Quotables

"$715,700"

Median price of homes in San Francisco during 2005, the highest in the nation, according to a report last week from the U.S. Census Bureau. Los Angeles was second with a median price of $529,000, followed by New York at $446,000.

"I belong to a generation that can remember the Communists in power."

Prague outdoor equipment store owner Miroslav Martinec on why he's offering a 20 percent discount to voters who bring in unused ballot papers for the Social Democrat and Communist parties as the Czech election season starts.

"The first thing we thought was, 'That's a real good dummy she set up.'"

Student Juan Cantor, 15, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on finding a real dead body near a fake crime scene set up by high-school criminology teacher Sue Messenger. The body turned out to be a man who had died of natural causes.

"We communicate in a peculiar way."

Bimbala Das of Atala, India, on her marriage late last month to a snake. Hindus venerate cobras, and villagers said the marriage would bring good luck to Atala. The AFP news service reported that charmers could not lure the cobra out of its home for the wedding, so a bronze replica reportedly acted as a stand-in.