Quotables

‘Sometimes we have to get really high to see how small we are.’

Felix Baumgartner, a 43-year-old daredevil who on Oct. 14 broke world records for the highest and fastest skydive, jumping into thin atmosphere at 128,100 feet and accelerating to 833.9 mph, surpassing the speed of sound. On breaking the sound barrier, Baumgartner said: “It’s like swimming without touching the water.”

‘Among people who have been in the military, he’s beyond what a movie star would be.’

Retired Army Col. Greg Camp on retired Command Sgt. Maj. Basil L. Plumley, who died Oct. 10 at age 92. Plumley fought in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam, making five combat parachute jumps. He served in the 7th Cavalry Regiment during the Battle of Ia Drang in 1965, which became the basis for the movie We Were Soldiers. Sam Elliott portrayed Plumley.

$46.9 million

The amount of licensing income generated for Sesame Workshop by Sesame Street–themed merchandise in 2011. Sesame Street became an issue in the presidential campaign when GOP nominee Mitt Romney said he would eliminate federal funding for PBS and the Obama campaign said such a move would threaten Big Bird.

‘If Ms. McCaskill does oppose gay marriage, then she holds the same view that President Obama did, at least publicly, until five months ago. Would he have been unfit to serve as a diversity officer at Gallaudet?’

An editorial in the Washington Post after Gallaudet University, a school for the deaf, placed its chief diversity officer, Angela McCaskill, on paid leave after she signed a petition for a referendum vote on Maryland’s new same-sex “marriage” law. The school on Oct. 16 indicated it would reinstate her.

‘First Al Gore, then Obama, now this. Parody is redundant.’

Daniel Hannan, a lawmaker from Britain’s Conservative Party, on the European Union winning the Nobel Peace Prize.