My week of Monday 30 December 2024 to Sunday 5 January 2025 represented a transition from a shit year to a year which may be more shit or may be less shit. Either way, we made a podcast about the year that has been, and a bingo card for the year which is to come.
Podcasts
- The 9pm Full-time Bingo Card Update 2024 with Snarky Platypus, recorded on Friday last week and posted this Tuesday evening, which was New Year’s Eve.
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Articles
- Bingo Card 2025: Which of these things will happen?, created by Snarky Platypus and myself and posted on Sunday night. Yes, we’ll also do half-time and full-time podcast episodes to discuss how the year has unfolded.
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, 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.
Muskwatch
I’ve split up the Recommendations into two parts, This on, Muskwatch should be obvious. I certainly don’t recommend Elon Musk! And it’ll be followed each week by Some Interesting Links, which again says what it is.
Back in 2023 I toyed with the idea of a weekly podcast, Rhymes with Sasquatch, which was basically a podcast version of this stuff. Back then no one seemed to be as interested as I was. Maybe now?
- Who is Tommy Robinson and why is Elon Musk throwing his weight behind him? “American billionaire Elon Musk is ruffling political feathers in the United Kingdom as well with an online campaign to free Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist, from prison,” writes Al Jazeera.
- Farage distances himself from Musk on Robinson.
- “Elon Musk is planning a live discussion with Alice Weidel, the chancellor candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, ahead of Germany’s snap election on Feb. 23.”
- “It’s little wonder governments across Europe are in turmoil over how to navigate Elon Musk, while dodging his erratic and often ill-informed criticisms about their domestic politics,” writes Politico.
- Elon Musk’s China ties pose security risk, ex-general warns.
- ‘Trump is a little guy, Musk is a big guy’: historian predicts trouble for president-elect.
- And I supposed I should mention the bloke who blew up a Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel in Las Vegas, although at this stage I don’t think it’s about Musk himself.
Some Interesting Links
Not many this week, because I’ve been taking it easy. By this time next week I’ll be developed a Process for Dealing with It.
- H I Sutton has put together an Essential Guide To 2024 Naval War In Black Sea.
- Australia’s flying foxes are ‘curious, gentle and intelligent’ – and often misunderstood.
- The wonderful Kazuya Shibata has designed an extremely useful and totally convenient holder for all your credit cards.
The Week Ahead
This week is about easing back into the working year. There will be clients to coordinate with, podcasts to be planned, and all manner of administrivia, nearly all of which will be done from my Blue Mountains eyrie.
On Tuesday night I’m catching up with a friend for drinks win Katoomba. A social life mid-week? How is this possible?
[Update 6 January 2025: Turns out it isn’t possible, but mostly because I’m very fatigued after an mpox vaccination.]
On Friday my newsletter The Weekly Cybers will return for 2025.
And on Saturday I’m heading down to Sydney for a medical appointment and some social things.
Further Ahead
- NEW: The 9pm Edict podcast recording with infectious diseases physician Dr Trent Yarwood, 28 January 2025. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for that episode, please get them to me by 10am AEDT that day.
While not yet locked into specific dates, in January The 9pm Edict podcast will include an episode about space with space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman aka Dr Space Junk and astrophysicist Rami Mandow. There will also be an episode about conspiracy theories like the Flat Earth, unless that turns out to be true. And writer and columnist John Birmingham will probably join us in February.
We’ll also have those two pilot episodes of the Untitled Music Podcast, which I’ll start organising this week. The first task will be organising the music license.
[Photo: Hibernian House, a six-storey commercial and residential building built in 1924 by W J Gilroy for the Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society at 328-344 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills. According to Resident Advisor, “Situated in a grungy, graffiti-laced five-storey building, Hibernian House is home to artist studios and accommodation, gallery space, a lo-fi theatre space (Old 505), and a dance studio. Over the years it’s been home to many a DIY gig, exhibition and party and had many artists call it home.” It’s photographed here by me on 30 December 2024. You might want to check out these photos or the recording studio Mosaic Music & Sound, or just do what I did and search for its name and go down the rabbit hole.]