Friday Four

1. It was sprinkling on the way in to Pumpkin's gymnastics class this week, and she was trying to catch raindrops in her mouth. She told me that she likes to do this, and then said that being in the rain is "like getting lots of tiny kisses".

2. With four vaccines in trials, news of a fifth may not sound like a big deal, but a new, inactivated whole-virus Ebola vaccine offers several advantages over the others:

The advantage conferred by inactivated whole virus vaccines such as the one devised by Halfmann, Kawaoka and their colleagues is that they present the complete range of proteins and genetic material to the host immune system, which is then more likely to trigger a broader and more robust immune response.

The vaccine is reported to be safer than the others, as well.

3. Two amusing things you can do on the web, one useful, that I ran into this week are: (1) Get insulted by Martin Luther (Just call me, "a real masterpiece of the devil's art".); and (2) get your website reviewed by an actual drunk since, "Your website should be so simple, a drunk person could use it."

The proprietor of the second web site claims that he is having to turn down lots of work.

4. Many see the subtle, languid playing style of Arsenal's Mesut Özil as laziness, but they are wrong, and one sports writer shows why:

Some of Mesut Özil's best play simply goes unnoticed. His movement for Arsenal's first goal against West Ham on 14 March was outstanding[.] Özil picked up the ball in a position you would expect from a number 10. Most players would turn and immediately look for one of the two runs clearly available to the players in front of him. Özil knows better. Özil knows that this quick ball into the channels is exactly what West Ham expect, so instead makes a short pass to Giroud to link the play. Özil peels off his marker Alex Song safe in the knowledge that when he gets it back from Giroud, Aaron Ramsey will have run through a split defence and the through ball is on.

Özil's vision took four defenders out of that play.

I recently watched him lay off a ball I was sure he'd shoot. The play ultimately resulted in a goal, anyway -- from an Aresenal defender who suddenly found himself with the ball and one-on-one against the opposing goalkeeper. I like the way one of his former coaches described his genius: "[T]here is no copy of him – not even a bad one. He is the best number 10 in the world."

-- CAV