“We wanted to give her an underdog character, struggling to make it in a world of humans.”
Kevin Snipes, who helped write the character of Valerie, the world’s first electronic receptionist with a personality, manning the phones at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh (CNN.com, 23 February)
“Disruption and conflict will be endemic features of life…Once again, warfare would define human life.”
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A report by Peter Schwartz and Doug Randall on the implications of climate change, commissioned by the Pentagon’s defence adviser, Andrew Marshall (The Observer, London, 22 February)
“Although the Bush administration is hardly the first to politicise science, no administration in recent memory has so shamelessly distorted scientific findings for policy reasons or suppressed them when they conflict with political goals.”
A New York Times editorial summarising the letter of complaint sent to President Bush last week by top US scientists (23 February)
“We are building a prototype world right now…”
Robert Gehorsam, vice president of strategic initiatives for There Incorporated, commissioned by the US army to build a virtual “Earth” for military training (HomeLanFed computer gaming website, 18 February)
“The shoulders rotate out and backwards – and the breasts present in a more attractive manner.”
Dermatologist Kevin Smith of Niagara Falls, Ontario, who injects Botox into the pectoral muscles to help women’s boobs look larger (Toronto Globe and Mail, 23 February)
