Quick hits:

* 'To shoot a man because you disagree with him about Hegel's dialectic is after all to honour the human spirit.' —George Steiner

* Via Posthuman Blues, Centauri Dreams looks at Stephen Hawking's recent speech on space exploration and 'the long result.'

"We cannot envision visiting [Earth-like planets around other stars] with current technology, but we should make interstellar travel a long-term aim," he said. "By long term, I mean over the next 200 to 500 years."

* Attention universe: please stop making me sort of respect Jenna Bush.