An analysis of the upheavals of 1989 and the 3 years that followed them. Especially following the actions of Bush, Gorbachev and Kohl, it is mostly a history of the leaders and their policies. 3/5
A fairly straight story about the company, lots of fun anecdotes. A little biased towards founder Kevin Systrom, probably due to more access to him (and none to Zuckerberg). 3/5
Short chapters about various bits of infrastructure and the people who manage them. Not huge amounts of detail but a few gun facts on each. An okay quick listen. 3/5
A well written account of an aviation legend’s life. Interesting stories of World War 2 service, test pilot and other parts of his career and life. 4/5
A first person account by a young women. Fleeing some unfortunately love affairs via a road trip she meets Gangsters and James Bond. Different feel from most Bond books. 3/5
After a heat-wave kills 20 million in India. A UN Agency (The head of which is the main character) and others start getting serious to reverse climate change. Interesting and engaging. 4/5
The first volume of the series covers Johnson from birth through his unsuccessful bid for a Senate seat in 1941. Detailed, entertaining and easy to follow. 4/5
In the near future, a Texas billionaire starts a geoengineering project to counteract global warming. International intrigue results. Similar feel to his other books. 4/5
Examples of how people in unusual situations handle risk and how you can apply it to your life. Interesting and useful. 4/5 – Accidental reread from July 2020.
A start-to-finish tale of the making of the 1990 big-budget Hollywood bomb. The writer embedded in the production and talked to just about everyone from the director down. fascinating amount of behind-the-scenes detail and insight into people making the film from the director down. 4/5
Covering what little we know of his life but with analysis of his major works and notebooks. Helps if you have the PDF with all the pictures but listenable if not. 3/5
Thought I’d try this new version. I think I still prefer Rob Inglis. My general feelings are:
Pro: He does distinct voices for each character and generally good ones. The voice are influenced by actors in the movies. Con: His voice is a little indistinct. Not to bad since he’s an actor but separate words are not always clear. He’s not the best with the songs/poems, I’ve heard similar about his LOTR presentation. 4/5
Covering all Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz and Soviet programs. Mostly tries to take different angles from other books so some new stuff even if you’ve read a few of them. 3/5
Covering the Sea Harrier’s part in the Falkland’s as well as other parts of the air war like operations in Chile and Argentinian units. Well research and written. 4/5
A retelling of Little House on the Prairie from the perspective of Caroline Ingalls. Interesting re-reading events though an adult’s eyes. Second external review. 3/5
Draws on Soviet and Ukrainian sources to give more details from the Russian side than previous books. Emphasizes the role of luck as both sides misread the other. 3/5
Each year I do the majority of my Charity donations in early December (just after my birthday) spread over a few days (so as not to get my credit card suspended).
In 2021 I cut down donations to random open source projects but donated $100 each to The Software Freedom Conservancy and Software in the Public Interest.
All amounts this year are in $US unless otherwise stated
General Charities
My main donations was $750 to Givewell (to their Maximum Impact Fund). Once again I’m happy that Givewell make efficient use of money donated. I decided this year to give a higher proportion of my giving to them than last year.
Alternatively narrated by Ron and Clint about their family, growing up in Hollywood and acting. Only briefly covers events after the mid-1980s. Excellent. 4/5
24 Lectures on Spanish History from the Stone age to the early 2000s. Interesting and easy to follow. Covers culture etc, not just kings and politics 3/5
The Spinoff is a New Zealand news website. They have several podcasts but unfortunately don’t publish the RSS feeds for these. Instead they just list the Spotify and Apples Podcasts links. So if you use something other than Spotify or the official Apple Podcasts client it is difficult to listen to them.
I’ve found the feed links and listed them here, including those shows on break or no longer produced. These are the official RSS feeds on Acast (where The Spinoff host their podcasts). All Spinoff Podcasts are listed on The Spinoff Podcasts Page .
Update September 2023. It appears that the site has updated and RSS feeds are now linked on each Podcast’s page. I’ll leave this page up and keep updating it for now but hopefully it won’t be needed.
Q1: How do you find these feeds? A1: I follow the “Apple” link on the podcasts page to the “Apple Podcasts” page for the podcast. Then I put that link into https://getrssfeed.com/ which tells me the RSS feed.
