I note, however, that the link is to an Australian site, so by their standards it is pretty cold in this part of the world.
The Sunday Telegraph here in the UK ( http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/6083234/Health-warning-exercise-makes-you-fat.html ) used pre-publication data from this study that Blundell has stated totally mis-represented its findings (that, amongst other things, only 15% of the study group gained weight, and that they were all ones who ate more than usual during the study period.)
That article also quoted the one of 43 trials reviewed by the Cochrane Library that did not show a significant weight-loss in the participants (it says "some surprising studies in America " when it means "one surprising and possibly unrepresentative study in America". The lead author of that study, Dr Timothy Church of Louisiana University, seems to undermine the validity of his own study, in which the participants were asked not to alter their diet by saying (according to the Telegraph article) "after spending time in the gym, they eat a chocolate muffin, which undoes all of the work they did.”
The Telegraph unaccountably ignored the 42 studies which did not conform to what appears to be their preconception.
For more information see ( http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/aug/29/telegraph-exercise-fat-bad-science ), or go to Ben Goldacre's own site ( http://www.badscience.net/ ) for a fuller version.
It's all rather confusing, really.
A. For the same reason that Hollywood attaches such importance to CGI and vastly expensive special effects: - they are unable or unwilling to provide storylines or dialogue that can grip the viewers attention without them.
The same lack of imagination is the reason for the preponderance of sequels and films based on comic books.
By convention, the Queen is said to have the right to be consulted, the right to advise, and the right to warn. Technically she has a right to veto legislation, but this last occurred in 1709 and if she attempted it today, I suspect there would be a constitutional crisis leading either to a general election or a referendum on the monarchy.
Pratchett himself has a good go at the idea of constitutional monarchy in one of the Lancre books where he says (more or less: I haven't the book to hand) that King Verence was in theory an absolute monarch, always provided he never asked his people to do something that they didn't wish to do.
That just about sums up the actual power that our Brenda has.
They are called computers simply because computation is the only significant job that has so far been given to them.
