The 9pm Edict

This episode's special guest is Scottish author and social researcher David F Porteous, who manages to deliver some fascinating commentary on happenings in Britain, while I increasingly suffer the totally unforeseeable effects of wine and gin.We talk about King Charles III, Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss, and sewage. We also discuss the important differences between Twisters, Quavers, Nik Naks, and Twiglets, and what wine you should drink with them.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00214/Please support this podcast by pledging your support to the current crowdfunding campaign by 9pm AEDT tonight, Thursday 7 March 2024:https://the9pmedict.com/autumn2024If you miss that deadline please consider a tip:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

This week I've been obsessed with a certain news story out of Glasgow, so I just had to do a podcast. Also, the episode I'd originally scheduled is running late — and that's my fault.In this episode we talk about Laurie Anderson's weird AI experiment, various other gripes about AI, politics, and alcohol pricing. There's audience feedback. There's a long whinge which might be interpreted by some as a defence of capitalism, but it's really a defence of the Industrial Revolution. And we ask whether eggs are the same as gin.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00213/Please support this podcast by pledging your support to the current crowdfunding campaign:https://the9pmedict.com/autumn2024If you miss that deadline please consider a tip:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

It's a marathon episode for serious political tragics! I'm joined by Snarky Platypus to discuss the ABC TV documentary series Nemesis about the three recent Liberal Party prime ministers of Australia. But we also find time to discuss other matters.We talk about the complexities of Lunar New Year, comedians, absinthe, magpies, Prague, trifle, lab-grown meaty rice, and the frustrations of the job search process.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00212/Please support this podcast by pledging your support to the current crowdfunding campaign:https://the9pmedict.com/autumn2024If you miss that deadline please consider a tip:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

With so much AI in the news, I thought our special guest for this first episode for 2024 should be Justin Warren, "consultant, freedom of information tragic, hexagon enthusiast, and creator of the CyberRating™ labelling scheme".In this episode we talk about panic, generative AI, millipedes, why Taylor Swift fans are so few in number that we need to create more of them using AI, smart toothbrushes, Elon Musk (briefly), disinformation, and the enshittification of everything.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00211/Please support this podcast by pledging your support to the current crowdfunding campaign:https://the9pmedict.com/autumn2024If you miss that deadline please consider a tip:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

It's a bonus, or at least unfunded, summer series episode with guest Snarky Platypus. This long and rambling conversation was recorded on Boxing Day 2023, which explains many things.We talk about the death of Henry Kissinger and the Fourth Crusade, the reintroduction of platypus to the mainland of South Australia, the TV series American Born Chinese, the new Minns Dynasty in NSW, the former member of parliament known as Tim Wilson, and some of the weird ideas held by boomers.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00210/Please support this podcast:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

Today we look back at the year in space. My special guests are space archaeologist Dr Alice Gorman aka Dr Space Junk from Flinders University, and astrophysicist and founder of SpaceAustralia.com Rami Mandow.In this episode we talk about the annoying name given to Australia's first moon rover, why Jupiter is both friend and foe, India's Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon, NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission to the asteroid Bennu, some huge news about gravitational waves, and of course an all-time favourite, black holes.We even ask whether going into space was a good idea. Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00209/Please support this podcast:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

The summer series takes a disturbing turn this week with one of our favourite guests, author and columnist John Birmingham — who admits to eating something that I simply do not understand. In this episode we also talk about Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese, Donald Trump,Bluesky versus the site formally known as Twitter, cosplay, why sheep love solar energy projects, pork, alcohol, Christmas (of course), the Cybertruck (sorry), and why paying attention to the news is bad for you. And much more.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00208/Please support this podcast:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

As Australia faces another "covid wave" before Christmas — at least if you believe the scary news reports — and with the dirty, dirty holiday season coming up, I thought the summer series should kick off with infectious disease physician Dr Trent Yarwood. And so it does.In this episode we also talk about the joys of syphilis and gonorrhoea, the dangers of hand-washing, the complexity of medical supply chains, why Australia didn't get a monkeypox epidemic, fencing (yes), drug shortages, and more generally, how everything is just getting worse.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00207/Please support this podcast:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

The spring series really comes to an end today with this sort of bonus unscheduled and somewhat shouty solo episode. That's a pun which will become clear.We talk about alcohol and the nanny state, some of Donald Trump's supporters, the demise of the delightful and oh so sexy Mike Pezzullo, and more.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00206/Please support this podcast by pledging your support to The 9pm Summer Series 2023 by 30 November.https://the9pmedict.com/summer2023If you miss that deadline, you can always throw a few dollars into the tip jar at:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

The spring series concludes — or does it? — with special guest Yun Jiang, the Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) Inaugural China Matters Fellow. Guess what we're talking about! (It's not all about lobsters.)We talk about Anthony Albanese's recent visit to China, the first since by an Australian prime minister since 2016. We also cover ASIO versus the spies, media beat-ups, trade, Australia's "fear of abandonment" and China's "deeply entrenched sense of victimhood", climate change, China's app-based internet, why Australia needs a China equivalent to the United States Study Centre, and why you shouldn't read Global Times. And lobsters. So many lobsters.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00205/Please support this podcast by pledging your support to The 9pm Summer Series 2023 by 30 November.https://the9pmedict.com/summer2023If you miss that deadline, you can always throw a few dollars into the tip jar at:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/