Fotiman - 10:22 pm on Jan 7, 2013 (gmt 0)

is this still the correct ready() syntax to use without noConflict(): jQuery(document).ready(function($) {...});

That should still work, though you could omit the $ in the parameter list and write it as:
jQuery(document).ready(function() {...});
or alternatively:
$(document).ready(function() {...});

how does the script now know that $ = jQuery w/o that statement in there?

The jQuery library creates the global $ variable. When it does that, it stores a reference to whatever the global variable $ was assigned to previously (if anything), and that's how it resets it when you call noConflict.

in the js block, and with jQuery library loaded, I get an alert with the following: function( selector, context ) { // The jQuery object is actually just the init constructor 'enhanced' return new jQuery.fn.init( selector, context, rootjQuery ); }

That is correct. Note, that is the non-minified version of the code. When minified, you'll see this:

function(a,b){return new e.fn.init(a,b,h)}

Which is functionally identical, but with spaces/comments removed and shortened variable names.