The Beatles in Australia

Perhaps the greatest celebrities for baby boomers have been the Beatles, so stories are always of interest. Last week for example, from David Pannell -

http://www.pannelldiscussions.net/2014/04/264-capitol-records-shameful-handling-of-the-beatles/

This week, on the old favourite Radio National, was a story about the Australian tour. Remarkably, the Australian promoter managed to sign them up before they became famous. Even more remarkably, Brian Epstein held to his contract. The promoter, Kenn Brodziak paid 2500 pounds for the tour, and it apparently grossed 240,000 pounds. Here is a link about Kenn -

http://www.milesago.com/industry/brodziak.htm

You can imagine that at the time, his success would have inspired a generation of speculators. But Kenn's success was based on a lifetime of interest in the entertainment industry, so the Beatles tour was probably a just reward.

Those amazing soil microbes - a role in "phytoremediation"?

Starting with a story about using plants to clean up heavy metal pollution in China -
http://www.aljazeera.com/video/asia-pacific/2014/04/chinese-battle-make-land-fertile-again-201441934226276246.html

led on to some other links with more detail such as this review -

http://www.esb.ucp.pt/sites/default/files/files/Biotecnologia/investigacao/pgcmarquesrcastro.pdf

It seems that plants can have a role in some situations, but reading between the lines, it seems that soil microbes are likely to have a more general role. But "further research is required .....

"Menzies legacy" - which side is she on?

Another find from Radio National - a great yarn about (Sir Robert) Menzies -
http://www.afr.com/p/lifestyle/review/robert_menzies_stolen_legacy_3toWgG4FN6Zi0sF5NOQRRL

Some great quotes - including -
Wise to the vagaries of the “verdict of history”, Menzies said to Churchill in 1948: “Five years after your death, clever young men from Oxford and Cambridge and other seats of learning will be writing books explaining that you were never right about anything!”