Monday 27 July to Sunday 2 August 2026 was a busy week, and I’m very happy with that — although there isn’t much that I can show you right now. So much administrivia! And yet so handy for reducing stress.
I said last week that something interesting would be happening on Wednesday. Well, the literary journal Meanjin, which is a client of mine and now to be run by Queensland University of Technology (QUT), made a few announcements.
They’ve launched new weekly reading trails that delve into the archives every Wednesday. There will be new online work fortnightly from 19 August, also a Wednesday. Poetry and short fiction submissions for Meanjin 85.1 Summer 2026 are now open, and close at 6pm AEST on 21 August. And information on the new subscription plans will be available shortly. To stay informed, sign up.
I also did things with garlic.
As for the new-season crowdfunder. The 9pm Spring Series 2026, at the time of writing we’re now 18% of the way to the first target. Thank you very much. I haven’t been pushing it very much so far because we’re still a few weeks off spring, but I’ll be ramping it up soon.
This week there’s another photo of a pub. I like the variety of pub architecture in the local area, and this one intrigues me, as I note down the bottom of the page. However, I’m disappointed that the old semicircular front bar is now the gaming room. Anyway, it’s part of the Thomas Hotels group, and I know at least nine of their pubs.
Articles
- The Weekly Cybers #127. Singtel wants to offload problem-plagued Optus, a Federal Court judge slams the government for not understanding AI, Elon Musk has a sook (again), and AI continues to work perfec… er, no.
Podcasts, Photos, Videos, Media Appearances, Corporate Largesse
None of these this week. I’ve pulled back the podcast production while I’m “between seasons” I’ll consider my options for photos and videos soon. Yes, I’ve said that before. You can subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified when new videos appear and when the occasional livestreams are scheduled.
Some Interesting Links
- From the BBC Archive, a 1997 The Money Programme report, Will internet shopping ever take off? It’s very corny and features an already-annoying Jeff Bezos.
- So here’s a rabbit-hole, which began with this Guardian story, The brief life and sudden death of Zyzz: why did the bodybuilding influencer die at just 22?. Fifteen years ago! He’s int he news because there’s a new Stan documentary appearing soon, Revealed – Poster Boy: Becoming Zyzz. And it reminded me of The disturbing rise of Clavicular: how a looksmaxxer turned his ‘horror story’ into fame and, more recently, Androgenic being kicked off a flight from Thailand and the curious death of fitness influencer Connor Murphy aka Giga Chad.
- I finally watched Dan Toomey’s video from three weeks ago and it’s even more hilariously horrifying than I’d expected: Dating sucks in San Francisco.
- This week’s suggested follow: From Bluesky this week, although you can find them elsewhere too: Railmaps. Every day there’s on-this-day photos from their collection of historical railway photos. And their Australian Rail Maps website claims to be “everything you need to know about travelling by train and public transport in Australia”. It’s pretty good.
The Week Ahead
It’s looking very similar to the week just ended, so I’ll repeat the words: I haven’t scheduled things for specific days yet, but the coming week will be a mix of client work, administrivia, and podcast planning, and then The Weekly Cybers newsletter will appear on Friday afternoon as usual.
There’s also a Council Clean Up day on Friday, what some call a “hard rubbish day”, so I’ll be going through everything I just stuffed into cupboards after moving into the apartment back in March, and getting rid of so much shit. And on the weekend I’ll relax.
Further Ahead
- Six-month checkup, 11 August 2026. This is part of the medical trial I’m taking part in, the one for a new trivalent vaccine for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus (hMPV), and human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPV-3). Given that I came down wth RSV in May, I’m guessing that whatever I was injected with didn’t contain the RSV vaccine component.
- TechLeaders 2026, Bowral, 23–24 August 2026.
- Plateia Festival 2026, Earlwood, 19 September 2026 (TBC). It’s another of those typical suburban street festivals, and as usual I’m looking forward to the food. If I go.
[Photo: The Canterbury Hotel in Canterbury, Sydney, photographed on 30 July 2026. I’ve always liked the pegasus, which are representative of the nearby Canterbury Park Racecourse. Apparently the lighthouse-like structure on the roof really was a lighthouse: “This hotel was built in the early 1940s and is now a heritage-listed building due to fact a lighthouse was originally located on the top of the building to assist ships proceeding up the Cooks River to the now-demolished sugar works,” wrote Bob McKenzie, but in fact the building was restored and it’s now residential apartments. I should go check it out.]