The Online Safety Bill was debated in the Senate last night. If you haven't been keeping up, this law would give the eSafety Commissioner god mode over Australia's internet. It more or less allows the commissioner to declare anything they don't like as restricted material, forcing the host of that content to remove it within 24 hours. The Greens are pissed off about it, not only for the fact it's getting rushed through parliament with little discussion (as is the norm for this kinda stuff unfortunately), but that there's no complaints mechanism for the inevitable situations where content is removed incorrectly and the lack of any oversight of the algorithms that tech companies will employ in order to meet the quick take down requirements.
China's sent three astronauts off to live in its new space station, Tianhe. They'll stay there for three months, with their main mission being getting the space station up and running. Tianhe will be complete in 2022 after a few more cargo flights that'll add extra modules. China also announced it's hooking up with the Russians to build a International Lunar Research Station and send more robots to the moon in preperation for a joint human moon landing in 2026. They've got plans to set up a whole moon economy up there over the next 10 to 15 years.
Facebook is gonna integrate podcasts into pages. Podcasters will be able to "link their show's RSS feed up to Facebook, which will then automatically generate News Feed posts for all episodes published moving forward. These episodes will show up on a 'podcasts' tab" like video or groups. I guess it's a good way to grow your audience as there's heaps of people on Facebook, but honestly, fuck Facebook, fuck Spotify, fuck Google. They don't deserve the fruits of my labor for free so they can increase their engagement. Fewer people might listen, but at least you won't have Silicon Valley's big foot on your throat.
Fancy Rolexes or Patek Philippes look nice and are mechanical marvels, but in my opinion the most impressive watch is the Casio F-91W. As this article from IEEE Spectrum explains, the digital quartz watch was introduced in 1989 and is still manufactured over 30 years later. For under $20 it'll keep time accurate to 1 second a day with a battery that lasts 7 years. It's so durable that it's the preferred timepiece of Al-Qaeda, who use it not only for telling the time, but for triggering improvised explosives. Really puts the bang in bang for buck! Just be careful for fakes. Being so popular and so cheap, heaps of the Casio F-91Ws out there are counterfeit.
📻 Mother Mary - Far
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The Sizzle is created on Wathaurong land and acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia, recognising their continuing connection to land, water and community. I pay my respect to them and their cultures and to elders both past and present.