Another batch of notable quotables:
"If you don't always get everything you want, just think of all the things you don't get that you don't want." - Anonymous
"People who are in a fortunate position always attribute virtue to what makes them happy." - John Kenneth Galbraith
"In every country and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty." - Thomas Jefferson
"Like a man traveling in foggy weather, those at some distance before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those behind him, and also the people in the fields on each side; but near him all appears clear, though in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them." - Benjamin Franklin
"A collective entity without power breaks apart in times of crisis. We are devoted to mankind as a universal brotherhood, but 'mankind' has no organization with which to transform devotion into power, so in times of war this devotion is pirated by the state. For the state is organized, has structured means of translating patriotism into power, and in times of crisis wants ever more power, can never get enough, lays claim not only to the freely and spontaneously offered loyalty to which it is entitled, but also, representing its national purpose as the universal aim of man, to the loyalty which its people hold for mankind." - Allen Wheelis

Stuff worth checking out:
100 tips to improve your life
Earth life probably began in space, according to these researchers
The economy has been great recently... that is, if you're an opium poppy grower in Afghanistan
The magazine Nature looks at aging and longevity
...and last but not least, a shadow puppet maestro

Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a lecture by one of my favorite authors, evolutionary psychologist Steven Pinker. It was even better than I had hoped. He examined some of the ways in which language offers clues about human thought, emotion, and social relationships. I intended to take notes but immediately realized that every word he said was noteworthy and so I put down my pencil and just tried to process it all. Fortunately I'll be able to watch it again on C-SPAN in about a month. The lecture made me long to go back to college, or to go to my idealized conception of a college, one where every professor is simultaneously eloquent, informative, and entertaining. After the lecture I had a chance to chat briefly with Pinker. I was hoping to say something intelligent, or at least intelligible, but my side of the conversation was reminiscent of Homer Simpson talking to the editor of 'Reading Digest' ("That article on vocabulary building was really, really, really... good."). Nevertheless, I enjoyed being in the presence of greatness. Pinker has a new book, which I can heartily endorse without even having read it. Also, if you haven't read the Blank Slate or How the Mind Works, I encourage you to get copies of those as well... you'll thank me.