Apart from Certain Events in The America, which quite a few people found alarming but it wasn’t my fault, my week of Monday 4 to Sunday 10 November 2024 saw the start of a burst of podcast production. Here’s hoping I can sustain it.
Podcasts
- The 9pm Hippopotamus of Doom with David F Porteous, recorded on Thursday evening and posted on Saturday night. It’s not all about the US election result although some of it is.
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Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #43. Digital platforms are the target again this week, with under-16s to be banned from social media, and an anti-scam plan that shares the blame with banks, telcos, 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.
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. I know there haven’t been any for a while, sorry.
Recommendations
Well then. We know the US election result. (Donald Trump won a second term.) And we know Elon Musk’s role. (He was the party boy paying money for influence, supposedly around US$130 million, which he now has in bucketloads.) But I’m going to continue watching him, at least for a little while. It’s an illness.
- But first some background: How Elon Musk became Donald Trump’s shadow vice-president.
- “Elon Musk’s flood of US election tweets may look chaotic. My data reveals an alarming strategy,” writes Dr Timothy Graham.
- Tesla’s market cap hit $1 trillion for the first time since 2022.
- There’s another lawsuit over the $1 million giveaways, this one claiming the winners weren’t selected at random as promised.
- In September, this happened: J D Vance says US could drop support for NATO if Europe tries to regulate Elon Musk’s platforms.
- And then in October, the EU decided that X is not important enough to be regulated under their Digital Markets Act. But I’m sure it’s a coincidence.
- Also from last month, “A memo circulating among at least half a dozen advisers to former President Donald J. Trump recommends that if he is elected, he bypass traditional background checks by law enforcement officials and immediately grant security clearances to a large number of his appointees after being sworn in, according to three people briefed on the matter.”
- Elon Musk says Trump win is just the start of his political ambitions. (Archived here.)
- Elon Musk joined Trump’s call with Zelensky, so he’s already helping.
In other news:
- Leaf blowers are now weapons in the culture wars.
- Do Spiders Dream Like Humans Do? This Researcher Wants to Find Out. I mean, no, they dream like spiders do. But I like how she uses the phrase “outrageously cool”.
- How brush turkeys keep their nest at exactly 33 degrees.
- A nice bit of investigation, this one. Tony Hawk wanted to track down a mysterious skateboarder from 1979. We found her.
- From Harper’s Magazine in 1941, a curious essay: Who Goes Nazi? “It is an interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game to play at a large gathering of one’s acquaintances: to speculate who in a showdown would go Nazi. By now, I think I know.”
The Week Ahead
This will be final week of my current three-week time in Sydney. I’ll type the usual claim about planning to do some client work, but as usual this may or not happen as much as I want.
On Monday I’m recording an episode of The 9pm Edict podcast with satirist Mark Humphries. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, please let me know by midday AEDT tomorrow, Monday 11 November. I’ll post that episode on Tuesday or Wednesday evening.
Update 12 November 2024: On Friday I’ll be running an errand to the Blue Mountains and back, otherwise subsequent logistics won’t work, but I’ll be writing The Weekly Cybers en route.
On Saturday I’m recording a bonus episode with Snarky Platypus. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, please let me know by midday AEDT that day. I’ll post that episode early the following week.
Update 12 November 2024: I’ll return to the Blue Mountains on Sunday, ending my three-week time in Sydney.
Further Ahead
- NEW: The 9pm Edict recording with space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman aka Dr Space Junk, 20 November 2024. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, please let me know by 7pm AEDT on Tuesday 19 November.
- Victoria expedition, 6–9 December 2024. Includes a friend’s birthday event on the Mornington Peninsula Friday 6 to Sunday 8, heading to Melbourne for social things on Sunday night before flying back to Sydney on Monday evening. This trip will almost burn off the last of my frequent flyer points from the Beforetimes, when I used to do a lot more travelling.
- Sydney days, 26 December 2024 to 3 January 2025 (TBC). I’m taking every opportunity to spend time in Sydney for reasons which by now you may well understand.
[Photo: The Pacific Ocean seen from Surfer’s Paradise on 20 October 2024.]