Quotes of the day

President Obama could have saved at least 9,116 gallons of fuel by giving his [Earth Day] speech at the White House – but no wind turbines are manufactured here. --Mark Knoeller

Surprisingly, the effects of atmospheric pollution seem to have enhanced global plant productivity by as much as a quarter from 1960 to 1999. This resulted in a net ten percent increase in the amount of carbon stored by the land.--Linda Mercado

... when people are choosing where to live, they consistently underestimate the pain of a long commute. This leads people to mistakenly believe that the McMansion in the suburbs, with its extra bedroom and sprawling lawn, will make them happier, even though it might force them to drive an additional forty-five minutes to work. It turns out, however, that traffic is torture, and the big house isn't worth it.--Jonah Lehrer

Every culture, gender, class, city, field of work, etc., has its own idols. Idolatry is anything I look at and say, "If I have that, my life has value." Anything that is so central to your life that you feel you can't live without it is an idol. Idolatry is making a good thing an ultimate thing.--Tim Keller

President Chávez is a character, and notwithstanding his hard-line ideology that I am a firm opponent of — be under no illusion about that — he’s actually an affable and gregarious and open personality. And for whatever reason, he seems in a particularly good mood this weekend, and we’re all grateful for that.--Stephen Harper

New York is the only one out of the sixteen largest cities in the northeastern or midwestern states whose population is larger than it was fifty years ago.--Alan Beattie