My week of Monday 10 to Sunday 16 March 2025 was slightly more productive than the previous week, thank the gods, but for some reason I found myself thinking about the past. Wash your hands.
I don’t have any real reason to reminisce about the covid times. I just happened to be flipping back through photos to find something that was created this week in another year and found pictures of empty supermarket shelves, all manner of warning signs, and a man stuffing his hatchback with as much toilet paper as he could carry.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #59. Ransomware payment reporting is now mandatory, concerns over election misinformation and corporate “cyberwashing”, and why the 1980s D&D panic informs social media policy.
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. However I posted an update on my podcast plans and why things are a but behind schedule. And you can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear and when livestreams are scheduled. Maybe I should do a livestream soon.
Muskwatch
Every few weeks I wonder whether I should continue my weekly look at Elon Musk in the news, and every time I think, well, here I am. I started it so I should finish it. There is definitely something wrong with me.
Once more this is pretty much a random selection because there’s just so much Musk news these days.
- Inside the explosive meeting where Trump officials clashed with Elon Musk, a New York Times gift link.
- From WIRED, a similarly long feature, Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’.
- Elon Musk wants to use AI to run US gov’t, but experts say ‘very bad’ idea.
- US judge says Musk’s DOGE must release records on operations run in ‘secrecy’. Yes, Elon, the US Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) will get you, Baby!
- Elon Musk’s foray into politics met with protest that’s hurting Tesla worldwide.
- And of course Donald Trump did an informercial for Tesla at the White House, British comedian Michael Spicer has created an edit to heighten the tragedy.
- Amusingly. “Two more Cybertruck demonstrators have landed as Tesla Australia head tells Chasing Cars of the brand’s ambition to beat electrified ute rivals.”
- The making of Elon Musk: how did his childhood in apartheid South Africa shape him?
Some Interesting Links
- This week’s What the Ship? from Sal Mercogliano is an Australian edition, covering that Chinese naval task force, AUKUS, trade, and Australia’s lack of a merchant marine. Highly recommended.
- Patrick Boyle has a fun update on NEOM in Saudi Arabia’s Megaproject Disaster!.
- “Australia’s superb lyrebirds ‘farm’ the forest floor to increase their prey – a behaviour rarely seen in nature.”
- ‘Spreadsheets of empire’: red tape goes back 4,000 years, say scientists after Iraq finds.
- How computers should still be today: Running Microsoft’s first product on the Altair 8800, from paper tape.
The Week Ahead
On Monday evening I’ll try to catch the joint seminar by the Lowy Institute and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, The Future of the Australia–US alliance, based on this article from November 2024, Alliance Future: Rewiring Australia and the United States. Has anything changed since November?
[Update 22 March 2025: Let me rearrange this next bit a bit.]
While the bulk of the rest of the week will be about trying to get some client work done — something that I don’t get to do much of lately — I will also record a solo episode of The 9pm Edict on Tuesday or Wednesday Saturday, and lock in those last episodes for the summer series. Or at least contact the relevant guests.
Yes, this is all pushed back a week. As I said, I posted an update on my podcast plans.
The 9pm Edict and Another Untitled Music Podcast are supported by the generosity of their listeners. You can always throw a few coins into the tip jar or subscribe for special benefits. Please consider.
Further Ahead
- Podcast recording with Associate Professor David Smith from the United States Study Centre, 25 March 2025. If you’re a supporter with TRIGGER WORDS or a CONVERSATION TOPIC for this episode, please let me know by 8pm AEDT on Monday 24 March.
- NEW: The future of warfare, Lowy Institute, Melbourne and online, 25 March 2025.
[Photo: A COVID-19 health message is scrawled in the sky above Ashfield, Sydney, on 12 March 2020.]