My weekend reading and listening

Deep reads on China’s super cows, spongy cities, Siya Kolisi, Simon Upton’s plea to Megan Woods and the US$’s dominance; Substacks of the week; Podcasts on a monumental escape and Stalingrad

Feb 04, 2023

woman holding white iPad — Photo by Anna Demianenko on Unsplash

TLDR: Here’s my longer reads and listens for the weekend for sharing with The Kaka’s paying subscribers. I’ve opened this one up for all to give everyone a taste of the sorts of extras you get as a full paying subscriber.

Deeper reads and listens for the long weekend

Spongy cities - Laurie Winkless is a science communicator in Wellington who has done some excellent work on sponge cities, well before Auckland’s floods.

Laurie Winkless @laurie_winkless

Hi friends. If you're keen to learn more about the 'sponge city' concept, I've added my Forbes article on it to my website, where it can be read freely, with no pop-ups #flooding #spongecity #aucklandflooding

lauriewinkless.comCould ‘Sponge Cities’ Help Us Prepare For Our Flooded Future?Extreme weather, a changing climate, and impervious streets and roads have combined to create an urban disaster

China’s 100 tonne cows - China’s scientists announced this week they had cloned three ‘super cows’ that can produce 100 tonnes of milk in their lifetimes, which China’s scientists hope will allow it to reduce its reliance on ‘unstable’ overseas supplies. CNN

Jin Yaping, the project’s lead scientist, called the birth of the “super cows” a “breakthrough” that allows China to preserve the very best cows “in an economically feasible way,” the state-run newspaper Global Times reported.
“We plan to take two to three years to build up a herd comprised of over 1,000 super cows, as a solid foundation to tackle China’s reliance on overseas dairy cows and the issue of the risk of being ‘choked’ [by supply chain disruptions],” Jin told the newspaper.

The benefits of Lake Onslow - Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton, sent a detailed and fascinating letter just before Christmas to Energy Minister Megan Woods, which pleaded for the Government to speed up the delivery of its energy strategy. In particular, he made a great case for Lake Onslow, which the gentailers, including the Government-controlled, loathe because it endangers their profits.

Here’s a sample:

The examination of Onslow by the Government has caused a range of players to expend rather a lot of energy trying to cast doubt on its worth. While it is crucial to find out whether the project is physically deliverable (i.e. geotechnical and hydrological risks) and what the eventual costs might be, its role in the broader energy market would be to reduce system risks. The system-wide benefits of this must not be ignored.
Despite what some gentailers say publicly, their own commercial interests are not necessarily aligned with the interests of the Government or of New Zealand Inc. It would be unfair to expect that they should be. Gentailers participate in a competitive electricity market to maximise profit for their shareholders. It is therefore in the best interests of gentailers to keep competition low and electricity prices high. This comes at the expense of securing the least costly transition to a de-fossilised economy.

Upton is always thoughtful and well-researched with his reports and analyses. Crucially, he is that rare thing in Aotearoa: truly unconflicted.

President Siya Kolisi? - Springbok captain Siya Kolisi is a remarkable rugby player, but it turns out he may yet turn into a political figure in South Africa. Here’s hoping. This feature interview by Alec Russell in the FT is a fascinating read. Some samples, and a picture below of Kolisi and his wife, which is arresting and revealing all in one. Kolisi has an extraordinary foundation story and is a symbol with his wife, Rachel, and their children of a new South Africa.

Rugby had long had a proud tradition in the African communities in the Eastern Cape region where Kolisi grew up, dating back to the arrival of English settlers in the 19th century. Steve Biko, the legendary activist, who was beaten to death in 1977 in police custody often played. But under white rule, black rugby teams had minimal state support, and the idea of a black Springbok was inconceivable. How bad was the racism when he started playing, I ask? And how is it that the sport has changed?
“I don’t like to shed light on the first part,” he says. “But I can tell you this: Rassie was the first coach to speak about transformation. He understood what it is. He picked black players who were good enough, but also trained them for the required positions to be good.
“It showed our country how strong diversity is when used properly, when you put people in positions and train them. You don’t just say ‘I’m going to transform someone’ and throw him in there and hope he makes it.”

rachelkolisi

A post shared by Rachel Kolisi (@rachelkolisi)

The rest is history - This is one of the most compelling podcasts I’ve listened to in recent times. It’s a story of a hero and a tragedy from the Rest is History team in discussion with Jonathan Freedland about his excellent last book.

The Rest Is History @TheRestHistory

Today on The Rest is History, @Freedland joins us to discuss THE MAN WHO ESCAPED FROM AUSCHWITZ. This is the incredible story of Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler, who escaped from Auschwitz in April 1944. Listen ⬇️ linktr.ee/restishistory

The story behind the book - I’m a huge fan of Antony Beevor and his book Stalingrad. In this podcast, ‘We have ways of making you talk’, he explains how he got the source documents for it.