Q2: Where are these feeds? A2: The Spinoff publish their podcasts via the Acast, who host it and insert ads. Acast provide RSS feeds for all their podcasts. They even provide a page for each show.
Q3: Why don’t The Spinoff publish RSS feeds? A3: I assume they think most people use Spotify or Apple Podcasts and want to clutter their website. I’ve asked but no reply. I also suspect (based on errors they make) that some of their process is manual so it would be extra work for each episode.
Q4: What is RSS? A4: RSS is a special webpage that lists podcast episodes (or posts in a blog or Youtube videos in a channel) that can be scanned easily by software. It allows you to see/hear updates without having to visit sites regularly to check if there are new episodes.
Q5: Can you recommend a RSS viewer? A5: I use Newblur and are very happy with it.
Q6: Can you recommend a Podcast Client? A6: I manually download podcasts and copy them into the Android based player called Listen Audiobook Player. I wouldn’t really recommend this workflow. Have a a look at this article on the Best podcast apps of 2021 instead. They let you put in a podcast feed and whenever a new episode is published it will be downloaded automatically to your phone.
Profiles of 13 great achievers from Yo-Yo Ma to Isaac Newton who found their calling at progressively greater ages. Some interesting profiles across varied fields. 3/5
The story of James Cook’s first voyage and it’s significance. Also covers the contemporary voyage by Jean de Surville. A good read that kept me interested. 4/5
Mostly an astronaut memoir with some extra material on the Hubble development and launch. Some good anecdotes and insights into the work to make the Hubble serviceable. 3/5
With the cancelling of the SkyPath and the short-lived $800 million Pedestrian/Cycling bridge proposal it seems that the only options for the next harbour crossing will be a full scale tunnel or bridge.
However I came across the Youtube video where the author suggests a gondola crossing of Auckland Harbour. I did a bit of investigation myself and looked at some possible routes, the majority of which appear not to work but two might benefit from further investigation.
In the last decade urban gondola systems have become increasingly popular. They work well in difficult terrain such as steep hills, valley or river crossings. They are also relatively cheap which makes them popular in middle-income countries in the Americas.
The Medellin MetroCable in Columbia currently has 6 lines, most of these act as feeders from hill suburbs to Tram or Metro lines.
The Cablebús in Mexico City opened two lines in 2021 connecting low income transport-poor suburbs with metro stations.
The technology I am assuming is a Detachable Monocable Gondola with cars similar to the Emirates Air-Line in London, Medellin MetroCable and Mexican Cablebús.
Monocable means that there is a single moving cable. Detachable means that each car unhooks from the cable inside stations and moves slowly (or even stops) for easy boarding and unboarding. The general characteristics of these systems are:
8-10 person cars ( able to carry bicycles, wheelchairs etc )
Speed around 20 km/h
Capacity 2500 people/hour in each direction.
Approx 1 car every 15 seconds.
Note that it is possible to increase capacity, for instance the new Medellin line P has a capacity of 4,000 people per hour in each direction.
Cars in Station ready for boarding
Options for routes
I have provided details about two possible routes:
Route One is a simple crossing of Auckland Harbour just east of the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Route Two connects the CBD (near Elliot Street), the University of Auckland and Parnell.
Note that apart from at stations cable systems are along able to make very slight turns at each tower. I have pretty much assumed each line will be straight apart of at stations.
Route One – East of the Bridge.
The will start from a station near the current Ponsonby Cruising Club. A 50m mast 150m north, then a 700m span across the harbour to another 50m mast and then a station in the Stokes Point Reserve.
Total length is 1100m. Travel time around 5 minutes.
This route is a direct replacement of the Skypath. It would cater to cyclists and pedestrians needing to get between Stokes Point and Westhaven. The exact placement of the stations is flexible. The main difficulties are the height required to provide room for tall ships to pass underneath. The Emirates line has similar requirements to allow Thames river traffic and higher than usual towers.
Apart from some sightseers this line would mainly serve cyclists wishing to go directly between North Shore and the city. This Greater Auckland article shows the 2020 Skypath business case was estimating 4500 daily users for the Skypath a few years after it was built.
