During my week of Monday 24 to Sunday 30 March 2025 the numbers of my magnificent Magpie Army started to swell again, with 18 of them visiting the other morning. I took a photo. I also produced a podcast, launched a crowdfunder, and squeezed out a newsletter.
As its peak, however, there’s been up to 22 magpies visiting me. There’s various videos of them and other critters at my YouTube playlist, erm, Critters.
Please support this season’s crowdfunder
We’re well into autumn, so this week I launched the new season’s crowdfunding campaign, The 9pm Mid-2025 Series.
Yes, it combines autumn and winter, and for that matter also my birthday in the first half of May, so I encourage you to be extra generous.
The funding goes towards making more special-guest episodes of my inappropriate and often disturbing podcast for grown-ups, The 9pm Edict, and other projects.
At the time of writing we’re 33% of the way towards Target One.
Please click though, read, and consider. You have until Tuesday 22 April.
Podcasts
- The 9pm Dreams of American Empire with Associate Professor David Smith, recorded on Tuesday and posted on Wednesday. And now there’s just one more special-guest episode to go for the much-delayed summer series.
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.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #61. Little digital thrill in the Budget, slow progress in the age assurance tech trial, the US can’t handle its military secrets, 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.
Muskwatch
It seems to me that Elon Musk’s attention is starting to waver. The people don’t like him.
- “Elon Musk says his companies are ‘suffering’ because of his work with the White House.”
- Elon Musk’s xAI firm buys social media platform X for $33bn, valuing X at $45 million less $12 billon debt, and DA Davidson & Co analyst Gil Luria says that number is not a coincidence. “It is $1bn higher than the take-private transaction for Twitter in 2022” and he can share the value of the xAI business with X co-investors.
- Elon Musk protesters gather at Tesla showrooms.
- Elon Musk pressured Reddit’s CEO on content moderation.
- From CNN, “‘I have like 17 jobs.’ Investors wonder if Elon Musk is spending enough time at Tesla to lead the company.”
- Musk says his ketamine is prescribed for depression.
- “Is Elon Musk planning to step down from Trump’s DOGE team? Here’s what he said.”
- And finally, Patrick Boyle asks: Is Elon Musk’s business empire collapsing?
Some Interesting Links
Just a few videos this week.
- Dan Toomey has an entertaining backgrounder, What does Palantir actually do?
- Matt Bevan’s If You’re Listening has another good backgrounder, Why Trump’s Rare Earth scramble makes no sense.
- How does a Michelin Star chef make instant ramen? Apparently while being Korean and speaking English with an Italian accent.
- And yeah there’s an election coming up, so I should mention this handy policy tracker at The Conversation.
The Week Ahead
I’ll keep the plans brief this week: Wrap up The 9pm Edict podcast’s summer series, or at least lock in the final guest to do so; clock up some client billable hours; and plug the crowdfunder.
I’m also intending to post the first pilot episode of Another Untitled Music Podcast on Saturday. This is much later than planned, of course, but by this date I will have organised the music license, finished the editing, and migrated the hosting to a platform where I can set up geoblocking. I accept that geoblocking will be annoying for listeners outside Australia and New Zealand, and I understand that there is literally no way you could ever work around it.
[Update 6 April 2025: Fatigue has been my not-friend this week. The AUMP pilot is not quite ready to post, but I’ve got some of the infrastructure changes done. I’ll explain more soon, but I will say that the new hosting provider PodcastDb has been a pleasure to deal with.]
Further Ahead
- Sydney days, 18–25 April 2025. Yes, I’m basing myself in Sydney again for a few days.
- Another Untitled Music Podcast pilot two recording, 19 April 2025 (TBC). This is Easter Saturday, so there’s a very good chance that Snarky Platypus and I will be able to coordinate a time. If it’s not this day it’ll be a mere day or two later,.
- NEW: Federal Election, 3 May 2025. I haven’t made any plans yet.
- NEW: Takashi Wakasugi Comedy Samurai, The Comedy Store, Sydney, 4 May 2025.
- He Huang’s White Man’s Burden, Concourse Chatswood, 17 May 2025. I really love her work. Look for her on YouTube.
[Photo: Magpie talons, being the feet of an Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen), photographed on 26 March 2025.]