![A bright sunny day on Sydney Harbour, and we’re maybe 1,000 feet in the air. We’re looking down on a warship, which we’re seeing from slightly behind its port beam. It’s a modern landing [ship] helicopter dock (LHD), HMAS Adelaide, with its flight deck laid out before us. Beyond it is a wharf, another dock, and to the right of that a dry dock containing a smaller ship. In the background, the various building of Fleet Base East. On the far upper left is the Hobart-class air warfare destroyer HMAS Brisbane (DDG 41).](https://stilgherrian.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/DSC00054.jpeg)
At the start of my week of Monday 5 to Sunday 11 May 2025 I decided that it would be relatively relaxed given that my birthday was in there somewhere, including a generously-gifted helicopter flight on Wednesday and a delightful lunch with friends on Saturday.
The flight was a Sydney Heli Grand Tour from Sydney HeliTours, a professionally-run outfit who I’d highly recommend. We flew in a Robinson R44 Raven II on a perfect day, and I’ll be posting more photos in the coming days.
The lunch was at Miss Lilian in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Again, highly recommended.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #67. Labor wins the election, but until we know more we’ve got plenty of AI news from around the world.
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. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear and when livestreams are scheduled.
Muskwatch
Now that Elon Musk has stepped down from DOGE, analysts are starting to judge his worth.
- Data reveals Musk has delivered just 0.25% of his promised federal spending cuts.
- The Trump administration will stop US research on space pollution, delivering a boon to Elon Musk.
- ‘Eventually, all life on Earth will be destroyed by the sun‘: Elon Musk explains his drive to colonize Mars.
- Bill Gates accuses Elon Musk of ‘killing’ children with USAID cuts.
- The local Australian boss of Tesla says he prefers to focus on the company’s new products than controversy around its global chief. And who can blame him?
- “Emails show Elon Musk begging for privacy while siccing his 200 million twitter followers on specific private people he doesn’t like.”
Some Interesting Links
- YouTube history guy Lord HardThrasher has done a three-part series on the famous Dambusters Raid of WW2, Operation Chastise.
- Meanjin editor Esther Anatolitis has written a thought-dense essay titled Resisting the ‘Content Mindset’, discussing how this mindset leads to a transactional approach to creativity and, inevitably, exploitation. (Disclosure: Meanjin is a client of mine.)
- John Birmingham’s analysis of the election outcome is well worth reading.
- And if for some reason you need a digital audio workstation that runs in a terminal window, check out Tek.
The Week Ahead
After a relatively unproductive week last week, because I’d declared it a birthday week, this week I’ll be focusing on some client work. We have a significant deadline approaching.
That said, on Wednesday I’ll try to catch the seminar Space traffic jam: Challenges facing space sustainability from the US Studies Centre, and on Friday there’s The Weekly Cybers as usual.
[Update 16 May 2025: I’ve pushed back the podcast stuff for another week because I was on a roll with the client work. We hit that significant milestone on Thursday, and we’re all very happy.]
Oh, and I’ll be editing and posting Another Untitled Music Podcast pilot two, as well as mapping out some of the future podcast recording dates. Sorry that’s all been a bit late.
The 9pm Edict and Another Untitled Music Podcast are supported by the generosity of their listeners. If you missed the crowdfunder, you might like to throw a few coins into the tip jar or subscribe for special benefits. Please consider.
On Saturday night I’ll be down in Sydney for He Huang’s White Man’s Burden at the Concourse in Chatswood. I think this will be the third show of hers I’ll have caught live. I’ll stay overnight to deal with a few bits and pieces before returning to the Mountains.
Further Ahead
- NEW: Adelaide expedition, 26 June to 2 July 2025. I’ll be travelling with my good friend Snarky Platypus, and while there he’ll interview me about my home town for a more personal episode of The 9pm Edict. We’ll also record a half-way point analysis of our 2025 bingo cards.
- TechLeaders 2025, Hunter Valley, 16–18 August 2025.
[Photo: HMAS Adelaide (L01), a landing [ship] helicopter dock (LHD), photographed at Fleet Base East on Sydney Harbour on 7 May 2025. This is the same ship as posted last week., but this time photographed from a helicopter.]