Homo Floresiensis, by Peter Schouten

Dr Brent Alloway, associate professor at New Zealand's Victoria University, has apparently been denied permission to use the word "hobbit" in the title of an upcoming FREE lecture he plans to give on  Homo floresiensis. Homo floresiensis, being a species of 3 foot tall hominin, the remains of which were first found in 2003, in a cave on the Isle of Flores in Indonesia, where the species is believed to have lived in isolation until as recently as 18,000 years ago. Not surprisingly, Homo floresiensis' small size, has earned the species the nickname "Hobbits"  

So this isn't a particularly big deal, and it's not as if the rulers of middle Earth called in the lawyers on the guy or anything. And to be fair, the Tolkien estate says it was not approached concerning Alloway's lecture. But, c'mon. There isn't a single person in the Middle Earth camp that thought, "Hey, someone wants to use our movie to promote actual science. SURE! Why not?" I mean, it seems to me that there's a fairly heavy overlap between LOTR fans, and the kind of people who might get excited to check out a scientific Lecture. And since New Zealand is practically turning itself into a living Hobbit theme park; what with putting Gandalf and friends on it's legal currency, and planning to rename the capital of Wellington "The Middle of Middle-earth" for three weeks before and after the premiere of the next Hobbit movie. So why not let the man use the damn word to promote his lecture? I mean, it is a word in the oxford English dictionary. Plus, the lecture in question is free. So why does it matter?


Also, I hate Hobbit movies. Which isn't really relevant to the story, I just wanted you to know.
 
That is all.

-CAINE-





SOURCE: the guardian 
IMAGE CREDIT: Homo Floresiensis-Peter Schouten-
Hobbit Feet Slippers- Think Geek