The 9pm Edict

It's just one week until Australia's controversial social media age restrictions come into force, so I decided to chat with Justin Warren, noted “consultant, freedom of information tragic, hexagon enthusiast, and creator of the CyberRating™ labelling scheme”.

It’s the first time he’s been on the pod this year!

In this episode we do indeed talk about the age restrictions which come into force on 10 December. But we also discuss robots, secretive intelligence organisations, the Bureau of Meteorology's website budget overrun, and how Microsoft Windows has become unreliable at the same time as more of the company's software is written by AI. Coincidence?

Full podcast details and credits at:
https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00258/

Please consider supporting the podcast by pledging to our seasonal crowdfunding campaign by 10 December 2025.
https://the9pmedict.com/summer2025

If you miss that deadline then please go toL
https://the9pmedict.com/tip/
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Earlier this month I saw several news stories about new antibiotics, some even developed with AI. Miracle medical breakthrough, or not? Why not ask infectious diseases physician and overall medtech nerd Dr Trent Yarwood.

In this episode Trent and I talk about antimicrobial resistance, the new antibiotics including premethylenomycin C lactone, nafithromycin, and a couple developed using AI, a potential cure for HIV, the problem with relying on electronic health records, and the word “moist”.

Full podcast details and credits at:
https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00257/

Please consider supporting the podcast by pledging to our seasonal crowdfunding campaign by 10 December 2025.
https://the9pmedict.com/summer2025

If you miss that deadline then please go toL
https://the9pmedict.com/tip/
https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

I know nothing about cars. I don’t even know how to drive. So obviously my guest today is freelance motoring journalist and editor of The Redline, Peter Anderson — because a lot has been happening in the auto industry, right? I might learn something.

In this episode we talk about cars. Obviously. Especially about the gradual but inevitable shift to electric vehicles. There’s the rise of China’s auto manufacturing industry, and other countries too, and of course that man and his electric car company and his $1 trillion compensation package.

We also discuss contentment and what it means for us, as well as the joy of minimalism, and even bipolar II disorder.

Full podcast details and credits at:
https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00256/

Please consider supporting the podcast by pledging to our seasonal crowdfunding campaign by 10 December 2025.
https://the9pmedict.com/summer2025

If you miss that deadline then please go to:
https://the9pmedict.com/tip/
https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

No one under the age of 25 has ever known a time when there haven't been humans in space — although to be fair, not many humans. To mark the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station's inhabitation, and other space news, we chat once more with Dr Alice Gorman aka Dr Space Junk and astrophysicist Rami Mandow.

In this episode we talk about the ISS and other space stations, including China's Tiangong station. But we also discuss whether we should colonise space, poetry, cutbacks at NASA, and two recent examples of objects arriving from space. Allegedly.

Full podcast details and credits at:
https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00255/

Please consider supporting the podcast:
https://the9pmedict.com/tip/
https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

We’re halfway through spring and this, finally, is the first episode of the spring series. In the Philippines, there’s typhoons and floods and earthquakes and political protests. So to look at what’s happening in that country, we’re joined by journalist Erin Cook, who specialises in South-East Asia.

Erin produces the excellent newsletter Dari Mulut ke Mulut, an English-language summary of what's happening in the region, and an occasional newsletter specifically on the Australia-Indonesia relationship, Flat White, Kopi Susu.

In this episode we talk about events in the Philippines and provide some background on its politics, both domestic and international. We preview the upcoming ASEAN Summit. And we ask whether fridge magnets are the new souvenir spoons.

There's an update on Thai politics, and even a side-trip to talk about Myanmar.

Full podcast details and credits at:
https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00254/

Please consider supporting the podcast:
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Weeks late, the mid-2025 series finally draws to a close. Our special guest today is Scottish author and social researcher David F Porteous, and we cover a lot of different topics.

In this episode we talk about K-pop and plate tectonics, the naming of cats, Oasis and AC/DC, the trickiness of venomous snakes and drug-addled spiders, Donald Trump's visit to the UK, defamation, the nature of community, Nepal's Gen Z protests — and we even get our Barlows confused.

This episode was recorded back on Friday 19 September, which explains some of the date references.

Full podcast details and credits at:
https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00253/

Please consider supporting the podcast:
https://the9pmedict.com/tip/
https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

As you all know, I am a lizard, and through the power of 5G and the implants which have been secretly inserted into you via chemtrails and the covid vaccine, or possibly by a UFOnaut which was probing you, I can control your mind.

Well, no. But conspiracy theories do exist, and a new book explores the Australian flavour of these beliefs. My guests are the authors of Conspiracy Nation, journalists Ariel Bogle and Cam Wilson, and the book is available from Ultimo Press and all the usual places one buys books.

In this episode we talk about why conspiracy beliefs are so appealing, the aftermath of the Wieambilla shootings, Agenda 21, Qanon, pseudolaw and sovereign citizens, the celebrity chef turned guru Pete Evans, and what to do if one of your friends starts heading down a rabbit-hole.

Full podcast details and credits at:
https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00252/

Please consider supporting this season’s crowdfunder:
https://the9pmedict.com/spring2025

If you miss the deadline of 25 September:
https://the9pmedict.com/tip/
https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

There's been riots in Indonesia with at least nine people killed. And there’s political chaos in Thailand as the prime minister is sacked and 15 political parties scramble to form coalitions so they can choose a new PM. So who better to talk to than journalist Erin Cook, who specialises in South-East Asia?

Erin produces the excellent newsletter Dari Mulut ke Mulut, an English-language summary of what's happening in the region, and an occasional newsletter specifically on the Australia-Indonesia relationship, Flat White, Kopi Susu.

In this episode we talk about those riots in Indonesia, what they're about, why they kicked off so quickly, and why they probably won't be as severe as those in 1998. We also try to understand the political chaos in Thailand. And we take a brief look at something happening in China.

Full podcast details and credits at:
https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00251/

Please consider supporting this season’s crowdfunder:
https://the9pmedict.com/spring2025

If you miss the deadline of 25 September:
https://the9pmedict.com/tip/
https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

Back at the start of the year, my good friend Snarky Platypus and I created a bingo card for 2025. A set of 25 things that might happen. Well, we’re half-way through the year, so let’s see how we went.

You might want to follow along with this chart to see which ones we discussed.
https://stilgherrian.com/essay/bingo-card-2025/

We also talk about a potential trade war between Indonesia and China, sleep hygiene and insomnia, habituation and impulse control, bird flu, fairy bread, Kyle Sandilands, and the music of Wilson Phillips.

Full podcast details and credits at:
https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00250/

Please consider supporting this podcast:
https://the9pmedict.com/tip/
https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

Any moment now, Donald Trump might cancel AUKUS, the massive defence agreement which among other things would see Australia buying eight nuclear-powered submarines. AUKUS has become the big thing in Australia's defence procurement, but do we need it? Sam Roggeveen thinks not, and he's our guest today.

Sam is director of the Lowy Institute's International Security Program. In  former life he was an intelligence analyst for the Office of National Assessments, now the Office of National Assessments. And he's the author of “The Echidna Strategy: Australia’s Search for Power and Peace”.

In this episode we discuss the two competing schools of thought on defence policy, the defence of Australia school versus the forward defence school. We talk about what the actual threats from China might be. We look at what the echidna strategy might look like in practice. And much more.

Full podcast details and credits at:
https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00249/

Please consider supporting this podcast:
https://the9pmedict.com/tip/
https://skank.com.au/subscribe/