James Hogan's Personal Blog
Woo hoo!! Rebecca and I are off to Brisbane for a week!! I’m hoping to catch-up with one of my best friends, Peter & Leigh Wysocki, and their family Trixie and Theo. Peter and I are going to the Nick Mason concert! And Rebecca is going to hang out beside…
Oddest sign… … why does NEW ZEALAND have milk supply issues?!?! But it looks like it’s backed up by evidence: I’ll be damned… That’s not good for both June GDP, and New Zealand, especially given inflation and a contracting monetary policy stance. 🫤
Hot from the “Straight Out of ThunderBirds” file, comes the soviet Caspian Sea Monster Look at this baby!It’s called an Ekranoplan. Unlike other planes, this modified sea plane is designed to fly just meters over sea level, exploiting a aerodynamic effect called the Ground EffectThis beasty was created at the…
Responses First response in from ACT Does ACT have a view on the Commission’s opinion around a 50-50 split, and would it seek to implement the Commission’s advice in the elected new parliament?ACT has not formed a position on the 50:50 split as advocated by the Law Commission in 2019….
I’m watching These Final Hours. All the best movies are grounded in economics. This wasn’t a Wall Street movie. It wasn’t about money, or greed. It was about economics: choice, constraints, outcomes and uncertainty. It was an apocalypse story based on economics. Wasn’t this an Australian Sci-fi? That’s the thing…
I’ve gotten myself a new drum kit 😁It’s a Alesis Mesh Drum KitLast week, I wasn’t feeling that great on Monday, so I took the afternoon off sick. Of course, with a new electric toy, my first idea was how do I connect it to my computer 🙂A few years…
I’m reading the late Brian Gaynor’s articles on the activities of the New Zealand government and corporate New Zealand in the early 1990s, especially around the privatisation, and ultimate sale of the BNZ to the National Australia Bank. Poor management and irresponsible lendingUp until the bank was partially privatised in…
From the Bad Supreme Court Decisions file comes this latest missive: Fiona Margaret Mead v Lilach Paul and Brett Paul.A relationship property case starring one guy (Brett) and two women (Fiona and Lilach) all sharing the same bed for 15 years, temporarily swapping in and out other partners, before finally…
I’m currently reading The Bertrand Russell CollectionBertrand was one of the most influential philosophers of the 20th century, and widely regarded as a super smart guy with his head in many different subjects. Political IdealsBertrand had a lot to say about the State which I’m finding, when you look at…
Back on the 26 March, I wrote a gear-list for what I expected I’d need on the Sounds to Sounds ride. Also, I’ve reconciled the total cost of the event as a guide for future riders. CostIn total, for the 17 days on the road, I spent $5,702.18, or $4,442.35…
Day 17 – when I was doing my big push up into Milford Sounds – could have turned out extremely differently, and cost me my chance at glory because of a very very simple omission.But it ended up in MASSIVE GLORY, beersies, a steak dinner and me sleeping with three…
Wet wet wet: shitty 1980’s band and nasty way to start a 87km ride between Mossburn and Te Anau, but that’s bike packing for you. The day was tricky because I’m so close to finishing, it was difficult getting my head into the right place for this ride. That’s my…
The guide’s plan for today is easy: 60 km from Garston to Mossburn. I thought I’d kick it up a notch and go another 70km and see my mum. I had an interesting historical ride around this ends of Southland. I dropped south at Lumsden and stopped off in Dipton…
An early start coming off a bad nights sleep after a nasty day in the sun. Sounds like a receipe for success? Absolutely, with help from my friends 🥰 The Statistics A long day – over a 12 hour ride – in heat that started at 5 degrees this morning…
Today was nothing but hurt. I’ll blow some mobile bandwidth so you can see.I slept in my tent in Omakau and the temperature got close to zero. But then later in the day it cooked, as the temperature rocketed up to 31 degrees. The killer is the temperature: 9 degrees…
The Omarama Saddle gets bad press on the sounds to sounds Facebook page. It marks the break between the McKenzie and Central Otago, and comments are about the hard climb, the wet feet from the fords, and even two stories of guys having been helicoptered out. I found this day…
The biggest issue of this day was the weather: how was it holding up for tomorrow when I have to cross the Omarama Saddle. Tomorrow was my biggest hill climb, and we weather would both make it stupidity difficult and increase my hyperthermia risk. The Statistics I’ll put these in…
After the ordeal of getting to the McKenzie Basin, today was a lovely day of toodling around in the rain. The Statistics Today was a gentle 93 kms over 8 hours, pretty much just toodling along on a flat tarsealed surface. It doesn’t actually come any easier than this, with…
This day started badly, turned worse ended painfully and was a trial by ordeal. But, today, dammit I want my scalps!! (All the photo checkpoints are my “scalps” – a la Brad Pitt from Fury) The Statistics Today was a long hard winding road of temperature extremes, dust, and uphill…
This day started off with hope and promise, but turned into a nightmare at the end as I experienced something I’ve never seen before – rural New Zealand fully booked out. The end of the day left me scrabbling around for a place to stay, including entertaining the option of…