“When I came out as a bright at this wonderful conference of high-school kids up in Seattle, the effect was electrifying. Many of them came up to me afterwards and said, ‘Thank you! Thank you! I have never heard an adult say that before.'”
Philosopher Daniel Dennett on what it means to be a “bright”, his term for atheists and agnostics (The Observer, London, 12 March)
“I believe this to be a sign from God. Even the monk’s soft parts are intact.”
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Bishop Nikolaos of Lamia, Greece, on the body of a Greek Orthodox monk that was exhumed, allegedly still fresh, 15 years after burial (AFP, 13 March)
“We don’t have anything to announce about other planets at this time.”
Following the launch of the Google Mars website, a Google spokeswoman plays down further planetary expansion of the Google empire, despite the company acquiring domain names “GoogleJupiter” and “GoogleVenus” (The Washington Post, 14 March)
“A lot of people will be shocked to know that, as we approach the 20th anniversary of Chernobyl, hundreds of farming families are still living with the fallout.”
Gordon Prentice, member of parliament for Pendle in north-west England, on the contamination caused by radioactive caesium that still affects 375 farms in the UK (The Independent, London, 14 March)
“Welcome to the rebel territories. Come and join us in California!”
Robert Klein, chair of the Proposition 71 campaign, which is attempting to provide state funding for stem cell research, speaking at a stem cell conference in San Francisco (13 March)
