissioner’s application to extend the injunction against X, as I wrote in The Weekly Cybers #18, but the main case is still to happen. Nevertheless, the AFR headlined it as Musk triumphs over Australian government on stabbing videos, a vibe that was echoed by others.
It’s certainly an interesting case, and whatever happens, precedents will be set. But it’s not quite a triumph just yet.
In further musky news:
- Elon Musk laid off the Tesla Supercharger team; now he’s rehiring them, because of course he did, and of course he is.
- “Between 2019 and 2022, groups of Tesla employees shared via an internal messaging system sometimes highly invasive videos and images recorded by customers’ car cameras, according to interviews by Reuters with nine former employees.”
- “Tesla’s Australian chair is seeking to revive Elon Musk’s fortunes by getting investors to reinstate his $US56 billion bonus,” reports the Sydney Morning Herald ($).
- Musk was due to join Indonesia’s President Jokowi this weekend to inaugurate the country’s Starlink service. I can’t be bothered checking whether it actually happened.
- Oh yeah, of course it’s in Bali.
- Elon Musk ordered to testify again in US SEC probe of Twitter takeover.
- Twitter has finally transitioned to X.com.
- How a smear campaign against NPR [America’s National Public Radio] led Elon Musk to feud with Signal.
- Elon Musk Says Earth Will Soon Host a Billion Humanoid Robots, so I guess the ketamine works.
In other news:
- How People Get Around in America, Europe, and Asia. We know that Americans use cars more than most people, but this visualisation shows just how out of kilter they are.
- “The largest pyramid field in Egypt is clustered along a narrow desert strip, yet no convincing explanation as to why these pyramids are concentrated in this specific locality has been given so far,” until this paper. The Egyptian pyramid chain was built along the now abandoned Ahramat Nile Branch.
- As usual a great explainer from this guy. Why Did Dali Lose Power in Baltimore? | NTSB Releases Preliminary Report.
- I’m trying not to post every single one of Ze Frank’s nature videos, but they’re so good. The latest is True Facts: Pigeons Are Tricking You.
- Another interesting history video from Asianometry, How the Rich Ate Macau.
- ‘Westralia shall be free!’ How Western Australia’s secessionists stoked British fears the Empire was at risk.
The Week Ahead
On Monday I’m recording a podcast with Esther Anatolitis, editor of literary quarterly Meanjin and other things. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for that episode, please get them to me tonight, Sunday 19 May.
On Tuesday I’m recording an episode with digital rights chap and hexagon enthusiast Justin Warren. We’ll be looking at the digital things in the federal Budget, plus whatever else is on our minds. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for that episode, please get them to me by 7pm AEST tomorrow, Monday 20 May.
[Update 21 May 2024: This paragraph has been rescheduled due to lack of proper sleep.] They’ll be posted in the opposite order, however: Justin Warren on Tuesday night Thursday, and Esther Anatolitis later in the week on the weekend.
[Update 23 May 2024: I need to slide the podcast posting back a couple more days. Justin Warren on Saturday and Esther Anatolitis early next week.]
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Wednesday will see a day trip to Sydney for various health purposes, and I’ll be doing various work tasks en route. Then it’s some billable hours for a client on Thursday and The Weekly Cybers on Friday.
Further Ahead
It’s starting to look like I should lock in a few more events, yeah?
- TechLeaders 2024, Hunter Valley, 11–12 August 2024.
- The Sydney Dialogue, Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Sydney and online, 2–3 September 2024 (TBC).
[Photo: The Burwood Hotel in Burwood, Sydney, photographed last weekend on 11 May 2024. The boba cocktails are dangerous.]