One matter on which Donald Trump, Ayn Rand and Bezalel Smotrich seem to be in complete accord is their approach to the future of Palestine. In their eyes it is unnecessary to consider the opinions of the Arabic-speaking half of the population inhabiting the land between the river and the sea. Even Ayn Rand might envy the smoothness of Smotrich’s transition, when presenting his solution to the problems, from reasonable analysis to barking madness.
Volcanoes that look like volcanoes fascinate. Almost all appear in the catalogue of the Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program, but one at least does not.
In 1790 the cartographer Aaron Arrowsmith produced a comprehensive map of the world. It was an impressive achievement, but how accurate was it, as far as Micronesia was concerned?
At first sight it might seem that one of Ayn Rand’s dreams has come even more true than she could ever have imagined. In her novel Atlas Shrugged it was necessary for her hero, John Galt, to take over the entire US radio network in order to get his message across. Elon Musk, his nearest modern incarnation, had a much simpler way of achieving the same ends. He bought Twitter.
In November the Geological Society of London published Volume 60 in its Memoir series, with the title “The Emergence of Geophysics: A Journey into the Twentieth Century”. In his Introduction the author stipulates that he is considering developments as far as the end of the 20th century but will not venture into the 21st.
The third of Jacques Arago.s four visits to Rio de Janeiro was made during the reign of Dom Pedro II. His account of his relations with the emperor is very different from that provided by at least one other French visitor to the city.