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The Bonney Upwelling

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  BONNEY UPWELLING A clear explanation of this impressive natural phenomenon is provided at the bluewhalestudy site:      "Driven by wind, the process of upwelling draws deep, nutrient-rich, cold water upwards toward the ocean's surface, replacing the warmer, usually nutrient-depleted, surface water. The nutrients in upwelled water are derived from marine organisms (both plant and animal) dying and sinking to the ocean floor. These nutrients are most abundant near coasts and river outlets, but may be conveyed by currents great distances along the ocean floor to be upwelled far from their source.      When upwelled nutrients meet sunlight near the surface, minute phytoplankton (plant-like cells) 'bloom', turning the ocean green and providing a vital food source for a range of animals from krill (a type of zooplankton) to small schooling fish. These feed larger animals including rock lobster, giant crabs, fish (including commercial species), squid, seabirds, seals, dolph
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The Ancient Port of BYBLOS

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       "The promontory of Jbeil on the northern coast of Lebanon, squeezed between the mountains and the sea, was the place where from the 7th millennium BCE a human community of fisherman and agriculturalists gave rise to one of the most durable settlements of the Levant." The Egyptians called it Kepny  (kpn), the Mesopotamian empires referred to  Gubla (Akkadian), and neighbouring Phoenicians knew it as Gebal  ( gbl). These names probably stem from the root-syllables gib  meaning 'well' and el or 'god', after a deep fresh-water well in the centre of the headland. There was a Bronze Age temple constructed immediately west of this vital resource. The ancient site is more commonly named Byblos , after its Greco-Roman title, and follows the Greek word for 'papyrus'. The city became famous for its importation of this original paper-making reed from the Nile River in Egypt and then distributing the precious rolls all over the Mediterranean. This correspond
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Mr Rounsevell's "gin-case on wheels"

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  In a reputation-shredding sentence, the writer of a letter to the Editor of the South Australian Register  (dated 18 February 1867), remembered "reading a graphic account given by your special correspondent last May of the miseries of the South-Eastern overland journey as it then was". The original report, published 28 July 1866 and headed 'THE SOUTH-EAST DISTRICT. From our Special Correspondent. THE OVERLAND JOURNEY.', did indeed begin gloomily: "On a dull drizzling morning ― Monday, May 28 ― a little before 5 o'clock, I ascended at the door of Roger's Inn , Narracoorte, the somewhat nondescript conveyance provided by Mr Rounsevell for the conveyance of H.M. mails from the South-East to Adelaide. The appearance of the turn-out in the grey morning was anything but promising. The vehicle ― a square box on wheels ― looked very clumsy and suggestive of aching bones, and the couple of horses provided by the contractor were poor, rawboned, hungry-looking bru
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Steps Toward Answering 'The Problem Of The Picts'

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  "Modern interest in the ancient Pictish peoples of Scotland was both reflected and stimulated by the publication in 1955 of a book called The Problem of the Picts . Unfortunately this choice of title has led to a situation where the Picts have continued to be perceived as essentially enigmatic, even unknowable ... Because we have no written records from the Picts themselves, they can seem almost historically invisible. Scotland as a whole has virtually no surviving documents from the First Millennium ... "  (pp. 21,17, A New History of the Picts ) Two publications have caused some of this historical mist to clear. Both articles extend the reality of Pictland back to the era of Roman Britain. "The development of the Pictish symbol system: inscribing identity beyond the edge of Empire" (G Noble and others, 2018, Antiquity , 92.365, 1329-1348), uses radiocarbon dating of archaeological sites to establish a cultural continuum of stone art. " Picti : from Roman na
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Judith Brett on the Australian Liberal Party

  Judith Brett is one of the very few commentators who actually get  conservative politics in Australia. Her insights follow on from her special understanding of the two 'great' Liberal Party Prime Ministers of the postwar period, Robert Menzies and John Howard. Brett's essays in her anthology,  Doing Politics: Writing on Public Life  (2021), demonstrate an instinctive grasp of what made these 'giants' of the non-Labor stage stand out. It was not so much the longevity of their terms in office, although their run of electoral successes certainly distinguished them from other Liberal leaders. It is Brett's view that it was was Menzies' and Howard's defining political rhetoric that elevated them to pillar-status. Their words, in the 1942 radio broadcast Menzies' Forgotten People  and a 1995 party pamphlet The Australia I Believe In , went beyond   a standard rehearsal of catch-all phrases and platitudes. Instead these examples encompassed an invitation
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The Supreme Stickiness of Trump's Supporter Base

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TRUMP BITS: (a) In the Ring / On the Stage       "I'm a total act", Trump told Anthony Scaramucci, "and I don't understand why people don't get it". [Insights from BS Day & A Wedderburn, 2022, 'Wrestlemania! Summit Diplomacy and Foreign Policy Performance after Trump',  International Studies Quarterly , <doi.org/10.1093/isq/sqac019>].      "Trump gravitated towards wrestling throughout his business career. Indeed, in a life marked by vacillation and inconstancy toward everyone except himself, the recurring presence of the WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) is a striking anomaly. Trump's resorts frequently hosted WWE events, Trump himself regularly lent his celebrity to WWE promotions, and he even performed in prominent wrestling storylines. The association not only survived Trump's political ascendancy but thrived during his time in office. In 2016, WWE's majority owners Vince and Linda McMahon ― contemporary pro-wrest
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