The long duration of areas of high pressure over Europasia appears to be due to the favorable conditions for the formation of such areas which prevail in this part of the world during the winter months. During this period, areas of low pressure of extreme violence prevail almost uninterruptedly over the Atlantic Ocean, and the air which here ascends moves eastward and settles down over Europasia.

I talked to a fairly knowledgeable woman who works at a local nursery yesterday, asking her why they don't carry Acacia farnesiana or any acacias at all for that matter. She said it's because acacias get killed by the occasional hard freeze that we have here in Central Florida every 8 to 10 years. I pointed out that hibiscus gets killed by these freezes too, but no nursery would give up selling hibisci for that reason -- to which she had no reply.

You have to teach ‘Blessed are the civic-minded, for they shall profit by their civism.’

Pardew made five changes to the side that thrashed West Ham 5-0 on Wednesday - with players such as James Perch and Alan Smith given the chance to underline their case for a regular starting berth.