My week of Monday 3 to Sunday 9 February 2025 was relatively unproductive, but I did spend some time pondering once again what a disappointment the trains are between Sydney and Canberra. But I got plenty of planning done.
The other day I watched an update on the new regional fleet for NSW TrainLink. It’s not the best video, because there’s some speculation about things which could be learned from digging out more documents, but it’s a decent outline of where we’re up to. And once again I’ve seen one of these new R-set trains in the yard at Auburn.
But as I said almost a decade ago, even these new trains from Spain which go fast only on the plains — sorry — seem to lack a sense grandeur. Oh well.
The plains thing is true, though, They’ll still have to slow right down as they wind their way down the hills into Canberra.
Podcasts
- Another Untitled Music Podcast | Trailer 2, which I’m including again because technically it happened this week, being posted on Monday. The two pilot episodes have been pushed back a little, as described below.
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Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #54. Online platforms to cop a Digital Duty of Care, but when? DeepSeek continues to break brains, concerns rise over dependence on Musk’s Starlink, and the Scams Prevention Framework is about to arrive.
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
In the third week of this strange US leadership, things are moving so quickly that a weekly summary is starting to become difficult. So this time it’s just a few highlights. Or lowlights. Whatever.
- “Elon Musk’s DOGE takeover is reportedly being spearheaded by young college grads,” which explains why the website deletion program is so half-arsed.
- “Elon Musk and his DOGE team are seeking (and apparently gaining) access to Treasury’s computer systems for managing payments.”
- There’s more in this detail post by Nathan Tankus.
- DOGE employees have been ordered to stop using Slack while the agency transitions to a records system that is not subject to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
- One DOGE staffers has resigned over racists posts. That should be a gift link to the Wall Street Journal.
- There’s much more at the New York Times. That too should be a gift link.
- And the Washington Post says Musk’s ultimate goal is to replace the human workforce with machines. (Liberated copy.)
- Elon Musk suggests getting rid of all regulations in midnight call.
Some Interesting Links
- I know I’ve mentioned finance expert Patrick Boyle rather a lot lately, but he’s become an essential part of my slow-news approach to understanding what’s going on. This week it’s no exception, with half an hour on Trump’s Tariff Wars – What Happens Next?.
- Palantir CEO Alex Karp says one of his aims when building the controversial spy?tech company was to “power the West to its obvious innate superiority”.
- “Journey Beyond has announced the first luxury sleeper suites in Australia, designed by Woods Bagot. The ‘Aurora’ and ‘Australis’ suites will join iconic trains The Ghan, Indian Pacific and the Great Southern from April 2026, slated to set a new benchmark in luxury train travel the likes of the Orient Express,” writes Woods Bagot, the company that designed these new carriages.
- Birds have been making nests out of anti-bird spikes.
The Week Ahead
It’s going to be a busy week, ideally, so I’ll just list the things which must happen to a fixed schedule and not all my feeble attempts at getting some work done. After all, this Weekly Wrap is already nearly a day late.
Wednesday is a long day centred around a trip down to Sydney, a journey which is a couple of hours each way. There’s three medical and health-related appointments, a meeting, and whatever else I can squeeze in.
Friday will see the writing of The Weekly Cybers, but…
[Update 12 February 2025: I’ve clarified some of this week’s stuff from here on.]
NEW: On Friday I’m also likely to be recording a podcast with columnist and author John Birmingham. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC to spend, please let me know by 9am AEDT this Friday 14 February.
On Saturday I might go to the Cabramatta Lunar New Year event, Cabramatta being the centre of a thriving Vietnamese community, and this event being a bunch of fun.
And on Sunday I might go to Mardi Gras Fair Day. It’s been a good few years since I’ve been to any Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras events, so I’ve allowed myself to be talked into going this year. Possibly.
However the logistics of it all might well mean I choose only one of these, and budget constraints that I go to neither.
Further Ahead
- Australian-Chinese voters’ concerns and priorities, UTS:ACRI, Sydney and online, 27 February 2025. Something to consider before this year’s federal election.
- RESCHEDULED: Podcast recording for Another Untitled Music Podcast pilot two, 8 March 2025. I’ve pushed the recording date back again so we can get some feedback on the first pilot before recording the second. Snarky Platypus has his weekends booked out until March so here we are.
There’s two more special-guest episodes of the Edict to come before the end of summer, one of which might well be about conspiracy theories like the Flat Earth.
[Photo: A NSW TrainLink Xplorer DMU stands at Sydney Central station, almost ready for its departure for Canberra, on 19 January 2025. As I’ve said before, this filthy old unit and its stablemates are what serves as the thrice-daily train between one of the nation’s two biggest cities and its capital.]