Quotation of the Day
Elderly Nova Scotian Mrs. Fiedke explains why she refuses to fly out of Barcelona:
“I’m a strict believer, in fact, a Witness, but I never trust the airlines from those countries where the pilots believe in the afterlife. You are safer when they don’t. I’ve been told the Scandinavian airlines are fairly reliable in that respect.”
(Muriel Spark, The Driver’s Seat, end of Chapter IV)
Update: (7/16/06, 10:20pm)
Maybe Mrs. Fiedke is right. At least so says the BBC’s 10 Things We Didn’t Know column (þ A Sweet, Familiar Dissonance):
8. Devout Orthodox Jews are three times as likely to jaywalk as other people, according to an Israeli survey reported in the New Scientist. The researchers say it’s possibly because religious people have less fear of death.
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[…] Fiedke wouldn’t fly out of Barcelona
“I’m a strict believer, in fact, a Witness, but I never trust the airlines from those countries where the pilot […]
Pingback by kalebeul » Why Mrs Fiedke wouldn’t fly out of Barcelona — Sunday: July 9, 2006 @ 2:34 PM GMT-0500
The researchers say it’s possibly because religious people have less fear of death.
Or it could be because crosswalks aren’t metioned in Torah, or because orthodox Jews are always lost in thought. The researchers didn’t do any research that would identify the reason and it’s kind of stupid of them to speculate.
Comment by Kent G. Budge — Thursday: July 20, 2006 @ 8:56 AM GMT-0500