Weekly Wrap 776: Check that grass and check that podcast, if you can

I am pleased to report that my week of Monday 7 to Sunday 13 April 2025 saw me return to more normal levels of productivity — although that’s still relatively low by most people’s standards. And a certain podcast nearly appeared, finally.

We’re entering the final week of crowdfunding (nearly)

There’s just 9 days left in this season’s crowdfunding campaign, The 9pm Mid-2025 Series.

Yeah that’s close enough to the final week.

This campaign 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 including Another Untitled Music Podcast.

At the time of writing we’re stalled at 61% of the way towards Target One with 9 days to go. I’d be very grateful if you gave it a push.

Please click though, read, and consider. You have until Tuesday 22 April.

Podcasts

• Another Untitled Music Podcast | Pilot 1, recorded way back on 26 January but finally posted on Sunday — except there’s a problem at the hosting provider and it may not be visible to you yet. Hey, just subscribe in your favourite podcast app and it’ll appear when we fix the bug.

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 #63. Fallout from last week’s superannuation company hacks, AI passes the Turing test (or not), and yet another call for a civilian cyber reserve.

Subscribe to The Weekly Cybers via email

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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

One should always pay attention to The Narrative, right? Well right now The Narrative says that tensions are building between Mr Musk and Mr Trump.

• According to Reuters, “Elon Musk’s DOGE team of technologists is using artificial intelligence to surveil at least one federal agency’s communications for hostility to President Donald Trump and his agenda.” They’re also using Signal to communicate, presumably to bypass government record-keeping requirements. And they’re “heavily” using Musk’s Grok AI chatbot, according to one source, though it’s not clear how, and where.
• From Rolling Stone, Inside Elon Musk’s gleeful destruction of the government.
• “A 32-year-old man from Pennsylvania has been charged with threatening to kill US President Donald Trump, Elon Musk and other government officials.”
• Musk calls Trump trade adviser ‘dumber than bricks’ amid escalating tariffs blowback.
• Elon Musk boosting influencer who platforms far-right Putin allies.
• The Australia government spent $2.7 million with X for advertising in the first year it was owned by Elon Musk, despite having announced a pause on spending from 29 September 2022. If you are so inclined, here’s the full audit report.
• And from Vanity Fair, “Elon Musk and Donald Trump are finally (maybe) breaking up.”

Some Interesting Links

• I’ve discovered a new YouTube channel, Your Dinosaurs are Wrong. Maybe start with the most recent video, Sauropods – Air Hulks, which explains how sauropods have four-stroke lungs and whales are cheating, somehow.
• Yesterday was the anniversary of humanity’s first space flight, Yuri Gagarin Day. To celebrate, the somewhat mad Russian DJ BASIC put together this set, Space Journey / Cosmonautics Day Special.
• When too much engineering is never enough: Which typeface’s capital “I” makes the best I-beam? This perky young man also tests the engineering qualities of the other letters of the alphabet.
• From DW Food, a remarkable video about how to enjoy a British pub, which suggests having six to ten pints of beer before heading to dinner.
• And from 1992, the remarkable Keith Floyd suggests some hangover cure recipes.

[Update 16 April 2025: OK, I’m shuffling this around again, but this time I have good reasons.]

• UPDATED: Another Untitled Music Podcast pilot two recording, 25 April 2025, and it’ll be posted a day or three later.
• Federal Election, 3 May 2025. I haven’t made any plans yet, although I’ll be down in Sydney somewhere.
• Takashi Wakasugi Comedy Samurai, The Comedy Store, Sydney, 4 May 2025. I am totally fascinated by this guy’s brain.
• 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.
• NEW: Stilgherrian’s Nth birthday lunch, where N is divisible by 5, Blue Mountains, Saturday 10 May 2025. This date may or may not be my exact birthday. Some friends have organised lunch at a posh place in the Mountains. If you’re of the opinion that you’d like to join us, please let me know and I’ll connect you with the organiser.
• He Huang’s White Man’s Burden, Concourse Chatswood, 17 May 2025. I really love her work. Look for her on YouTube.

[Photo: Miscanthus sinensis, or Chinese silver grass, is native to East Asia and South-East Asia, but it has also escaped from gardens in the Blue Mountains and here we are. Photographed near Wentworth Falls on 7 April 2025.]