鈥淚t combines almost comic desperation鈥� with a breathtaking cynicism.鈥�
Andrew Simms, director of the New Economics Forum, after a leaked briefing paper suggested that the UK government should try to wriggle out of European Union targets for renewable energy (The Times, London, 13 August)
鈥淧hysicians who had higher biases against blacks were less likely to recommend thrombolysis for blacks.鈥�
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Alexander R. Green of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, who studied racial bias in doctors, as measured by a psychological test, and their willingness to prescribe a clot-busting drug to a fictitious patient (The Washington Post, 13 August)
鈥淚 guess the mentality is that because you are an avatar鈥� that you are untouchable.鈥�
Second Life entrepreneur Kevin Alderman, who is suing an avatar called Volkov Catteneo for pirating his software SexGen Platinum, which animates avatars in erotic positions (Associated Press, 11 August)
鈥淧atients will ultimately be the stewards of their own information.鈥�
John Halamka, chief information officer at Harvard Medical School, on Google and Microsoft initiatives to combine internet search tools and online personal health records (The New York Times, 14 August)
鈥淪omething鈥檚 wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on healthcare, is not able to keep up.鈥�
Health economist Christopher Murray of the University of Washington in Seattle, after the US slipped to 42nd in international rankings of life expectancy (Associated Press, 12 August)