Author: stilgherrian

For nearly two weeks now, Australians have been more afraid of the fear of the risk of terror that ever before. We’re going to war, and the defence minister is an idiot. But don’t worry about why an event on the other side of the world is suddenly a threat here. We’re going to go butt chugging.

What does any of this mean? Who knows.

But we do hear how terrorism alert rankings serve no purpose beyond encouraging a burst of panic and how we won the war on Thai chilli sauce, as well as the evacuation of the Westfield Burwood shopping centre and how that did not relate to any contemporary issue.

Continue reading “The 9pm Get Some Goddam Perspective”

Prime Minister Tony Abbott points to the enemy, and to the difficult road ahead. What road is that? Foreign Minister Julie Bishop gives a clue.

We also determine the three key differences between Philip Ruddock and a mechanical duck.

We award elephant stamps for people who have been exceptional in the category of thinking to the authorities of Summerville, South Carolina, for arresting a 9th-grader for an alleged dinosaur killing (pictured above), and the 20-year-old man arrested at Riverwood on 26 August.

And we introduce a new segment, Ubergasm, exploring the work of our favourite libertarian disruptors. Today we hear about Uber’s playbook for sabotaging Lyft and a tweet from PR columnist Ed Zitron.

Continue reading “The 9pm Road to War”

Prime Minister Tony Abbott rallies the troops. Attorney-General George Brandis explains how the internet works. And Employment Minister Eric Abetz provides scientific and moral guidance.

In this episode of The 9pm Edict you’ll hear how Australia’s favourite Attorney-General, Senator George Brandis QC, turned a routine TV interview into a train wreck, leading to me calling him incompetent; Brandis’ wig-based adventure; and much more.

We award elephant stamps for special thinking to NSW treasurer Andrew Constance, US congressman Curt Clawson, and the Republican Party generally.

And we discuss Victoria’s proposed laws, Nazis, Godwin’s Law, and my blog post from 2007, Stay alert, ye nameless, toiling animals.

Continue reading “The 9pm Team Australia”

This episode of The 9pm Edict heads into a eucalypt forest in search of the internet, and encounters a dog.

You’ll hear about the National Broadband Network’s fibre-to-the-node trial, Russell Brand, Bertrand Russell, the 20th anniversary of a sarin nerve gas attack in Japan, the 25th birthday of the internet in Australia, the 60th birthday of nuclear power stations, Hillary Clinton and the mangoes, Google co-funder Larry Page’s threat to kill 100,000 people, and the arsehattery of Village Roadshow co-CEO Graham Burke.

And there’s the dog, of course.

And a cat. Sort of.

But don’t forget the dog.

Continue reading “The 9pm Humanity, with added confusion”

The sharing economy explained in just two minutes. A Florida meth lab is a threat to dolphins. And the failure of hashtag diplomacy.

This episode of The 9pm Edict heads to the United States, at least in some strange warped sense.

There’s a story of a meth lab in a Florida hotel room, and we encounter both an episode of Hannity on Fox News and a “sharing economy guru” on the BBC.

There’s also mention of Glassholes harassing a New York restaurant, a bread line in San Jose. and a plan to reverse the California Aqueduct.

Continue reading “The 9pm Caltrain”