14 February 2023

PODCAST: The Hoot on live music, artificial intelligence and the fine art of sampling burgers

| Genevieve Jacobs
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The Double Bacon Cheeseburger from Soul Cartel. Photo: Zac Jerrim.

The Hoot is here, with a light touch on Canberra’s biggest stories (sometimes literally), from the ongoing threat to live music from Canberra’s booming property market to the man upholding the honour of middle-aged blokes everywhere.

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Here’s a question: if you buy a house or apartment in a lively, buzzing area with lots of great restaurants and nightclubs, do you have the right to expect peace and quiet?

As the 2000-home development at Kamberri adjacent to EPIC looms, there are growing concerns about noise issues. EPIC is home to not only Summernats, but also the National Folk Festival, Groovin’ the Moo and Spilt Milk.

READ ALSO Don’t let infill development be the death of live music in the ACT, government told

Canberra’s live music industry is worried for the future after decades of wrangling over noise controls in the city. Whose rights predominate? If you move into an area where music has always been well-established, can you expect them to change?

Artificial intelligence is also on the rise as the Chat GPT app takes the country by storm (here at Region, we rewrote a court story in bush poetry format recently).

READ ALSO Warning: No (artificial) intelligence was used writing this column

The risk of cheating is clear enough at schools and universities, but what happens to news media if bots take over from young journalists? It’s not an appealing prospect for many reasons, from the loss of originality to the lost opportunities for training and development.

But is the rise and rise of AI inevitable? And if so, what do we sacrifice?

Meanwhile, the man who not so long ago appeared in nothing more than budgie smugglers and a satin sash, competing for the title of Australia’s most ordinary rig, has a new career.

READ ALSO ‘It started at the pub’: Meet Canberra’s burger blogger Zac Jerrim

Zac Jerrims of Queanbeyan had a brainwave in the pub not so long ago. He would conquer Canberra’s burger mountain. He would comb the capital’s streets in search of the single best combination of mince, bread and salad. And he would take a grateful territory with him.

The task is well underway. Zac has now reviewed at least 60 burgers from across the city and the region. Ross reckons there’s more in it for Zac than simple internet fame. Is this our next Australian of the Year?

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My God look at that hamburger!! The things people eat!

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