My week of Monday 31 March to Sunday 6 April 2025 wasn’t very productive, but I’m feeling much, much better after a too-long period of fatigue. Have a flower. Have a bonus bee.
There seems to be some low-level infection circulating at the moment. Not bad enough to knock you out, but just enough to push anyone who’s already struggling into The Blurry Land. Anyway, I won’t whinge on. Let’s just get into this new month.
The good news is that the Banksia spinulosa is in flower throughout the scrubland here, attracting plenty of loud red wattlebirds (Anthochaera carunculata). And bees. The existing population of crimson rosellas (Platycercus elegans) are scoffing so much pollen it’s turning their poo yellow.
Please support this season’s crowdfunder
We’re well into autumn, so last 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 48% of the way towards Target One with 16 days to go.
Please click though, read, and consider. You have until Tuesday 22 April.
Podcasts
None, but here’s an update. The two show-stoppers, literally, are the music license and the hosting. Certain details have been worked out with APRA AMCOS, the licensing body, so that can proceed. Meanwhile, shifting the hosting to PodcastDB so I can use their geoblocking feature has been — well, not so much delayed as simply needing a little work their end. OK, that’s a delay. If you’re particularly interested you can read the details.
The 9pm Edict and Another Untitled Music Podcast are supported by the generosity of their listeners. Please consider the crowdfunder above. If you miss that deadline, or prefer to pay me directly, you can always throw a few coins into the tip jar or subscribe for special benefits. Please consider.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #62. AEC rules that podcasts are The Media too, Budget a “missed opportunity”, ASX tech is rubbish, 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
My Schadenfreude Gauge is overloaded.
- “Why a small judge’s race in Wisconsin will be an embarrassment to Donald Trump and Elon Musk. It’s not just that stupid cheese hat.
- The latest polls say the people don’t like Musk.
- Tesla quarterly sales slump 13% amid backlash against Elon Musk.
- I’d missed this last week, but the FBI has launched a task force targeting anti-Tesla “domestic terrorism”. Yes, that’s why the new FBI director Kash Patel called it..
- Reports have been saying Musk will leave DOGE soon, when the 130-day cap on his government service expires, although DOGE itself will continue. Apparently Trump said this.
- Elon Musk denies this.
- X has suffered a data breach of 200 million user records. Allegedly.
- And CNN puts it this way: Everything is blowing up in Elon Musk’s face.
Some Interesting Links
- Ashton Hall’s morning routine has gone viral for all the wrong reasons. And here’s the routine. What a sad, sad existence.
- From The Conversation, “Can you tell the difference between real and fake news photos? Take the quiz to find out.”
- Malaysian comedian Dr Jason Leong explains What happens when your penis ring gets stuck.
- Samsung’s latest stick vac can alert you to calls and text messages, for reasons which are not clear to me. I do not wish to discuss my life with household appliances.
- I’ve been wanting to find this for ages. Back in 1992 the BBC produced a 6-part documentary series about comedy called Funny Business. The first episode is the real stand-out: Visual Comedy – a Lecture by Rowan Atkinson, MSc (Oxon). I assume this copy is taken from someone’s old VHS tape, so it’s a bit ratty, but I think it’s still worth watching.
- And finally, Taskmaster Origins – Rare Footage of the First Ever Show!, Edinburgh, 2010. Yes, Alex Horne developed the TV show out of a stage show. I forget whether this was a deliberate evolutionary step.
The Week Ahead
This is literally identical to last week: 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.
And I should finally get to post that first pilot episode of Another Untitled Music Podcast. I’ve just jinxed it, haven’t I.
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,.
- Federal Election, 3 May 2025. I haven’t made any plans yet.
- Takashi Wakasugi Comedy Samurai, The Comedy Store, Sydney, 4 May 2025.
- NEW: Sydney Heli Grand Flight, Sydney HeliTours, 7 May 2025. Someone has been quite generous with this birthday present, my first helicopter flight. There will be photographs.
- He Huang’s White Man’s Burden, Concourse Chatswood, 17 May 2025. I really love her work. Look for her on YouTube.
[Photo: Close-up of a banksia flower, probably a variety of Banksia spinulosa, or hairpin banksia, photographed at Bunjaree Cottages on 3 April 2025. I do not know the name of the bee. Let’s call her Geraldine.]