The high towers and steep climb on the Emirates Air-line
Route Two – Elliot Street to Parnell via Wellesley Street and the University
This would start with a station near the corner of Elliot Street and Wellesley Street West (possibly in front of Bledisloe House). The line would go east above Wellesley Street and over the Art Gallery, Albert Park and parts of the University to a station at the University (perhaps at the corner of Grafton Road and Symonds Street). The line would then go across Grafton Gully to a station at Parnell Train Station and then up the hill to terminate on Parnell Road. The total length is around 1700 metres.
The Elliot Street to Parnell route
There are 4 stations on this route.
Parnell Village (near 236 Parnell Road) is an employment & entertainment area.
Parnell Train Station is near Parnell and the University but down a hill from both and across busy roads from the University. It is within walking distance of the Auckland Museum.
The University is well served by Symonds Street buses but not by rail and is cut off from the CBD and Parnell.
The Elliot Street endpoint would be just 50 metres from both the Aotea Train Station and a proposed Queen Street light rail station near the Civic.
Starting Point and direction of Line to University / Parnell
The idea of this line is to cross the difficult terrain that separates Parnell, Parnell Station, the University and the CBD. There should be a lot of possible journeys between these four. It will expand the effective radius of Aotea Station, Parnell Station and a Civic light-rail station. It would also improve Parnell’s connectivity.
Cablebús line over a busy road
Travel times ( assuming 20km/h speed and 1 minute per station ) on the most likely journeys:
Journey
Walking Distance
Walking time
Cable distance
Gondola time
Elliot St to University
800m
11 min
600m
4 min
Elliot St to Parnell
2100m
30 min
1700m
9 min
Parnell Station to Parnell
400m
6 min
250m
3 min
Parnell Station to University
1400m
20 min
800m
5 min
This line has the potential to be very busy. All the stops on the route would benefit from the improved inter-connectivity.
Two extensions to the line are possible. At the Parnell end the line could be extended down to a station located in the valley around St Georges Bay Road to serve the businesses (and housing) located around there.
Another possible extension of the line would be directly along Wellesley St West from Elliot Street to Victoria Park. I am unsure if traffic to/from the Victoria Park area would justify this however.
Other Routes
I had problems finding other routes that were suitable for gondolas. I’ve included a route to Birkenhead as an example of one that does not appear to be competitive with the existing bus as an example.
The majority of possible routes had various combinations of long distances (which take too long at 20km/h), low density/population at station catchment, already being covered by existing links and lack of obvious demand.
Westhaven to Birkenhead via Northcote Point and Marine Terrace.
This starts on the western side of the Harbour Bridge near a small Park/Bungy HQ. It goes over the harbour alongside the Bridge and has a station near “The Wharf”. The Line would then go across Little Shoal Bay to Little Shoal Bay Reserve. There would be a turning point there to go north-west over the gully of the Le Roys Bush Reserve to a station on the side of Birkenhead Avenue near the viewing platform.
Length 3.9km and end to end travel time of around 15 minutes.
The problem with this line is that Westhaven is not a good destination. Route One across the harbour fills a gap for cyclists but extending the line to Birkenhead doesn’t seem significantly improve the catchment (especially for non-cyclists).
Other possible routes I looked at
A simple crossing West of the Bridge
From the south-east of St Mary’s Bay to Stokes Point
From Wynyard Quarter to Stokes Point.
From St Mary’s Bay to Stokes Point and then the Akoranga Bus station
From Wellesley Street West to Stokes Point.
Between Devonport and the city
Above Lake Road from Devonport to Takapuna
Between Stokes Point and Bayswater
Between Akoranga Bus station and Devonport
Conclusion
Urban Gondolas do not work as a general solution to urban public transport but are suited to certain niche routes across difficult terrain.
Starting from the simple harbour crossing I looked at several cross harbour routes but most were unpromising due to lack of under-served destinations that could be easily connected. I ended up just keeping the basic harbour crossing to fill the gap for cyclists and walkers.
The Elliot Street to Parnell line on the other hand might be a good fit for a gondola. It is less than 2km long but connects 3 popular locations and an under-utilised train station.
Costs of gondolas are fairly low compared to other PT options. The two Cablebús lines in Mexico City are each around 10km long and cost $US 146m and $US 208m. Ballpark estimates might be between $NZ 100 million to $NZ 200 million for each route, hopefully closer to $100m.
