Prof George knows this of course:

"All of these things in our home do seem to work most of the time and because they don't break we just get used to them. They have almost become like Black Boxes which never die. And when they do we throw them away and buy something new."

The Daily Telegraph, knowing its readership (traditionally rather conservative and not exactly in the first flush of their youth) has chosen to emphasise the 'young people are lost generation' angle, which is reflected in the summary. But the message she's putting across in the Christmas Lectures is much more positive - the talks are intended for a general audience, especially kids, and she wants to get them excited about using everyday technology in creative ways, in the spirit of the Maker community.

Nice article here:

http://www.independent.co.uk/n...

If you have a UK IP address or VPN, the Lectures are available here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programme...

They're part of a series goes back to the time of Faraday, and has featured many eminent scientists (including several Nobel laureates). They've just been broadcast on national TV, as they have been since the 60s (I suspect quite a few of us who ended up being scientists in the UK got early inspiration from one or more of these lectures).

Since Prof George is (a) under 40 and (b) not a 'he', that seems rather unlikely: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...

Yes, the EMBOMM article mentions this:

"This [the hollow tree] may have resulted in massive exposure to bats and have created a situation similar to the one described for Marburg virus for which transmission from bats to humans has occurred in caves occupied by large bat colonies."

(Kitum is one of the caves where Marburg, a virus from the same family as Ebola, has been transmitted).

Previously, they just had a probable index case. They've now done a followup field study that confirms this case and identifies a hollow tree where the kids used to play as a possible source of the infection - it contained a bat colony at the time. They didn't find evidence that other wild animals were infected, suggesting transmission directly from the bats rather than from other bushmeat. The paper is very readable and not paywalled:

http://embomolmed.embopress.or...

Speaking as a 'print fan', I don't have a problem with adaptations in general, just adaptations done 'badly'. The BBC Radio version of LOTR from the 80s was excellent, but their attempt to do The Hobbit back in the 60s wasn't much good. There's much to enjoy in the Jackson films of LOTR, but the type of flaw that has blighted his version of The Hobbit was already there to a lesser extent in the previous trilogy - good actors saddled with a clunky script, silly additions to the plot, over-emphasised battles, crudely altered characters, cringeworthy attempts at humour, and a general lack of subtlety. An adaptation doesn't have to follow the source slavishly to be good (see Game of Thrones for a really intelligent treatment that frequently takes major liberties with the novels), but it has to preserve something of the spirit of the original to really work for those who love the books (not just the popcorn crowd).

There are hints about this in various places:

Gandalf to Frodo:

'Behind that there was something else at work, beyond any design of the Ring-maker. I can put it no plainer than by saying that Bilbo was _meant_ to find the Ring, and _not_ by its maker. In which case you also were _meant_ to have it. And that may be an encouraging thought.'

Gandalf on planning the quest of Erebor in the Shire:

'It was a strange business. I did no more than follow the lead of "chance", and made many mistakes on the way.'

Gandalf on Thrain's map and key:

'...I suddenly remembered the strange chance that had put them in my hands; and it began now to look less like chance'

Gandalf on his choice of Bilbo:

'I knew in my heart that Bibo must go with him, or the whole quest would be a failure - or, as I should say now, the far more important events by the way would not come to pass'

Gandalf on happening to meet Thorin at just the right time to set everything in motion:

'A chance-meeting, as we say in Middle-earth'.

I think all this implies that apparently random events are getting the occasional nudge from a Higher Power, and that Gandalf in particular (as a member of an 'angelic' order in accord with the Divine Plan, albeit limited by his human incarnation) is getting the odd subtle hint (more of a feeling rather than any sort of direct instruction) on how best to proceed with his mission.

KHAAAAAAN!!

He's not the only one. People are imprisoned on Cuba for all sorts of bizarre reasons, even when there's no evidence they've actually committed a crime. Read the shocking story here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/...

They've also technically got it backwards. Neither Apple nor Real were distributing mp3s, but DRM'd music files in other formats - mp3s were never targeted by Apple's countermeasures to Real's hack. Today it's actually possible to get most music in plain mp3 format from Amazon and other online retailers so, if anything, mp3 is now vastly more popular than before (at least as a legitimate distribution format).

Some labels are releasing material exactly this way, with vinyl and download as the only options. If you go for the vinyl, you often also get a download code included.

Funny if he decides to auction it again next week.

What, again?

I'm no chocolate snob, but you couldn't pay me to eat that stuff. Who ever thought it would be a good idea to add sour milk to perfectly adequate chocolate? It tastes like they've mixed it with baby vomit. As an emergency measure, all cocoa intended for Hershey's production should be seized and used to establish a National Cocoa Reserve. Only manufacturers with a track record of selling an edible product (like Ghirardelli) would then be allowed to draw on it. Sound reasonable?

I don't understand! Do you have a car analogy?

Also, does this mean no more free pie? Will google crack down on Youtube downloaders and ad blockers that already give naughty, naughty people most of the advantages of this service for free..?

So, Nikon or Canon?

Rather an odd study. Viral DNA apparently present in nearly half the subjects. They went straight to a mouse model before attempting to confirm the (small) effect in a larger, independent human cohort. No evidence that the virus actually infects mammalian cells, which would be an extremely unusual host range (the only precedent of anything similar they could find to cite is in an obscure Ukrainian journal). I'd say 'more research is needed', but maybe that's just the virus talking.